ARTS &
SCIENCES
VOL
7
REL-TAC
C 424,280
GRAD
BUHR
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ENGLISH
CYCLOPÆDIA.
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1866
sect.4
V.7
GLIS
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MICHIGAN
MICHIGAN
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OF
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1817
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THE UNIVER

DEDICATED, BY PERMISSION, TO HER MAJESTY.
ARTS AND SCIENCES
OR
Fourth Division of "The English Cyclopædia,"
CONDUCTED BY
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VOLUME VII.
LONDON:
BRADBURY, EVANS, & CO., 11, BOUVERIE ST., FLEET ST., E.C.
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AE
5
E75
1866
Sect. 4
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THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
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LIST OF SUBJECTS.
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&c., &c., &c.
THE
ENGLISH CYCLOPEDIA.
ARTS AND SCIENCES.
RELICS.
RELICS (in Latin, "reliquiæ ") is a term used to signify the
remains, bones, or garments of departed holy men, which are honoured
by the followers of the Church of Rome. During the early ages of the
Christian Church, martyrs were held in veneration; and their relics
were treasured up as something sacred. The anniversary of their
martyrdom was celebrated by assemblies of the faithful, held round
their tomb or on the places where they had perished, and chapels and
sanctuaries were raised on the spot. In the 4th and 5th centuries the
previous veneration for the saints became a kind of worship; miracles
were said to be performed by fragments of their bones or garments,
and pilgrimages were undertaken to obtain these relics. Helena, the
mother of Constantine, went to Palestine, and was said to have found
the identical cross on which Christ suffered. The employment of
images and that of relics as accessories to church worship seem to have
grown up together during that period. Towards the end of the 6th
century, Pope Gregory I. displayed a great veneration for relics. There
is a letter of his to the empress Constantina, who had asked him for a
part of the body of St. Paul, in which he excuses himself by saying
that it was not the custom of the Romans, and, in general, of the
Christians of the West, to touch, much less to remove the bodies of
saints; but that they put a piece of linen called "brandeum " near the
holy bodies, which is afterwards withdrawn, and treasured up with due
veneration in some new church, and as many miracles are wrought by
it as if the bodies themselves were there: he adds that they were
much surprised at the Greeks removing the bones of saints from place
to place; but that in order not to disappoint the piety of the empress,
he would send her some filings of the chains which St. Paul wore on
his neck and hands. This letter is quoted by Baronius, Fleury, and
other church historians. From that time the veneration for relics
increased, but there was no longer the same scrupulosity about re-
moving the relics. Relie worship became during the middle ages a
vulgar superstition and disgraceful traffic; and the abuse has been
censured by many sincere Roman Catholics. It was ordered by several
synods that no relics should be exposed to view without the sanction of
the local bishop. Pope Innocent III. forbade the sale of relics. The
Roman Catholic Church however admits that the relics of saints have
performed and may still perform miracles; and that they are a proper
object of veneration.
(Bibliothèque Sacrée, par les Pères Richard et Giraud, articles ‘Re-
liques' and 'Saints,' 3rd section, Reliques des Saints;' and also
Father Honoré de Sainte Marie, Dissertation sur les Reliques; and the
Abbé de Cordemoi, Traité des Saintes Reliques.)
RELIEF, RELEVIUM, a burden incident to feudal tenures,
being a sum of money paid to the lord on the admittance of a fresh
tenant. It is a relic of that state of things in which the succession
was not strictly speaking of right, but at the will of the lord, who
required the payment of such an acknowledgment for the concession.
It became, however so much the custom for the lords to admit the sons
or near kindred (heirs, as we now say) to the inheritance of the
ancestor, that a custom became established of doing so, and out of the
custom grew the right. The money however which had been paid for
admission in the former state of things, continued to be paid when the
succession of the next heir had become what is called matter of
right.
Bracton gives what is probably the true etymology of the word.
"Relevia," says he, are so called, " quia hereditas que jacens fuit per
antecessoris decessum relevatur in manus heredum, et propter factam
relevationem."
ARTS AND SCI. DIV. VOL. VII
RELIGION.
RELIEF [ALTO-RILIEVO.]
RELIGION is a Latin word which, according to the common deri-
vation of it (from religare), means a principle which acts as a restraint
on the conduct of man. In its more general sense it is used as an
abstract term to denote our ideas of the existence and character of a
Divine Being, to whose power men are more or less subject. Thus we
speak of a sense of religion and the duties of religion, and we call a man
who regards such subjects as matters of great importance a religious
person. But as different views have prevailed of the nature of the
deity and the relation in which man stands to him, various systems of
religious belief have sprung up, and each of these systems is called a
religion. Thus we speak of the Greek, Hindu, Jewish, Christian, and
Mohammedan religions. The word is also popularly used to express
the attention of individuals to the doctrines and duties of the particular
religion which they may have embraced. In this sense it is synony-
mous with piety.
The subjects with which religion has to do are God and man con-
sidered in the relation in which they stand to each other. It conse-
quently includes all the philosophical questions which can throw light
upon that relation; for example, those which respect the nature of the
deity, the notions of infinite space and infinite duration, the existence
and offices of spiritual beings, the origin and destiny of the human
race and of the world they inhabit, the immateriality and immortality
of the human soul; and also all the practical questions which arise out
of that relation, such as the duties which men owe to God and to each
other, and the consequences which God may have appointed to follow
different courses of action. All impressions, notions, and belief upon
these subjects, whether formed into a system or not, constitute what
we call religion, as distinguished from theology, which is the science by
which these ideas are reduced to a systematic form, their laws investi-
gated, and their origin and results traced out. [THEOLOGY.]
The sources from which our notions of religion are derived are either
the so-called laws of nature and the constitution of the human mind,
or direct information given to us upon the subject by the deity him-
self, whether such information be embodied in any lasting form, or
handed down from one generation to another by oral tradition. Religion
derived from the two former sources is called natural religion; from
the last, revealed religion. [REVELATION.]
The fundamental principle upon which all religion rests is the notion'
of the existence of a Being whose power over us is absolute, whose
nature is perfect in excellence, to whom we owe certain duties, and
from whom we have much to hope and fear. The existence of such a
Being is proved by the evidences which the objects of nature present
of perfect design, of fixed order, of power sufficient to accomplish
everything which we can conceive that does not involve a contradiction,
and which we therefore conclude to be infinite, and of benevolent pro-
vision for the wants of living creatures. Apart from all such evidence,
the belief in the divine existence seems to be strongly impressed on
the human mind, so strongly indeed, that it is a matter of great doubt
whether even professed atheists have been really such. Lastly, this
truth may be the subject of revelation; for revelation does not, as
of the Being from whom it comes.
may at first sight seem, imply as a fact previously known the existence
To the first recipients of the revela-
tion the very fact of their finding themselves possessed of the
knowledge of truths beyond the range of human experience would be
a sufficient proof of the existence of a superior Being, from whom they
had, in whatever way, obtained such knowledge; and if, in making
known the revelation to the world, these persons should display a
B
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RELIQUARY.
command over the laws of nature beyond the compass of human
power, or an acquaintance with future events beyond the reach of
human knowledge, these miracles and prophecies would prove the
existence of a superior Being, from whom they had received the power
to perform the one and the foreknowledge implied in the other.
Thus the revelation itself furnishes a proof of the existence of the
before unknown revealer. We do not inquire whether the divine
existence is really proved in either or all of these different ways,
because the object of this article is to explain the nature of religion,
not to establish its truth.
The belief in a God leads at once to the practice of worshipping
him, on the very same principle on which all dependants honour and
look up to those in whose power they are placed.
The existence of a God once proved, the next question is, In what
relation do we stand to him? Are any laws laid down for our
conduct? Are we responsible to him for keeping or breaking those
laws? Are any rewards and punishments appointed for obedience and
disobedience?
To these questions it does not appear that natural religion can give
a perfectly satisfactory answer, though no one can read Bishop Butler's
admirable work, 'The Analogy of Religion, Natural and Revealed, to
the Constitution and Course of Nature,' without being astonished at
the amount of information on these subjects which it is there shown
that the contemplation of natural phenomena reveals. It seems also
that a general undefined notion of responsibility is associated in nearly
all human minds with the idea of divine existence, at least a sense of
responsibility sufficient to excite pleasure when we do what we believe
to be good, and remorse when we do what we believe to be evil.
Again, the connection which we find generally existing between vice
and misery on the one hand, and virtue and happiness on the other,
impresses upon us the idea that there does exist such a thing as retri-
butive justice. But at this point we encounter the great difficulty of
natural religion. Though the general law according to which the
affairs of the world appear to be governed is, that virtue is followed by
happiness and vice by misery; and though a full knowledge of the
circumstances of every case which appears an exception to that law
might show us that more real happiness is enjoyed by a virtuous
sufferer than by a prosperous sinner, yet it cannot be denied that daily
experience furnishes us with exceptions to this law, numerous enough
to throw great doubt upon its reality, if the period of human
existence ends with the present life. Accordingly we find the doctrine
of a future state forming a part of all religious systems, and generally
connected with some notion of rewards and punishments.
Now, if there be a supreme moral governor who rules the world by
fixed laws, who has appointed rewards and punishments as the recom-
pense for obedience and disobedience, and who has constituted man so
that he shall exist in a future state to receive that recompense, the
question is naturally suggested whether there be any means by which
the consequences of disobedience may be averted. Justice must be an
attribute of the ruler of the universe, and natural religion affords us
sufficient proofs of his goodness to justify us in believing that he is
also willing to show mercy. The question that remains to be answered
is, how his mercy can be shown without injury to his justice; and the
importance of this question is enhanced by the consideration that the
great majority of mankind (experience would justify us, apart from
the Christian doctrine of universal depravity, in saying all mankind)
need the divine forgiveness for at least some actions of their lives.
It is the highest province of religion to furnish an answer to this
question; and here natural religion entirely fails us, for if left to it,
the utmost we could do would be to rest in the exercise of an humble
faith that some provision has been made by God for the just forgive-
ness of our sins, though the nature of that provision be unknown to
The matter belongs to revealed religion, and accordingly we find
in nearly every religion professing to have a divine origin, and in many
others, the doctrine of an atonement; that is, of a satisfaction for sin,
in virtue of which the actual transgressor may be released from the con-
sequences of his guilt.
us.
These, then, are the elements which seem to be contained in any
religion suited to the wants of man; that there exists a supreme Being
who possesses absolute power over man and the material universe, and
all creatures therein, and who is to be worshipped by all his rational
creatures; that he has laid down laws for our conduct, by our
obedience or disobedience to which we subject ourselves to a recom-
pense of reward or punishment, which recompense is awarded partially
in the present life, but more completely in a future state, in which we
are so constituted as to exist after death; that a provision has been
made on behalf of those who feel that their conduct has subjected
them to the divine displeasure, by availing themselves of which they
may escape the consequences of their guilt without detriment to the
equity of the divine government; and lastly, that there are certain
practical rules of conduct by which the intercourse of men with each
other ought to be governed, and by an attention to which the stability
of the social system may to a great extent be ensured. And all these
elements of religion are susceptible of proof, either from nature, or
from human experience, or from revelation.
RELIQUARY, a case or repository for relics. The term is usually
confined to the smaller relic-cases, those of large dimensions, whether
ixed or moveable, being more commonly designated shrines. When
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REMAINDER.
4
the veneration of relics had become universal in the medieval church,
the practice of enclosing the relic in its own special case, so as to
preserve it alike from danger of loss and from contact with less sacred
objects, was generally adopted; and these cases, often gifts to the
churches, were usually of the finest workmanship of the period, and
sometimes of very costly materials. Reliquaries are among the most
prized remains of medieval art-workmanship now preserved in the
ecclesiastical treasuries of the continent and in public museums. They
vary of course widely in pecuniary and artistic value, and also in size
and form. Those of earliest date, Byzantine in character, are fre-
quently of copper almost wholly enamelled; and a common form, when
not a mere casket or coffin, is that of a chapel or basilica, having on the
sides and ends figures of Christ and the apostles, or the legend of the
saint whose relics they enclosed. Later, the church form is more
developed, the sides and gable-ends having, especially in French and
German examples, columns, arches, crockets, pinnacles, and even towers.
Those of the 13th and 14th centuries are often exquisite specimens of
the art of the period. They are commonly of metal-latten, silver-
gilt, or gold-with figures in relief, and enamels introduced with great
taste and admirably executed. Some are of wood or ivory, beautifully
carved. Sometimes they assume the form of the relic itself- as a head,
heart, hand, or foot, where they were made to contain a portion of one
of those members. The large reliquaries, or shrines, were of stone or
bronze, and, where regarded as of special sanctity, were overlaid with the
accumulated offerings of devotees. Thus the shrine of the Three Kings
at Cologne was ornamented with jewels said to be of the value of nearly a
quarter of a million. The shrine of Thomas à Becket, at Canterbury,
was of almost inconceivable value. Those were, however, the real or
supposed tombs of the saints, and though sometimes spoken of as
reliquaries, are, as we said, more properly called shrines. Of reliquaries
proper some few examples remain in our churches, as at Brixworth,
near Northampton; Yaxley, near Peterborough, &c. Several good
examples of enamel, metal, and carved ivory reliquaries are in the
South Kensington Museum.
REMAINDER. An estate in remainder is defined by Coke to be
a remnant of an estate in lands or tenements, expectant on a par-
ticular estate, created together with the same at one time." According
to this definition, it must be an estate in lands or tenements, including
incorporeal hereditaments, as rents and tithes; and it is an estate
which at the time of its creation is not an estate in possession, but an
estate the enjoyment of which is deferred. The estate in remainder
may exist in lands or hereditaments held for an estate of inheritance or
for life. It must be created at the same time with the preceding
estate, and by the same instrument; but a will and a codicil are for
this purpose the same instrument. A remainder may be limited by
appointment, which is an execution of a power created by the instru-
ment that creates the particular estate; for the instrument of appoint-
ment is legally considered as a part of the original instrument. A
remainder may also be created either by deed or by will; and either
according to the rules of the common law, or by the operation of the
Statute of Uses, which is now the more usual means.
If a man seised in fee simple grants lands to A for years or for life,
and then to B and his heirs, B has the remainder in fee, which is a
present interest or estate, and he has consequently a present right to
the enjoyment of the lands upon the determination of A's estate; or,
in other words, he has a vested estate, which is called a vested
remainder. A reversion differs from a remainder in several respects.
He who grants an estate or estates out of his own estate, retains as his
reversion whatever he does not grant; and upon the determination of
the estate or estates which he has granted, the land reverts to him.
There may be several remainders and a reversion expectant on them.
If A, tenant in fee simple, limits his estate to B for years, with
remainder to C for life, with remainder to D in tail, this limitation does
not exhaust the estate in fee simple. By the limitation B becomes
tenant in possession for years, C has a vested remainder for life, D a
vested remainder in tail, and A has the reversion in fee. If the
limitation by A exhaust the whole estate, as it would have done in the
preceding instance if the limitation had been to C and his heirs, A has
no estate left. It is a necessary consequence that if a man grants all
his estate, he can grant nothing more; and therefore the grant of any
estate after an estate in fee simple is void as a remainder. Indeed
the word remainder implies that what is granted as such is either
a part or the whole of something which still remains of the original
estate.
The estate which precedes the estate in remainder or in reversion is
called the particular estate, being a particula or portion of all the
estate which is limited; and the particular estate may be any estate
except an estate at will, and an estate in fee simple. It must therefore
be either an estate for years, or for life, or in tail.
Estates for years may be granted to commence at a future time;
but by the rules of the common law, no estate of freehold can be
created to commence at a future time. If therefore such an estate of
freehold is granted, there must be created at the same time an estate
for years, which shall continue till the time fixed for the enjoyment of
the estate of freehold.
A remainder cannot be granted so as not to take effect immediately
on the determination of the particular estate. If there is any interval
left between the particular estate and the remainder in their creation,
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6
REMAINDER.
REMAINDER.
the remainder is absolutely void. A grant of an estate to A, and one
day after the determination thereof to B, is a void remainder.
Estates in remainder are either vested or contingent. The remainder
may vest at the time of the limitation, or it may vest afterwards: in
either case the remainder-man acquires an estate in the land, to the
enjoyment of which he is entitled upon the determination of the pre-
ceding estate. But it may happen that a vested remainder may never
become an estate in possession.
A vested remainder is an estate which, by the terms of the original
limitation or conveyance, is limited or conveyed unconditionally. If a
remainder is not vested, it is contingent.
A contingent remainder is defined by Fearne to be "a remainder
limited so as to depend on an event or condition which may never
happen or be performed, or which may not happen or be performed
till after the determination of the preceding estate." Accordingly it is
the limitation of the remainder which is conditional, and there is no
remainder limited or given until the condition happens or is performed.
The uncertainty of the remainder becoming an estate in possession is
no part of the notion of a contingent remainder; for this kind of
uncertainty may exist, as already observed, in the case of vested
remainders.
Fearne has made four classes of contingent remainders, to some one
of which he considers that all kinds of contingent remainders may be
reduced, but he adds that "several cases which fall literally under one
or other of the two last of those four descriptions, are nevertheless
ranked among vested estates."
The first class is, "where the remainder depends entirely on a con-
tingent determination of the preceding estate itself; or, as it may be
explained, where a remainder is limited to take effect only on the
happening of a specified contingent event which is to determine the
preceding estate, and is not to take effect if the preceding estate deter-
mines in any other way. An example usually given is the following:
A makes a feoffment to the use of B till C returns from Rome, and
after C's return, then to D in fee. In this case B has an estate which
will determine either upon C's return from Rome or by his own death;
but the remainder is limited to D only upon the happening of a
specified event which may never happen; and if B's estate determine
by his death, or by forfeiture, which is possible, no estate is limited to
D. There is then no limitation to D, except conditionally, and his
estate is therefore contingent.
The second class is, "where some uncertain event, unconnected with
and collateral to the determination of the preceding estate, is by the
nature of the limitation to precede the remainder." This class is easily
distinguished from the first, by the circumstance that the uncertain
event upon which the remainder is limited, is entirely independent of
the manner in which the preceding estate may or must determine.
The following is an example: If a grant is made to A for life, remainder
to B for life, and if B die before A, remainder to C for life, the un-
certain event of B's dying before A is quite independent of the deter-
mination of A's estate, but the limitation of C's estate depends on this
uncertain event happening.
In both these classes of remainders, the event on which the remainder
is to take effect is absolutely uncertain; in the two following classes,
the events on which the remainders are limited are events which cer-
tainly must happen, and the contingency arises from the uncertainty
of the time when they will happen.
>>
The third class is, "where a remainder is limited to take effect upon
an event, which, though it certainly must happen some time or other,
yet may not happen till after the determination of the particular
estate.' The following is an example: A grant is made to J. S. for
life, and after the death of J. D. the lands to remain to another in fee.
Though it is certain that J. D. must die, this event, upon which the
limitation in fee is to take effect, may not happen till after the deter-
mination of the life estate of J. S.
The fourth class is, "where a remainder is limited to a person not
ascertained, or not in being at the time when such limitation is made."
The following is an example: A grant is made to A for life, remainder
to the right heirs of J. S. Now as J. S. can have no heir till he is
dead, and as he may not die till after the determination of the par-
ticular estate, such remainder is contingent. If an estate is limited to
two persons for life, with remainder in fee to the survivor, the remainder
is contingent, because it is uncertain which will be the survivor.
The numerous exceptions to the fourth class of contingent re-
mainders are comprehended in what is called the Rule in Shelley's
case, of which a complete exposition is given in Fearne's 'Essay on
Contingent Remainders;' and in Preston's Treatise on Estates' (vol. i.).
The nature of this rule may be generally stated as follows:-If lands
are limited, either by deed or will, to a man for life, and after his death
to his heirs or the heirs of his body, the limitation to the heirs would
appear to be a contingent remainder according to the definition of the
fourth class of contingent remainders, for the heirs are persons who
cannot be ascertained till the death of the person to whom the estate
for life is given. But it is an old rule of law that the estate so limited
to the heirs or the heirs of the body takes immediate effect as an
estate in the ancestor, and therefore, in the former case, A takes an
estate of freehold with a vested remainder in fee. His life estate is
consequently merged in his remainder in fee, and he becomes tenant
in fee simple in possession. If an estate for life, or an estate tail,
|
Lie
ser and the re-
is interposed between the stutt for
mainder to his heirs or the heirs of his body, still this remainder
is vested in the ancestor, just in the same way as if it were limited to
him and his heirs, or to him and the heirs of his body. Thus when A
takes an estate for life, remainder to B for life, remainder to Cin tail,
remainder to the right heirs of A, this ultimate remainder is a vested
remainder in fee in A, and, after his death and the determination of
the intermediate estates, his heir will take by descent. But cases
within this rule are not so properly exceptions, as cases which by the
operation of the rule are excluded from the fourth class of contingent
remainders.
There is another exception to the fourth class, which is allowed in
devises, where it can be clearly inferred from the particular expres-
sions in the will, that a limitation to the heir special of a person then
living is intended as a designation of a particular person. In such case
the remainder will vest; for the conclusion is, not that the testator
intended to limit the estate by way of contingent remainder to such
person as should be ascertained to be heir by the death of his ancestor,
but that he intended by the word "heir," accompanied with the other
expressions in the will, to designate a particular person.
A contingent remainder may intervene between the particular estate
and other limitations over, and yet the subsequent limitations may
be vested, if made to a person in esse, provided the contingent limita-
tion is not in fee simple.
tion is not in fee simple. The contingent remainder itself may also
vest, and then become an estate interposed between the particular
estate and the subsequent vested limitations, if the contingency hap-
pens during the existence of the particular estate. If in the same
conveyance an estate is limited to A for life, followed by a contingent
remainder and a subsequent limitation to A and his heirs, or A and
the heirs of his body, this last limitation, though executed under the
rule in Shelley's case, is still so executed as to allow the contingent
remainder to interpose as a vested estate when the contingency happens.
A subsequent contingent limitation may vest before a preceding one,
but it follows from what has been said that the preceding one is still
capable of vesting.
Lands may be so limited as to be subject to a general power of ap-
pointment. In such cases, the general power of appointment will not
prevent the estates limited in default of appointment from vesting;
though the due exercise of the power will divest them.
A contingent remainder may be limited generally upon any event,
except in such cases as the following:-the contingent event being
illegal; the remote possibility of the contingent event; and the con-
dition enuring to defeat the preceding estate. These subjects are fully
discussed by Fearne (c. 2).
It will be collected from what has been said that a contingent re-
mainder of freehold must be preceded by a vested estate of freehold; for
if there is no precedent vested estate of freehold, and the freehold
remainder is contingent, the freehold either remains in the grantor,
and therefore is not transferred to any one else, or it is transferred in
some remainder which is limited after the contingent remainder, and
which, being therefore vested in possession, precludes all possibility of
the vesting of the contingent estate, which by the terms of the limita-
tion must precede it. This rule as to the necessity of a vested
freehold estate to support a contingent remainder, applies both to
limitations of uses and of estates limited at common law.
It will also appear from the definitions of contingent remainders
that they must vest, that is, the conditions on which they are limited
must be fulfilled, during the continuance of the particular estate or
immediately on its determination. One of the cases in which such
remainders were formerly liable to fail under the fourth class of con-
tingent remainders, was in the case of such limitations as to A for life,
and to his first and other sons in tail. Originally a posthumous son
could not take, but such child is now for this and several other pur-
poses considered as a person in esse during the period of pregnancy.
When a contingent remainder is limited to several in a conveyance to
uses or by a devise, such remainder will vest in the first person in
whom it can vest, but it will divest in due proportions in favour of
other persons who are included in the limitations, and who become
capable of taking before the determination of the particular estate;
and such persons may take as joint tenants, though their estates vest
at different times.
Formerly, any determination of the particular estate before a legal
remainder vested, destroyed the contingent remainder. The contingent
remainder might fail not only through the contingency not happening
till after the expiration of the particular estate, but through its de-
struction by the surrender of the tenant for life, or by the forfeiture of
his estate during the existence of the contingency. The intermediate
contingent remainder was also destroyed if the particular estate and
the next vested estate of freehold became united by the conveyance or
act of the parties, so that the particular estate was merged. Now,
however, it has been enacted by the statute 8 & 9 Vict. c. 106, that
contingent remainders shall be capable of taking effect, notwithstand-
ing the determination by forfeiture, surrender, or merger of any pre-
ceding estate of freehold.
A contingent remainder of an estate of inheritance is descendible to
the heirs of an ascertained person to whom it is limited, if such person
should die before the contingency happens, and it will vest if the same
should happen during the continuance of the particular estate. Con-
F
7
REMEMBRANCERS.
tingent remainders were once not considered devisable, but it was
afterwards determined that they were devisable whenever they were
descendible to the heirs of the persons to whom they were limited;
and under the statute 1 Vict. c. 26, they are devisable in common
with all contingent, executory, or other future interests in any real or
personal estate.
Though a fee cannot be limited after a fee as a remainder, two or
more contingent fees may be limited in the alternative, so that one
only shall take effect.
Interests in chattels real and personal are susceptible of limitations
over after the limitation of some partial interest in them; but from
the nature of those interests they are incapable of such extensive
modifications as freehold interests in land, and they cannot be operated
upon by the Statute of Uses. Originally a bequest of a term of years
to a man for his life was an absolute gift of the whole term, and the
donee might dispose of the whole interest as he pleased; but at
present a bequest of such term to A for life, and after his death to B,
is a bequest of the whole term to A, subject to an executory bequest to
B, to take effect if A dies before the expiration of the term. It is not
a particular estate to A for life and a remainder to B. Any disposition
of a chattel, which in the case of lands would make an estate tail,
gives the whole interest. Thus if the second bequest of the term of
years were to B and the heirs of his body, B would take the whole
interest.
An executory devise is such a limitation of a future estate in lands,
and an executory bequest is such a limitation of a future interest in
chattels, as are allowed in the case of a will, though not in convey-
ances at common law. Accordingly a fee may be limited after a fee
in a will or by way of use upon contingencies which may happen
within certain limits of time; and such limitations take effect as
executory devises or springing or shifting uses. But when future
estates are so limited by devise as to be comprehended within the
rules which apply to contingent remainders, they will be considered as
such, and not as executory devises.
The subject of contingent remainders is fully discussed in the
elaborate Essay of Fearne on 'Contingent Remainders and Executory
Devises;' see also Hayes, ' On Conveyancing,' Appendix.
REMEMBRANCERS (rememoratores), formerly called clerks of the
remembrance (37 Edw. III. c. 4), are officers of whom, until recently,
there were three in the exchequer, called respectively the king's
remembrancer, the lord treasurer's remembrancer, and the remem-
brancer of first fruits; their duty being to put the lord treasurer and
the barons of the exchequer, who are the judges of that court, in
remembrance of such things as are to be called on and done for the
king's benefit.
I. The office of the queen's remembrancer has relation to the pro-
ceedings of the court of exchequer in the exercise of its original juris-
diction as a court of revenue, and of its incidental jurisdiction as a
court of equity, founded upon the fiction that the party seeking for
relief upon matters of equity is a debtor and an accountant to the
crown, who by reason of the withholding of that to which he is equitably
entitled, is the less able (quo minus sufficicns existit) to pay his debts
to the crown. On the revenue side, the queen's remembrancer enters all
the recognizances taken before the barons for any of the queen's debts,
for appearances, &c., and he takes all bonds for such debts, and for the
due execution of offices, and makes out process for breach of them; he
also writes process against the collectors of customs, excise, and other
public payments, for their accounts. Informations for intrusion
into the queen's lands, and information for debts due to the crown,
and on penal statutes, are entered and sued in his office; and he makes
the bills of composition on penal laws. Indentures and other evidences
which relate to the passing of any lands to or from the crown are
delivered into his office; and commissions of nisi prius, by her
majesty's warrant, on trial of any matters within his office, commissions
to find debts due to the crown, and writs of extent awarded in pur-
suance of 33 Hen. VIII. c. 39, are issued and prosecuted in this office;
also general process for the recovery of arrears of taxes and other
debts due to the crown, which issue twice a year. All differences as to
irregularities in proceedings are determined by the queen's remem-
brancer, with power to give costs against the party in fault, but subject
to an appeal to the court. (5 Rich. II. st. 1, cc. 15, 16; 13 & 14 Car.
II. c. 21.) He is bound by a rule of court, 3 Jac. II., to attend the
court during its sittings, to answer inquiries respecting the course of
proceedings, and to enter the rules and orders of the court of exchequer
relating to its fiscal or its equitable jurisdiction, and he executes the
duties formerly performed by the lord treasurer's remembrancer, now
abolished by 3 & 4 Will. IV. c. 99. This office is now held by one of
the masters. (22 & 23 Vict. c. 21.)
II. The lord treasurer's remembrancer's office was the office prin-
cipally concerned in matters relating to the landed and casual revenue
of the crown. When the king's title was found by an inquest of
office, it became the duty of the officer with whom the writ and in-
quisition remained, to send a transcript into the office, in order to
being put in charge for the service of the crown; he issued process for
debts to the king, and against sheriffs, escheators, &c., and others who
did not account. He took the accounts of all sheriffs, and made the
record, whereby it appeared whether sheriffs and other accountants
paid their proffers, that is, the balance appearing upon their accounts,
RENAISSANCE.
8
due at Easter aud Michaelmas, and he made another record showing
whether sheriffs and other accountants kept their days prefixed. There
were also brought into his office all the accounts of customers,
comptrollers, and accountants, which were to be entered on record.
All estreats of fines, issues, and amerciaments, set or imposed in any
of the courts at Westminster, or at the assizes or sessions, were certi-
fied into his office, and by him delivered to the clerk of the estreats, to
make out process on them; and he might issue process for discovery
of tenures and all revenue due to the crown by reason thereof, &c. As
soon as the estreats came into this office, the parties interested might
appear and deny the king's right, upon which the pleadings between
the crown and the claimant were carried on in this office according to
the course of the common law; and the right was either determined
by the court upon demurrer or by verdict of a jury. The pleadings
and judgments were entered on rolls called the Memoranda' of each
year. Those of the reign of Edw. I. were published by Serjeant
Maynard, in the first volume of his edition of the Year-Books.
Parties may apply in a summary manner for the indulgence of the
court of exchequer, which is empowered
court of exchequer, which is empowered by privy seal, at the com-
mencement of every reign, to compound or discharge any fines, issues,
amerciaments, or recognizances, according to the circumstances of each
case; and until the statute of 3 & 4 Will, IV. c. 99, such applications
passed through this office. By that statute, the office of the lord
treasurer's remembrancer was, with the offices connected therewith,
abolished. Part of the duties of this office had been previously trans-
ferred to other offices, part ceased by the Act, and the remainder are
performed by the queen's remembrancer.
III. The remembrancer of the first fruits office receives the
bishops' returns of institutions, takes all compositions and bonds for
payment of first fruits and tenths, and makes process against all such
persons as do not pay the same.
IV. Remembrancer of the City of London. The duties of this
officer are those of agent for the corporation in parliament, and at the
council and treasury boards. He gives a daily attendance at the houses
of parliament during every session, to examine all bills and proceedings
of the houses of lords and commons, and to report on such as may be
likely to affect the interest or privileges of the city. For this purpose,
the officers of both houses of parliament give him facilities of admission
and attendance; and, for the purpose of identification by them, he
sometimes wears a medal with the arms of the city. His duty is
further to take the necessary steps to procure the presentation of all
addresses and resolutions of the corporation to the sovereign and
all the branches of the royal family: to make copies of the addresses
and deliver the same, and to attend the sheriffs, when the appointment
is made to receive the address or resolution, and the corporation, when
the same is presented to engross all petitions of the corporation to be
presented to either house of parliament: to make and deliver copies,
and to attend when the petitions are presented. If the petition be to
the house of lords, the remembrancer, with the sheriffs, waits on some
peer of parliament, and requests him to present it. He has to give the
city members and the sheriffs notice when petitions are to be presented
to the house of commons: to make applications for obtaining, and,
when received, to distribute, the city imposts for duties on wine, an
allowance made by the lords of the treasury, the origin of which is not
known. The earliest entry of its being made is about the year 1680.
The sum allowed is 1007. 16s., which is distributed in different propor-
tions amongst the lord mayor, aldermen, recorder, sheriffs, common
serjeant, chamberlain, town-clerk, remembrancer, and sword-bearer.
(Second Report on Municipal Corporations of England and Wales,'
1837.)
:
REMONSTRANTS. [PELAGIUS, in BIOG. Div.]
RENAISSANCE (Architecture). The term Renaissance indicates
the period of the Revival, when the classical began to be re-introduced
after the medieval styles. The term is used alike in architecture,
sculpture, and ornamental art: our attention in the present article will
be confined to architecture.
The Renaissance had its origin in Italy, where at best Gothic archi-
tecture secured but a precarious hold. As soon as the passion for the
old Roman literature sprang up, there arose also a desire for the study
of classic art, to be followed before long by the attempt to imitate it.
Traces of the imitation of Roman architectural forms are observable of
as early a date as the middle of the 14th century. But the true
Renaissance dates from the time of Brunelleschi (or the early part of
the 15th century), in whose hands it assumed character and consistency.
Its full development, however, belongs to the century following.
[ITALIAN ARCHITECTURE.]
Although all were derived from that of Italy, each country had its
peculiar Renaissance, described accordingly as French, German, English
Renaissance [ELIZABETHAN ARCHITECTURE], preserving a general family
likeness, but each exhibiting traits exclusively its own. The Re-
naissance in general is often spoken of as if it were nothing more than
a direct but unskilful imitation of the antique, previously to the orders
being so well understood as they were afterwards when studied through
the text of Vitruvius, and reduced to a methodical system of "bookish
rules," by Palladio and Vignola. But in the first place it was founded
only upon the Roman antique, and in the next, not upon the temple
style of the Romans, but their triumphal arches, baths, and other
edifices. It was not either the portico, or the continuous colonnade,
-
9
10
RENAISSANCE.
RENT
where columniation displays itself in all its purity, that was taken as a
model, but rather such structures as the Colosseum, where several
small orders-that is, small in proportion to the general mass-are
introduced for little more than decoration to it. And in the Renaissance
and Cinque-cento (or 1500-as we should say, 16th century) styles,
entire orders are used only as embellishment, and avowedly so. Where
columns are employed for actual support, as in open loggie, it is only
in combination with arches springing from them, the columns per-
forming the office of piers to the arches. A great deal of Italian
Renaissance is, however, astylar, with either a full entablature, or a
cornicione crowning and proportioned to the entire mass. This large
and simple mode of treatment was greatly affected by the Florentine
and Roman architects of the period of the revival, and contrasts very
strikingly with the Transalpine Renaissance in France and other
countries, which is characterised by multiplicity of parts, and numerous
divisions and breaks. It contrasts also with the contemporary practice
of the Italian architects themselves when they employed the orders, in
doing which they made their compositions microstylar, applying a
separate small order to each floor or horizontal division of a façade,
above the ground floor; and they further reduced the height of the
columns by giving a considerable proportion of each order to high
pedestals beneath the columns.
|
pile. The buildings towards the court were almost entirely incrusted
over with panelled pilasters, arabesques, medallions, and other sculp-
ture. The Château de Blois, -the birth-place of Louis XII., and
restored and decorated by him, was another distinguished work of that
period, and probably one of those on which Giocondo was employed.
In the reign of Francis I., the palaces erected by that sumptuous:
prince and his nobles attested the magnificence if not the refinement
of that age. As a retreat for himself in the immediate vicinity of his
capital, Francis built (about 1530) the Château de Madrid in the Bois:
de Boulogne, whose façades were decorated with coloured enamelled
tiles, constituting a species of polychromic decoration. Of that
building nothing now remains, it having been taken down at the
end of the last century; but another architectural specimen of the
same period, the house or casino of Francis I., erected at Moret, near
Fontainebleau, has been preserved by being removed to Paris, where it
was re-erected in its primitive state, in the Bois de Boulogne, by the
architect Biet, in 1823. Of this interesting monument of the Renais-
sance, which has also some polychromic Robbia-ware decoration, plans,
elevations, and sections, are given in Normand's Paris Moderne, but
being only in outline, a great deal of the effect is lost in them. The palace
of Fontainebleau itself, in its interior at least, records the magnificence
of Francis, his taste for splendour, and his liberal encouragement of
In Transalpine Renaissance such application of the orders was greatly arts. The Tuilieries, as built for Catherine di Medicis, by Philibert
exaggerated, they being employed for the ground floor as well as the Delorme and Bullant, is another great example of French Renaissance
others, and the spaces between the columns being filled in, either when at its best, which has undergone such alterations as to be no
entirely or nearly so, with large windows, so that the columns or longer recognisable. By French writers generally, the style is con-
pilasters between them show only as accessories to the windows them-sidered to have risen to its highest point of excellence in the hands of
selves, and as narrow piers between them. Fenestration completely Philibert Delorme [DELORME, in BIOG. DIV.] in the reigns of Henry II..
predominates, both as to the quantity of surface the openings occupy, and Francis II. but it perhaps appears to more advantage in the
and the architectural character occasioned by it. One of the earliest edifices built in the reign of Francis I.
importations of the Renaissance into this country, Longleat House, In Germany, the castle or rather palace of Heidelberg would,, if
Wilts, erected by John of Padua, 1567, is an instance of such mode of completed, have been a most gorgeous pile in the Renaissance style, as
composition, and shows how greatly the borrowed style was transformed it showed itself in that country; and though now a ruin, the principal
in its general physiognomy, even when treated faithfully with regard portion of the exterior is in sufficiently good preservation to admit of
faithful restoration, in a series of architectural engravings. German
Renaissance was even more exuberant, not to say extravagant, alike.
in constructive character and decorative details, than even the French..
The Renaissance edifices of Spain are many of them interesting
and striking specimens of the kind. Among them may be men-
tioned, as deserving of particular notice for the elegant taste it.
displays, the upper gallery of the cloister of the Convent of
Huerta; also the Town Halls of Zaragossa and of Seville; and the
Alcaza at Toledo.
to details.
One deviation from Italian practice was the frequent employment
of coupled columns or pilasters, which was in some cases (as at
Wollaton Hall, see ELIZABETHAN ARCHITECTURE) caused by the neces-
sity for wider piers between the windows, at the same time that the
intercolumns were completely occupied by the windows, which last, it
should be observed, retained their Tudor or English character, being
very spacious and divided by mullions and transoms.
In much of the Italian Renaissance, especially in that for which purity
and correctness were affected, the character of the detail is somewhat
dry and meagre, and there is very little of ornamentation, even the
entablatures to Corinthian columns consisting of only plain mouldings.
Florid Renaissance, as it may for distinction's sake be called-seems, on
the contrary, to have been most in favour both in France and in our
country, probably in consequence of the taste for luxuriant enrichment
which had been indulged during that period of Gothic architecture
which the new style was beginning to replace. Besides which, it was
Besides which, it was
out of Italy adopted as an exotic fashion, owing to which and to its
being at first employed for palatial and sumptuous structures, it was
displayed in all its luxuriance. This florid species of the style and
period is marked by a profusion of enrichment and carvings in mould-
ings, panels, and friezes, by arabesque foliage and medallions, with
which surfaces of considerable extent are oftentimes covered. The
carvings consist of grotesque animals, foliage, &c., extended into scroll-
work, interlaced in an entirely capricious manner, of the kind known as
ARABESQUE. In Italian Renaissance the same kind of sculpture occurs,
but purer in design, more graceful in style, and more refined in execu-
tion. Figures of Amorini, with medallions, on which are portraits,
armorial bearings, &c., are common, especially in interiors. Even the
shafts of columns are frequently damasked or broidered, if not for their
entire height, for a considerable portion of it, and generally the lower
ones, with foliage and other chasing; besides which they are further
enriched by one or more bands embossed in similar manner. The faces
both of pilasters and pedestals are also highly decorated by being
panelled, and filled up with arabesque work or other sculptures.
Niches, too, are frequent features in composition, and within, their
heads are generally carved to resemble a shell; as are also devices,
mottos, and other inscriptions. This profusion of minute ornament is
eminently characteristic of the Renaissance taste in building, furniture,
and decoration generally; and though it was then carried to excess,
and the combinations themselves were often very uncouth, grotesque,
and what is understood by the term quaint (oddly picturesque, but
not beautiful), much of the ornament is, taken separately, marked by
elegance as well as fancy. Some examples from Italian interiors, of
characteristic design and admirably carved, may be seen in the South
Kensington Museum.
French Renaissance dates from the reign of Louis XII., who em-
ployed Italian artists, and among others the architect Giocondo [Gro-
CONDO, in BIOG. DIv.], who erected for Cardinal d'Amboise, the
minister of that monarch, the celebrated Château Gaillon. Though
that edifice—at least what remained of it,-was taken down some years
ago, it is known from the representations of it, and also from such
fragments of it as have been preserved by being reconstructed at the
École des Beaux-Arts, Paris, to have been an exceedingly sumptuous
|
RENT, in Political Economy, is defined by Mr. Ricardo to be "that.
portion of the produce of the earth which is paid to the landlord for
the use of the indestructible powers of the soil. It is often, however
(he remarks), confounded with the interest and profit of capital, and
in popular language the term is applied to whatever is annually paid.
by a farmer to his landlord." Mr. Malthus ('Prin. of Pol. Econ.') de-
fines rent to be "that portion of the value of the whole produce which:
remains to the owner of the land, after all the outgoings belonging to
its cultivation, of whatever kind, have been paid, including the profits
of the capital employed, estimated according to the usual and ordinary
rate of the profits of agricultural capital at the time being."
As most modern economists have adopted the main principles of the
Ricardo theory, we here give an outline of it, in the words of Mr..
Ricardo:" If all land had the same properties, if it were boundless :
in quantity and uniform in quality, no charge could be made for its
use, unless where it possessed peculiar advantages of situation. It is:
then because land is of different qualities with respect to its productive:
powers, and because, in the progress of population, land of an inferior:
quality, or less advantageously situated, is called into cultivation, that:
rent is ever paid for the use of it. When, in the progress of society;
land of the second degree of fertility is taken into cultivation, rent:
immediately commences on that of the first quality, and the amount
of that rent will depend on the difference in the quality of these twe
portions of land.
With every step in the progress of popula
tion which shall oblige a country to have recourse to land of a worse
quality to enable it to raise its supply of food, rent on all the more
fertile land will rise.
If good land existed in a quantity much
more abundant than the production of food for an increasing popula-
tion required, or if capital could be indefinitely employed without a
diminished return on the old land, there could be no rise of rent; for
rent invariably proceeds from the employment of an additional quan-
tity of labour with a proportionally less return."
Rent, according to the definition which has been given, consists of
a surplus which remains after the capital expended in production has
been replaced with ordinary profits. This surplus, which constitutes
rent, arises, as Mr. Ricardo asserts, from, and is in proportion to, the
necessity for resorting to inferior soils or employing capital on the old
soil with small returns. To use the words of Mr. Mill, his friend and
disciple-" Rent is the difference between the return made to the
more productive portions and that which is made to the least pro-
ductive portion of capital employed upon the land." In a country
containing, as every country does contain, land of various degrees of
fertility, rent therefore will not be paid until the demands of an
increasing population have rendered it necessary to have recourse to
the inferior soils. "Thus (continues Ricardo), suppose land, Nos. 1
11
RENT.
2, 3, to yield, with an equal employment of capital and labour, a net
produce of 100, 90, and 80 quarters of corn. In a new country,
where there is an abundance of fertile land compared with the
population, and where therefore it is only necessary to cultivate
No. 1, the whole net produce will belong to the cultivator, and
will be the profits of the stock which he advances. As soon as popu-
lation had so far increased as to make it necessary to cultivate No. 2,
from which 90 quarters only can be obtained after supporting the
labourers, rent would commence on No. 1; for either there must be
two rates of profit on agriculture, or ten quarters or the value of ten
quarters must be withdrawn from the produce of No. 1 for some other
purpose. Whether the proprietor of the land or any other person
cultivated No. 1, these ten quarters would equally constitute rent;
for the cultivator of No. 2 would get the same result with his capital,
whether he cultivated No. 1, paying ten quarters for rent, or continued
to cultivate No. 2, paying no rent. In the same manner it might be
shown, that when No. 3 is brought into cultivation, the rent of No. 2
must be ten quarters, or the value of ten quarters, whilst the rent of
No. 1 would rise to twenty quarters.
It often and indeed com-
monly happens that before Nos. 2 and 3, or the inferior lands, are
cultivated, capital can be employed more productively on those lands
which are already in cultivation. In such case, capital will be
preferably employed on the old land, and will equally create a rent;
for rent is always the difference between the produce obtained by the
employment of two equal quantities of capital and labour. If with a
capital of 1000l. a tenant obtain 100 quarters of wheat from his land,
and by the employment of a second capital of 10007. he obtain a further
return of 85, his landlord would have the power, at the expiration of
his lease, of obliging him to pay 15 quarters, or an equivalent value for
additional rent; for there cannot be two rates of profit. If he is
satisfied with a diminution of 15 quarters in the return for his second
10007., it is because no employment more profitable can be found for
In this case, as well as in the other, the capital last employed
pays no rent.
For the greater productive powers of the first 1000l.,
15 quarters is paid for rent; for the employment of the second 1000l.
no rent whatever is paid. If a third 10007. be employed on the same
land, with a return of 75 quarters, rent will then be paid for the
second 1000l., and will be equal to the difference between the produce
of these two, or 10 quarters; and at the same time the rent of the
first 10007. will rise from 15 to 25 quarters, whilst the last 1000l. will
pay no rent whatever." (Ricardo's Prin. of Pol. Econ.,' 3rd edit.)
Perhaps however the clearest definition of this theory of rent is that
given by Mr. Mill, in his Elements of Pol. Econ.,' to the last edition
of which work we refer for a more complete examination of the
subject.
it.
!
RENT (in Law Latin, redditus, a return") is a right to the
periodical receipt of money or something valuable in respect of lands
or tenements held by him from whom the rent is due. There are three
kinds of rent-rent-service, rent-charge, and rent-seck.
""
There is rent-service when a tenant holds lands of his lord by fealty
and certain rent, or by homage, fealty, and certain rent, or by other
services and certain rent. Rent-service therefore implies tenure, and
it may be due to the lord of the manor of which the lands are held, or
to some other chief (that is, immediate) lord of the fee, or to the
reversioner. The right of distress is an incident to rent-service in
arrear, so long as it is due to the same person to whom fealty is due.
Before the Statute of Quia Emptores (18 Edw. I.), a person might
make "a feoffment in fee simple either by deed or without deed, yield-
ing to him and his heirs a certain rent, which was a rent-service, and
for this he might have distrained of common right; and if there were
no reservation of any rent, nor of any service, yet the feoffee held of
the feoffor by the same service as the feoffor did hold over of his lord
next paramount. (Litt., 216.) The Statute of Quia Emptores
enacted that the feoffee shall hold of the chief lord by the same services
by which the feoffor held, and consequently no rent can now be
reserved when a man transfers to another all his estate in land. In
order that rent-service may now be created, the person to whom the
rent is reserved must have a reversion in the lands and tenements out
of which the rent is to issue; but any reversion is sufficient. Thus a
person who has a term of twenty years may grant it to another, all
but one day, and this will leave him a reversion, so that a rent-
service may be reserved, with its incidents of fealty and the right of
distress. If he assign all his term, reserving a rent, but without
a clause of distress in the assignment, he cannot distrain for the
Rent-service therefore which has been created since the Statute of
Quia Emptores can only be reserved to the lessor who retains a rever-
sion, and it will belong to the person who is entitled to the reversion.
If a man seised in fee simple makes a lease of lands for years,
reserving rent, the rent-service is descendible to his heir with the
reversion; though all rents which accrue due to the lessor before
his death will belong to his personal representatives. A rent-service
reserved out of chattels real will of course belong to the personal
representatives of the lessor. A rent is now most commonly reserved
in leases for years, but it may be reserved on any conveyance which
passes or enlarges an estate; and it may be reserved in the grant of
an estate in remainder or reversion, or in a grant of a lease for years
to commence at a future time.
rent.
RENT.
12
A rent-service may be separated from the reversion or seignory, by
the reversioner granting the rent and retaining the fealty in this
case the lands are still held of the grantor, but the rent is due to the
grantee; not however as rent-service, but as rent-seck (redditus siccus),
so called, "for that no distress is incident to it.”
seignory or reversion is granted, the rent-service will pass by the grant,
(Litt., 218.) If the
and the grantee is entitled to receive the rent from the tenant
from the time that he gives him notice of the grant, together with
all rent that had accrued due since the grant, and is unpaid at the
time of such notice.
Rent-service can only be reserved to the feoffor, donor, or lessor, or
to their heirs, upon any feoffment, gift, or lease; and if the rent is
reserved generally, without specifying the persons, it will belong to the
lessor, and after his death to those who are entitled to the reversion.
Rent is payable at the times mentioned in the reservation, but not till
the last minute of the day on which it is payable.
When rent-service is in arrear, the common-law remedy for the
recovery of it is by distress. [DISTRESS.] By 4 Geo. II. c. 28, s. 2,
every landlord who by the terms of his lease has a right of re-entry in
case of non-payment of rent, may, when half a year's rent is due, and
there is no sufficient distress on the premises, serve a declaration in
ejectment on his tenant, without any formal re-entry or previous
demand of rent, and a recovery in such ejectment is final and con-
clusive, unless the rent and all costs are paid within six calendar
months after the judgment in the action of ejectment has been exe-
cuted. The action may also be stayed before trial, if the tenant
will pay or tender to the lessor, or pay into court, all the rent then in
arrear, together with the costs. By the common law the lessor has
also an action of debt for rent against a lessee for years or at will; and
by the statute of Anne (8, c. 14, s. 4) there is also the same action
against a lessee for life during the continuance of his estate, which had
previously been given for arrears of rent after the determination of the
estate (32 Hen. VIII. c. 37). A lessor may also have an action of
covenant for rent, either by force of the implication contained in such
words as "yielding and paying" rent, or by force of an express cove-
nant to pay, which is seldom omitted in any lease. If the lessee assign
his interest in the term, he and his executors, so far as they have assets,
are still liable under the covenants to the person entitled to the rever-
sion. The assignee also becomes bound by such of the covenants as
run with the land, and is consequently liable to an action upon them.
There is also the remedy by action of assumpsit or debt for the use
and occupation of land, which action lies without any express agree-
ment for rent (see a remark on this action, 6 A. & E., p. 839).
Rent-service may be discharged; in various ways. If the tenant be
evicted from the lands demised to him, he is discharged from payment
of the rent; and if the lessor purchase the lessee's interest, the rent is
also discharged. The lessor may release a part of the rent-service,
without releasing the whole.
If the person entitled to the rent-service purchases part of the
interest in the land in respect of which rent is due, the rent-service is
apportioned according to the value of all the land, and accordingly the
tenant is discharged from payment of rent in respect of the part pur-
chased. The person entitled to the reversion may also grant his
interest in part of it, and the rent will be apportioned between him
and his grantee; for the interest in the reversion is of a divisible
nature, and the rent follows the reversion. If the lessee should be
evicted out of part of the lands, there will also be an apportionment.
Before the late alterations of the law, when the moiety of a rever-
sion was extended on an elegit, the rent was apportioned, and the
lessor consequently retained half of it. If a widow is entitled to
dower of a reversion, she is also entitled to one-third of the rent re-
served upon a lease for years made by her husband.
At common law, if a tenant for life died before the rent became due,
which was reserved on a lease that determined by the death of the
tenant for life, his personal representatives could not claim an appoint-
ment of the rent, nor could the reversioner or remainderman claim
such portion as accrued due during the life of the tenant for life. But
such an apportionment was given to the personal representatives by
stat. 11 Geo. II. c. 19, s. 15. The Act 4 & 5 Will. IV. c. 22, extends
the provisions of this Act to rents reserved on leases that determine
on the death of the persons who make them, though they are not
strictly tenants for life, and on leases of lands held pur auter vie; and
by the same Act all rents-service reserved on any lease by a tenant in
fee or for any life interest or under any power, and granted after the
passing of this Act, and all rents-charge and other rents, annuities, &c.,
made payable under instruments executed, or (being a will) coming
into operation after the passing of the Act, shall be apportioned, and a
proportionable part thereof, from the last time of payment to the day
of the death of the party interested therein, paid to the personal
representatives of such party.
A rent-charge is a rent granted out of land either at common law or
by the Statute of Uses, with a power of distress for the recovery of
the rent. Such rents may be created by the owner of the land who
retains the property of it; and they may also be reserved on the
alienation of the land. These rents differ from rent-service in not
being connected with tenure, and the remedy by distress is therefore
not an incident to rent-charges, but is created by the same instrument
which creates the rent-charge. If no power of distress is given, the
*
13
14
REPEATING CIRCLE.
REPEATING CIRCLE.
}
rent is a rent-seck. Rent-charge may be created either by deed or by
will. Sometimes, by the terms of the grant, the grantee of a rent-
charge is empowered to enter on the land and satisfy himself for all
arrears out of the profits of the land. When a rent-charge is created
under the Statute of Uses (ss. 4, 5) with a power of distress and entry
upon the land in case of arrear, the person to whom the rent-charge is
given obtains the legal estate in the rent-charge, with all the remedies
for its recovery, as he would by a direct grant of the rent-charge; and
the same instrument (lease and release) which creates the rent-charge
may also make a settlement of the lands charged with the rent.
this way in a marriage settlement a rent-charge may be provided for
the wife's jointure.
In
This latter bar moves easily, and without shake, on a pin concentric
with the tube and axis, and thus can be placed at any angle with the
fixed rule, and, as it is supposed, without at all disturbing it. Two
fine dots are pricked towards the ends of each bar; the lines joining
the dots in each should pass exactly through the axis of motion of the
When
upper bar, and the dots must be equidistant from the centre.
this is so, the four dots will; in every position of the bars, be the
angular points of a rectangle, and the equality of the opposite sides
can be ascertained by measuring the distance with compasses. Finally,
on the top of the upper bar a telescope with cross wires is fixed, the
telescope being a little shorter than the bar, that it may not interfere
with measurements between the dots.
An estate in a rent-charge may be either in fee simple, or in fee tail,
for lives or for years, according to the terms of the original limitation.
A rent-charge of inheritance is real estate, and descendible to the heir;
but a payment that is due belongs to the person representative. There
may also be an estate in fee simple in a rent-service created before the
Statute of Quia Emptores. A rent-charge in fee simple is subject to
curtesy and dower; and also a rent-charge in tail. But if a rent-
charge be created and granted to a man and the heirs of his body,
his surviving wife will not be entitled to dower if the husband dies
without issue. Until the Act 3 & 4 Will. IV. c. 106, a woman was
not entitled to dower out of a rent-charge, unless her husband had the
legal estate in it. A rent-charge may be limited by way of remainder;
and a new rent-charge may be created to commence at a future time.
A rent-charge, may be discharged in various ways. If a man who
has a rent-charge out of certain lands buys any part of them, the whole
rent is discharged, for it issues out of the whole of the lands; and the upper bar and telescope alone. The angle between the bars as deduced
consequence is the same if he releases all his right in any part of the
land. But a man may release part of the rent-charge without affecting
the remainder; and a division or apportionment of a rent by conveying
part of it to a stranger is a valid conveyance. If part of the lands
which are subject to the rent-charge descend to the grantee, the rent
will be apportioned according to the respective value of the two parts
of the land.
A rent-seck, as already mentioned, is not, like rent-service,
accompanied with a right to distrain at common law; but by the stat.
4 Geo. II. c. 28, s. 5, this distinction in respect of remedy between
rent-service and rent-seck is abolished; and the Act also applies to
rent-seck created prior to the statute which had been duly paid for
three years out of the last twenty years. Other rents, though they
belong to one of the three divisions above mentioned, are often
distinguished by particular names: thus the rent due from a free-
holder is called a chief rent (redditus capitalis); the rents of free-
holders and ancient copyholders of manors are sometimes called rents
of assise, being assisi, or ascertained, and also quit-rents (quieti
redditus), because they are a quittance and discharge of all services.
A fee-farm rent is properly a perpetual rent-service reserved by the
crown, or, before the Statute of Quia Emptores, by a subject, upon a
grant in fee simple. The purchaser of fee-farm rents originally
reserved to the crown, but sold under 22 Car. II. c. 6, has the same
power of distress that the king had, and so may distrain on other
land of the tenant not subject to the rent.、
The mode, of measuring an angle with this instrument is as
follows:-Let the two objects be R (that to the right) and L (that
to the left). Set the fixed bar to some angle from 10 to 20 degrees
to the right of R by the motion of the tube on the axis, and clamp the
axis-screw firmly; then, by the motion of the upper bar alone, bisect
R with the telescope. Take, with a pair of compasses, the distance
between the dots, apply the distance to a scale of chords, and you have
the angle between the fixed bar and the object R.
Call this angle 0.
Now, by the motion of the upper bar alone, bisect the object L. It is
clear that, if the distance between the dots were again measured, and
the angle deduced, as before, from the scale, we should have a measure
of the angle required +0. But instead of measuring at present, let
the telescope be brought back on R, by unclamping the axis-screw and
moving the whole instrument on its acis; when this is satisfactorily per-
formed, clamp the axis, and bisect L exactly as before, by moving the
from measuring the chord between the dots will now clearly be twice
the angle required + 0. Let the operation be performed so many
times-eight, for instance that the bars are nearly in their original
position with regard to each other, and let the distance between the
dots be measured and the corresponding angle be deduced from the
scale of chords, which suppose to be 4, being larger than 0.
ø, If this
last-mentioned angle had been 0 exactly, it is clear that the bar would
have come round exactly to its original position after having moved
through 360°; but as it has besides moved over an angle
-8, the
whole angle moved through is 360°+p-0, which is also eight times
the angle to be measured: hence the angle subtended at the spectator
by R and L is } (360°+p-0). By continuing this process of stepping
several times round, there seems to be no limit to the accuracy with
which an angle can be measured, except that which depends on the
imperfection of the telescope, the indistinctness of the objects, or the
uncertain lateral effect of terrestrial refraction. Mayer used a scale of
chords, probably because he was thus able to construct the instrument
himself, and could dispense with any circular arc or divisions. We do
not see that he has noticed one slight inaccuracy, namely, that as the
dots lie in different planes, the distance between them is not the actual
chord of the angle required, but is the hypothenuse of a right-angled
triangle, the altitude of which is the thickness of the upper bar, while
the base is the chord required; but this error is easily allowed for,
and, when the angle to be measured by the compasses is of a tolerable
size, is scarcely worth considering. If we conceive the plane of the
lower bar extended and changed into a divided circle, while the upper
bar becomes a vernier at each end, we should probably have the instru-
=
By the stat. 42 Geo. III. c. 116, in cases where the land-tax has not
been redeemed in due time by the owner of the land, it may be
purchased by any other person, to whom it will belong as a perpetualment Mayer would have proposed, had it been in his power to employ
rent-charge (though it is called a fee-farm rent in the Act), and the
purchaser will have all the remedies for rent reserved on a lease.
By the stat. 3 & 4 Will. IV. c. 27, s. 42, no arrears of rent or of
interest in respect of any sum of money charged upon or payable out
of land or rent, or any damages in respect of such arrears of rent or
interest, shall be recovered by any distress, suit, or action, but within
six years next after the same respectively shall have become due, or
some acknowledgment in writing given to the person entitled thereto
by the person by whom the same was payable; except where there has
been a prior mortgagee or other incumbrancer in possession of any
land or receipt of the profits thereof within one year next before an
action or suit shall be brought by a subsequent mortgagee, &c.; and
then the arrears of interest may be recovered for the whole time such
prior mortgagee, &c., was in such possession or receipt.
REPEATING CIRCLE. The principle of repetition from which
this circle has its name was first explained by Tobias Mayer, professor
of the university of Gottingen, in Commentarii Societatis Regia
Scientiarum Gottingensis,' tom. ii., p. 325, for the year 1752. Mayer
found that the common surveying instruments were often inaccurate
to 5′, while the quadrant, then used in all great scientific surveys, was,
from its weight and price, and the trouble required for verifying aud
adjusting it, scarcely to be considered a portable instrument, but only
fit for the observatory. The substitute which he proposed for geo-
desical purposes may be described briefly as follows:- Suppose a
hollow tube fitting upon an axis, to which it can be clamped, when
required, by a screw; the axis itself is fixed on the top of a staff.
This part of the instrument is exactly similar to a common mounting
for surveying compasses, &c., where greater stability is wanted than a
ball and socket will give. On the top of the tube a flat bar is screwed,
the plane of which is horizontal when the tube and axis are vertical;
the bar and tube thus form one piece, which has the shape of a T. A
second bar of the same length is placed exactly above the former.
a tolerable mathematical-instrument maker. Mayer says that he
invented this instrument eight years before the publication of his
memoir.
The reward proposed by the English parliament for any means by
which the longitude at sea could be determined, stimulated Mayer to
perfect the method of lunar distances. For the successful solution of
this problem two things are required-
this problem two things are required-tables correct enough to predict
the true place of the moon at any future time, and an instrument for
measuring the distance between the moon and star with sufficient
accuracy. Mayer fulfilled the first condition by his celebrated Lunar
Tables, one copy of which was sent to the Lords of the Admiralty in
1755, and a later, improved up to his death (1762), forwarded by his
widow in 1763. For measuring the distance between the moon and
star he proposed an instrument similar to Hadley's sextant, but in
which the angle can be repeated or multiplied without intermediate
readings off, similar in principle to the instrument just described.
Mr. Troughton says (article Circle,' Brewster's Cyclopædia ') that
Bird was employed to make reflecting circles after Mayer's idea, but his
dividing was so excellent, that the entire circle was thought useless,
and the sextant preferred, as having a larger radius, and being lighter
and handier.
In 1787 the Chevalier de Borda published his 'Description et Usage
du Circle de Réflexion,' in which he proposed a modification of Mayer's
circle, so slight that at first sight it would almost seem trivial, but
which gives an unquestionable superiority to this above every other
form of reflecting instrument when well made and skilfully and per-
severingly used.
severingly used. We shall return to Mayer and Borda's construction of
the repeating reflecting circle in the article SEXTANT, as those instru-
ments cannot be understood until the principle of reflecting instru-
ments has been explained.
The date of the invention of the repeating circle which is the proper
subject of this article, is somewhat uncertain: it is later than that of
!
16
REPEATING CIRCLE.
the reflecting circle. One was constructed in 1787, and employed in
connecting the meridians of Paris and Greenwich. (See Mém. de
l'Académ.'; a Memoir by Le Gendre, 1797; and a memoir by Cassini,
1798.) The Connoissance des Tems,' An VI. (1797-8), contains the
plate and description of a repeating circle which was made by Lenoir
for the astronomer La Lande. When the French government under-
took the measurement of an arc of the meridian from Dunkirk to
Barcelona, the commission to whom this operation was entrusted
resolved to employ the repeating circle.
REPEATING CIRCLE.
18
clamp holding so near the axis of motion has little power, and there is
scarcely room for getting at the screw-head, while the slow-motion
clamp is out of the way of the observer when he requires it for biseo-
tion. The large weight behind is a counterpoise, and the small level
above is for setting the circle vertical. There is a clamp at c, which
bites on the semicircle to make this adjustment and preven. its
being deranged. We will describe the process of observing with the
instrument when the object is a star at or near its meridian altitude.
both vertical, the observer bisects the star with the telescope, he or an
Supposing everything to be adjusted, that is, the axis and circle
assistant having previously brought the level nearly to the correspond-
ing points of its scale. The level is now read off, giving it time to
settle if wanted.
reckoned outwards from the centre of the scale.
We suppose its graduation to be in seconds, and
The verniers are
read off, the instrument turned half-round on the vertical axis, the
telescope clamp released, and the star again bisected by the telescope,
using its peculiar clamp and tangent screw; and finally, the level is
again read off. This operation is precisely the same in all circles
having an azimuthal motion, and it is clear that if the verniers were
again read off, the difference between the first and second readings
would be (after it is corrected for the indication of the level) twice
the zenith distance of the star. Let the circle be now reversed, the
level clamp and circle-axis clamp be released, and the whole circle
moved in its plane till the telescope points to the star, and let the star
be bisected again by using the axis clamp and its tangent screw only.
The level must be brought back to be horizontal while this is doing,
and be actually clamped before the final bisection of the star is made.
We conceive that this must be done at twice, even by two observers;
and it may be done at twice by one, though in a longer time. If the
reader has fully understood the process, he will see that the instru-
ment is precisely as at the commencment, except that the telescope
and its verniers have travelled over the circle, an arc equal to twice
the zenith distance of the star. A repetition of the operation will
carry the telescope verniers over four times the distance, and by con-
tinuing the process the final arc read off may be made any number of
times twice the zenith distance of the star. If the series stops after
ten such processes, the arc travelled over is twenty times the simple
zenith distance. Let the verniers be now read off, then subtracting
the first reading from the last, and dividing by twenty, the result will
This is one of the most complicated as well as ingenious of existing
instruments, and obtained an immense reputation, from being the only
instrument employed in the geodesical and astronomical observations
of the great measurement of an arc of the meridian, on which the
French have founded their modern system of measures, weights, and
money. Since that time the construction has been altered by different
artists, but not always with advantage.

100
140
360
OSI
091
346
021
061
130
320
200
270
260
259
230
13-0

B
Fig. 1.-Borda's Repeating Circle.
In this figure the general form of the instrument is shown tolerably
well, but some of the essential motions are at the back of the circle,
and these are drawn on a larger scale in a second diagram. The whole
circle turns round on the vertical column, which has an inner axis of
steel, with good fittings at the top and bottom. It is usual and proper
to make these fittings with great care, but it is not an essential con-
dition to accuracy in the performance of the instrument.
The top of the column finishes in a square bar, to which the upper
works and circle are firmly screwed. We shall first describe the
motions which are required for astronomical purposes, and point out
the rest when the geodesical properties of this instrument are con-
sidered. The azimuthal circle is scarcely to be considered a part of
the instrument.
་
The front telescope, its verniers, and clamp, are seen distinctly in
front. (Fig. 1.) This moves very freely on a spindle within the axis
of the circle. There is a level behind, a projecting end of which is
seen in the figure. This and its accompanying back telescope are-
one a little above and the other a little below the axis of the circle,
and revolve on a collar which works on the outside of that axis. These
can be fixed in any position by a clamp (also seen in the figure) which
embraces the back edge of the circle: the back telescope is for mea-
suring terrestrial angles. Finally, the axis of the circle itself passes
through a fitting, on which it also turns freely, carrying telescopes,
level, &c., without altering their position in respect to itself. There
is a clamp to restrain this motion and fix the circle, the head of which
is seen at A, fig. 2, and a tangent screw for slow motion at B. This is
the weakest and most inconvenient part of the instrument, for the
с
A
O
Fig. 2.-Back of Borda's Repeating Circ.e.
be the zenith distance of the star, and the errors of division or of
reading off will also be divided by twenty. If the number of repeti-
tions which can be taken at one culmination are not thought sufficient
to destroy these errors, the series may be prolonged on the following
and subsequent nights, starting from the preceding reading without
disturbing the verniers, until any number whatever are taken, the only
essential condition being that, in reversing, the level is undisturbed
both in its attachment to the circle and in its own zero; and that in
bringing the telescope on the star by turning the whole on its hori-
|zontal axis, the connection between the telescope and circle is perma-
nent. The hour, minute, and second at which each bisection is made
are to be noted.
We have said that it is better to read off the level than to attempt
to bring the ends of the bubble exactly to the same division, which is
really an impossible condition with one observer, and scarcely practic-
able even with two. The differences should be as small as they can be
made with moderate care and in a moderate time; but a well-ground
17
REDDAMENTO OTTANT DI
REPEATING CIRCLE.
-
`level will measure small arcs better than any graduated limb or even
than any small telescope can do, and it is therefore as safe to correct
for an error of level as to adjust. The level readings should be regis-
tered as towards the object end and eye end, or and +, along with
the times, and the correction may be made to the final arc. It is
clear that if the level were always brought to the same divisions, there
would be no level error. The effect of a derangement of the vertical
axis, which is shown by the level, is calculated as follows:--Let the
reading of the level end towards the object be 10" larger than the
reading towards the eye. To correct this, the footscrew towards the
observer should be raised 5", when the two readings will agree; but
now the telescope points 5" below its former position, in which it
bisected the star correctly. The telescope therefore must be raised,
that is, the zenith distance must be diminished 5"; hence if 5" be sub-
tracted from the multiplied zenith distance on account of that observa-
tion, the error would be corrected, and so on with every other instance.
The rule is, add together all the level readings towards the object end,
and prefix ; do the same with those towards the eye end, and prefix
+; take their algebraic sum, and divide by twice the number of
observations, and the result is the correction to be applied with its
sign to the mean zenith distance. This will generally be a very small
quantity. As the great difficulty in observing out of a regular obser-
vatory is in the reading off, the division of the level might be to every
2", but numbered as single seconds. These would be better seen, and
the divisor of the difference would be the number of observations.
When the instrument is very small, and the probable circumstances
under which the observer may be placed promise few facilities, the
scale may be cut to 10" only, with bold lines. A mistake of one or
two tenths in guessing the subdivisions would be very rare, and
scarcely cause a sensible error in the final result.
-
•
The circle has been supposed to be adjusted before observing; this
is a very simple operation. First place the instrument with the foot-
screws in their cups, and let that footscrew be towards the observer
which rests on the slow-motion piece. This is seen at fig. 1, on the
right. Place the axis nearly vertical by guess, or, if there is an
azimuthal circle, set the plane of that nearly horizontal by a box level.
Then place the plane of the vertical circle upright by the cross level,
and bring its plane to be parallel with the two footscrews which are
from the observer; that is, if the object is in or near the meridian,
set the circle east and west. Bring the bubble of the main level to the
same division at each end by its clamp and tangent screws, and then
reverse the instrument (turn it 180° in azimuth). The level is to be
brought again to the same divisions, half by its tangent screw, half by
screwing the two footscrews an equal quantity in opposite directions.
Now turn the circle a quarter round (place it in the meridian according
to the supposition), and bring the bubble of the level to its proper
position by the third footscrew only. This first attempt at adjustment
need only be approximate, but it must be performed over again with
considerable nicety. The slow-motion piece is, we believe, due to
Borda, and is a very ingenious and useful contrivance for making a
coarse screw do the work of a fine one. By placing the footscrew
nearer to or farther from the line of the two studs, the elevating power
of the screw can be reduced in any proportion, and the finest and
slowest motion possible given to the instrument. We have used
the slow motion for finally bisecting a star in observing with great
comfort. It is more ready to the hand than any other part of the
instrument, and the disturbance of the axis is of no importance, as
the level must be read off at all events. The approximate bisection
is performed by the other screws, and if the observer recollects which
way the star is moving, the space through which the instrument is
thus moved need only be a very few seconds. The cross level must
be originally fixed and adjusted, after the plane of the circle is known
to be vertical, either by hanging a plumb-line before the limb, or when
the telescope bisects at the same time an object and its image reflected
from a fluid. When the cross level is adjusted, the horizontal wire of
the telescope may be set right by making a star in the meridian run
along it, or else by bisecting a fixed object with it, and afterwards
moving the circle in azimuth. The object should run along the wire,
and by twisting the wire-plate round may be made to do so.
In the astronomical use of the instrument the azimuthal circle is
scarcely required, except to see that you have turned the circle 180° at
each reversal. It is convenient to have a coarse division to show this;
it is a relief to the eye, and prevents the possibility of catching a
wrong star. Any stop which is adjustable and gives notice when the
rotation has reached 180° will do. In many of Troughton's repeating
circles there is a pin which is pressed by a slight spring against two
spring against two
holes in the azimuth circle, which are 180° apart. This is convenient
enough if the observations are confined to Polaris, or a very slow
moving star, but wholly insufficient for stars near the equinoctial. It
supposes besides that the feet of the instrument are almost exactly
placed with respect to the meridian, which is not to be done at once.
A bar moving rather stiffly on the vertical axis, and coming against a
stop, seems a better contrivance.
distance of the star. In many circles which we have seen there are
two slips of brass which slide with a little force on the semicircle, and
the slight bar above mentioned is brought to touch each of these stops
alternately. Nothing can be more convenient, but unfortunately, how-
ever well the clamps may be made, the contact between the bar and
a stop forces the clamp somewhat, and the essential condition of the
instrument, that these should be undisturbed, is destroyed. The bar
should not be allowed to touch the semicircle at all, but stand freely
from it. In this way, by alternately bringing the bar to the equal and
opposite divisions, when either the telescope or the level is moved, the
telescope will always be at the proper altitude when the level is hori-
zontal. If any one should wish to use the repeating circle as an
altitude and azimuth circle, or as a surveying instrument, the wires of
the telescope must be set at right angles to the circle axis, by bisecting
a distant and distinct object, reading the azimuthal verniers, turning
the instrument half round, again bisecting the object, and reading the
verniers a second time. If the object be very distant, the azimuth
circle may be set to the mean of the readings, and the object bisected
by the horizontal screws, which draw the wire-plate; but if very great
accuracy is required, either two marks must be set up having the same
distance from each other as lies between the two positions of the axis
of the telescope, or the angle which this last space subtends at the
distant mark must be allowed for. The instrument is not fitted for
nice observation with the azimuth circle.
<
We have now explained the chief astronomical use of Borda's circle,
which is that of determining the altitudes of stars upon the meridian
by several observations near the meridian. There is a correction to be
applied to the mean result, which is easily computed when the approxi-
mate latitude and exact time are known. The formule and tables
required may be found in several works on astronomy, in Schumacher's
'Hülfstafeln,' p. 38, and Baily's Tables,' p. 154. The length of time
during which the observations may be carried on depends on the
altitude of the star and its proximity to the pole. Polaris might be
observed safely beyond 36m on each side the meridian, which is the
extent of the present tables, and, in these latitudes, stars in or below
the equinoctial for fully half an hour on each side. It is supposed that
the error of the clock is well known, but even this may be wrong to
a small amount without causing much error, if the number of obser-
vations on each side the meridian and the hour angles are nearly
equal.
The repeating circle may be very well used for getting the time
either by equal altitudes, or by absolute altitudes with one or two
repetitions. For this purpose there should be three or five horizontal
wires, and the instrument should be previously carefully adjusted.
The instrument must be moved in azimuth, so that the star passes
each wire near the centre, and nothing should be touched which affects
the level. For illumination by night, there is an opening with a
reflector in the centre of the telescope. This is objected to as weaken-
ing the telescope, but the other mode of illuminating by a small
central reflector, or outer ring in front of the object glass, is incon-
venient. Perhaps by taking a longer hold of the telescop and
strengthening the intervening portion of the tube, the former con-
venient arrangement may be preserved without sensible loss of strength.
The repeating circle, on Borda's construction at least, cannot be well
employed in observing the sun without very careful screening. The
level is so perpetually changing its zero, when exposed to the sun,
that there is no possibility of saying what the instrumental zenith is.
One of the first operations which the observer must engage in, is to
determine the scale of his level at different temperatures, and then he
may, for small deviations, use the indications of the level, instead of
worrying himself and losing his time in attempting to produce a
perfect adjustment. The value of the scale is thus measured :-Bring
the bubble towards one end, bisect a very well defined object with the
telescope, and read off both scale and verniers. Then, by the slow-
motion foot screw, bring the bubble towards the other end, bisect the
object again by the telescope, and read off the level scale. Now bring
the bubble to its original position by the circle-axis clamp, and the
telescope on the object by its own clamp, when everything is as at
starting, except that the telescope has moved over the circle the
sum of the angular motions pointed out by the level. This may be
repeated till a sufficiently accurate value is got for the whole scale. To
try the equality of the divisions of the level, place the foot-screw near
the line passing through the studs of the slow-motion piece, and note
the motion of the level for every whole revolution of the screw.
For geodesical purposes Borda's circle is an excellent instrument, as
the great French survey proves, but as the same advantages can be
obtained by a different application of the repeating principle, it is now
but little used. For an account of its employment and the directions
for its use we refer to Delambre's Méthodes Analytiques pour la
Determination d'une Are du Méridien,' &c., Paris, Au VII.; in the
'Discours Préliminaire,' by the same author, contained in the 'Base
du Système Mètrique Décimal,' vol. i. Paris, 1800.
Borda's repeating circle possesses two most valuable properties:
For setting to the approximate zenith distance, there is a graduated mere errors of division may be diminuted by sufficient patience; and
semicircle attached to the level, which may be seen in the general the fatigue of reading off the divisions, the most ungrateful part of an
view. This has its diameter parallel to the level. A slender bar is observer's task, is greatly reduced. Hence, it may be asked, why is not
attached to the object end of the telescope, and passes at the back of the repeating circle in general use as a portable astronomical instru-
the circle; this points out on the semicircle the approximate zenithment? We should answer that, in the first place, the construction
ARTS AND SCI. DIV. VOL. VII,
C
19
REPEATING CIRCLE.
REPEATING CIRCLE.
20
of Borda is by no means satisfactory for an astronomical instrument;
it is weak, and heavy, and rickety. But if a portable astronomical
circle is wanted, and to this class of instruments we should confine the
repeating circle, we think the following alteration should be adopted.
The telescope hangs loosely from its centre,* and whatever care may
be taken by the artist, the flexure of each end must be considerable,
probably different, and possibly varying from time to time with varia-
tions in the temperature. It should be grasped by two strong collars
near the ends of a diameter of a vernier circle, and the telescope might
then be safely extended three or four inches each way beyond the
divided circle. Again, the axis clamp which holds the vertical circle
should be fixed on the pillar and embrace the rim of the inner circle,
the clamp of the level (for no second telescope is wanted) might be at
the back, above, and quite out of the way. The whole circle should
be brought as close to the upright pillar as possible, and perhaps its
axis had better be fixed by the maker permanently at right angles to
the pillar. This would take away much weight and give great firm-reflected star is the same as the zenith distance of the star seen
ness to the whole instrument.
1
It must however be admitted that unless there are two intelligent
observers, or unless the base on which the instrument stands is so
steady as to prevent the possibility of any derangement when the
observer moves from the telescope to read the level, that errors may
creep in, though not, as it seems to us, greater than in all other instru-
ments not reflecting. We have previously cautioned circle observers,
and the warning cannot be too strongly pressed upon our countrymen
at least, that the level must always be noted contemporaneously with
the bisection of the star. If the foundation of the instrument is im-
moveable, this will be the same as the level a minute after bisection,
and so only one observer be required. But if the position of the
instrument is affected by the weight or motion of the observer, the
level after bisection is no test of the position at bisection, and two
observers are absolutely necessary. In Borda's repeating circle, where
the clamp is necessarily imperfect from the shortness of its bearing, it
is impossible to move the front telescope without shifting the circle a
little at the same time; but this is of no importance, for the level
shows the change, and the reading off of the level, when properly
applied, corrects this error.
În judging of the repeating principle as applied to any instrument,
attention should be paid to the perfect independence of the telescope
and level with respect to each other, and to their perfect connection
with the circle when they are clamped to it. In some instruments a
sort of repetition has been attempted by having the circle turn freely
on the telescope axis, and clamping it alternately to the telescope and
to a vernier circle which carries the level. It seems difficult in any
such construction to secure the immoveability of the circle while
clamping and unclamping is going on, and the construction has, we
believe, gone out of use. There are some precautions which should be
observed in every repeating circle, which we shall describe in reference
to Borda's construction. Besides the perfect independence of the
level, the telescope with its verniers and clamps should be perfectly
self-balanced, so as not to apply any force to the clamp in any position;
the telescope should be moved on the circle by two fingers pressing in
opposite directions towards the extremities; the circle should be
turned in its own plane by laying hold of the circle itself, and so
gently that no jar can take place, or any springing back or forward of
the telescope or its verniers from the moment of inertia : finally, the
level must have time to settle before it is read off. When these pre-
cautions are duly observed, great accuracy may be obtained; in two
instances, to our knowledge, where the latitude has been determined
by unexperienced but intelligent observers, the results even of a single
night have come within 1" of the truth.
It may be worth mentioning that with the circle of Borda the
measurements may be made by moving the telescope contrary to the
order of divisions, that is, if the first observation is made with the
face to the right hand instead of the left. There is no advantage in this
modification, except perhaps that, as the screws are handled a little
differently, any discrepancy between an angle measured in the two
ways would show an error in one or both the methods. It would be
advisable, where several series are taken, to vary the direction in which
the telescope is brought to its new position, and that in which the
circle is turned upon the star. The tangent screw might be worked
either constantly one way or the other, or alternately, but we should
not expect any sensible difference in the results if the instrument is
well made and the observers careful. If two steady observers can be
found, the double altitude of any star may be repeated, with the
genuine Borda and its two telescopes, exactly as a terrestrial angle, that
is, by measuring the angle between the star seen directly and by
reflexion from mercury. This would in theory appear to be the most
*If the object and eye end bend equally, there is no alteration in the
direction of the line of sight; the only evil is that the oblique incidence of the
rays on the object glass deforms the image when the obliquity is considerable.
The German artists of Reichenbach's school apply levers to telescopes hung by
the middle, in order to connteract flexure. We prefer, on the whole, obtaining
a maximum of stiffness, and then determining the effect of flexure which must
be allowed for. There is no possibility of avoiding the investigation in any
case where accuracy is demanded. Gambey takes a longer hold of the telescope,
but in providing a motion for surveying when the circle is horizontal, we
think he has lost something in stability when the circle is vertical.
perfect application of the instrument, as flexure has no effect
upon the
angle measured, being equal and in the same direction in both posi-
tions of the telescopes. The level is not wanted for this observation
at all, but the circle must be set truly vertical. A single observer might
indeed make the same observation with one telescope, as the level
would show and measure any shifting of the circle. And here again
the effect of flexure is eliminated from the observed double altitudes.
Finally, double nadir distances may be observed of a star reflected
from a mercurial horizon, exactly as double zenith distances are
observed in the ordinary method. This last species of observation
may have the advantage of being sometimes more convenient, but the
chief reason why it is pointed out is, that the effect of flexure upon
double nadir distances is equal, but in a contrary direction, to its
effect on double zenith distances; the observer has thus an easy
mode of ascertaining whether flexure exists, and of measuring its
amount and law. We suppose that the apparent nadir distance of a
directly. The horizontal points of all the large circles which we know,
vary to some extent with the altitude of the star observed, which
seems contrary to what is here supposed. This last-mentioned dis-
crepancy is one of the most perplexing points in modern practical
astronomy. The amount is, however, so small as scarcely to vitiate
sensibly any conclusion drawn from reflected observations with so
small an instrument as a repeating circle.
What precedes refers almost entirely to the repeating principle
when applied to measurements in altitude. Instead of the circle of
Borda and its two telescopes, later artists have given a motion in
azimuth to their theodolites, in addition to the motion of the tele-
scopes and verniers, by which the angle can be measured precisely as
in Mayer's original instrument. But in several instruments which we
have seen there is a considerable probability of disturbing the circle
clamp while moving the telescope or using its tangent screws. It is to
secure the detection of any similar motion that a watch telescope, as
it is called, is frequently added to English theodolites, and is indeed
required for many, spoiled as they are by an unnecessary adjustment
to zero, to save indolent or ignorant surveyors a simple subtraction.
A watch telescope can scarcely be applied to a repeating theodolite,
and we think that the repeating tripod may be so made as to be free
from any objection. This was first constructed by Mr. Dollond on
the suggestion of the late Astronomer Royal, and has been found very
useful in the trigonometrical survey of Ireland.
The three foot-screws of an ordinary theodolite are placed in the
three notches which are seen on the table of the tripod. This upper
part turns heavily on a stout short centre, it is fixed by a clamp at A,
and there is a tangent screw at B for giving slow motion. The steady
action of the tangent screw is secured by a spring at c. It is evident
that if, in using an ordinary theodolite, R (the right hand object) is
first bisected, the circle read off, and then ǹ (the left hand object) is
L
bisected, the circle being again read off, that the difference between
the two readings is the angle to be measured, if the instrument has not
been shifted, and if the bisection, reading off, &c., are perfect. Now
suppose the whole instrument to be taken up and set down exactly
concentric with its first position, without any other alteration, but
with the telescope on R; if L be a second time bisected, the difference
between this latter and the preceding reading will be also the
angle to be measured, and therefore the vernier will have passed
over twice the angle, reckoning from the beginning. If, instead of
this impracticable taking up and setting down again, the stand
on which the theodolite rests can be turned round concentrically
so that R is bisected by the telescope, the theodolite itself being
untouched, it is clear that the operation is equivalent to that just
described, and consequently that the telescope being brought on L by

13
Co=
A
10
Fig. 3.-Repeating Stand by Messrs. Troughton and Simms.
its own motion, the measure is obtained of twice the angle required,
and the process may be continued ad libitum, until the errors of read-
¡
21
22
REPETEND.
REPLEVIN.
has sued out a writ de proprietate probanda, by which the sheriff tries
whether the goods are the property of the plaintiff or of the defendant;
and if they are found to be the property of the plaintiff, then to
replevy them; if of the defendant. the plaintiff's claim to be restored
to the possession of the goods remains in suspense until the termina-
tion of the action.
A replevin does not lie for goods taken in execution, or for goods
seized for a debt to the crown. In a very intemperate speech,
addressed by Hyde, afterwards Lord Clarendon, to the House of Lords,
upon a charge against the barons of the Exchequer, for enjoining the
sheriffs of London not to execute a writ of replevin of goods seized by
the officers of the custom-house in respect of unpaid tonnage and
poundage, he is stated to have said, in the course of his argument,
in his own hands." (Rushworth,' part 2, vol. ii., 1361.) Though this
strange assertion has been regularly transcribed by succeeding writers,
it appears to be altogether unfounded. The replevins sued out for
goods seized in respect of tonnage and poundage would issue against
the officers as for goods seized by them in respect of debts claimed to
be due to the crown. But goods seized for the king's debts cannot
be replevied without the special mandate of the king or of the barons
of the Exchequer. Still less could replevin be brought in respect
of goods in the actual possession of the king, and upon an allegation
of their having been wrongfully taken by him.
ing off and of division are eliminated. The only precaution to be
observed is, that the stand must receive no angular motion from the
motion of the telescope, and this is easily effected by giving a certain
massiveness to the stand and a considerable heaviness to its motion,
while the telescope and its verniers revolve as lightly as possible. The
observer should satisfy himself as to this perfect independence of the
two motions and the stability of his repeating tripod by taking a set
of twenty repetitions of an angle, always moving the telescope for-
ward in the order of the divisions, and a second set of twenty of the
same angle, carrying the telescope round the contrary way. The two
results should agree if the stand has no motion; and if they do not,
the upper motion must be lightened or the lower be loaded till they
do agree. We should not feel satisfied to use the repeating stand if a
motion of the telescope a little ruder than necessary affected its posi-"We all know a replevin lies against the king, if the goods be (be not?)
tion although unclamped; and the stand which is here figured
fulfilled this condition very well with a 12-inch theodolite. As the
absolute coincidence of the axes of the tripod and theodolite cannot be
obtained, the angle should be repeated at least once round the circle,
and, if the case requires it, until the multiple angle is very nearly
equal to one, two, or more circumferences. The original repeating
tripod as designed by Mr. Pond was considerably higher than that
figured here. (See Pearson's 'Practical Astronomy,' plate xxix., fig. 7,
and vol. ii., p. 513.) A little greater nicety is thus given to the
adjustment of the vertical axis of the tripod, which is not necessary,
and the snugness of the present stand is, we think, more than an
equivalent. The axis of the tripod must first be set vertical, either
by a level of its own or the theodolite level, exactly as is described in
the adjustment of the vertical column of Borda's circle. For the
subsequent adjustments, &c., of the theodolite, see THEODOLITE.
REPETEND, the part of a CIRCULATING DECIMAL which is per-
petually repeated. The word, however, means simply to be repeated,
and is so little used in the above sense that it might be advantageously
employed with more generality.
REPLEVIN (delivrance de namps, replegiatio). In the middle ages
the performance of legal duties was enforced by taking the person, the
lands, or the goods of the defaulter into the custody of the party
authorised to enforce the performance of such duties. When such a
taking was effected, the party was said to be distrained (districtus, put
under compulsion), by his body, his lands, or his goods, to do the act
in respect of which he was supposed to have made default. [DISTRESS.]
Upon a distress being effected, the body, land, or goods, as the case
might be, of the distrainee remained in the custody of the distrainor
until the act for which the enforcing of the distress had been made was
performed unless the distrainee brought the question of the legality
of the taking before a competent tribunal, in which case he might
either await the result of his legal proceedings, or, if he was desirous
of obtaining a more speedy liberation of the thing distrained, he might
replevy it by giving a pledge or security to replace it in the custody
of the distrainor in the event of the legal decision being in favour of
the latter.
The alleged defaulter might contest the legality of the taking in an
action of trespass. [TRESPASS.] But in this form of action he could
recover damages only. He would not be entitled to the liberation of
his body, lands, or goods, as the case might be, pending the suit; nor
indeed when the suit had terminated in his favour, could he by any
proceeding which could be resorted to in the action of trespass be
relieved from the distress. The remedy by which a party was to
recover his liberty or the property distrained, and also damages for the
temporary detention, was an action of replevin. Where the person of
the plaintiff was taken, his remedy was by an action of replevin in a
peculiar form, which, taking its denomination from the writ by which
it was commenced, was called de homine replegiando. This proceeding
was however surrounded by so many difficulties, rendered perhaps
indispensable by the necessity of preventing criminals from using it as a
means of evading justice, that it has now become obsolete in England,
parties preferring to obtain their discharge by the more summary
process of habeas corpus. [HABEAS CORPUS.] The great mass of the
cases of homine replegiando in the old law books arose upon the seizure
and detention of persons whom the parties seizing claimed as their
fugitive villeins [VILLEIN], and this process was frequently resorted to
in Jamaica and other slave colonies. The seizing of the lands of a
defaulter by way of distress has long ceased to be practised.
Formerly not only lands but incorporeal hereditaments were the
subjects of replevin, of which a remarkable instance occurred in the
reign of Edward III. (Parliament Rolls,' vol. i., 45.)
The third form of replevin, and the only one now in use, is replevin
of goods, called in the old statutes replegiari de averiis, cattle (in law
Latin, averia) being the species of goods which usually formed the
subject of a distress.
If the goods of a party were taken out of his possession against his
will, he was entitled to a writ of replegiari facias, by which the sheriff
was required to cause the goods to be replevied, that is, restored to the
owner upon his giving pledges for the prosecution of his action, and
for the return of the goods to the distrainor in case a return should be
adjudged. As the right of the party from whom the goods are taken
to have the possession restored to him by replevin, depends upon the
property belonging to him-if the taker of the goods claim them as
his own property, the power of the sheriff is suspended, until the party
Replevin does not lie for goods taken in a foreign country, though
afterwards imported here.
If upon a distress taken by the superior landlord upon premises in
the possession of an under-tenant, the mesue or intermediate tenant
puts his cattle in the place of those distrained, as by law he was
allowed to do, he might replevy the goods so substituted, though the
latter were never distrained.
Replevin lies notwithstanding an express agreement that the land-
lord shall be at liberty to distrain and hold the goods against pledges
(that is, notwithstanding a tender of pledges) until the rent be paid;
for goods cannot be made irreplevisable by the mere agreement of the
parties.
Executors may maintain replevin for the goods of the testator taken
in his lifetime, and a husband may bring replevin alone without
naming his wife, for the goods of the wife taken before the marriage;
as the property in the goods passes to the executors, and to the husband
respectively, notwithstanding the seizure and detention.
A person may in some cases support a replevin without being the
owner of the goods, as where the plaintiff is the bailee of the goods
taken. [BAILMENT; PLEDGE.]
The writ of replegiari facias, which must have been sued out of the
Court of Chancery, was attended with great inconvenience and delay at
a period when the chancery followed the person of the king, and hence
it was provided by the statute of Marlbridge, (1267) that the sheriff
should, after complaint made, deliver the goods without hindrance or
refusal of him who took them, and by 1 and 2 Philip and Mary, c. 12,
every sheriff was required to appoint four deputies dwelling not above
twelve miles distant from one another, to make replevies and
deliverance of distresses. Under these two statutes distresses continued
to be replevied, until quite recently; when by the statute 19 & 20
Vict. c. 108, the powers of the sheriffs were transferred to the registrars
of the County Courts [COUNTY COURTS], who now grant replevins, and
take security from the replevisor for the prosecution of an action either
in the County Court or in one of the superior courts to try the validity
of the distress. This bond is taken under the statute 11 Geo. II., c.
19, s. 23, requiring sheriffs and other officers having authority to grant
replevin, in every replevin of a distress for rent, to take from the
plaintiff and two responsible persons as sureties a bond in double the
value of the goods distrained, with a condition for prosecuting the suit
with effect and without delay, and for duly returning the goods and
chattels distrained in case of a return being awarded.
By this statute this bond may be assigned to the avowant (the party
who took the distress in his own right), or to the person making
cognizance (the party acknowledging the taking of the distress on
behalf of some other person), and the assignee may sue upon it in the
event of the condition of the bond not being performed.
In the action which follows the replevin, the plaintiff declares against
the defendant for the taking of the goods and chattels of the plaintiff,
at such a time and in such a place, and claims damages. To this
declaration the defendant may plead non cepit, whereby he admits that
the goods belong to the plaintiff, and denies the taking only; or he
may plead that the goods do not belong to the plaintiff, thereby
admitting that he took and detained them.
But in ordinary cases, the defendant avows in his own right, or
makes cognizance as bailiff to his employer, for rent, or for some
other duty or cause, for which a distress is allowed by law [Dis-
TRESS], in doing which he may set up any ground of distress, though
differing from that expressed at the time when the distress was
made.
The plaintif may reply to the defendant's plea as in other cases
[PLEADING]; but inasmuch as an avowant, or a person making cog-
nizance, is not merely a defendant, but a party seeking to recover some
thing, the plaintiff's answer to an avowry or cognizance, which is in
the nature of a declaration for the right or duty withheld, is called a
REPLICATION.
plea in bar to such avowry or cognizance; the defendant's answer to
which plea or bar is called a replication.
Where there is judgment for the defendant, or the plaintiff is non-
suited, the judgment directs that the defendant shall have the goods
restored to him without being again subject to being replevied, which
is called a return irreplevisable.
If upon a replevin, or upon a writ of retorno habendo after judg-
ment, the sheriff returns that the cattle, &c., are driven away (eloigned,
elongata) a writ may issue commanding the sheriff to make reprisals by
taking the cattle, &c., of the distrainor, and to detain them until he is
ably to replevy the cattle, &c., of the distrainee. This process, which
is now nearly obsolete, was called a capias in withernam, or a capias
by way of counter-taking, from wither (against; in German, wider) and
nam, a taking or distress. A special action of trespass also lies for
removing a distress so that it cannot be replevied. This latter offence
was formerly called a "vee," or "vetitum namium," by which term is
to be understood, not, as might be supposed, a forbidden distress, but
a distress forbidden or refused to be replevied." (2 Inst.', 140.)
If after goods have been replevied, and before the suit has been
decided, the defendant makes another distress for the same cause, such
second distress is called a recaption, and the course is to sue out a
special writ for the restoration of the goods and for the punishment of
the recaptor; since, whether the first taking was right or wrong, the
defendant is not justified in thus anticipating the judgment of the
court. It is not material whether the second taking be of the same
goods or of other goods, provided they belong to the same party, and
are taken for the same cause; but if the landlord distrain the goods of
A, who replevies, and afterwards, finding the goods of B upon the land,
he distrains them for the same rent, no writ of recaption lies. B can
only replevy or bring an action of trespass or trover.
At common law, if the plaintiff was nonsuited, although the defen-
dant became entitled to a return of the goods, yet the judgment was
not that the return should be irreplevisable, as in a judgment upon a
verdict where the right had been tried. The plaintiff might have again
sued out a replevin, and so after several successive nonsuits. To put
an end to this vexatious proceeding, the statute of Westm. II. c. 2,
gave the plaintiff a writ of second deliverance instead of a new replevin,
in which, if the plaintiff in any manner fail in his suit, the defendant
will have judgment for a return irreplevisable. In other respects the
proceedings in the action of second deliverance are similar to those in
the action of replevin.
REPLICATION. [PLEADING.]
REPORTS (in Law) are relations of the proceedings of courts of
justice. They usually contain a statement of the pleadings, the facts,
the arguments of counsel, and the judgment of the court;-the object
being to establish the law, and prevent conflicting decisions, by pre-
serving and publishing the judgment of the court, and the grounds
upon which it decided the question of law arising in the case.
The earliest reports extant are the Year Books.' It is said that
some few exist in MS. of the reign of Edward I. and a few broken
notes are to be found in Fitzherbert's abridgment. A series of these
Commences, and are now printed, from the reign of Edward II.
They were published annually, which explains their name, from the
notes of persons, four in number, according to Lord Coke, who were
paid a stipend by the crown for the purpose of committing to writing
the proceedings of the courts. These early accounts of cases are very
short, abrupt, and often confused, especially from the circumstance
that it is frequently difficult to ascertain whether a judge or a counsel
is speaking.
The Year-books continue, with occasional interruptions in their
series, down to the reign of Henry VIII. The omission during the
time of Richard II. has been attempted to be supplied by Bellewe, who
collected and arranged the cases of that period which had been pre-
served by other writers. The Year-books are wholly written in Nor-
man-French, although by the 36 Edw. III., stat. 1, c. 15, it was enacted
that all pleadings should be in the English language, and the entries
on the rolls in Latin. This dialect continued indeed to be used as late
as the 18th century; the last which appeared were those of Levinz
and Lutwyche; the former in 1702, the latter in 1704. The Year-
books of later date have more continuity of style and fulness of
discussion; cases are cited, and the decision of the court is given at
greater length, with more solemnity and clearness. About the end of
the reign of Henry VII. it is probable that the stipend was withdrawn.
Only five Year-books exist for the ensuing reign, and none were
published after it. Their place was shortly afterwards supplied by
reporis compiled by private individuals, but subject for some time
to the inspection of the judges, whose testimony to the fitness of the
reporter is prefixed to the Reports. This however soon became a more
form, as appears by the statement of Lord-Keeper North, who speaks
slightingly of the Reports in his time as compared with his favourite
Year-books.
During the reign of Henry VIII. and his three successors, Dyer,
afterwards chief-justice of the Common Pleas, took notes as a reporter.
Benloe and Dalison were also reporters in these reigns. In the time of
Elizabeth many eminent lawyers reported the proceedings of the
courts, and, from the ability with which they acquitted themselves,
added to the previously unsettled state of the law, the Reports of about
this period have acquired very great authority. Anderson, Moore,
REPUBLIC.
24
Leonard, Owen, Coke, and Croke all lived about this time. But the
first printed accounts of cases published by a private hand are those of
Edmund Plowden, the first part of which appeared in the year 1571,
under the title of Commentaries.' A few years afterwards the exe-
cutors of Dyer published the notes of their testator under the express
name of 'Reports,' being the first published under that title. These
were followed, in 1601 and 1602, by those of Sir Edward Coke, which,
from their excellence, have ever been dignified by the name of 'The
Reports.' During this time reporters did not, as they have done in
more modern times, confine themselves to one court. In the same
volume are found reports of cases in chancery, in the three superior
courts, the court of wards, &c. During the reign of James I., Lord
Bacon and Sir Julius Cæsar suggested to the king the appointment of
two officers for the purpose of taking notes and minutes of proceedings
in the courts. James acceded to the suggestion, and a copy of his
ordinance for their appointment, at a salary of 1007. each, is extant.
(Rymer's 'Fœdera,' 15 Jac. I., 1617.) The ordinance does not, however,
appear to have been acted upon, and Reports continued to be compiled
and published by private hands only.
The English language was first used by reporters about the time of
Elizabeth. Lord Coke employed it in his Commentary upon Little-
ton.' In his preface he states why he thought it convenient to do so;
and adds that his conduct was not without precedent. From the
period of Elizabeth down to the present, Reports have been published
of the proceedings in all the courts, Coke, in his day, thought the
following distich applicable :-
“Quæritur ut crescunt tot magna volumina legis;
In promptu causa est, crescit in orbe dolus."
This is curious as evidencing the number and fecundity of reporters
at that time. North also complains of the great number of Reports.
(Coke's Reports, Preface to part 3; Dugdale's Origines Juridicales;
Reeves's History of the English Law.)
REPRESENTATION. [DESCENT.]
REPRIEVE (from the French repris, withdrawn), in criminal law,
means the withdrawal of a prisoner from the execution and proceeding
of the law for a certain time. Every court which has power to award
execution, has also power, either before or after judgment, to grant a
reprieve. The consequence of a reprieve is, that the delivery or the
execution of the sentence of the court is suspended. A reprieve may
proceed from the mere pleasure of the crown expressed to the court,
or from the discretion of the court itself. The justices of jail delivery
may either grant or take off a reprieve, although their session be
finished, and their commission expired. A reprieve proceeding from
the discretion of the court is usually granted when, from any circum-
stance, doubt exists as to the propriety of carrying a sentence into
execution. This doubt may be created either from the unsatisfactory
character of the verdict, the suspicious nature of the evidence, the
insufficiency of the indictment, &c., or from the appearance of circum-
stances favourable to the prisoner. When a reprieve has been granted
with a view to recommend to mercy a prisoner capitally condemned, a
memorial to that effect is forwarded to the secretary of state, who
Where it
recommends the prisoner to the mercy of the crown.
has been granted by reason of some doubts in point of law as to the
propriety of the conviction, the execution of the sentence is suspended
until the opinion of the judges has been taken upon it. The sentence
is then executed or commuted in accordance with their opinion.
There are two cases in which a reprieve is necessarily granted.
One
is where a woman who has been capitally convicted pleads her preg-
nancy in delay of execution. Where such a plea is made, the judge
must direct a jury of matrons to inquire of the fact; and if they find
that she is quick with child, the execution is delayed, either till after
her delivery, or proof by lapse of time that she was not pregnant. The
other is where a prisoner appears to have become insane between
judgment and the award of execution. In such case a jury must be
sworn to inquire whether he really is insane. If they find that he is,
a reprieve must be granted.
If the reprieve is sent by the secretary of state, it is under the sign
manual of the sovereign.
REPUBLIC is derived immediately from the French république,
and ultimately from the Latin res publica. The Latin expression res
res communis et publica
publica is defined, by Facciolati, to be
civium una viventium," and corresponds very closely with the English
word commonwealth, as used in its largest acceptation for a political
society. The Latin word res publica might be applied to a community
under a monarchical government; thus Augustus is said in a passage
of Capito, a Roman lawyer, to have governed the res publica (Gellius,
xiii. 12); the word, however, was more applicable to a society having a
popular government than to a society having a monarchical govern-
ment; thus Cicero denies that the name of res publica can be pro-
perly given to a community which is grievously oppressed by the
rule of a single man : Ergo illam rem populi, id est rem publicam,
quis diceret tum, quum crudelitate unius oppressi essent universi;
neque esset unum vinculum juris, nec consensus ac societas coetus,
quod est populus " ( De Rep.,' iii. 31).
A republic, according to the modern usage of the word, signifies a
political community which is not under monarchical government, or,
in other words, a political community in which one person does not
25
$3
REPUBLICATION.
RESCUE.
-
possess the entire sovereign power. Dr. Johnson, in his dictionary,
defines a republic to be "a state in which the power is lodged in more
than one." Since a republic is a political community in which several
persons share the sovereign power, it comprehends the two classes of
aristocracies and democracies, the differences between which are ex-
plained under ARISTOCRACY and DEMOCRACY.
The word republic is sometimes understood to be equivalent to
democracy, and the word republican is considered as equivalent to
democrat; but this restricted sense of the words appears to be in-
accurate; for aristocratic communities, such as Sparta, Rome in early
times, and Venice, have always been called republics.
REPUBLICATION. [WILL AND TESTAMENT.]
REPULSION is that power by which bodies or the particles of
bodies are made to recede from one another. Both attraction and
repulsion exist in all the particles of material substances, and seem to
be properties by which those particles act upon one another when not
in contact. The cause of these actions will probably be for ever
unknown to us; and the terms are only applied in conformity to the
phenomena exhibited. At all sensible distances, bodies, small and
great, except in certain states with respect to electricity or magnetism,
attract one another; and the intensity of the attraction varies inversely
as the square of the distance between the bodies. But the phenomena
of light, and of elasticity in general, show that at distances which are
not appreciable by the eye (perhaps such as are less than 0 inch)
both attractions and repulsions take place. [ATTRACTION.]
In his researches concerning the phenomena of light, Newton, having
brought at one time a hair, and at another the edge of a knife, near a
small beam of light in a darkened room, found that the particles of
light were made to deviate from the rectilinear direction, as if attracted
by a force which diminished with the distance of the ray from the hair
or knife. The shadow of the latter was bordered with three coloured
fringes, of which the nearest to it was formed by inflected rays passing
at a distance rather greater than go inch from the knife-edge; and the
second and third fringes by rays inflected respectively at greater
distances. (Optices,' lib. iii.) [DIFFRACTION OF LIGHT.] From these
phenomena Newton was led to the opinion (which he proposes as a
query) that all material bodies might be assemblages of particles in
equilibrio between their mutual attractions and repulsions. He
imagined also that a subtle ether, pervading material bodies, was the
immediate agent in producing such attractions or repulsions, together
with all the circumstances of cohesion, and also those of chemical,
magnetical, and electrical actions. The phenomena of nature seem to
justify the supposition than an ether pervades all bodies; but it must
be admitted that the hypothesis of Newton only removes the difficulty
concerning the actions of the particles of bodies a step further, since
we are equally at a loss to account for the existence of the powers in
those particles, and in the ether itself.
The reality of a distance between the particles of bodies, whether
solid, fluid, or gaseous, admits of no question; for the differences in
the densities of these classes of bodies can only be conceived to arise
from the different extent of the intervals between the particles.
[HEAT.] By the process of cooling, all bodies, with certain exceptions
in particular cases, become contracted in volume; and the mixing of
two given volumes of different fluids (as water and sulphuric acid) pro-
duces a volume less than the sum of the two separate volumes. These
effects manifestly depend upon the approach of the particles to one
another, and are therefore inconsistent with the supposition that they
were originally in contact.
It is natural to ask if there be such a thing as mathematical contact
in nature, and it may be answered that we have no evidence of such a
condition. [COHESION.] Besides the continual diminution of volume
produced in the cooling of bodies, the Newtonian experiment of
pressing a convex lens of glass upon the surface of a glass mirror
affords evidence that the lens, at the point of nearest approach, and
under a very great pressure, is not in contact with the mirror; and it
has been supposed that the distance between them, at that place, is then
not less than go inch. (Robison, 'Mechan. Phil.') It seems to follow
that a vast force of repulsion must be in action between the particles
of bodies when they are as near together as mechanical power can
bring them; and it can be easily conceived that such repulsive force
may be the immediate cause of the sensation of touch.
It has been said that the mixture of certain different fluids produces
a diminution of volume; but it must be observed that a contrary effect
frequently takes place. Some of the metals, when mixed together in a
melted state, produce a volume greater than the sum of the component
volumes; and melted metals, on becoming solid, like water on being
frozen, expand in volume. The latter effect may arise from the crystals,
on being formed, placing themselves across one another so as to leave
comparatively large intervals; but the other can only be caused either
by a diminution of the attractive power which the particles exert on
one another, or by its being changed into a power of repulsion. One
of these latter circumstances must also be the cause of the great
augmentation of volume which takes place when the components of
some bodies are disengaged from each other. It is said that if the
parts of olefiant gas were separated, the sum of the separate volumes
would be four times as great as the volume of the compound; that is,
two volumes of hydrogen and two of carbon vapour are condensed in
olefiant gas into the space of one volume.
It is right to observe that the word repulsion is often applied to
phenomena which are in reality the results of attraction. A small
quantity of quicksilver being laid on a glass plate assumes a spherical
form, instead of spreading over it in a thin surface; and this was once
supposed to arise from a repulsive power in the glass, whereas it is
owing to the attraction of the particles of quicksilver for one another
being greater than the attraction of the glass for the quicksilver.
Again, when a small sewing-needle is placed on the surface of water, it
remains there without sinking, and the water is depressed about the
needle as if it were repelled by the steel; in fact, however, the trough
is caused by the weight of the needle, which displaces the particles of
water, but is not great enough to overcome their attraction for each
other. Also, when two balls, one of them of glass, which is capable of
attracting water, and the other of burnt cork, which is not, or only in
a very small degree, are placed near one another in water, the latter
seems to be repelled from the former; but the cause of the pheno-
menon is that the ring of elevated water about the glass assumes on
the exterior a conical surface, so that when the cork ball is brought
near enough to the other to be partly on the slope, it immediately
slides off by its gravity.
The elasticity of bodies is a result either of attractive or repulsive
powers, or both. For example, when a steel rod is bent, the particles
on one side will be forced towards, and on the opposite they will be
drawn from one another; in recovering itself, a force of attraction will
be exerted on the latter side, and of repulsion on the other; and this
may be considered as an evidence that in the insensible spaces between
the particles of bodies attractions and repulsions prevail according as
the distances between those particles are varied. While the change of
figure in the rod is small, so that the displacement of any two particles
is but a small part of their whole distance from one another, the
attractions and repulsions exerted by the force applied are proportional
to that force; and upon this principle depends the observed isochro-
nism in the oscillations of a watch-balance, whatever be the extent of
the arcs of vibration. The expansions of solids and fluids by heat, and
the elastic powers of gas at different temperatures, are consequences of
the repulsions residing in the particles of caloric, or induced by the
latter in those of the bodies with which they are combined. [ELAS-
TICITY; GAS; HEAT.] The repulsive power existing in the air which
is condensed in nitre, produces, on being combined with heat, a velocity
of expansion equal to about 7000 feet per second; and the force of
pressure resulting from it is thought to be equal to 2000 times the
pressure of the atmosphere. (Hutton, 'Tracts.') The repulsive force
which produces some of the electric explosions in the atmosphere is
supposed to be much greater. But the forces both of attraction and
repulsion by which the particles of light are deflected from their course
when they impinge on a refracting or reflecting surface are enormous ;
and Sir John Herschel computes that they exceed the force of gravity
in the ratio of 2 x 10 to 1. This is on the hypothesis of radiation;
and that philosopher observes that on the undulatory hypothesis the
numbers are equally high.
The circumstances of electrical attractions and repulsions are shown
in the article ELECTRICITY; and the results of experiments prove that
the intensities of these forces in the electric, galvanic, and magnetic
fluids, like that of general attraction, vary inversely as the squares of
the distances of the bodies.
Boscovich has ingeniously represented the series of alternate
attractions and repulsious supposed to be experienced by a particle
of matter within the very small distances between that particle and
another, by a curve consisting of several bends crossing and recrossing
an axis in points at various distances from the origin, which
may be
supposed to be the place of the second particle above mentioned. The
ordinates of this curve on one side of the axis represent attractions, and
those on the other side repulsions; the places of crossing being sup-
posed to be those at which the first particle would be at rest. Beyond
the small distance above mentioned, this axis becomes an asymptote to
the curve, and the ordinates of the curve here represent the general
law of attraction (the inverse square of the distances). Near the origin
of the axis the ordinates represent repulsions; and these ordinates
constantly increase till they become infinite, so that a right line drawn
through the place of the second particle, perpendicular to the axis, is
an asymptote to this branch of the curve.
REQUEST, COURTS OF (sometimes called Courts of Conscience),
were local tribunals, founded by Act of Parliament to facilitate the
recovery of small debts from any inhabitant or trader in the district
defined by the Act: they have been altogether superseded by the
COUNTY COURTS,
REQUIEM (Requics, Lat., rest), the name of a mass sung in the
Romish Church for the repose of the dead, beginning Requiem
aternam, and in the Roman Catholic liturgy called Missa pro Defunctis.
REREDOS. [RETABLE.]
RESCUE, in Law ( rescous,' from the old French word rescourser,
to recover), is the unlawful and forcible setting at liberty a person or
goods, in lawful custody. A rescue may be either a criminal offence
or a civil injury, according to the circumstances under which it is
effected. The character of the criminal offence is determined by the
character of the offence committed by the person rescued. If, for
instance, a party has rescued a traitor or a feloù, he has committed the
offence of treason or felony; but as the treason or felony of the person
27
RESERVOIRS.
rescued cannot be assumed to have been committed until after his con-
viction and judgment, it is not proper to arraign the rescuer for such
offences until after judgment of the principal offender. But the
rescuer may be indicted for a misdemeanor before such judgment.
For a rescue from lawful custody is in all cases a misdemeanor.
Several statutes have, however, varied the-character of this offence, and
the punishment.
Previously to the abolition of arrest on mesne process, if a prisoner
in custody of the sheriff on mesne process was rescued, the sheriff
might make a return to that effect, which freed him from further
responsibility; the rescuers being liable to an attachment for a con-
tempt, and also to an action at suit of the plaintiff.
Where a party is arrested, or goods are taken upon a final process,
the sheriff cannot return that there has been a rescue, and either he or
the jailer is in all cases, except where the rescue is effected by the
king's enemies, answerable in an action by the plaintiff. This liability
is concurrent with the liability of the rescuers themselves, the plaintiff
having the option to sue either the rescuers or the sheriff.
(Com., Dig., Rescous;' Hale, P. C.; Hawk., P. C.; Russell, On
Crimes; Matthews, On Criminal Law.)
RESERVOIRS. In engineering works the word reservoir is under-
stood generally to apply to the large collections of water which are
made for the purpose of feeding canals, or of supplying the head waters
ef a mill, or of supplying the water required for municipal services. The
water, in almost all these cases, is obtained by storing the excess of the
rain-fall (which would otherwise pass off from the surface of the land,
by the streams or rivers, during the rainy seasons) in artificial ponds,
provided with sluices, feeders, or main pipes, to conduct the water to
the places where it is required. Under these circumstances the
limensions of reservoirs, and the modes of their construction, must
admit of every imaginable variation; but the general principles con-
nected with their formation may be briefly stated as follows.
The reservoirs for feeding canals, or inland navigation, may be
made without much reference to the quality of the water to be stored
in them; but those which are designed for the purpose of a town
supply must be made in such places as to obviate any danger from the
contamination of the water. It is customary that they should be
formed, in either of these cases, if practicable, in the gorges of moun-
tainous districts, where there might exist a large area of land having a
natural fall towards the outlet of the gorge. Writers upon meteorology
calculate that upon the average of the total rain-fall of the whole
year passes off by means of the superficial natural watercourses; that
another passes off by evaporation; and that the remaining descends
into the ground to feed the land springs and the wells. In moun-
tainous districts, however, these proportions do not hold good; for,
firstly, it happens that, as a general rule, the nucleus of mountain
chains consists of dense impermeable rocks, which not only oppose the
infiltration of water, but also from the steepness of their escarpments
throw off the rain-fall in greater abundance than would be the case in
more level districts. Secondly, on mountains the rain-fall is usually
more abundant than it is on plains, and it is more evenly distributed
over the year; so that the natural surface of the ground does not
become so absorbent, nor does the evaporation from that surface take
place with the same rapidity, as it would do in the low lands. It
It
thus happens that the quantity of water, which may usually be
calculated as being likely to find its way into a reservoir placed in a
mountainous district, may be reckoned as being about one half of the
total rain-fall; but the net quantity disposable will be often very
inferior to the quantity thus originally impounded, because there must
always be an active evaporation going on from the water surface,
(which, moreover, will take place to the greatest extent when the
water is most wanted) and there must always be a more or less active
infiltration through the bed of the reservoir itself. As it will be
necessary to discuss the effects of these conditions of evaporation and
infiltration under the article WATER SUPPLY, on account of their
influence upon gravitation water-works, it may suffice here to say that
it is very rarely indeed that the engineer can depend upon com-
manding more than from to of the total quantity of the rain-fall of
12
his drainage area; and that it is only exceptionally that he can attain
the higher limit above quoted.
Another very important consideration will be found to affect the
dimensions of reservoirs, which has only been cursorily noticed above,
namely the distribution of the rain-fall over the year. In many cases
it is known that rain does not fall for months together; and even in
the Bagshot Heath district droughts of four and five months duration
have taken place. A reservoir established in such a district must then
contain; 1st, 'the total actual quantity required for the service it is
intended to perform; and it is to be observed that during droughts
the consumption of water must be nearly double that which would be
required under normal circumstances, whilst the reservoir must be
male large enough to supply the largest consumption, not the average
one. 2nd, it must contain, in addition to this quantity, enough water
to compensate for the evaporation and infiltration, and to secure the
water from injurious chemical changes. In fact the water of large
lakes even, unless constantly kept in motion by streams passing
through them, is liable to become vapid and deficient in acration;
whilst pond waters, in dry, hot weather, become positively nauseous,
unless their volume should be very great indeed'; and vegetation, and the
RESERVOIRS.
28
lower forms of animal life, develop themselves with singular activity
under the same circumstances. Of course this latter consideration
would not materially affect canal reservoirs, but it is an all impor-
tant one in the case of gravitation water-works, and the singular
story of the introduction of the anacharis alsinastrum into our cauals,
proves that it is expedient to watch the growth of aquatic plants even
in canal reservoirs.
In all descriptions of reservoirs it is important that precautions
should be taken to prevent the accumulation of alluvial matters of a
nature to fill them up; and, in the case of water-works reservoirs,
this is essentially necessary because the waters standing for a long time
over them must contract impurities from those matters. The nature
of the surface of the drainage area will regulate the nature of the
precautions to be taken; for, if the soil should be one easily moved by
the surface rills, it will be necessary to form depositing pits on the
courses of the feeding streams; on hard limestone, slate, or plutonic
formations, it may often only be necessary to prevent large boulders
from being carried into the reservoir; and on peaty uplands, it will
usually be found that the surface of the country will itself suffice to
prevent the transport of much alluvial matter. The water obtained
from peaty lands, it is to be observed, is not fit for the purposes of a
municipal supply; and hitherto no satisfactory mode of removing the
qualities communicated to the water by the peat has been discovered.
For canal purposes peaty water is as good as any other, inasmuch as
its colour and taste are of no importance for purposes of navigation ;
but either for irrigation, or for town supplies, such waters are
inadmissible.
---
In selecting the position for a reservoir the most important con-
ditions to be considered are, firstly, the nature of the bed; and
secondly, the position of the retaining wall. The bed must not only,
as said before, be of a nature not to communicate impurities to the
water, but it must be for all practical purposes, impermeable. The
value of a reservoir, in fact, depends on its power of storing, that is to
say, of its holding water; but when the strata of which its bed is
composed are so much fissured, or are of so permeable a nature as to
allow the water to escape, it becomes necessary both to increase the
original volume of the water stored, and to guard against the danger of
the water's finding its way under the seat of the dam. The con-
struction of the latter is, however, the most important part of the
works required for the formation of a reservoir, for the depth of water
against its face frequently is not less than 40, or even 70 feet, so that
the pressure calculated to turn the reservoir over upon its outer edge,
or to thrust it forward horizontally, is enormous; and the difficulties
of construction increase precisely in proportion to the height and the
length of the dam. Its position must therefore be selected in some
portion of the gorge to be converted into a reservoir where the sides
approach one another so as to contract the opening of the valley; the
foot of the dam must be carried down far enough below the surface of
the ground or of any subjacent permeable strata, to prevent the lateral
passage of the water; its thickness must be made superior to that required
to resist any possible dynamical effort it may be exposed to; the materials
of which it is composed must be able to resist the passage of water;
it must be made high enough to prevent waves, by whatever cause
produced, from washing over its crown; and finally the overflows, bye
washes, waste weirs and accessory structures (such as the sluices, draw-
off pipes, &c.) must be made perfectly water tight, unless in the parts
especially designed for the passage of the water. To secure the
condition of the impermeability of the seat of a dam it is often
necessary to carry the foundations as far below the surface as the dam
itself rises, and instances of foundations fifty feet deep are by no means
Telford even recommended that when the strata on which a
reservoir had to be formed were of a porous nature, the whole of the
valley should be puddled; so great an importance did he attach to the
necessity for opposing this dangerous action.
rare.
The dams of reservoirs are either formed of earthwork, or of
masonry, or of a mixed system of earthwork and masonry. Local
circumstances must guide the engineer in his selection of the precise
nature of the materials he will employ; but the result of careful
observations on the movements of large works of this description has
led to the general recognition of the following practical rules for the
thicknesses to be given. When masonry dams are used, it is found.
to be necessary to make the thickness of the wall, x, equal to the
following proportions of the height of the dam above the surface of
the bottom of the reservoir near its foot:
at the top x = h x 0·30
in the middle x = h x 0.50
at the bottom x = π x 0.70
When earthwork is used the dam should be made from 15 to 16 feet
wide at the top, with slopes of at least 1 to 1 towards the water,
and of 2 to 1 on the dry side; the water side must be protected
against the abrasion of the waves by stone pitching, and below the
line of agitation its face must be carefully puddled. A wide puddle
trench, or a thick wall of hydraulic masonry, should be carried up in
the heart of the bank, and every precaution must be taken to resist
the passage of the water through the various layers of the body of the
work. As a general rule the materials of the bank should be deposited
in layers of from 6 to 9 inches in thickness, and well and carefully
29
30
RESERVOIRS.
RESISTANCE.
rammed; care being taken to prevent anything like a perfect horizon-
tality of bedding, by making occasional steps in the layers of earth.
Similar precautions must be taken in the formation of masonry dams,
and the layers, or horizontal beds must be stepped. It is also to be
observed that there is a tendency in all long straight dams, of earth,
or of masonry, exposed to the constant action of a great weight of
water to assume in time the form of a catenary curve; and in order to
resist this tendency it is customary to make earthwork dams segments
of large circles in plan, with their convex side towards the water; and
in masonry dams, it is usual to form strong counterforts on the down
side, even when the same segmental horizontal outline, and the before-
quoted thicknesses have been adopted. The usual rule is, it may here
be added, to make the top of the dam about 5 feet above the maximum
water level, in order to resist the action of the waves in the reservoir;
a precaution which was proved, by the accident to the dam of the
Croton reservoir, to be by no means exaggerated.
One of the most important accessory works of a reservoir is the
bye wash, or waste weir; a portion of the enclosure over which any
water is allowed to pass after the reservoir itself is filled to its maxi-
mum water line. The length of the bye wash must be made sufficient
to carry off in a thin stream, the surplus products of the most violent
storms, or of the most continuous winter's rains; and it must be
made in such wise that the water flowing over it should not affect
the stability of the dam, either by the cataract of the falling water, or
by the velocity of the stream flowing from the foot of the bye wash.
For the service of canals, or of town distribution, the water is drawn
off by a series of sluice-gates, provided with the necessary contrivances
to regulate the velocity of flow in the distributing channels; and it
may be stated that, for a town distribution, the variable head upon the
main pipes which is usually admitted, does not exceed 13 feet; and
that in all cases it is desirable that the efflux of the water through
the feeders, or the mains, should take place with as great regularity
as it is possible to attain.
Some idea of the importance of the reservoirs formed for the supply
of canals and town distributions may be derived from the following
notes upon some of the most remarkable works of this description.
Thus the Fountain Reservoir of the Croton aqueduct covers 400 acres,
and has a depth at the dam of 38 feet: the Manchester Corporation
Waterworks cover an area of above 408 acres, and have an average
depth of 35 feet 6 inches, or they have a storeage capacity of 584,866,716
cubic feet; the Liverpool reservoirs have a storeage capacity of about
3,156,000,000 gallons; the Yan Yean reservoirs in Victoria, have an
area of 1303 acres, and a storeage capacity of 6,400,000,000 gallons.
The Canal du Midi, of France, has at Gros Bois, a reservoir of
300,510,000 cubic feet capacity, with a head of water at the dam of
69 feet 6 inches; the reservoir of the Nantes to Brest canal has a
capacity of about 262,395,000 cubic feet, and a head of 33 feet; the
reservoir of St. Fériol, on the canal du Midi, has a capacity of
223,090,000 cubic feet, and a head of 105 feet. The Birmingham
canal has a reservoir of 80 acres area, with a depth of 45 feet at the
head; the reservoir of the Union canal of Philadelphia, is not less than
730 acres in area, by an extreme depth of 40 feet, and it has a capacity
of 572,000,000 cubic feet; on the Rideau canal of Canada, there is a
dam 70 feet high; the Turton and Entwystle reservoir, in Lancashire,
is of 100,000,000 cubic feet in capacity, &c. In England, it seems
that the usual ratio of the storeage capacity to the area of gather-
ing ground is from 30 to 40 thousand cubic feet per acre; and it is
found practically that the maximum quantity stored never exceeds
15 inches over the area of the gathering grounds, in the most favour-
ably inclined and impermeable districts; nor does it ever exceed
12 inches in flat retentive ones. The cost of forming large reservoirs
has rarely, if ever, fallen short of 450l. to 500l. per million cubic feet of
the storeage capacity, leaving out of account the accessory works, or
the purchase of the land. A very important element in the cost of all
such works is to be found in the compensation to be given to the
parties who were formerly entitled to the water privileges existing in
the district; but it is not possible to discover any general rule appli-
cable to the countless variety of cases of this description. Some
remarks on the subject will be found under WATER MILLS.
There is an important distinction to be made between the various
kinds of reservoirs used upon town distributions, which may be
mentioned here, though the discussion of the principles of their
construction must be referred to WATER SUPPLY. "The distinction in
The distinction in
question is the one between the open storeage reservoirs, and the
covered reservoirs, from whence the waters are distributed, generally
after filtration. The latter are extremely costly structures, and are,
therefore, rarely made larger than would be required for a four or a
seven days' supply at the maximum; whilst the storeage reservoirs are
made large enough to hold a quantity equal, when the rain-fall is
about 60 inches per annum, to about 120 days' consumption; when
it is about 48 inches, to about 140 days' consumption; and when it is
about 22 inches (which is the case in the eastern parts of England), to
about 200 days' consumption.
It may be interesting, archæologically, to add that some of the most
extraordinary mountain reservoirs in Europe are those which were
constructed by the Moors of Spain; that the Egyptians under the
Pharaohs had executed some wonderful works for the purpose of
storing the inundation waters of the Nile; that the native rulers and
the Mohammedan conquerors of India vied with one another in the
construction of the colossal tanks of that country; and that even the
| Aztecs had adopted a peculiar system of aguadas, or underground
reservoirs, for the purpose of storing the copious but partial rains of
their country. The Moors and the Egyptians seem to have used the
water they stored principally for the purpose of irrigation. The Greeks
and the Romans supplied their towns with water from springs and rivers,
and very rarely attempted to execute irrigation works, so that there are
no authentic records of the formation of artificial storeage reservoirs by
either of those nations. One of the most ancient works of this de-
scription whose history can be identified in modern times is the
reservoir of St. Fériol, on the Canal du Midi; and nearly contem-
poraneously with it the system of catchwater ponds, which supply
partially the fountains of Versailles, was executed by the orders of
Louis XIV.
RESIDUAL, an expression which gives the remainder of a sub-
traction, as a- · ბ.
RESIDUARY LEGATEE. [LEGATEE.]
RESIGNATION. [BENEFICE.]
RESIN. [TURPENTINE.]
RESINEIN. [TURPENTINE.]
RESINS, a large class of substances, existing chiefly in the vegetable
kingdom, and of which common resin, rosin, or colophony, is the type.
They are generally obtained by incising the bark of trees; oleo-resin, or
a mixture of a volatile oil and resin, then exudes, and gradually
hardens. It is possible that the resins do not exist as such in plants,
but that they are produced by the oxidation of essential oils.
The chief properties of resins are insolubility in water; non-
volatility; solubility in alcohol, ether, benzole, essential oils, and by
the aid of heat in fixed oils; are insulators of electricity; become
negatively electric by friction; fuse when heated; and, in contact with
air, burn with a bright, but very smoky, flame.
But little is known of the constitution of resins. Constantly, but
slowly, absorbing oxygen, with or without evolution of carbonic acid
or water, or both, it is almost impossible to obtain them in anything
like a definite state. Again, with one or two exceptions, they do
not crystallise, and this greatly increases the difficulty of determining
their individuality. Some-such as santonin, eugenin, gamboge, cube-
bin, myrrh, and chrysophanic acid-seem to be produced by the simple
replacement of a number of equivalents of oxygen for an equal number
of equivalents of the hydrogen in the essential oil. Others, for
example, styracin, anime, red resin of rhubarb, mastic, amber, elemi,
and aloetin; not only take up oxygen in the place of hydrogen, but
also assimilate water. Many are probably mere oxides of the volatile
oils; some we know to be simply hydrates. As yet, the resins have
not been artificially formed from the pure essential oils: could this be
accomplished, an important insight into their constitution would, no
doubt, be obtained.
The solutions of several of the resins in alcohol redden litmus-paper,
indicating that they are acid bodies. Such resins combine with alkalies
to form soaps, differing but little from ordinary soaps. Common
rosin, for example, contains sylvic acid, which crystallises in prisms;
pimaric acid, which is obscurely crystalline; and pinic acid, which is
amorphous. These acids, as well as many other solid and liquid bodies.
existing in or obtained from resins, will be found described somewhat
more in detail under TURPENTINE.
Many of the resins are used in medicine; several have considerable
commercial value, being used for the preparation of varnishes by
dissolving in turpentine, wood naphtha, or spirit of wine.
The more important resins are treated of in this division of the
ENGLISH CYCLOPEDIA under their respective names, or in the NATURAL
HISTORY DIVISION either individually or under the name of the plant
from which they are obtained.
Gum-resins, as the name implies, are mixtures of GUM and resin.
For Iciçane, and resin of icica, see TURPENTINE.
The resins of commerce are in some cases natural exudations, while
others are obtained from vegetable compounds by the action of alcohol.
They are for the most part brittle, tasteless or insipid, and fusible at a
moderate heat; they seldom have any smell; they generally burn with
a strong yellow flame, emitting a large quantity of smoke.
The ordinary resin of the shops is colophony, obtained as a residue
after the distillation of oil or spirit of turpentine from common tur-
pentine. The black resin is the cooled brittle mass in the state in
which it leaves the still; whereas the yellow resin is the black modified
by the action of water. Resin-oil is made in London, Liverpool, Bristol,
Hull, and Glasgow, as an ingredient in lubricating grease for railway
axles and for the bearings of heavy machinery. It is also used in
France as an ingredient in printers' ink, thereby giving the unpleasant
odour which is often observable in newly-printed French newspapers.
Most of the common resin comes from North America, to the extent of
20,000 tons or more annually.
20,000 tons or more annually. Resin-gas is largely made in America ;
but in England it does not successfully compete with coal-gas. The
chief uses of the various resins in England are for varnish, lacquer,
sealing-wax, and dyeing.
RESISTANCE is a power by which motion, or a tendency to
motion, in any body is impeded or prevented. When a weight or
pressure acts upon a beam or bar in any direction, the tenacity by
which the particles of such material oppose that action constitutes a
}
}
31
RESISTANCE.
resistance of one kind. [MATERIALS, STRENGTH OF.] Again, when a
body is made to move on another, the inequalities of the surfaces of
both create a resistance of a different kind. [FRICTION.] When a
body moves in a fluid, the inertia of the fluid particles displaced by it
produces a third kind of resistance.
This last branch of the subject of resistances has already been in
part considered under HYDRODYNAMICS. In that article there is given
a general expression for the measure of the resistance made by a fluid
against a plane surface which is either perpendicular or inclined to
the direction of the motion, together with a few results of experi-
ments on the resistances experienced by bodies of various forms
and lengths in moving through water. The relations between spaces
and times in the vertical ascent and descent of bodies when acted on
by gravity and resisted by a fluid, are given in the article PROJEC-
TILES, THEORY OF; and, for the pressure against a cannon-ball moving
in air, see the article GUNNERY.
RESISTANCE.
between the spaces described and the times i i
32
body descends or ascends in a resisting medium. Iu tue fest of these
cases y should be positive, and in the second negative. In order to
adapt the equation to the descent of a body on an inclined plane,
let 0 be the inclination of the plane to the horizon; then g sin. 0 would
represent the accelerative force on the plane if there were no friction.
But since friction is proportional to the pressure (=g cos. e) on the
plane, and is independent of the velocity, let h be put for the coeffi
cient of friction and represent a fractional part of the pressure; then
we shall have hg cos. for the retardation produced by friction.
a is the coefficient of the resistance due to the pressure of the
atmosphere; it depends on the form and magnitude of the moving
body, and not on its weight; and the resistance is supposed to be
proportional to the square of the velocity. Thus the above equation
becomes
ds²
-g sin 0-hg cos 0
d2s
dt2
α
;
dt²
In investigating the resistances of fluids against bodies moving in
them, it is customary in elementary writings, for the sake of simpli-
city, to consider the particles of fluid as unconnected with each other or, since the two first terms of the second member are constant, repre-
by contact or by any law of attraction, so that, when struck, their re-
des
ds2
a- Integrating this equa-
dt2
actions may be considered as taking place perpendicularly to the strik-senting them by A, it becomes dt2
ing surface of the moving body, whatever be the position of this tion by successive approximations, or otherwise, we obtain in terms of
surface with respect to the direction of the body's motion, and after
the impact their action is supposed to cease. Such are called discon-
tinuous fluids, and in these the motion produced in the particles by
the collision is the measure of the resistance. Newton shows
(Principia,' lib. ii., prop. 35) what would be the resistance experienced
by a cylinder moving in the direction of its axis in a discontinuous
fluid;
the cylinder and particles of fluid being elastic, so that the
latter on being struck are reflected back with a velocity double the
velocity of the cylinder; and he explains that, if the particles of fluid
are not reflected, but are moved forward by the cylinder with a
velocity equal to its own, the resistance is but half the former. But
this hypothesis is far from being conformable to the constitution
of fluid bodies in nature, the particles of these being connected
by mutual actions. The elastic fluids, as air, at any place in the
atmosphere are always in a state of compression from the weight of
the column vertically above that place; and the particles of non-
elastic fluids, as water, exert in every direction pressures which depend
upon the distances of the particles below the surfaces of the fluid in
the vessel, river, or ocean. In passing through a fluid of this kind
(called a continuous fluid) a body strikes only the fluid particles which
are nearest to it; these strike those beyond, and so on; and Newton
proves (lib. ii., prop. 35, schol.) that in this case the resistance to a
cylinder is only half the last-mentioned resistance, or one-fourth of the
first.
In all these resistances however it is supposed that the particles on
being struck are repelled perpendicularly to the front of the moving
body; but, in fact, the particles of the fluid are in part repelled from
the front in oblique directions, and, on account of the compressed
state of the surrounding fluid, these particles not being able immedi-
ately to escape laterally, there is produced in front more or less con-
densation, and consequently an increase of resistance. The pressure
of the fluid against the sides of the moving body creates also a resist-
ance from friction; and when the velocity is very great, the fluid not
falling towards the hinder part of the body so fast as the latter moves,
the pressure there which would serve to counterbalance the resistance
in front, is in part or wholly removed. On these accounts it is that
military projectiles are subject to such vast retarding forces. It is
computed that a 24-pounder ball experiences a resistance equal to
:800 lbs. when its velocity is equal to 2000 feet per second. Like
effects take place in the movements of boats and ships; when the
velocity is great, the water accumulates in front, and flowing off from
thence obliquely, it carries away some from the sides, and, causing the
surface of that which is near the stern to be rather lower than the
general level, it there produces a diminution of pressure, while there is
.an excess in front on account of the accumulation.
In order to find the pressure of a fluid against a body which is ter-
minated in front by a curve surface, an expression must be obtained
(by means of the equation of the surface) for the area of an elemen-
tary portion of that surface, and this must be multiplied by the cube
of the sine of its inclination to the line of motion. The product
being multiplied by [ HYDRODYNAMICS], and the whole inte-
29
grated between the proper limits, the result will express the required
resistance.
2D
ds
dt
Again, in investigating the motion of a body on an inclined plane
when resisted by friction and the pressure of the atmosphere, the
d's
do2
general equation of motion -g-a. may be employed. Here s
dt²
is the space described in the time t, is the velocity acquired in the
deg
same time, and is the differential expression for accelerative or
di
retardative force. If the body were to descend vertically, g, the force
of gravity (=3217 feet), would alono be the force producing the
motion; and the equation, being integrated, would give the relation
ds
dt
t the values of (the velocity) and of s (the distance on the plane),
either when the body sets out from a state of rest, or when it
sets out with any given initial velocity. From these values, by
means of the data obtained from good experiments, the values of h
and a might be found; and thus the effects of friction might be
obtained separately from those which are due to the resistance of
the air.
The formule which are now generally received as expressing the
follows:-They are of two classes; the one normal, and the other
resistances to which waggons moving upon railways are exposed are as
accidental; the one susceptible of à priori calculation, the other
depending upon the state of the road, the action of the wind, &c., or
Of the normal
upon conditions of an essentially variable nature.
causes of resistance, there are three kinds: 1, the friction of the axles
resistance of the air, supposed to be in a state of repose, to the advance
in the boxes: 2, the friction of the wheels upon the rails; and 3, the
of the train. The level of the surface of the roadway naturally affects
the numerical calculations of the various conditions thus specified;
but, as was before said (under RAILWAY), the introduction of the
expansion gear into locomotive machinery has so modified the powers
of that class of engine, that the importance of the precise value of the
resistances to be overcome has of late been materially diminished.
With an engine whose powers can be increased at will, and almost
instantaneously, variable resistances are really matters of very little
moment. The formula for this class of resistance are extracted from
moment. The formula for this class of resistance are extracted from
Perdonnet's Traité Elémentaire des Chemins de Fer.'
<
Taking into account, firstly, the case of a waggon moving in plain
and on a dead level, it is evident that the horizontal movement, must
axles themselves, which will be proportional to the pressure (or to the
produce a friction of the bearing surface of the axle-boxes upon the
weight of the carriage, minus that of the wheels and axles), and will
vary with the state of the bearing surfaces, but independently of their
own state. If, then, the pressure upon the axle-boxes be represented by P,
and the coefficient of friction by f (it will, in fact, be regulated by the
nature of the bearing surfaces, their smoothness, and the nature of the
lubricating material), the friction of the boxes on the axles will be
represented by fr. Then, calling R the radius of the wheels, and r
the radius of the bearing of the axle, every revolution of the wheels
will cause the waggon to advance a distance of 2 π R, and every point
of the bearing a distance of 2πr; so that whilst the waggon advances
1, the bearings of the axles will have slid over a
through a distance
surface
The value of the friction of the bearings will then
2πr
2 TR R
•
-
n
be, for the same distance traversed, fr.
ƒr
R
1
น
The friction of the wheels against the rails is a friction of the kind
known as a rolling friction, and as such it is generally considered to be
proportional to the pressure, and variable according to the nature of
the surfaces in contact, but independent of the area of those surfaces,
and of the speed of the motion. Or, calling p the weight of the wheels
and axles, the total pressure or weight will be P+p, and f' the
coefficient of friction, the expression of this description of friction will
then become f'(P+p). Strictly speaking, the value of f' would depend
on the size of the wheels; but as, practically, the wheels of railway
carriages are of the same diameter, f' may be considered to be a constant
quantity.
When a body moves in a discontinuous fluid in repose, the resistance
it meets with is proportional to the square of the velocity; to the area
of the section of the body moved, taken normally to the direction of
the movement: it is less in proportion to the length of that body in
the direction of the movement; and if two surfaces, covered one by
the other, move in the same direction, the resistance of the covered
face will be equal to a fraction of the face immediately exposed to the
air; and the smaller the interval between the two faces, the less will
33
24
RESISTANCE.
RESISTANCE.
= a
be the fraction in question. If, then, q be called the resistance of the
air sought, a = the area of the exposed end, v= the velocity of motion,
← a co-efficient depending upon the length of the train, and e
constant co-efficient to represent the resistance caused by the intervals,
the resistance of the air will be represented by the formula-
Q=0 € AV²
It thence follows that the sum of the calculable resistances to be
traversed, be equal to the sum of the resistances above stated; and it
is therefore represented by the formula
7"
R
+ f' (P + y) + OE AV² + (P + p) tg a+ƒ" (P +p)
Va² + b
P
+63
+ f!!!
P+p v² 2Rh + h²
g p
R
In Perdonnet's 'Traité Elémentaire,' in Wood's Treatise on Rail-
overcome when a train moves in a straight line, on a level road, may ways,' in the second edition of M. de Pambour's Traité des Machines
be represented (calling the resistance T) by the formula,
¶ = ƒr² +ƒ' (P+p) + 0 € ▲ v².
f' A
Ε
R
When the train moves upon an incline forming with the horizon an
angle a, the gravity of the train is decomposed into two portions, one
of which is perpendicular to the plane of the rails, and the other acts
in a direction parallel to that plane, and tends to draw the train down-
wards; so that in pulling a train up an incline, the locomotive must
exercise a power, not only able to overcome the friction, but also to
overcome this effort of gravity in the direction parallel to the surface
of the incline. The latter force, as is well known, is equal to (P+p)
sin a; the pressure of the bearings of the boxes upon the axles is
equal to P cos a; and the pressure of the wheels normally to the rails
is equal to (P+p) cos a. The force, then, which the locomotive must,
exercise upon a waggon in order to allow the latter to retain the
velocity it had at any particular moment, under the conditions
supposed, must be
fr. cos a
R
+f' (P + p) cos a +0 € ▲ ▼² + (P + p) sin a.
As the inclines upon railways are generally such that we may consider
cos ɑ=1, and that sin a=tga, we may consider that the force exer-
cised may, practically, be represented by the formula,
2*
ƒ r² = ƒ' (P + p) + 0 € ▲ v² + (P + p) t g a.
P
R
The resistances a waggon encounters on a curve are of a complicated
nature, and in a railway waggou they become more than usually so,
from the fact that the wheels are fixed on the axles. Calling a the
half width of the way, and p the mean radius of the curve, if the centre
of the waggon travel over a space
travel over a space = 1, the interior wheels will travel
P-a and the exterior wheels Pa ; so that the slip of each of them will
Ρ
a
P
P
α
-
P
be 2. Now the wheels exercise a pressure = P +p, and if we repre-
sent the co-efficient of friction by f", the expression of the resistance
created by the fixity of the wheels will become f" (P +p) for every
unity of distance. But there is another resistance developed on a
curve from the two axles of a carriage being fixed to its frame; for
whilst the centre of the carriage traverses a circle described by the
radius o (the mean radius of the curve), the respective points of con-
tact of the axles describe a circumference around the centre & of the
rectangle formed by the points of contact of the wheels and of the
rails. The radius corresponding to these points of contact is G A =
√a²+b², b representing the half distance of the two axles, and a the
half distance of the two points of contact of the wheels on the same
axle. The slip of the wheels, whilst the waggon makes a revolution
round o, becomes then ƒ" (e̱ + p) 2 π √√/+b². In the same space of
time, the distance traversed by the waggon 2πp; so that the resist-
ance caused by the wheels being fixed on their axles, and by the
parallelism of those axles themselves, is represented by the formula,
2π\/a² + b²
√a* +63
f" (P+p)
= ƒ" (P+p)
2πρ
P
There is a third force developed during the curvilinear movement of
a waggon arising from the pressure of the rims of the wheels upon the
y⁹
P + p
outer rail, whose expression is
in which represents the
accelerating force of gravity, which is in our latitude = 32 feet. This
P+ v2
pressure gives rise to a friction, f'"
in which ƒ'" represents
9 P
the co-efficient of the friction created by the pressure of the rims of the
wheels upon the inner surface of the outer rail. But in addition to
this there is a friction exercised by the surface of the rim in its motion
along the inner edge of the rails, and the resistance thus developed by
the friction due to the centrifugal force, for every unity of the advance
r+p v² √2nh + h²
of the waggon, is f""
; in which R = the radius
of the inner edge of the rim of the wheel, and h = the depth of that
rim. The additional resistance thus created by the passage of a train
over a curve is, then, represented by—-
P
g
R
י.
Locomotives,' &c., the various experiments by which the values of the
various co-efficients in the above formulæ have been ascertained, are
discussed at length. It may suffice here to say that generally speaking
the values assigned by Coulomb to the co-efficients f,f", are considered
still to apply, though they are evidently in excess of the actual values
as they have been indicated by experiments on railway trains; for Mr.
Wood found that the total resistance of waggons of the old model
travelling, at small velocities, upon a level straight line, was 0.00475
(P+P), and De Pambour found it to be only 0.0026 (P+p). Messrs.
Gouin and Lechatellier found, by direct experiment with Morin's
dynamometre, that the resistance from this cause was, at speeds vary-
ing between 15 to 25 miles per hour, equal to 0.003 to 0.0045 (P+p) ;
at speeds between 25 and 38 miles, it was 0.0045 to 0.0085 (P+p);
and for speeds between 50 and 60 miles, it was 0.012 to 0·015 (P+p)
On the average it may be taken that these resistances amount to
0.004 (P+p).
=
De Pambour gives the value of 0=0·004823, and that of e=1·17
for a cubical body, 107 for a train of five carriages, 1·05 for a
train of fifteen carriages, and 1·04 for a train of twenty-five carriages;
but the learned author seems to consider the truest value of € to be
=113. It is generally considered that the value of f"=0·16; the
value of f'" has not been ascertained by direct experiment, but it is
known to be considerably greater than ƒ".
The practical conclusions drawn from the examination of these for-
mulæ are: 1. The resistance is diminished by diminishing the diameter
of the axles, and increasing that of the wheels. 2. It is desirable to
diminish the weight of the carriages as far as may be consistent with
safety. 3. The resistance in traversing a curve is increased in propor-
tion as the radius is decreased. 4. The useful effect of locomotives is
materially affected by their rate of motion, and economically there are
serious objections to high rates of speed.
100
The experiments of Messrs. Gouin and Chatellier show also that a
great portion of the resistance of a train arises from the frictions pro-
duced by the frame of the engine, and the frictions of its machinery.
They found that, in fact, when the resistance of the whole train was
equal to 0·0105 per ton, that of the carriages alone was 0·00625; that
created by the frictions of the machinery alone, without reference to
the load, was 0·0025; and the resistance created in the machinery by
the pressure of the steam, was 0-00175. The speed in this case was
about 28 miles per hour, and the experiments were tried on an incline
of 1 in 125; the weight of the train was 60 tons, and the weather quite
calm. Finally, it may be stated that it is usually considered that
taking into account both the variable and the constant resistances to
be encountered on railways the force required to ensure the traction at
speeds of 20 miles an hour is equal toth of the load; and that if the
speed should exceed 30 miles an hour it becomes th of the quantity.
The method of finding the resistance which an engine opposes to
the effort made by the steam to put it in motion, is as follows:-
Multiply the area of one of the two equal pistons in square inches by
the pressure of the steam on a square inch of the piston in each
cylinder, when that pressure is just sufficient to cause the engine to
move; the product is the pressure on each piston. Then, since the
piston makes two strokes while the wheel of the engine turns once
round, the velocity of the piston is to that of the engine as twice the
length of the stroke is to the circumference of the wheel; and, the
resistances being inversely proportional to the velocities, we have-
circumf. of wheel: twice the length of the stroke: pressure on
both pistons the resistance, or inertia, of the engine.
But the resistance increases with the load which the engine has to draw;
and, in order to determine it when attached to a train, the above pro-
portion may be used; but the pressure on the pistons, instead of being
found as before, must be taken when the engine and train are observed
to have a uniform motion. Then the fourth term of the proportion
being diminished by the known resistance of the train, will give the
resistance of the engine alone.
:
From the experiments of Mr. Telford, the following values of the
resistances experienced by loaded carriages on level roads have been
determined. On a good pavement the resistance is of the weight of
the carriage and load; on a broken surface of old flint, ; on gravel, ;
and on a well-constructed railway, from to lo
ū
By experiments made on the force (of traction) required to give
motion to vessels on canals, it is found that the resistance varies nearly
law of resistances is probably caused by the reaction of the sides of the
as the cube of the velocity; and this great deviation from the general
canal against the water displaced by the vessel. It deserves, however,
to be mentioned, that when the velocity of the vessel is considerable,
the resistance has been found to experience some diminution, perhaps
on account of the water momentarily displaced, from its inability to
the velocity it previously had, must, during the unity of the distance escape laterally, becoming condensed, and thus giving superior buoyancy
P+P √/² √/3Rh + h²
f" (+2)
Vä² +62
Ρ
+ ƒ¹¹
g Ρ
R
The total effort which the locomotive must exercise in order to retain
ARTS AND SCI. DIV. VOL. VIL
D
A
"
+
£5
RESISTANCE OF MATERIALS,
to the vessel, the immersed part being less, the pressure of the wate
against the front will also be less.
Mr. Barlow observes that, with small velocities, the force of traction
on canals is less than on railways; and when the velocity is equal to
four miles per hour, the forces are equal. Beyond this velocity the
advantage is in favour of the railway.
RESISTANCE OF MATERIALS. When solid bodies are exposed
to the action of external forces, they are capable of resisting those
forces by reason of the cohesion or of the elasticity they may possess,
until their own powers are exceeded, when the particles of which the
solid body in question is composed begin firstly to change their
respective positions, and finally separate from one another. Within
certain limits, the solid bodies in question are susceptible of resuming
their original form after their particles have begun thus to change
their positions (under conditions depending upon the nature of the
external force) when the force is withdrawn; and it is according to the
cnergy and the mode of exhibition of this power that bodies are ranged
in the classes of elastic or non-elastic bodies, of highly elastic or
perfectly elastic bodies. When the force is exercised in a direction
parallel to the longitudinal axis of the body in a manner to pull or to
extend it, the force is said to be one of traction, or extension; when it
acts in the direction able to bind the particles of the body into closer
contact, it is said to be an effort of compression; when it acts in a
direction able to cause one part of the body to slide over the other,
or, in other words, to split it, the force is said to produce an effort of
detrusion; and when it acts so as to twist the particles or fibres of the
material one over the other, the effort is said to be one of torsion.
The terms clastic, highly elastic, and non-elastic bodies sufficiently
explain themselves; but it may be desirable to add that bodies are
said to be perfectly elastic when they resist, with equal energy, efforts
of compression and of extension. The best wrought iron is an illus-
tration of this property; but in the case of good cast iron, the resist- |
ance to compression is equal to nearly 6 times the resistance to
extension the former is nearly a perfectly elastic body, the latter is
only imperfectly such: It was formerly considered that the com-
pression of solid bodies took place equally, or, in the words of Hooke,
that ut tensio, sic vis; but more recent experiments have shown that,
beyond certain limits, the compression and extension take place with
a greater degree of rapidity than would be proportional to the increase
of the effort. The limits of equable resistance thus alluded to corre-
spond with the range of the unimpaired elastic powers of the body;
for if the effort should be such as to cause the body to compress or to
extend with an accelerated velocity, the original dimensions and form
will not be reassumed when the effort is withdrawn. Bodies so
affected are said to have had their permanent elasticity interfered
with; or their elasticity has been changed, so as to produce either a
permanent elongation, contraction, or flexure, as the case may be.
There is a very important consideration which must always be borne
in mind in determining the effort to be applied to any body, namely,
that the length of time during which it is so applied has a material
influence upon the resistance; or, in other words, bodies will resist
instantaneous efforts of far greater value than they can resist perma-
nently, without alteration in their elasticity. It therefore becomes a
matter of necessary precaution (in all building or mechanical operations),
to keep the forces to which the various materials are exposed consider
ably within the limits of what would be able to produce instantaneous
changes of their natural elastic states; and this is the more necessary
because the materials alluded to arc, in practice, subject to shocks,
jars, or accidental efforts, which may be of a serious nature.
P
P
12
L
Modulus of Elasticity.-If a prismatic, or cylindrical body of a
given length, L, and an area A, be exposed to an effort of longitudinal
traction in the direction of its axis P, it would extend under this
action by a quantity we may call ; and if this quantity should
be proportional to the total length, in such a manner as that
should be a constant quantity, it may be represented by i, and will
represent the clongation for every unit of length. Now, so long as
this quantity does not exceed the limits of the perfect elasticity of
the material, i increases proportionally to the load and the area, or
to the ratio A so that in fact is a constant quantity, which
is called the co-efficient, or modulus of clasticity, and is usually expressed
by E. If then, the transverse section were equal to the unity of
surface, and the elongation i, for every unit of length, were equal to
that unit of length, ai 1, and P = E would be the effort supported
by the unity of surface, and able to produce for the unity of length an
clastic elongation equal to that unity. The same remarks will apply
to efforts of compression, and it is generally admitted that the co-
efficient of elasticity has the same value in the two cases, although in
certain granular bodies this law does not appear always to hold. As
the relation PAE becomes P Ei and from thence E =
i =
when
the load P is supported by every unity of the section a, it is easy to
determine the value of E for every such unity of section, and thence to
calculate the value of the load able to produce a given elongation of
the body presenting that section, or to calculate the elongation pro-
duced by a given load..
-
P
RESISTANCE OF MATERIALS.
36

Extension and compression.-A very great number of observations
have been made for the purpose of ascertaining, experimentally, the
laws which regulate the extension of solid bodies, the results of which
may be briefly stated as follows. The load which is capable of producing
rupture by extension, is directly proportional to the transverse section
of the body considered; and the load has no reference to the length,
provided the material be homogeneous, and the weight of the body
be taken into account. The substances which have the highest co-
efficient of elasticity, are those which resist rupture by extension in the
most energetic manner; that is to say, they are the most tenacious.
The temperature of the bodies considered must be taken into con-
sideration; for the expansion produced by an increase of temperature
in many substances acts in such a manner as to produce a longitudinal
extension, whereas in others it produces a change in volume; and this
remark may be extended also to the changes which follow upon any
alteration in the molecular structure of a body; because, in the first
place, every new crystalline arrangement is liable to produce some
change in the volume of the substance, and in the second, the relative
positions of the axes of the crystals may, and often do, singularly affect
the powers of resistance to extension. In a great number of the
naterials used in the arts the resistances to extension and to com-
pression are nearly equal; but there are cases (as for instance, building
stones and cast iron) in which there are marked differences in these
respective powers.
As a general rule, it is more important in the arts to know the
limits of the resistance of the substances employed to efforts of com-
pression, and it thus happens that the majority of the experiments,
made upon the physical properties of those bodies, have been made
with a view to the solution of that class of investigations. The law
before stated, as applying to the resistance to extension, sensibly holds
with respect to compression, and it is expressed by the formula N=AR,
in which N = the total effort exercised normally to the direction of the
base, the sectional area of the prism, and R = the resistance for
every unity of the section. When, however, the bodies pass certain
lengths, compared with the dimensions of their sides, the resistances
to compression cease to follow the ordinary law, and it becomes
necessary to divide the theoretical results, obtained by the application
of the tables of resistance, by a co-efficient varying with the propor
tionate length of the prism to the diameter of the polygon circum-
scribed upon its base. Thus, when the diameter of the polygon is in a
lesser ration than 1 to the following tabular numbers, representing the
height, the co-efficient becomes, in each case, as under :
Ratio 1.
Co-efficient
10 15 20 25 30 | 35 42 46 50
1 1.2 1.6 2 2.S 4 6
8 10
Again, the form of the body experimented upon, and the relative
positions of its molecules, have an important influence on its
resistance, for Vicat has shown (Annales des Ponts et Chaussées,'
1833) that the resistance of a cylinder of stone to compression, in a
direction at right angles to its bedding, is rather greater in proportion
than that of the circumscribed square; a cylinder laid flat crushes
under a weight which does not exceed of the one required to crush
B
it when loaded on end; and the inscribed sphere will crush under of
the load of the cylinder. Compound substances were found to crush
more readily than homogeneous ones; that is to say, that cubes
of stone built up of several pieces were found to crush more
easily than monoliths did; but the general conditions of their
resistance to compression were, after due allowance for this law, pre-
cisely analogous to those of solid bodies. In fact, in large masses of
masonry, the resistance to efforts of compression is regulated by the
resistance of their weakest parts, that is to say, by the resistance of
the mortar used; and if it were required to calculate within safe
limits the condition of the stability of a lofty pier, it would also be
necessary to apply the co-efficient for the relative heights and bases
just quoted. Vicat observes that in many cases loads, which for as
much as 95 days were not able to produce any perceptible effect upon
the bodies exposed to their compressive action, were able ultimately to
destroy them; and he thence inferred that it was not safe to employ.
any materials, under efforts of permanent compression exceeding of
the effort required to produce instantaneous rupture. In the case of
substances possessing very imperfect elasticity a diminution of volume
may frequently be produced by an effort of compression, which
would not be recovered if that effort were withdrawn, even
though the substance had not begun to disintegrate, nor its molecules
had lost their cohesion. The clays and loams, so frequently met
with in foundation works, are exposed to this peculiar action; and it
requires to be taken seriously into account in building operations.
Water is one of the imperfectly elastic bodies, but it resists compres-
sion with very great energy.
10
Temperature has a decided influence upon the powers of resistance.
of bodies to efforts of compression. For an increase of temperature,
beyond the atmospheric average, diminishes in a gradually accelerating
ratio the solidity of the bodies, whilst a decrease of teniperature,
below the freezing point, by affecting the powers of cohesion (or in
common phrase by its rendering the bodies more brittle), causes the
bodies to break up more rapidly. In materials obtained from stratified
deposits, such as the decidedly laminated building stones, &c., Vicat
37
39
RESISTANCE OF MATERIALS.
RESISTANCE OF MATERIALS.
2
found that the resistance to compression was much greater when the
effort was applied in a direction perpendicular to the bedding, than
when it was applied in a direction parallel to the beds; and in fibrous
materials the resistance to efforts, either of extension or of compres
sion, is the greatest when those efforts are applied in the direction of
the fibres. In this last-named class of materials it is especially
necessary to preserve them from flexure in their length; and therice
also the necessity for observing the proportions before stated between
the various conditions of base, height, and load. As it has been
ascertained, theoretically and experimentally, that when the mass of à
body is arranged in the form of a hollow body, the resistance is nearly
doubled, (when the thickness of the cylinder is made about of the
diameter,) it becomes an additional reason for using hollow columns of
metal to support heavy loads, because, in the first place, the powers of
resistance to compression are increased, and, in the second, there is
less danger of flexure, when the diameter of the body is thus made as
large as possible.
2
6. If the load applied to a prism, fixed at one of its extremities,
instead of being applied at the other extremity, be evenly distributed
over its length, then the load per unity of length being called p, the
total load becomes pL;
L
and the leverage of the total load pL; the
formulæ expressing the fundamental conditions of resistance become
PLRI; and PLEIƒ, retaining the preceding notation for the old
terms. From these formulæ, it appears that a beam loaded uniformly
over its whole length, can resist an effort which would be double the
one required to break it if applied only at the extremity the farthest
removed from the section of rupture; and in order to produce equal
deflections at the extremity, the load, distributed evenly over the
whole length, should bear to the load applied solely at the extremity,
the proportion of 8: 3.
2 N
8
7. In the case of a beam resting upon two points of support at its
neglected, and that the weight, or load, P, be placed on the middle of
extremities, if we suppose that the weight of the beam itself can be
its length; then as the effect upon the beam would be the same as if
it had been fixed in the middle, and loaded at each end, by a weight
the first set of formule would apply, excepting that r would be re-
P
become
P
2
L
and L by so that for a rectangular prism the formule
PL RI
4 N
In the works of Tredgold, Hodgkinson, Tate, Barlow, Moseley,
Willis, Whewell, Morin, Navier, Prony, Bresse, Claudel, Bourdais,
Daguin, Jamin &c., the various conditions of the resistance of solid
bodies, and of the forms of greatest resistance, are discussed in great
detail; and the reader is referred to them, should he require to
examine any complicated problem of this description. It may suffice
here to say that the condition most commonly occurring in practice is, placed by
when a rectangular beam is exposed to a load acting either longitudinally,
or transversally, to its axis. In the former case the whole action is
either of compression or of extension, as the case may be, and in
addition to what has been before stated, it is only necessary to observe
that it is essential, in order that the action should be uniform, that the
load should be brought to bear evenly over the whole area. When
beams are, however, exposed to efforts acting transversally to their axes,
the laws of their resistance become more complicated, for the deflections
produced cause some of the fibres to pass into a state of tension, whilst
some of the others are compressed, and some of them remain in a
neutral state, as long as the limits of elasticity of the extended or
The modes of loading solid
compressed fibres are not exceeded.
bodies are usually considered to be classed under the following heads,
and the formulæ for calculating their resistances have been deduced
from the known laws of mechanics. 1. When one extremity of the
beam is firmly embedded in masonry at one end and acted upon by a
force, P, applied at the other; then, calling the lever of the beam L;
the resistance to compression and extension, R; the moment of inertia
of the beam at the point of its bedding, 1; and the distance of the
line of the neutral fibres from the most distant point of the section of
the part fixed, n;
RI
PL =
N
As in a regular prism of a rectangular section n =
moment of inertia is 1
b
==
-
bh2
6
=
4PL
Ebh2
だ
​in
2
; this formula becomes PL =
which the transverse section of the prism perpendicular to the
direction of the force P, and h the section parallel to that direction.
The deflection ƒ would be represented by f
in which the new
term E represents the modulus of elasticity.
2. If the solid be of the form shown, then calling ' the
internal dimension in the same direction as b; and h' the
internal dimension in the same direction as h; then,
R (b h³ — b'h'³)
6 h
PL =
4 PL3
; and
J
; and f=
=
PL3
4E6h3
From this it appears that a beani
supported at the extremities, and loaded in the middle, is able to
support a load four times as great as a similar beam fixed at one end
and loaded in the middle; and that the deflection would be sixteen
times less than in the latter case. If the load, instead of being con-
centrated in the centre, were evenly distributed over the length, and
the load per unity of length be called p, the total load would be pL,
5pL+
and the formule would become PL __ R I ; and f=
8
n
384 EI
It has been proved, both theoretically and practically, that a beam
fastened at both ends will bear a load applied in the middle of its clear
span, which would be double the one it would be able to support if it
merely rested upon two points of support, and that the deflection in
the former case would be four times less than it would be in the
latter. As it generally happens that in building operations, beams
and joists have bearings of only about one foot (which is insufficient
to constitute an effective fixing of their extremities), it is essential to
calculate their dimensions on the supposition that they are merely
beamus resting on two points of support.
600
9000
Before closing these remarks on compression and extension, it may
be desirable to add a few practical observations on the resistance of
and the materials used in buildings. These are, 1st, that as the form of
greatest resistance is almost always one in which the mass of the
Rb/2 elements is concentrated at the top and bottom of a beam, leaving the
12
portion about the neutral axis as light as possible, it follows that with
plastic materials it is advisable to make the sectious of the beam of a
girder shape, that is to say with top and bottom flanges: the material
must be distributed in those flanges according to its powers of resist-
ance to efforts either of compression or of extension. [GIRDER.] 2nd,
It is usually considered that a load acting with a shock, or able to
produce sudden vibrations, acts in a manner far more injurious than
if the same load were to act steadily; and in practice engineers have
adopted the rule of never exposing a construction to a rolling weight
greater than of the permanent breaking weight. 3rd, It is usually
considered that a deflection of of the span, is the maximum which
should be tolerated; but that the safe deflection would only be
of the span. 4th, The resistance of cast iron to compression is, com-
pared to its resistance to extension, as 64 (nearly) to 1; on the contrary
the resistance of wrought iron to compression is, compared to its
resistance to extension, as 4 to 5.
Torsion. With respect to the resistance to torsion it may be
observed, that in a prismatic body submitted to such an action, the
relation of the effort to the angle of torsion is constant for the same
material, so long as the limits of elasticity are not exceeded. Calling
4. The section being circular, and the radius=r; then the formulæ this relation a; the effort ; and the angle of torsion e, for a rod of a
4PL3
become PL = and f=
when the section is circular and given unity of length and of section; we have.
;
G, which may be
}
4
STE
hollow, calling the external, and the internal radius, the formulæ called the co-efficient of torsion. If then, we call r the force tending
to twist a cylindrical or prismatic solid, in a plane normal to the axis
; and f
R, the radius of the leverage with which r acts; t, the angle of torsion ;
L, the length of the solid; and I, the moment of polar inertia; we have
the moment of the force P = PRI; and from this we derive t =
PR × L
I
f =
E ( b h³ —b′h'³) retaining the preceding notation.
3. In a beam of the section in the margin, calling the
sum of the two deficiencies from the full section, and h their
R (bh³ — V'h'³)
4 PL
height, then also, PL =
E(bh³-bh³)
Ιπ
become PL =
4 ľ
; andƒ=
6 h
4 PL3
3πE ( ?··¹ — 2·´·³)°
5. If now the beam under consideration be carried at a point in
its length, and be acted upon at its extremities by two forces which
balance one another upon this point of support, the formula for a pris-
matic beam of a rectangular section becomes,-(calling m the leverage
of the force acting at one end, and n the leverage of the force acting
on the other; so that m+n=L the total length of the prism, and p +
pm + qn ___ Rbh³
= P the total load;)
: and if m=N= or if the point
L
q
2
6
2'
PL
Rbh2
of support be in the middle of the length, then
4
6
GI
Gt
L
Ꮎ
= 0,
It is considered that the value of 1 becomes,
נינה
when the section is circular, I=
2
7343
when the section is rectangular, 1=
3(4² + }) };
:
}
'
E
RESISTANCE OF MATERIALS.
when the section is square,
I = 6
calling the radius of the solid cylinder; b and h the sides of the
rectangle, and q the side of the square; when the section is annular,
calling the external and internal radii respectively r and ', the value
π (just — ju¹t)
becomes I =
In practice, the angle of torsion is usually
2
L
made, t = 0.0005, in which n = the distance from the axis to the
N
most distant fibre from itself. Mr. Bevan ( Philos. Trans.,' 1829) has
given a table of the modulus of torsion for the different kinds of wood,
which is appended; and he also states that for metals the modulus of
torsion is equal to of the modulus of elasticity.
10
Detrusion.The resistance to detrusion is at times called into
action, in timber or iron construction; and therefore requires to be
noticed. It has not been made the subject of any direct experiments,
but it is supposed in fir timber to be equal to 592 lbs. per square inch
in the direction of the force; in cast iron, 73,000 lbs.; and in wrought
iron, from 45,000 to 53,000 lbs.
In Warr's Construction of Machinery,' a very useful comparative
table of the various kinds of resistances of the principal classes ef
materials used in the arts is given as follows:-
RESPIRATOR.
40
Table, from Warr's Construction of Machinery,' of specific gravities
aud of the values of s, the co-efficient of the specific strength of materials,
for the application of the formula usually employed to calculate the
breaking weight of beams,
breadth x depth 2 x s
breaking weight
length in feet.
in lbs.; both the breadth and depth being in inches.
Pitch pine
Dantzic fir
Material.
Specific gravity.
Value of S.
Ash
Beech
0.760
506
0.690
390
Birch
0-711
482
Elm
0.579
200
English oak
0.829
421
0.740
432
0.019
356
0.6$9
303
0-698
430
0.729
527
7:00
1980
Hard limestone, about
1.800
78
Soft ditto
2.200
69
""
Brick, common
2.099
61
Deal, Christiania
Mahogany
Teak
Cast iron
TABLE, BY MR. BEVAN, OF MODULI OF TORSICs or Weods.
Material.
Timber
Cast iron
Stone
Glass
Compression.
Tension. Transverse,
Kind of Wood.
1000
1900
85.1
Specific
gravity.
Modulus
in lbs.
Remarks.
1000
15S
19.8
•
1000
100
10.0
1000
123
100
Acacia
Alder
•
795
28,293
Not quite dry.
-55
16,221
Cross grained.
Apple
726
20,397
TABLE OF VARIOUS PROPERTIES OF MATERIALS.
Ash.
20,300
Of my own planting.

mountain
*449
""
13,933
Crushing
Weight
Beech
21,243
feree in
Material.
Specific
gravity.
per cubic Tenacity
foot
in lbs.
in lbs.
lbs. per
Modulus of
Elasticity.
Birch
17,250
Box.
•99
30,000
Old and very dry.
square
Brazil wood
1.05
37,800
Old and very dry.
inch.
Cane
21,50ር
Alder.
0.$00
Antimony, cast
4.500
Ash, densest
0.845
50.00 14,186
281.25 1,066
53.81 17,207
6,995
Cedar, scented
Cherry
•
12,500
Influenced by the hard
[surfaces.
·71
22,800
1
Chestnut, sweet
18,300
9,363 1,664,800
Lorsc
'615
-22,205
•822
53.37
Crab
⚫763
22,738
Beech
10
.690
Birch.
0.792
to
43.12
49.50 15,000
17,850
9,363 1,353,600
6,402
Damson
23,500
Deal, Christiania
.38
11,220
1,562,400
Elder
*755
22,285
Bismuth, cast
9.810
613-87
Box, dry
6.960
3,250
GO.CO 19,801 10.299 İ
1
Elin
13,500
Fir, Scotch
13,700
Brass, cast
8 399
525.00
17,968 10,304
8,930,000
Hazel
*83
26,325
Not quite dry.
wire drawn
8.541
534.00
IIolly
20,543
Brick, red
2.168
135.50
280
807
IIornbean.
.86
26,411
Not quite dry.
pale.
2 085
130.31
300
562
Laburnum
""
""
Brick work
Cedar, seasoned
Chalk
Clay
Copper, cast
Deal, Christiania
Memel
18,000
Green, or fresh cut.
1.800
112.50
270
Lancewood
1:01
25,245
0.753
47.06
2.784
1.919 119.93
174.00
4,912
334
Larch
•58
18,967
Lime, or Linden
*675
18,309
Maple
*735
•
23,947
Partly cross-grained.
8.607 537.93
19,072 117,088
Oak, English
20,000
wire drawn
8 87S
0.698
560.00 61,228 103,040
43.62 12,400
Hamburg
.693
-12,000
0.590
36.87
1,672,000
1,535,200
- Dantzic
*586.
3"
16,500
""
(from bog)
.67
14,500
Elm, seasoned
0.588
36.37 13,489 10,331
Fir, Riga
0.753
47.06 12,857
6,586
699,840
869,600
Ozier
18,700
Pear
.72
18,115
Glass, plate
2.453
153.31 9,420
Pine, St. Petersburg,
10,500
Fresh.
Granite, Cornish
2.662
166.30
14,302
St. Petersburg
13,000
Four or five years old.
Hawthorn
Hornbeam
Iron, bar
0.910 58.12 10,500
0.760 53.75
7-700 4$1.20
Memel
""
15,000
20,240
57,120
7,289
50,000
American
""
14,750
Plane
.59
17,617
wire
89,000
Plum
$79
23,700
sheets
31,360
>>
Poplar
•333
9,473
""
cast, cold blast
hot blast
blast
Larch
Lead, cast
""
sheet
Limestone, box
99
Lime tree .
Marble, white
•
7.006 441.62
7.046 410-37
0.522
11.446
11.107
1.893
712 93
16,683 106,375 17,270,500
13,503 108,540 16,085,000
32.62 10,220 3,201 $97,600
;17:45 1,824 7,728 720,000
3,328
Satin wood
1:02
30,000
Sallow
18,000
Sycamore
22,900
Teak
16,800
Old, partially decayed.
Africa
""
27,300
114.93
Walnut
•572
19,781
Portland
2.145
134.06
10,284
0.760
47.50 23,500
2.638 164.87
black
2.695 168.25
13,020 2,520,000
20,712
Mortar
Oak, English
1.751 107.18
•
0.934
Dantzic.
0.756
50
58.37 17,300
17.21 12,780
9,509 1,451,200
""
African
0.972
60.75
Pitch pine
0.660
41.25
Slate.
2 888
7,818
180.50 12,800
Sandstone, Craigleith
2.266 141.62
5,415 1,225,600
1,580,000
5,800
•
Yorkshire
2.320 145.00
·
""
Steel, soft
Teak, dry
Tin, cast
•
Tile, common
Willow, dry
Zinc
•
7.780 486-25 120,000
razor-tempered
7.840 400.00
•
150,000
0.657
41.06
7.291 455.6$
1.815 113.43
0.390 24.37
7.029 439.25
2,000,000
15,000 12,101 2,414,400
5,322 15,456 4,608,000
14,000
13,680,000
RESOLUTION. [SOLUTION] The
The resolution and solution of a
question are, in common language, the same things. The word is also
used as opposed to COMPOSITION.
RESOLUTION IN MUSIC. [DISCORD; HARMONY.]
RESPIRATOR, or breath-warmer, an instrument invented and
brought into use by Mr. Julius Jeffreys, for giving warmth to the
air drawn into the lungs in breathing, and thereby enabling invalids
to enjoy the benefits of exercise in the open air without injury or
inconvenience.
The common practice of wrapping up the lower part of the face in a
woollen covering warms the air inhaled through it very imperfectly,
and in an unwholesome manner, by mixing with it a portion of the
impure air exhaled from the lungs, and detained in its bulky folds. A
woollen wrapper, being a non-conductor of heat, can act in no other
way. In the respirator this disadvantage is avoided by causing the air
discharged from the lungs to pass through several layers of very fine
41
42
RESPONDENTIA.
RETABLE.
ΤΟ
200
wire, fixed so near together that the breath passing through them is
almost infinitely divided, its warmth being abstracted by the metal,
which, being an excellent conductor of heat, freely imparts it to the
fresh cold air drawn, or, as it were, filtered through it. The compact-
ness of the instrument is such that there is no room for the lodgment
of the impure air expelled from the lungs, and consequent contamina-
tion of that inhaled; and the condensation of moisture on the wires
corrects the injurious dryness of the atmosphere in some northerly
winds.
The means by which these objects are attained in the respirator
display much ingenuity in contrivance, and no ordinary degree of skill
in the execution. The inventor considers it necessary that about
twenty layers of metal-work should be used, and, in order to make the
instrument as light and compact as possible, each layer is required to
be exceedingly thin. The apparatus usually consists of from eight to
twelve frames of sheet-silver or other metal, about three inches and a
half long, one inch and a half wide, and th part of an inch thick;
the metal of which is pierced away by machinery so as to leave merely
a narrow frame containing six vertical bars of th and five horizontal
bars th of an inch wide. On both sides of each of these frames a
layer of wires an inch and a half long andth of an inch thick is
soldered, care being taken to connect each wire, not only with the top
and bottom bars of the frame, but also with each of the five horizontal
bars. The wires are laid about th part of an inch apart, and are so
numerous that a large respirator of high power contains 2000 feet of
wire, divided into about 12,000 pieces, and soldered to the frames at
more than 80,000 distinct points. The frames or lattices of wire-work
are fixed parallel to each other, and kept a short distance apart by
small studs of a substance which is a slow conductor of heat, so that
the inner layer is always kept, as nearly as possible, at the temperature
of the air expelled from the lungs, and each successive layer diminishes
in warmth, till the outer one is nearly as cold as the external air. The
curious and philosophical application of a non-conducting medium
between the metallic screens is essential to the perfect action of the
instrument, as without it the heat would be equally diffused, and no
part of the metal-work could retain more than half the temperature of
the breath. By this arrangement the air inhaled, finding each layer
of wire warmer than the preceding, is gradually raised, in respirators
of the highest power, to the greatest attainable temperature. The
most powerful respirators have twenty-four layers of wire-work, those
of medium power sixteen, and the lowest power eight. The whole of
the wire-work is bent into a curved form, and enclosed in a bordering
or case of soft leather, which is made to fit closely to the face of the
wearer, so as to prevent the entrance of air otherwise than through
the metal-work, and to hold the latter in such a position that the lips
do not come in contact with the wires. An outer covering of silk or
other material is added, having an aperture in which is inserted a very
thin plate of silver, perforated with minute holes, and to which a dark
colour is imparted by a chemical operation, to serve as a screen to the
wire-work, which it hides without impeding the passage of air as most
textile fabrics would do. Recently however a very fine and open
woollen fabric has been made use of in lieu of the perforated plate, to
suit the wishes of some persons to whom the appearance of the instru-
ment was an objection. The common or oral respirator covers the
mouth only; but a variety called the orinasal respirator encloses the
nostrils also. A piece of sponge attached to the lower edge of the
instrument collects the moisture condensed from the breath, and it, as
well as the metal-work and leather mounting, may be detached from
the outer covering and cleaned when necessary.
RESPONDENTIA. [BOTTOMRY.]
REST, in music, a character denoting silence; a cessation of sound
equal in duration to the note represented by the rest. As there are six
musical characters called notes, so there are as many rests. Ex. :—
Quavor Semiquaver Demisemi-
Rest.
Rest.
quaver Rest.
Semibrevo Minim
Rest.
Rest.
Crotchet
Rest.
|
|
(Com., 'Dig.,' 'Forceable
who has been turned out of possession.
Entry,' D 5, &c.)
Restitution of goods. By 7 & 8 Geo. IV., c. 29, s. 57 (re-enacting a
statute of Henry VIII.), if any person guilty of a felony or misdemeanor
in stealing, converting, or receiving any property, shall be indicted for
such offence by the owner or his executor, and convicted, the property
shall be restored, and the court shall have power to award writs of
restitution for the property, or order it to be restored in a summary
manner. If it appears, however, that a valuable security has been
bona fide paid or discharged by some person liable to pay it, or being a
negotiable instrument has been bond fide taken or received by transfer
or delivery by some person for a valuable consideration, without any
reasonable ground to suspect that it had been stolen, &c., then the
court shall not order the restitution of such security.
Restitution also formerly took place where the heir of one attainted
of treason was relieved from the consequences of the attainder.
(3' Inst.' 'Restitution.')
RESTORATIONS, in Architecture, a term applied to drawings
intended to show ancient buildings according to their original design,
as made out from their existing remains, aided by such descriptions or
hints as are to be obtained from classic authors, or from the repre-
sentations of them on coins. The term restoration is, however, now
more commonly applied to the actual reconstruction of an old building,
where that reconstruction has for its object to reproduce the leading
architectural features and ornamental details, so as to resemble as
nearly as practicable those of the original building. In this sense of
the term, a very large proportion of the Gothic churches in this country
have been restored during the last few years; while many others are
undergoing that process.
RESULTING USES. [USES.]
RESULTING TRUSTS. [TRUST AND TRUSTEE.]
RESUSCITATION (from resuscito, to arouse, to revive), the re-
storing to animation of persons apparently dead. Under this term.
strictly speaking, should be considered the restoration of all cases of
suspended animation, whether arising from disease or as a result of
asphyxia; yet it is chiefly made use of to designate the recovery of
persons from this latter condition. The symptoms, physiological con-
ditions, and causes of asphyxia are fully described under that head;
the treatment of it generally, and of its different varieties, was reserved
for the present article. Although the suspension of all the vital
actions of the system which takes place in asphyxia has originated from
the temporary interruption of a single function, yet the derangement
which has followed is of so complicated a nature, and extends to so
great a number of important organs, that the mere re-establishment of
the function primarily disturbed is not immediately followed by the
restoration of the rest, and by the removal of all the mischief. The
mere introduction of fresh air into the lungs cannot at once restore the
action of the heart, or of the diaphragm, and of the other muscles
which are concerned in respiration, because these muscles have lost
either the whole or the greater part of their irritability, in consequence
of having been supplied with venous instead of arterial blood. While
the first and principal object is to bring the blood contained in the
pulmonary vessels under the influence of atmospheric air, attention
must at the same time be paid to the state of the circulation, and to
the restoration of those powers by which that function, as well as
respiration, is to be carried on. The first of these objects can be
accomplished by the artificial inflation of the lungs; the second is to
be attempted by the judicious application of stimulants to various
parts of the body. The details of these processes have been already
given in the article. DROWNING. But asphyxia may also occur from
the presence of foreign bodies in the larynx, which mechanically prevent
the inflation of the lungs through the natural passage; in this case the
operation of tracheotomy must be resorted to, and the pipe of the
bellows must be introduced into the windpipe through the opening
thus artificially made. In addition to the employment of artificial
respiration, and the use of external and internal stimulants, many
physicians have recommended blood-letting; but besides the doubtful
advantage which sometimes may accrue from this practice, it is not
The breve rest, to be found in old music, is a short thick bar con- always possible, and such is especially the case if the asphyxia is of
necting two lines. Ex. :-
In separate vocal and instrumental parts, a character uniting three
lines, and indicating a rest four bars in duration, is employed. Ex.:—
long continuance. In general, the effects of blood-letting would be
injurious, and it is now rarely had recourse to unless there are very
unequivocal indications of great pressure on the brain. Whatever may
be the means that we employ, they should be persevered in till the
signs of death are no longer equivocal. Dr. Currie, in his Observations
on Apparent Death,' recommends their being persisted in for at least
six hours; the French writers mention the commencement of rigidity
of the limbs as the only criterion of the hopelessness of continuing our
efforts. The first signs of returning animation are slight convulsive
The following is the manner of directing a silence, or rest, of eleven twitchings in the muscles of respiration, which give rise to gaspings
bars, in any of the modern times or measures :—
RESTITUTION (in Law) of lands. Where a forcible entry or
detainer of lands is on inquiry duly found, or after conviction under
an indictment for a forcible entry, the court before whom the inquiry
is made, shall cause restitution of the lands to be made to the party
|
and sighings. By degrees these spontaneous efforts become more
regular, and natural respiration is restored; and together with it the
circulation returns. The first return to sensation is usually attended
with great suffering, and the utmost attention is required to guard
against the dangerous symptoms which sometimes show themselves at
this period.
RÊTABLE, called most commonly by English architectural writers
Reredos, the screen of wood or stone placed at the back of and above
the altar in medieval churches. Retables do not appear to have come
}
43
RETAINER.
|
RETORT.
44
earth piled against it. In most cases, also, the resistance of retaining
walls is increased by the introduction of counterforts; especially when
the length of the embankment, or earthwork, to be retained is con-
siderable.
Retaining walls used in situations where the earth at their backs is
liable to become saturated with water by tidal action, or by the
capillary attraction of the earth, must be established on the supposition
that their backing becomes in fact a semi-fluid, denser than water, and
which consequently has no angle of repose. Careful observations on the
state of the walls in the French ports on the Channel, have shown
that in many cases those walls have yielded when their mean thickness
has even been as much as 0.41: 100; and it therefore would appear
that in such cases it is not safe to keep the ratio of the mean thick-
ness below 0·45 or 0·50 to 1·00. In reservoir walls of masonry, the
thickness should be made, practically, double that of ordinary earth-
retaining walls, as indicated by theory; and especial care should
be taken to ensure the adhesion of the wall to its foundations; for it is
found that the expression of the resistance of these walls to overthrow
is 0:41h, while that of the resistance to. longitudinal displacement is
0.50 h. The summit of the retaining wall of a reservoir should be
into use till towards the end of the 13th century, the throne of the
bishop having been till then usually placed at the end of the apse and
behind the altar, so that anything rising above the altar would have
obstructed the view of the congregation. At first the retable was
merely a low screen, with a single row of scriptural figures placed in
niches. But in the 15th century retables, whether of marble, stone,
or wood, were made of large size, and adorned with a profusion of
sculpture embodying the best sculptural art of the period. In Ger-
many especially, they were often of extravagant height and costliness,
reaching sometimes to the chancel roof, and covered with a multitude
of small figures. In our own country they sometimes extended quite
across the chancel. The leading events of the lives of the saint to
whom the altar was dedicated were now often represented, the carved
figures being coloured, and the ground gilt: characteristic examples
may be seen at the South Kensington Museum, in one of French work
with a large number of figures in high relief, of about 1500; and one
of carved oak of the latter part of the 15th century of Flemish work,
said to have been brought from the cathedral of St. Bavon, Ghent;
while in the same collection is a still more remarkable triptych retable
of the 15th century (No. 181) of German work, in which the life and
martyrdom of S. Margaret are represented by numerous small figures-made at least equal to 1-3rd or 1-4th of the head of water; and the
arranged in compartments, which retain much of the original colour
and gilding. Several other retables of medieval date are in the same
museum; and also one or two in marble of Italian renaissance work.
Portable diptych and triptych retables were much used in the 16th
century, of which some very beautiful specimens in ivory and in enamel
are at South Kensington. Many of the churches of the continent
retain fine examples of medieval retables; and many fine reredoses,
as the fixed retable was here called, may be seen, more or less muti-
lated, in our own Gothic churches, as at Durham, Gloucester, and
Bristol cathedrals, St. Alban's Abbey Church, Henry VII.'s Chapel,
Westminster Abbey, St. Saviour's, Southwark, &c.
RETAINER. [EXECUTOR; SERJEANT-AT-LAW.]
RETAINING WALL is the term used for a wall erected to resist
the thrust of a mass of earth, or of a volume of water stored in a
reservoir. In consequence of the variable nature of the materials to be
sustained, as well as of the materials of which the walls themselves are
composed, the practical application of the mechanical laws usually
adopted for calculating the thicknesses of this class of works is more
empirical than is usually the case in the ordinary operations of building.
The following are, however, some of the generally received principles
adopted by engineers in the construction of these walls.
Navier, who has applied the higher analysis to the investigation of
the laws of the stability of buildings, gives a formula for the thickness
of retaining walls, and a table of the weights of the materials com-
monly dealt with. The table is as follows, in English weights and
dimensions :—
Material.
Vegetable earth,
|
effect of the surcharge of the masonry above the water-line may be
neglected in estimating the statical resistance.
The reader who would desire to study the strict theory of this
question would do well to examine the 'Mémoires' by Coulomb,
Mayniel, and Prony, Sur la Roussée des Terres;' Navier's Leçons de
la Mécanique;' Pasley's 'Course of Military Instruction;' Moseley's
Engineering and Architecture;' but the most condensed and practical
notice upon the subject is to be found in Carr's invaluable 'Synopsis
of Practical Philosophy,' under the head 'Earth.' The following table.
of the angle formed by the natural slope of the materials enumerated
may be found useful in applying Navier's formula, previously given,
when it may be desired to calculate the resistance of a wall rather
more closely than it is found necessary to do in practice
1. Fine dry sand forms with the vertical line a slope,
having an angle of 69°; sometimes the angle is,
however, 55, when the sand has been well
rammed.
=
2. Vegetable earth
3. Loose shingle
4. Ordinary earth, well dried and pulverised forms
do.
do.
of 551
of 51°
an angle of
43° 10'
·
5. Rubble, small and rough
do.
of 371°
6. Do. do. slightly moistened
7. Densest and most compact sand
do.
of 36
do.
of 35°
From this table it appears that usually ranges between 35° and
70°; for water and for extremely fluid mud @ becomes 9°
RETARDATION. [ACCELERATION.]
RETICULUS, or RETICULUM RHOMBOIDA'LE (the rhomboidal
network formerly used to divide the field of a telescope), a southern
constellation of Lacaille, situated directly between the great stars of
Argo and Eridanus.
lbs.
per yard, cube
2352
Clayey earth
2688
""
Clay
3192
"
Stiff earth, with pebbles,,
3817
Marl
2088
""
Mud
2772
"
No. in Catalogue
Fine dry sand
2352
Wet ditto
3192
No. in Catalogue
39
Character.
of Lacaille.
of British
Association.
Argillaceous sand
2910
Wet river sand
3024
Ᏸ
""
Rubble masonry
3360
α
292
329
1197
1336
Ashlar
4536
Brickwork
3021
"
Magnitude.
44.8
The formula for walls with two vertical faces is; calling
x, the thickness sought, in yards and decimals,
h, the height of the wall above its base, in yards,
P, the weight per yard cube of the wall,
P', the weight of the earth or other material,
e, the angle that material, if left free, would form with the
vertical line passing through the foot of the slope;
then x = 0.59 7 tangent
Ө
Р
This formula would give thicknesses considerably less than those
usually adopted in practice; for the general rule adopted by engineers
is to make the thickness of retaining walls equal, on the average, to
1-3rd of the height, or 0.33 h. It must, however, be borne in mind,
that there is no allowance made in the formula for the numerous
disturbing causes which are frequently met with, such as the subsi-
dence of the ground; nor does it take into account the cohesion of
the earth, nor that of the masonry; it is, in fact, only founded upon
the theoretical conditions of the equilibrium of the materials. It is
even desirable in addition to the extra thickness thus given in practice
to the walls, beyond that which is required by the strict application of
theoretical laws, to give a batter to the external faces equal to 1-24th
of the height. A greater batter than this would be objectionable,
on account of its catching and retaining the falling rain; and it is
desirable that the internal face of the wall should be formed in such a
manner as not to hold up any water which might filter through the
RETINAPHTHA. [TURPENTINE.]
RETINOLE. [TURPENTINE.]
RETINYL. [TURPENTINE.]
RETISTEREÑE. A name given by Dumas to metanaphthaline.
RETORT, a chemical vessel in which distillation or decomposition
is effected by the application of heat; for different purposes retorts are
made of glass, earthenware, and metal.
Glass retorts are usually of the annexed form, with a receiver

Fig. 2.
Fig. 3.
b
α
Fig. 1.
e
d
attached; they may be employed for the preparation of such products
as do not require any extraordinary degree of cold for the condensa-
In this cut a
tion of their vapour: such a liquid is nitric acid.
represents the body of the retort, b the neck, and c is the receiver.
}
7
45
RETRENCHMENT.
4
To prepare this acid, nitrate of potash is carefully conveyed by the
neck into the body of the retort, and then sulphuric acid is added to
it by means of the retort funnel d, which prevents any of this acid
from remaining in the neck of the retort, and being washed down by
and contaminating the nitric acid, as it condenses and passes into the
receiver. In this case, when heat is applied to the retort, nitric acid
and water rise together in vapour from the body of the retort, and are
condensed in the neck; but when the product is more difficult of
condensation, the neck of the retort is lengthened by placing an
adapter e between it and the receiver, to both of which it is secured by
a lute; it being understood that the wider end slips over the aperture
of the retort, and the narrower one is admitted into the mouth of the
receiver. In many cases condensation is accelerated by the use of a
Liebig's condenser interposed between the retort and receiver.
[CONDENSER.]
A stoppered retort ƒ (fig. 4) is sometimes used instead of a plain one;
these retorts are more expensive, but much more convenient than
common ones; for both the dry and the liquid substances to be
employed in the operation are passed into the body of the retort
through the aperture, which is afterwards secured by a stopper,
without having recourse to the retort funnel. Frequently also a
quilted or tubulated receiver is used instead of the plain one above
described: this is represented by g; the tube is inserted into a bottle
h, and this, when ammonia or other very volatile or difficultly conden-
sible products are distilled, dips into water, or the receiving-bottle
itself is immersed in water kept cold by ice or by a freezing mixture,
as when hydrocyanic acid is distilled i is the stand which supports
the retort, and k is the lamp by which heat is applied to it.
k
:
Fig. 4.
g
Glass retorts and receivers are made cf various sizes, capable of
containing from a few ounces to several gallons, and both flint and
green glass are used in their manufacture. Usually, instead of
applying heat by a lamp, retorts are heated in a sand-bath, and some-
times they are subjected to the direct action of the fire; but before
this they are very commonly protected by a coating of lute. [LUTE.]
In general, when the application of the higher temperatures is
required for distillation or decomposition, earthen retorts are employed.
In preparing hydrofluoric acid, lead is used; and in concentrating
sulphuric acid, platinum retorts are now largely employed, and would
be universally so, were it not for their very high price.
In the destructive distillation of coal [GAS LIGHTING] iron retorts
are used, and also, on the small scale, for obtaining oxygen from the
peroxide of manganese, and various other chemical operations.
RETRENCHMENT, in Fortification, is a work constructed within
another, in order to prolong the defence of the latter by impeding or
preventing the formation of lodgments when the enemy has gained
possession of it; or to afford protection to the defenders till they can
retreat with safety or obtain a capitulation. In the latter instances the
nterior work is called by the French engineers a reduit.
Every principal work in permanent fortification is provided with its
retrenchment or redout; and some of these, as the redout of the
ravelin, and of the re-entering places of arms, are constructed at the
same time as the work itself, while others, as the retrenchments within
a bastion, are generally executed but a short time before they are
wanted.
In 1552, when Metz was besieged by Charles V., the Duke of
Guise, who commanded in the town, by constructing new ramparts
within the old, as fast as the latter were destroyed by the besiegers,
succeeded at length in compelling the emperor to raise the siege;
and at the siege of Candia (1666–1669), the Venetians raised a ram-
part from one curtain to the next in rear of the gorge of the bastion
St. Andrea, so that, long after that bastion was breached and taken,
the town continued to hold out. Such prolonged defences are now
RETRENCHMENT.
46
rare, and the governor of a fortress is considered as having fulfilled
his duty if he do not surrender till a breach has been made in the
rampart of the enceinte; though if the bastion were retrenched, he
might sustain an assault without any risk of being refused a capitula-
tion, or of seeing the town given up to be plundered. In the event
of the assailants gaining the top of the breach, the defendants would
be able to retreat within the entrenchment, the fire from which might
then be concentrated upon the enemy while confined within the com-
paratively narrow space between the faces of the bastion.
The kind of retrenchment proposed by Cormontaingne for the bastion
of a fortress is a rampart or parapet extending across the interior of
the work in a right line, or rather in the form of a tenaille. [x,
FORTIFICATION.] Its extremities join the faces of the bastion at 20
or 30 yards in front of the shoulders, by which means the flank is
left quite free, so that all its artillery can be employed in defence of
the main ditch, and there is room between the retrenchment and the
shoulder of the bastion for two guns, by which the interior of the
ravelin and the ditch of its reduit might be defended, if necessary, even
after the enemy had made a lodgment in the bastion.
As the retrenchment in this situation is liable to be enfiladed by a
battery of the besiegers on the glacis before the collateral bastion, it is
proposed that another should be formed in rear of the gorge of the
bastion attacked; and as in this case there would be sufficient room,
the retrenchment may be in the form of a front of fortification with a
revetted scarp and counterscarp.
The ditch in front of a retrenchment, as at x in FORTIFICATION, is
cut quite through the parapet of the bastion, in order to prevent the
enemy, after the assault at the breach, from passing along the top of
that parapet, and getting to the rear of the retrenchment. This
opening of the parapet does not, however, go lower than the level of
the cordon of the scarp revetment, in order to avoid diminishing the
height of that scarp, and thus offering a facility to the enemy, should
he attempt to escalade the work at that place.
Cormoutaingne proposed to retrench small bastions by constructing
within them cavaliers of the same form as the bastion itself, and
having a command of 5 or 6 feet above it. The fire from this high
parapet might give the work some advantages during the progress of
the siege; but from its figure a cavalier appears to be less proper than
a retrenchment in the form of a tenaille, for the defence of the terre-
plein at the top of the breach. -
It is evident that full bastions like A [FORTIFICATION] must be more
convenient for being retrenched than those which are of the kind
called hollow, as B; since less earth is wanted to raise the retrench-
ment to the required level, and the scarps are covered by the opposite
side of the ditch from the view of the enemy at the top of the breach.
The most simple manner of retrenching a hollow bastion would be
that of retaining the rampart on the interior side, where it is usually
10 or 12 feet high, by a wall, and cutting a deep ditch at the foot;
then forming a traverse across the terreplein of the rampart on each
face (at 20 or 30 yards from the salient angle of the bastion) with a
ditch in front. The enemy, in gaining the top of the breach, would
then find himself arrested by these obstacles, and exposed to the fire of
the defenders, till ladders and the support of a large body of troops
could be obtained. The bastions of Ciudad Rodrigo, Badajos, and
St. Sebastian were retrenched in this manner when those fortresses
were besieged by the British and their allies during the Peninsular

war.
Vauban, having observed that the ravelin was sometimes abandoned
by the defenders previously to an expected assault, on account of the
difficulty of retreating across the main ditch under a fire from batteries
on the glacis before the bastions, constructed, in the interior of that
work, another, which might afford the defenders protection till the coming
night would permit them to retire in safety. This work was at first
only a wall, pierced with loop-holes for musketry and covering the
steps at the gorge; but when Vauban increased the size of the ravelin,
he made this redout, or retrenchment, to consist of a rampart and
parapet similar to those of the ravelin itself, as at Neuf Brisac; and
Corníontaingne subsequently enlarged the work, so as to render it a
second ravelin, as at r [FORTIFICATION]. This spacious retrenchment
contributes much to the prolongation of the defence of the ravelin,
since it is capable of containing a large body of troops; and each of its
flanks carry three guns, whose fire might be directed against the
counter-battery at the salient of the bastion, or might serve for the
defence of the breach in the face of the latter, should the enemy
attempt to make an assault before he has obtained possession of the
reduit. But to take this last, it would be necessary to breach its faces
either by artillery or by mining; and the passage of its ditches wouid
be difficult under a close fire from the ramparts near the shoulders of
the neighbouring bastions.
In order that the defenders might be able to retain possession of the
extremities of the ravelin, near the main ditch, after the salient part
may have been taken, retrenchments or coupures, as they are called,
similar to the traverses, t, t, &c., are recommended to be formed
across the terreplein of the ravelin. Behind theso some of the
defenders may retire, and keep up a fire against the enemy's lodgment
near z.
When Vauban had enlarged the re-entering places of arms, L
[BASTION; FORTIFICATION], he retrenched the interior with stockades,
47
RETROGRADE.
which, by covering the steps leading from the ditches in their rear,
protected the retreat of the defenders of the covered way; and Coe-
horn appears, about the same time, to have constructed brick walls,
provided with loop-holes, in the places of arms, at Bergen-op-Zoom,
for the same purpose. But Cormontaingne, in order to render the
defence of the places of arms more obstinate, and to secure more
effectually the retreat of the defenders of the covered-way, constructed
the redouts, as w [FORTIFICATION], with parapets of earth 12 or 14
feet thick; and he revetted the sides of their ditches, in order to
diminish the risk of a surprise: he also gave them flanks, which he
made perpendicular to the covered-way, that a fire of light artillery or
musketry might be directed from them against the enemy while
attempting to crown the salients of the ravelin. These redouts more-
over cover the shoulders of the bastions and the portions of the curtain
which might be seen and breached by a fire directed between the
flanks of the bastions and the tenailles; and their faces are directed
so that they cannot be enfiladed. The crest of their parapet is about
four feet higher than that of the glacis in their front.
The advanced works about a fortress are recommended to be retrenched
with round towers of masonry, provided with upper and lower tiers of
loop-holes for musketry. These are called safety redoubts; and in
Montalembert's 'Fortification Perpendiculaire,' such towers are con-
structed to carry artillery within the rampart of the enceinte.
For retrenchments in field fortification, see BLOCKHOUSE.
RETROGRADE, moving backwards, as opposed to DIRECT. In
astronomy all motion from east to west is retrograde: thus the appa-
rent motion of the heavens is retrograde, and the earth's diurnal
motion, which causes it, is direct.
RETURN OF CATTLE, &c., is a term applied to the restoration of
cattle, &c., distrained, to the party by whom they were distrained, after
it has been ascertained that the distress was rightfully taken. The
restoration of the cattle, &c., distrained to the owner is not called a
return, but a replevin. [REPLEVIN.]
RETURN OF WRITS. When process [PROCESS] issues, the party
to whom it is directed is commonly required to do a specified act, to
certify the court in what manner the command has been executed,
and at the same time to produce or return the process itself. Hence
the whole answer to the process is called the return. [SHERIFF.]
REVELATION (removal of a covering, or discovery) signifies, in
theology, a preternatural or extraordinary communication made by the
Deity to men. The evidence of a revelation may be considered with
reference to the party to whom it is first and immediately made; to
those who have their knowledge of it immediately from him; and to
those who possess only a recorded account of it. It should seem that
in the case of the first recipient, the only evidence fully satisfactory
must be something external to himself, or unequivocally presenting
itself to the judgment of his senses. If it is asked why preternatural
intervention is claimed in behalf of those to whom the revelation is
delivered by the first receiver of it, and dispensed with in the case of
those to whom only the record of it has descended, the answer is, that
a miraculous fact is a subject for historical testimony; and if con-
firmed by that, conveys to future generations the same kind of security
which it was intended to afford to those who witnessed it.
In saying that a miracle is the proper test of a revelation, we do not
mean to exclude every other kind of proof. We mean only that a
miracle is that one species of proof which cannot be spared. Many
circumstances may be supposed to have place in a revelation, which
would contribute greatly to confirm its reality, and which might with
some minds have more influence in inducing acceptance than even the
proof of miraculous agency.
We have spoken of a miracle as the test of a revelation, without
attempting a definition, believing the common notion of it to be
sufficiently accurate for our purpose. For the distinctive character of
a miracle, and the possibility of proving it by evidence, the reader may
consult the article MIRACLE in this work, and the authors referred to
at the end of it. It is presumed that the purpose of the miraculous
test is evident. A certain person is converted to the belief of certain
truths by an appearance, undoubtedly miraculous, in the sky. The
miracle is to him a proof that his conversion is from God. He teaches
to others the truths which he has been made to believe: and in doing this
performs miracles. These are a proof to them that he is commissioned
by God to teach what he delivers; recorded and duly attested, they
prove the same to those who have not witnessed them. All the
parties, in accepting the test, would reason in the same manner,
namely, that the laws of nature could be changed only by God, the
author of them, or by his permission; and that he would not change
them or permit them to be changed for the purpose of establishing a
falsehood.
To the question, "has a revelation been actually made?" the Chris-
tian believes that he has an answer in the possession of the Holy
Scriptures, or the books of the Old and New Testament. An account
of the contents of these books and an examination of the evidences of
the Christian revelation form, of course, no part of the subject of this
article they are noticed under their respective headings. The proofs
which we have insisted on as requisite to establish the reality of a
revelation genefally, must, if rightly assigned, be applicable to this
particular one.
We insisted on the primary evidence of miraculous agency in the
REVELATION.
48
communication, with corroboration from the matter communicated, the
miraculous agency to be so exhibited to the witnesses as to be capable
of proof from testimony to others. Particular revelations may be
supposed according to the circumstances under which they were
given, and the nature of their contents, to admit various topics of
evidence; almost all of which however will probably be found to
resolve themselves into one or other of these two, though all inquirers
may not agree in the classification. We should place for instance
under the head of proof from preternatural manifestations, the fulfil-
ment of prophecy in cases supposel to be beyond the reach of human
foreknowledge or conjecture; the attested existence of persons ex-
hibiting qualities, moral or intellectual, in kind or degree, not exem-
plified or to be expected in others of the human race; conduct of
men, natural under the supposition that they were conscious and had
proof of a divine commission, but otherwise unaccountable according
to any known motives of human action.
The purpose and value of what may be called the corroborative
evidence as distinguished from that founded on miraculous agency can
hardly be overlooked. Between the highest degree of certainty with
which a fact can be invested by evidence, and the faintest probability,
there is room for every shade of assurance.
Now it is notorious both that different minds are differently affected
by the same evidence, and that some minds seem peculiarly constituted
by nature to admit the full force of one mode of proof, whilst they are
comparatively insensible to another; so that it might happen that
whilst to one inquirer the testimony which supported the story of the
miraculous facts seemed so strong as to supersede the necessity of
confirming his belief in the revelation by the evidence which the
matter of it might supply, and which perhaps he might be little able
to appreciate, another might rather feel that the miracles were so far
proved as to complete the satisfaction which he had already derived
from the other source.
The Christian revelation, which may be considered as forming one
subject with the Jewish, from the wide field over which it is spread
and the miscellaneous character of its contents, must necessarily
supply, in large abundance, matter for examination in the way of
evidence. An enumeration, which however does not pretend even to
approach completeness, of the constituent parts of the body of evidence
belonging to it, together with the proper mode of using them and
estimating their joint force, may be found shortly but very clearly
proposed in the first of Mr. Davison's Discourses on Prophecy.'
Before we leave this part of the subject, we would observe, what seems
sometimes to be overlooked, that an action may itself be a revelation.
It would not be improper to say that the birth, death, and actions,
even more than the discourses of Jesus Christ, were a revelation, of
which the Apostles, who taught what are called the doctrines of Chris-
tiahity were only the interpreters. Of these doctrines it is not our
business to treat, but we will select one as the subject of a few obser-
vations, merely with a view to illustrate the disposition of mind with
which we must necessarily regard the pretensions and evidences of a
professed revelation, according as we recognise, or not, a need which
men have of extraordinary information on the subject of religion. The
doctrine we select is that of the immortality of the soul and a future
state of rewards and punishments. Without assuming the probability
or improbability of this doctrine, we suppose it to be notorious that
the immortality of the soul, or some kind of continued existence after
bodily death, with liability to a state of happiness or suffering, has
been very generally believed, in one shape or other, in all parts and at
all periods of the world; and that this doctrine is distinctly delivered
and prominently set forth in the New Testament. There is as little
doubt that before the time of Christianity, either the notions com-
monly received of a future state were so irrational, or the belief of
it so faint and unassured, that for the most part it had comparatively
little effect on the moral feelings and conduct of men; and that on the
other hand, wherever the Christian revelation has been published,
this doctrine has not only been firmly received with little variation in
the manner of understanding it, but has influenced the conduct of
many, happily or not, in the most important respects, and regulated
the whole course of their lives. It is plain that those who regarded
the distinct and authoritative announcement of this doctrine to be
among the things especially needed by mankind, and those who con-
sidered it to be either useless or mischievous, would be very differently
impressed by the general body of evidence in favour of the revelation.
Among professed revelations which have been the ground of a
national religion, it may be doubtful whether we should place the
mythological systems of ancient Greece and Rome. They are indeed
avowedly founded on traditional accounts of certain transactions.
between gods and men; but from the nature of the transactions, of
the supernatural beings concerned in them, and the purposes of the
interference, we may doubt whether the discoveries supposed to be
made belong to the notion of a revelation according to our definition
of the word, or the usual acceptation of it. The same for the most
part may be said of the mythology of the Hindus and of the northern
nations of Europe. But there can be no doubt that the religion of
Mohammed, as taught in the Korán, professes to be founded on a
revelation in the strict scnse of the word, such as may be subjected
to the same tests which we have supposed to be applicable to all
revelations.
2
$.....
19
REVELATION.
In passing from the Christian revelation itself to the written record
of it a new and important question is opened to us. The revelation
may have been made to the persons who profess to have received it;
but in recording it also, were they preternaturally assisted, or were
they left to the use of their natural memories, and the guidance of
their unassisted judgment? In other words, we are met by a question
respecting what is called the inspiration of the books of Scripture, or,
more properly, of the persons who wrote them. By this word we are
to understand, not the preternatural infusion of revealed truths into
the minds of the writers (which however would not be inconsistent
with the original meaning of the word), but preternatural assistance in
recording what had been so infused. This distinction should be
observed. St. Paul, if we believe his own declaration, received immedi-
ately from God a message to men. He may be supposed to have
delivered this message orally or in writing to others from memory; and
in that case he would have been a deliverer and they receivers, in the
strictest sense of the words, of a divine revelation; but the message,
so delivered, would not in theological language have been an inspired
message, that is, spoken or written under inspiration. It is beside our
purpose to defend or impugn the doctrine of the inspiration of Scripture
generally, or, out of the various theories which have been put forth, to
advocate one in preference to the others. We only wish to do some-
thing towards clearing away certain fears and difficulties, which seem
to beset and mislead many in the very outset of the inquiry, and to
offer a few suggestions as to the principle on which the inquiry
should be conducted, to those who are not very conversant with the
subject.
In the case of most persons educated in the Christian faith, their
first introduction to the Bible is accompanied by an assurance that it
was dictated by God, and is therefore true; and this is told them at a
time when its claims, as an authentic history, independently of its
inspiration, neither are nor can be explained to them. This early
impression, perhaps unavoidable, that the Scriptures are to be received
as true, only because they are the Word of God, is probably retained
for the most part without question, in spite of its inconsistency with
the method and object of books which are given, almost as universally
as the Bible, to all educated persons for the purpose of establishing
their faith on rational grounds. Hence they are habituated from the
very nursery to confound in their minds two questions essentially
distinct, the divine origin of the Christian religion, and the divine
origin of the scriptural records of it. All might easily remove this
confusion by simply answering the question, what would be the natural
course of our inquiries, and by what steps should we arrive at con-
viction of the divine origin of the Christian religion, if the volume of
the New Testament were for the first time put into our hands for
examination, at an age when we were capable of making it? It is
obvious that we should not begin with assuming the inspiration of the
writers; for that would be assuming the very point in debate,
assuming that for which we had not as yet a shadow of evidence. But
neither is it of their inspiration that it would be our first object to
find evidence; for such evidence could not at first be obtained. If we
ever came to the conclusion that they were inspired, it must be because
either the very supposition of a revelation from God included in it the
supposition of a revelation on the part of those who communicated it,
or because all the writers themselves claimed inspiration, or some,
whose claims we had already allowed, attributed it to the rest. In the
former case we must first have believed that a revelation was made; in
other words, that the origin of the religion was divine: in the other, if
we assent to the claim of inspiration, we must first have admitted the
credibility, the veracity of those who make it; that is, if we believe
them to be inspired because they say so, we must have had reason for
believing what they say, on other ground than that of their inspiration.
It seems then that it would be our first object to establish, not the
inspiration, but the credibility of the sacred writers apart from their
inspiration. We should proceed from the establishment of their
credibility, to inquire, in the second place, if they were inspired. The
result, in short, to which we have actually come is this: the New
Testament is put into our hands for examination, and we find that the
claims of Jesus and his followers to a divine commission rest on the
miracles which they are said to have performed. Our belief of the
fact of the miracles depends on the credit we attach to the story of
the witnesses. If that is substantially true, Jesus came from God.
With the arguments by which the credibility of the gospel history is
proved we have here no concern. It is plain that it is not proved by
the inspiration of the authors. Some confusion seems to have arisen
from a strange mistake respecting the kind of satisfaction which the
inspiration of the sacred writers, when established, is capable of
supplying. It does not confirm their veracity, it only implies their
accuracy. It secures us from their mistakes, not from their falsehood.
Now if it should be argued that without inspiration we can have no
assurance that they were not mistaken, when they tell us that they
saw a man dead on the cross, laid in his grave, and afterwards alive, it
may be asked, how can they be secured from their liability to mistake,
when they tell us that they are inspired? It is at least as likely that
they should be mistaken in the one case as in the other. The obvious
truth is, that if we cannot rely on their veracity when they vouch for
miracles, we can trust none of their assertions, and admit none of their
claims; and if they might be mistaken as to the fact of a miracle, they
ARTS AND SCI. DIV. VOL. VIL
REVELATION.
50
might be equally mistaken in their claim of inspiration for themselves
or for others.
It is hardly necessary to observe that the various methods followed
by writers on the evidences of the Christian religion are all in con-
formity with the view that has been taken of this subject. They
endeavour to show the genuineness and authenticity of the books of
the New Testament, the fidelity, disinterestedness, and integrity of the
writers; to point out their means of information as human historians,
and to confirm the accuracy of their accounts by comparison with,
other records. The question of inspiration forms no part of their
inquiry. It is beside their object, which is to prove the divine origin
of Christianity; and this is fully proved if their arguments are satis-
factory.
It is
It is not meant, of course, that all who are brought to a conviction
of the truth of Christianity, arrive at it in the same manner.
sufficient for our argument that it may be reached in the manner we
have supposed. In short, on whatever support the believer himself
may eventually feel that his faith habitually reposes, if he should ever
be impelled by any motive to trace his conviction to a source from
which it can be shown to others by reasoning that it may legitimately
flow, he will find that he must rely, in the first instance, on the credi-
bility of the sacred writers, however established, considered as unin-
spired historians. With this foundation laid, he may commence an
inquiry into the proofs of their inspiration; and he may pursue it
with a full assurance that to whatever result it may lead, the divine
origin of his religion is already secured; that he has in possession a
revelation from God, truths divinely communicated to men.
We may
seem to have taken unnecessary pains to establish a point too plain to
be disputed. Our justification must be, that it does not seem to have
been so plain to some even of those who have written on the subject,
and are occasionally quoted as authorities, and who have been led,
apparently by the confusion which we deprecate, into unwarrantable
insinuations of infidelity against those who differ from them in
opinion.
If the question should be asked, where, when the divine origin of
the religion is supposed to be established on the credibility of the
sacred writers, we should look for proof that the books which are the
records of it were written under the security of inspiration? the
natural answer would be that it must be looked for in the books them-
selves, from the claims, declarations, and intimations of the writers.
When, for example, one of the evangelists has recorded a distinct
promise made by their master to his Apostles, of a divine gift for the
declared purpose of assisting the memory and enlightening the under-
standing, the inference seems to be unavoidable that those to whom
the promise was given must have written with more than natural
advantages. The argument founded on the necessity of inspiration to
render the sacred books effectual for the purpose for which they were
intended, ought not perhaps to be slighted. We have seen indeed that
the supposition of the divine origin of the religion does not necessarily
require the admission of inspiration; yet the peculiar character of the
contents of the books, together with the service they were destined
to perform, may raise a presumption in its favour. The direct
testimony however from the writers themselves must be principally
regarded. But when commencing the examination, whilst the evidence
is yet to be found, we must be careful to estimate correctly the degree
of authority which ought in this stage of the inquiry to be attributed
to the words of Scripture. They are not yet proved to be the words of
God. The declarations of the writers must be received and interpreted
fairly and liberally, as the solemn declarations on a solemn subject, of
honest and credible writers, ought to be received and interpreted. If
the evidence which we seek to obtain from them cannot be obtained in
this manner, it cannot be obtained at all. To search Scripture for
proofs of its inspiration whilst at the same time we assume it to be
inspired, is a proceeding so obviously absurd, that if experience did
not teach us otherwise, any caution against it would seem to be
unnecessary. But even when this strange error is not committed,
declarations of the sacred writers, apparently bearing on this subject,
may be and often are improperly summoned to the cause.
writer professes to have received secret suggestions from the deity,
that is, to be the subject of inspiration in one sense of the word, he is
represented as claiming it in the other, as though the privilege of
receiving communications necessarily implied the privilege of infalli-
bility in recording them. This confusion has been noticed on another
occasion.
When a
That most popular argument for the inspiration of a particular
book, founded on testimony borne to the purity and integrity of the
canon of Scripture, may be soon disposed of. When it has been
proved that a book forms part of what is called the canon, it may
follow that it forms part of Scripture. This with not carry us far
when the question to be decided is, what are the claims of Scripture to
inspiration?
There is one mode of proof, besides those already mentioned, which
ought perhaps to be noticed, as being much in favour with some
theologians, namely, an appeal to what is called the tradition of the
church. There are some advocates of inspiration, in the strictest sense
and most unlimited application of the term, who allow, or rather
contend, that the proof of it rests mainly, if not entirely, on the
testimony of tradition. An examination of the value of this testimony
E
4
61
REVELATIONS, BOOK OF.
would oblige us to enter more largely, than would here be expedient,
on the important question of ecclesiastical tradition generally. We
shall content ourselves with saying that, in this case at least, we
greatly doubt, for many reasons, the sufficiency of the witness, and are
not satisfied, even where it speaks to the purpose, that its words hare
always been rightly understood. However this may be, it is plain that
this mode of proof also supposes the question of the divine origin of
the Christian religion to be independent and to have precedence of the
question of inspiration.
We shall close this article with a brief notice of the three most
popular theories of inspiration, which are distinguished from each
other more in respect of the extent to which they attribute inspiration,
than in respect of any difference in the meaning assigned the
word.
›
That which is called verbal inspiration supposes each word in the
Bible, as we now have it, with due allowance made for mistakes of
transcribers, to have been irresistibly dictated by the Spirit of God,
the writers being only vehicles of words and thoughts not their own.
This notion of inspiration has undoubtedly still its advocates; but we
are not aware that it is at present maintained by any divine of repute.
According to another theory, somewat modifying the former, the
writers were allowed to exercise their own judgment in the choice of
their words; but in the meaning of each sentence, from the first verse
of Genesis down to the last of the Revelations, they have been secured
by supernatural interference from the least particle of error. This
theory, which is not without support from well-known theologians,
represents perhaps more nearly than any other the popular creed.
Lastly, there are many, and amongst them divines of great eminence
and reputed orthodoxy, and not a few distinguished prelates of the
English church, who limit the extent of inspiration as commonly
received, and suppose that parts of Scripture may have been written
with the liability to error incident to ordinary histories; those for
instance which are purely historical, and contain no religious truth.
As to the degree in which this limitation is to be admitted, and the
number and length of passages to be excepted from the sanction of
inspiration, there is of course room for diversity of opinions, which
- affords apparent ground for objection to the theory itself. The
advocates of the two former theories contend that a latitude for choice
is allowed which is capable of a dangerous abuse. The truth of the
allegation cannot be disputed;. but perhaps it is not possible by any
device to exclude the danger which alarms them. The canon of
Scripture has not been ascertained to us by an authoritative revelation,
nor has the purity of the text been absolutely secured by providential
interference. A liberty is thus left, which in these cases also may
become dangerous to those who are willing to abuse it. Some however
may think that the test of sincerity and right intention, and the means
of probationary discipline which the allowance of such a measure of
discretion affords, is apparently in harmony with what we have been
taught of God's moral government of the world. On the other hand it
On the other hand it
is objected to the advocates of the more rigid theories, that the faith
of the believer is exposed to still greater danger by the forced con-
structions and violent treatment of the text which their systems have
often induced them to employ,
It might perhaps have been expected that we should notice a
certain classification of the phenomena of inspiration of which many
theologians are fond, certain distinctions in kind, under the titles of
impulsive, suggestive, superintending, and many others. The truth is,
we think them to be of very little value on any view of the subject.
They seem to have been adopted by theologians who hold the theory
of plenary but not verbal inspiration, from a wish to remove the
necessity of supposing a greater quantity or degree of miraculous
agency than the occasion required.
We have drawn none of our materials from the writings of a class of
theologians who, regarding the Scriptures as in some sense, not very
clearly defined, vehicles of religious truth, exclude all notion of
revelation which is not equally applicable to discoveries made by
human intelligence, and who give no credit to assertions of miraculous
interposition, whether in conveying knowledge or attesting facts.
Whatever consideration may be due to the writers, some of whom are
men of ingenuity and research, their speculations could hardly have an
appropriate place in treating of the subjects to which this article is
confined. [RATIONALISM.]
REVELATIONS, BOOK OF. [APOCALYPSE.]
REVELS, MASTER OF THE, an officer in noblemen's and other
great houses, appointed pro tempore to manage the Christmas diversions
from All-hallow-eve to Candlemas-day; more ordinarily called the
Lord of Misrule. In the royal household however the master of the
revels was a permanent officer, and was called Master of the Tents and
Revels or Masks and Revels, whose business it was to keep the tents
and pavilions belonging to the king, which were often, if not always,
carried with the king upon removes and progresses. This officer had
also the keeping of the dresses and masks which were used in enter-
tainments given at court, and he was to provide such new ones as
were wanted.
The permanent office of master of the revels was first instituted in
the reign of Henry VIII. Queen Elizabeth divided the mastership of
the revels into several offices, which, as vacated by death, were to be
re-united. In 1663 we find two masters of the toils, tents, hayles,
REVERSION.
$53
(that is, halls or temporary buildings), and pavilions, who again occur
in 1674.
See the 'Archæologia,' vol. xviii. p. 318, &c., and The Loseley
Manuscripts,' edited by A. J. Kempe, Esq., 8vo., Lond., 1836. No
mention of this office has been found subsequently to the reign of
king Charles II.
REVERSION. By a reversion, in the widest sense, is meant a right
of property the enjoyment of which is to commence at some future
period, fixed or depending on contingencies, and is to continue either
for ever or during a term either fixed or depending on a contingency :
anything in fact which is to be entered on, or which may be entered
on, at a future time, is a reversion in books which treat on the
value of property. The legal sense of the word is more restricted.
Thus an assurance of 100l., or a contract to pay 1007. at the death
of a given individual, is 1007. in reversion to the executors of that
individual. Our object in this article is to treat of this most cominon
species of reversionary contract, life insurance or assurance.
The value of a reversion depends in a very easy-manner upon the
value of the corresponding annuity; that is, any given sum, say 100,
to be received when a given event arrives, depends for its value upon
that of 100l. a-year to be received till the event arrives. Suppose, for
example, that money makes five per cent., and that an annuity, say
upon a life, is worth fourteen years' purchase, upon the method of
calculation explained in ANNUITY. That is, 1007. paid a year hence,
and again two years hence, and so on as long as the life lasts, is now
worth 14007. Required the value of 100l. to be paid at the end of the
year* in which the life drops. We must now reason as follows:-
Suppose a perpetual annuity of 100l. a-year is to be enjoyed by A
during his life, and by his legatees after him. By hypothesis A's por-
tion is now worth 1400%., and (money making five per cent.) the
annuity for ever is worth 20 years' purchase, or 20001; consequently
the legatees' interest is now worth 2000-1400, or 600l. But at the
end of the year of death the legatee will come into 100%. current
payment, and a perpetual annuity worth 2000.; for the re-
mainder of a perpetual annuity is also a perpetual annuity: his
interest will then be worth 2100. Hence we have ascertained that
21001. at the end of the year of death is now worth 600l.; and the
rule of three then gives the value of any other sum: thus 100l. at the
end of the year of death is now worth ., or 281. 11s. 5d. Hence
the following easy
21
RULE. To find the value of a given reversion, subtract the value of
the same annuity from that of a perpetual annuity, and divide the
difference by one more than the number of years' purchase in a per-
petual annuity: or multiply the excess of the number of years'
purchase in a perpetual annuity of 1. over that in the life annuity by
the reversionary sum, and divide as before.
Next, to find what premium should be paid for the reversion. A
premium differs from an annuity in that a sum is paid down, and also
at the end of every year: consequently it is worth one year's purchase
more than an annuity. In the preceding question, the annuity was
worth 14 years' purchase; consequently the premium now is worth
15 years' purchase. But the present value of all the premiums is to
be also the present value of the reversion, or 281. 11s. 51d., whence
the premium should be the 15th part of this, or 1l. 18s. 1d. Hence to
find‍ the premium, divide the present value of the reversion by one
more than the number of years' purchase in the life annuity. But
when, as most commonly happens, the premium is wanted without the
present value, the following is an easier
RULE.-Divide the reversionary sum separately by one more than
the number of years' purchase in the perpetual annuity, and one more
than the number of years' purchase in the life annuity: the difference
of the quotients is the premium required. Thus if in the preceding
example we divide 1007. by 20+1 and by 14+1, or by 21 and 15, we
find 47. 15s. 3d. and 67. 13s. 4d., which differ by 17. 188. 1d., the same
as before.
The life we have been tacitly considering, when we talked of an
annuity being worth 14 years' purchase at five per cent., is one of
about 36 years of age. The first impression must be, that the pro-
posed premium is ridiculously small. Make it up to 21., and it will
be 50 years before the premiums reach 100. Some such considera-
tion must have moved the law officers of the crown, in 1760, when
they refused a charter to the Equitable Society, then charging a pre-
mium of about 41. at the age of 36, on account of the lowness of their
terms. But it is to be remembered that those who receive the
premiums are to invest them immediately at five per cent., and are to
invest the interest, thus making compound interest; persons aged 36
live, one with another, about 30 years, which is sufficient time for the
premiums, with their interest, to realize 1007. for each person, one
with another.
We now show the manner in which a simple result of calculation
answers its end. To simplify the case, suppose an office starts with 5642
individual subscribers, each aged 30 years, the mortality among them
being that of the Carlisle Table. [MORTALITY.] The bargain is for a
temporary assurance, as it is called, of 20 years, and of 1000l.: that is
* Assurance companies usually pay in a few months after proof of death,
which gives a trifling advantage to the assured, not worth considering in a very
elementary statement of the question.
!
53
54
REVERSION.
REVERSION.


to say,
the executors of each one who dies within 20 years are to receive
1000l. at the end of the year of death. Money makes three per cent.
once a year. According to the table, then, there are 57, 57, 56, &c.
deaths in the successive years, and the following is the result, the pro-
per premium being calculated at 11l. 12s. 3 d. each person, or more
exactly 11,6147. 16s. for 1000 persons. It is supposed that there are
no expenses of management. By P is meant that premiums are paid,
and the number paid precedes the letter: by y, that a year's interest
is received, and by c, that claims, in number as stated, are paid; small
letters denote a transaction at the end of a year, and the large letter
one at the beginning; the age of the parties paying premiums is in
parentheses at the beginning. Fractions of pounds are neglected, 17.
being written for everything above 10s.
£
£
Brought over
93387
Brought over
68400
Y
2801
У
2052
96188
70452
69 c
69000
63 c
63000
27188
7452
(47) 4588 P
53288
(49) 4458 P
51779
80476
59231
Y
2414
Y
1777
82890
61008


67 c
67000
61 c
61000
15890
8
(48) 4521 P
52510
68400
£
£
(30) 5642 P
65530
Brought over
142431
ม
1966
У
4273
67496
146704
57 c
57000
58
C
58000
10496
+
(31) 5585 P
64869
(39) 5136 P
75365
ย
2261
ม
88704
59854
148358
4451
77626
57 c
57000
61 c
+
20626
(32) 5528 P
61207
(40) 5075 P
•
84833
ม
2545
ม
87378
56 c
56000
66 c
+
31378
(33) 5472 P
63557
(41) 5009 P
94935
Y
2848
Y
97783
55 c
55000
69 c
+
42783
(34) 5417 P
62917
(42) 4940 P
105700
ย
3171
y
55 c
108871
55000
71 c
(35) 5362 P
+ 53871
62279
(43) 4869 P
y
116150
3185
Y
119635
55 c
55000
71 c
151SS1
69000
$2881
57378
140259
4208
144467
71000
73467
56553
130020
3901
133921
71000
152809
61000
+ 91809
58946
150755
4523
155278
66000
89278
5S179
147457
4124
At the outset the office receives 65,5307. from the 5642 persons
assured; this is immediately invested at 3 per cent., and yields 1966.
by the end of the year, making 67,4961. But at the end of the year
the claims of the executors of 57 persons who have died during the
year are to be satisfied, which requires a disbursement of 57,000,
reducing the society's accumulation to 10,4961. The contributors who
are left, 5585 in number, now pay their second premiums, 64,8697., so
that, these being immediately invested, the company has 75,3651. at
interest during the second year. This yields 22611., so that by the end
of the year 77,6261. is accumulated. Then comes the demand of
57,000. on behalf of 57 contributors deceased during the year, which
reduces the accumulation to 20,6261. This is more than it was at the
same time last year, which is denoted by + . In this way the company
goes on, accumulating to an amount which would lead a person
unacquainted with the subject to conclude that the premium must be
too large in fact ten years give an accumulation of 91,8097. But
now the state of affairs begins to change; the contributors have been
diminishing, while the claims have been increasing, until the yearly
incomings no longer equal the outgoings. The accumulations then
come in to make good the difference in such manner that by the time
the remaining contributors come to be 50 years of age, and the claims
of 61 who died in their fiftieth year have been satisfied, there only
remains 81. of the 91,8097.; and this 8. is merely the error arising
from omitting shillings, &c., in the calculation. Something of the
same kind must take place in every office which dies a natural and a
solvent death: the only difference being that, when new business
ceases, instead of a number of contributors all of the same age,
and under similar contracts, both ages and contracts vary con-
siderably.
There are certain tables which are variously named (sometimes
after Mr. Barrett, the inventor; sometimes after Mr. Griffith
Davies, the improver; sometimes after D and N, letters of reference
used in them), but which we call commutation tables. They are de-
scribed in the ' Treatise on Annuities,' in the 'Library of Useful Know-
ledge,' and a copious collection is given: also in an article in the Com-
panion to the Almanac' for 1840. They very much exceed in utility
those which preceded them; and we shall here give part of one of
them, namely, that for the Carlisle Table, at 3 per cent., which con-
tains the materials for judging of the demands made by an insu-
rance company in cases involving one life only. Opposite to each
age of life are three rows of figures in columns marked D, N, and
M: and by M (x) we mean the number in column м opposite to the
age x.

Ag. |
D.
N.
M.
Agc.
+
64635
62921
(36) 5307 P
61640
(44) 4798 P
55720
Y
126275
37SS
118650
O12 O
0
3
10000.00
S214.56
7332.45
6056.74
173198.26
164983-70
157651.25
150994-51
4664.129
3169.954
2527.103
2061-957
012♡
3
y
3560
130063
122210
Tư S
4
5
56 c 56000
6
6217.63
5863.15
5591-04
144776.8S
1819 735
4
138913.73
133322.69
1615 351
5
1545-0119
6
71 c
71000
-+-
(37) 5251 P
74063
60989
51210
(45) 4727 P
54904
180
7
9
5361:53
5159-5S
4976-31
127961 16
1478 3414
7
122801-58
1432-5557
8
117825-24
1399-5998
9
y
135052
4052
106114
10
4306.85
113018-39
1375·0417
10
y
3183
11
4645.89
12
4188.83
108372-50
103S$3.67
1334·0915
11
1332 3517
12
57 c
с
139104
57000
109297
13
4336-30
70 c
70000
14
4188-18
15
4013.73
99547-37
95359-19
91315 46
-1310-5613
13
1288-7114
14
1266-2792
15
+
(38) 5194 P
82104
60327
142431
39297
(46) 4657 P
54090
16
3901.65
87413-81
1241-9757
16
17
3762.60
83651.21
1216.5650
17
93387
18
3627 75
S0023-46
1191-3070
18
{
55
REVERSION.
·
REVERSION.
56
Age.
D.
N.
M.
Age.
Age.
D.
N.
M.
Ape.
19
3497.56
76525.90
1166.7847
19
91
7.12856
17.68298
6'40590
91
20
3371.69
73154-01
1142.9766
20
92
4.94352
21
3250.56
69903.45
1119.8620
21
93
3.15567
12 73946
9.28379
4.42849
92
3.084616
93
22
3133.96
66769.49
1097-9425
23
3021.40
63718.09
1076-6614
24
2912-74
60835.35
1056.0002
222
22
94
2.18520
6.79859
2-214797
94
23
95
1.80961
4.98598
1.611594
95
24
96
1.34696
3.64202
1.201650
96
22 2
25
2807.81
58027.51
1035·9408
25
97
1.02311
2.61858
•917362
97
26
2706.12
55321 39
1016-0019
26
98
*772823
1.815761
*696555
98
27
2607.95
52713.44
996.6438
27
99
*589532
1.256229
•535773
99
28
2512-32
50201.12
976.9753
28
100
•468295
•787934
⚫431707 100
29
2117.93
47783.19
955 7580
29
101
•
353621
•434313
⚫330672 101
30
2321.43
45458.76
932.6$67
30
102
•245230
•189083
•232580 102
31
2233.93
43224.83
909-8874
31
103
•142852
⚫016231
32
2146-73
41078 10
887-7522
32
104
⚫046231
•000000
•137345 103
*044884 104
33
2063.09
39015.01
866.6387
33
පිය විය ය
34
1982.87
37032.14
816.5062
34
35
1905.57
35126.57
826.9601
36
1831-09
33295.48
807.9833
35
36
37
1759.00
31536-18
789-2243
38
1689.22
29847.26
770-6864
37
38
39
1621-71
28225.55
752-3727
39
40
1555-78
26669-77
733.6727
40
41
1490-82
25178-95
714.0293
41
42
1427.46
23751.49
694-0911
42
13
1365.96
22335 53
674.1726
43
44
1300 81
+
21078.69
654.8342
44
45
1250.00
19828.69
636.0591
45
46
1195.62
18633-07
618.0875
46
47
1143.60
17489 17
•
600.8886
47
48
1091-08
16395 39
581.6717
48
To find the value of an annuity of 17. on a life of any age, divide
the N of that age by its D. Thus at the age of 35 the value of an
annuity of 1l. is N(35) D(35), or 35126 57÷1905 57, or 18-433l.,
or 18. Ss. 8d. Thus, the following formula will be readily under-
stood:-
Value of an annuity which is to commence
immediately; that is, which is to make
the first payment in a year (age x)
Value of an annuity which is to commence
in n years; that is, to make the first
payment in n+1 years, if the party be
then alive (present age x)
Premium for such an annuity,
now and n times in all
payable(-1)−N(x+n−1)
N(x)
D(x)
N(x+n)
D(x)
N(x+n)
49
1047.41
15347.98
569.8728
49
50
1002.99
14314.99
555.9583
50
The same premium, payable n + 1 times
·}
N(x+n)
Ñ(í—1)−N(x+n)
51
960-707
13384-278
512.8920
51
Value of a life annuity for n years; or N(x)−N(x+n)
52
919.395
12464-983
529-5612
52
payable n times at most
or}
D(2)
53
879-047
11585-836
515.9924
53
51
839.663
10746-173
502-2108
54
Present value of an assurance of 17. at
death
at}
M(x)
D(it)
55
801.133
9914.710
488.4371
55
56
764-141
9180.596
474.4915
56
57
727-792
8152 801
460.3956
57
Premium for the same
•}
M(.x)
N(.c−1)
58
691.828
7760.976
445 6299
58
39
655.119
7105.557
429-3712
59
60
613-338
6487.219
411.3795
60
Present value of an assurance of 17. at
death if after n years
at}
M(x+n)
D(x)
61
580-223
5906.996
391.2752
61
Premium for the same, payable (n+1)
62
543.165
5363-831
371.1165
62
times
(n + 1)}
M(x + n)
L
N(x − 1)−N(x+n)
63
507.618
4856-213
351.3896
63
64
473.982
43S2.231
332.5389
64
65
411.875
3910.356
314-2372
65
66
411.379
3528.977
296.6107
66
Premium for the same, payable n times
67
382-422
3146.555
279.6357
68
354.803
2791.752
69
325.468
2463.284
263 1551
247-1545
8889909
67
68
69
70
303-210
2160.041
231.1936
70
71
279-203
1880-841
216.2889
71
Present value of an assurance of 11. at l
death if within n years
D(x)
M(r) — M(x+n)
N(x−1)−N(x+n−1)
As an instance, let us take the case of the last formula, which was
proposed at the beginning of this article: the age is 30, and the
terin of insurance 20 years; we have then to divide the excess of м (30)
over м (50) by the excess of N (29) over N (49) :-
17. at}
M(x)—M(x+n)
·
• } =
72
255.119
1625.722
200-3366
72
73
230-813
1391.909
183.1619
73
74
206.585
1188-324
165.9566
74
M (30) 932-6867
M (50) 555-9583
N (29) 48753-19
75
182 483
1005 811
117.8717
75
376.7284
76
160.245
845.596
130.9182
76
77
139.558
706·038
78
120.936
585-102
114.9284
100.3722
77
78
79
101-C37
480-465
80
89.5602
390·9053
81
76.3678
314.5375
87.5951
75.5660
64.98221
79
80
81
82
64.2.23
250-3152
63
53.5795
106.7357
8-4
11.1701
152-3656
55.06098
46-28874
38.43998
82
83
8.1
85
36.0741
116-4915
86
28.8845
87.6070
87
22.6179
64.9891
31.63018
25.49154
20.06629
85
86
87
N (49) 15347-98
div. by 32435-21 gives '0116148:
this is for 1., giving 11.61487., or 11. 12s. 34d. for 1000, and
11,61487. to be the total premium for 1000 persons.
Question.-If the office insure a large number of persons (for the
whole life or a term) at the premium p (the age being x), what will be
their accumulation in n years, upon the suppositions the working of
which has been shown in the example already given; it being sup
posed that £A is insured to every one who dies? The answer is in the
following formula: for every person who, according to the tables, is
alive at the end of the term of 2 years, there is remaining in the office,
after all claims have been paid up to the end of the n years, and before
the (n + 1)th premium is paid, the sum
89
17.2112
47.7779
$9
13.0366
34.7113
90
9-92975
21.81151
15.31836
11.61505
8.91787
88
89
90
p
Mald
{N(x − 1) – N(x + n
-1)} ^ {M(x) — M(x + n) }
D(x + n)
As an example we shall verify the accumulations of 10 years in the
67
58
REVERSION.
REVERSION.
instance referred to; in which p
10.
N ==
N(29) 47783-19
N(39) 28225-55
19557.64
× 11.6148
227158.1
199014'0
D(40)
28144.1
11·61487., a = 1000l., x =
M (30) 932-6867
M (40) 733-6727-
199-0140
× 1000
199014-0
1555-78)28144·1(18-09002
× 5075
91806-84
30,
The answer is, that the reserve of premiums for each person of the
5075 then remaining is 18.090021., which for the whole is 91806-841.
The rough answer in the scheme worked out at length is 91,8097.
Now, this 18.097., or 187. 1s. 10d., is what is called the value of each
man's policy at the expiration of the ten years; or the very utmost the
office could afford to give him to surrender all claim, and to keep his
future premiums to himself. But what is the nature of his claim on
the office? Evidently this, that he has a right to make them give him
a guarantee for the next ten years on payment of a premium of 117.
12s. 3 d., which could not be done at so low a rate for a new comer.
Compute the premium for a person entering at 40, and insuring 1000l.
for 10 years; or divide 1000 times M(40)-M(50) by N(39)—N (49),
and the answer will be found to be 13.800l., or 137. 16s. If then any
person aged 40, having been in the office-ten years, were to put
another person of the same age in his place at his own premium, he
would obviously make that person a present of the difference between
11·61487. and 13·8001., at once (since a premium is to be paid imme-
diately), and for nine succeeding years, if the latter should live so long.
And 13.800-11.6148 is 2.1852, while an annuity of 2.18527. for nine
years, at the age of 40, is worth N(40)-N(49) divided by D (40) and
multiplied by 21852, or 15.9037. Add to this 2.1857. for the imme-
diate difference, and we get 18.0887., differing only a halfpenny from
18.0907., the sum which the office has in reserve.
If then the person
who is to take the place of the insured at 40 years of age, were to pay
him an equivalent, he must, besides taking on himself the future pre-
miums, pay the retiring member 18-090l., which is therefore the value
of the latter's policy. The last formula will always give the accumula-
tion value of a policy, whether for the whole life or for a fixed term.
The preceding contains the most material calculations which are
necessary in the management of an office, or rather, in forming an
opinion on the management of an office. It is to be remembered that
all which has hitherto been said supposes the rates of mortality and
interest to be absolutely known and invariable, the parties to enter on
their birthdays, and all claims to be adjusted at the terminations of
whole years from the time of entry. We now proceed to the appli-
cation.
!
An assurance company is a savings' bank, with a mutual under-
standing, presently to be noticed, between the contributors. To make
out this proposition, let us suppose that A borrows money, and insures
his life for the amount as a security to his creditor. For this he has
to pay a premium. If life were certain, the office of the company
would be to receive and invest these premiums, which would be calcu-
lated in such a manner as with their interest to amount to a sum suffi-
cient to discharge the loan in a settled time. At the end of this time
the creditor (who has been all this while receiving interest for his
money from A) calls upon A to make his claim upon the office, and
repay the loan with the money received. If such an office existed,
life being certain, the rationale of the proceeding would be that the
creditor, though tolerably confident of A's power and willingness to
make any yearly payment, whether of interest or instalment, will not
trust him steadily to lay by and improve yearly instalments, but re-
quires that he should make his instalments payable to third parties,
who are engaged not to return them on demand until they amount to
a sum sufficient for the discharge of the debt. Such an office certainly
could not exist, on account of the uncertainty of individual life. So
soon however as it is known that the duration of masses of individuals
can be calculated with tolerable accuracy, there is a remedy for the
individual uncertainties. Let a large number of debtors, similarly
situated with A, agree to be guarantees for one another; that is, let
each of them pay during his life not only his own instalments, but
such additional suma as will provide the means of meeting the deficits
of those who die, and the savings' bank thus constructed will become
an assurance-office. Of course it matters nothing whether these debtors
pay their instalments to a person agreed on among themselves, or go
to a company which undertakes the management of such concerns.
And again, it makes no difference whether the instalments be for liqui-
dation of debt, or to accumulate a provision for widows and children.
We have taken the case of debtors, because in such a case an office
looks more like a mere indemnity-office than when its contributors
enter for the benefit of their families; still however, in the former
case, it is evident that the premiums are partly instalments of debt,
partly sums intended to make good the deficiency of the life-instal-
ments of those who die.
Let us now suppose a company to be formed for the simple purpose
of assuring lives. Their business is to invest the premiums of those
who assure with them; their receipts will consist entirely of current
premiums and interest on the investments of the old ones; and their
outgoings will contain expenses of management, payment of claims,
purchase of their own policies, and (possibly) losses by bad investment.
There is one question which is generally settled at the very outset,
namely, whether the company is to be what is called mutual, proprie-
tary, or mixed.
A mutual company is one in which the members stand bound to
each other, and constitute the company themselves. In such a com-
pany no capital is, generally speaking, raised at the outset, except a
small sum for necessary expenses at starting. This however is not
necessarily the feature of a mutual company; for if its members choose
to constitute themselves an investment company as well as an assur-
ance company, they may, without losing their mutual character, re-
quire every assurer to be also a shareholder.
quire every assurer to be also a shareholder. In a mutual company
the profits of course are divided among the assured.
A proprietary company is one in which a body of proprietors raise a
capital and pledge it for the payment of claims, in case the premiums
are not sufficient: for this security they receive, in addition to the
interest of their own capital, the profits of the assurance business. It
has long been proved that, with proper tables of premiums, and a fair
amount of business at starting, this capital is an unnecessary security;
and the only reason which could now make such an office desirable,
would be the lowness of its premiums. Of course it matters nothing
to the assured how claims are paid, as long as they are paid; the
capital may be diminished, but the assurer fears nothing except its
This must be the sole considera-
exhaustion before his turn comes.
tion with a person who is tempted by low premiums to a purely pro-
prietary office: the nominal capital signifies nothing; it is upon the
amount of assurance to which it (with the premiums) is pledged that
the solvency of the office depends. Generally speaking however we
believe it will be found that the purely proprietary offices have not
allowed themselves to run much risk.
A mixed office is one in which there is a proprietary company, which
does not take all the profits, but a share; the rest being divided among
the assured. The only good effect of the capital upon the condition.
of the assured in such a company is this; that the directors, having
fixed capital as well as premiums, may justifiably seek for investments
which a mutual company must avoid. Having the capital to make
good purely commercial losses, they may perhaps attempt to get a
higher rate of interest, and of course take more risk of loss; the
assured, who are sharers in the whole of the profits, since the profits
of premiums and profits of original capital are not distinguished, come
in for their share of the extra profits of the capital. But no such
attempt at gaining higher interest by secondary securities should be
made until a sum sufficient (with future premiums) to meet all claims
is invested in the very safest securities which the state of society
offers.
There is much confusion in the ideas of many persons about interest,
arising from not distinguishing between interest and other returns.
The following remarks may serve to explain our meaning :-
Interest is the return which is made for the use of money, when the
owner entirely relinquishes its management, and believes he has un-
doubted security for its return. "Interest," says Mr. M'Culloch, "is
nothing more than the net profit on capital." The same author goes
on to say,
"the rate of interest on each particular loan must of course
vary according to the supposed solvency of the borrowers, or the
degree of risk supposed to be incurred by the lender." But here the
acute writer from whom we quote, after setting out with the accurate
definition of the political economist, proceeds to use the word in the
common sense, in which it is no longer the net profit of capital. For
this variation in the rate of interest (so called), this addition for pos-
sible insolvency, is or is meant to be only as much as will make every
debtor who does pay contribute towards the bad debts of those who
do not. Nothing then is netted by the increase for suspicion of in-
solvency, in the long run, and one debt with another; so that, abiding
by Mr. M'Culloch's definition of interest as the correct one, we should
propose to call the additional sum debt-insurance. To this we must
add, that when a person employs his own money, as in trade or manu-
factures, he also gains that additional return which a borrower counts
upon reserving to himself after paying the interest (and debt-insurance,
if any) to his creditor. This is neither interest nor debt-insurance, but
is of the nature of salary, by which name it might be called. Perhaps
it would be best to retain the term interest in its general loose signifi-
cation, and to subdivide it, for accuracy, into pure interest or net
profit, debt-insurance, and salary.
In the construction of a table of premiums, three points must be left
to the judgment of the constructor, the rate of interest, the table
of mortality, and the addition to be made for expenses of management
and probable fluctuation, or discrepancy between the predictions of
the table and the events which actually arrive. The third point would
not arise if, as was once the case, the table of mortality made life
much worse than the actually prevailing state of things shows it to be.
Security against adverse fluctuation is thus taken in the choice of the
59
REVERSION.
table; and this was done by the older offices, which chose the North-
ampton Table;-by the Equitable, for instance. (Compare the mean
duration of life in the Northampton Table with that of the Equitable
experience, in MORTALITY.) But we hold decidedly by the method
of choosing a true table, and augmenting the premiums given by it as
a safeguard against fluctuation; and for this reason, that wrong tables
are usually unequally wrong, making different errors at different
ages, and thus augmenting different real premiums by different per-
centages.
According to the Carlisle Table (which we prefer for the purpose),
of 5642 persons alive at the age of 30, 3018 are alive at 65, whence the
chance of living till the second age is 3018-5642 or 5525. Now, by
applying calculation to this question, we find that an office which
would have practical certainty (thousands to one for it) that, so far as
this instance is concerned, the office should not be injured by adverse
departure of events from tables, must make provision for twenty-five
deaths, at least, in the period above-mentioned, more than the tables
predict. And this even on the supposition that the table itself can be
certainly reckoned upon as representing the law of mortality of the
whole insurable population. It would be a very long process indeed
to apply calculation in detail, so as to form a well supported idea of
the proper amount of precaution against fluctuation; and the question
is mixed up with another, to which we proceed.
The rate of interest to be assumed is an element which requires the
greatest caution. It must be a rate which can actually be made, and
therefore prudence requires that it should be something below that
which may reasonably be looked for. To show how powerful an agent
it is, we shall repeat the example already given, of the 5642 insurers
for twenty years, on the supposition that the office which charges as
for 3 per cent. finds itself able to make 3 per cent.
Brought over
REVERSION OF SERIES.
68

£
148483
5197
£
Brought over
105442
ม
3690
153630
109132
71 c
71000
69 c
69000
82680
40132
(43) 4869 P
56553
(47) 4588 P
53288
139223
93420
У
4873
Y
3270
144106
96690
71 c
71000
67 c
67000
73106
29690
(44) 4798 P
55729
(48) 4521 P
52510
128835
82200
y
4509
Y
2877
133341
85077
71 c
71000
63 c
63000
62344
22077
(45) 4727 P
54901
(49) 4458 P
51779
117218
73856
Y
4104
ม
y
2585
121352
76441

(30) 5642 P
£
65530
Brought over
£-
129203
70 c
C
70000
61 c
61000
ย
2294
ม
4522
51352
15441
(46) 4657 P
54090
67824
57 c
57000
56 c
133725
56000
105442
10824
+
(31) 5585 P
64869
(37) 5251 P
75693
Y
2649
У
77725
60989
138714
4855
78342
57 c
57000
57 c
143569
57000
+
21342
+
86569
(32) 5528 P
64207
(38) 5194 P
ข
85549
2994
ม
60327
146896
5141
56 c
$8543
50000
1
58 c
+
(33) 5472 P
32543
63557
+
(39) 5136 P
94037
59654
96100
ม
3364
ม
99464
55 c
C
55000
61 c
153691
5379
159070
61000
(34) 5417 P
44464
62917
(40) 5075 P
ม
107381
3758
ม
111139
55 c 55000
66 c
+
(35) 5362 P
56139
62279
(41) 5009 P
118418
У
4145
ม
+ 98070
58946
157016
5496
162512
66000
96512
58179
154691
5414
122563
55 с
55000
69 c
160105
69000
+
(36) 5307 P
67563
61640
(42) 4940 P
129203
91105
57378
148483
152037
58000
It thus appears that the office leaves off with an accumulation of
15,4417. nearly; and if it be lucky during the first years, it may be
said to be safe (as we find) against any fluctuation for which there is
an even chance, by the increase of interest alone.
Take what amount of precaution we may, an office must, at first
starting, depend upon something either of capital or guarantee. Even
a mutual office must raise something at the outset. Tables must be
constructed with very large additions to the calculated premiums,
which are to meet the very earliest contingencies alone; indeed it is
difficult to say what addition would be too large. But this point it is
unnecesary to insist on, since we can hardly suppose it possible that
any set of men would found an office with no resource except premiums
from the very commencement. Supposing proper precautions to be
taken, we imagine that an addition of 25 per cent. to premiums cal-
culated from the Carlisle Tables at 3 per cent. per annum, is sufficient
to place a mutual office upon a sound footing, and to give a very great
prospect of a return in the shape of what is called profit. It never has
been found that an office charging at this rate has been without surplus
of some kind.
This surplus has been called by the inaccurate name of profit,
whereas it is really that part of the security against fluctuation of
interest and mortality which has been found to be unnecessary. In
mutual offices it is to be returned to the assured in an equitable
manner; in purely proprietary offices it is really profit to the pro-
prietors, whose capital has yielded them the ordinary interest, since
by hypothesis none of it has been necessary to meet claims, and they
therefore share among themselves the residue of the premiums. It is
impossible to avoid this surplus in a well-constituted office, for the
mathematical line which separates surplus from deficiency cannot be
expected to be attained, so that those who would not have the latter
must take care to have the former.
The questions connected with life assurance, &c., have become so
many and so important that it is impossible to enter on the subject,
with reference to the points actually discussed in our own day. The
scientific reader will find in the pages of the Assurance Magazine,'
materials for thought on most of these subjects. For others, we know
of no work which gives so, much information, and which so well
enables the reader to refer all statements to their real sources, as an
anonymous work, The Assurance Guide and Handbook,' London, 8vo,
1857 (published by W. S. D. Pateman, pp. 440). This work professes
to be intended for insurance agents, and, so far as we can find, has no
leaning to any particular offices or systems.
REVERSION OF SERIES. In the nomenclature of mathematics,
which is far from being consistent with itself, the words reversion and
inversion are sometimes confounded. Thus the term by which wo
describe the square root, as connected with the square, is, that each is
an INVERSE process to the other; but if y be a given series of the
powers of x, the determination of x in a series of functions of y is not
called inversion, but reversion, Various points connected with revers
61
02
REVERSION OF SERIES.
REVERSION.
sion (to keep the common term) will be met with in TAYLOR's
THEOREM and SERIES; the present article is meant purely for reference
upon the most usual case of the problem, which is not sufficiently
developed in elementary works; that is, enough of the result for
reference is not put down.
D •
The problem is as follows:--Given y = ax + bx² + c₁³ + ex² +
fxc5 + ; required x in a series of the form ay By? + cy³ — Ey¹ +
It will be proper first to put down the coefficients in connection
with the exponents to which they belong, as follows:-
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
e f g
h k Z
m
n
L M
N
a b c
A B C E F G H K
It will be convenient, instead of writing the resulting series
Ay — By² +
Fa-9 yo Ga
Nu-21 yll
A =
1
--
B b
C = 262
·E = 563
Thus, to verify the numerical coefficient of ace in N, the coefficient
of y, we must calculate (n = 11, a = = 6, 2n a 2 = 14),
12. 13. 14
(1.2) (1.2)'
which is 6. 13. 7, or 516,-
and 182 × 3, the coefficient in the table, is also 546.
2. The sign of any term is positive or negative according as the
power of a which it contains is even or odd.
We may thus verify any one term, and the coefficients may be
sufficiently verified, as to typographical correctness, by remembering,
that if a = b = ( = &c.
&c. = 1;
1, we should have A = B = 0 =
for y= x + x² + 2x3 + gives x = y — y³ + y³
The result
of the use of the preceding table, distinguishing the positive from the
negative parts, is
-11
to let it be sa−ly · Ba−3y² + Ca−5y³ —. Ea−7 y¹ +
yo + Ha-13 yi Ka-15 y³ + La-17 3º Ma—19'y¹v +
x = y
We then have
ac
-
5abc + a e
F = 14b+ - 21ab°c + 3a² (2be + c²) — a³ƒ
a = 4265 84ab³c + 28a² (b³e + bc²)
H =
•
·
-
y - y² + (2 1) y³ — (6 −5) y² + (23 — 22) y5 — 799 — 98) yt
+ (452-451) y7 (2140 2139) ys + (10397 — 10393) y³
(51525 — 51524) y¹º + (259430 — 259429) y¹¹.
10
The preceding is a particular case of the following general problem,
which frequently occurs, and is very complicated in its details. Given
Ym = ax™ + bxm+1 + cxm+3 + ex²+3 + ƒxm+++.
....; required a series
for a in powers of y. Let it be assumed that
7a³ (bf + ce) + a¹g
Y
32
―
12a³ (3b²ƒ + 6bce +
A
B
an
n being 1: m.
· 13266 — 330ab¹c + 60a² (26³½ + 36²²)
c³) + 4a¹ (2bg + 2cf + e²) — a³h
K = 42967- 1287ab°c + 495a² (b¹e + 2b³c²) — 165a³ (b³ƒ + 36²ce +
bet) + 45a (b³g + 2bcf + be² + c²e) 9a³ (bh + cy + ef) + aºk
L = 14306s — 5005abc +1001a² (2b³e + 5b¹c²) — 715a³ (b¹ƒ + 4b³ce +
2b2c3) + 55a¹ (4b³g + 1£b°cƒ + 66°c² + 12bc²e + c¹) — 55a³ (b³h +
2bcg + 2bef + c°f + če²) + 5a³ (2bk + 2ch + 2eg + ƒ²) ail
M = 486269 19448abic + 800Sa² (be + 365) 1001a³ (3bf +
150¹ce + 106³ ³) + 1001a' (b¹g + 4b³cf + 26³e² + 6b² c²e + bc¹)
286a² (b³h + 3bcy + 3b³ef+3bc² ƒ + 3bce² + c³ e) +22a € (3b³k +
6bch + 6beg + 3c³g + 3bf+6cef + e³) — 11a7 (bl + ck + ch +
ƒg) + asm
N =
167966¹º — 75582ab°c + 15912a² (2b7e + 7bºc²) — 12376a³ (b°f +
6b5ce + 5b+c³) + 2184a¹ (2b³g + 10b¹ cf + 56¹² + 2063 c² e +
56°4) — 273g5 (564h+ 2063 cg + 2063 ef + 30b³c°f + 306 ce² +
206c³e + c³) + 182a (2b³k + 6b ch + 6b²cg+ 6bc²g + 3b²ƒ² +
12bcef+2c³f + 2bc³ + 3c³ e²) — 78a7 (b²l + 2bck + 2beh + ch
+ 2bfg + 2ceg + cf² + e²ƒ) + 6a³ (2bm + 2cl + 2ek+2fh
+ g²) — a³n.
We have given these coefficients to an extent which many will think
useless, and in fact it will not often be necessary to employ all that are
here given. But we have two objects in view: first, to enable those
who want these coefficients to refer to them; secondly, to point out
the great advantage of some methods which are never given in ele-
mentary works, and are not so much known and practised as methods
of such utility and power should be.
The usual way of obtaining these results is to take the series
x = Aα-¹y — Ba−3y² +
-1 Y
and in it to substitute the value of y,
namely, ax + bx² +
This would give
A
418
2
a
•
• •
B
(ax + bx² + ...) (ax + bx³...)² +
a³
the two sides of which equation must be identical; giving
A =
b
1
1, A B 0, or B = = b;
α
26
a²
C
b+
0, or c = 26ª — ac,
and so on; but this process would become intolerably tedious and
liable to error after a few steps; that which we have followed in
forming the preceding coefficients [TAYLOR'S THEOREM] would have
enabled us with comparatively little difficulty and small risk of error
to double their number. It also gives the law of the coefficients,
which is as follows:-
1. What sort of terms enter into M, the coefficient of 10? Write
down every way in which 2(10-1), or 18, can be made up of 101,
or 9, numbers, and, taking the letters belonging to these numbers from
the table, we have the literal parts of the different terms of the
coefficients. Thus-
18 is made up of the nine numbers, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 2, 6, the letters
of which are a, a, a, à, b, b, b, b, g: accordingly, abg is the literal
part of one of the terins of M. And similarly for every other com-
Lination of nine numbers which make 18.
2. What is the coefficient of any given term? Say that y" is the
power to which the term belongs, and that aª¿ª cỡ is the literal
part of it. The coefficient required is as follows:
(n + 1) (n + 2) (2n α — 2)
(1.2.3.……..8)- (1.2.8……..y) (1.2.3....8)...
OC
y³
E
y¹
ain +3
y5
+ F
а5n++
a²n +1 +0
a3n+2
Then A = 1, B = nb :
D = n
F = n
C = n
3n+1
2
b² — n ac
4n + 1 4n+ 2
4n + 1
13 n
-
2abc + n a²e
2
S
2
5n+1 5n+2
64 N
3ab2c
2
+ n
3
5n+1
2
4
2
3
a² (2 be + c²)
n as ƒ
5n + 1 5n+2 5n +3
Methods of obtaining all these series are given in TAYLOR'S
THEOREM.
REVERSION. "Reversion of land is a certain estate remaining in
the lessor or donor, after the particular estate and possession conveyed
to another by lease for life, for years, or gift in tail. And it is called
a reversion in respect of the possession separated from it; so that he
that hath the one, hath not the other at the same time, for being in
uniting, the one of them is drowned in the other.
one body together, there cannot be said a reversion, because by the
And so the
reversion of land is the land itself when it falleth." (Termes de la
Ley.) Thus if a man seised in fee simple conveys lands to A for life,
or in tail, he retains the reversion in fee simple. The distinction
between a remainder and a reversion has been explained in REMAINDER.
In all cases where the owner of land or the person who has an estate
in land, grants part only of his estate, he has a reversion; and as the
has a seignory by virtue of having a reversion. When a man grants
grantee holds of him, there is tenure between them, and the grantor
all his estate to another, or grants a particular estate to A, and various
remainders over, remainder to F in fee, he has no reversion left, and
therefore he has no seignory since the passing of the statute of Quia
Emptores. The remainder-men also who precede the remainder-man
in fee, do not hold of such remainder-man, but of the lord of the fee
of whom the original owner held. The word reversion is often used
inaccurately, and it is sometimes necessary to recur to its strict legal
signification.
-
Before the passing of the statute De Donis, if a man seised in fee
simple granted his lands to a man and the heirs of his body, he had no
reversion, for the grantee was considered to have a conditional fee.
But since this statute, an estate to a man and the heirs of his body has
always been considered to be a particular estate.
If a man grants a lease of lands in possession, at common law, he
has no reversion until the lessee enters by virtue of his lease, for the
lessee has no estate until he enters; but if the term of years is created
under the Statute of Uses, as by bargain and sale, the lessee has a
vested estate by virtue of the statute, without entering on the land,
and consequently the lessor has a reversion. It is said that a reversion
cannot be fcreated by deed or other assurance, but arises from con-
struction of law. This means that a reversion is not created by the
act of the party who conveys part of his estate, but is a legal conse-
quence of his acts. If a man seised in fee simple limits his estate to
another for life or in tail, remainder to himself in fee or to his own
right heirs, he has not a remainder, but a reversion. Yet by 3 and 4
Wm. IV. c. 106, the effect of such a limitation is to vest such a
remainder in fee in the settlor by purchase, and he is not to be con-
sidered to be entitled to it as his former estate or part thereof.
A reversion is a vested estate, which may be granted or convoyed,
and charged like an estate in possession; and in some cases tho
reversioner in fee may bring an action, as well as the tenant in
possession, for an injury to his inheritance,
63
REVERSION.
Fealty is an inseparable incident to a reversion. There may or may
not be a rent reserved, but fealty is always due from the owner of the
particular estate to the reversioner, and it cannot be separated from
the reversion, though the rent, if there be one reserved, may be
separated from it. [RENT.] Reversions which are expectant on estates
for years are subject to dower and courtesy; but this is not the case
with reversions expectant on a freehold estate.
When a reversion expectant on an estate tail comes into possession,
it is liable to the leases made by those who were at any time entitled
to the reversion, and to the covenants contained in such leases. All
particular estates, except an estate tail, are subject to merge in the
reversion, when the particular estate and the reversion are united in
the same person. Formerly when an estate tail was converted into a
base fee, and the remainder or reversion in fee in the same lands
became united in the same person, the base fee was subject to merger |
in the reversion: but by the 3 and 4 Wm. IV. c. 74, when such union
takes place, "the base fee shall not merge, but shall be ipso facto
enlarged into as large an estate as the tenant in tail, with the consent
of the protector, if any, might have created by any disposition under
this Act, if such remainder or reversion had been vested in any other
person.' Before this statute, when a base fee thus merged in the
reversion, the reversion became an estate in possession, and liable to
all the leases and charges of those who had at any time been entitled
REVETMENT, in permanent fortification, is a wall of brick or stone
retaining the mass of earth which constitutes the rampart, generally
on the exterior side only, or retaining the earth which forms the
opposite side of the ditch. The exterior faces of these walls are con-
sidered as the scarp and counterscarp of the ditch.
to
"}
In and before the time of Vauban the scarp revetments were raised
from the bottom of the ditch to the top of the parapet; but the part
which was visible above the glacis being destroyed by the enemy's
artillery, and the parapet in consequence partly ruined soon after the
commencement of the siege, that engineer in most of his works raised
his revetments no higher than the level of the crest of the glacis, or
about 7 feet above the natural ground; the exterior of the parapet
was then left at such an inclination to the horizon (45° in general) that
the earth would support itself. The ditch of a fortress being about 18
feet deep, the height of the scarp revetment was consequently 25 feet,
and this was considered sufficient to afford security against the danger
of having the rampart escaladed. At present it is recommended that
the main ditch should be 24 feet deep, and in this case the scarp
revetment is above 30 feet high. In constructing the fortifications of
Neuf Brisac, Vauban made the revetments of the scarps both of the
encuinte and of the reduit of the ravelin, as high as the top of the
parapet; but these works being covered by the counterguard or the
ravelin, their revetments would be unseen by the enemy at a distance,
and therefore not liable to the objection above mentioned.
The form usually given in profile to revetments of inasonry may be
seen at м and N, Fig. 2, BASTION; the first is the revetment of the
counterscarp, and the other that of the scarp. The rectangular parts
are sections through the counterforts or buttresses which are built up
with the walls in order to strengthen them, at intervals of about 15 feet
from each other. Scarp revetments, whose tops are as high or higher
than the crest of the glacis, are called full revetments; while such
as are no higher than the level of the natural ground are called demi-
revetments.
In order that the revetment might most effectually resist the
pressure of the earth which it is to support, Vauban gave to the
exterior face of the wall a slope, whose horizontal breadth was equal to
one-fifth of the height; this was subsequently reduced to one-sixth,
and now it is thought to be most advantageous to make the face
vertical. By giving the slope to the rear face of the wall, that is, by
making the revetment countersloping, all the advantages of a slope are
gained, while the disadvantage of rapid vegetation on the face is
avoided.
In laying the foundations of revetments in defective soils, the same
methods are used as in the construction of civil edifices; and in all
cases the courses of stones or bricks are laid obliquely to the horizon,
inclining down towards the part under the earth which is to be sup-
ported, in order that the pressure of the latter may be more directly
resisted. But as the bed-joints of brickwork when so disposed allow
the rain to penetrate, and the seeds of grass to lodge in them, it is
thought that the wall is more speedily degraded when so built than when
the courses are laid horizontally; therefore in order to unite the
advantages of direct resistance and durability, it is customary to place
the courses obliquely, but to lay one row of bricks in each course at
the face of the wall in a horizontal position.
The exterior and interior faces of the revetment, or retaining wall of
a dock, have in a vertical section the form of concentric arcs of circles,
with their convexities towards the land; and this form is given them
that the stones may be able to resist the hydrostatical pressure of any
water which, when the dock is full, may get behind the wall, and which
may be prevented from escaping when the dock is made dry.
Some of the ramparts of Coehorn, and all of those which Carnot
proposed for his fortresses, are formed of earth unsupported by revet-
ments; and even the opposite side of the ditch, instead of being faced
with a steep wall, is by the latter engineer cut with a gentle slope from
REVETMENT.
64
the level of the natural ground to the bottom of the ditch. But the
fortifications of Coehorn are provided with wet ditches, which prevent
the besiegers from getting to the foot of the rampart by surprise; and
in those of Carnot a high detached wall covered by a counterguard of
earth puts it out of the power of the enemy, while that wall stands, to
get across the ditch. Without such obstacles the unreveted rampart
would afford great facilities to the enemy in an effort to carry the
fortress by assault. Its exterior slope must form at most an angle of
45° with the horizon, that the earth may support itself, and con-
sequently it may be easily ascended; and any palisades or other
impediments which the defenders might place on it would soon be
displaced or destroyed by the batteries of the enemy. Besides these
evils, the exterior slope, from its breadth, occupies a great portion of
ground; it consequently obliges the engineer to contract the space
enclosed within the works, and thus to sacrifice in some measure the
convenience both of the inhabitants and the garrison.
In order to investigate the conditions of stability in revetment walls,
let EBC be a vertical section through the mass of earth retained by the
wall; BC being the slope which earth is supposed to assume when
unsupported, and let AEMN be a section of the wall, r c being the
level of the bottom of the ditch, and MN being the bottom of the
foundation. Imagine a to be the centre of gravity of the section ECB;
draw GL parallel to B C and G K parallel to the horizon: then, by the
resolution of forces, K L and GK will have to one another the same
proportion that the weight of the unsupported prism of earth (of any
thickness) bears to its horizontal pressure. Let w be that weight; then
will express that pressure, and .W.KN will be the momentum
or power by which the earth tends to overturn the wall about M.
K G
KL
K G
KL

E
A
G
K
L
P
C
M
N
a
Q ¿
J
H
R
I
B3
Imagine the vertical line AQ to be drawn; then the form and dimensions
of the part a M Q of the wall are known; and let it be required to find
the breadth Q N of the rectangular part AN, so that the resistance of
the whole shall be equal to the momentum of the supported earth.
Suppose the centre of gravity of AMQ to be found, and let it be
vertically over a. The centre of gravity of the rectangular part is
vertically over b, the middle of QN; and let ob be represented by x.
Then if y be the specific gravity of the wall, we have by mechanics,
AM Q
AMQ.Ma.g+AQ.Mb.g, for the resistance of the wall; conse-
quently equating this expression with the above momentum of the
earth, the value of x, and therefore of QN, can be found. But great
uncertainty exists respecting the position of the line of rupture B C,
from our ignorance of the allowance to be made for the effect of
friction on the tendency of the earth to slide downwards. Experiments
have led to the opinion that this effect is equal to half the pressure of
the earth perpendicularly upon the inclined plane which it would
assume if unsupported; and that value is frequently adopted. Coulomb
showed that the angle which the line of rupture makes with the
vertical is half the angle which the line of natural slope makes with
the vertical.
In order to find the magnitude which the triangle EDO should have
when the supported earth exerts the greatest pressure against the wall,
the following process may be used; the earth above A D being at present,
for simplicity, supposed to be removed. Imagine a to be the centre of
gravity of that triangle, and the vertical line on to be drawn; then
GH may represent the weight of the unsupported earth, and let it be
resolved into the pressures represented by GI and II, the former per-
pendicular to the slope, and the latter coincident with it. Imagine
is to be drawn to represent the reaction of the wall A MN, and let it
be resolved into the forces represented by S R and RH, perpendicular
to and coincident with the slope, respectively. Then, I II representing
the force with which the prism of earth would tend, if without friction,
to slide down DC, R H represents the reaction by which the wall resists
that force; while GI and S R represent the pressure and reaction per-
pendicular to DC. Consequently, the friction being supposed to be
65
66
REVIVOR.
REVOLVERS.
equal to half the pressure, we have (GI+SR) for the effect of friction;
and in the case of equilibrium, IH=RH+ (GI+SR).
Let EC=h, ED=2, HS=p, and let g be the specific gravity of the
hg z
earth; then expresses the weight of the prism whose section is
2
ED C, and whose thickness is unity, and which was represented by GH;
and the triangles GIH, HSR being similar to ECD, we get by propor-
ph These values
tions I H=
gz
h² g z
2 CD
pz
HR:
C D
GI=
2 CD
hg22 and SR=
CD
being substituted in the above equation, the value of the pressure Hs
h 2 hz--22
or p will be found to be g
2
22+h
Now this quantity is to be
a maximum; therefore making its differential relatively to z equal to
zero, the value of z will be found to be '618h; whence p=1908 g.h².
If this equation be differentiated relatively to h, the result will express
the horizontal pressure against an elementary portion of the wall at a
variable height (which represent by h) above c: therefore multiplying
by h and integrating, we get 1272 g h³ for the whole force exerted by
the earth to overturn about м a wall whose height EC is represented
by h, when that force is a maximum. When there is a parapet above
A D, its weight, expressed by the product of the area of the section
multiplied by g, must be added to the above expression for the weight
of the prism EDC in the preceding investigation, in order to obtain
the value of the expression which is represented by G H.
Instead of making a revetment in the form of a simple wall, it is
customary to build buttresses or counterforts at intervals from each
other on the side next to the supported earth; consequently the
thickness of the wall itself may be rather less than that which would
result from the above equation. In order to determine it, if we
assume, for example, that the distance from the centre of one counter-
fort to that of the next is fifteen feet, the area of a horizontal section
fifteen feet long and taken at the mean height of the wall, if the face
has a slope, together with the area of the like section through the two
half-counterforts, may be equal to the area of a section of the simple
wall (of the same length) as determined by the above investigation;
then deducting one-fifth of that quantity for the two half-counterforts,
the remainder divided by 15 will give the required breadth of a
horizontal section at the part between the counterforts. It should be
observed, however, that the thickness of a brick revetment which is to
resist the fire of a battering-train should not be less than seven or
eight feet. It is usual to make the depth of a counterfort equal to the
mean breadth of the wall; and to give it greater thickness at the part
which joins the wall than at the other extremity.
Counterforts serve in part as props to keep the wall from inclining
in consequence of partial compressions in the cement; but chiefly by
extending the breadth of the base at intervals they increase, at the
places where they are formed, the length of the arm of the lever by
which the weight of the wall resists the lateral pressure of the earth.
The usual connection of the bricks or stones in the wall with those of
the counterforts allows this advantage to be extended in nearly an
equal degree to the parts which are situated between the counterforts.
But in order that the connection may be more complete, it has been
recommended to connect the tails of every two counterforts by a wall
curved on the plan, and having the convex side towards the earth
which is to be retained. Again, the nearest sides of every two counter-
forts have occasionally been connected by two or more arches, one
above another; by which means the mass of retained earth is in part
supported, and the lateral pressure of the whole is diminished.
Revetments in which the counterforts are connected in either of
those ways are said to be counter-arched; and it is recommended that
arches of the latter kind should be formed in the mass of the parapet
above the cordon of the scarp. It is also recommended that the
masonry of the arches in the rampart should be but slightly connected
with that of the revetment wall; since the greater part of the rampart
and parapet will then remain supported by the arches even after the
revetment has been demolished by the artillery of the besiegers.
When the escarp revetment is carried completely up to the superior slope
of the parapet, leaving no exterior slope, it is termed a full revetment.
When there is an exterior slope left it is termed a demi-revetment.
REVIVOR. [SCIRE FACIAS.]
REVOLUTION. This well-known term is applied in astronomy to
the manner in which a detached body moves round another, as a
planet round the sun; but the motion of connected particles of matter
round an axis, such as the diurnal revolution of a planet, is more
usually called ROTATION.
In pure mathematics the word revolution is applied to the angle moved
over by a line which revolves round a point from any one position to
that position again; it is therefore a synonyme for four right angles.
REVOLVERS are fire-arms in which the barrels, or a portion of the
barrels, being made to turn round on the cocking of the piece, are
brought successively under the hammer, and perinit of a rapid succes-
sion of discharges from the same piece. Revolvers, or repeating firc-
arins, are not an invention of modern times; many of a very ancient
date are to be seen in museums and collections of old arms.
These are
in several points very similar to the most recent improvements, but it
was not till the introduction of the percussion cap removed the
difficulty of retaining the priming of each charge in its place during
ARTS AND SCI, DIV. VOJ, VII.
the rotation of the chamber, that the revolver could be considered a
really serviceable weapon; while at the same time it was not till the

EL
ૐ
Fig. 1.-A, the chamber; B, the barrel, rifled; c, the lever-ramrod.
great improvement of modern times in cheap accurate machine manu
numbers. For many years revolvers were made with the barrels all in
facture that it became practicable to make such instruments in large

C 2
Fig. 2.-A, the barrel; B, cylinder or chamber; c, lever-ramrod.
one; five or six barrels being fixed together were made to revolve round
a central axis, so as to bring their nipples successively under the hammer.
F
+
67
REVOLVERS.
This, however, even when the bullet was almost unserviceably small,
was a heavy clumsy weapon. The adoption of revolving chambers
and one barrel overcame this difficulty. Fig. 1 shows the outline
of Colonel Colt's revolver. This pistol first became generally known in
England at the Great Exhibition of 1851, where it excited a good deal
of attention. It had been for some years much used in America, and
found of great service in bush-fighting and in the backwoods. This
undoubtedly set English gunmakers to work in the same direction, for
numerous revolving pistols have since been invented in England.
There are three sizes of Colt's pistol, the smaller containing five
chambers. The bullets may be either spherical or conical, and are
made slightly larger than the chamber, into which they are forced by
the lever ramrod, and fit so tightly that the pistol can be carried in the
holster, muzzle downwards, without their being shaken from their
places. The chamber is again slightly larger than the barrel, which,
being rifled, the bullets on being forced through them take the rifling
most effectively.
Fig 2 represents Adams's revolver, which, since its invention, has
received numerous improvements (especially the lever-ramrod, which
the earlier pistols were not provided with), and may now be considered
the most efficient arm of this description. In Colt's pistol it is neces-
sary to cock the piece with the thumb before each discharge, while
Adams's pistol can be fired with only a continuous pull of the trigger;
this gives the latter a great advantage in rapidity, an important point
with a pistol which is not so much required for long accurate shots as
for quick shooting in a mêlée. By another improvement in Adams's
pistol, however, we are enabled to cock it for accurate shooting with the
trigger or the thumb, when a further slight pull fires the pistol. Fig.
3, lock of Adams's revolver, and fig. 4, of Colt's revolver, which are
G
L
IL
E
A
Fig. 3.-A, is the hammer; B, the swivel; c, the main-spring; D, the short
scar; E, the short sear spring; F, the trigger; o, the trigger spring; H,
the lifter and spring; 1, the long sear.-The position of the action is that
in which the hammer is down on the nipple.
B
A
}
D
Fig. 4.A, is the hammer; B, the hand or lifter, which gives motion to the
chamber; c, the bolt, which secures the chamber while the hammer falls;
D, the trigger; E, the scar and trigger spring; F, the main-spring.
taken from 'Straith's Artillery,' by Cook and Hyde, will explain the
action of the locks in the two pistols. Revolving or repeating pistols
will undoubtedly supersede all others, as being far the most efficient
RHETORIC.
68
arm; good shooting may be made with them at 100 or 200, and fair
even at 300 yards. For cavalry, on board ship, or at close quarters
generally, they are a most formidable weapon. Rifles and large fire-
arms have been made on the same principle, and for some purposes
they may be very useful; but they labour under the disadvantage of
reduced penetrative power and range from the escape of gas at the
junction of the chamber and barrel, which has never yet been com-
pletely overcome.
RHAMNIN. A yellow crystalline substance obtained from the
buckthorn (Rhamnus catharticus), and apparently identical with
chrysorhamnin.
RHAMNOXANTHIN. A yellow crystalline body found in the
seeds and bark of the Rhamnus frangula, and of the Rhamnus cathar-
ticus. It is volatile, slightly soluble in water, and very soluble in
alcohol and ether.
RHAPONTICIN. Synonymous with CHRYSOPHANIC ACID.
RHAPSODY (payedía) was a poem sung by a rhapsodist, generally
applied to detached parts of the Homeric poems, the Iliad and the
Odyssey. But the word rhapsodist properly signifies one who sews
or fastens things together; and it was specially applied to those who
arranged or are supposed to have arranged the parts of the Homeric
poems and of other old poems, so as to make one entire work of them,
and who went about from place to place to sing and recite these poems.
In modern use the word has an entirely different signification. A
rhapsody is a discourse or writing in which the parts have no necessary
dependence on each other.
RHEA, one of the divinities of ancient Greece and Rome. Rhea
was the daughter of Uranus and Gæa, and the sister and wife of
Kronos, by whom she had several children who were successively
swallowed by Kronos, till she succeeded in imposing on him a stone
for the new-born Zeus. [KRONOS; ZEUS.] Rhea became early
identified with the Phrygian mother-goddess Cybele; and also by some
of the Greek races, with her daughter DEMETER. Besides the names
Rhea, Cybele, &c., she was called "the mother of the gods," "the
great mother," &c. The original seat of her worship appears to have
been Crete, but it soon spread through Greece. As the great goddess
of the eastern nations, her worship was however far more widely
extended. The rites of Rhea were in some places mingled with those of
Dionysos; and her priests, the Corybantes, leapt, danced, sung, and per-
formed various frenzied orgies in the wilds of Phrygia. As the mother
of Jupiter, under the name of Ops, she was worshipped by the Romans
from the earliest times. Her festival at Rome was called the
Megalesia; her priests were eunuchs, and named Galli. The oak
and the lion were sacred to her. In Greek art Rhea is represented
wearing a crown with towers, and she carries in her hand a key or a
branch. She is usually seated on a throne with lions beside her; or
in a car drawn by lions; sometimes she is riding on a lion; in bassi-
relievi, &c., she is sometimes seen attended by dancing Corybantes with
cymbals.
RHEADIC ACID. [PAPAVERIC ACID.]
RHEIC ACID. [CHRYSOPHANIC ACID.]
RHEIN. [CHRYSOPHANIC ACID.]

RHEOMETER. A number of instruments, &c., used in GALVANISM
are named by French physicists rheometer, rheophose, rheotrope, rheostat,
from the Greek pew, to flow. The words have only been to a limited
extent adopted in this country. [GALVANOMETER.]
RHETORIC (¿ητopuǹ) is a Greek word of similar import to the Latin
oratory; but a rhetorician is a teacher of or writer on oratory, and an
orator is one who practises the art; Demosthenes was an orator, Aris-
totle was a rhetorician, and Cicero was both.
English writers, in treating of rhetoric, appear generally to consider
it the same as oratory, and perhaps it is difficult to make a distinc-
tion between them. Cicero's 'Orator,' 'De Oratore,' and ' De Claris
Oratoribus,' are always called rhetorical works. Quinctilian (Inst.,'
ii. 14) speaks of persons who translated the Greek word "rhetorice"
into Latin by "oratoria" and "oratrix;" but he objects to the use of
both these words, and adopts the Greek word, which, he says, Cicero
himself employed to designate certain books (probably the two books
'De Inventione') which he had written on this art. An account of
Quinctilian's work on the same subject will be found under QUINOTI-
LIANUS, in BIOG. DIV. In the article ORATORY it is stated that the
treatise of Aristotle on rhetoric is the oldest extant treatise on this art,
and one of the most valuable books preserved from ancient times. The
present article seems to furnish a suitable occasion for giving a short
account of Aristotle's work.

+
Aristotle begins by saying that rhetoric is the counterpart (avrl
στpopos) of logic, and he defines it to be the faculty (duvauis) of
perceiving on any given subject what is best adapted to persuade. He
divides rhetoric into three parts: Persuasion (TíσTIs, or rather miores),
Language or Expression (λégis), and Arrangement (Táis). His work
consists of three books, of which the first and second treat of persua-
sion, and the third treats of expression and arrangement.
After premising some general remarks on rhetoric, he treats of per-
suasion as derived from enthymemes (ev0vuhuara). Having stated
that there are three kinds of persuasion, the deliberative (ovußou
AEUTIKóv), the demonstrative (TideIKTIóv), and the judicial (dikavikóv),
and that, in reference to each of these, persuasion is both special (idlat)
and general (kowal), c. 3, he discusses the subject of special persuasion
69
70
RHEUM.
RHEUM.
+
in each kind: touching the deliberative he inquires whether it be use-
ful, c. 4 to 8; touching the demonstrative, whether it be honourable,
c. 9; touching the judicial, whether it be just, c. 10 to 15. He con-
cludes the first book by stating and explaining the modes of producing
persuasion without the art of rhetoric, c. 16.
In the second book he proceeds to say that, în reference to certain
questions, special persuasion must be considered as depending on the
character of the speaker, c. 1; and on the passions of the hearers, c. 2
to 13; as also on the general character of the hearers, such as their
passions, their moral habits, their different ages and conditions in life,
c. 17 to 19. He closes the discussion of special persuasion by viewing
it in connection with questions common to the three kinds of persua-
sion, such as possibility, fact, futurity, and magnitude, c. 19. He then
proceeds to persuasion considered generally and indefinitely, of which
he mentions two kinds, example (Tapadéryμa) and enthymeme (erbúunua),
adding gnome (yváμn) as included in enthymeme, c. 20 to 26.
He commences the third book with the second part of rhetoric,
namely, expression. He states what is necessary to constitute expres-
sion, c. 2 to 4; and describes its various forms, c. 5 to 9. He treats
of elegance (rà àσTela), c. 10, 11; and represents the different kinds
of expression, c. 12.
He then comes to the third part of rhetoric, which is arrangement.
This, he says, consists necessarily of two parts, the proposition of any
subject, and its confirmation; but there may be four parts, introduc-
tion (πрooíμov), proposition (πpóleσis), confirmation (OTIs), and
(πίστις),
peroration (enlλoyos). He concludes the work by discussing these four
parts of arrangement: introduction, c. 14, 15; proposition, c. 16; con-
firmation, c. 17; peroration, c. 19.
Aristotle's Rhetoric' is not only the best treatise upon this subject,
but a model of profound thinking and reasoning for the investigation
of various other subjects.
RHEUM (Rhubarb), Medical Properties of. As the particular species
which yields the officinal rhubarb, and even the precise place of its
growth, are not known, the varieties met with in commerce are here
described, without attempting to assign them to any ascertained
species. There are six well-marked varieties, namely, Russian or
Turkey, Dutch-trimmed, Chinese, Himalayan, English, and French.
Thubarb contains three resins: Aporetine, Phaeoretine, and Erythore-
tine. It is supposed to contain some volatile oil, to which the peculiar
odour is due.
((
The chief chemical distinction between this and English rhubarb is
the presence in the latter of a principle termed rhaponticin, and 14 per
cent. of starch, with a smaller portion of rhubarberin, of yellow colour-
ing matter and extractive: iodine furnishes a ready distinguishing
test, for a decoction of Russian, Dutch-trimmed, or Chinese rhubarb
becomes, with a solution of iodine, greenish-blue (iodide of starch);
after a few minutes the colour disappears, and no iodine can be
detected in the liquor by starch, unless nitric acid be previously
added; a decoction of English rhubarb is rendered by a solution of
iodine intensely blue (iodide of starch), the colour not completely dis-
appearing by standing." (Pereira.) This difference is clearly dependent
on the much greater portion of starch existing in English rhubarb.
Inferior rhubarb, or roots cut to resemble rhubarb, and sprinkled over
with powdered turmeric, or dyed with it, may be detected by means of
boracic acid, or any borates rendered acid, since the colour of genuine
rhubarb, or paper dyed with it, is not affected by these re-agents,
whereas turmeric-paper is reddened by them. Yellow ochre, with
which black and worthless pieces are covered, or which is used to fill
the holes in worm-eaten pieces, may be detected by heat, as it burns
with a brownish red appearance, and exhibits the characters of a
ferruginous earth.
Portions unusually white are occasionally found in the chests of
Russian rhubarb, and are presumed to be specimens of imperial
rhubarb; nothing certain is known of its origin or relative value, but
it is assigned to Rheum leucorrhizum, Pallas, R. nanum, Sievers, Rheum
tataricum, Linn.
2. Dutch-trimmed rhubarb, called also by some writers Persian
rhubarb, and Batavian, occurs in flat or round pieces, and is not much
different in appearance from the preceding, but it reaches Europe
through Canton and Singapore. It is said to be very liable to the attacks
of a small coleopterous insect, Anobium boleti, and that the holes so
made are stopped with yellow ochre.

Of the first sort the greater portion at present comes from St. Peters- in rounds on farely presents an angular character, but occurs
burg, and is denominated Muscovite, Bokharian, or Siberian rhubarb,
while a "part has always formed one of the imports from China into
Bokhara, whence passing to Smyrna, it is known in Europe as Turkey
rhubarb" (Royle, Flora of the Himalaya'), which naine it commonly
bears in the shops. This kind varies much in size and appearance, the
pieces being cylindrical, spherical, flat, or irregular, from two to three
inches long, one to three broad, and one to three thick. "The smaller
pieces are picked out, being preferred, while the larger pieces and the
dust are employed for powdering." Holes are remarked in many of the
pieces, of which one occasionally extends entirely through, the others
only partially; the former having been made in order to suspend the
piece in drying, the others in examining the quality. This kind, and
probably the other sorts, is frequently worm-eaten, owing to the ravages
of a small beetle, Sinodendrum pusillum. (Kirby and Spence, Ento-
mology,' i., p. 252.)
Externally the pieces are covered with a bright yellow-coloured
powder, which either results from the friction of the pieces during
their passage to this country, or from the process of rouncing (that is,
shaking in a bag with powdered rhubarb), previous to its exportation.
The odour is strong, both of the root and fresh powder, peculiar,
somewhat but not pleasantly aromatic. When chewed, it feels gritty,
owing to the presence of numerous raphides (or crystals of oxalate of
lime, which are present to the amount of between 30 and 40 per
cent.); it communicates a bright yellow colour to the saliva, and has a
bitter, slightly astringent taste, which to some persons is not unplea-
sant, as they are in, the habit of chewing rhubarb to obtain its tonic
effects on the stomach; but this practice is objectionable from the
yellow colour it imparts to the teeth and gums.
When the dust which covers the surface is removed, it exhibits a
more or less reddish-yellow hue with white lines interspersed, which
form beautiful reticulations, best seen on a vertical section, while a
transverse section exhibits small star-like spots and depressions of a❘
darker colour. The transverse fracture is uneven, the longitudinal
still more so. "The powder of genuine Russian rhubarb is of a bright
yellow colour, verging to red, but as met with in the shops it is almost
invariably mixed with the powder of English rhubarb," which gives it
a much lighter colour.
The analysis of this sort by Hornemann shows it to consist of-
Rhubarberin (or bitter principle of Pfaff)
Yellow colouring matter (of Henry)
Bitter extractive
Oxidized tannin
Mucilage
•
A substance extracted from the woody fibre
Oxalic acid
Woody fibre
Moisture, loss, odorous principle.
16
9
14
1
10
28
1
14
8
Rhubarberin is also called chrysophanic acid, or yellow crystalline
granulated matter of rhubarb. According to Schlössberger and Dæpping,
8. Chinese or East Indian rhubarb, termed in commerce half trimmed
or untrimmed
"The best pieces are heavier and more compact
than those of the Russian kind, and the odour is much less powerful
and less aromatic.”
4. Himalayan rhubarb is not known as a commercial article in this
country, nor is it even an article of large consumption in India, where
it sells for only one-tenth of the best rhubarb, resembling in quality
the Russian, and which is found in India. The finest Russian rhubarb
might be introduced and cultivated in the territories of the East India
Company, or, as Dr. Royle observes, "a trade in rhubarb with Tibet
or Western Mongolia might be established by means of the Tartars
who resort to the hill fairs. This trade might easily be encouraged by
the government purchasing all the rhubarb it requires, which might
thus be employed for hospital use after crossing the frontiers, instead
of, as now, after making a journey of 20,000 miles, or nearly the
circuit of the globe." (Flora of the Himalaya.')
5. English rhubarb occurs in two states, "dressed or trimmed, so as
to resemble the Russian kind, and stick rhubarb. The first is grown at
Banbury in Oxfordshire, and is frequently used for the show-bottles in
druggists' windows, and often sold in the streets of London for Turkey
rhubarb, by persons dressed up as Turks. Stick rhubarb is sold in the
herb shops, and is in long pieces.'
}}
6. French rhubarb is not brought into this country.
What is termed Monk's rhubarb is not the produce of any species of
rheum, but of the Rumex alpinus, which grows in Switzerland, Ger-
many, and Mount Taurus, and is more astringent than purgative: it is
mostly used by the monks of the Alps, or to adulterate the other
sorts.
Large importations of rhubarb are made into this country, partly
from Russia, but much more from the East Indies; but the greater
part is for re-exportation.
part is for re-exportation. The quantity retained for home consump-
tion scarcely constitutes one-fourth of the entire amount.
Rhubarb presents the peculiarity of producing two opposite effects,
according to the dose exhibited. In small doses it is tonic and
astringent, in large doses purgative, but generally followed by con-
stipation. It is moreover somewhat heating, and therefore unfit for
the early stage of inflammatory diseases; on the other hand, its tonic
properties render it eminently proper in the later stages of these
diseases. In debility of the digestive organs, alone, or better in con-
junction with other agents, it is a most valuable remedy; but it is very
improper in the form of powder for very young children, as the
insoluble woody fibre irritates their delicate stomachs, and contributes
to produce that state of irritation under which so many young children
sink who are overdosed with domestic medicines. Dr. Reid, from
large experience at a public dispensary, stated it as his deliberate
opinion, that half the children which died in London under two years
of age were killed by mothers and nurses dosing them with rhubarb
and magnesia. A more rational proceeding is to regulate the diet of
tender infants, especially of such as are not suckled by the mother or
a wet nurse; above all, to avoid giving them stimulating drinks or raw
fruits. Where any form of gentle aperient and antacid is really
necessary for children or infants, an infusion of rhubarb made with
4-
71
RHEUMATISM.
cold water, to which carbonate of soda is added, answers well.
Compound rhubarb pill, a very commonly-used aperient, is hurtful to
persons prone to suffer from piles. But an unobjectionable and very
mildly acting aperient pill can be made with equal parts of extract of
rhubarb, extract of jalap, and extract of taraxacum, with a very little
jalapina, and some drops of any volatile oil, such as dill, carraway, or
cloves.
Several species of rheum, and garden varieties of them, are cultivated
for the sake of the petioles of the leaves, which are much used to
make tarts in spring. The cooling and gently aperient properties of
these render them grateful and beneficial to most persons; but indi-
viduals prone to calculous complaints should carefully avoid them, and
all vegetables which owe their acidity to oxalic acid, as the formation
of the oxalate of lime, or mulberry calculus, may be the consequence
of indulgence. This observation applies equally to the species of
Rumex which are used as sorrel. [CICER ARIETINUM.] (Pereira's
'Mat. Med.')
RHEUMATISM (from pevμatioμòs, "a defluxion"). It is probable
that this term was originally adopted during the prevalence of the
doctrines of the humoral pathology, when every disease attended with
swelling was attributed to the flow of some morbid humour to the
part affected. Before the year 1642, rheumatism and gout were
usually described as one disease, under the name of arthritis; the dis-
tinction between the two is said to have been first accurately made by
Bellonius, a physician who suffered much from rheumatism.
It
RHEUMATISM.
72
their aponeuroses, the term rheumatalgia is sometimes made use of. In
this last-named affection there is neitlier redness nor swelling, and pain
is experienced only when the muscles of the part affected are called
into action. Many persons believe that the nerves themselves may be
affected with rheumatism, and refer to sciatica and hemicrania as
examples. In these cases the pain is generally of an intermittent
character. This intermittence of pain is not peculiar to nervous
rheumatism, but is met with also when the aponeuroses of muscles are
the seat of the disease, as in hemicrania. "It usually attacks one half
of the organ (the head), and the pain generally comes on in the evening
about six o'clock, and continues very violently for a few hours. Occa-
sionally when it is intermittent in this way, the parts are hot, swollen,
and throb, and the eyes water; but in other cases this is not felt.'
(Elliotson.) Many physicians of eminence deny that the above-named
affections are rheumatic, and consider them to be of nervous origin;
hemicrania and lumbago they call neuralgia, and rheumatalgia they
designate by the term myositis. From this contrariety of opinion we
may conclude that little is known respecting the structures actually
affected in these varieties of rheumatismn; of the morbid changes which
they undergo we are likewise in equal ignorance. In the true or articular
rheumatism it is the synovial membrane lining the cavity of the joints
and the fibrous tissues external to them that principally suffer. The
respective degree in which each of these structures is implicated is not
the same in every case. Thus, in one case, we shall find the joints dis-
tended with fluid, the fluctuation of which is very perceptible to the
hand; while in another there shall be swelling, but it will be more
diffused and without fluctuation, showing that little or no effusion has
taken place into the joint, but that the swelling results from the
inflammation of parts external to it. This difference has led some
persons to speak of rheumatism as fibrous and synovial; but inasmuch
as it is not always easy to determine to which variety the case under
examination may belong, and is besides of no practical importance, the
distinction is not usually regarded. The fluid which is found in the
joints may be either gelatinous or purulent, according to the severity
of the inflammation. The synovial membranes which line them are
red and thickened; the ligaments external to the joints are thickened
and rigid, the limbs frequently contracted, and the muscles. wasted.
In rheumatic gout there is often found a deposit of lithate of soda in
the joints affected,-a proof that, in many cases at least, this disease
partakes more of the character of gout than of rheumatism. The
appearances presented in the heart and its coverings, where this organ
has been attacked, have already been described in the article HEART,
DISEASES OF THE.
Acute rheumatism, called also rheumatic fever, has been so well
described by Sydenham, that we make use of his own words: "This
disease," he observes, " happens at any time, but especially in autumn,
and chiefly affects such as are in the prime of life. It is generally
occasioned by exposing the body to the cold air immediately after
having heated it by violent exercise or some other way.
begins with chilliness and shivering, which are soon succeeded by
heat, restlessness, thirst, and the other concomitants of fever. In a
day or two, and sometimes sooner, there arises an acute pain in some
or other of the limbs, especially in the wrists, shoulders, knees; which
shifting between whiles, affects these parts alternately, leaving a red-
ness and swelling in the part last affected. In the beginning of the
illness the fever and the above-mentioned symptoms do sometimes
come together, but the fever goes off gradually, while the pain con-
tinues and sometimes increases." Acute rheumatism varies considerably
in intensity and duration; the patient may have great fever, and
severe pain in nearly every joint, so as to render him perfectly
helpless; or the fever may be slight, and the local inflammation
limited to one or two joints. There is not always a relation between Causes of Rheumatism.—Among the causes which predispose to
the severity of the local symptoms and the constitutional disturbance. rheumatism must be placed an hereditary tendency and the age and
The duration of this disease is much the same under any mode of treat-temperament of the individual. The period of life most subject to
ment; it may be terminated in a few days, or may endure as many acute rheumatism is from puberty to 35 years of age, and persons of
months; in nearly every case the general symptoms cease before the full plethoric habit are said to be more liable to its attacks than
local inflammation is stopped. Acute rheumatism simply, is seldom if those of an opposite temperament. It is supposed by many,
ever a fatal disease, but complicated with pericarditis, endocarditis, or among whom may be cited the names of M. Andral (Anatomie
pleurisy, it is highly dangerous. It behoves us therefore in every case Pathologique'), M. C. Roche ('Dictionnaire de Médecine et de Chirur-
of rheumatism to be on our guard against these complications; they gie), and Dr. Barlow (Cyclopædia of Practical Medicine), that an
are so frequent and come on so insidiously, that a recourse to the aid absolute or relative condition of plethora is essential to the develop-
of the stethescope should never be neglected. [HEART, DISEASES OF ment of rheumatism; and the blood, according to these authorities,
THE.]
may be either excessive in quantity or altered in quality.
With respect to what is called chronic rheumatism, it may be either some individuals," observes M. Andral," who naturally make a greater
a continuance of acute rheumatism in a milder form, or may originate quantity of blood than others. When the bloodvessels contain a
in this chronic, or, more properly speaking, subacute character. In greater proportion of the nutritive fluid than is necessary to supply
either case all the characters of acute rheumatism are present, but in the demands of the different organs, the superabundant quantity
a less violent degree; thus, there is a quickened pulse, some increased becomes a permanent source of excitation to the solids, and at the
heat of skin, a furred tongue, and loss of appetite and sleep, the feb- same time the blood has a remarkable tendency to accumulate in
rile action undermines the general health, while the local inflammation, different organs; so that in such a case the whole system is in a general
although indolent, disorganises the joints. This state of things may state of excitation, and some of the organs may become the seat of
endure for an indefinite period, or the febrile symptoms may after a local congestion of various degrees of duration and intensity."
time disappear and the morbid action in the joints cease, not however applying these doctrines to the disease we are considering, he observes,
without leaving behind them such ravages as require a special local "If we mark the symptoms and progress of acute rheumatism, we
treatment. Dr. Elliotson has distinguished chronic rheumatism into find that very often a well-marked febrile action, with a strong reaction,
|
hot and cold in the former, the joints affected are above the natural but without any symptom whatever of local affection, precedes the
temperature of the other parts of the body, and are relieved by the pain. In a word, there is first an inflammatory fever, and then
application of cold; in the latter, the contrary is the case. Whether rheumatism. Next observe the extreme mobility of the rheumatic
the pain of the joints is relieved most by hot or by cold applications, pains. They run along, in a manner, wherever the blood is distributed ;
it is generally aggravated in cold moist weather, and diminished dur- the application of leeches often removes the pain from one part, but it
ing an opposite condition of the atmosphere. The only diseases with soon shifts to another, and not unfrequently it quits the articulating
which rheumatism can be confounded are gout and periostitis; for its tissues and fixes on different internal organs, producing, by the
distinction from the former of which see GOUT.
derangement of their functions, symptoms more or less severe. It
often happens that bleeding from a large orifice puts an end to the
disease, as if, by diminishing the mass of blood, it proportionally
diminished the stimulus that promoted all these shifting irritations."
It is then, when the body is in this predisposed condition, from any of
the before-mentioned causes, that exposure to a continued draught of
cold air or a shower of rain becomes the immediate exciting cause of
an attack of rheumatism.
The term rheumatic, whether properly or not, has been applied to
various affections which have very little resemblance to one another,
except in being attended with pain. Thus a class of cases has been
called rheumatic gout. This is a disease partaking of the characters
both of gout and rheumatism. It may be rheumatism attacking the
small joints, or it may be gout extending to the large; in either
case the distinction is not of much importance, as the treatment is the
same.
When rheumatism is seated in the back, it is called lumbago,
from lumbus, the loin; when in the back of the neck, the patient is
said to have a stiff neck, or a "crick in the neck; when in the head,
one half only is usually attacked, and it is called hemicrania. When
the pain occupies the more fleshy parts of the limbs, as the muscles or
"There are
In
Whatever may be the general condition of plethora, which has been
observed in certain cases, there can be no doubt that rheumatism will
only come on in certain conditions of the blood. It has been observed
that during rheumatism considerable quantities of lithic acid and
lithate of ammonia occur in the urine, and there seeins to be little
doubt that in all cases of rheumatism there is an accumulation in the
73
74
RHEUMIN.
RHODIZONIC ACID.
blood of some substance which acts as a materies morbi. This sub-
stance is not identified, but between the substances of the food on the
one hand and the excretions of the skin and kidneys on the other, there
is a wide field for the production of abnormal products, which may be
the cause of disease. It has been supposed by Dr. Todd and others,
that the real materies morbi is lactic acid in the blood. This, however,
is at present problematical, but it is very certain that an abnormal
condition of the blood is the most general antecedent of rheumatic
disease.
Cold has been often supposed to be an absolute cause of rheumatism.
But this is certainly not the case, as out of half a dozen men exposed
to the same degree of cold only one may have rheumatism. This
disease is also not more prevalent in hot climates, as compared with
cold ones, than could be accounted for on the supposition of other
causes than cold producing the disease. That cold is an exciting cause
when the body is already predisposed there can be no doubt.
Treatment of rheumatism.-Dr. Haygarth, on being asked what was
the best remedy for acute rheumatism, is said to have replied, "Six
weeks." The sagacity of this reply can be best estimated when the
literature of acute rheumatism has been gone through. Blood-letting,
calomel, opium, bark, alkalies, iodide of potassium, colchicum, aconite
digitalis, tartarised antimony, nitrate of potash, brandy and water,
infinitesimal doses,-have all had their advocates, and in every set of
cured cases reported the average duration will be found to be about six
weeks. It is not, however, to be supposed that the treatment of acute
rheumatism is one of indifference. According to the severity of the
symptoms and the temperament of the individual the judicious
physician will apply his treatment. The symptoms of disease of the
heart should be watched for with anxiety, and where detected the
treatment must be modified accordingly. Blood-letting is now seldom
had recourse to. Opium to alleviate great pain and alkalies to act on
the kidneys and bowels, and modify the condition of the blood, are
recommended by all rational practitioners. Dr. Bennett, of Edin-
burgh, speaks highly of nitrate of potass. Local bleeding is occa-
sionally of service. In chronic rheumatism liniments over the inflamed
joints, with iodide of potassium, and bark, and guaiacum, with other
tonics and stimulants, are valuable remedies. Cold bathing and mineral
waters are adapted for some cases.
According to Dr. Elliotson, whether rheumatism be acute or chronic,
the treatment should be exactly the same: "You have only to make
two distinctions,-to ascertain whether it is the inflammatory form of
the disease: whether the parts are hotter than they should be, and
heat does harm; or whether the parts are cooler than they should be,
and heat does good." In the one case he recommends antiphlogistic
measures, and in the other stimulants; under the antiphlogistic mea-
sures, he comprehends bleeding and the administration of colchicum,
the latter to be continued till it purges the patient. During the whole
time of the treatment cold lotions are applied to the inflamed joints.
In the chronic form of rheumatism the joints are kept hot with
flannels and rubbed with stimulating ointments and liniments, while
the ammoniated tincture of guaiacum, beginning with half-dram doses,
is given three times a day. Dr. Elliotson also considers that mercury
is occasionally useful in both kinds of rheumatism. Lumbago and
sciatica are most successfully treated by cupping the loins and the
parts over the course of the great sciatic nerve, followed by the appli-
cation of blisters to the same regions, and a general antiphlogistic
regimen. In hemicrania great relief is frequently obtained by the
application of heat to the part affected, as in wrapping up the head in
flannel. Should the pain evince a tendency to return every evening, a
large dose of a narcotic should be administered just previous to the
paroxysm," and if not relieved in two or three hours, a similar dose
must be repeated; we are informed that one grain of stramonium for
an adult frequently acts like a charm in this affection. In rheuma-
talgia, when the parts are not hot, and the pain is not increased by
heat, acupuncture and shampooing have been found of great service.
Where the joints are stiff and contracted, from long-continued in-
flammation, warm bathing, combined with frequent and persevering
exercise of them, have been attended with the most signal success.
(Sydenham, Ópera Medica, Tractatus de Podagra et Hydrope;'
Andral, Anatomie Pathologique; C. Roche, Dictionnaire de Médecine
et de Chirurgie; Dr. Barlow, Cyclopædia of Practical Medicine; Dr.
Elliotson, Practice of Medicine; Dr. Bennett, Principles and Practice
of Medicine; Dr. Fuller, Rheumatism and Rheumatic Gout.)
RHEUMIN. [CHRYSOPHANIC ACID.]
RHODALLINĚ. [THIOSINAMINE.]
RHODANHYDRIC ACID. Synonymous with HYDROSULPHO-
CYANIC ACID.
RHODANOGEN. Synonymous with SULPHOCYANOGEN.
RHODEORETIC ACID. [CONVOLVULIC ACID.]
RHODEORETIN. [CONVOLVULIN.]
RHODEORETINOL. [CONVOLVULINOLIC ACID.]
RHODEORETINOLIC ACID. [CONVOLVULINOLIC ACID.]
RHODIUM (Ro), a metal discovered by the late Dr. Wollaston in
1803, and named from rhodon (pódov, a rose), on account of the colour
of one of its solutions. This metal exists in combination with plati-
num. According to the analysis of Berzelius, the ore of Colombia
contains nearly three and a half per cent., and that of Siberia only 1.15
per cent of rhodium. When the greater part of the platinum and
palladium have been separated from the solution of the native grains,
by the addition of chloride of ammonium and cyanide of mercury, a
plate of iron is to be immersed in the residual solution, and by this
the rhodium, with small quantities of platinum, copper, and lead, is
thrown down in the metallic state. In order to render the rhodium
pure, it is first digested in dilute nitric acid, which dissolves the copper
and lead, and the rhodium and platinum are then to be dissolved in
aqua regia mixed with some common salt, and the solution is to be
evaporated to dryness. By this operation there are obtained the
double chloride of platinum and sodium, and rhodium and sodium.
The former is to be dissolved in alcohol, and the latter afterwards in
water, when a plate of zinc immersed in the solution precipitates
The metal thus procured is in the
the rhodium in the metallic state.
state of a black powder, and requires the strongest heat of a wind-
furnace, or better the oxyhydrogen blowpipe, for fusion. It is less
fusible than platinum.
Rhodium is white; has a metallic lustre; is extremely hard; specific
gravity 12.1; and is ductile and malleable. It is not dissolved by any
acid or by aqua regia, except when it is alloyed by other metals; and this
circumstance accounts for its being dissolved, when alloyed with pla-
tinum, in the native grains of this metal. It suffers no change by
exposure to air, either dry or moist. The equivalent of rhodium is 52.16.
Oxygen and Rhodium form two compounds. They cannot be made
to combine by direct action. The protoxide has not yet been obtained
in a state of purity. When finely-divided rhodium, mixed with
potash and a little nitre, is heated to redness in a silver crucible, the
metal is oxidized, and becomes of a brown colour, and is mixed with
potash; the mass is to be washed with water and then treated with
hydrochloric acid, by which hydrated peroxide of rhodium is left, of a
greenish gray colour. It contains Ro₂O3. When this peroxide is
heated, it becomes black, and is then probably converted into pro-
toxide.
Chlorine and Rhodium probably unite in three proportions, but the
perchloride (Ro, Cl,) only has been hitherto obtained in a separate state.
It was procured by Berzelius by adding silico-hydrofluoric acid to a
solution of the chloride of potassium and rhodium, as long as the
double fluoride of potassium and silicon was generated, after which
the filtered liquor was evaporated to dryness, and the residue redis-
solved in water. The remaining perchloride thus obtained has a dark
brown colour, and when heated to redness, chlorine is evolved and
metallic rhodium obtained. The aqueous solution of this salt is a
fine rose-red colour, whence the name of the metal which it contains.
This salt forms double compounds, called rhodio-chlorides, with the
chloride of potassium and of sodium.
Sulphur and Rhodium may be made to combine by heating them
together, the metal being in a state of minute division. The proto-
sulphide (Ro S) formed fuses at a white heat without decomposition,
has a bluish-gray colour, a metallic lustre, and by the action of nitric
acid is converted into sulphate of rhodium. Sesqui-sulphide of rhodium
(Ro,S,) may be formed by heating the ammonio-chloride of the metal
with sulphur, or by heating its solution with sulphide of potassium.
Salts of Rhodium.-The salts of the peroxide only have been formed.
Their general properties are but little known.
Nitrate of Rhodium is obtained by dissolving the peroxide in the
acid: it is of a deep red colour, and uncrystallizable.
Sulphate of Rhodium is procured, as already mentioned, by acting
upon the sulphide with nitric acid. The solution is of a deep red
colour, and does not yield crystals. When the caustic alkalies are
added to the solution of this or the other soluble salts of rhodium, a
precipitate of the hydrated sesqui-oxide of a greenish-yellow colour
is obtained after some time; the alkaline carbonates produce no
effect, nor does sulphurous acid, nor the ferro-cyanide of potassium.
Hydro-sulphuric acid throws down sulphide of rhodium; but the
hydrosulphates of ammonia and potash produce no immediate pre-
cipitate.
Alloys of Rhodium.-When combined with steel to the amount of
only two per cent., it gives the steel great hardness without causing it
to crack under the hammer. Dr. Wollaston examined several of its
alloys, and, on account of its hardness, he suggested its employment
for the nibs of metallic pens; to which purpose it has been applied
successfully. It has not been combined with mercury.
7
RHODIZONIC ACID (3 HO, C,O, ?). In the preparation of POTAS-
SIUM, a combination of that element with carbonic oxide is formed in
considerable quantities. The composition of this compound is not at
present very well understood. In the presence of moisture, however,
it assimilates water, and is converted into the potash salt of an acid
termed rhodizonic (¿ódov, a rose"), from the red colour of its salts.
Rhodizonate of potash forms oblique rhomboidal prisms of a bluish-
green metallic appearance. It is insoluble in alcohol or ether, but
readily soluble in water, yielding a deep red solution; it is inodorous,
tasteless, and tolerably permanent in the air. On the addition of
sulphuric acid to the potash salt, rhodizonic acid is set free, and may
be obtained in bluish-black crystals.
10
Croconic acid (2HO, C₁00s), so called from the yellow colour of its
salts, is a product of the action of a temperature of 212° Fahr. upon
rhodizonate of potash. From the potash salt the acid may be set free
by sulphuric acid, or, better, hydrofluosilicic acid. It crystallizes in
transparent, orange-yellow, inodorous, astringent, and very acid crystals,
75
RHODOTANNIC ACID.
RIBBON MANUFACTURE.
76
It is soluble in water or alcohol, and forms neutral or acid salts with says one who seems to have possessed a most discriminating and refined
taste in the art,—
bases.
RHODOTANNIC ACID. [TANNIC ACIDS.]
RHOMB, RHOMBUS, RHOMBOID. These terms have been used
in various significations by different writers, and the second and third
have been sometimes distinguished from each other in meaning. It is
not worth while to do more than state, that when either of them is
now used, it signifies an equilateral oblique parallelogram. The Latin
dictionaries define rhomboides to be a parallelogram, and rhombus an
equilateral parallelogram.
RHUBARB. [RHEUM.]
RHUBARBARIC ACID. [CHRYSOPHANIC ACID.]
RHUBARBARIN. [CHRYSOPHANIC ACID.]
RHUMB. [RUMB.]
RHYME. Johnson derives this word from the Greek rhythmus
(Sveuòs). Others derive it from the Swedish and Danish rim, the
(ρυθμός).
Dutch rym, and the German reim. All the principal European nations
use the same word to signify the same thing. Thus, the French have
rime, the Italians rima, and the Spaniards rima. The Greek and
Roman poets did not use rhyme, and the word rythmus was applied by
both, in its poetical meaning, to the metrical arrangement of syllables,
and not to the correspondence of sound in their terminations. Rhyme
was not used either by the Celtic or by the early Scandinavian nations.
Thus the Irish and Erse poems on which Macpherson founded his
'Poems of Ossian' are without rhymes, as is also the Scandinavian
poem of the 'Lodbrokar Quida' (Lodbroc's Death-Song). Rhyme, as
an accompaniment of verse, cannot be traced farther back among
European nations than to the rymours of Normandy, the troubadours
of Provence, the minnesingers of Germany, and the monks, who, after
the fall of the Roman empire, added rhyming terminations to the
Latin metres which were chanted or sung in the church service.
Rhyme was early employed by the Italian poets. The 'Divina Com-
media' of Dante, the oldest of the great Italian poems, is in alternate
rhymes. The early Spanish ballads sometimes have rhymes, some-
times only assonances [ASSONANCE], and sometimes, as in the old
Spanish romance of 'The Cid,' are without either rhyme or assonance.
The early Anglo-Saxon poetry is without rhyme, but it is sometimes
used in the later. All the old English poetry has rhymes, which are
rude and imperfect, like the versification, but they are obviously an
adjunct to the verse which could not be omitted.
Perfect rhymes arise from the identity of sound with which different
words terminate-the identity, not the similarity. In monosyllables,
or words which have the accent on the last syllable, to constitute a
perfect rhyme it is necessary that the sound of the last accented vowel
and of any letters which may follow it should be exactly the same as
those of the word with which it rhymes. The sounds which precede
the last accented vowel must be different in the two words. The
spelling is of no consequence; the rhyme is in the sounds, not in the
Conventional signs by which the sounds are expressed. Thus no
rhymes to so, but not to do, which rhymes to too or two; great rhymes
to hate, but not to heat, which rhymes to fleet; and so on. If the
sounds of the last vowels, or of any of the following consonants, differ
in any degree, however small, the rhyme is so far imperfect; thus,
love and move form an imperfect rhyme, the sound of the o in love
being not only shorter than that of the o in move, but to a certain
extent different. These monosyllable or last-syllable rhymes are called
male rhymes.
Another class of rhymes is formed from words in which the accent
is on the last syllable but one. In this class it is requisite that the
sounds of the last vowel in the last syllable but one and of all the
following letters should be the same as those with which they rhyme.
Thus, desiring and respiring, descended and extended, are perfect rhymes
of this class. These are called female rhymes.
all cases.
The principle of rhyming, once understood, the application is easy in
Thus, if the accent is on the last syllable but two, the
sound of the last vowel of the last syllable but two, and of all the
following letters, must be the same. Thus, sensible and extensible are
perfect rhymes of this class, but dissolute and resolute are imperfect
rhymes, the vowels in the last syllable but two of both words having
different sounds.
The same principle of rhyming applies to all the modern languages,
as well as to the English. Imperfect rhymes are more or less freely
used in all of them, according to circumstances. The English and
German languages, which abound in consonants, and have for the most
part consonant terminations, are more deficient in rhymes than the
Italian and Spanish, which abound in vowels, and have for the most
part vowel terminations.
RHYTHM (Puoµós, measure, proportion), in Music, is Time; first,
in a limited sense, as in the relative proportions of notes in a single
bar; and, secondly, in a more general sense, as in the relative propor-
tion of a number of bars in any given portion of a composition, as in
either half of a minuet or of a march. Rhythm is the most im-
portant constituent of music; without it inarticulate sounds are
unproductive of any musical effect. [MUSIC.] In melody, that is, a
succession of measured sounds, notes are the component parts of a bar,
and bars are the component parts of a strain, or musical period, or
phrase. The due relative proportion of all these is absolutely
necessary in the formation of a good musical composition; without it,
"How sour sweet music is
When time is broke, and no proportion kept!"
Richard II.
.:
Musical Rhythm, in its limited sense, divides a bar into 2, 4, 8, &a.
or 3, 6, 12, &c. equal parts; the former is binary measure, the latter
ternary. In its more general sense it divides a strain, a phrase, or by
whatever name the subdivisions of a composition may be designated,
into equal portions of 2 or 4, &c. or 3, 6, &c. bars, or measures; arti
some writers have admitted a rhythmus of five bars. An intimate
acquaintance with the nature of rhythm, whether considered in its
relation to music or poetry, is essential to the accomplished composer;
without a full knowledge of this he is perplexed by doubts, and guilty
of errors which have too often brought reproaches on the art, when
they ought to have fallen on the pseudo-artist. Our limits however
will not allow us to extend this article; and we refer the reader,
particularly the professional one, to a learned and able disquisition on
rhythm in Burney's Hist., vol. i., p. 71; to Callcott's Musical
Grammar,' where much practical information from Riepel and other
German writers is to be found; to Kollman on 'Harmony;' and
more especially to Reicha's' Traité de Mélodie.' [PHRASE; TIME.]
RIBBON MANUFACTURE. Ribbon, or riband, signifies a long
narrow web of silk worn for ornament or use.
Ribbons of linen,
worsted, gold, or silver thread were formerly included in the term,
but the designation is now generally confined to those made of silk.
Ribbon, in German, is band; Danish, baand; Swedish, band; French,
ruban; Dutch, lint; Russian, lenta; Spanish, cinta; Portuguese, fita
di seta, from the Latin vitta; Italian, del nastro, fettuccia.
•
Silk was early wrought into ribbons. They formed a branch of thé
silk manufacture during its progress from Greece to Sicily, and from
thence to Italy and Spain; but the ribbon trade seems first to have as-
sumed distinct importance in France. Paris, Tours, Lyon, and Avignon
were the chief seats of the trade; the two last cities were rivals until
the year 1723, when, partly owing to the regulations which the jealous
Lyonnese had prevailed upon the government to make in their favour,
and partly to a plague of two years' continuance, the trade of Avignon
was ruined, and in great measure transferred to Lyon. Figured
ribbons were made chiefly at Paris. About the year 1680, there was
a rage for ribbons gauffrés, or embossed, on account of their novelty.
The stamping was performed by hot plates of steel, on which a pattern
was engraved, being applied successively along the piece. A master-
weaver named Chandelier, tired of this slow process, contrived a
machine which would save his labour. He engraved his figures on
two cylinders of steel, between which, when heated, the ribbon was
compressed and drawn rapidly by simple machinery: so that a piece
of ribbon was embossed in less time than his brother workmen con-
sumed over a single ell. The ribbons called double lisse (double warp),
which were considered the richest and best, were made at Tours.
Before the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, the ribbon-looms of
Tours amounted to 3000; but this measure, which banished the
Protestants, banished with them their trade, and both Tours and Lyon
suffered severely from its effects; the trade of Lyon afterwards revived.
Savary, inspector-general of French manufactures, in his Dictionary,'
published in 1723, says, that the trade in ribbons was much diminished
in his time; but it became very large in the next generation. In the
enumeration of the different kinds of ribbon, a double satin is men-
tioned, that is, one alike on both sides in texture, although sometimes
of different colours.
❖
Coventry is the head-quarters of the English ribbon-trade. The
weaving is done on several systems. The undertaking system applies
now only to the single-hand trade in the country districts-Bedworth,
Nuneaton, Hartshill, &c.: it is the same that the French have employed
since the days of Colbert. According to this plan, the undertaker, or
master-weaver, receives the silk dyed in the hank from the manu-
facturer, and returns it in finished ribbons to his order; all the inter-
mediate operations being included in the price of weaving, two-thirds
of which are paid to the journey-hand for his labour. Three-fourths of
the single-hand weavers are women, and nearly one-half of the remainder
are youths under 20. Boys and girls are considered competent weavers
at 16 or 17. On the journey work system, by which the great proportion
of the engine-looms in Coventry and its neighbourhood are worked, the
manufacturer gives the silk, already wound and warped, to the first-
hand journeyman, who is also the owner of the looms. The shoot-silk
is given in hank, for the winding of which the manufacturer allows id.
per oz., besides the price for weaving, in which is included the filling,
or the winding of the shoot on the small revolving pins within the
shuttles. About one-fourth of the hands employed on this system are
women. On the hand-factory system the manufacturer is the owner
of the looms. The journey-hands work them in the loom-shop of
the proprietor, who gets the winding and warping done at his own
charge, leaving only the filling to the weaver, which is included in the
price of his work, and is often done by very young children. This plan
is adopted by many manufacturers of small capital, who, by personally
superintending the work, and becoming in fact their own under
takers, are enabled to economise to the utmost in the cost of pro-
duction; while their hands are all reduced to the lowest condition of
זל
73
RIBBON MANUFACTURE.
RIBBON MANUFACTURE.
the weaver-the journey-hand, who supplies the labour, and has no
property in the looms. A modern innovation, encouraged by the last
system, is the employment of two hands to a loom, the one being
occupied uninterruptedly in shooting down, or passing the shuttle,
and making the ribbon; the other in picking up, or fastening broken
threads, picking out knots, &c. On the steam-factory system, the manu-
facturer gets every preparatory process done, and by the steam-power
one-half of the weaving process itself-the shooting down: all that is
left for the weaver being the picking up and superintendence. The
profitable application of steam-power to silk-weaving was long con-
sidered to be almost impossible, so large a portion of time being
consumed in the handling and trimming of the silk, in proportion to
the time that the loom is in motion, and a consequent waste of power.
A small factory was built in Coventry in 1831, for the purpose of
making the experiment on ribbons. It was burnt, however, during a
disturbance relating to prices; but within a few years there were
numerous steam-factories at work at Congleton, Leek, Derby, and
other places, which made large quantities of plain ribbons, chiefly
black sarsenets. The Coventry manufacturers had more difficulties to
contend against, but ultimately they introduced steam-power under
certain circumstances. In these power ribbon-looms, each loom is
tended by one pair of hands, which pick up and keep the machinery in
order. The gain consists, not in a more rapid motion of the shuttles,
the delicacy of the materials not allowing of this, but in the shooting
down being seldom interrupted during the picking up, as in hand-loom
weaving; in the greater regularity of the fabric, the same number of
shoots to the inch being uniformly maintained; and also in the
åddition of more shuttles, for which one workman suffices, the loom
being so constructed as to enable him to reach from the front over the
batten to the warps behind.
Italian organzine silk, either thrown in Italy or in England 'from
Italian raw silk (and principally the last), is used for the warp of
the best English ribbons: Bengal and China organzine for inferior
qualities. China, Bengal, and Broussa (a Turkish silk, produced at
Bursa or Broussa, in Asia Minor) singles, all English thrown, are used
largely for shoot. Bengal cannot be used for fine colours. Marabout
is used for gauzes. Much of the silk-throwing and dyeing is done at
Coventry. When the silk is dyed soft,—that is, when the gum is boiled
off,-it comes back from the dyer with a loss of four ounces out of
sixteen in weight; when dyed souple, the gum being partly retained, it
loses only one ounce and a half in sixteen. Inferior warp silk dyed
black, and of dark colours, is sometimes weighted by an additional
quantity of dye, or by a mixture of sugar to increase its apparent
substance.
The fineness of the silk is determined by the number of warp
lengths, measuring 72 yards, in the ounce; fine warp silk, for
instance, runs about eight score threads to the ounce of that length.
One ounce in twenty is allowed for waste in the manufacture of
the silk into ribbons; for all over that quantity the undertaker, or
journey-hand, is accountable. If the warp and shoot are delivered
ready wound, a quarter of an ounce in twenty is allowed. The prepa-
ration of the silk by winding it from the banks on bobbins, and then
again winding it off from a sufficient number of these bobbins at once
round a large revolving perpendicular reel, called the warping-frame,
until the requisite length is obtained for the piece of silk or ribbon
that is to be manufactured, and likewise the weaving process itself, are
the same for the making of ribbons and for broad silk.
The weaving of ribbons is conducted in many different ways. The
single-hand ribbon-loom differs in no essential respect from that used for
any other fabric, except that its size and strength are proportional to
the lighter material.
The Dutch engine-loom was introduced about ninety years ago. In
this loom, instead of one piece of ribbon only, several are woven at
once, four of the broadest width, or as many as twenty-four of the
narrowest. Each warp has a separate shuttle. The batten extends
across the whole width of the loom; the shuttles slide within grooves
made in the batten; the driver is worked horizontally backwards and
forwards by a handle. At each motion, the shuttles are propelled
by the cross-bars of the driver across their proper warps in the corre-
sponding direction. The loom is worked by the hands, and with
treadles for the feet, like the single-hand. The stroke of the batten is
made with more precision than in the single-hand loom, by the inter-
position of blocks of wood fastened to the framework in front, which
resist the batten at the proper point. The impulse of this stroke
pushes back the finished ribbon, which is hung with a weight attached
to the end over a pulley at the top of the frame, or wound on a roller,
just enough to draw forwards the warp, which is similarly hung over a
pulley, in order to receive the shuttle at the same point. Each warp
has a separate reed or sleigh attached to a horizontal roller, over which
it passes on descending from the pulley. The sleigh is an instrument
like a comb, for keeping the threads separate. There are corresponding
sleighs in the batten.
The à-la-bar, or bar-loom, was invented and introduced into St.
Etienne by two Swiss brothers about eighty years ago. It has largely
contributed to the prosperity of the place, but the brothers died in
poverty and neglect. It is a hand power-loom worked by means of a
long transverse handle or bar, which extends along the front of the
foom, and is connected with wheels on each side, which communicate
the motion. The shuttles are driven by means of a rack and pinion
across the warps. The advantage of the bar-loom consists in the saving
of labour by the intervention of mechanical means, instead of applying
manual power direct to the usual operations of weaving. From twenty-
eight to thirty of the narrowest and from six to eight pieces of the
broadest width are made at once: about eight ells of the former per
day, and from three to four of the latter.
Several hand power-looms for ribbons have been contrived and
adopted, in all of which the requisite movements are performed by a
combination of levers, springs, cranks, and wheels.
Figures on ribbons, as in other fabrics, are chiefly formed by omitting
the regular crossing of the warp and shoot in such a manner that a
difference of texture shall occur in the web so as to mark out any
pattern. This is effected in the single-hand loom by a multiplication
of treadles connected with the lisses by which the different portions of
warp are alternately raised. Forty treadles have been sometimes
required to form an intricate pattern. Small figures produced in this
manner are called leys. To execute more complicated patterns, tires
or draws are used. Tires are cords hung over the top of the loom, and
pulled by the hand as the figure may require; they work like the
treadles, by raising the lisses, through the eyes of which are passed the
threads to form the pattern. Small patterns are still largely made in
The French
the single-hand looms by means of treadles and tires.
single-hand loom of this description is called hautelisse. This was the
name of the loom used in weaving the best tapestry, in which the warp
was stretched perpendicularly, and hence it came to be applied to other
looms for weaving figures. The production of a large pattern in this
manner is difficult and tedious. Many skilful contrivances have been
devised by weavers and others for facilitating the operation, and among
others the draw-boy; but they were all superseded by the introduction
of the Jacquard machine. [JACQUARD APPARATUS.]
The work is ordinarily given out in sets of grosses, consisting of two
warps for each shuttle, each warp containing two pieces of 36 yards.
The ribbons are cut out in pieces of 36 yards if they are of satin, and
in half-pieces of 18 yards if they are sarsenets or gauzes above the
narrower widths. A set of pieces cut out of a loom is called a length
and a set of half-pieces a half-length. The putting in of a fresh set of
warps is a tedious operation, which requires from two or three to four-
teen days, and proportionally lessens the earnings of the weaver.
simple change of pattern, however, is often effected with very little
loss of time. Whenever it is practicable, the ends of the new warp are
fastened to those of the old before it is taken out of the loom, whereby
the labour of passing them separately through the eyes or mails of the
lisses is saved: this is called twisting in.
A
Ribbons are made according to a fixed standard of widths designated
by different numbers of pence, which once no doubt denoted the price
of the article, but at present have reference only to its breadth. The
French distinguish their widths by simple numbers. Thus the English
ribbons from a quarter of an inch to about 4 inches wide are called
from penny width to forty-penny width; while the French have figures
from No. 1 to No. 60. All dressed ribbons, as satins, gauzes, &c., are
made in the loom one-twelfth of an inch wider than sarsenets, in order
to allow for the diminution of breadth which results from the length-
wise stretching they receive in the operation of dressing. Fine gauzes
require an allowance of two-twelfths. The French ribbons were
made formerly in pieces of 12 ells; their length is now the same
as that of the English. French fancy ribbons are generally made and
sold in garnitures; that is, a broad and narrow piece taken together of
the same pattern.
Sarsenet and lutestring ribbons are made by the simple and regular
alternation of the warp and shoot, as in plain cloth, called technically
ground. Lutestrings are sarsenets above the width of 12d., and in
general of stouter make. By grogram (French gras-grains) is meant a
variation in the texture, caused by the warp-threads passing over two
of the shoots at once, taking up one only: this often finishes the edge
of a ribbon, In satin ribbons, the glossy appearance is given by the
threads of the warp being laid chiefly on the surface, each thread of
the warp being crossed by the shoot only once in five times, as in
5-lisse satin, or once in eight times, as in S-lisse or the superior satins.
French satins were formerly made from 6-lisse to 10-lisse. Satins
are woven with the face downwards. The French satins are lighter
in make than the English, but have a peculiar richness and lustre,
owing to their superior silk. French ribbons in general have less
weight of silk than the English. The transparency of gauze ribbons
is produced by the kind of silk of which it is made-the fine hard-
twisted marabout, which leaves the interstices clear. One warp thread
only passes between each dent of the sleigh, and these are closer
together in general than lutestrings and satins. In fine gauzes, there
are 80 or more dents, and from 90 to 120 shoots to the inch. The plain
gauze ribbons made at Coventry called China gauzes are chiefly those
used for mourning-white, black, and lavender, with satin or ground
stripes. Florets, taffeties, loves, and petershams, are other kinds of gauze
ribbons. These ribbons all belong to the plain trade. The fancy trade
comprises the manufacture of the same fabrics figured, under the heads
of figured sarsenets, satins, gauzes, &c. The figures are frequently pro-
duced in a different colour from the ground by the mixture of colours
in the warp, the colours being warped separately. In the intervals of
the figures the coloured threads are carried along the under side of the
79
RIBBON MANUFACTURE.
ribbon; it is said to have a double or treble figure, according to the
number of colours passing through each dent. In some ribbons
gauzes in particular these threads are cut away by the scissors after
the ribbon is made. This is called clipping. A change of colour in
the shoot is effected by the use of different shuttles; in brocades the
figure is made by small additional shuttles, thrown in partially across
the ribbon as the pattern may require, the connecting threads of shoot
being clipped off. By damask is meant the laying of the warp over
the shoot to form the figure, in the manner of satin. The patterns are
sometimes geometrical, but more frequently combinations of leaves,
sprigs, or flowers. In the superior French ribbons, groups and wreaths
of flowers are executed with the richness and variety of hand-embroi-
dery. The French are continually introducing novelties in colouring
and in texture. Some fancy ribbons are of a plain texture, but varied
in colouring; they are shot or woven in shades, stripes, bars, or
cheques, called in the trade plaids; these last, which require the
shuttle to be changed very frequently, are still made in the single-hand
loom. In shot ribbons the warp and the shoot are of different colours.
A pearl-edge is frequently given to all kinds of ribbon except the
narrower widths of sarsenet. This is formed by the shoot passing
over horse-hairs placed outside the warp parallel with it, and raised
in like manner by the lisses; as the hairs are drawn out, the silk is
left in loops at the edge. Many varieties of ornamental edges, as
scollops, fringes, &c., are produced by drawing in. The shoot in this
case stops short of the edge of the ribbon, catching in an additional
thread of silk, sometimes of a different colour, which it draws in in its
place, and which is delivered from a bobbin at the back of the loom,
and is in a manner darned into the ground of the ribbon. Clouding is
a peculiar management in the dyeing, by which a change of hue is pro-
duced in the same thread of silk. The silk, already warped, is tied up
and wound closely round with packthread at regular intervals of more
or less than an inch, so that the intermediate spaces only are pene-
trated by the dye. In one species of fancy ribbon, called Chiné, the
figures are printed or painted on the warp after it is prepared for the
loom, and afterwards woven in by the shuttle; others are embossed.
Ribbons are watered by passing two pieces together between two cylin-
ders, one of which has a heater within it; the irregular pressure of the
inequalities of the two surfaces of silk against each other produces a
wavy appearance. To smooth and stiffen satin ribbons, they are
calendered, or pressed between heated steel cylinders, and afterwards
dressed, or passed over a small cylinder covered with flannel, which is
moistened with a size made from buffalo hides, and then over a large
one of heated steel. Gauzes also are dressed, and sometimes even lute-
strings. The French goods are in general better dressed than the
English. The blocking of the finished ribbons, or the winding them
on cylindrical pieces of wood, is generally done at the warehouse of the
manufacturer. Galloons and doubles are strong thick ribbons, princi-
pally black, used for bindings, shoe-strings, &c. The narrow widths
are called galloons; the broader, doubles. Italian silk is used in
making the best qualities only, Bengal for the commoner. Ferrets are
coarse narrow ribbons shot with cotton, used for similar purposes.
Ribbon velvets are manufactured in Spitalfields, and at St. Etienne:
they are also made at Crefeld, in Rhenish Prussia, which has long been
a principal seat of the velvet manufacture. In gold and silver ribbons,
a silk thread of similar colour is wound round by a flattened wire of
the metal, and afterwards woven. Lyon was at one time particularly
celebrated for its fabrics of this kind.
In the ribbon manufacture the labour is nearly the same for the
richer as for the inferior goods, the difference consisting principally in
the silk of which they are made. Cheap ribbons are generally made
by reducing the warp silk, which is the most expensive, and making
up the bulk of the ribbon with a larger proportion of the cheaper
shoot
There are certain small wares which may be briefly noticed here,
midway in character between cords and ribbons, and yet more complex
than either. These are gimps, twists, fringes, chenilles, &c. ; in which the
results are produced in some few cases by a kind of weaving, but much
more frequently by a twisting or looping process. Complicated ma-
chines are needed for the production of such goods; and many patents
have been obtained for inventions tending to this end. In one con-
trivance, a looping-machine invented by Messrs. Keely and Wilkins,
while one arrangement is suitable for the making of stockings and
gloves, another is intended for the making of braids, several at a time,
and of one, or of several patterns. A third modification of the same
apparatus enables the manufacturers to plate or cover any cheap kind of
thread with thread of a better sort. A machine invented by Messrs.
Hughes and Denham is intended equally for the making of fancy
ribbon, fringe, chenille, trimmings, and gimps. There is no actual
weaving process adopted, but the appearance of the goods is somewhat
as if woven. The apparatus is very complex, consisting of many parts
spinning round each other. A ground thread is sometimes formed of
A ground thread is sometimes formed of
wire covered with cloth, or of narrow strips of stiff paper; and the
machine will cover these with silken thread. Ornamental trimmnings
may be made by feeding the machine with strips of tarlatan, muslin,
silk, or quilling as a ground, and then winding silk thread round them.
Wire groundwork may be used for making chenille; and minor
adjustments will furnish the means for making an almost endless
variety of fancy goods.
RICE; RICE-MILL.
80
RICE; RICE-MILL. In the article ORYZA, in NAT. HIST. Div., an
account is given of the botanical character, and under ORYZA in the
present division the mode of cultivation is described.
In order to
remove the husk, which adheres very closely, without breaking the
grain itself, several ingenious machines have been recently introduced,
of some of which it is proposed to give a brief notice.
The common mode of performing this operation in India and China,
is by beating the grain in a kind of rude mortar of stone or earthen-
ware, with a conical stone attached to a lever worked by the hand or
foot. Sometimes several such levers are moved by arms projecting
from the axis of a water-wheel. This process being uncertain and
tedious, the preference has been given of late to a kind of mill, in
which the stones are placed at such a distance asunder as to detach the
shell without crushing the grain; the stones being enclosed in a case
which prevents the dispersion of the rice by the rapid rotation of the
machine. The rice is thrown out of the case by an opening in its side,
and conducted over a sieve that separates the dust; after which it is
made to fall in a gentle stream exposed to a current of air, produced by
revolving fanners, and thereby separated from the husk.
Such a
sifting and winnowing apparatus is attached to each pair of stones, and
one pair of stones will husk from eight to ten bushels an hour. After
the removal of the husk, the grain is exposed to the action of a
whitening machine, which removes the inner cuticle, or red skin,
remaining on the surface of the grain. This process is aided by the
heat generated by the rapid motion of the grains, causing them to
swell and split the red skin, which flies off in dust through per-
forations in the revolving case. With such accuracy are these pro-
cesses performed, that it is said not more than five per cent. of the
grain is broken in the operation.
The method of cleansing rice just described has been practised in
Ceylon with British machinery; but other plans have been followed in
this country, where, owing to the difference between the duties on
cleaned rice and paddy, or grain in the rough state, and the better
preservation of the flavour of the rice when brought over in the husk,
several large rice-cleaning establishments have been gradually brought
into operation. The process of Messrs. Lucas and Ewbank consists in
breaking the husk by millstones, and removing the red cuticle by
beating or triturating in mortars; the latter operation being aided by
mixing a quantity of the husks, well dried, with the grain, which
obviates an inconvenience occasioned by the glutinous character of the
red coating. The refuse matter and the broken grains are then sepa-
rated by a peculiar kind of screen; and the rice is finally cleaned and
polished by a machine with two concentric cylinders, the outer one
remaining stationary, while the inner one, which is covered with sheep-
skin with the wool on, is made to revolve with great velocity. The
rice, being placed between the two cylinders, is thoroughly whitened
by the friction of the wool.
In the apparatus patented by Mr. Shiel, the first operation is per-
formed between one millstone and a piece of wood of precisely similar
shape; and the subsequent removal of the dark pellicle is effected by
rubbing between flat wooden surfaces covered with sheepskin. Mr.
Ewbank places the wool outwards, Mr. Shiel has it next the wood; its
elasticity producing an effect very nearly resembling the rubbing of the
grain between the palms of the hands.
•
Another ingenious contrivance, first used in the United States, con-
sists of a long hollow cylinder of wood, with several bars projecting
from its inner surface, and enclosing an axis on which are several other
bars capable of revolving between those attached to the cylinder. By
suitable toothed wheels the cylinder is made to revolve slowly in one
direction, while the axis is turned with great rapidity in the contrary
direction. The whole being placed in an inclined position, the paddy
is allowed to enter the upper end of the cylinder by a hopper; and the
mutual attrition of the grains, as they pass between the revolving bars,
causes the separation of the husks, which are removed by a current of
air as the grain falls into a bin under the lower extremity of the
cylinder. The rice passes out of the cylinder by apertures capable of
being enlarged or reduced at pleasure by means of sliding doors; and
the action of the machine may be further regulated by varying the
inclination of the cylinder, which may be placed vertically or hori-
zontally, though an angle of about 45° is preferred.
Rice is, as is well known, chiefly used as food, but it is also employed
to some extent in the arts. A cement is made from it. Rice-paper is
a name commonly, but erroneously, applied to a delicate vegetable
film brought from China in small square pieces, tinged with various
colours, and used as a substitute for drawing paper in the representa-
tion of richly coloured insects or flowers, and also in the manufacture
of artificial flowers and other fancy articles. This substance, a mem-
brane of the bread-fruit tree, though much resembling an artificial
production, is evidently of natural growth; for its vegetable organisation
is easily seen by the aid of a microscope. Sir D. Brewster, in the
Edinburgh Journal of Science,' vol. ii., has shown that the rice-paper
consists of long hexagonal cells, whose length is parallel to the surface
of the film; that these cells are filled with air when the film is in its
usual state; and that from this circumstance it derives that peculiar
softness which renders it so well adapted for the purpose to which t is
applied.'
The quantity of rice imported into this country varies very much,
owing to the fluctuations of the crops. During the last fifteen years
81
82
RICINELAIDIC ACID.
RICINUS COMMUNIS.
it has varied from 269,314 cwts. (in 1845) to 1,744,913 cwts. (in 1858).
This was for home consumption; there has generally been a still larger
quantity imported simply for re-exportation, insomuch that the total
import for 1858 was more than 3,600,000 cwts. This is rice, "not in
the husk," to use a Customs' phrase. Rice in the husk, or paddy, is
entered separately. Before the year 1842, cleaned rice paid a duty of
1s. per cwt. if from our own possessions, and 15s. if foreign. Since
that year the duty on colonial and Indian rice has been lowered from
18. to 4d.; and on foreign from 15s. to 44d. The lowering of the duty
has been followed by a rapid increase of consumption. Paddy pays a
lower duty than cleaned rice.
RICINELAIDIC ACID (CHO), Palmic Acid. When ricine-
laidin is saponified with boiling potash lye, the soap subsequently
precipitated with salt, and then decomposed by hydrochloric acid,
ricinelaidic acid separates as an oily body, that solidifies on cooling to
a crystalline mass, which may be purified by repeated crystallisation
from alcohol. It presents the appearance of silky needles, which
redden litmus and are soluble in all proportions in alcohol and ether.
RICINELAIDIN (C,H2O), Palmin. A product of the action of
hyponitric acid upon castor oil. It is a wax-like body with an odour
of hydride of oenanthyl. It is very soluble in alcohol and ether.
RICINOLAMIDE (C₂H,NO). A colourless, crystalline, fusible
substance, produced by acting upon castor oil with ammonia. Mineral
acids decompose it in the cold, setting ricinolic acid at liberty.
RICINOLIC ACID (C6H3,0), Elaiodic Acid. The liquid fatty
acid obtained by saponifying castor oil. It is soluble in all proportions
in alcohol and ether, reacts acid, and decomposes carbonates with
effervescence.
RICINUS COMMU'NIS, the castor-oil plant, known from very
ancient times both to the Egyptians and also to the Greeks. According
to Herodotus (ii. 94), the Egyptians called the oil of the sillicyprion
(σλλIKÚπρior) by the name Kiki (kiki). The Greeks also called it Croton
(KрÓтwv), a name bestowed by modern botanists on a closely allied
(κρότων),
genus of euphorbiaceous plants, one species of which yields the
purgative oil designated Croton oil, or Oleum Tiglii. The native
country of the Ricinus communis is unknown, though it is conjectured
to be originally from Barbary. Like all plants which have been long
in cultivation, numerous varieties of it are met with, differing not only
in colour and the peculiar pruinose condition of the stem, but in
stature and duration. In warm countries it is ligneous and perennial;
in cold, annual and herbaceous. The entire plant is possessed of active
properties, but the oil extracted from the seeds is only employed in
Europe: the ancients administered the seeds entire, but their variable
action, occasionally even producing fatal effects, led to their disuse,
and the oil is of comparatively recent introduction. The seeds, of
which three are found in each capsule, are about the size of a small
bean, obtuse at both ends, surface smooth, shining, and beautifully
marbled. The skin consists of three tunics-1st, an outer brittle
pellicle; 2nd, a hard testa consisting of two dissimilar layers, the
external thick, dark brown, formed of transverse radiating cells; the
internal thinner, paler, and formed of vertical cells; 3rd, a membrane
investing the nucleus or kernel. "The nucleus consists of oily
albumen, and an embryo, the cotyledons of which are membranous or
foliaceous." The outer shell is devoid of taste; in the inner coat the
acrimony or active principle resides, according to Dierbach; while
others assert the embryo to be the seat of the purgative principle;
and even Humboldt and Bancroft state that if this part be excised, the
seeds may be eaten with impunity, or the oil thereafter expressed is
as mild as olive-oil. Various procedures have been adopted to extract
the oil, and these have much influence on its qualities in respect of
colour, acridity, and freedom from rancidity: there are also effects
which result from the greater or less maturity of the seeds, the
peculiar variety of the plant from which they have been obtained, and
the occasionally accidental, but more frequently intentional admixture
of other seeds, before the different processes of extraction have been
begun. Both in India and America, whence the first supplies were
brought, much heat was employed, and during the application of this
agent a volatile principle was either liberated, or more probably
formed, which was so irritating as to require the workmen to protect
their faces by masks. Even in the present day some heat is used to
obtain what is termed the cold-drawn castor-oil, but it is quite
unnecessary, and should always be avoided.
According to Sir Whitelaw Ainslie ('Materia Indica,' vol. i. p. 256),
the following is the plan pursued in the East Indies :-" Take five
seers of the small castor-oil nuts, and soak them for one night in cold.
water; next morning strain this water off and throw it away, and put
the nuts into a second quantity of fresh water, and boil them in it for
two hours; after which strain the water off and throw it away, as in
the first instance: the nuts then are to be dried in the sun on a mat
for three days; at the end of which time they are to be well bruised
in a mortar: add to the nuts thus bruised ten measures of water, and
set the whole on the fire to boil, taking care to keep continually stirring
the contents of the pot until all the oil appears at the top, when it is
to be carefully strained off and bottled for use. The quantity of nuts
mentioned in this formula ought to yield about one quart bottle of
oil." The processes used in the United States and the West Indies
are both objectionable, from employing not only heat but water, which
last promotes the rancidity of the oil. The acrid property and the
ARTS AND SCI, DIV, VOL, VII,
rancidity are owing to different causes, the former being always in
proportion to the freshness of the oil, the latter to the imperfection of
the means used in extracting it, or to its age. The plan adopted in
France is the best; it is as follows:-The fresh seeds are bruised, and
then put into a cold press (some persons improperly heat the plates of
the press). The oil expressed is allowed to stand some time to permit
the albumen, mucilage, and other matters to subside, or it is filtered to
separate them more rapidly. (Journal de Pharmacie,' tom. v. pp.
207, 506.) The produce is equal to about a third of the seeds
employed, and the oil possesses all its natural qualities. The American
process yields only 25 per cent. of oil. In the French West Indian
Islands, a peculiar variety of Ricinus, called R. ruber, more active, is
used, which yields an oil called carapat, or karahat, but this is violent
and unpleasant, and must not be confounded with or substituted for
the fine oil procured in France. Both the French and Italian oils are
much weaker than oil procured from tropical countries.
mode of obtaining the oil is to macerate the bruised seeds in cold
alcohol, by which six ounces of oil are procured from every pound .of
seeds. Journal de Pharmacie,' viii. 475.) The expense of this
process is the objection to its general employment.
Oil of good quality is a thickish fluid, of a very pale yellow colour
(the best now almost limpid), with a slightly nauseous odour, and an
oily taste, mild at first, but causing a feeling in the back of the throat
which is more or less intense in proportion to the freshness of the
specimen. Old or badly prepared oil is rancid and disagreeable. The
specific gravity is, at 55° Fahr., 0-969, according to Saussure, but
according to Geiger it is only 0.954.
Another
It can be solidified only by a very low temperature. It is distin-
guished among fixed oils by its complete or nearly complete solubility
in pure sulphuric æther and in alcohol, thereby approaching the
essential oils in its habitudes, and its easy combination with alkaline
leys, and consequently its ready saponification, two properties of much
importance, the one furnishing a convenient test of its purity, the
other facilitating its administration in a form less repulsive than its
ordinary state. Its purity may be tested by mixing it with an equal
quantity of absolute alcohol, in which it should be entirely dissolved;
the adulterating oil, if there be any, will remain undissolved. Its
ultimate composition seems to be-
Carbon
Hydrogen
Oxygen
Sanssure.
Ure.
74.178
74.00
11.034
10.29
14.788
15.71
100-000
100.000
It thus appears to be one of the most highly oxygenated oils or fats,
notwithstanding which, on exposure to the air, it very readily absorbs
more oxygen, and quickly becomes rancid; it is however slow of
drying. It is stated to consist of several proximate principles, but
Bussy and Lecanu,
whether these are educts or products is uncertain.
who have paid great attention to the subject (Journal de Pharmacie,
xiii. 57) incline to the latter opinion, which is the most probable.
"This oil," they state, "cannot be regarded as a simple immediate
principle, but as a compound organic product resulting from the
mixture of at least two different substances." The other view is that
it is a compound of three fatty acids saturated by glycerin, for in the
process of saponification 100 parts of castor-oil yielded-
1. Fatty acids (viz., ricinic, elaïodic, and margaritic acids).
2. Glycerin
94
8
102
Saalmuler admits only two fat acids and a little acrid resin. These
acids are formed during saponification from Ricin-oleine and Margari-
tine.
The only analysis of the seeds is that of Geiger ('Handbuch der
Pharmacie,' ii. p. 1671).
a. Seed-coats
b. Nucleus of
the seeds.
Loss (moisture)
Gum
Tasteless resin and extractive
1.91
Brown gum
1.91
23.82
Ligneous fibre
20.00
Fatty oil
46.19
2.40
69.09
Caseum (albumen)
0.50
Ligneous fibre, with starch, &c.
20.0
7.09
100.00
For further details respecting the chemistry of castor-oil, see
Pereira's 'Mat. Med.,' ii. p. 1287, edit. of 1850.
Castor-oil is a mild aperient or laxative when pure, operating
without griping or other inconvenience, and commonly very soon after
its administration. It is the most proper laxative for infants, and in
many inflammatory states of the abdomen or of the kidneys, bladder,
&c. It is also one of the best purgatives in rheumatism, especially in
lumbago, and one of the best means of relieving habitual constipation,
as, unlike other purgatives, the dose may be successively reduced
without its power being impaired. It is also a most eligible medicine
Q
83
RICKETS.
in piles or other affections of the rectum. Alone or with turpentine
it is a very efficacious means of expelling worms. The chief obstacle
to its extensive use is the repulsive taste which it often possesses.
Many expedients have been adopted to remove or lessen this; but no
artifice can make bad or old oil good or palatable. Rancid oil may be
purified by calcined magnesia; but the careful exclusion of the air,
which prevents the rancidity occurring, is preferable to any process for
removing it when it has affected the oil. Mixing the oil, immediately
before swallowing it, with hot milk, coffee, or broth, is sometimes a
Buccessful means of escaping the unpleasantness. Besides this the
heat not only renders the oil thinner, but quickens its action, so that
a less quantity is needed. Thus administered, about one-half the
quantity will suffice which is needed when given in any cold vehicle.
Brandy and gin are improper in many cases, owing to their heating
properties. Syrup of orange and lemon are beneficial adjuncts,
especially if a portion of the orange-peel be masticated immediately
after swallowing the mixture. An emulsion with yolk of egg is some-
times acceptable, if made immediately before it is administered. By
far the best plan however is to take advantage of the tendency to
combine with alkalies, and so form a soapy emulsion, which does not
destroy the purgative power, while it completely alters the appearance,
and prevents any one recognising the oily object of his aversion. To
effect this however requires care and skill, especially as a variable
quantity of alkaline ley is needed, according to the age of the oil, very
old oil requiring more ley than fresh oil. In general from fifteen to
twenty drops of pure liquor potasse will saponify half an ounce of oil,
to which one ounce of distilled water, and one drachm of spirit of
pimento or of nutmeg are to be added.
Castor-oil is extensively used in the East, France, Italy, and else-
where, for burning, and lately to make soap.
RICKETS, or Rachitis (from páxis, the spine), is a disease in which
the bones being of unnatural softness, some of them bend under the
weight of the superincumbent parts of the body. Bones affected with
rickets present such a softness of texture that they may be cut with a
knife; their walls are remarkably thin, and their interior, instead of
being filled with marrow deposited in their bony cells, is occupied by
a semi-fluid jelly-like substance of a reddish colour, which fills a
number of rounded cavities of irregular size. The quantity of earthy
The quantity of earthy
matter in such bones is reduced to considerably less than its natural
proportion, and they lose much of their normal weight. All the bones
may be thus affected, but it is only those which have to bear the
weight of the body that give evidence of it by bending; the arms, for
example, never change their form, but the thighs and legs become
arched forwards under the weight of the trunk; the spine assumes a
variety of curves from the pressure of the head; the breast-bone
becomes prominent, and the ribs flattened; the haunch-bones grow
outwards, and the pelvis is sometimes seriously deformed by an
approximation of its anterior and posterior boundaries.
Rickets, as far as the softness of the bones is concerned, cannot be
regarded as a dangerous disease; for this condition is generally re-
covered from, though not without deformity of the trunk and lower
limbs. But the disease of the bones is commonly only a part of a
general state of disease affecting many other organs of the body. The
muscles are always pale and weak, and there are all the signs of general
debility; and besides these, the brain and the organs contained in the
chest and abdomen are peculiarly apt to suffer, and become the seat of
fatal diseases, such as hydrocephalus, phthisis, obstruction of the
mesenteric glands, &c.
The general symptoms present in cases of rickets are so much like
scrofula, that many writers treat rickets but as one of the many forms
in which scrofula presents itself. [SOROFULA.] At any rate, in the
treatment of rickets the same general plan is found to be equally
efficacious. The causes of rickets are to be sought in an improper diet,
and exposure to those conditions of life which prevent a due oxidation
of the blood, and an imperfect assimilation of the food. It is more
frequent in children living in large towns, or overcrowded villages, than
amongst those who obtain healthy food and pure air. One of the most
important elements of treatment is the removal of the patient from
any overcrowded district in which it has been living into the country,
where it can have pure air, and if possible sea air. In young children,
fresh cow's milk, with baked wheaten flour, and meat teas, should be
administered. Cod-liver oil should be given as medicine, and cream
may be added to the cow's milk, and butter may be freely taken with
the food. The deficiency of phosphate of lime may be repaired by the
administration of jellies made from ivory or bone dust, which may be
made palatable with spices and sugar.
When rickets affects only or chiefly the bones, an attention to the
means just mentioned will, with advancing age, usually lead to a ter-
mination of the disease. The bones will gradually become hard by
the addition of their natural quantity of earthy matter. They retain
indeed the curves which they acquired in their condition of softness,
but the want of strength which might result from this change of form
is compensated by the remarkable thickness and strength which they
acquire in the concavities of the curves, upon which the chief stress
from the weight of the body falls.
Young persons are exclusively subject to rickets. It occurs at the
age of two or three years, and from that time to puberty, and as the
curvatures begin to form as soon as the weight of the body is three
|
RICOCHET.
84
on the limbs by assuming the erect posture, it is commonly proposed
to support the upper part of the body and the limbs by irons. Such
measures however are, in a large majority of cases, full of mischief; if
they can ever accomplish their intention of supporting the head and
trunk, it can only be by preventing entirely that active use of the
limbs which is essential to the attainment of the proper hardness of
the bones. It is constantly observed that the strength and density of
bones are in direct proportion to the habitual exertion of the muscles
attached to them; and as the latter are made inactive by irons, the
application of any such modes of restraint cannot but be injurious to
those affected with rickets.
When children first begin to walk, their legs not, unfrequently
become a little bent. This is especially the case with those that are
large, and have heavy bodies to bear; but it is not to be regarded as a
sign of rickets, and when the muscles of the limbs become stronger,
and the bones in their natural process of development grow harder,
the curvatures will gradually disappear. The distinction between this
kind of bending of the legs and that dependent on rickets may be
made by the condition of the general health in each; in the former it
is unaffected, or may even be more than usually good, in the latter it
is always weak and disordered.
RICOCHET, a word expressing the act of rebounding, is applied to
the mode of firing ordnance in which (the axis of the piece being
parallel, or inclined at a small angle to the horizon) the shot or shell,
having described a curve in the air, descends to the ground, and, after
striking or grazing it, rises upwards; when, by the force of the
impulsion, and the power of gravity, it describes a second curve of
small elevation; the shot, then descending as before, again grazes the
ground, from whence it experiences a second reflection. This effect
frequently takes place several times before the force of impulse is
destroyed.
Ricochet firing is most generally employed in the attack of fortresses
in order to enfilade or rake the faces of works, whose fire might be
directed upon the ground on which the approaches are to be made:
for that purpose a battery of the besiegers is placed with its front
perpendicular to the prolonged direction of each rampart or parapet,
and three or more guns are laid either horizontally or with slight
elevations or depressions, according to the position of the battery, so
that their shot may pass a little above the crest of the parapet which
covers the line to be enfiladed. The same mode of firing is also
occasionally employed by the besieged against the batteries of the
enemy. In either case the intention is to dismount the artillery by
causing the shot or shells to strike it obliquely behind the parapet or
epaulement, or to destroy the traverses which cover it. It is also used
to compel the troops to abandon the parapets, or to destroy the
palisades of the covered-way or ditches, so as to facilitate the entrance
into a work when an assault is to be made by main force.
The practice of firing à-ricochet was first tried by Vauban at the
sieges of Philipsburg and Mannheim, in the war of 1688; and in a
letter which that engineer wrote to Louvais, he states that at the
former place it had succeeded so far as to dismount six or seven
pieces of cannon, and oblige the defenders to abandon a long branch of
a hornwork and a face of one of the bastions in front of the ground on
which the chief attack took place. The success of ricochet firing
appears to have been still greater at the siege of Ath, which was con-
ducted by Vauban during the same war.
It is a remarkable circumstance that, soon after the invention of
this method of firing, the changes which were made in the trace or
plan of fortifications, though attended with many and great advantages,
were such as to render the works more liable than those of former
times to the destructive action of the ricochet. The great saliency
then given to the ravelins, and the consequent acuteness of the salient
angles, allow the prolongation of the faces to be easily observed by the
besiegers while at a distance from the work; and thus the guns in the
ricochetting batteries are enabled to enfilade the faces in their whole
length with great accuracy. The faces of the bastions were also
lengthened about the same time; and in fortifications constructed on
the inferior polygons, or those of few sides, there is a like facility of
dismounting the artillery on those faces. The latter evil ceases to
exist when the works are formed on the superior polygons, because the
prolongations of the faces of the bastions may then fall upon the
intermediate ravelins, and thus be invisible to the enemy; but, for the
damage to which the long faces of the ravelins are exposed, no other
remedy can be found than in the construction of traverses or blindages
on the terrepleins, or in covering the general direction of the faces by
an advanced portion of the latter, about twenty yards long, on each
side of the salient angle.
The French engineers divide ricochet firing into two kinds, of which-
one is designated ricochet mou, and the other richochet tendu (short and
long-ricochet); the former comprehending all elevations of the piece,
from the greatest which the charge and the gun-carriage will permit, to
that which is but little above the horizon; and the latter term being
applied to all other cases, down to that in which, from the height of
the battery, the gun is depressed below the horizontal plane. When
the crest of the parapet which covers the rampart or the ground to be
ricochetted is above the level of the battery, the coincidence of that
crest with the vertex of the trajectory forms the inferior limit to the
elevation of the piece; for if the shot were to pass closely over that
3
85
86
RICOCHET.
RIFLE, OR RIFLED.
crest with a lower elevation, it would at thri be in the ascending
branch of the curve, and then the ground behind the covering parapet
would not, to a considerable distance from thence, be struck. In pro-
portion as the elevation of the piece is increased above the same limit,
the vertex of the trajectory is nearer to the battery, and thus the
shot is in the descending branch when it passes over the crest of the
work.
When the parapet over which the shot is to pass has little elevation
above the battery, it requires considerable charges to allow the vertex
of the trajectory to-coincide with the crest; but the charges diminish
rapidly as the height of the parapet increases, or as the distance of the
battery from thence diminishes: the effect of this is to produce the
kind of ricochet first mentioned above, for the angle made by the
descending branch with the horizontal ground being greater, the re-
bounds of the shot are more numerous within a given extent of ground,
and between the successive grazes the curves are higher and shorter.
In this case, and when the descending branch passes through the crest,
the shot falls almost immediately behind the parapet, and no part of
the ground to be ricochetted is free from its action: this is not always
certain, when by great charges and low elevations the second kind of
ricochet is used, since it may happen that the shot will pass above the
objects which it should strike within the limits of the ground. In the
modern system of fortification the greatest length of the faces of works
which are liable to the ricochet is about 100 yards; therefore when
there are no traverses on the terreplein, and it is merely required to
strike an object somewhere between the crest of the covering para-
pet (supposed to be about 8 feet high) and the further extremity of
any such face, the descending branch of the trajectory will make with
the horizon an angle of about one degree, and the charge and elevation
of the gun should be determined so that this condition may be
fulfilled. From shot so fired a traverse near the covering parapet
would entirely protect the ground, since the projectile would lodge in
it, and do no harm to the defenders; and in order that the fire of shot
may do execution, whether made in that manner or with an increased
elevation of the piece so as to produce ricochets, it is necessary
previously to destroy the traverse by shells fired as above described.
For such a purpose General Millar's 8-inch howitzers will probably be
found to be the most serviceable; and if the large shot subsequently
fired à-ricochet to dismount the artillery should not succeed in clearing
an enemy's work of the troops who defend the parapet, spherical case
shot fired from 24-pounder guns might be advantageously employed.
One gun in a ricochet battery should be exactly in the prolongation
of the crest of the parapet on the face to be enfiladed, in order that its
shot may graze, with the long ricochet, the interior slope of such
parapet.
Experiments in ricochet firing were carried on at Woolwich, in the
months of June and October, 1821, when a work 100 yards long, and
resembling the face of a bastion or ravelin, was enfiladed in that
manner with iron and brass ordnance of different natures; the covering
face was eight feet high, and its crest was nearly on a level with the
axes of the guns in the battery. The results were, that with a range
equal to 400 yards, and a charge of powder equal to of the weight of
the shot, about two-thirds of the number of rounds took effect; at 600
yards, with charges varying from to of the weight, from one-third |
to one-half took effect; and at 800 yards, with charges from to,
between one-third and two-thirds took effect. It was concluded there
fore that ricochet batteries ought, if possible, to be at a distance vary-
ing from 400 to 600 yards from the nearest part of the line of rampart
to be enfiladed; for beyond the latter distance the effect of the fire is
uncertain. The long ricochet, with high charges and small elevations
or depressions of the guns, may, however, be advantageously employed
in firing from the ramparts of a fortress on the ground in front, or
against extensive lines of works when the battery is at a much greater
distance.
It appears from the experiments above-mentioned that the best
elevations of orduance for enfilading a work à-ricochet with shot or
shells is that in which the axis of the piece is directed at an angle
varying from 6° to 9° above a line drawn from the chamber of the gun
or howitzer to the crest of the parapet over which the projectile is to
pass. It is stated that of 170 shells filled with powder which were
fired, 58 took effect, but only 33 burst in the work. Before the
traverses were constructed several guns on the work were struck and
rendered useless; but afterwards, though the traverses were much
injured, none of the guns protected by them were disabled.
When employed against troops in the field, ricochet firing is found
to be of essential service; for the shot making on the ground eight or
ten grazes, it cannot fail at some of these to take effect. In 1757, the
King of Prussia had several six-inch mortars mounted on travelling
carriages; and from these he caused shells to be thrown a-ricochet, in
an oblique direction, against the enemy's line, which it immediately
put in great disorder.
Ricochet firing, when first employed in sieges, from the defenders
not being prepared with means to diminish its destructive effects, pro-
duced immediately a strong impression of its power; and the opinion
of its superiority to the direct mode of firing has continued to prevail
from the time of Vauban to the present day, though the service of
artillery is now so precise, that when the guns in an enemy's work can
be seen, they can be as readily dismounted by the latter mode as by
the ricochet. It ought also to be remembered that before the latter
can be usefully employed, the parapets, traverses, or blindages which
cover the artillery of a fortress must be ruined by other means; and
it may reasonably be concluded that the rapid reduction, or the most
protracted defence of a place, will always be owing to a judicious com-
bination of the different modes in which, according to the circum-
stances, artillery can be used during the siege. [SIEGE.]
Though it has been stated that with Mr. Whitworth's rifle gun some
very good ricochet practice has been made, it is very doubtful whether
rifle cannon can be employed for this purpose, as from the rotation of
the shot it is deflected immensely on striking the ground. In fact,
this is one of the disadvantages of rifle guns.
RIFLE, or RIFLED, a term applied to muskets or pieces of ord-
nance when their bores are furrowed with spiral grooves. It is
probably derived from an Anglo-Saxon word signifying to rive or tear;
the grooves or channels being formed by a machine which scrapes
away the substance of the barrel interiorly in parallel and spiral
directions.
It is not precisely known at what time rifled barrels were first
employed in warfare, but P. Daniel states (Hist. de la Milice Fran-
çaise,' liv. vi.) that the carabiniers of the French cavalry were
furnished with such arms; he also observes that they had been
invented long before the time at which he wrote, and that he had seen
them used before that class of troops was formed into a regiment.
This circumstance took place in 1692, and we may therefore conclude
that rifled arms were known on the continent about the middle of the
17th century. The historian describes the carabines rayées, as he
calls them, as being grooved in a circular manner along the whole of
the barrel; and he asserts that the range of the balls fired from them
was very considerable. Rifled arms do not appear to have been intro-
duced in the British service till the time of the American Revolu-
tionary war.
It is sometimes asserted that grooved barrels were introduced by
Gaspard Zollner of Vienna, in 1498, but these grooves were parallel to
the axis of the piece, and were only intended to take off the foulness
of the discharge and assist in loading. It may accidentally have been
discovered that by making the grooves spiral, greater accuracy was
obtained. It is also asserted that elongated projectiles were fired from
rifles many years ago, as, for instance, it is stated that Hamilton of
Bothwell-haugh shot the regent Murray with a cylindro-conical bullet.
But it is difficult to determine this with any certainty. Under the
head of GUNNERY the effect of the rotation of a projectile has been in-
vestigated, and it is there shown that, except when the axis of rotation
is coincident with the line of flight, or speaking more correctly as the
trajectory is a curve, except when the axis is tangential to the trajec-
tory, the effect of rotation on a projectile passing through the air is to
deflect it more or less from the direction in which it is projected.
This effect is due to the fact of the surface of the projectile being more
or less rough, and to the atmosphere being more condensed in front
than behind it from its high velocity. But it is not the direct result,
if we may so term it, of the greater friction in front than behind the
centre of gravity, as is often erroneously stated, and this the experi-
ments of Professor Magnus of Berlin have shown. Indeed, the direct
effect of this friction would be to deflect the ball in exactly the
opposite direction to what in practice is found to be the case. A ball,
for instance, rotating on a vertical axis, when the anterior surface is
moving from right to left, would, the air being more condensed before
than behind, meet with a great resistance to rotation from the friction
of the air in front, which would not be counter-balanced by an equal
resistance in the opposite direction behind; but as the rotation in
front is from right to left, this resistance would in effect tend to
deflect the centre of gravity from left to right. Now in practice it is
found that a rotation from right to left deflects the ball to the left,
so that it is evident that some other force must be called into action
which overcomes this direct effect of friction. Now one half of the
ball, supposing it to be cut into two hemispheres by the plane of the
trajectory, is rotating with, an the other half in a contrary direction to,
its motion of translation, and the surface of the ball not being perfectly
smooth, the air is assisted in rushing past the former hemisphere,
while it is retarded in passing the latter, and becomes more condensed.
The experiments of Professor Magnus, in which a current of air was
thrown on a rotating cylinder, clearly showed by an arrangement of
vanes, which it is unnecessary to explain here, that the rotating
cylinder caused a current in the air in contact with it, in the direction
of the rotation which, where it met the current thrown on it by the
blowing fan, produced a greater pressure of the air on that portion of
the cylinder: that is, where the latter current was moving in an
opposite direction to the former. Returning again to the ball rotating
from right to left, this will account for a greater pressure on the right
side than on the left, tending to deflect the ball to the left, and this
cause of deflection is found to overcome the tendency before spoken of
to deflect it to the right. The figs. 1 and 2 on the accompanying
diagram may make this clearer. The motion of rotation is in both cases
indicated by the arrow on the circumference, the motion of translation
by the arrow in the circle. Fig. 1 gives the resultant direction from
friction only; fig. 2 shows the condensation of air from the two currents
meeting. It is most probable that the velocity of rotation is not so
rapidly destroyed as the velocity of translation, which will account for
67
RIFLE, OR RIFLED.
the lateral deviation of a rotating projectile being found in practice to
increase in a much greater ratio than the distance: the trajectory
Fig. 1.
Fig. 2.
being in fact a curve of double curvature. This was very well shown
by Robins, to whom the first investigation, and indeed the principal
portion of our present knowledge of this subject is due, in his experi-
ment before the Royal Society in 1746, in the gardens of the Charter
House (see page 165, Boxer's Treatise on Artillery '), where he fired a
bullet from a bent gun-barrel through two paper screens, and on to a
wall. The bullet followed the direction of the bent portion of the
barrel in passing through the first screen and partially through the
second, but the place where it struck the wall was on the other side
of the line of direction of the straight portion of the barrel. The end
of the barrel being bent to the left, the bullet in rolling against it in
its passage out had received a rotatory movement, its anterior hemi-
sphere moving from left to right, which for the reasons before stated
caused it to deflect to the right, and the velocity of translation
diminishing more rapidly than the velocity of rotation, this deflection
was in a curve. This curve being combined with the curve caused by
the action of gravity gives a curve of double curvature.
Let us now apply these considerations to the action of an ordinary
smooth bore gun, whether musket or piece of ordnance.
In order that the shot may be forced down the bore of the gun it
must be slightly smaller than the bore, the difference in diameter of
the two being called windage. Windage, besides allowing a great
escape and waste of gas, causes deflection in two ways, first the ball
resting on the bottom of the bore of the gun is forced down by the gas
rushing over it at the same time that it is forced along, and bounding
up again from its elasticity it is carried along the bore, rebounding
from side to side, and eventually leaves it, not in the direction of the
axis, but in some other direction depending on its last impact.
Secondly, from this last impact it will carry away a certain rotatory
movement, which for the reasons before given will cause it to deflect.
The eccentricity of the projectile is another cause of deflection in
smooth-bored guns. For the reasons given in the article GUNNERY, this
eccentricity will in the bore of the gun cause rotation, and, as there
stated, the effects of this rotation will be the same in nature as those
due to the roughness of surface before considered, while they will be
greatly augmented. Roughness of surface and imperfection of form
are the last causes of deflection, and they are the means by which
rotation causes deflection.
Windage may be lessened by increasing the size of the shot and
various other means, but practically it cannot be destroyed, except in
breech-loading guns.
Eccentricity, arising from the material of the projectile not being
homogeneous, is in musket bullets wholly overcome by making the
bullets by compression, instead of casting them, as in cooling a void is
often left in the interior; and may to a great extent be avoided by care
in the projectiles used in larger ordnance.
Bullets can never be made perfectly smooth. Rotation can never be
avoided in smooth-bored guns. It can to a certain extent be taken
under control by making the shot purposely eccentric [GUNNERY], but
this is a very uncertain process. We come then to the rifle, in which we
have the power of impressing a certain fixed rotation on the bullet; a
rotation always bearing in velocity a fixed relation to the initial
velocity of the bullet. And in direction, a rotation which being
round an axis that during the first portion of the trajectory, at all
events, is tangential to it, causes the resistance of the air to be equally
distributed round the pole of rotation, and brings any imperfections of
surface rapidly round from one side to the other of the axis, and
corrects any deflection arising from them at each half revolution of the
bullet. Thus we obtain accuracy in its flight.
According to the laws of rotatory bodies, the tendency is for the
axis of rotation always to remain parallel to its original direction.
Hence we have the power of using elongated bullets from rifles;
bullets, for instance, of a cylindro-conical form, termed pickets. These
being made to rotate on their longer axis, constantly present their
points to the resistance of the atmosphere, and at the same time
RIFLE, OR RIFLED,
88
that they present an area of resistance of the same size as a spherical
bullet of the same diameter, they possess, supposing them to start
with the same initial velocity, a much greater momentum to overcome
this resistance. Therefore, the retardation being less [GUNNERY], we
obtain a greatly increased range. A cylindro-conical picket cannot be
fired from an ordinary smooth-bored gun, because, assuming a rotation
almost immediately on leaving the muzzle round some of the shorter
axes, all advantage is lost.
The tendency of all rotating bodies to rotate round the shortest
axis of greatest moments is an important consideration in the con-
struction of rifle pickets. If the cylinder be very long and solid, the
tendency is for the bullet to upset during its flight. The hollow at the
base of most rifle pickets is therefore of great assistance in retaining
the impressed rotation. There are two other points connected with
the rotation of the picket, which it may be as well to notice before
proceeding to the description of the rifle itself.
The tendency of the axis of rotation to remain parallel to its original
direction is the cause of a peculiar deviation, termed by the French
derivation. It was pointed out by Robins, that when the elevation of the
piece is high, and the trajectory greatly curved, the axis of the bullet,
or of rotation, does not remain tangential to the trajectory, but very soon
begins to make an angle with it, which angle continues to increase to
the end of the range (fig. 3); the consequence is, that there is an in-
Fig. 3.



More
equality in the resistance of the air on different sides of the axis; the
bullet or picket presents an increased rotating surface to the condensed
air, that is, there is a greater resistance from friction on one side (below)
the axis of rotation than on the other; the effect of this resistance
will, for the reason before given, cause the bullet to deflect or derivate.
But this resistance is almost wholly below, and of the same nature as
that shown, fig. 1, as acting on the anterior hemisphere of the spherical
bullet, whilst little or none of the opposing resistance of condensation
of air from the meeting of two currents can be called into play (or rather,
it will be in a position where it can have little effect) consequently,
the bullet or picket, supposing it to have a right-handed rotation
from above downwards, viewing it from behind the piece, will have a
derivation to the right. The path of the centre of gravity of the shot
will be a line of double curvature, but the axis of rotation will remain
constantly parallel to its original direction. Robins proposed that
the bullets should be formed like eggs, the longer axis being placed
in the direction of the axis of the piece, and the larger end to the
front, in order that, the centre of gravity being forward, the greater
resistance of the air acting behind might throw the point down,
and constantly keep the axis tangential to the trajectory.
recently, canelures, grooves cut round the base of a cylindro-conical
bullet (see fig. 6), have been proposed by M. Tamissier, and employed
with the same object. But a slight consideration will show that
the action of this increased resistance behind the centre of gravity
is not simply a force tending to produce angular motion in the
axis of the bullet in the plane of the trajectory round an axis per-
pendicular to it, but is of the nature of the action arising from
the friction of the rotating bullet or picket, when its axis is in-
clined to the trajectory, and which we have just been discussing.
But it must be remembered, that we were then assuming either that
the resistance of the atmosphere was equal on both sides of the centre
of gravity, or that any slight inequality there might be was not suffi-
cient to overcome the effect of rotation in keeping the axis parallel to
its original direction; whereas now, from the object of the canelures,
in order that they may be effective, we must assume that the increased
resistance behind the centre of gravity is sufficiently great to give
angular motion to the axis of rotation. For the same reason, then, that
the bullet or picket would in the former case deflect to the right,
supposing it to have a right-handed twist, in this case the portion
behind the centre of gravity would deflect more, proportionately to the
greater resistance on it, than the portion in front; that is, the axis or
head of the bullet must turn to the left, making an angle with the
plane of the trajectory. In this position the combined forces will tend
to depress the head, and so on, if we consider it in its successive
positions, with the forces acting on it, we shall see that the effect of
the increased resistance behind the centre of gravity will be to make
the bullet assume a second motion of rotation-one motion of rotation,
the original one, being round the longer axis, while the second will be
round an axis making an angle with this, and directed to the left of the
tangent of the trajectory at every moment;-though the deflection
from this oblique surface would be to the left, and counteracting
the deflection it was intended to counteract, yet the wabbling motion
the bullet must assume would be very destructive to accuracy and
penetration. When from the form of the bullet the resistance is
greater in front of the centre of gravity, and sufficient to give angular
motion to the axis of rotation, the second axis of rotation will be
89
90
RIFLE, OR RIFLED.
RIFLE, OR RIFLED.
directed to the right of the tangent of the trajectory, and there will
be increased defection to the right.
These effects may be proved experimentally with the gyroscope. It
is, therefore, better, as the derivation when the axis of rotation remains
parallel to its original direction is pretty constant for the same dis-
tances, to allow for it when laying the gun, than to try and correct it
by the form of the shot.
Another curious effect arising from the action of rotation, tending to
keep the axis of rotation parallel to its original direction, is, that at
certain low elevations the range of the elongated projectile is absolutely
greater in the atmosphere than it would be in vacuo. This is evidently
a point of great importance practically. It is thus explained by
Sir W. Armstrong: "In a vacuum, the trajectory would be the same,
whether the projectile were elongated or spherical, so long as the
angle of elevation and the initial velocity were constant; but the
presence of a resisting atmosphere makes this remarkable difference,
that while it greatly shortens the range of the round shot, it actually
prolongs that of the elongated projectile, provided the angle of elevation
do not exceed a certain limit, which in my experiments I have found
to be about 6°. This appears at first very paradoxical, but it may be
easily explained. The elongated shot, if properly formed, and having
a sufficient rotation, retains the same inclination to the horizontal
plane throughout its flight, and consequently acquires a continually
increasing obliquity to the curve of its flight. Now the effect of this
Now the effect of this
obliquity is, that the projectile is in a measure sustained upon the air,
just as a kite is supported by the current of air meeting the inclined
surface, and the result is, that its descent is retarded so that it has time
to reach to a greater distance.
""
The following example, to prove the truth of this statement, is
taken from Elementary Lectures on Artillery, R. M. Academy,'
by Major Owen, R.A., and Captain Dames, R.A., from which also some
of the figures are taken: "The initial velocity of the projectile from
Sir W. Armstrong's 12-pr. gun is said to be 1080 feet per second; what
would be its range in vacuo when fired at 2° of elevation?
v2 x sin 2a
R =
9
10802 × sin 4°
32
2515 ft. or 838 yds.
1166400 x '069
32
If 1100 be taken as the velocity, 880 yards would be the range.
From the table of ranges given in the 'Manual of Artillery Exercises,'
980 yards is the range obtained with this gun at an angle of 2º of eleva-
tion. The range of the projectile in the air exceeds therefore that in
vacuo by about 140 yards, if the initial velocity is 1080 feet a
second, and by 100 yards should the velocity be 1100 feet a second."
A 32-pr. shot fired at an angle of 2° with a velocity of 1600 feet per
second, ranges less than of the distance it would range in vacuo.
The interior of a rifle barrel is a cylinder, with a certain number of
grooves cut in it; these grooves are parallel to one another, but make
an angle with the axis of the cylinder or barrel-that is, they are dis-
posed spirally round it. The bullet fitting these, when forced through
the barrel by the action of the powder, acquires a motion of rotation
round the axis of the piece in addition to the motion of translation,
and this motion it of course retains after leaving the piece. The rifle
barrel is in fact a female screw, and the action is the same as that of
a nut through which a screw is driven by pressure.
The elements of a rifle may be considered to be a cylinder, grooves,
bullet, and method of making the bullet fit the grooves or take the
rifling. No rules for these various points have at present, at all events,
been established; though perhaps Mr. Whitworth in his experiments
has done more than anyone else to establish some of them on a scientific
basis. But at present the diameter of the cylinder, that is, the bore;
the number, and depth, and inclination of the grooves; the form and
weight of the bullet, and the method of making it take the rifling-vary
with every nation, and indeed with almost every gunmaker. We can
therefore merely attempt to give some description of one or two of the
most general forms of rifle. Before doing so, however, it may be as
well to consider what are the points to be borne in mind, or what are
the conditions of the problem of constructing a perfect rifle. This
will assist us in coming to a conclusion as to what rifle combines the
before-mentioned elements in the best proportions.
1st. The action of a rifle being the same as that of a nut on a screw
driven through it, the action of the powder on a bullet in a rifle barrel
must be the same as that of a pressure moving a body up an inclined
plane, the direction of the pressure being parallel to the base. The
greater the inclination of the plane, the less the velocity in the direction
of the pressure generated in the body in its passage over a given space
in the same direction, because of the greater inclination of the plane,
and also because of its thereby increased friction.
In the rifle, therefore, the greater the inclination * of the grooves,
* The inclination of the grooves, commonly called the twist, is generally
given as one turn in so many feet. This of course gives no information directly
as to the proportionate inclination of the grooves in two rifles of different calibre.
The correct estimate of this, is the angle of inclination of the line, showing
the groove on the developed surface of the bore of the piece, that is, by com-
paring the lengths in which one turn is effected with the circumferences of the
bores. This may easily be done, when we know the calibres or bores, by
laying off on a line the length in which one turn or twist is completed, then
the less will be the initial velocity due to a given charge. Hence the
inclination of the grooves should be the least that will effect the
purpose; that is, that will give the bullet sufficient rotation round its
axis to retain it parallel to its original direction during its flight. This
inclination, as given in 'Straith's Artillery,' by Cook and Hyde, is—
Enfield.
1° 19′ 11″
Jacob's
2° 30′ 0″
4° 3' 0"
Whitworth's.
With respect to the form to be given to the grooves in section, and.
their number, it is evident that the main consideration on which they
depend is the manner in which the projectile takes its rifling. If it is
by the expansion produced by the explosion, it is evident that they
should be wide and shallow, rounded and not angular, while the
groove or furrow on one side is opposite the projection or land on the
other side. The Enfield rifle, described further on, with its three wide,
shallow, rounded grooves, fulfils these conditions. If on the other
hand the projectile takes its rifling by being forced into a narrower
bore, as in the breech-loaders, it is evident that the cutting portions, the
lands, should be narrow, the grooves not very deep, not deeper than
will just suffice to give a sufficient hold, with sharp angles and square
sides at least on one side. The Armstrong gun [RIFLED ORDNANCE],
with its numerous narrow lands and furrows, is made in this way.
If the projectile is formed to fit the grooves for convenience in load-
ing, they and the projections on the projectile to fit them should be
made prominent and well marked, as in the two-grooved rifled
Jacob's or Whitworth's. This last mentioned form, however, is also
well adapted for an expanding ball, and while it gives a perfect hold on
the projectile reduces friction to a minimum.
2nd. The picket should be as long in proportion to its diameter as
possible; for, cæteris paribus, the longer and thinner the projectile is,
the greater will be its range and accuracy. But at the same time it
must be remembered that, first, especially for military rifles, there are
great objections to a very small bore and attenuated picket: the former
being difficult to clean, the latter liable to injury, and requiring a long
fragile cartridge. Secondly, the inclination of the grooves is necessarily
increased, in order to give the picket sufficient rotation; which, besides
liable to strip, especially with the soft metal required in expanding
being objectionable for the reasons before given, renders the bullet
bullets. Thirdly, the bore may be so diminished as to prevent the
power of giving the picket sufficient initial velocity; that is to say,
that, given the calibre, there is a limit beyond which it is detrimental
to increase the length and consequent weight of the projectile, on
account of the mechanical distribution of the charge.
3rd. There are certain mechanical considerations: among which are
a barrel of sufficient weight, perfectly true bore, with accurately
parallel grooves brought to a high state of smoothness; and, when the
rifling is taken by an expanding bullet, the distribution and depth of
the grooves such as will allow of their being perfectly filled. Three
wide shallow grooves appear the best, as in the Enfield rifle. Rifles
with gaining twists, that is, a spiral increasing in inclination from
breech to muzzle, have been tried. In fact the Lancaster rifles, with
which the Royal Engineers are armed, are of this description; these
have made good practice, but it may be only from superior manu-
facture, for it is evident that there is nothing gained, but, on the other
hand, when the projectile is long, there is a constant alteration of form,
causing increased resistance. These various points require a long
series of carefully conducted experiments to arrive at any absolute rules.
Commencing with the greatest weight of bullet, on account of recoil,
that it is possible for a man to fire from his shoulder, and investigating
how far the greatest advantage in each direction may be obtained,
compatibly with the conflicting considerations, is the only manner in
which a perfect rifle can be formed. We believe that this is the
manner in which Mr. Whitworth arrived at his proportions, and his is
certainly the most perfect weapon yet produced.
The first form of rifle employed in the British service was a seven-
groove rifle. The method of loading was this: after pouring in the
requisite charge, a greased patch (a circular piece of cotton, about twice
the diameter of bore) was placed on the muzzle; a spherical bullet,
slightly larger than the bore of the gun, was then placed on it and
forced, down with an iron ramrod and wooden mallet. Thus the portion
of the bullet in contact with the bore became indented, and received its
rifling; it was, however, a long and tedious process, not well adapted
for military purposes. It was superseded by the two-grooved rifle and
belted ball; the grooves were wide and deep, and the bullet, which
was sewn into a thin piece of calico, had a projecting zone fitting them.
This form was easier to load, and gave pretty good practice up to
300 yards, but it had the disadvantage of windage, and after a time
fouled.
Robins had pointed out the advantages of a breech-loading rifle, in
giving ease in loading :-"As both these methods of charging at the
mouth take up a good deal of time, the rifled barrels which have been
made in England (for I remember not to have seen it in any foreign
laying off at right angles to this the circumference of the bore. Completing the
rectangle gives the developed surface, of which the diagonal is the groove, and
the angle it makes with the side of the rectangle, the angle of inclination.
91
RIFLE, OR RIFLED.
piece) are contrived to be charged at the breech, where the piece is for
this purpose made larger than in any other part; and the powder and
bullet are put in through the side of the barrel by an opening, which,
when the piece is loaded, is filled up by a screw. By this means,
when the piece is fired, the bullet is forced through the rifles, and
acquires the same spiral motion as in the former kind of pieces. And
perhaps somewhat of this kind, though not in the manner now
practised, would be, of all others, the most perfect method for the
construction of these barrels."
This process has been carried out very successfully in the Prussian
needle-gun, and various other breech-loading muskets, and in the
Armstrong gun. [RIFLED ORDNANCE.] Though space will not permit
of our describing the needle-gun, we may mention that there is no
nipple and cap used, but the detonating powder being contained in a
wooden sabot at the base of the bullet, a needle is driven forward by
the lock on the trigger being pulled, and forcing through the powder
in the cartridge, ignites the detonating powder at the other end. The
needle being very liable to injury, a form of cartridge with the deto-
nating composition at the back of the charge has been adopted
successfully. Breech-loaders, besides increasing the rapidity of fire,
enable the soldier to load without exposing himself whilst doing so,
which is sometimes a great object, as, for instance, in a square.
To return to muzzle-loaders. In 1827, M. Delvigne, a French
officer, proposed to increase the facility of loading by giving the rifle a
chamber, as fig. 4; the bullet being smaller than the bore is easily
*
Fig. 4.
Section.
Fig. 5.
Section.
loaded, and when on the chamber a few smart blows with the ramrod
expands it into the grooves. It did not, however, succeed well on
service, for powder lodged on the shoulders of the chamber and the
rifle fouled. In 1842, Colonel Thouvenin, also a French officer, invented
the carabine-a-tige,” see fig. 5. The action is the same as with the
Delvigne chamber, and needs no explanation. It answered better, but
there were many disadvantages. The bullet in both cases is knocked
out of shape. The tige, or steel stem, is liable to injury, and from its
position takes up much space, elongating the charge and placing it at a
mechanical disadvantage in its ignition. M. Delvigne then proposed
the elongated bullet, as shown in fig. 5, which was a great improve-
ment, and it was introduced into the French service with the cara-
bine-a-tige.'
The
M. Minić then proposed an expanding bullet, of the form shown in
fig. 6, with an iron cup or plug a, in the hollow base b. This remedied
all the disadvantages of the carabine-a-tige.
Fig. 6.
bullet can be easily rammed down, and the iron cup
having a less specific gravity than the lead is driven
forward by the explosion and assists in expanding the
bullet. It is but justice to Captain Norton to state
that he proposed an expanding bullet on the same
principle many years before. It is, however, not
absolutely necessary to have a hollow base and plug
in order to make the bullet expand. A hollow base
alone, or indeed a solid cylinder, if long enough, will
expand, though not quite so much. The powder
acting like a blow drives the base forward before the
inertia of the fore part is overcome, and expands it at
the shoulder.
a
Section.
A rifle on the Minié principle was adopted into the English service
in 1851. In 1852 Lord Hardinge appointed a committee to investi-
gate the question of rifled arms, and they in 1853 adopted a modifica-
tion of the bullet and arm proposed by Mr. Pritchett. Fig. 7 shows
the bullet first adopted, without a plug. This bullet, having only a
slight windage, was found to foul. One with a boxwood plug and
greater windage was then adopted. Figs. 8 and 9 show the bullet; and
fig. 10 the cartridge. The cartridges may be made with two different
pieces of paper, one thicker than the other; but the best form is made
of two seamless bags. Into the larger the bullet is forced base fore-
RIFLE, OR RIFLED.
92
most to the bottom, the smaller is then pushed in on to the point of
the bullet, and filled with powder, the ends pasted up, and the base
Fig. 7.
Fig. 9,
wax.
Section.
Fig. 8,
Section.
Fig. 10.

Section.
round the bullet dipped into a lubricator, a mixture of tallow and bees'
In loading, the end of the cartridge is opened and the powder
poured in, the bullet is then reversed into the muzzle; when down
to the shoulder, the upper portion of the cartridge paper to where the
inner case comes down to, is torn off, and the bullet pushed down
with the ramrod. This is incomparably the best arm that any troops
have yet been armed with, though it may not be the best weapon
invented. It is wholly made by machinery, at least all those manu-
factured at the Government factory at Enfield (whence its name).
This gives it the great advantage for a military weapon, besides per-
fection in accuracy, of having all its parts interchangeable with other
arms of the same construction. The dimensions, &c., of the Enfield
rifled musket are-


Weight, with bayonet
Barrel, weight
Length
Bore, cylindrical diameter
•
3 grooves, uniform twist, one turn in
Inclination, therefore
Width of grooves
Depth at breech.
at muzzle
Lock swivel-
Mainspring, draws at half-cock
Sear spring draws
Pull of lock
Trigger draws
Charge, powder 2 drams, F. G.
Bullet, expanding, with box-wood plug-
Diameter, formerly 568 in., now reduced to
Length
Weight
•
Weight of 60 rounds of ammunition, with caps
9 lbs. 3 oz.
4 lbs. 2 oz.-
3 ft. 3 in.
•577 in.
6ft. 6 in.
1° 19′ 11″
•262 in.
⚫015 in.
•005 in.
15 lbs. to 16 lbs.
7 lbs. to 8 lbs.
13 lbs. to 14 lbs.
7 lbs. to 8 lbs.
.55 in.
1.05 in.
520 grains.
5 lbs. 8 oz.
The Old Musket, with a bore of 753, weighed. 11 lbs. 3 oz.
And the ammunition
6 lbs. 10 oz.
•
Good practice may be made with the Enfield up to 900 yards, to
which distance it is sighted. The above are the dimensions of what
Fig. 12.
}
Fig. 11.
Fig. 13.
is called the Long Enfield-there is a shorter arm for the Rifles, &c.,
the dimensions of which it is not necessary to particularise. A sword
bayonet is used instead of the ordinary bayonet, but for many reasons
it is more than doubtful whether the short rifle, with the accompany-
ing awkward sword, is a more appropriate weapon. The cavalry are
i



99
94
RIFLED ORDNANCE.
RIFLED ORDNANCE.
armed with a Sharp's (breech-loading) carbine, and also some, we
believe, with Westley Richards's.
In 1846, Major Cavalli, of the Sardinian Artillery, invented a rifled
gun; and about the same time another was proposed by Baron
Mr. Joseph Whitworth, the eminent machine manfacturer of Man-Wahrendorff, a Swede. Both were two-grooved breech-loading pieces.
chester, has invented and patented an admirable rifle: a section of the
barrel is represented in fig. 11; and the bullet, with a plan of base, in
fig. 12.
The bore is a hexagon in plan, or rather in cross section, with
the angles rounded off, the diameter of inscribed circle being only 45
inch. The bore is described by this hexagonal section moving from one
end to the other, and rotating uniformly round the axis of the piece,
so as to complete one rotation while passing along 20 inches; that is,
that the grooves, if we may so term them, make one turn in 20 inches.
The pickets are either of the form shown in fig. 11, or as shown in
fig. 13, that is, cylindrical, and of a rather less diameter than the
inscribed circle, when they are expanding. The former have the
advantage of allowing the use of a hard metal (9 parts lead, 1 part
tin), and consequent great penetration. By easing off the edges that
bear in loading, the former description of bullet is easily rammed
down, whilst, as the bearing is thrown on the other edges as it is being
driven out, almost all windage is stopped.
A trial took place in April, 1857, between these rifles and the
Enfield, at Hythe School of Musketry; the experiments have been
objected to on various grounds, but it may be as well to give the
results:-
Figure of
Merit.
· Rifle,
Range in
yards.
Elevation.
Degrees.
Whitworth
1.15
0.37
500
Enfield
1.32
0.24
Whitworth
2.22
1.0
800
Enfield
2.45
4.11
Whitworth
3.45
2.41
1100
Enfield
4.12
8.04
Whitworth
5
4.62
1100
Enfield
Whitworth
6.20 to 7
6'40
No hits.
11.62
1880
Enfield
Fig. 14.
In 1850 these guns were experimented with at Shoeburyness against
the service 32-pounder of 56 cwt. The weight of the elongated pro-
jectile for both guns was about 64 or 65 lbs. Space does not permit
of our entering into a description of them; but some remarks of Sir H.
Douglas on the result of the experiments may be quoted :—“ At
the efficient service elevation of 5°, with charges of 8 lbs., the ranges,
and also deflections, of the different projectiles were nearly equal to
one another; and the like is true with charges of 10 lbs. At elevationa
of 10°, the ranges of the foreign guns exceeded those of the English
32-pounders, with charges of 8 lbs., by 380 yards, and with charges of
10 lbs. by 690 yards; and at elevations of 15° the excess was, with
charges of 8 lbs., about 790 yards, and with charges of 10 lbs. about
1100 yards." The deviations, which were always in the direction of
the rotation of the projectile, were so variable that no allowance could.
be made for them. The Wahrendorff gun had considerable advantages
in length of range over the 32-pounder at high elevations, but the
practice was then very uncertain. After four rounds, the Cavalli gun
became unserviceable by the copper ring embedded in the metal of the
gun at the bottom of the bore being damaged. The attempt to repair
this was unsuccessful, for, on a further trial, the whole breech was
blown away. The Wahrendorff gun, however, stood well.
The next rifle gun invented was that by Mr. Lancaster. It was
tried at Shoeburyness in 1851. The principle was similar to that
of the rifle [RIFLE]—an elliptical bore, with a gaining or increasing
twist. In fact it was a two-grooved rifle, with the angles of the grooves
chamfered off. The friction in the bore was so great that it was
necessary to make the projectile, which was cylindro-conoidal with
an elliptical section, of wrought iron. This was the first rifled cannon
ever used in war, and was employed by the English in the Crimea,
both on board the gun-boats and in the batteries, against Sebastopol.
Though good results had been obtained in 1852 at Shoeburyness, with
spheroidal projectiles from these guns, they did not succeed well on
service. The trial was certainly hardly a fair one, many of the guns
being light 8-inch, bored up; and these burst. Some of the heavy
8-inch Lancaster guns, however, also burst with the elongated pro-
jectile, we believe. Those who worked the guns had in many cases
not been instructed in their use; and Mr. Lancaster has accounted for
the shells constantly bursting in the bore by the welding of the two
pieces of wrought iron with which they were made not being a perfect
joint, and the explosion of the gun communicating to the interior of
the shell. But it is most probable that the shell jammed in the bore,
which it was very likely to do from its form and the increasing twist.
Certain it is that the practice was very uncertain, and the result not
satisfactory.

The figure of merit is the mean radial distance in feet from their centre
of 10 shots fired from a rest-table. A Whitworth bullet, with the service
charge of 2 drachms of powder, penetrated thirty-three 4-inch planks
of elm, and was only stopped by a solid balk of timber behind them.
Mr. Lancaster's rifle, which has before been mentioned, has a gaining
twist; the section of the bore is an ellipse; the bore is formed by this
ellipse moving along the axis of the piece at the same time that it
rotates round it, rotating, not uniformly, but more rapidly as it comes
towards the muzzle. The rifles with which the Royal Engineers are
armed, on this principle, take the same ammunition as the Enfield,
Under the heads of GUNNERY and RIFLE we have considered the
and make good practice up to 1000 yards.
points to be attended to in the formation of rifie arms and projectiles.
The last rifle we need mention is that invented These are equally applicable to ordnance. But when we come to the
by General Jacob. The form of bullet is seen in manufacture of very large guns, either smooth bore or rifled, we meet
fig. 14. The grooves are of considerable depth, four with a difficulty in making them sufficiently strong to resist the effect
in number, and are as wide as the lands. The of the explosion of the charge. This difficulty arises as we increase
diameter of the bore is the 32 gauge. The picket is the diameter of the bore much sooner in rifled pieces than in smooth
solid, and has four projections to fit the grooves. The bores, because in the former there is a greater resistance to the motion
grooves make one turn in 36 inches. General Jacob of the projectile in the bore, while at the same time the elongated pro-
made many experiments with shells from his rifles.jectile employed is of greater proportional weight. It has been how-
These shells had been invented many years ago by ever found very difficult to make solid shot guns-that is, when heavy
Captain Norton, and having improved upon them, charges are employed-of a greater diameter of bore than 8 inches
General Jacob made a most formidable weapon, ex- (the 68-pounder); and in the war with Russia it was found that the
ploding ammunition waggons at 1600 and 1800 yards 13-inch mortars, even the immensely heavy sea service ones, constantly
distance. The picket is cast with a cylindrical cavity burst after heavy firing, as at Sweaborg.
in its conical end, into the cavity is inserted a copper
tube, filled with fine-grain powder, and primed at the
point with a detonating composition. These shells
may be very useful, though they have never yet been
tried on service, but they have been found very effective against
large game in India and Africa.

RIFLED ORDNANCE. In the year 1774, Captain Blair proposed
the formation of rifled guns of iron, to be used as field artillery.
Agreeably to the old practice, they were to be made hollow in the act
of being cast, and in the same operation the grooves were to be formed.
The balls were to be of lead, with knobs on them to fit the grooves,
and they were to weigh not more than two pounds. About the
beginning of this century, the French attempted to introduce into
their service cannon-shot of a cylindro-spherical form, the cylindrical
part being in contact with the charge of powder, and a ring of lead
surrounding the shot near its middle, so as to render this part rather
greater than the bore of the gun. The circumference of the ring being
scraped down by the edge of the muzzle when the shot was forced
into the gun, became in close contact with the surface of the bore,
and thus no windage was left. By this contrivance it was expected
that most of the advantages of a rifled gun would be obtained, though
no rotatory motion took place in the shot. The result of the trials
was thought to be favourable with respect to the direction and range
of the shot; but the labour and time required to load the gun were
great, and this circumstance probably prevented the invention from
being adopted.
This can be easily understood when we remember that, in guns of
the ordinary construction, it is useless to increase the thickness of
metal beyond a certain limit, and that to produce equal initial velo-
cities in two similar projectiles of different diameters-as, for instance,
two spherical shot of 2 and 4 inches diameter-the pressure or strain
on the metal of the gun increases in a ratio much higher than the ratio
of the surfaces of the bores. To make the first point clear, if we take
the transverse section of a gun, which is an annulus, we may consider
it composed of a series of concentric rings, and the strain of the
explosion a statical force, though it is of the nature of impact. That
the metal of the gun is, as might be supposed, extended by the action
of the powder at the moment of explosion (some portion of which
extension, from want of elasticity, is permanent), may be proved
experimentally; that is to say, the diameter of the annulus or trans-
verse section is increased, but the area of the annulus must remain
the same, and therefore the width of the annulus must diminish, or,
which is the same thing, the circumference of the inner circle must
increase in a greater ratio than the outer. Hence the greater the
distance of any of the rings composing the annulus from the centre
or axis of the gun, the less will it be stretched, and the less will be the
strain on it, and the resistance to a pressure of any two rings will be
inversely as the squares of their distances from the axis.
Now iron extends with a tensile strain, and the extension is more
than proportionate to the strain; that is, the resistance to extension is
only at first nearly proportionate to the extension. It is found, by
experiment, that for wood and wrought-iron the resistance to exten··
95
RIFLED ORDNANCE.
sion in each fibre is at first nearly proportional to the extension.
Mr. Hodgkinson found that in cast-iron the resistance to extension
was less than a quantity proportional to the extension by a quantity
nearly proportional to the square of the extension. If w represent
resistance to extension, and e the corresponding extension, wae-be².
It is therefore evident that at a certain thickness of metal the cohesion
or tensile strength of the inner ring may be overcome, and the ring
burst before the outer ring receives any strain, and therefore it is useless
to increase the thickness of metal beyond the point at which the force
exerted on the surface of the bore is sufficient to rupture it before the
strain acts to any extent on the exterior. With respect to the second
point, taking two spherical bullets of 2 and 4 inches diameter, cæteris
paribus, the pressure required to give them the same initial velocities
will be as their weights, that is, as the cubes of their diameters, but the
surfaces of the bores will only increase as the squares of the diameters
and therefore with larger calibres the strains on the guns will be
greatly increased.
In order to obtain the requisite strength in rifled ordnance (espe-
cially in those of a large calibre), where the strain is again increased by
the resistance to motion offered by the rifling, it is necessary to adopt
some means of equalising the strains through the metal. Different
ways of effecting this have been suggested. The object of all of them
is to give a certain initial tension to the outer rings-the exterior
having the greatest, and the tensions decreasing and resulting in com-
pression in the interior. The rings can be shrunk on to an interior
cylinder or core, that is, put on hot and then cooled, or they may be
put on by hydraulic pressure, or the core or tube may be bound round
with wire, gradually increasing the strain of each layer. Captain
Blakely, R.A., who appears to have investigated the subject fully, made
a gun in this last manner, which stood some most severe trials at Shoe-
buryness, in 1856 and 1857. The ancient built-up guns, such as Mons
Meg, were often made with longitudinal bars, kept together with rings
shrunk on. This process was evidently adopted on account of the
RIFLED ORDNANCE.
96
imperfect state of manufacturing power, as there could be no use in
not having the interior a homogeneous cylinder. A huge mortar of
36 inches diameter was, however, made in this way a few years ago by
Mr. Mallet, and failed.
In 1854 Sir W. Armstrong brought forward a breech-loading rifle-
gun, his plan was accepted, and a gun of small calibre having been
made according to it, was tried at Shoeburyness. With some modifi-
cations this description of gun has been adopted in the British service,
and found very efficient in the late China war. In fact it is the most
perfect gun yet adopted in any artillery. The following description of
the original gun tried at Shoeburyness, and at Sir W. Armstrong's
private factory at Newcastle, is taken from the minutes of 'Proceedings
of the Royal Artillery Institution,' given in the Elementary Lectures
on Artillery for the Royal Military Academy,' by Major Owen, R.A.,
and Captain Dames, R.A.; from which also, and a paper on the ‘Con-
struction of Artillery,' printed by the Institution of Civil Engineers,
the description and drawings of gun, shell, &c, are taken :-
"A core or internal lining was formed of cast-steel, to which the
requisite strength was given by encircling it with twisted cylinders of
wrought-iron made in a similar manner to gun barrels, and tightly
contracted upon the steel core by the usual process of cooling after
previous expansion by heat; the parts are then in a state of initial
tension, which is necessary to bring their entire strength into operation.
The arrangement for loading at the breech consists of a powerful screw
having a hole through the centre in the prolonged axis of the bore,
through which hole the bullet and charge are delivered into the gun.
A "breech-piece" with a mitred face fitting a similar face at the end
of the bore, is dropped into a recess, and by the action of the screw
pressed tightly into its seat, so as to effectually close the bore. The
fitting surfaces which close the bore were at first made of unhardened
steel: this failed; hardened steel was next used, but this yielded to
the action of the powder more rapidly than before; copper was then
tried, and no further difficulty was experienced. The breech-piece

Vent
PIECE
f
Fig. 1.-Armstrong Gun, scale inch to 1 foot (1).
contains the vent. The bore of the gun was 14 inches in diametor, | is to say, the sides the projectile bears on in passing out of the gun,
and contained eight spiral grooves, having an inclination of one turn in are cut square, or at least radial, the other edges are rounded off.
12 feet; these grooves terminated at a distance of 16 inches from the
breech, and the bore then gradually expands in a length of 3 inches
from 12 inch to 13 inch in diameter.' The gun weighed about

5 cwt.
""
The projectile, which is cylindro-conoidal in form, was 6 inches
long, and weighed 5 lbs. ; it was of cast-iron coated with lead, and was
hollow, so as to be used either as shot or shell. It was slightly larger
in diameter than the bore of the gun, and being inserted at the breech
took its rifling by being forced through the grooved bore.
The charge was one-eighth weight of shot. The following results of
experiments are given in the 'Lectures' before mentioned :—Fourteen
projectiles were fired at a butt of wood 5 feet wide and 7 high from
a distance of 1500 yards. Six shots were fired as trial shots to obtain
the correct elevation. The remaining eight hit the butt without
grazing, the elevation of the gun being 4° 26', and the mean deflection
from the centre line on the butt was only 11 inches. The experiments
with shells fired at two targets, placed 30 feet apart, covering one
another, were equally remarkable-nearly all the shells passing through
the first target and bursting before reaching the second.
This being a small gun was of course easy of manufacture, but Sir
W. Armstrong has been equally successful in making 12, 25, 32, and
40 pounders; and experiments are now being made with much heavier
guns, 70, 80, and 100 pounders.
The 12 pounder is the gun adopted for the field batteries and horse
artillery. Those used in China have weighed 6 cwt., with a charge of
1 lb. 6 oz. It is probable that in future the 8 cwt. gun, with à charge
of 1 lb. 8 oz., will be adopted. The guns are now made wholly of
wrought iron, and in order to avoid the difficulty of forging very large
masses they are made in pieces, tubes from 2 feet to 5 feet long,
which are then welded together. The tubes are formed by winding
long bars of heated iron round a roller, the coil is then brought to a
welding heat and hammered together; the edges of the coils or tubes
having been bevelled off, the tubes are welded together. The manu-
facture is very complicated. The finished gun is shown in fig. 1.
The grooves are very narrow and shallow. The driving sides, that
Fig. 2.-Armstrong Shell, scale.
The width of the lands and grooves being the same, they vary in
number according to the calibre of the piece--the 19 neyler bas
!
97
93
RIFLED ORDNANCE.
RIFLED ORDNANCE.
34, the larger guns have more, they make about half a turn in
the length of the piece, and the charge seems to be about th the
weight of the projectile. The construction of the projectile, which is
shown in fig. 2, has been thus described by Sir W. Armstrong. "The
projectile consists of a very thin cast-iron shell, the interior of which
is composed of forty-two segment-shaped pieces of cast iron built up
in layers around a cylindrical cavity in the centre, which contains
the bursting charge and the concussion arrangement. The exterior of
the shell is thinly coated with lead, which is applied by placing the
shell in a mould and pouring melted lead round it. The lead is
allowed to percolate among the segments, so as to fill up the inter-
stices, the central cavity being kept open by the insertion of a steel
core. In this state the projectile is so compact that it might be fired
through 6 feet of hard timber without injury, while its resistance to
a bursting force is so small that less than one ounce of powder is
sufficient to break it in pieces." It is a great advantage for service
to have a projectile of this description, which can be used as shot,
shell, shrapnell, or case. The simplicity of ammunition is perfect
when one form serves all the purposes that can be required, for it is
only necessary in using it as shot not to put in a fuze. The shell
can, as will be seen, be made, according to the fuze, either a time shell
or a concussion shell. By adjusting the fuze so as to burst the shell
just short of the object, we have a shrapnell of the most perfect de-
scription, for a small bursting charge will liberate the numerous seg-
ments of which the shell is formed; while, by adjusting the fuze so
as to burst the shell at the muzzle, we may use it as case. Sir W.
Armstrong stated in a speech he made at Newcastle, that the shell
burst into 49 regular pieces and about 100 irregular pieces. And also
that for breaching purposes, firing at buildings and ships, a different
construction of shell was adopted, the object being to introduce the
largest possible charge of powder. The shell of the Armstrong 32-
pounder contains about twice as much powder as that of the ordinary
32-pounder.
The two descriptions of fuzes, figs. 3 and 4, are thus described by
Sir W. Armstrong. "The body of the time fuze, fig. 3, is made of a
α
a
directions, but only takes effect at one extremity, where it communi-
cates with a small quantity of powder in the centre. The fuze is
surrounded by a scale paper graduated to accord with the elevation of
the gun, so that when the range of a distant object is found by trial,
it is only necessary to turn the igniting aperture of the cover to the
point on the fuze scale corresponding with the degrees and minutes of
elevation on the tangent scale.
The concussion fuze (fig. 4.) is on nearly the same principle. "A

α
α
Fig. 4.-Concussion Fuze, full size.
a a, the hammer; b b, the suspending pin; c, the detonating composition;
dd, priming chamber.
striker with a point presented upwards is secured in a tube by a wire
fastening, which is broken on the firing of the gun; the striker being
thus liberated recedes through a small space, and rests on the bottom
of the tube, but as soon as the shell meets with any check in its
motion, the striker runs forward and presses the detonator in front,
by which means the bursting charge is ignited." To show the extreme
accuracy of the Armstrong shell and fuzes, we may mention an experi-
ment which took place before the Duke of Cambridge and a number
of distinguished officers. Two targets, each of 9 feet square, were
placed at a distance of 1500 yards from the gun, and 7 shells were
fired at them; the effect of these 7 shells was, that the targets were
struck in 596 places. Similar effects were produced at 3000 yards
with shells, and a target 9 feet square has been struck with shot 5
times out of 10 shots. At 600 yards an object the size of the muzzle
of a gun can be struck almost every time with the shot or shell. The
tabular statement below will explain the advantages of rifled ordnance
at long ranges, while the short ranges at low angles of elevation will
be easily understood, for the reasons given under GUNNERY and
RIFLE, when we remember that the initial velocity of the Armstrong
12-pounder shot is less than 1100 feet per second, while that of the
ordinary 12-pounder is about 1800 feet per second.


i
Ranges at Elevations of

P. B.
1°
2°
3°
↑
5°
G³
C
Fig. 3.-Time Fuze, full size.
a a, the hammer; bb, the suspending pin; c, the detonating composition;
dd, the hollow collar; e e, the fuze composition.
mixture of lead and tin, cast to the required form in a mould. The
fuze composition is stamped into a channel forming nearly an entire
circle round the body of the fuze, and is afterwards papered and
varnished on the external surface. As the shell fits accurately into
the gun, there is no passage of flame by which the fuze could be
ignited. The effect is therefore produced in the following manner :—
A small quantity of detonating composition is deposited at the bottom
of the cylindrical cavity in the centre of the fuze, and above this is
placed a small weight or striker terminating in a sharp point presented
downwards. This striker is secured in its place by a pin, which, when
the gun is fired, is broken by reason of the vis inertice of the striker.
The detonator is then instantly pierced by the point and is thus fired.
The flame thus produced passes into an annular space formed within
the revolving cover, which rests on the upper surface of the fuze com-
position, and from this annular space it is directed outwards through
an opening, so as to impinge on and to ignite the fuze composition at
any required part of the circle. The fuze thus ignited burns in both
ARTS AND SCI, DIV. VOL. VII.
12-pounder Armstrong,
weight 6 cwt., charge
1 lb. 6 oz.
12-pounder service,
weight 18 cwt.,
charge 4 lbs.
300 600
900 1200 1500 1800 2100
300 700 1000 1200 1100 1600 1800
The first form of carriage employed for the Armstrong gun was the
bracket carriage with recoil slide. The recoil slide is however
abolished for field service pieces, though we believe it is intended to
employ it still for garrison, siege, and naval guns. The field service
carriage is now in form very similar to the old block trail carriage.
The trunnions of the gun however rest in moveable trunnion holes.
These trunnion holes being connected together by a band of iron, a
horizontal motion can be given to them round a centre or pivot
between them by means of a bar, which, passing to the rear almost as
far as the elevating screw, has motion given to it by a horizontal screw
passing through its end. By this means the gun carriage having been
brought into the general direction of line of fire, the gun can be most
accurately laid by merely turning the haudle attached to this screw
without further shifting of the carriage.
The following extract from Sir W. Armstrong's speech at Newcastle,
will show the great labour it cost him to bring it to perfection, and its
great power now as a siege-gun :-" To go back to the commencement
of my experiments, I may tell you that they began upwards of four
years ago, my first gun having been commenced in December, 1854,
and completed early in the following spring; although this gun was
constructed upon the same principle as those which I am now making,
it did not in the first instance afford satisfactory restults. Schemers,
II
{
1
.
19
RIFLED ORDNANCE.
whose inventions merely figure upon paper, have little idea of the
difficulties that are encountered by those who carry inventions into
practice. For my part, I had my full share of such difficulties, and it
took me nearly three years of continual application to surmount them.
In the height of summer my experiments were for the most part
carried on at the sea-coast, between the hours of 3 o'clock in the
morning and 6; for after that time people began to move about and
were apt to get in the way. At other seasons I availed myself of the
wild moors belonging to my friend Mr. Beaumont, at Allenheads, and
there I had a hut constructed on a mountain ridge, 2000 feet above
the level of the sea. My targets were placed upon the opposite side
of a deep valley, where nothing more valuable than grouse or lean
sheep ran the risk of being shot; and well it was that such was the
case, for I had constructed an instrument for maintaining a fire upon an
object (a breach, for example) after darkness had set in, and I used to
awaken the denizens of the heath by firing shells at my distant target
in the middle of the night; and I may observe in passing that, when
this instrument was fully perfected, I was enabled to strike a distant
object in a pitch dark night with the same accuracy as in broad day-
light. At the end of the three years I had succeeded in bringing to
maturity both guns and projectiles. Several new guns had been made
on my own responsibility, and considerable expense incurred on
experiments; but all my disbursements were refunded by the Govern-
ment as soon as the results were ascertained."
We have entered thus fully into the description of the Armstrong
gun as it is the gun adopted in the service. It only remains briefly to
notice the Whitworth gun and the French rifled gun. The Whitworth
gun has, like the rifle [RIFLE], a hexagonal bore, the angles of the
hexagon being rounded off. As the projectiles are very long, the
inclination of the grooves is very great. The guns with which the
experiments were made in the spring of 1860, near Liverpool, were
breech loaders. The following description and table of dimensions is
taken from the Lectures on Artillery before quoted. "The breech is
closed by a cap which screws on outside, and works in an iron hoop
attached by a hinge to the side of the breech; the cap is opened back
for loading, after which it is shut-to, like a door, and then screwed on
to the breech by a handle for the purpose; the vent is in the centre of
the cap, and therefore in line with the axis of the bore. For smaller
sized guns, Mr. Whitworth uses homogeneous iron, the larger guns
are made of the same material, but strengthened with wrought
iron hoops fixed on by hydraulic pressure. The Whitworth projectile
is hexagonal, its form corresponding to that of the bore, and it is made
of cast iron accurately turned by machinery (fig. 5); for penetrating
hard substances, as wrought iron plates, the projectile is flat headed
and made of homogeneous iron (fig. 6). The charge is th the weight
Fig. 5.
Maj. axis, 8.1 in.
Minor, 2.8.
!
Fig. 6.
of the projectile, and it is placed in the bore in a tin cartridge which
remains in until after the gun is fired, when it is removed; a wad of
lubricating substance closes the front of the cartridge, and is intended
to prevent the fouling of the bore."
WHITWORTH GUN.
Pitch of
Rifling.
Bore.
Nature of Gun.
Major Minor Length. Weight.
Axis. Axis.
ft. in.
cwt. qrs.
1.6
1.48
6 0
4
3.1
2.8
7
9
8
0
5 0
5.3
5.0
9 10
80 0
8
4
•
3-pounder
12-pounder
80-pounder
1 turn in
3 ft. 4 in.
With the 3-pounders the extraordinary range of 9688 yards (more than
5 miles) was obtained at 35° of elevation. The Armstrong 32-pounder
with the same elevation ranged 9130 yards.
Some of the practice with the Whitworth guns was also very
accurate. It also appears to have an advantage over the Armstrong
gun in range with equal elevation, and can be used either as a breech
loader or as a muzzle loader, while, as explained under RIFLE, ease in
loading is obtained without windage. But until careful experiments
have been conducted with both under the same conditions, which has
not been the case hitherto, no decided opinion can be given as to the
relative merits. The penetration power of the flat-headed projectile
against iron plates is very great, and in fact has been more effective
|
RIGHT.
Fig. 7.
100
than any other projectile. Mr. Whitworth has found that decreasing
the hinder part of the projectile has greatly increased its range.
The French 9-pounder field piece is a muzzle loading 6-grooved
bronze gun weighing about 6 cwt.. The calibre is-about 3.36 inches,
the grooves making one turn in 60 inches. The projectile
is shown in fig. 7. It has 12 leaden buttons on its exterior,
that is, 2 for each groove. Though undoubtedly not nearly
so perfect a weapon as either the Armstrong or Whit-
worth, it appears to have done good service in the late
Italian campaign. It is also very simple in construction.
The French have also a bronze rifled siege gun of about
the calibre of 12-pounders, and have rifled some of their
heavy iron ship guns. The success of the latter is doubt-
ful, for in all the experiments in this country, unless
strengthened, cast iron rifled guns have burst when fired except with
very small charges.
3 17/12--
RIFLEMEN (called by the French tirailleurs) were soldiers whose
duties corresponded nearly to those of light infantry troops, but their
muskets being rifled or grooved, the effect of their fire, within certain
limits, was more certain.
In the preceding article we have stated what is known concerning
the first use of rifled barrels on the Continent; and in the article,
ARMS it has been shown that the duty of riflemen is indicated in the
'Observations' compiled by the Earl of Albemarle in 1646. The
Anglo-American people are, however, believed to have been the first
who organised corps of infantry armed with rifle-muskets, and during
their struggle for independence the fire from those pieces too often
took effect with fatal precision against the officers and in the ranks of
the British forces. From that time the incorporation of bodies of
riflemen with the armies began to take place among the nations of
Europe, and it is now become a general practice. In the British
service, the 60th, formerly called the Royal American regiment, is a
rifle corps; and Manningham's rifle corps appears in the Army List'
for 1801, but this became in 1803 the 95th regiment. In 1816 it was
formed into the present Rifle Brigade, and placed under the command
of Sir David Dundas, who had before been colonel of the 60th regiment.
Subsequently to that year a regiment of native riflemen had been
raised in Ceylon, and a rifle corps of cavalry at the Cape of Good Hope.
In 1853, after the Minić rifle was adopted into the service, it was
intended to arm the whole of the infantry with it. In fact, the greater
portion, if not the whole, of our army, were armed with it at the battle
of the Alma; but the Enfield rifle having been decided on in 1854 by
the committee appointed by Lord Hardinge, the whole of the infantry
are now armed with it. Such being the case, the titles of Rifle
Brigade and 60th Rifles become meaningless, though still retained on
account of old associations.
The 60th and Rifle Brigade are however armed with a short Enfield
and sword bayonet.
RIGEL.
ORION.]
RIGHT. This word occurs under some form in all the Teutonic
languages; and bears a double meaning equivalent to the significations
of the Latin word jus.
In its strict sense it means a legal claim; in other words, a claim.
which can be enforced by legal remedies, or a clairn the infringement
of which can be punished by a legal sanction. It follows from this
definition that every right presupposes the existence of positive law.
The causes of rights, or the modes of acquiring them, are various,
and can only be explained, in a system of jurisprudence; for example,
a person may acquire a right by contract, by gift, by succession, by
the non-fulfilment of a condition. But every right co-relates with a
legal duty. Thus a right arising from contract (for example, a con-
tract to perform a service, or to pay a sum of money) is a right against
a determinate person or persons; a right of property in a field or
house is a right to deal with the field or house, availing against the
world at large. On the other hand, every legal duty does not co-
relate with a right; for there are certain absolute duties which do not
co-relate with a right in any determinate person. Such are the duties
which are included in the idea of police; as the duties of cleanliness,
order, quiet at certain times and places.
The word right is sometimes used, improperly and secondarily, to
signify not legal but moral claims; that is to say, claims which are
enforced merely by public opinion, and not by the legal sanction.
In this sense the right of a slave against his master, or of a subject
against his sovereign, may be spoken of; although a slave has rarely
any legal right against his master, and a subject never has a legal right
against his sovereign. It is in the same sense that a sovereign govern-
ment is sometimes said to have rights against its subjects, although in
strictness a sovereign government creates rights, and does not possess
them. In like manner, one sovereign government is said to have
rights against another sovereign government; that is to say, moral
rights, derived from the positive morality prevailing between inde-
pendent nations, which is called international law.
We likewise sometimes hear of certain rights, styled natural rights,
which are supposed to be anterior to civil government, and to be para-
mount to it. Hence these supposed natural rights sometimes receive
also the additional epithets of indefeasible, indestructible, inalienable,
and the like. This theory of natural rights is closely connected with
the fiction of a social compact made between persons living in a state

*
101
RIGHT.
of nature; which theory, though recommended by the deservedly high
authority of Locke, has now been abandoned by nearly all political
speculators.
RIGHT. (Mathematics). This term is applied in mathematical
language to anything which is imagined to be the most simple of its
kind, to distinguish it from others. Thus a right line is a STRAIGHT
line; a right angle is the most simple and well-known of the angles
used by Euclid; a right cone is one in which the axis is at right angles
to the base; and so on.
RIGHT ANGLE. When two lines, at first coincident, are made to
separate so that one of them revolves about their common extremity,
the revolving line will in time become the continuation of the other.
This angle or opening, made by a line and its continuation, would, we
might suppose, be one of the principal angles considered in geometry,
and should, according to the previously defined meaning of RIGHT, be
called a right angle. But in the geometry of Euclid the word angle
seems to have been essentially connected with the idea of a pointed
corner, and we have no means of finding out that he considered a line
and its continuation as making any angle at all. Instead of this angle,
A
A
O'
C
D
B
B'
made by o▲ and O B, or the angle of opposite directions, he introduces
its half, and calls it a right angle. Let AOC and COB be equal angles,
that is, let oc bisect the angle a O B, and each half is called a right
angle. When the angle AOB is mentioned, it is as two right angles.
All that is necessary as to the magnitude of a right angle has been
given under ANGLE: we propose here to point out the effects of the
forced manner in which Euclid avoids the angle A O B.
It is sufficiently evident that nothing can lose its right to be con-
sidered as a magnitude by augmentation: so that the opening of AO
and O B, which is double that of ao and oc, must really be a magni-
tude of the same kind as the angle Ao c. Now the consequences of
preferring Aoc to AO B, as a fundamental angle of reference, are as
follows:-
1. The introduction of the apparently very arbitrary axiom, that
"all right angles are equal," instead of the more simple and natural
one that "two straight lines which coincide in any two points coincide
beyond those points." It is as evident as that "two straight lines can-
not inclose a space," or "two straight lines which coincide in two
points, coincide between those points," that the same also takes place
beyond those points." A moment's examination will show that this
axiom immediately gives as a consequence that the angle AOB in any
one straight line is equal to the angle a'o'B' in any other; or as Euclid
would express it, the doubles of all right angles are equal; whence all
right angles are equal. And it is one consequence of leaving the
natural route, that Euclid himself has assumed both the more com-
plicated axiom which he has expressed, and also the more simple one
by which he might have avoided it: for he nowhere shows that if OA
be made to coincide with o'a', then OB coincides with O'B'. Some of
his editors have supplied the defect by making it a consequence of
"all right angles are equal," that "no two lines can have a common
segment:" that is, by making the cart draw the horse.
RIGIDITY OF ROPES.
102
the same circumference for a base :" and some may think that the words
in italics exclude (as in one sense they certainly do) the segment which
has an angle greater than a right angle; since this angle, and its
central angle, that, namely, which is less than two right angles, do not
stand on the same circumference as a base. Let this be so, then we
throw the difficulty on another proposition, the 27th. It is there
shown that "in equal circles, the angles which stand upon equal
circumferences are equal whether they stand at the centre or at the
circumference.' If no mention of angles greater than two right angles
be intended in the previous proposition, then the one before us is not
completely proved, but only when the angle at the circumference is
less than a right angle. At the same time there seems to be, in some
of the subsequent propositions, proof of a desire to avoid the angle
greater than two right angles, and to subdivide proofs into particular
cases in order to avoid the difficulty.
""
But are we not in fact to assume, without particular inspection,
from the general tone of the first six books, that the angle equal to or
greater than two right angles was never really meant, and that all
propositions are to be taken with such limitations as the above restric-
tion would render necessary? Let those who think so, look at the
last proposition of the sixth book, in which it is shown that in equal
circles angles are to one another as their subtending arcs. Now the
criterion of PROPORTION, as given by Euclid, requires that, in this
proposition, any multiple, however great, of the angles may be taken.
Now a multiple of an angle may not only be greater than two right
angles, but greater than a thousand right angles; and every such
multiple must not only be really included in the demonstration, but
considered as a magnitude, and compared with other magnitudes of
the same kind. It is impossible that the writer of the fifth book
should have been unable to bear in mind that the establishment of
proportion demands that every possible multiple of the quantities
asserted to be proportional should be admitted and compared with
every other: and thus it is certain that Euclid must have meant to
consider angles not only greater than two right angles, but even greater
than four, or any other number. Some commentators have supposed
that Euclid meant to omit all pairs of right angles from such multiples,
and all semicircumferences from the multiples of the arcs; but this
would only be a use of the axiom, that if equals be taken from un-
equals, the remainders are unequal, which admits the greater of the
quantities mentioned to be comparable magnitudes: and that Euclid
does consider them as such, is all that is contended for.
RIGHT, PETITION OF. [PETITION OF RIGHT.]
RIGHTS, BILL OF. [BILL OF RIGHTS.]
RIGIDITY OF ROPES. In estimating the powers of machines, it
is frequently necessary to take into consideration the effects arising
from the rigidity or stiffness of the ropes which pass over the pulleys
or the axles of the wheels; and, in order to understand how this con-
dition affects the relation between the moving power and the resistance,
let it be observed that when a stiff rope is bent over the upper part of
a wheel or pulley in a vertical plane, for example, the weights or
powers applied at its extremities may not be sufficient to draw the
descending portions into the positions of two vertical lines. Now, if
one of the parts of the rope should take such a direction that a vertical
line drawn through the weight attached to that part, cuts the hori
zontal diameter of the wheel or pulley at a point between the centre
and one extremity of the diameter, and if, at the same time, the other
part should take such a direction that a vertical line drawn through
the attached weight cuts the horizontal diameter at a point beyond
the extremity of the latter, the distances of these vertical lines from
the extremities of the diameter being represented by r and e' respec-
tively, the corresponding weights by w and w', and the radius of the
2. The necessity of appearing to prove a particular case of a pro-wheel by R, the "conditions of equilibrium, instead of being w =
position which is taken as self-evident in all other cases. Thus Euclid will be
w',
never proves that COD and DOB are together equal to COB; while he
has to spend a proposition in proving that A OD and DOB are together
equal to A OB.
3. The necessity of appearing to prove a particular case after the general
case has been proved. Thus to bisect a given angle is the general propo-
sition, of which to draw a line perpendicular to a given line from a given
point within it, is the particular case. The construction of the latter
is precisely that of the former: but the two results have to be
obtained in two distinct propositions: it would be right enough to
make them cases of one proposition.
4. The habituation of the student to neglect the angles greater than
two right angles, by his never meeting with one as great. Two lines
which end at the same point make two openings, one greater and the
other less than two right angles; except in the intermediate case when
both are equal to two right angles. Now Euclid does not positively
reject the angle greater than two right angles, nor does he say that of
two lines which meet, the angle which they make shall be always taken
to be that which is less than two right angles. Had he had such
intention, one of his propositions would have been positively false, to
wit, that in any segment of a circle, the angle at the centre is double
of the angle of the circumference. Had such been his intention, he
would have said, "in every segment which contains an angle less than
a right angle, the angle at the centre is double of that at the circum-
ference." It is true that his proposition is, " In a circle, the angle at
the centre is double of the angle at the circumference when they have
But, if w be the weight which by descending raises up the other, the
w (R-2)=W(R+x').
value of x is generally so small that it may be disregarded; so that we
have, in the case of equilibrium,
WR=
W′ (R + x′), or (W — W′) R = W' x',
Π
or again, w-w' =
R
that is, in order to put the system in a state of equilibrium, the excess
of w above w' should be equal to
R
The formula given by Coulomb to express the force necessary for
overcoming the rigidity of a rope, or the equivalent of W.x'
is
goth (a + bw);
R
R
→ being the semi-diameter of the rope, a the force arising from the
warping or twisting of the rope, and b that which depends on the
tension arising from the weight w; the values of m, a, and b may be
determined by experiments made with cords of different diameters;
and thus a' may be found. M. Coulomb ascertained that for slender
string, m=1, and that for stiff cordage the value of m varied from 15
to 2; also, from some experiments made with ropes consisting of 30
103
RING.
threads and 2 inches in circumference, he found that the weights
requisite to overcome the rigidity, when the ropes passed over a pulley
4 inches diameter, and were strained by weights equal to 25 lbs., 125 lbs.,
and 425 lbs., were 5 lbs, 8 lbs., and 23 lbs. respectively.
Unfortunately ropes of equal dimensions differ much in rigidity, so
that little dependence can be placed on the results of general formulæ
in estimating its value. White ropes when wet are more stiff than
those which are dry, and the rigidity of ropes is greatly increased by
tarring them. In general, the weights necessary to overcome the
resistance of tarred ropes is proportional to the number of the threads
of which they are composed. General Morin has latterly revised the
observations of Coulomb and of Navier on the subject of the rigidity
of cordage, and has published the results of his inquiry in his Aide
Mémoire de Mécanique Pratique,' and in his 'Leçons de Mécanique
Pratique.' These essays have been translated and printed in the
'Engineer's, Architect's, and Contractor's Pocket-Book,' and from
them it appears that Coulomb's rules, tables, and formulæ were pre-
pared on a rather confined view of the case. Morin's own tables and
formulæ are given in the translation thus quoted.
RING. [ANNULUS.]
RIVER.
104
that "if any persons to the number of twelve or more, being unlaw-
fully, riotously, and tumultuously assembled together to the dis-
turbance of the public peace, shall continue so assembled for the space
of an hour after the magistrate has commanded them by proclama-
tion to disperse, they shall be considered felons."
The form of proclamation is given in the Act, and is to be read with
a loud voice and as near as possible to the rioters. Persons who do
not disperse may be seized and apprehended by any magistrate or
peace-officer or any private person who has been commanded by a
magistrate or an officer to assist. In case of resistance, those who are
attempting to disperse or apprehend the rioters will be justified in
wounding or killing them. It is felony to oppose the reading of the
proclamation; and if the reading should be prevented, those who do
not disperse are still guilty of felony, if they know that the reading of
the proclamation has been prevented.
A prosecution under this Act must be commenced within a year
after the offence has been committed. By 7 & 8 Geo. IV., c. 30, s. 8,
rioters who demolish or begin to demolish a church or a chapel, a
dwelling-house, or any other of the various buildings or machinery
mentioned in that Act, are to be considered felons, and by 7 & 8
Geo. IV. c. 31, provision is made for remedies against the hundred in
such cases, if to the amount of 30%.; but if the damage does not
amount to 30%., before justices at a petty sessions.
The action must be commenced within three months after commis-
RINGWORM is the term applied to many cutaneous eruptions, and
more particularly to those on the head. It is not now possible to
determine to which of these the name was first applied; but it is
probable that the species of Herpes which appear in the form of rings
were thus designated, especially that which nosologists call Herpession of the offence; and to entitle the party injured to bring it, he
circinnatus. This disease is still often called ringworm, when it must, within seven days after the injury done, go before a magistrate
appears upon the forehead or scalp; but the same name is still more and give on oath all the information relative to the matter which he
generally applied to the different forms of Porrigo, especially P. larvalis possesses, and also be bound over to prosecute the offenders.
and P. scutulata. The descriptions of the diseases thus confounded
under this name will be found in the articles HERPES and PORRIGO.
RINGS, COLOURED. [UNDULATING THEORY.]
RINMAN'S GREEN. [COBALT.]
RIOT. A riot is a misdemeanor at common law; and is defined
by Hawkins to be "a tumultuous disturbance of the peace by three
persons or more, assembling together of their own authority, with an
intent mutually to assist one another against any one who shall oppose
them in the execution of some enterprise of a private nature, and
afterwards executing the same in a violent and turbulent manner, to
the terror of the people, whether the act intended were of itself lawful
or unlawful." The assembling together therefore in a case where the
law authorises parties to meet and use force in concert, as for the
purpose of suppressing rebellion or opposing the king's enemies, or as
part of the posse comitatus, will not constitute a riot. Neither will a
sudden quarrel occurring among a number of persons who have met
together at a fair, or on similar occasions, constitute a riot. But if on
the occasion of a meeting, lawful in itself, some act of violence in dis-
turbance of the peace is afterwards proposed, and executed in concert
by those who are assembled, they will be guilty of a riot. The enter-
prise must be of a private nature, not necessarily relating to an
individual, but still having in view some minor and special, and not
a general public object. The object may be, for instance, to redress
a grievance said to be suffered by some particular person, or to pull
down inclosures on lands where the inhabitants claim a right of
common. For if the enterprise be for the purpose of redressing
grievances throughout the kingdom, or pulling down all inclosures, the
offence is not riot, but amounts to a levying of war against the crown,
and becomes high treason.
Violence, if not of actual force, yet in gesture or language, and of
such a nature as to cause terror, is a necessary ingredient in the offence
of riot. The lawfulness of the enterprise operates no further than as
justifying a mitigation of the punishment. It does not in any way
alter the legal character of the offence.
Two minor offences of rout and unlawful assembly, which are similar
to riot, are generally treated of under that head.
A rout is where parties have commenced but not accomplished an
enterprise, and in such a way that if the enterprise had been executed,
they would have committed a riot.
It is an unlawful assembly when great numbers of people meet
together with such circumstances of behaviour as to raise the fears of
their fellow-subjects, and endanger the public peace. An assembly
therefore of a man's friends to defend his person against violence
threatened to him if he appear in a public place is unlawful, as such
conduct tends to produce a breach of the peace. But an assembly in a
man's own house to protect him while there, or to defend the posses-
sion of it, is not considered an unlawful assembly. At common law
the sheriff and all peace officers are bound themselves to make every
effort and to command all others to assist them to suppress a riot. It
seems also that where the emergency is great and immediate, private
persons on their own authority may act, and even use arms for the
same purpose.
On such occasions it has not been usual for the
military to take any part except in the presence and under the direc-
tion of a civil authority. They are not however by law disqualified
for any duty or relieved from any responsibility which under the same
circumstances attaches to other classes of their fellow-subjects.
Various acts of parliament have been passed for the purpose of
giving atuhority to magistrates and others in suppressing riots, and
restraining, arresting, and punishing rioters. The most important
is 1 Geo. I., st. ii. c. 5, commonly called the Riot Act, which provides
With respect to unlawful assemblies of a seditious character, see
SEDITION; TREASON.
RISK. In the theory of PROBABILITIES the risk of loss or gain
means such a fraction of the sum to be lost or gained as expresses the
chance of losing or gaining it: thus an even chance of losing 401. is
considered as a positive loss of one-half of 407., or of 201.; and 2 to 1
for gaining 601. is counted as two-thirds of 60l., or 407. If both these
risks were encountered at the same time, the whole transaction would
be considered as a gain of 401.-20., or 20., since this is the sum
which would be netted by every such transaction in the long run, and
one with another.
The following is the method of ascertaining the effect of the division
of risks. Let there be an adventure in which the chance of success is
p, and that of failure 1-p. Let failure produce the loss of £n and
success the gain £m: then pm-(1-p) n is the result of every such
transaction one with another. Let this last be called M; it is required
to estimate the probability that in s transactions the average effect
(gain or loss, according as M is positive or negative) shall lie between
M+ and м—l.
M+l and M―l. Calculate the square root of s divided by 2p (1−p);
Take
multiply this square root by l, and divide the result by m+n.
the table in MEAN (using it as in PROBABILITY, col. 774), let the last
result be A, then the corresponding B is the probability required.
[WAGER; WEIGHT OF OBSERVATIONS.]
RITUAL (from ritus, in the sense of consuetudo), the book which
directs the rites and ceremonies to be observed in celebrating divine
service in any particular church.
RIVER. In a legal sense rivers are divisible into fresh and salt-
water rivers. Salt-water rivers are those rivers or parts of rivers in
which the tide ebbs and flows. Rivers are also divisible into public or
navigable rivers and private rivers.
The property in fresh-water rivers, whether public or private, is
presumed to belong to the owners of the adjacent land; the owner on
each side being entitled to the soil of the river and the right of fishing
as far as the middle of the stream. But this presumption may be
rebutted by evidence to the contrary. If a fresh-water river between
the lands of two owners gains on one side by insensibly shifting its
course, each owner continues to retain half the river, and the insensible
addition by alluvium belongs to the land to which it attaches itself;
unless the lands of the proprietors on each side has been marked out
by other known boundaries, such as stakes, &c. in the river. (Bracton
'De acquirendo rerum dominio,' 'Dig.' 41, tit. 1, s. 7.) But if the course
of the river is changed suddenly and sensibly, then the boundaries of the
lands will be, as they were before, in the midst of the deserted channel
of the river. Special custom may also alter this general presumption
of law. Though fresh-water rivers are presumed to be the property of
adjacent landowners, yet no such owner can set up a ferry and demand
a toll unless by prescription or by charter from the king. In early
times also the king by his prerogative might prevent all persons from
fishing or fowling in any river until he had first taken his pleasure
there. This was effected by directing a precept to the sheriff com-
manding him to cause all persons to abstain from approaching the
banks. By Magna Charta this prerogative was restricted to such
streams as it had been exercised upon in the time of Henry I.
Subsequently the custom was to name the rivers in the precept to the
sheriff; among these was the Avon, at least that part which flows
through Worcestershire. Eventually the prerogative fell into disuse.
In those rivers which are navigable, and in which the public have a
common right to passage, the king is said to have "an interest in
jurisdiction," and this is so not only in those parts of them which are
the king's property, but also where they are come to be private
105
106
RIVER ENGINEERING.
RIVER ENGINEERING.
property; such rivers are called "fluvii regales," "haut streames le
roy,
royal rivers"; not as indicating the property of the king in the
river, but because of their being dedicated to the public use,
and all things of public safety and convenience being under his
care and protection. Thus a common highway on land is called
the
king's highway, and navigable rivers are in like manner the
king's highway by water. Many of the incidents belonging to a high-
way on land attach to such rivers. Accordingly any nuisances or
obstructions upon them may be indicted even though the nuisances
be in the private soil of any person; or the nuisances and obstructions
may be abated by individuals without process of law. It must not
however be inferred that all the incidents of a land highway attach to
such rivers. Thus, if the highway of the river is obstructed, a
passenger will not be justified, as he would be in the case of a land
highway, in passing over the adjacent land. And though a river is a
public navigable river, there is not therefore any right at common law
for parties to use the banks of it as a towing-path.
If a river which is private in use as well as in property be made
navigable by the owner, it does not therefore become a public river
unless from some act it may be presumed that he has dedicated it to
the public. The taking of toll is such an act. Callis says that the
soil of the sea and of royal rivers belongs to the king. But the
expression, if intended to apply to all parts of the rivers where the
public have a right of passage, appears too comprehensive.
But there is no doubt that in some such rivers the property may be
in the crown; as it was in the river Thames, the property in which,
both as to the water and the soil, was conveyed by charter to the lord
mayor
and citizens of London. And in all rivers as far as the tide
flows, the property of the soil is in the king, if no other claims it by
prescription. In navigable rivers where the tide flows, the liberty of
fishery is common and public to all persons. (Hale, 'De Jure Maris et
Brachiorum ejusdem'; Callis, 'On Sewers.')
The property in the mere running water is in no one; but the
proprietor of adjoining land is entitled to the reasonable use of it as it
runs by his land.
"And consequently no proprietor can have the right
to use the water to the prejudice of any other proprietor. Without
the consent of the other proprietors who may be affected by his
operations, no proprietor can either diminish the quantity of water,
which would otherwise descend to the proprietors below, or throw the
water back upon the proprietors above. Every proprietor who claims
a right either to throw the water back above, or to diminish the
quantity of water which is to descend below, must, in order to main-
tain his claim, either prove an actual grant or license from the
proprietors affected by his operations, or must prove an uninterrupted
enjoyment of twenty years.'"
S
P
throughout the dimensions in metres and their subdivisions) made
respectively 0-0000444 and 0.000309. Eytelwein made these co-
efficients a=0·000024 and b=0·000365, but it appears that De Prony's
values are the most correct for small channels, whilst those of
Eytelwein are the most correct for large rivers. If again we
call the quotient of the transverse section s by the wet contour
P the mean radius, and represent it by R, we have R = and the
formula of De Prony gives us RI=0.0000444v+ 0·000309 v²; from
thence we obtain v = √/0·005163 + 3233·428 R I−0·07185 or v=56·86
✔RI-0.072. Playfair gives this formula, in English feet and inches,
v=√/0·023751 + 32806·6 R I-0·1541131; and from it the value of v
can be easily ascertained if I and R be known, or we are enabled to fix
the rate of inclination I requisite to secure a velocity such as shall
ensure that v = when the other terms are known.
RIVER ENGINEERING. The laws of hydraulics which apply to
the flow of water in rivers may be briefly expressed as follows :-If a
uniform velocity be once established, in a channel of whatsoever section,
the same quantity of water must pass through that section in the same
periods of time; and it follows from this that the velocity of the current
must be increased proportionately to the diminution of the area, if the
same discharge take place. As the rate of flow in open channels depends
entirely upon gravitation, it must increase with the inclination; and,
in order to maintain an equable discharge, the other conditions of cross
section must be made to agree with this inclination. In channels,
however, of uniform inclination and section, the rate of flow rapidly
attains uniformity; for the friction of the water upon the sides and the
bottom of the beds soon counteracts the accelerating force of gravity.
It also follows, from the effects of the friction upon the wet contour,
that the velocities of the different films of the transverse section are
never uniform; because those which are in contact with the sides are
retarded in their rate of flow, and they, in their turn, act to retard the
flow of the films immediately around themselves; the maximum
velocity being on the surface and on the axis of the deep water-the
minimum velocity on the bed. Du Buat by direct experiment found
that the mean velocity of a stream, in an open channel, might be
expressed by the formula v=cv; in which v represents the mean
velocity; c, a coefficient varying between 0.76 and 0.891; and v the
surface velocity. In practice it is usual to consider that, for surface
velocities of from 8 inches to 5 feet per second, v=v, or that
v=125 v; but in large rivers it appears that, as in the Seine,
v=0·62 v; and in the Neva it is, v=0.75 v; the horizontal position of
the line of the mean velocity seems to range between 0-88 and 0.92 of
the depth considered as unity. Du Buat also found that the bottom
velocity called U-2 vv, in which v and v retained their previous sig-
nification; and from thence we have, when v=1.25v, U=075 v; or
v=1.33 u. It is the bottom velocity which acts by its transporting
powers on the materials of the bed of a river, and has the greatest
effect upon the stability of its banks.
In a channel of uniform velocity and section, if we call the discharge
Q, and the sectional area s, v retaining its signification of the mean
Q
velocity, we have Q-sv, and from this v The inclination of the
S
P
Q
S
De Prony's formula, modified, if needs be, by Eytelwein's observa-
tions, will serve not only to calculate the discharge, and the other con-
ditions of the flow of water in a regular uniform channel, but also to
calculate the conditions of the flow of water in rivers, provided a
length of about 500 yards can be found upon it, where the channel is
of a tolerably uniform section, and the velocity is regular. A cross
section of the stream will give s and P, from whence R will be derived;
and I will be ascertained by actual levelling. When the cross section
is not constant the average area of a number of cross sections will
suffice for ordinary calculations, and the inclination may at any time
be ascertained from v by actual observation, when it is not possible to
level the line of the mid-stream. If the river should happen to be
divided into two branches, with marked inequalities of bed and flow,
it would be preferable to consider each of them separately. For rough
approximate calculations the volume of a river may be likewise ascer-
tained by the formula q=s (0·08 v) in which s signifies as before the
sectional area, and v the surface velocity; but it is essential that
every possible precaution should be taken to secure a correct value
for V.
bed, 1, will be found by De Prony's formula 1= (av+bv²), in
(av+bv²), in which
P= the wet contour, or the developed length of the wetted surface;
s=the sectional area; and a and b, coefficients, which he (adopting
It must not be supposed that the transverse section of any flowing
body of water is perfectly horizontal on its upper surface, because it
will be found that immediately over the portion of the section where
the greatest velocity prevails, the surface will be slightly raised above
the level of the shallower portions of the stream. In small rivers it is
not possible to distinguish this species of surelevation; but in larger
ones it is at times strongly marked. A phenomenon of more import-
ance to the stability of banks consists in the existence of a zone of still
water, comparatively in close proximity to the shore in consequence of
the greater resistance to the flow through the friction of the banks;
and in this part of the stream may also be observed a series of small
eddies produced by the impulsion of the current. The principal direc-
tion of these eddies appears to be directly opposed to that of the main
stream; and moreover it will be found that when any obstacle is
offered to the onward flow of the water, the latter will in the first
place heap up against this object, and finally give rise to a dis-
tinctly marked counter current, technically known as a back-water. If
the obstacle should extend across the whole stream, the upper surface
of the water will assume a sensibly parabolic longitudinal section, the
apex of which will be situated at a considerable distance up stream,
and the axis upon the deep water-line. If the obstacle, however,
should only be upon one bank, the back-water will not extend for any
great distance; but it may frequently happen that the effect of the
counter current would be so great as seriously to endanger the stability
of the bank itself. The spurs, which are in many cases introduced for
the purpose of defending the shores of rivers, when they extend far
into the stream, produce this particular effect; and they may often be
observed to give rise to a series of eddies, currents, and back-water,
which wear away the shore at the points where they are joined to the
land, on the upside especially. Another effect produced by a projec-
tion into the line of flow of a stream is that the portion of the current
which does not go to form the back-water, is deflected from its course,
and may perhaps be made to impinge in a dangerous manner on the
opposite bank. At any rate the current at the foot of a spur into a
main stream is sure to deepen the bed of the river at its foot, and to
carry the channel towards the convex side of the bank; indeed this
law holds universally, and in rivers it is always found that the deep
water channel follows the convex side of the meanderings, and that
the channel thus naturally tends to straighten itself by the more rapid
abrasion which takes place against the projections. From these re-
marks it would follow that whenever it is desired to regularise the
courses of rivers it is preferable to do so by means of longitudinal
parallel walls, rather than by spurs; and that the direction of the new
channel should be made as far as possible rectilineal, or at least with
curves of very large radii. M. Defontaine observed on the Rhine that
elbows of 8300 feet radius produced but small effects upon the bed, or
banks, of that river, notwithstanding that they were composed of easily
transported materials; and it may be inferred from this that a bend
whose radius should be not less than twelve times the width of the
maximum water line may be admitted in permanent works of this
description. The above reasoning of course applies in the most exclu-
sive manner to rivers whose flow is in only one direction; when the
107
RIVER ENGINEERING.
tidal action is brought to bear upon them, other conditions of regimen
are developed to which attention will be called hereafter.
The nature of the materials of the bed a river may flow over will
affect the chemical quality, and therefore the value, of its waters for
such purposes as irrigation or water supply; and this, too, whether
the materials taken up be so taken in solution, or merely in mechanical
suspension. In WATER SUPPLY, attention will be called to the chemical
portion of this inquiry; but at present it is advisable to dwell upon
the merely mechanical effects produced, for the outlines of the beds
of rivers depend mainly upon them. Now the longitudinal profile of
a river almost always forms a species of parabolic curve, whose apex is
in the high lands, and whose base is at the embouchure; so that the
rate of flow is greater near the source than it is near the embouchure,
the transporting and the erosive powers being also diminished in the
same proportion. By the experiments of Du Buat we learn that the
following materials will be carried forward by waters flowing with the
velocities named in connection with them in the table :-
River mud, semi-fluid silt
Brown pottery clay
Common clay
Yellow sandy loam
Common river sand
Gravel, size of small seeds.
Coarse ballast
Sea shingle, 1 inch diameter
"
peas
beans
•
Speed per second 0 feet 3 inches.
""
""
""
""
0 3/11
0
6
""
8,
0
""
""
""
"
""
0
0
0
1
2
""
""
""
:
233 4+
""
470
""
>>
""
Large shingle
",
Angular flints, size of hen's eggs
""
Broken stones
""
""
4
""
""
""
6
""
""
"}
10
Soft schistose rocks
Rocks, with distinct stratification
Hard rocks
0
0
----
""
>>
""
""
It thence follows that when the velocity of the river attains any of
the above rates, it will be able to attack and remove by erosion the
materials of its banks, which would remain in suspension at those
velocities. In designing a system of river defences, however, attention
must be paid exclusively to the maximum, not to the average velocity
of the stream; because in flood time not only is the volume, but also
the velocity, greater than at any other period, and the materials of
which the banks are formed must be able to resist the transporting
power of the floods. However, in consequence of their variable trans-
porting power, rivers in their normal state flow over materials gradually
decreasing in volume as they leave the steeper parts of their courses
and approach their outfalls; and as those materials necessarily become
at last very fine, especially in long flat plains, they offer little resistance
to occasional floods, as may be observed in the deltas of such rivers as
the Nile, Danube, Ganges, &c., which are composed of the fine mud
brought down from the uplands, and in which the course of the
stream continually shifts.
Some curious effects may be observed to take place with regard to
the deposition of alluvial matters near the junction of streams draining
areas of country situated under marked differences of thermometrical
or hydrographical conditions; because the floods (or as they are
technically called the freshets) frequently occur at distinctly different
epochs, and thus, by reason of the freshet of one affluent ponding back
the other, a deposition of the matters in suspension in the retarded
stream will be produced. It often happens that, under such circum-
stances, the accumulation of alluvial matters takes place in a manner
to direct the local current against the banks in a direction essentially
different from the main line of flow, the effect of which would be to
divert the river from its original bed, to a greater or lesser extent,
according to the resistance of the banks. There is another law with
respect to the mode in which the alluvial matters brought down by
floods or freshets takes place, namely, that when the waters overflow
their banks they throw down those matters in the order of their
specific gravities, the heavier ones being thrown down on the edge of
the deep stream, where the velocity is greater, and the lighter ones
being thrown down on the edge of the shallow water where on account
of the friction the velocity is the least. The transverse section of a
valley subject to freshets will be in fact something like the sketch
here given. The banks will form slightly elevated ridges close to the
water's edge, and the surface of the alluvial deposits will fall away gra-
dually on either side; this condition may remain stable for some time,
but there is always a danger from the tendency of the stream to create
for itself a new bed in the lower level. On the Po, where the banks
have been carefully maintained for centuries, the accumulation of the
alluvial matters has taken place in the manner above sketched, but to
such an extent as to create a real source of danger; for the banks of
the river have been gradually so raised by the accumulation of alluvial
matters, as to be in some cases as much as 40 feet above the extreme
depression. [ALLUVIUM, in NAT. HIST. DIV.]
RIVER ENGINEERING.
108
A few final general remarks with respect to non-tidal rivers may
here be inserted, namely, that their volumes, even when they are of a
comparatively stable character, vary within very wide limits. Thus
the Rhone at Lyon, at times, flows with a volume of 7000 cubic feet
per minute, at others with a volume of 203,000 cubic feet; the Rhine
at Strasbourg varies between the limits of 9,500 and 164,000 cubic feet
per minute; the Thames at Teddington between 5,400 and 15,000
cubic feet per minute. For the practical purposes of navigation, a
current is considered to be slow when it does not exceed 1 foot 6 inches
per second; a velocity of between 2 feet and 3 feet 6 inches per second
is considered to be an average one; beyond the latter limit the velocity
of the current is considered to be decidedly unfavourable to an upward
navigation, and if the stream should flow at the rate of 6 or 7 feet per
second, no boats can economically be made to work against it. When
the rate of inclination of the bed of the river attains between 5 and 6
in 10,000, the velocity of the current becomes too great to allow of the
navigation being carried on against it by the ordinary modes of trac-
tion; but by the use of steam tugs worked by high-pressure expansion
engines, the Rhone has been navigated against the stream, even though
its inclination has been on the average of its course from 7 to 8 in
10,000. Rivers which do not present a permanent depth of 1 foot 2
inches, with an available width of at least 14 feet, are not adapted to
receive any kind of navigation, and they can only be rendered available
for commerce by being canalized, or by being converted into what the
continental engineers call floatable rivers. Streams of this kind occur
in mountainous and woody districts, and are much used for the pur-
pose of floating down rafts of timber, or such natural productions as
are not likely to be injured by being occasionally submerged. When
the width and depth of a river exceed respectively 18 feet and 18
inches, a barge navigation may be established, provided of course that
the rate of flow be not unfavourable; and when the width and depth
of the stream become respectively 60 feet and 8 feet, the river becomes
navigable for sea-going vessels. The modes of propulsion to be adopted
must depend upon local circumstances. In still water animal power
is the most economical; steam is frequently used in deep water canals
and river navigation; whilst sails, oars, and tides are frequently re-
sorted to for this purpose in rivers adapted to their use.
In the lower parts of the courses of rivers discharging their waters
into the ocean, and even to some extent in those discharging into tidal
inland seas, a very marked interférence takes place in the conditions of
the currents, in consequence of the periodical tidal action. The tides
themselves are produced by the periodical elevations and depressions of
the level of the sea, caused by the combined action of the sun and
moon, and under such circumstances they are naturally of greater
amplitude on the shores of the larger bodies of water; on the Pacific,
for instance, they are greater than they are upon the Atlantic; upon
the latter, again, the tides are greater than upon the Baltic or the
Mediterranean. The rising tide is called the flood; the falling tide,
the ebb; and the returns of the tide take place twice in each con-
secutive interval comprised between the returns of the moon to the
upper meridian. The mean length of this interval is 1.03505 day, so
that the mean interval between two successive high waters is 0.517525
day, and the mean time f low water divides this interval again into
two nearly equal portions. As in the case of all quantities susceptible
of a maximum and a minimum, the increase or the diminution of the
tides towards their limits is proportional to the squares of the time
elapsed between the high and low tides. The height of the full tide
on the sea-shore varies, normally, every day according to the phases
of the moon; it is greatest at the syzigies, and least at the quadra-
tures; but it is to be observed that in every place there is a species of
retardation in the period of the high tide, as compared with the exact
astronomical periods of the moon's changes, which is technically known
by the name of the vulgar establishment of the place, and which
depends upon laws to be noticed under TIDES. The rise of the high
tides is usually proportional to the fall at low tides, but there is an
irregularity between the heights of the two tides of the same day; the
rise and fall at the syzigies is about double those of the quadratures,
the former being called the spring tides, the latter the neaps; but it
may be added, that the former are much increased when the moon is
in perigee. An augmentation in the rise of the tide also takes place
when the sun's declination is zero, or at the period of the equinoxes;
and the greatest normal tide occurs when a new or full moon happens
to occur near the equinox, when the moon is in perigee; and her
action would be still further increased if her node should happen to
coincide with the perigee. The other causes of the variations in the
height of the tides may be neglected for the present, with the exception
of those which are likely to affect their conditions in and upon rivers.
Thus, in cases where the tidal undulation is confined within a
narrow gulf it becomes considerably increased in amplitude; and its
reflection from the opposite shore may also increase that amplitude,
especially in the recesses of such coasts. It is on this account that
whilst at St. Helena in mid Atlantic, the rise is only 3 feet, and in the
Northern Atlantic it never exceeds 10 or 12 feet, it is in the Bay of
Mont St. Michel, 46 feet; in the Bay of Fundy, 50 feet; and in the
Wye, at Chepstow, 60 feet. High winds, and especially the equinoc-
tial gales, when they coincide with the spring tides may also give rise
to great irregularities in the amplitude of the tidal range, and instances
have even been recorded in which the tides of the quadratures have

1
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100
110
RIVER ENGINEERING.
RIVER ENGINEERING.
been raised by the effect of storms to a greater height than those of
the syzigies. The disturbing effect of storms is, however, the greatest
in seas with a sınall tidal range; as upon the French shores of the
Mediterranean, where the normal rise of the tides is only from 6 to 12
inches, it is thus often increased to 3 feet. The most remarkable cause
of disturbance in the range of the tides is, however, to be met with.ining with considerable velocity, which rises in the form of a sudden
the oceanic currents, and the manner in which they act varies in almost
every case, producing some very singular interferences with the discharge
of the upland waters, and with the deposition of the alluvial matters
in the embouchures of rivers, whether the alluvions be brought from
the sea, or from the interior of the country.
For instance, upon the shores of England we find that in consequence
of the set of the tidal currents in the offing, the bars at the mouths of the
rivers between Land's End and Portland, point from N.W. to S. E., as
a rough general rule; between Portland and Selsea Bill, the in-shore tide
runs in a direction opposite to that of the tide in the offing, and the
bars of the rivers also point from N.E. to S.W. On the Atlantic
shores of Ireland, the bars point rather S.E. to N.W.; they have the
same direction on the western coasts of Scotland; whilst on the eastern
coast of Scotland and of England, the bars upon the open coast point
nearly from N.W. to S.E. In the mouth of the Thames two tidal
currents meet, which have an origin separated by 12 hours' interval;
so that not only are the day and night tides of that river equal in
their amplitudes, but the alluvial matters transported by the tides are
thrown down at the point where the velocities of the currents are
destroyed, in banks which are constantly shifting. On the west coast
of England again, there are in the rivers many instances of the double
tide, arising from the reflection of the great tidal wave from a pro-
jection situated at a point beyond their embouchures, on the line of
advance of that wave; and the conditions of the deposition of alluvial
matters in those rivers are thus very different from the conditions ordi-
narily prevailing. Nor is this the only technical peculiarity connected
with these rivers; because, in fact, the double tide is not so powerful as
the normal tide for the purpose of carrying forward a barge navigation;
but in another sense it is more favourable for the operations of com-
merce on a large scale, by reason of its retaining a great depth of water
in docks and barbours, during the whole of the (so called) slack-tide.
At Southampton, this slack-tide lasts for nearly two hours; on the
French coast the same phenomenon occurs at Havre, and in the Orne,
during about 14 hour in each tide. Great oceanic currents, wherever
they exist, naturally produce analogous effects to these minor inter-
ferences with the progression of the tidal waves; but of course upon a
much larger scale. A study of the history of the deltas of such rivers
as the Nile, Ganges, Indus, Irriwaddy, Amazonas, Mississippi, &c.,
would be necessary for any one who desires to become acquainted with
this important detail connected with hydraulic engineering. The
actual records of the changes in the delta of the Rhine and of the
Scheldt, would be of great interest and value also to the student;
because they have been more closely and more scientifically observed
than the changes which have recently taken place in other rivers of
similar magnitude.
vial deposits both from the sea and from the land; and if a second
contraction of the water-way should take place abruptly above
the inner bay, the peculiar phenomenon known by the name of the
eagre or bore may be observed. The bore, in fact, is caused by the
sudden influx, into a narrow channel, of a large volume of water flow-
wave, and constitutes a serious source of danger to the small craft
navigating the rivers where it exists. On the Hoogley and on the
Amazonas the bore sometimes rises almost literally like a wall of 12
feet in height; on the Severn and the Seine it is often 6 feet high, and
advances inland at the rate of about 6 miles per hour; on the Trent
the eagre often rises as much as 8 feet, at Gainsborough, and there are
even rudiments of the bore to be detected in the Thames. The bore
of the Seine has been diminished by the works lately executed for the
regularisation of the bed of the river above its embouchure, in the bay
of Havre. [BORE.]
The practical rules for the improvement of a river must evidently,
from what has been said above, be susceptible of endless varieties,
according to the nature of the stream, and the purposes to which it
is intended to be applied. Even if no direct commercial benefit is
anticipated from such operations, it must always be desirable that the
flow of water should be kept as regular as possible, and the bed of the
stream should be made to render the greatest amount of service as an
outfall for the surface drainage. There are, however, few rivulets
which might not be made to render service for irrigation purposes, and
directly the flow of water becomes sufficient to allow the establishment
of water-wheels, working occasionally or continuously, the streams
become of great economical value. It is difficult to discover how the
right of property in running waters has been established; and it is a
matter of serious doubt even whether the existence of such rights be
not in itself frequently a source of public inconvenience; but as this
state of things has existed from time immemorial it must be dealt with
in its actual form, if it were desired to improve any particular stream.
The precise objects aimed at in such operations are mainly to retain
the waters in their beds, and to regularise the conditions of the flow
of water in the channels; to prevent inundations, in fact, and to keep
the stream constantly in a state which should enable it to perform the
services it is applied to.
As to the prevention of inundations, that object may at times be
effected by establishing, artificially, a system of reservoirs in the upper
parts of a river's course, which should perform the same function
which the Swiss lakes perform for the rivers coming from the Alps,
that is to say, should store the storm waters during the winter months
for the purpose of distribution in the dry season. Works of this
description have been executed in the East, and they have been
recommended for France; they might be very advantageously intro-
duced in our own colonies, and especially in South Africa and Australia.
In RESERVOIRS the modes of executing this particular class of works
has been alluded to; and the reader may be referred, for further
information on the subject of their influence upon inundations, to
Frisi's work upon ' Torrents,' to Valles, Savigny, Suzell, Hun, Ribbe,
Babinet, &c., who have written at length on the inundations of France.
For the present it may suffice to add, that when the rivers become of
sufficient volume to cause dangerous inundations, there seems to be
less danger when the banks of the river are dressed off at the height
of the ordinary winter flood lines (so as to allow the waters when they
exceed that level at once to flow over the country), than when the
waters are confined within narrow banks raised to a considerable height
above the surrounding lands. In some places on the banks of the
Po, a river subject to violent floods, the banks are made of two
descriptions: "in froldi," when they are raised to the necessary
extreme height at once, and on the margins of the stream; and "in
golene" when they are raised at a great distance from the margins,
so as to interfere as little as may be with the spread of the waters.
The former course is adopted when the valley of the river is narrow
and the foundations are good; the latter, when the valley widens out,
and there is any danger of the undermining of the banks. A double
system of dykes, such as the one adopted in Piedmont, might perhaps
save the dwellings upon the banks of the Rhine and of the Maas, from
the periodical returns of their disastrous inundations; at any rate it
would materially increase the security of the banks themselves when
ice floats down in large quantities, as the piling up of the hummock
ice is more injurious to the light earthen or fascined embankments of
those rivers than even the floods themselves.
In the rivers exposed to the action of a complicated series of tides
and currents, it is far more difficult to maintain a clear navigable
channel than it is in rivers wherein the disturbing causes are more
simple; and bar rivers, although extremely dangerous during stormy
weather, are sometimes less inconvenient for the ordinary purposes of
commerce than are those which, like the Thames, the Scheldt, or the
Seine, are exposed to the injurious effects of the shifting sands thrown
down at their embouchures. It is, moreover, to be observed that in
the majority of cases the oceanic currents bring into the sheltered bays
they meet with, a greater quantity of alluvial matters with the flood
tides than the ebb tide can remove; and there is on this account a
tendency in all such bays to silt up, a tendency which may distinctly
be traced in the three rivers just mentioned. The maintenance of a
navigable channel in these cases becomes a matter of difficulty, and it
can only be effected temporarily by natural means, by securing the
by natural means, by securing the
greatest possible scouring action of the tidal wave. The efforts of
hydraulic engineers for this purpose should therefore be directed
rather to concentrate the flow of the water in one well proportioned
channel, than to secure merely a large volume of tidal water, without
reference to the conditions of velocity it may be possible to impress
upon the latter. For this reason it is preferable, as a general rule, in
designing works for the improvement of the navigable channels of
rivers discharging their waters in tidal seas, to limit the width of the
water-way in the lower portion, so as to drive the tidal wave as far
inland as possible; and for the same reason every interference with
the direct transmission of the tide is objectionable. Many illustra-thickness, and with every imaginable precaution to ensure their
tions of the truth of these propositions might be found on our own
shores; but the success of the works executed for the improvement of
the Clyde, Tyne, Seine, &c., must suffice to prove that the most im-
portant condition for the maintenance of a clear tidal navigation is,
that the water should always possess a uniform velocity throughout
its longitudinal and its transverse sections. In cases like the one
which occurs at the mouth of tho Tyne, where the passage through
which the flood tide enters is contracted by the long bar extend
ing from one shore nearly the whole width of the river; and where
the flood, once admitted, can suddenly expand itself over a wide
bay, it will be almost impossible to prevent the formation of allu-
The embankments thrown up for the purpose of protecting the
submersable districts on the side of a river must be made of a great
stability and their water tightness. The surface exposed to the wash
of the current must be protected if the embankment should be com-
posed of easily transportable materials, by stone pitching, planking,
concrete, wattling, cribwork, or by fascines, tunuages, or clayounages,
in the manner practised by the German, French, and Dutch engineers.
As a general rule the tops of these banks are made wide enough to
carry a road; and it is essential to make provision for removing from
the landward side the drainage waters which may there accumulate;
it would be better to effect this operation by lifting the drainage
waters over the bank instead of passing them under it. Local con-
siderations must, however, regulate the choice of all these details, as
i
111
RIVER ENGINEERING.
well as those connected with the materials to be used in the formation
of the bank itself.
For navigation purposes the improvement of small streams in thinly
peopled, mountainous, and woody districts, is almost forcedly limited
to converting them into floatable rivers; and this is often effected by
throwing a set of dams across the rivers, so as to form as it were locks
of still water, in which the timber can be made into floats, and moved
towards the sluices formed in the dams, which are opened whenever
there is a sufficient accumulation of water to float the timber to
the next pond. The width of these sluices is usually made about 20
feet, and the fall varies between 3 and 4 feet; but as the sluice-gates
are opened suddenly and the waters escape as it were with a flash, it is
not desirable to make the fall great. There are some very good works
of this description on the Yonne, above Auxerre; and the dimensions
of the one at Régilbert may perhaps be added, as a model for our own
colonial engineers. The passage and sluice are formed by carrying out
walls from both banks, in a species of funnel shape, with its wider
mouth towards the upstream, of 233 feet in width, and a length of
about 210 feet from its commencement to the passage, which is 20
feet in width and 33 feet in length to the sluice. Beyond the sluice
'the wing walls open out for a distance of 20 feet, and at the end to
the down stream they have an opening of 24 feet; a floor, for the
purpose of obviating the inconvenience of the cataract produced by
the flash of water, is continued beyond the wing walls; the water is
ponded up to a height of 4 feet, and the sluice is opened, and in a fit
state to pass a raft, within about eight minutes. Occasionally it is
desirable to combine sluices of this description with locks, or, in fact,
to combine a navigable and a floatable system. In these cases the lock
should be placed in the still water, on the opposite side to the flashing
sluice; the latter being itself near the head of the lock chamber, and
the tail of the lock being placed at a sufficient distance from the end
of the dam to obviate any danger from the back-water, or cataract of
the sluice.
The most generally successful mode of improving rivers of small and
irregular volume is, however, their conversion into still water, or canal
navigations, by the construction of locks, waste weirs, and moveable
dams. The positions which are the best fitted for the construction of
the locks are upon the subsidiary channels formed by the islands in
the mid stream of the river; and, unless some peculiar local circum-
stances should intervene, it is customary to form the dam and waste
weir near the head of the smaller branch, and to place the lock at the
lower end of the island; so as, in fact, to convert the smaller branch
into the navigable channel, and to leave the wider branch as the storm
or waste water passage, or goit, as it is technically called. The prin-
ciples of construction of locks, &c., are of course the same in these cases
as in canals [CANAL]; and perhaps this portion of the subject may be
dismissed, by saying that the only special works required for river
navigations are those by means of which sudden floods are allowed to
pass; for especial care must be taken to guard against the formation
of cataracts on the down side of the lock gates. The style of move-
able dam used upon the upper Seine appears to be one of the most
satisfactory of any yet tried, and it might advantageously be adopted
on many of our colonial torrential rivers. Their mode of construction
has been described in a special treatise, by their author, M. Poirée,
but a brief account of them will be found in the Aide-Mémoire of
Military Sciences,' article, River Navigation.
The position of the towing-path is, after all, one of the most important
parts of the operations connected with the improvement of the navigation
of an inland and non-tidal river; and it may be stated that this path should
be placed, wherever it is possible so to do, by the side of the deepest
water, and immediately upon the banks of the river. The theoretical
The theoretical
conditions required for such paths are, that they should be exposed to
as few impediments to the passage of the tow-ropes as may be, and
that the direction of the haulage should not be too oblique. It is
desirable to keep the paths under the wind, in order to avoid the
action of the latter upon the boats; and when bridges are erected, to
carry the paths under the land arches, in order to avoid the necessity
for casting off the ropes. The width of the principal path should be
about 12 or 13 feet; and if, in consequence of the existence of any
rapid or current, it should be necessary to form a second path, so as
to allow another rope to be thrown out to keep the boat's head well in
the centre of the stream, the second path may be made only 6 feet
6 inches wide. The height of the towing-paths should be made such as
to allow of their being overflowed directly the river rises to such a
height, during floods, as to render the navigation dangerous; or per-
haps a safe general rule would be, to keep the top of the path only
2 feet above the ordinary winter flood line. Great attention is required
in the maintenance of the banks and of the roadway of the towing-
path, especially if a rapid navigation be maintained; the banks in this
case should be pitched, and the surface of the roadway macadamised.
Secondary streams or small affluents should be bridged over, so as
to avoid the necessity for casting off the tow-ropes on approaching
them.
In rivers with light and easily moved beds, and which are subject to
violent floods, the navigable channel will be found to run between
numerous islands, and occasionally to shift from one to the other bank,
of the strean. In such cases it frequently becomes necessary to
rectify the bed by forming a new channel, or to fix the current in its
RIVER ENGINEERING.
112
original direction by works which should confine it in one of its
previous channels. This class of operations is one which requires con-
summate skill, for the nature of the foundations is such as to render it
more than usually difficult to contend with the undermining action of
the stream itself, and any injudicious diversion of the current will in
all probability endanger the banks of the river for a great distance.
The most simple rules of a general nature hitherto applied in settling
the dimensions and directions of new channels may be stated as
follows: it being always observed that local circumstances may modify
their application in a very serious manner. Firstly, with regard to
the conditions of flow in the channels, it is known that the velocities
vary in the inverse ratio of the cube roots of the widths; and secondly,
that the cubes of the depths are in the inverse ratio of the widths; in
practice the capacity of the new channel should be made equal to that
of the ancient one, but the capacity in question should be obtained,
wherever it is possible, by increasing the depth at the expense of the
width. All obstacles to the navigation, in the shape of trees, rocks,
shallows, &c., should be removed; and the new channel should be con-
nected with the old one by curves of considerable radius. The banks
of the new channel on the side opposite to the towing-path should be
made in such a manner as to allow the water to flow into the bye-
wash as soon as the floods bring down an abnormal quantity of water;
and it is very seldom, in ordinary river-barge navigations, that the
crowns of the dams forming the bye-washes are raised more than two
feet above the full summer level of the stream. Excellent examples
of the mode of constructing these lateral banks are to be found in
Smeaton's works on the Carron, Telford's on the Weaver, and
D. Stevenson's on the Ribble, though in some of these cases the tidal
action intervened; perhaps the best treatises to be consulted on this
subject are, however, a 'Mémoire on the Rectification of the Bed of the
Midouze,' in the Annales des Ponts et Chaussées,' 1831; a 'Mémoire
on the Defence and Improvement of the Navigable Channel of the
Rhine,' by M. Defontaine, in the same publication for 1833; in
Sganzin's Cours de Construction;' and in Brook's, Calver's and
D. Stevenson's treatises on River and Canal Engineering.
The treatises last mentioned are, it is to be observed, more particu-
larly composed with reference to the engineering works required for
the improvement of the tidal or of the salt-water portions of rivers;
but it may be added that, in all cases, the results of experience show
that the most certain mode of regularising and deepening the bed of a
river is by the establishment of continuous longitudinal embankments.
With respect to the tidal or marine parts of the streams, the only
remarks to be made in addition to those previously applied in the
course of this notice are, that so long as the rivers discharge into seas
wherein the tidal action takes place without interference, the navi-
gation may be improved, and the depth of the channel maintained in
an efficient state simply by the construction of lateral embankments,
diminishing gradually in width according to the quantity of water
flowing inland. Any sudden widening or contraction of the channel is
injurious; but nature will eventually remedy the former disadvantage,
for alluvial matters will be thrown down in the species of bay thus
formed, and all that will then be required will be to keep the main
channel open, in the precise direction required, by works of compara
tively easy execution. In rivers like the Thames and Medway, the
Seine, Rhine, &c., where the flood tide is enabled, by the peculiar laws
of the deep sea currents, to carry in more alluvial matters than the ebb
can remove (and in discussing this question of the movement of
alluvions in rivers, the difference in the specific gravities of salt and of
fresh water must not be lost sight of), in such rivers there must always
The proper
be a danger of the channels becoming gradually silted up.
course to be adopted in such cases is to combine an efficient system of
dredging with a regularisation of the upper portions of the channel, so
as to develope and to concentrate the scouring action of the tide and
of the current to the utmost extent; but it must always be understood
that rivers placed under the action of this peculiar set of laws can only
be kept open by the exertion of great skill, energy, and enterprise. It
is true that hitherto little inconvenience has been felt in the Thames;
in the Medway, however, a gradual shoaling up of the tidal portion of
the river has been observed; the mouths of the Rhine are successively
being choked; the mouth of the Scheldt is becoming less and less
adapted for large vessels; and the Seine has been shown to present
this peculiar characteristic, namely, that even at Rouen the alluvial
mud consists rather of materials brought in by the flood tides from
the sea, than of materials brought down from the interior by the fresh
water.
water. It may also be added, that, as the height and volume of water
in a tidal river depend far more on the quantity of the tidal stream
than upon any supply from the interior, it is comparatively easy to
calculate the height to which the water may under any circumstances
rise; and, when this has been ascertained, the banks on either side
should be carried above the highest water-line; where towing-paths
are used in rivers of this description, they should, if possible, be formed
on both sides. A tidal current of about two to three miles per hour is
usually considered to be advantageous for the tra le of a river; and it
is to the extraordinary facilities offered by the tides of the Thames
that we may attribute the singular form of barge used upon it. These
barges are in fact little better than logs which float on the top of the
tide, and they contrast strangely with the barges used on the Seine,
Rhine, Rhône, &c., which are built in such a way as to offer the least
113
114
RIVER IMPROVEMENTS.
RIVERS.
possible resistance to the current they are obliged t encounter beyond
the limits of the tidal action.
Much information on the subjects alluded to in this article is to be
found (in addition to the works already named) in Robison's Mechanical
Philosophy; in Ellet's Mississippi and Ohio Rivers; in the Raccolta dei
Autori Italiani chi trattono del moto del acque; Weibeking's Theoritische
Practische Wasserbaukunst: De Prony's Nouvelle Architecture Hydrau-
lique; D'Aubisson's Hydraulique; General Baird Smith's Reports, and
his works on Irrigation, &c., &c.
part. This peculiarity in the formation of the ravines of mountain
streams was observed by the Spaniards in the Andes of South America,
who called them quebradas, or broken; by this term tacitly assuming
that the phenomenon had been caused by a violent disruption of the
mountains. This description of mountain-streams and their ravines
applies particularly to those of the western Alps along their southern
declivity, to those rivers which constitute the upper branches of the
rivers Doria and Sesia, to the valleys of Anzasca and Vedro on the
southern side of the great road of the Simplon, and to the still larger
RIVER IMPROVEMENTS. [RIVER ENGINEERING.]
valley of Aosta, through which the road leads from Switzerland to
RIVERS are the flowing waters which bring to the sea, and some- Italy over the mountain-pass of the St. Bernard. The military road
times to a lake, the waters which are collected within a certain portion of the Romans was made through the Val d'Aosta; but in these parts
of the earth's surface. The country which is thus drained by a river it was only practicable for beasts of burden. Such deep ravines not
is called its basin, as the river runs in the lowest part of it, and the only occur between the gigantic elevations of a high range, but like-
country rises on all sides with greater or less steepness, in the fashion wise in the elevated table-lands. According to Dr. Beke, the rivers of
of the sides of a basin. The margin of such a basin generally lies | Abyssinia, nearly all affluents of the Nile, or of its great tributaries, in
contiguous to the basin of another river, and thus constitutes the the early part of their course, flow over the level surface of the table-
boundary-line of the two basins. From these margins the waters land, being little more than muddy brooks, nearly without water in
descend on both sides towards their respective basins, which are the dry season, but overflowing their banks so as almost entirely to
separated by them, and hence the whole line of these margins is called inundate the plain country during the rains. They escape from the
a watershed, properly the water-parting. [WATERSHED.]
plateau by precipitous falls of 80 or 100 feet or more, into fissures in
the rocky surface, at first only a few yards in breadth, but gradually
opening to the extent of several miles, down which the stream hurries
in a succession of falls and rapids, so as to descend several thousand
feet in the course of a few miles. In these deep-cut valleys, the rivers
thus soon reach a depression of 3000 or 4000 feet below the general
level of the table-land. The larger valleys are of considerable width;
that of the Abai, or Nile of Bruce, the upper course of the Bahr-el-
Azrek, or Blue River [NILE, in GEOG. DIV.], for example, is at least
twenty-five miles between the extreme points where it breaks away
from the table-land on either side. "And as the country is wild and
irregular," remarks Dr. Beke, "it is easy for a traveller, who has not
taken a comprehensive view of the entire region, and who finds himself
shut up in such a valley with a mass of broken country surrounding
him, to believe that in ascending from the river he is crossing a
mountain chain; whereas, in reality, he has merely reached the con-
tinuation of the table-land which he had left on the opposite side of
the river." The great rivers of India present corresponding pheno-
mena to those of the East African table-land, but on a more immense
scale. [PLAINS.] Humboldt observes that the plain of Quito, which
is nearly 10,000 feet above the sea, is intersected by ravines, which
in some places sink so deep that their bottoms are hardly more than
2000 feet above the sea-level; and he adds that some of them are so
narrow as not to contain the smallest cultivable space. Similar ravines
intersect the table-lands of Guatemala and Anahuac, where they are
called cañadas, a term, however, which does not imply the existence
of rivers in them or relate to that circumstance, but merely to the
abrupt descent of land.
The basins of rivers vary greatly in size. A brook is the name com-
monly given to rivers of the smallest description. When such a river
rises near the sea or near a large river, into one of which it flows after
a short course, it consequently drains a very small surface. If the
waters should be increased by those of another brook, the name of
brook is changed for that of rivulet. The basin of a rivulet is therefore
more complicated than that of a brook. One or more brooks descend
from the margin of the basin, and by uniting their waters with those
of the rivulet, increase its volume. When several rivulets unite and
so produce a considerable volume of running water, this watercourse
takes the name of river. But all such rivers do not reach the sea, or
even a lake; most of them join other rivers, and thus a large river is
produced. This last-mentioned large river is called the principal river,
and those which increase its waters are called, with respect to it,
affluents or tributaries, and sometimes feeders or branches. In Syria
and Arabia and north-eastern Africa, the winter-brooks, or small streams
which flow only in the winter or the rainy season, are called wadies,
a term frequently met with in the works of travellers in those
countries.
The first waters of a river are generally derived from a spring, which
breaks out at the foot of a declivity, or on the side of some hill or
mountain; and sometimes from a swamp or a lake. This is called the
source of a river. From this source the river descends through the
lowest part of its basin until it terminates its course in the sea, a lake,
or another river, and this termination is called the mouth of the river.
The cavity in which the running water flows is called the bcd of the
river, and the solid land which bounds this bed is called its banks.
The head-streams of a great river are those, proceeding from their
sources, which by their union or confluence produce the first principal
stream, with which another principal stream may be afterwards
confluent, or which may receive tributaries.
Most large rivers have their origin in very elevated mountains, or on
high table-lands, in descending from which a great difference with
respect to the rapidity of their course, and the nature of the country
through which they flow, is observed. Accordingly geographers divide
the whole of the course of such rivers into three divisions, the upper,
middle, and lower course.
The upper course of such a river lies within a mountain region, and
its source is consequently at a great elevation above the sea. The
waters run with greater or less velocity, according to the greater or
less extent of the mountain-region, and the greater or less rapidity
with which the whole region declines towards the country to which
the whole course of the river is directed. When the elevation of the
mountain-region decreases with great rapidity, the current of the river
is extremely rapid, and presents a quick succession of cataracts and
rapids. The force of the current is so great that pieces of rock of con-
siderable size, which are frequently detached from the overhanging
masses, cannot resist it, and are carried down by the current, until
they reach a point where the rapidity of the descent begins to diminish.
The mountains which constitute the banks of the river often rise
several thousand feet above it, and their bases are united by slopes
forming an angle, over which the water runs on bare rocks, without
the least covering of earth. Thus the river does not flow in a valley,
but in a cleft or ravine, which cuts deep into the mountain masses.
Sometimes there is space enough for a path between the river and the
mountains, but in many places this space is only obtained by artificial
means, as by cutting away a projecting portion of the rock, or by
making a tunnel through it. Where either of these means cannot be
applied, the path is continued over the bed of the river by a wooden
bridge of greater or less extent, until a place is reached which offers
sufficient space for a path on the sides of the rocks. The course of
the river is generally in a straight line, but sometimes it makes short
and abrupt bends which form acute angles. In the last-mentioned
case it is, almost without exception, observed that the mountains
which inclose the river have on one side a projection, and on the other
a recession, which correspond so exactly that if it were possible to unite
the two mountains, the projecting would exactly fit into the receding
ARTS AND SCI, DIV, VOL, VII,
|
When the mountain-region through which the upper course of a
river lies descends with less rapidity, and consequently occupies a
much greater extent of country, the mountain-streams, as well as their
banks, present very different features. Both the streams and the
banks show that the descent of the whole mass is not by a regular
slope, but is formed by an alternation of plains and declivities; in
ascending such a mountain-stream, it is found that in certain places
the rocky masses approach so near to the banks, as to leave hardly
room enough for the river, and in these narrows the current is
extremely swift, and generally a continual rapid, interrupted by falls
of moderate height. These narrows however rarely extend more than
a few miles. Above them the mountains recede to some distance from
both sides of the river; and thus a basin is formed, in the middle of
which the river flows with a comparatively slow current, not over bare
rocks, but over a gravelly bed, and between low banks of earth. The
bottom of the basin is level, or descends with a gentle slope, and may
be cultivated or used as pasture-ground. In some of the rivers which
descend from the central and eastern Alps, this alternation of narrow
passes and basins occurs several times. Thus the Reuss, along which
the great road runs which leads over the mountain-pass of St. Gothard,
rushes with incredible velocity through the ravine of the Hospendal,
and falls 1800 feet before it reaches the basin of the valley of Ursern,
which is nearly eight miles long and more than half a mile wide, and
in which it runs with a gentle course. At the northern extremity of
the valley of Ursern the river enters the second narrow at the
Urnerloch. This narrow, which extends about three miles to Geshinen,
is extremely contracted, and within these limits the river descends
1074 feet, forming a succession of small cataracts. Below this is the
basin of the Krachenthal, which is not so wide as that of Ursern, and
about six miles long. The course of the river within this basin is
rapid, but there are no cataracts. From this valley the river escapes
by the third narrow, which is about four miles long, and also very
contracted; it terminates at the village of Am-Stäg, where the Reuss
enters the valley of Uri, in which it flows until it mingles its waters
with those of the lake of Uri (Urner-see), as the southern part of the
Vierwaldstädter-see is named. The same conformation is observed in
the southern declivity of the Alps, where the river Ticino descends
from the mountain-pass of St. Gothard. This river runs in a ravine
from the Hospendal to Airolo, in which it descends about 2880 feet.
It then enters the upper valley of Leventina, which is about seven
I
115
RIVERS.
miles long and half a mile wide, and in which the river is rapid,
but has no cataracts. It issues from this valley by a narrow about two
miles long, between Il Dazio and Faido, where a series of beautiful
waterfalls occur, and the ravine is so narrow that an artificial road has
been cut on the adjacent mountain called the Platifer. At Faido the
Ticino enters the middle valley of Leventina, in which it flows with
great rapidity to Giornico, a distance of about fifteen miles, but
without forming any falls. The valley is less than half a mile wide,
and often interrupted by rocks. Above Giornico the river enters a
short narrow, at the outlet from which it forms cataracts, and then
reaches the wide valley called the Lower Valley of Leventina, in which
it flows with a comparatively gentle course to Lago Maggiore. The
greater number of the rivers which originate in the Alps and Pyrenees
are of this latter description. The basins which occur in these river-
valleys may at some remote period have been filled with water, and
this may have been drained off by the rivers forming an outlet for
the waters by the narrows which now connect their basins with one
another.
A remarkable peculiarity of most of the rivers joining the Nile,
dependant of course on the structure of the country through which
they flow, is that they have a circular, or rather a spiral course, so that
after having described a curve of greater or less extent, round the
isolated mountain masses which break the uniformity of the table-
land of Abyssinia, they return upon themselves at a comparatively
short distance from their sources. As instances of this may be
mentioned the Mareb, or Khor-el-Gash, the Bellegas, the Abai, the
Gibbe, the Godjeb.
are
In some places the elevated mountain-ridges border immediately on
low plains. In such cases the rivers cannot be said to have a middle
course; for as soon as they reach the plain their character is changed,
and the rapid torrent is converted into a gentle stream. Thus the
Marañon, after issuing from the Pongo de Manseriche, and entering the
great plain, flows slowly through the alluvial level; and the Ganges,
after leaving the Himalaya Mountains, at Hurdwar, flows with
great bends through the immense plains of India. [HINDUstan, in
GEOG. DIV.] All the rivers which descend from the southern
declivity of the Alps to the plain which the river Po traverses
of the same description. In most cases, however, the
mountain-regions are not in immediate contact with the plains,
but are separated from them by hilly tracts, and that portion of
the course of a river which lies through such a hilly region is called
the middle course. The rocky masses rarely approach the bed of a
river which has a middle course, but retire to some distance from
them, so as to form between the higher grounds a wide valley, which
the inundations of the river have covered with a thick layer of alluvial
soil. It is remarkable that the highest ground of these valleys occurs,
without exception, on the very banks of the rivers, and that the
land slopes from them towards the base of the higher grounds.
Accordingly the inundations generally cover the lower tracts, which
are at some distance from the river, to the depth of several feet, while
the banks are still above the surface of the water. The slopes of the
higher grounds, which may be considered as the outer banks of the
river, because they fix a limit to its inundations, are generally gradual,
and covered with vegetation. The current of the river itself is gentle.
This change, when compared with that of the mountain-stream, is
partly due to the more gentle descent of the hilly region, and partly to
the form of its course. The bed of the river rarely lies in a straight
line, but continually forms bends, which are not acute angles, as in the
case of the mountain-streams, but have only a small curvature, so that
the river runs through the valley in a serpentine course. This circum-
stance renders the course of the river much longer than it would be if
it flowed in a straight line, and consequently diminishes the fall and
the rapidity of the current.
It is observed that rivers form numerous small islands and sand-
banks a short distance below the place where they issue from the
mountain-region. Thus the Rhine, between Basel and Kehl, opposite
Strasburg, and the Amazonas, below the Pongo de Manseriche as far
east as the mouth of the Yapura, and the Mississippi, between the
mouth of the St. Peter river and that of the Missouri, form islands
and sand-banks. This is easily to be accounted for, by observing that
the river, on issuing from the mountains, retains a large quantity of
earthy matter in suspension, which subsides when the current decreases
in rapidity. This sediment forms islets and sand-banks. Though it
rarely happens, as already observed, that the rocky masses approach
close to the banks in the middle course of a river, yet this generally
occurs several times, and at such places the river usually forms rapids
and whirlpools. A ledge of rocks traverses the bed of the river in
some places. Such ledges occur in the Danube at Passau, near
Neuburg above Vienna, near Presburg in Hungary above Pesth, and at
Orshova, or Orsova, on the boundary-line between Austria and Turkey.
On the Rhine they occur only between Mainz and Bonn, where the
river is traversed by three ledges, at Bingen, at St. Goar, and near
Andernach respectively. Such ledges are found in nearly all the large
rivers of Europe. The elevations by which they are produced are
sometimes connected with ranges of hills.
Ledges of this description occur in many of the Atlantic rivers of
the United States, as the Potomac, the James River, and others; and
they mark with precision the passage of the rivers from the undulating
RIVERS.
116
or hilly region to the low plains along the coast. There are of course
rapids where these ledges occur.
·
محمد
The lower course of rivers usually lies through a plain. In general
there are no hills which constitute the outer margin of its course, and
consequently there is no bottom or valley through which it runs.
The banks are very little raised above the surface of the waters, and
the level ground extends to a greater distance. The current is slow,
the fall being very small. Thus it was observed by La Condamine,
that the Amazonas from the narrow at Obydos to its mouth, a
distance of 700 miles, does not fall quite 12 feet, or little more than
0.2 of an inch per mile. It can hardly be conceived that a river with
so small a fall could propel its waters, and as the current of the
Amazonas is considerable, it can only be accounted for by suppo-
sing that the enormous volume of water which the river brings
down, drives on by its pressure that which is before it until it
reaches the sea. [AMAZONAS, in GEOG. DIV.]
[AMAZONAS, in GEOG. DIV.] The surface of the
Elbe at Hamburg, about 70 miles from the North Sea, is not
more than 6 feet above the sea, and the fall per mile very little
exceeds an inch. The surface of the plain through which a river runs
generally consists of an alluvium, which the river has deposited during
the inundations. The matter of which this alluvium consists is soft
and loosely bound together, and consequently the current, slow as it
is, has power enough to remove a portion of the banks from one side,
and to deposit the detached matter on the other. Thus great changes
are produced in the courses of rivers in the lapse of time. Major
Rennell surveyed a large portion of the lower course of the Ganges,
and his maps were very exact at the time. He also observed the
changes which the river had produced in its bed. About fifty years
afterwards the course of the Ganges was again surveyed, for the
purpose of establishing a steam navigation, and it was found that the
course of the river hardly in any place agreed with the maps of
Rennell. The most remarkable circumstance however is, that a river
frequently divides into a number of arms, each of which runs to the
sea, though some branches re-unite and again detach themselves from
one another. Thus the Danube reaches the sea by seven arms, as the
Nile formerly did, according to the ancient accounts. though there are
now only five arms in the Nile. Our best maps represent the number
of the mouths of the Ganges as amounting to ten at least. This
division of a river into several arms is easily understood when the soft
nature of the alluvium is considered: and if we suppose that the river
in its operation of changing its bed, finds in its way a piece of rock or
other matter harder than the alluvial soil, by setting against such an
obstacle the current is divided, and flows on both sides of it: the
following inundation removes still more of the alluvium, and thus, in
course of time, a new arm is formed.
The country which is enclosed by the arms of a river is called its
delta, from the form of the Greek letter A, which the delta of the Nile,
that which was best known to the ancients, greatly resembles: but the
term is generally appropriate, as most river deltas have that form.
To
the base of the triangle, however, the deposit of matter brought down
by the river adds a curved projection seaward, rendering the entire
form of what is called the delta that of the sector of a circle. It
is a common conjecture that the space which is now occupied by the
delta of a river was once a part of the sea, which was filled up by the
débris and earthy matter brought down by the river from the
mountainous and hilly country through which its upper and middle
course lie. This supposition is strongly supported by the nature of
the soil, which evidently consists of matter brought down by rivers,
and not of such as the sea leaves behind when, from any cause, it
retires. (On this subject see Captain Spratt's 'Investigation of the
Delta of the Nile,' as referred to in the article QUICKSANDS.) It may
be added, that this operation of rivers goes on during the inundations,
for after the waters have subsided the surface of a delta is found to be
covered with a very thin layer of mud, which soon becomes dry earth.
The deltas of rivers which are annually swollen by rains, which is the
case between the tropics, are generally much more extensive than those
which are formed by rivers whose inundations are only produced by
the melting of snow.
There is a river of first-rate magnitude which has no delta, though
it seems to possess all those qualities which are supposed to be
requisite to the formation of such an alluvial tract: the St. Lawrence
in North America reaches the sea by a kind of bay, which extends
upward of 300 miles, and gradually increases in width from three to
above one hundred miles. One would suppose that the form of this
bay would render it subject to be easily filled up by the earthy matter
brought down by a river whose course exceeds 1800 miles; and yet
we do not find that an alluvium of any extent has been formed along
the banks of this wide æstuary, except on the right bank below
Quebec. This single instance might throw some doubt on the opinion
that deltas are formed by rivers in the way above mentioned, if the
peculiar nature of the St. Lawrence did not suggest an explanation of
this deviation from the common course of things, which rather con-
firms than refutes the established principle. The St. Lawrence is the
only large river which traverses a great number of lakes. Even after
having left the five great Canadian lakes, it passes through those of
St. Francis, St. Louis, and St. Peter. In each of these lakes the
current ceases, and it is only perceptible where the river again issues
from the lake. All the earthy matter therefore which the river
117
118
RIVERS.
RIVERS.
*
collects and keeps suspended in its course from one lake to the other
is deposited in these lakes. Thus this large river brings no débris
and earthy matter, or very little, to its wide æstuary, which can-
not therefore be changed into a delta by the accumulation of such
matter.
Most large rivers, as already observed, admit of this division of
their course into three parts, an upper, middle, and lower course;
but the exceptions are far from being rare. It sometimes happens
that the characteristic features by which the middle course is distin-
guished, occur in the upper course. This takes place when a river
originates on an elevated table-land, and traverses a considerable part
of it. Thus the Indus, the Sutlej (an affluent of the Indus), and the
Sampoo, rise on the elevated table-land of Tibet, and drain a portion of
it in this part of their course they resemble the middle course
of the Rhine or Danube. But where they leave the plain and enter
the mountain-region of the Himalaya, they resemble the moun-
tain-streams of the Alps, except as to the volume of water. When the
Indus and the Sutlej have descended into the plains of the Punjab,
they assume the character of the lower Rhine and lower Danube. The
Sampoo, after leaving the mountain-region, traverses a hilly tract of
great extent, the valley of Asam, before it enters the alluvial plain of
Bengal. There are other rivers, in which only the characteristic
features of the middle and lower course can be recognised: the number
of such is considerable, and some of them are of the first magnitude.
Thus the Volga and Mississippi, neither of which rises in a mountain-
region, but in a hilly tract, in the greater part of their course present
the characteristics of the middle course of the Rhine and Danube,
but towards their mouths they traverse a large plain. The number
of rivers whose whole course lies through a hilly or undulating country
is still greater, as is the case with nearly all the rivers of England and
Southern Scotland. There are also rivers which in their whole course
traverse a mountain region, but they are all small; such are some of
the rivers in North Scotland and in Sweden, and nearly all the rivers
of Norway, and those on the west coast of South America.
The number of rivers which do not reach the ocean is not great, if
we except those which fall into the Caspian Sea and into the lake of
Aral. The other rivers without an outlet always terminate their
course in a lake. It was formerly supposed that the water of some of
them was absorbed by a dry soil, and that they were lost in the sand;
and this opinion still prevails as to some rivers which descend from
Mount Atlas southward to the Sahara. But the point remains doubtful.
Among other rivers which have no communication with the sea, some
few traxerse elevated table-lands, consisting of plains surrounded by
continuous mountain-ranges, through which the waters cannot find an
outlet, and consequently collect in the lower part of the plains, and
form lakes large enough to part with all their surplus water by evapo-
ration. Such rivers occur in the valley of Tenochtitlan in Mexico.
The most remarkable is the Desaguadero, in the valley of Titicaca in
Bolivia, which runs about 300 miles, and is lost in a lake or in swamps.
The Hyarkan or Yerkan, in Chinese Turkistan, is still larger, but its
character is imperfectly known. Another kind of such lakes occurs in
the plains of Mexico and of South America, and almost exclusively in
those parts which have no rain or very little. On the table-land of
Mexico the greater number of rivers between 24° and 30° N. lat.
terminate in lakes; and in the states which compose the Argentine
Republic, rivers of this kind are numerous between 28° and 34° S. lat.,
west of 64° W. long. As very little rain falls in some of these coun-
tries, and in others none at all, the rivers are supplied with water by
the rains which fall at certain seasons on the mountains in which they
originate, and by the springs which exist there. But as the supply of
water is very moderate, it does not give force sufficient to the currents
to carry them through those extensive tracts which separate them
from the sea. It is remarkable that some of these rivers and all the
lakes in which they terminate, are salt in South America; and it is
probable that this is also the case with most of those on the Mexican
isthmus.
Most rivers overflow the low countries which are adjacent to their
banks, either at regular seasons of the year or occasionally. This takes
place when the supply of water is greater than the bed of the river can
contain. In this respect rivers may be divided into three classes: the
first comprehends the rivers whose inundations are produced by the
melting of snow and ice; the second comprehends those which are
annually swollen by regular rains; and the third those which only
occasionally cause inundations.
All large rivers that drain countries of which the mean winter
temperature is below 30°, are annually subject to great risings when
the snow and ice melt. In such countries snow falls for several
months, and as only a small part of it is dissolved, it accumulates to a
great amount. As soon as the frost ceases, the snow begins to melt,
and runs off by the smaller rivers, which suddenly swell and carry an
unusual supply of water to the principal river, whose volume being
thus increased to three or four times its ordinary magnitude, overflows
the adjacent low country. These inundations, though they generally
improve the soil, are very injurious to agriculture, by destroying the
growing corn, and covering extensive tracts with sand, gravel, and
other coarse carthy matter. In some rivers these inundations last
only from two to four weeks; in others two or three months; and in
some even five or six months. Where the inundations are long, they
*
are less violent, and cause less damage than when they are short; in
the latter case the whole mass of water suddenly deluges the country,
while in the former the water rises slowly. This difference in the
inundations of rivers is mainly to be attributed to the direction in
which they flow. Let us take a river like the Mississippi, which flows
from north to south through 17° or 18° of latitude. In winter the
basin is covered with snow, and if the whole were melted in a few
days, it would produce such a volume of water as would probably cover
nearly half the basin. But the melting of the snow is gradual. Whilst
the temperature in the northern districts is below the freezing-point,
the spring has already made considerable progress in the southern
districts, the snow which has there fallen has been dissolved, and the
water thus produced has had the requisite time to run off and reach
the sea.
Thus with the progress of the sun towards the northern
tropic, the line of the melting snow proceeds northward, and thus the
supply of water runs off gradually, until the snow of the most northern
region is dissolved. More than two months elapse between the melt-
ing of the snow in the northern region and the commencement of the
melting in the lower part of the river. The inundations of the Missis-
sippi therefore are not extensive, if the great length of that river and
of its affluents be considered, but they last from three to four months.
A considerable part of the delta of that river is indeed under water for
six months, but this must be ascribed to the tract of elevated ground
which extends not far from the sea between the Atchafalaya and the
La Fourche, and prevents the enormous mass of water which collects
in the lowlands near the first-mentioned branch from running off
sooner. When a river situated in the northern hemisphere flows from
south to north, the melting of the snow of course commences near the
upper branches of the river, and proceeds northward. In this case the
volume of water which collects at a certain period in the lower course,
where the lowlands are generally most extensive, is much greater, and
the inundations are much more extensive and attended with more
mischief. But still they cannot be compared with inundations of
those rivers which run from east to west or from west to east. In
countries which are drained by such rivers, the whole mass of snow is
dissolved in a few days, especially when a thaw is accompanied by
rain, and all the waters thus produced pass through the principal
channel in the course of a week or two. In such rivers the volume of
water during the inundations is three or four times larger than it is in
the middle of the summer or the beginning of autumn, and the inun-
dations spread to a great distance, and frequently cause great loss of
property, and sometimes also of life, especially when the winter has
been unusually long and the falls of snow very heavy. [NIEMEN, in
GEOG. DIV.] But the river St. Lawrence forms an exception here
also. As its general course is from west to east, one would suppose
that a large extent of country within its basin would be annually
subject to inundation, but this does not appear to be the case in any
part of its course. If any portion of it is swollen by the melting of
the snow within the basin, the river soon enters one of the lakes
through which its course lies, and thus the addition of a compa-
ratively small volume is not sufficient to raise the surface of the
lake to any large amount. Thus the same cause which prevents its
filling up the wide æstuary, prevents the river from overflowing
A diurnal rise and fall characterises the
the adjacent country.
rivers of Switzerland and those of the western Himalaya, where a
powerful sun melts the glaciers by day, and the head-streams are
frozen by night.
Rivers whose inundations are produced by regular rains have the
greater part of their course either within the tropics or at least between
30° N. lat. and 30° S. lat. It is a known fact, that in those regions
heavy rain falls daily from three to six months in the year. These
heavy rains commence when the sun in its progress from one tropic to
the other approaches the zenith of a country, and they continue till
it has passed a certain distance from it. In the beginning of the
wet season, as this part of the year is called in those countries, the
rains are sometimes so heavy that in the course of a day the level
country is covered with water a foot deep. The rivers of course soon
begin to increase in their volume of water, and after some time they
These inunda-
rise to the level of the banks, and begin to run over.
tions generally last from two to four months. They are more regular
than those which are produced by the melting of the snow, and in
general do not exceed a certain height. The rural economy of those
countries in which they take place is founded on the knowledge of
this periodical event, and on the certainty that the inundations will
fertilise the fields by depositing on them a fine mud, which enriches
the soil more than the best manure artificially collected and applied.
The supply of fertilising matter may not be due in an equal ratio to all
the head-streams or all the tributaries of a river. In the important case
of the Nile, according to M. Linant, an eminent scientific traveller and
geographer, it is by the Atbara, its first great tributary, that most of the
black-carth and slime is brought down which manures the lands in Egypt;
from which it has received also the designation of Bahr-el-Aswad, or the
Black River. Whenever the inundations do not rise to the usual height,
which is sometimes the case, a great part of the country which is not
covered with water yields little or nothing, and the consequence is
dearth and famine. When, on the other hand, the inundations rise
higher than usual, they are also injurious to rural economy, by
reaching those tracts which are set apart for the cultivation of plants,
i
+
کیو
119
RIVERS.
which cannot bear so much moisture as the districts that are regularly
flooded. Thus, in 1831, the river Menam in Siam rose to an
extraordinary height: the inundations reached the large orchards
which for many miles-in extent cover the more elevated tracts along
the banks, and afford subsistence to a numerous population. Several
kinds of fruit-trees were almost destroyed, and for some years the
mangusteens and durians were scarce.
The Indus [HINDUSTAN, in GEOG. DIV.] belongs to both of these
classes of rivers, or rather to all three. The elevation of its waters is
owing to the periodical melting of the snow and the subsequent rains,
and it is subject also to enormous occasional inundations. In the
year 1841, according to Major Cunningham, in his work on Ladak, the
mass of water accumulated, and which caused the inundation of the
lands bordering the lower part of its course, was estimated at
20,000,000,000 cubic feet, equal to a volume 100 feet deep, 380 feet
wide, and 100 miles long. A similar inundation, though probably of
inferior magnitude, took place in August, 1858, when, at Attock, the
water rose 50 feet in seven hours and a half, and attained 90 feet
during the day. Its affluent, the Cabul river, flowed upwards for ten
hours. Valuable investigations of the mechanical philosophy of these
phenomena, and of the relations between the velocity of a river-stream
and that of the tide or other waves to which it may be subject, by
Mr. J. Obbard and Archdeacon J. H. Pratt, will be found in the
Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,' N. S., vol. xxix. (1860,
No. iii.,), p. 263–282. The latter subject has important relations with
that of the ascent of the tide up a river; noticed below.
All the rivers between the tropics which are swollen by periodical
rains lie only in one hemisphere, the northern or the southern. In
the countries through which they flow the waters are low and the
ground dry during part of the year, so as to admit of easy cultivation,
and at another season the fields are fertilised by the inundations. The
Nile and the Amazonas are alone exceptions. Though the course of
the latter river is in the southern hemisphere, its affluents extend far
to the north and south, into both hemispheres, and probably three-
fourths of the tropical rains which descend upon South America find
their way to that large river. To this circumstance are owing its
immense volume of water and its great depth. The Amazonas,
properly speaking, is never at its lowest level, in the sense in which
that term is applied to other rivers. When the northern rivers cease
to bring down the supply which is owing to the periodical rains, the
southern begin to bring their contributions. This fact seems suffi-
ciently to explain the immense tracts of alluvial soil which extend
along the river to a great distance, but the same circumstance also
keeps the soil in a state of continual moisture, and makes it a per-
petual swamp. Accordingly we find that the banks of that river,
which admits of a more extensive navigation than any other river in
the world, remain nearly destitute of agricultural settlements, and are
still in the possession of savage tribes. In the northern portion of the
upper course of the Nile, that river appears to be almost stagnant
except during the rains, and to consist in the dry season of a series of
swamps and lakes, rather than to form a continuous stream.
The rivers which drain the countries between 30° N. latitude and
those in which the mean temperature of the winter season does not
rise above 30°, are subject to occasional inundations. But these over-
flowings occur only in those rivers whose upper course lies within
mountain-ranges which are covered with snow for a considerable part
of the year. In such cases, while the snow covers the more elevated
portion of the mountain-ranges, a sudden change in the weather, which
produces a warm wind, brings great volumes of vapours, which, falling
in abundant rain, soon dissolve the snow, and the mountain-streams
pour
down their waters with increased volume and velocity. As soon
as the waters reach a level tract, it is inundated. As these inundations
often take place unexpectedly, they cause great damage. Thus we find
that some valleys in the Ozark Mountains, in the United States of North
America, are almost uninhabitable, owing to the sudden inundations
to which the rivers of that mountain-region are subject. Many rivers
however never inundate the adjacent country, unless a heavy gale of
wind should blow directly up the river, and drive the sea into it with
great force. Such inundations are very sudden, and sometimes also
extensive, but they are of short duration. [CLIMATE: RAIN.]
+
An important subject in the history of rivers, relating to the dis-
tribution of temperature within certain areas of the earth's surface
and the immediately incumbent atmosphere, and their equalisation in
others, and which bears also on the connection of rivers with the
welfare of organic nature and the human race, is the variation of their |
temperature in different parts of their course, both at the same and at
different seasons. This depends, proximately, on the temperature of
their affluents, and may even give information of the physical state of
the countries in which they rise, when these are otherwise unknown.
Dr. Joseph D. Hooker, in his Himalayan Journals' (vol. ii., p. 60),
has given some interesting facts on this point, as presented by the
rivers which rise in the Sikkim Himalaya. The Teesta, a tributary of
the Megna, or Brahmaputra, is always cool in summer (where its bed
is below 2000 feet in absolute elevation), its temperature being 20°
below that of the air; whereas, in mid-winter, when there is less cloud
and the snows are not melting, it is only a few degrees colder than the
air. At Bhoomsong, of which the elevation is 1500 feet, the mean
temperature of the Teesta, in that season, was 51°, and that of the air
RIVERS.
120
52°3; at that elevation the temperature of the water rarely exceeds
60° at midsummer. Between the altitudes of 4000 feet and 300 (the
plains of India) its mean temperature varies about 10° between January
and July; at 6000 feet it varies from 55° to 43° during the same
period; and at 10,000 feet it freezes at the edges in winter, and rises
to 50° in July. In June, in descending from 12,000 to 1000 feet, Dr.
Hooker found that its temperature did not rise 10°, while that of the
air rose 30° or 40°. The temperature of the northern feeders of this
river, in some parts of their course, actually rises with the increasing
elevation. Thus, the Zemu, during the traveller's stay at its junction
with the Thlonok (which has its source in the north-east snowy flank
of Kinchinjunga, one of the three or four highest mountains in the
world), was at 46°, or 6° warmer than the latter; at 1100 feet higher
it was 48°, and at 1100 feet higher still it was 49°. "These observa-
tions," Dr. Hooker adds, "were repeated in different weeks, and several
times on the same day, both in ascending and descending, and always
with the same result: they told, as certainly as if I had followed the
river to its source, that it rose in a drier and comparatively sunny
climate, and flowed among little snowed mountains." Another explorer
of nature, Mr. Alfred R. Wallace, has recorded ('Travels on the Amazon
and Rio Negro,' p. 431) some facts apparently of the same description,
not, however, observed by himself, and which he professes his inability
to account for. In the month of May some very cold days are said to
occur annually on the Upper Amazon and Rio Negro, sometimes so
severe that the inhabitants suffer much, and the fishes in the rivers
even die of the cold; though five or ten degrees of diminution of tem-
perature, Mr. Wallace remarks, is as much as ever takes place. We
conceive the depression of temperature of the local atmosphere affecting
the inhabitants to be occasioned by the air brought down in contact
with the cooled water of the rivers, the temperature of which must
be still lower, and that the cause is the annual melting of the snows
about the sources of some of their head-streams.
In adverting to the advantages which a country derives from its
rivers, we must first observe that the water is extensively used for the
purposes of domestic economy. It is much purer than that of wells;
for river water in general contains much less saline matter than spring-
water; it has also earthy particles in suspension, which may easily be
separated by filtration, and which are deposited as a sediment when
the water is left to stand for a short time. The water of wells
generally contains a small quantity of some mineral salts in solution.
The water of rivers is used, and is nearly equal to rain water, for all
domestic purposes. The upper courses of rivers are generally inhabited
by a small number of species of fish, and the whole amount is not
great. But towards their mouths the number both of species and
individuals increases. The importance of a river fishery may be esti-
mated when we consider the quantity of salmon which is taken in the
rivers of Britain, or of the beluga and sturgeon which is caught in the
neighbourhood of Astrakhan. Many rivers, which are not adapted to
the purposes of navigation, are converted into powerful instruments
for assisting the industry of a country by the moving-power which
they supply for mills and other heavy machinery. The advantage of
such a natural moving-power primarily determines the seat of manu-
factures, as was the case in South Lancashire, where this advantage is
combined with abundance of coal. The Atlantic States of North
America are generally provided with abundance of streams, a circum-
stance which favours the establishment of manufactures.
The greatest advantages however which a country derives from its
rivers are the facilities which they supply for conveying the produce
of agriculture and of manufacturing industry to distant parts at a
moderate expense. In this respect the rivers may be compared to
the arteries and veins of the human body, which diffuse life and
strength through all parts. Navigable rivers vivify, maintain, and
excite the efforts of human industry. In many countries, where roads
are neglected, it is estimated that the transport of goods by land is four
times as expensive as that by means of navigable rivers, and thus
many heavy and bulky commodities could not be brought to market
but for the cheap conveyance of rivers. In considering the capacity of
a river for navigation, two circumstances mainly require notice-how
far seafaring vessels may ascend, and how far the river is navigable for
river boats.
Seafaring vessels can ascend many rivers as far as the tides extend.
Indeed some rivers, as the Amazonas, may be navigated by large vessels
to a much greater distance than the tide ascends, but in others the
waters become shallow long before the limit of tide-water is reached.
Still high tides facilitate the navigation of rivers by large vessels, not
only by producing a current contrary to that of the river, but also by
temporarily increasing the depth of water so that vessels can pass over
shallows and sandbanks, which at low tides are nearly or quite dry.
This is frequently the case in rivers where the tides rise more than 12
feet. The tides in rivers are not of equal duration, as is the case in
most parts of the sea; but the ebb tides frequently last twice as long
as the flowing tides. At Rotterdam the tides flow for about 4 hours
and 5 minutes, but the ebb lasts 7 hours and 55 minutes. The Meer-
wede at Dordrecht flows against the current of the river for 3 hours
and 51 minutes, and with it 8 hours and 9 minutes. This difference is
easily explained, when the force of the river current is taken into
account. The same circumstance explains the difference in the
velocity of the ebbing and flowing tide. Between the North Sea and
121
122
RIVERS.
RIVERS.
Hamburg, the flowing tide takes 5 minutes to run up a mile, but the
ebb tide performs the same distance in less than 4 minutes. But it is
difficult to explain the well-established fact that the tides advance
much farther into a river than might be expected. When the tide at
the mouth of a river rises 4 feet, we might suppose that it would
advance only to such a point in the river, where the surface is 4 feet
above the sea, but it has been ascertained that it advances further.
It seems that the volume of water which is carried up by the tide is
pushed onwards by the mass behind it, and carried to a greater
distance than the inclination of the river bed would seem to allow.
It has also been observed, that during the flowing of the tide the
surface of the water in the river presents a somewhat convex form, the
water along the banks being a little lower than in the middle of the
river, and that during the ebb the contrary takes place. The flowing
tide raises the water from below, and thus sooner affects the main
body of the river, where it has more room to operate, than the water
near the margin. In accordance with this explanation it is observed
that the flowing tide is perceptible in the middle, while it is still
ebbing along the banks, and that vessels which are at anchor near the
banks are turned round before the water on the surface of the river
near the banks begins to flow upward.
In a few rivers the tide ascends to a great distance from the sea.
In the Amazonas it is perceptible in the Narrow of Pauxis near
Obydos, a distance of nearly 500 miles from the mouth of the river,
measured along its course. If we suppose that the tide in this river
advances at the rate at which it runs in the Elbe between the North
Sea and Hamburg,—namely, nearly a mile in five minutes, the tide
can only reach the Narrow of Pauxis in 42 hours, or in a space of time
during which the direction of the tides has changed seven times at
its mouth. It is therefore evident that the current of the Amazonas
between the sea and the Narrow of Pauxis must, at the same time,
in three or four different parts of its course, follow the impulse given
to it by the tide, and run against the stream. We are of opinion,
however, that the tide in the Amazonas advances more slowly than in
the Elbe, owing to the stronger current of the Amazonas, and that the
number of high tides in the Amazonas, between the two above-
mentioned points, will probably be found to be five or six. The tide
rushes into some rivers with great impetuosity, and produces what is
called a bore. [BORE; WAVE.]
Human ingenuity, even in the lowest state of civilisation, has
perceived the use of rivers as means of conveyance. Perhaps all rivers
which have water enough to carry the smallest boats of any shape or
form are navigated, except where the nature of the current opposes
insuperable obstacles. These obstacles consist of cataracts or of rapids.
When the river descends from a rock which rises several feet per-
pendicularly, it rushes down in a broken sheet of water, and is said to
form a cataract. When the water descends with great velocity over an
inclined plane of rock, it is said to form a rapid. A cataract may be
descended when it is only a few feet high. Rapids may be ascended
and descended in most cases with great labour and some danger, when
they are not very long, and the bed of the river is free from projecting
rocks, which however is rarely the case. The ascent of rapids is
effected either by poling or by dragging the boats over the dangerous
place by means of long ropes. Sometimes ropes are also used in the
descent, as in the Rhine at Laufenburg in Switzerland. But generally
either the whole cargo or a part of it must be taken out of the boat,
and carried a certain distance by land. Such a tract, over which the
goods must be carried, is called a portage. At long and dangerous
rapids the boats themselves must be carried or dragged over the
portages.
River boats differ greatly in shape and construction, being always
adapted to the nature of each river. Most rivers contain numerous
shoals, on which the water is very shallow, and accordingly flat-bottomed
boats are used, like the coal-barges in London. Keel-boats can only be
used where the river has a depth of a few feet, and is free from shoals
and sand-banks. When a river is shallow and rapid, but of considerable
width, rafts are substituted for boats. Rafts generally consist of trees
fastened together with ropes or the flexible branches of trees, or, in
warm countries, by creeping plants; goods are placed upon the raft.
When these rafts, with their cargoes, have arrived at their place of
destination, the raft itself is sold, either as timber or as firewood,
according to its dimensions and quality, and the crews return by land.
When a river is too full of cataracts and rapids to allow either boats
or rafts to descend, it may still be used for floating down timber or
firewood. The trunks of trees, after being deprived of their branches,
are thrown singly into the current, and towards the mouth chains are
laid across the river, above which the trunks collect, and whence they
are carried to their destination. This is frequently done in the rivers
of the southern districts of Norway.
Rivers which traverse a mountain-region in some parts of their
course are either not navigable in this part or only in some places.
Thus the Amazonas and Ganges, where they respectively flow within
the ranges of the Andes and Himalaya Mountains, are not navigable;
but the Rhine and the Danube are navigable even within the moun-
tains, in some parts for a considerable distance. The most extensive
The most extensive
system of internal navigation is presented by those rivers which have
a long course, and whose sources are situated at a comparatively small
elevation above the sea. The Volga is navigable in the whole length
A
of its course, and the Mississippi up to the Falls of St. Anthony, a
distance of about 1800 miles, measured along the river. Both these
rivers, as already observed, have the greater part of their course
between hills of small elevation, and they do not traverse a mountain-
region.
The rivers of England supply the means of an extensive system of
inland navigation-a circumstance partly due to their small fall, their
sources being only a few hundred feet higher than their mouths, and
partly to the abundant supply of water from rain, mists, and springs.
Accordingly, if two rivulets unite, they generally form a small navi-
gable river, and such as are not navigable become useful as feeders to
canals. The navigation of most of the rivers of England has been
much improved by artificial means.
The Thames is navigable for large sea-vessels to London Bridge, a
distance of 45 miles from the Nore, though the whole course of the
river, measured along its windings, hardly exceeds 200 miles. No
river in the world, perhaps the Amazonas excepted, is, navigable for·
vessels of such dimensions for one-fourth of its course. This circum-
stance is not due solely to the height of the tides, which is about
19 feet at London Bridge, but mainly to the fact that there are no
sand-banks at its mouth which prevent the access of large vessels. The
river probably brings down sufficient earthy matter to form a bar
but owing to the direction of the tide, which is kept off from the
mouth of the river by the projecting coast of Kent between the two
Forelands, and there being consequently nothing to oppose the current
of the river at its mouth, the earthy matter is carried farther from
the coast, and deposited in deep water.
The advantages hitherto enumerated are common to rivers in all
parts of the globe; but there are some countries in which the value of
rivers is much increased by the use which is made of the water for
irrigation. This occurs in those countries in which it either does not
rain at all, or in which rain occurs only at a certain period of the year,
and even then only for two or three months. The first class of such
countries for instance, the western coast of South America, between
5° and 28° S. lat., would be uninhabitable but for the rivers which
descend from the western declivity of the Andes, and in their course
to the sea have furrowed the surface with deep depressions or valleys,
in which agriculture is carried on with success as far as the water of
the river can be dispersed over the level part of the valleys by small
canals. In those warm climates where the rains occur periodically,
though only in two or three months of the year, the fields would
certainly produce a crop, even without irrigation; but for more than
half the year the soil would produce nothing for want of water. By
using the water of the rivers for irrigating their lands, the inhabitants
of those countries are enabled to get two, and in many cases three,
crops annually.
crops annually. Even in the southern countries of Europe, where
rain is very scarce in summer, and not sufficient to maintain vege-
tation, whilst the heat is excessive, irrigation is practised, and two
crops of Indian corn are thus annually obtained, or one crop of wheat
and a green crop.
In those countries in which the temperature for three or four
months is under the freezing-point, the rivers during that time are
covered with ice, and in this state they afford to the inhabitants, in
some degree, the advantages which other countries derive from rail-
ways. Travelling and the transport of goods on the smooth ice of the
rivers are much less expensive, and are performed in a shorter time
than in summer in the ordinary way. This is the case on some of the
rivers of New Brunswick and Lower Canada,
It has been observed, that the outer borders of river-basins are
the most elevated parts which occur in some given places between
their respective beds, though it is not always the case that the water-
parting is formed by mountain-ridges. Owing to such a disposition of
the surface, the waters which are collected on or near the borders run
to one or the other of the two rivers. Up to the commencement of
this century it was thought improbable, if not impossible, that two
different river systems or basins could be united by a natural water
communication; but it is now ascertained that a low tract of country
or a deep depression of the surface may occur, by which a portion of
the water of a river, after being diverted from its own channel, may
join a river which otherwise is not connected with that river from
which the water branches off. The instances in which this occurs are
very few, and we shall therefore enumerate those whose existence is
beyond all doubt. The river Arno, in Tuscany, in that part where it
runs between the high ridges of the Apennines and approaches the
town of Arezzo, sends an arm southwards through a narrow valley,
under the name of Chiana, which falls into the Chiare, an affluent of
the Tiber. The Chiana had been filled with sand, but its course has
been re-established by artificial means. Another case occurs in the
kingdom of Hanover, a few miles east of the town of Osnabrück, where
the river Haase divides into two branches, of which one, running west
to Osnabrück, preserves its name, and, after a course of many miles,
joins the Ems; the other, running east under the name of Elz, falls,
after a short course, into the Werre, an affluent of the Weser. In
Sweden, two large rivers fall into the northern extremity of the Gulf
of Bothnia-the Tornea Elf and the Calix Elf. About 100 miles from
the sea, the last-mentioned river sends off an arm to the south-east,
which, after a course of about twelve or fifteen miles, falls into the
Tornea Elf: this arm is called Tarenda Elf. In these cases the rivers
+
123
RIVETING.
thus united by a natural water communication flow in the same
direction, or nearly so. But in South America, two large rivers, the
Orinoco and the Amazonas, are united in this way in a part of their
extensive courses, where the Orinoco runs west and the Amazonas
çast. The branch of the Orinoco by which this natural water
communication is effected is called the Cassiquiare. [ORINOCO, in
GEOG. DIV.] This phenomenon is otherwise described as the bifur-
cation of a river high up its course, of which the Mareb, one of the
tributaries of the Nile, already mentioned, affords another example.
It is a kind of established rule, that the whole course of a river
should bear the same name, and that this name should be continued to
that branch or head-stream whose sources are farthest from the mouth.
But practice is frequently at variance with this rule, aud in a manner
establishes another. The inhabitants of a country preserve the name of
that river which does not undergo any deflection of its course. At the
confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri, the latter is the larger
river, and has had a course of above 1000 miles more than the former,
but it does not deflect the course of the Mississippi by its junction, and
the name of the last-mentioned river is preserved. The same occurs in
South America as to the Amazonas and Madeira, where we find that
the last-mentioned river changes the direction of its course to meet the
Amazonas, whose name is preserved. In Europe, the Rhine is joined
by the Aar in Switzerland, above Laufenburg. The Aar is the larger
river, and brings down a greater volume of water; but the Rhine, where
it is joined by it, continues its westerly course, and its name is preserved.
There are also two rules for determining which of the various head-
streams of a river is entitled to be regarded as its upper course, and
consequently to bear the name borne by the united stream lower
down the one rule is at the same time theoretical and natural; the
other is practical or conventional. By the former, the greater length
and size, and the general direction of the valley or basin of the river,
are the main considerations. By the latter, it is the first acquaintance
which the inhabitants or discoverers of the valley of the main stream
may make with one of its branches (or the converse) that causes the
name of the former to be extended to the latter.
The extent of a few river basins is here given in round numbers,
but they must only be considered as rough approximations :-
Rivers.
Thames
Atbara, the fertilising tributary of the Nile
Rhinc
·
·
Euphrates, including the Tigris
Brahmaputra
Danube
Indus
Ganges
Volga
Nile
Yan-tse-kiang
Mississippi
Plata
Oby
Amazonas
•
•
Square Miles.
6,500
60,000
89,000
108,000
270,000
312,500
410,000
443,000
653,000
707,500
742,000
1,100,000
1,200,000
2,000,000
2,330,000
According to Humboldt the area of drainage of the Amazonas
measures 3,000,000 of square miles; but in this he, in all probability,
includes that of the Tocantins [BRAZIL, in GEOG. Div.] which Mr.
Wallace, correctly in our opinion, regards as a distinct river.
RIVETING, considered in its simplest form, is nothing more than
the hammering of an iron bolt through a hole punched in two iron
plates; but in the vast engineering operations of the present day, where
rivets are used, not merely by the thousand, but by the million,.the
rapid and exact management of the operation become important
matters. The Britannia tubular bridge over the Menai was the first of
these great examples of rivet-fastened plates; the Great Eastern steam-
ship was a second; and the Victoria railway bridge over the St.
Lawrence, at Montreal, is a third. The rivets themselves may be
simply pieces cut off from iron rods, and heated in a forge to a state fit
for hammering; but under NAIL MANUFACTURE will be found a notice
of certain machines which are equally suited for making nails, rivets,
nuts, and spikes.
At a meeting of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers, in 1857,
Mr. Harvey made the following observations on rivets and riveting
"In the manufacture of steam-boilers, the operation of riveting is
mostly effected by hand-labour; and in order to bring the heads of the
rivets to a proper form and finish, much of the hammering takes place
when the rivet has approached to a nearly cold state. The tendency
of this is, to destroy, to a certain extent, the fibrous character of the
rivet. The case of a rivet-head, starting off under the operation of
proving the boiler, although seldom occurring, has revealed the fact
that a crystalline character must be more or less assumed by the iron
in all rivets worked in the usual manner; and hence, besides ariving at
economy by the use of steam for riveting, it is very desirable that the
rivets should be finished in as short a time as possible, and without
that succession of blows by which the fibrous character of iron is
always more or less injured." In hand-riveting, it may be added, the
head is made conical by the shape and action of the riveting hammer;
whereas in steam-riveting the head becomes convex, which is better.
Nevertheless, steam-riveting machines, though many have been
ROAD.
124
invented, have not hitherto come much into use. Some are found to
be too complex, and likely to get out of order. Some require a pres-
sure of steam of 50 lbs. on the square inch, with either a separate boiler
or a large steam-cylinder, which renders them too costly. Some have
a defect arising from the peculiar mode in which they act; a cam,
moving through a fixed distance, and acting through a combination of
levers, with a fixed distance for the travel of the riveting die, is unable
to adapt itself to irregularities in the lengths of rivets which may
occur in general work, and which must occur when rivets go sometimes
through two, and at other times through three thicknesses of plates.
Messrs. Whitelaw and Harvey have endeavoured to surmount some of
these difficulties in a riveting-machine of recent introduction. The
steam-cylinder is 15 inches in diameter by 24 inches stroke. A
system of levers and eccentrics carry a shearer, a punch, and a die;
for the machine is intended to perform all three operations of cutting
iron plates, punching holes in them, and then driving rivets into
the holes. The machine is not wholly self-acting; it is momentarily
stopped by hand after every stroke. The effective action of steam is
upwards; the downward movement is the effect of the weight of
the moveable parts of the apparatus. Between the piston and the
bottom of the cylinder a portion of the exhausted steam is retained
as a cushion, to bring the piston softly to rest. Steam of 201b. to
the inch has pressure enough for this machine. It has power to
punch a hole three-quarters of an inch diameter through a cold iron
plate three-quarters of an inch thick, and to effect the cutting and the
riveting for the same plate. In riveting, the action upon the rivet-head
is a pressure, not a blow; this pressure becomes more and more intense
as the process advances, until just before the head of the rivet is finally
shaped, it amounts to something like 30 tons.
In riveting, whether by hand or by machine, it is necessary to
furnish a pressure against one end of the rivet to assist the action at
the other. In the hand method, one man holds a hammer forcibly
against one end of the rivet in the hole, while another strikes the
other end. In the machine method, the action is like the pressure of
a die and counterdie.
RIVULIN. A mucilaginous matter found in a species of fresh-
water plant, the Rivula tubulosa.
ROAD. Under this head it is proposed to embrace road-making,
with a brief sketch of the history of roads, referring for more detailed
statistical information to the GEOGRAPHICAL DIVISION of this work,
and to WAY and TURNPIKE TRUSTS for an explanation of the laws
respecting the formation and maintenance of the highways in this
country.
The importance attached to roads by the great nations of antiquity
is abundantly testified by historians, though, except in the case of the
Roman roads, there are few remains existing. The Carthaginians are
said to have been the inventors of paved roads, which were much used
by the Romans, who were distinguished by the vast extent and solid
construction of their highways, of which several thousand miles were
made in Italy alone, while every country which was brought under
their sway was more or less intersected by these channels of com-
munication. Though formed mainly to facilitate military movements,
the Roman roads were productive of the greatest civil benefits. Being
made by a power whose resources were almost unlimited, these military
roads were usually laid out in straight lines from one station to
another, with little regard to natural obstacles, which were frequently
passed by means of very extensive works, as excavations, bridges, and
in some instances, tunnels of considerable length. The solidity of
their construction was fully equal to the boldness of their design; a
fact proved by the existence of many that have borne the traffic of
The Roman
near two thousand years without material injury.
engineers were very particular in securing a firm bottom, which was
done when necessary by ramming the ground with small stones,
fragments of brick, &c. On this carefully prepared foundation a
pavement of large stones was firmly set in cement, the stones being
occasionally squared, but more commonly of irregular shapes, though
always accurately fitted to each other. For this purpose many
varieties of stone were used, but the preference seems to have been
given to basalt, where it could be had, it being used in many situa-
tions in which other suitable materials might have been procured with
less labour and expense. Where large blocks could not be con:
veniently obtained, small stones of hard quality were sometimes
cemented together with lime, forming a kind of concrete, of which
masses extending to a depth of several feet are still in existence. The
Roman roads were generally raised above the ordinary surface of the
ground, and frequently had two carriage tracks separated by a raised
footpath in the centre.
1
In some parts of the continent of Europe, especially in Italy, the
Roman system of road-making has been imitated, particularly in city
pavements; but in Britain the attempts to follow the Roman model
appear to have been very limited, and road-making has been very imper-
fectly practised till within the last half century. Many of the existing
highways were originally mere paths or tracks from place to place, their
course having been determined more by accidental circumstances than
by a due attention to the properties of a good road. Thus deviations
were made from the direct course in order to cross rivers at fordable
points, and the road was conducted over a hill in preference to a more
level course round its base, to take advantage of natural drainage. As
}
J
F
125
120
ROAD.
ROAD.
improvements have been introduced in the systems of construction
and repair, the direction and levels have been frequently left unaltered,
to avoid the temporary inconvenience and expense attending a devia-
tion from the established course. The scanty information we possess
as to the state of the roads in early times indicates that it was very
bad; and after the introduction of turnpikes, and even down to the
commencement of the present century, the greater part of the roads
were, owing to injudicious modes of construction and repair, in a state
very unfit for traffic.
The inefficiency of the system of maintenance by parish and statute
labour was proved before the passing of the first Turnpike Act in
1653; yet the necessity of improvement, and the obvious justice
of maintaining roads by the produce of tolls, did not lead to the
extensive adoption of the turnpike system for about a century after
that time.
During the last sixty years the attention of government has been
repeatedly directed to the importance of this class of public works, and
the Highland and Holyhead roads, formed by Telford and others,
did much in improving and extending the science of road-making.
The Highland roads alluded to were made under the commission of
1803, and originated in the military roads formed in consequence of
the rebellions of 1715 and 1745, which had been found very beneficial
to the districts to which they afforded the means of access. The roads
made and improved under the management of the Highland road
Commissioners extend to more than 900 miles, the whole being in a
mountainous district, but so well laid out that their inclinations are
always moderate. The works executed in the formation of these roads
are very extensive, and comprise upwards of 1100 bridges. The Holy-
head road improvements were commenced in 1815, and in these
Telford and his able assistants had the opportunity of carrying into
effect, under a government commission, a plan of road-making suitable
to a great traffic, on principles generally considered to be nearly
perfect. The principles on which these important works were executed
are very fully detailed by the late Lord Congleton, then Sir Henry
Parnell, in his valuable Treatise on Roads, to which work the writer
of this article is indebted for much of the following information. The
name of McAdam must not be passed over without notice in this
place, as his exertions have done much towards attracting public
attention to the improvement of roads, even where his peculiar prin-
ciples have not been acted upon.
-
Though much remains to be accomplished, and the philosophy of
road-making is yet very imperfectly understood by a large proportion
of those to whom the care of the highways is committed, it is im-
possible to compare the past and present state of roads without feeling
grateful for their improvement, and observing in how great a degree
that improvement has benefited the agricultural, commercial, and
moral interests of the community.
Designing a Line of Road; Earth-works, &c.-Though formerly
little attended to, the design of the plan of a line of road is a subject
which requires extensive knowledge and mature deliberation. It is
often advisable to survey several different lines, in order to the selection
of the one which, on careful comparison, appears to have the prepon-
derance of desirable qualities. To be theoretically perfect, a road should
combine the qualities of straightness and level, and its surface slrould
be smooth and hard; and the best road, practically, will be that which
makes the best compromise between unavoidable deviations from this
theoretical perfection. It may be observed, however, that although
some writers speak of the absolute perfection of each of these qualities
as essential to the idea of a good road, it may be questioned whether
it be desirable of any, excepting of the first. Of these qualifications
the first two belong to the design or laying out of the line, and
the last two to the execution of the road and the materials made
The qualities of straightness and level, or the line of direction and
line of draught, should be very carefully adjusted to each other.
Some remarks on this subject will be found in the article RAILWAY,
which apply equally to the laying out of common roads, though the
proportionate retardation due to a given ascent is very different, owing
to the great comparative resistance of a common road. Among the
circumstances that may authorise a deviation from the straight line,
are the power of obtaining suitable materials for the road, avoiding
valuable property or difficult ground, and including towns or villages
use-of.
in the route.
It seems to be a prevailing opinion with modern engineers, that the
line of direction has not generally been made as subordinate as it
should be to the line of draught; and it will be well to remember, in
laying out a new road, that while the effect of gravity must ever
remain the same, the resistance occasioned by imperfections in the
road and carriages will be reduced by every prospective improvement
in their construction; thereby increasing the proportionate effect of
gravity, and making the line of direction still more subordinate to that
of draught, or, in other words, increasing the length of level road that
may be traversed with the same expenditure of power as would raise
the load up a given elevation. Curves increase the resistance to the
motion of carriages, and add to the risk of accident; but if slight, they
increase the length of the road much less than might be supposed.
Edgeworth, in his 'Essay on the Construction of Roads and Carriages,'
says, "A road ten miles long, and perfectly straight, can scarcely be
found anywhere; but if such a road could be found, and if it were
curved, so as to prevent the eye from seeing farther than a quarter of
a mile of it, in any one place, the whole road would not be lengthened
more than one hundred and fifty yards.
""
The principle explained in the article RAILWAY, of so arranging the
inclinations on each side of the summit, or highest point unavoidably
passed over, that there may be no unnecessary rise and fall, is equally
deserving of attention in the design of a common road, although it has
been much neglected. The following statement respecting an old
road in the Isle of Anglesey, which was altered by Telford, shows how
very much a road may be improved by judicious alterations; not only
by shortening the line and lowering the summits, but also by diminishing
the minor undulations :--
Old road
New road
Difference
Summit above
high water.
339 feet
193
Total rise
and fall.
3,540 feet
2,257
Length.
Miles. Yards.
24
21
428
1,596
146 feet
1,283 feet
2
592
However desirable a perfect level may be in theory, a road with
moderate inclinations, as of 1 in 100, is found to be preferable in
practice, because without such a slope it is difficult to get rid of water
fast enough, unless the road be raised a few feet above the surrounding
land, and thereby exposed to the free action of sun and wind. Slight
undulations are also considered, by most authors, to be desirable in all
cases where animal power is employed; frequent changes in the nature
of exertion being considered favourable to the horses. On this
principle it is recommended that where an undulating road is reduced
to a uniform gradient, occasional levels should be introduced to ease
the draught. Any inclination exceeding the angle of repose, or that
beyond which a carriage would roll down by its own gravity, occasions
a loss of power; but all below it are attended with a compensating
effect when the traffic in both directions is taken into account; the
advantage gained by descending carriages being equal to the additional
labour required in the ascent. This angle has been stated by Lardner
to be about 1 in 40, with a good carriage on a broken stone road of the
best quality; but the inclination allowed on the Holyhead road is
1 in 35, a slope which may be ascended at a good rate of speed, and
descended at twelve miles an hour without risk. A greater slope not
only occasions much additional resistance in the ascent, but, by ren-
dering it unsafe to drive down at full speed, causes a loss of time in
the descent also. Modern engineers consider it unadvisable in any
case to exceed an inclination of 1 in 24, though there are hills at least
twice as steep on some turnpike roads. The following table shows the
effect of various inclinations in increasing the draught of a stage-coach
at different velocities on the same description of road, as indicated by
a dynamometer contrived by Mr. Macneill for experiments on the
draught of carriages :—*
Force required at
Inclination.
1 in 20
6 m. p. hour.
268 lbs.
10 m. p. hour.
S m. p. hour.
296 lbs.
318 lbs.
1
26
213
219
225
""
1
30
165
196
200
1
40
160
166
172
"}
1
600
111
120
128
,,
hill on a line of road affects the working of the whole stage, as the
It should always be borne in mind that the occurrence of one steep
number of horses required for ascending it must be used, although a
portion of their power may be unemployed, on the greater part of the
road. The inconvenience of a steep inclination may be diminished by
adopted with success on the Holyhead road, where, on a slope of about
laying a stone tramway for the use of ascending vehicles; a measure
from 294 lbs. to 132 lbs.
1 in 20, the power required to draw a ton was reduced by this means
When the
the preference should be given to embankments; and, wherever it is
In arranging the works necessary for obtaining the required level,
practicable, the bed of the road should be elevated two feet above the
natural level, for the sake of efficient drainage. Tunnels are very
rarely introduced on common roads, being very costly, and, when of
considerable length, inconvenient from their darkness.
two horizontal to one vertical, and it is desirable to have those on the
road is in an excavation, the side-slopes should never be steeper than
south side three to one; because, though many materials will stand at
steeper inclinations, it is essential to the preservation of the road, and
have free access to its surface. Where stone can be readily procured,
the comfort of horses travelling upon it, that the sun and air should
the erection of walls at the bottom of the slopes gives a neat and
finished appearance to the road, and prevents earth, which may be
loosened from the sides, from falling into the side channels or drains.
The Highgate Archway road affords an example of the great difficultics
Indicator, is mounted on a light phaeton, and besides marking the draught at
*This useful instrument, which its ingenious inventor denominates a Road
every ten or twenty yards, points out the distance run, and the rates of
acclivity or declivity on every part of the road. A full description of it is given
in Parnell's Treatise on Roads.'
1
127
ROAD.
that occasionally attend a deep excavation, owing to the accumulation
of water; the remedy for which is described hereafter. Where em-
bankments are required, strong fencing is especially necessary to
guard against the occurrence of accidents. Some of the roads formed
by Telford are conducted across deep valleys by bridges or viaducts of
great magnitude, in order to maintain the desired level without the
inconvenience and expense of large earth embankments.
--
In old roads the bridges erected for the passage of rivers are
frequently made much smaller than is advisable, so that the level of
the road is made too low, and the water is impeded by the contracted
arches to such a degree as to occasion much damage during floods.
Modern engineers, by adopting bolder dimensions for the bridges, and
forming raised approaches, avoid these inconveniences, and secure their
roads from the risk of obstruction by floods. The raising of the road
wherever it passes through marshy or low land is a very necessary
measure. Many old roads still in use are sunk several feet below the
surface of the ground, because they have originally been exposed to
the destructive action of water, and the materials thus softened have
been ground into mud and cleared away, until, by the repetition of
these operations, the roads have been converted into deep trenches,
which.ore frequently flooded in winter. Of the extent to which this
¡process has been occasionally suffered to go on, an idea may be fornied
from the statement of Edgeworth, that "the stag, the hounds, and the
horsemen have been known to leap over a loaded waggon, in a hollow
way, without any obstruction from the vehicle."
ROAD.
128
press the elastic foundation; such embankment being sometimes
supported by faggots. Telford and most engineers recommend that
ramming with stone-chips should be resorted to where the bed is wet
and spongy; and that where soft clay occurs, a stratum of earth or of
sand should be laid between it and the road materials, a precaution
which tends to diminish the injurious effect of frost on a road with a
clay bottom. Though great care is usually considered necessary in
order to obtain a firm foundation, McAdam and some others have not
only contended against its importance, but actually preferred, in cer-
tain cases, a yielding substratum to one of rock, on the supposition
that the wear of the road is diminished by elasticity. Careful observa-
tions on the repairs of a road in Somersetshire, of which about seven
miles are supported by a morass, and five or six by limestone rock,
indicated a difference of expense in repair of about five to seven in
favour of the morass, though it was so soft that the vibration caused
by a carriage passing was sufficient to break the young ice in the side
ditches; but extended experience seems to confirm the more general
opinion in favour of a hard unyielding foundation.
Cross-
Deep ditches should be cut for the efficient drainage of the road,
which is of paramount importance; and these should be on the field
side of the fences. They should extend to a depth of from 2 feet 6
inches to 4 feet below the bed of the road, according to the nature of
the ground. The earth thrown out from them is commonly used in
forming banks for the hedges; but in wet soils, where the ditches are
made larger and deeper than usual, the additional earth excavated is
applied to raising the bed of the road. Where brick or stone-covered
drains are substituted for open channels, it is usual to build them with
open joints, to allow the passage of water through the sides.
drains of masonry are introduced at intervals to connect the side
channels, and numerous minor drains filled with rubble stones or clean
gravel are formed in the bed of the road.
gravel are formed in the bed of the road. The latter are frequently of
the kind called mitre-drains, which are made V shaped in plan, diverg-
ing from the centre of the bed, and extending diagonally to the sides,
their angle being regulated by the longitudinal slope of the road, so
that their inclination may not exceed 1 in 100. These
in 100. These may be placed
about sixty yards apart, or closer in wet soils, and they receive the
water that filters through the surface materials. In cuttings or exca-
vations it is advisable to make drains to catch the water descending
In conducting a road through a mountainous district, in addition to
Inumerous bridges for the purpose of crossing ravines (for which
¡purpose suspension bridges have been occasionally applied, as in the
passage of the Menai strait), embankments between retaining walls of
stone, and walls to support the road along the face of a precipice, are
frequently necessary. Some works of the latter character have excited
much admiration. If the slope of a precipice be only six inches
1horizontal to a foot vertical, such a road may be formed by building a
wall thirty feet high, based on steps cut into the rock, and cutting into
the rock to the depth of ten feet on a level with the top of the wall,
the space between which and the face of the precipice is filled in with
earth or stone. By this means a platform twenty-five feet wide is
obtained. Many works of this character have been executed by
Telford and other engineers, in various parts of Scotland, in the High-from the sides, and prevent its reaching the surface of the road.
¡land roads, and those forming the communication between Edinburgh
and London: and others, the boldness of which commands universal
admiration, occur in the great mountain-passes of the Simplon and
Mont Cenis, which form imperishable monuments of the talent and
eenergy of the engineers of Napoleon, by whom they were executed.
When the works are completed to the proper level for receiving the
hard materials that form the surface of the road, the earth should be
formed into the intended width and a nearly level surface, the foot-
path or paths being elevated a few inches above the bed of the
carriage-way. Thirty feet is the ordinary width of the carriage-way,
exclusive of footpaths, of the Holyhead road; but the propriety of
reducing the width, in most places to twenty-four or twenty-five feet,
has been suggested. This width may be more or less exceeded in
the vicinity of large towns, according to the amount of traffic, but
should be exactly adhered to in other situations, as uniformity in
this particular greatly improves the appearance of a road, and also
contributes to economy, both as to the land and materials, and
the cost of maintenance. Some engineers recommend that the bed
should be made convex, in the same degree as the finished surface of
the road; but it is quite flat in the Holyhead road, by which means
a greater depth of materials is allowed in the centre than at the sides
of the road. Much has been said on the subject of the best form
for the transverse section of a road. Formerly it was common to
make it very convex, often to a degree that was highly dangerous, with
the idea of throwing off water; but this notion is very fallacious,
'because if a road be allowed to wear into ruts, no degree of convexity
that can be given is sufficient to keep it dry; while, if the surface be
good, a very moderate slope is sufficient to carry off water, and a steep
inclination will cause it to run with such velocity as to wear away the
road materials. Another disadvantage of too great an inclination is,
that, by throwing the weight of a carriage on one side, the vehicle
itself is injured, and the overloaded wheels cut up the road more than
necessary. Some have gone so far in opposition to this practice as to
advocate perfectly flat or even concave roads, in favour of both of
which much may be said; but the general practice of modern road-
makers is to make the surface slightly convex. In Telford's roads the
convexity is elliptical, the fall being half an inch at four feet from the
centre, two inches at nine feet, and six inches at fifteen feet. It has
been recommended to form the cross section into three flat planes,
that in the centre being horizontal, and the others slightly inclined
from it. Very narrow roads are often sloped in one direction only,
like one-half of a convex road; and roads on the face of a steep hill
are occasionally treated in this manner, the surface water being con-
ducted towards the hill, and carried off by drains under the road.
This plan has the advantage of checking any tendency in carriages to
roll or turn over towards the least protected side of the road.
In treating of the choice and application of the hard materials
which compose the surface of the road, the formation of metalled
roads, or those made of broken stone and similar materials, will be
first considered; and afterwards that of the principal varieties of
pavement.
+
1
Wherever the substratum of a road is wet and soft, great care is
necessary to make the bed solid. If the ground be boggy or marshy,
it is desirable to form an embankment of sufficient thickness to com-
Metalled or Broken-Stone Roads.-In the formation of metalled roads
the system adopted in the great works of Telford and his followers, is
the one most generally adopted by English engineers. The distin-
guishing characteristic of this system is the use of a rough pavement
of hand-laid stones on the bed of the road, to support the small broken
stone of which the surface is composed. In the very imperfect mode
of road-making formerly practised (which scarcely deserves the name
of a system), it was very common to cover a bad road with a large
quantity of stones, often unbroken, and generally of very irregular
dimensions. These stones, owing to their rounded form and the soft-
ness of the substratum, never consolidated into a hard surface, and in
course of time sunk into the soft earth beneath, which worked up
among the stones in the form of mud. Thus enormous quantities of
stone were used without producing a good road, the stone sinking into
the earth to a surprising extent. This evil is greatly diminished by
good drainage, and by the use of stones of uniform size broken into
angular pieces, which have a tendency to lock together into a hard and
compact mass, a fact of the highest importance in the science of
road-making, and which appears to have been first prominently brought
forward by the late Mr. McAdam. A great extent of excellent road.
has been made on the plan advocated by McAdam, who considered
paving unnecessary, and laid the broken stone immediately on the
surface of the earth, depending on its forming a hard crust impervious
to water, so that the earth, being always kept dry, may have no ten-
dency to work up among the metal or broken stone. McAdam used
no stones exceeding six ounces in weight, and gave the preference to
those of about one ounce, or an inch diameter, which he spread over
the road in thin layers, each being worked over by carriages till in
some degree consolidated; and he objected to the use of chalk or earth
He
mixed with the stone for the purpose of binding it together.
considered a thickness of ten inches of broken stone, well consolidated,
to be sufficient for bearing any load, even where the foundation is a
morass, in which case he considered no intermediate substance neces-
sary. Near Bristol, a road in which the metalling had worn down to a
thickness of only four inches, was found to have kept the substratum
of earth perfectly dry. But, satisfactory as this plan of road-making
has proved in some cases, there are others in which it has failed, and
some in which a very large quantity of stone has been applied before a
firm road could be obtained. A road from Lewes to Eastbourne, made
on Mr. McAdam's principle, is said to have required three feet of
materials in many parts before it was consolidated, though it was
ultimately brought into a good state.
The system of pitching or paving the bottom of a road has the
advantage of preventing the subsoil from working up among the road
129
130
ROAD.
ROAD.
materials, and, when well executed, of distributing the pressure of
carriages over a larger base; while the size of the paving-stones them-
selves prevents their sinking into the earth, as small stones are liable
to do. The pavement also acts as a drain to the surface materials.
In addition to these, the plan has, in many situations, the advantage of
economy, as the cost of a pavement is considerably less than that
of an equal depth of well-broken stone. In most, if not all, of the
cases in which the paving system has failed, the want of success may
be attributed to very imperfect execution; as, if the stones are very
irregular in size or badly set, or the thickness of metal is insufficient
to protect the pavement from the shake of passing carriages, the stones
become deranged, and the subsoil, working up among them, quickly
spoils the road.
The case of the Highgate Archway road, which has been before
alluded to, is a remarkable illustration of the absolute necessity of a
firm bottoming under some circumstances. This road is over a subsoil
of sand, clay, and gravel, and, being partly in a deep cutting (originally
intended for a tunnel), is much exposed to the influx of water. The
road, which is rather more than a mile and a half long, was originally
made of a quantity of gravel and sand laid on the natural soil, and
covered with broken flints and gravel; but this plan not succeeding,
the road was taken up, and pieces of waste tin were laid on the sub-
soil, over which were spread gravel, flints, and broken stone. This
expedient did not produce the desired effect, and at length, in 1829,
the road was placed under the management of the Holyhead-road
Commissioners, its proprietors having failed, notwithstanding an enor-
mous outlay, and the application of 1200 cubic yards of gravel annually,
to bring it into a satisfactory state. A thick coat of broken granite
was spread on a portion of the road; but, owing to the unsoundness of
the foundation, it never consolidated, the stones wearing into smooth
pebbles by their attrition against one another, even down to the bottom
of the mass. The commissioners therefore determined, as paving-stones
could not be procured without great expense, to lay a coating of Roman
cement and gravel as a bed for the road-metal, an experiment which
was attended with complete success. The work was executed by
Macneill, and consists of a composition of Roman cement with eight
times its quantity of washed gravel and sand, which, after being mixed
in a box, was laid on the bed of the road to a thickness of six inches
and a width of about eighteen feet. A few minutes after being laid,
the upper surface was indented, by means of a triangular piece of wood
sheeted with iron, with numerous channels or grooves, sloping about
three inches from the centre to the sides, these channels serving for
the stones to lie and fasten in, and for conducting any water that
might percolate through them into the side drains. This measure,
combined with an extraordinary extent of drainage, amounting in the
whole to a length of 12,303 yards, proved so complete a remedy that,
in the first winter after the cement was laid, coaches were able to go
up with four horses at a trot with the heaviest loads, though before
the improvement six horses had mounted with difficulty at a walking
pace. The effect of the alteration on the wear of the road was equally
satisfactory, four inches of quartz being worn away on the old bottom
while only half an inch of the same stone was worn where laid on the
cement foundation. The expenses of laying the cement composition,
including the formation of the bed of the road, was about ten shillings
per lineal yard, part of the gravel used being old. Macneill estimated
the cost at from twelve to fifteen shillings per yard if new gravel were
purchased.
The effect of a paved or concrete foundation in diminishing the
draught appears, from the subjoined statement, founded on experi-
ments with Mr. Macneill's road indicator, to be very great; but a more
extensive series of trials is desirable for a comparison of different sys-
tems under various circumstances. The draught of a waggon weighing
21 cwt. was found to be as follows:-
33 lbs.
On a well-made pavement
•
D
On a road with six inches of hard broken stone on a rough
pavement
stone
46
•
On a similar road, with a foundation of Roman cement and
gravel in lieu of pavement
46
earth
">
65
>>
147
On a road with a thick coating of broken stone on carth
On a road with a thick coating of gravel on earth
**
For the formation of the pavement of a metalled road, almost any
hard stone that may be easily dressed with the hammer may be used.
The stones should be tolerably regular in size, and laid in rows with
their broadest face downwards, the interstices being carefully filled up
with stone-chippings, so as to pin the whole pavement together, and
effectually prevent the earth from working up through the joints. In
one of Telford's specifications for the Holyhead road, the dimensions
of the stones for a pavement 30 feet wide are given as 7 inches deep
in the middle of the road, 5 inches at 9 feet from the centre, 4 inches at
12 feet, and 3 inches at 15 fifteen feet, the stones to be laid lengthwise
across the road, and the upper edge in no case to exceed 4 inches wide.
All irregularities are to be broken off by the hammer, and the stone-
chips used in packing the joints are directed to be wedged in by hand
or with light hammers. No ramming is necessary, and it is desirable
to prevent carts which are used in the conveyance of the road materials
from being drawn upon the pavement before it is covered with broken
stone.
ARTS AND SCL DIV, VOL. VII.
Some road-makers use a pavement even on a substratum of rock,
where it is uneven, but in many cases it is unnecessary; although, if
the surface be smooth, it should be picked to a degree of roughness
similar to that of a pavement, in order that the road materials may not
slide upon it. Where paving the whole width of a road might be too
expensive, the pavement is sometimes limited to a width of 16 or 18
feet in the centre. In situations where coarse stone of suitable
quality can be easily procured, it is found to be cheaper to make a
road with 6 inches of broken stone and a pavement, tban with 10 inches
depth of broken stone without paving. Mr. Wingrove, surveyor of
the Bath roads, mentions the use of freestone brash, chalk, &c, for
forming the foundation pavement of metalled roads. Of late years
burnt clay ballast has been substituted for rough stone pavements in
the brick earth or blue clay districts around London, with considerable
success.
The quality and right application of the road-metal, or broken stone,
which forms the surface of the road, is of great importance. As a
general rule, the hardest stone is to be preferred; but this rule admits
of some qualification, some very hard stones being found to wear much
more rapidly than others of a softer but tougher quality. According to
Parnell, whose experience rendered him a good authority, the best
descriptions of road materials "consist of basalt, granite. quartz,
syenite, and porphyry rocks." The whinstones found in different parts
of the United Kingdom, Guernsey granite, Mountsorrel and Hartshill
stone of Leicestershire, and the pebbles of Shropshire, Staffordshire,
and Warwickshire, are among the best of the stones now commonly in
use. The schistus stones will make smooth roads, being of a slaty and
argillaceous structure, but they are rapidly destroyed by wet, by the
pressure of wheels, and they occasion great expense in scraping and
constantly laying on new coatings. Limestone is defective in the same
respect. It wears away rapidly when wet, and therefore, when the traffic
is very great, it is an expensive material. Sandstone is much too weak
for the surface of a road; it will never make a hard one, but it is very
well adapted to the purpose of a foundation pavement. Flints vary
very much in quality as a road material. The hardest of them are
nearly as good as the best limestone, but the softer kinds are quickly
crushed by the wheels of carriages, and make heavy and dirty roads.
Gravel, when it consists of the pebbles of the hard sorts of stones, is a
good material, particularly when the pebbles are so large as to admit
of their being broken; but when it consists of limestone, or sandstone,
it is often a very bad one; for it wears so rapidly that the crust of a
road made with it always consists of a large portion of the earthy
matter to which it is reduced. This prevents the gravel from be-
coming consolidated, and renders a road made with it extremely
defective with respect to that perfect hardness which it ought to have."
Mr. Stevenson, in the article 'Road,' in the ' Edinburgh Encyclopædia,'
states the distribution of road materials in the British islands to be
partial and irregular. Throughout Scotland, and even as far south
as the approaching sources of the rivers Tees and Ribble, good road-
metal is generally to be met with, containing the numerous varieties
of granite, greenstone, basalt, porphyry, and limestone. South of this
boundary, as far as the Trent and the Dee in Cheshire, the formation
is chiefly carboniferous sandstone, and the softer varieties of limestone.
In the southern counties chalk and gravel soils chiefly occur, affording
flint and gravel, both of which, under proper management, make ex-
cellent roads. In North and South Wales we have all the varieties of
road-metal which are common to Scotland.
excellent road materials, as granite and limestone are pretty generally
In Ireland they have
distributed."
road between London and Birmingham, as to the effect of iron amongst
An interesting experiment has been tried on a part of the Holyhead
the road-metal in diminishing the wear of the road. The iron is cast
in the form of cubes, about an inch square, and when the road was
consolidated, holes large enough to receive them were picked in its
surface. A single cube was then placed in each hole, so as to be level
with the road, and the small stone-chips were beat down about the
iron with a mallet. One of these iron cubes is placed in every four
inches of surface. They very soon become firmly imbedded, so as not
to be disturbed by the rolling of carriages or the feet of the horses;
and to assist their consolidation, it is recommended to water the road
freely, if the cubes should be inserted in dry weather. The iron was
applied in March, 1835, since which time the portion of road in
which they are used has continued in excellent repair, and the
wear is materially diminished. Mr. Macneill, the patentee of this
method of road-making, considered it particularly applicable to streets,
on account of its durability, and believed that the expense would be
trifling, as iron of the worst quality might be used. It may be
observed that the draught on the piece of road on which the ex-
periment is made is very easy, and that horses do not show any
tendency to slip upon it.
In the choice of materials, the expense of conveying them to the
road must be taken into consideration, but it is often better economy
to fetch good stone from a great distance than to use that which is less
durable, though readily procured; as, in addition to the expense of
frequent repairs to a road formed with weak materials, great additional
labour is imposed upon the horses, which have to wear down repeated
coats of fresh stones. This is one of the points in which the inex-
perience and ignorance of road surveyors have often been displayed,
K
131
ROAD.
cases having occurred in which an inferior material has been procured
from a distance at great cost, while stone of excellent quality existed
in abundance on the spot.
ROAD.
132
have been extensively used, and on some roads cast-iron tablets
mounted on stone. A convenient arrangement is a stone or post with
two tablets inclined towards the road, so that persons travelling in
With regard to the best size of the broken stone for the surface of either direction may see the distance of the town which they are
a road, both Telford and McAdam direct that no piece should exceed approaching.
six or eight ounces in weight. In some districts the surveyors have However well a metalled road may be made in the first instante, its
been instructed to test the metal by a pair of scales and a six-ounce preservation in a good state depends greatly on prompt and judicious
weight; but a more usual test is an iron ring 2 inches in diameter, repair. The mud that forms on the surface in wet weather should be
attached to a handle, through which every stone should be small scraped off and formed into heaps at the side (avoiding the side
enough to pass. Some writers have recommended that one inch should channels), until it is sufficiently dry for carting away; because, if left
be the maximum diameter, but it is only the hardest and toughest on the surface, it would, while moist, soften the road and cause it to
materials that will bear breaking so small without much waste. The break up, and after drying impede the running off of water from a
pieces should be as nearly cubical as may be, and should on no subsequent shower. This operation has been usually performed by
account be broken on the surface of the road; nor is it well to do it hand, but scraping-machines, patented by Messrs. Bourne and Harris,
on the heap, the best method being to break one or two pieces at once have been introduced with partial success, and have been said to
on a large block of hard stone, the pieces being held steady by the iron diminish the labour fully one-half. The winter season, from October
ring that serves as a gauge. A sitting posture is considered best for to April, is considered the best time for the addition of fresh mate-
those engaged in breaking road-metal, an operation which, under the rials, which are laid on in thin coats, and should always be applied as
modern system of road-making, gives employment to a great number soon as any hollow capable of retaining water is observed. For the
of hands. Attempts have been made to perform this operation by purpose of keeping a supply of broken stone always at hand, depôts for
machinery, but mechanical contrivances have not been found equal to holding about twenty-four cubic yards of metal are formed by the
manual labour. Pronged shovels are made use of in lifting the broken road-side, at intervals of a quarter of a mile or less, from which the
stone into barrows and carts, as they save labour by entering the heapstone is taken to the required spot in barrows. When laid on the road,
with less resistance than ordinary shovels, and also prevent the according to Parnell, it is not necessary to pick up the old surface, as
admixture of earth with the metal.
the new metal keeps the part under it wet and soft, and soon works in.
McAdam, however, recommended breaking up the surface of the road
in every case where fresh stone is added,
The depth of metal on a paved foundation should be not less than
6 inches, and it should be laid on in two or three distinct layers, carefully
spread with broad shovels, and carriages should work on-each till it is
in some degree consolidated before another is laid over it. While the
metalling is fresh, men should attend to rake it in the ruts as fast as
they are formed, and to pick off any large stones that may have pre-
viously escaped notice, as they are sure to work up to the surface.
The sides of the road may be covered with the smaller portion of the
metal, separated by a sieve with meshes of an inch square; and a
layer of about an inch and a half of clean gravel is occasionally added
over the whole surface in order to ease the draught while the road is
new, though its effect on the road is rather injurious than otherwise,
nothing being needed to bind the metal together. Rolling a road on
which fresh materials have been laid is a measure of doubtful utility,
the most effectual consolidation being produced by the working of
carriages which are compelled to vary their tracks, and to run on the
new metal, by placing wooden trestles across the road, and altering their
position when necessary; the road is frequently raked as long as any
loose stones remain.
Where the traffic is not sufficient to justify so expensive a mode of
formation as that which has been described, good roads may be formed
with broken stone only, increasing in thickness from 6 inches at the
sides to 12 inches in the centre. If nothing better than gravel can be
procured, Parnell recommends that a coat of 4 inches be laid on the
prepared bed, and worked over till pretty firm; then a layer 3 inches
thick, once screened, and finally three distinct layers of the gravel well
riddled, and free from earth, clay, or stones exceeding an inch and a
half in diameter; the road, when completed, to be 10 inches thick at
the sides, and 16 in the centre, where the strongest and best part of
the gravel should be laid. The drainage must be particularly attended
to in a gravel road. Among the inferior materials occasionally used
is limestone burnt to a vitreous state; but though formerly often used
in districts where coal is abundant, it is not approved for carriage-
ways by modern road-makers.
Stone and Iron Tramways.-Though an improvement on ordinary
pavement, this description of road may be considered as a link be-
tween metalled and paved roads, stone tracks having been occasionally
applied to common roads, and with great benefit. Stone tramways
consist of wheel-tracks formed of large blocks of stone, usually granite,
the surface of which is made so smooth as to offer very little resist-
ance to the rolling of the wheels, while the space between the tracks,
being composed of broken stone, gravel, or rough pavement, affords
secure footing for the horses. Iron tramways, in which cast or wrought
iron plates are used instead of blocks of stone, have hitherto been
very little used on ordinary roads, though their superior smoothness
gives them a decided advantage, while their expense does not, as stated
by Macneill, at all exceed that of granite. Iron tracks are sometimes
made with a flat surface, but a slight concavity, as in Woodhouse's rail,
which tends to keep the carriages more accurately in the right course,
and is therefore an advantage when the vehicles used on the tramway
are nearly uniform in width. The granite blocks used for stone tram-
ways are generally from 3 to 6 feet long, 12 to 18 inches wide, and 8 to
12 inches deep. Great care is necessary in bedding such large blocks;
and the joints require nice adjustment. They are frequently laid end to
end without any fitting into each other, but it has been proposed to
dovetail the ends together, to insert a small stone as a dowel between
two blocks, to use iron clamps, or to join the stones with oak tree-
nails. The granite tracks used on some steep ascents in the Holyhead
road are bedded on a pavement 8 inches thick, packed and grouted, and
a layer of 3 inches of broken stones not exceeding 1 inch in diameter;
a thin stratum of gravel, well rolled, being placed last of all to receive
the blocks. When they are laid, the centre and side spaces are filled
up with ordinary road material to the level of the tracks; a row of
common granite paving-stones, about 6 inches deep, 5 wide, and 9
long, being laid along each side of the tracks to prevent loose materials
working on to them. Mr. Stevenson, in the 'Edinburgh Encyclopædia,'
recommends the use of smaller stones, as being cheaper and less
liable to injury from vibration than those of the usual size. The
dimensions recommended by him are 14 inches deep, 18 inches wide
at the base, 12 inches wide at the top, and 6 to 9 inches long.
The increased accuracy required in the numerous joints might pro-
bably counterbalance any advantage gained by the adoption of small
stones.
The great saving of power effected by the use of tramways for
ordinary carriages is shown by numerous experiments, some of which,
tried on the granite tracks of the Commercial Road in London, proved
that a well-made waggon will run with increasing velocity, by the
force of gravity alone, down a mean slope of 1 in 155. On this road a
loaded waggon weighing ten tons was drawn with apparent ease by
a single horse, up an ascent of 1 in 274, for a distance of about two
miles. On an iron tramway laid in 1816 by the Forth and Clyde canal
company at Port Dundas, near Glasgow, a horse has taken a load of
three tons on a cart weighing nine cwt., up an acclivity of 1 in 15,
without difficulty, though he could not proceed with it on a common
causeway with an easy line of draught; and the carters agree
that the horses take up three tons upon the iron tracks as easily
as they did twenty-four cwt. on the common causeway previously
used.
In completing a road it is necessary to form the side channels with
care, and to provide against their being interfered with by branch or
field roads. The foothpath, which is usually about 5 feet wide, may
be made of gravel or broken sandstone, and is required in the Holy-
head road specifications to be level with the centre of the road, which
is 6 inches above the sides. For fencing, walls are preferred where
stone is plentiful, as they occupy less space than hedges, and have a
neat appearance. If the stone should be of favourable shape, such walls
may be built without mortar, except in the coping; but if on the side
of an embankment, the walls should be always strongly built with
mortar. A hedge-bank and ditch occupy a width of about 8 feet in
ordinary cases, and the young quicks are protected by post and rail-
fencing; but where timber is scarce, it is sometimes well to make the
ditch, and bank rather larger, so that the wooden railing may be dis-
pensed with. In cuttings and some other situations a mound or bank
without a hedge forms a convenient fence, and these, as well as hedge-
banks, may be improved in appearance and durability by being swarded.
All fences should be kept low, that they may not exclude sun and
wind; and for the same reason trees or buildings that overshadow the
road should be removed when practicable. The situation of toll-gates
must be regulated by circumstances, but it is very desirable to avoid
placing them either on, or at the bottom of, a hill, because such an
arrangement is very liable to cause accidents. The gates, which, In order to ascertain the comparative durability of different kinds of
when single, may be 15 feet, or, when double, without a centre-post, stone for tramways, and for paving generally, Mr. Walker tried some
24 to 30 feet wide, are usually painted white, that they may be readily experiments on blooks laid in a toll gateway on the Commercial Road
seen at night. They should be well lighted, and supplied with com- tramway, the results of which were as follows:-The blocks were 18
fortable toll-houses, which, on some of the modern roads, are erected inches wide and 12 deep, and were laid down in March, 1830; and the
in an ornamental style. Parnell advises the use of milestones of light-loss given in the table was ascertained after they had been in use
coloured stone, and of larger dimensions than usual; but cast-iron posts seventeen months, in August, 1831 :—
138
134
ROAD.
ROAD.
Description of Stone.
Guernsey
Herm*
Budlet
Blue Peterhead
Heyton
Red Aberdeen
Dartmoor
en.
·
Blue Aberdeen
Absolute.
Loss of Depth.
Comparative.
1.000 in.
1.190
•060 in.
⚫075
.082
1.316
•131
2.080
∙141
2.238
•159
2.524
*207
3.285
225
3.571
Stone tramways have been adopted in many street pavements where
a great traffic is carried on, particularly in some of the narrow streets
in the city of London, with much advantage; but their application to
acclivities on ordinary roads has hitherto been more limited than their
merits deserve. By their judicious introduction on a few steep incli-
nations, many hilly roads might, at a small expense, be made nearly
equal to level lines; and it is probable that such a measure would tend,
in an important degree, to enable turnpike-roads to meet the for-
midable rivalry of railways, In his report to the Holyhead-road
Commissioners in 1839, Mr. Macneill strongly recommends the applica-
tion of stone or iron tracks to several hills, and states that an iron
tramway laid down along the whole length of the road would reduce the
expense of horse labour fully one half. "If," he writes, a tramway
were constructed of iron plates, the whole way from London to Bir:
mingham, a coach carrying sixteen passengers might be drawn at the
rate of ten miles an hour with only two horses, and one horse would
be able to draw a post-chaise more easily than two now can, so that
the expense of travelling might be reduced one half, and a similar
reduction might be made in the charges for carrying goods. The
expense of forming such a railway would be about 2500l. a mile,
making the whole expense from London to Birmingham 271,0007.” In
addition to the immediate advantages of such an improvement, it would
remove one of the greatest obstacles to the successful use of steam
locomotives on common roads.
CC
Pavements. The formation of paved roads on correct principles
appears to have been wellhunderstood by the Romans, whose pavements
show great care in their essential features,-a good foundation and
accurate fitting of the stones. Some of the modern imitations of the
Roman system in the street-pavements of Italy show the like attention
to these important points, the paving-stones being set in mortar on a
concrete foundation with a degree of accuracy that has led some
writers to designate these roads horizontal walls. In some instances
the blocks of stone used are of considerable depth; but they are often
thin, and, being of large dimensions, have more the character of
flag-stones than of ordinary paving-blocks. At Naples and Florence,
stones 2 feet square and 6 inches thick, laid diagonally across the road,
and neatly set in Pozzuolano mortar, are used; the surfaces being
chipped where declivities or turnings occur, to prevent the slipping of
horses, which become very sure-footed from habit. Occasionally, as at
Milan, different kinds of paving are laid for the wheel-tracks and horse-
path, so as to produce the effect of a stone tramway. These pave-
ments have been recommended as models for imitation in paving the
streets of London; but the durability with which they are constructed
would form a disadvantage in a place where the pavement has to be
frequently disturbed for the purpose of laying down or repairing water
and gas-pipes, or cleansing the sewers; and it is probable that pave-
ments which answer well for the light vehicles and limited traffic of
many of the continental cities, would be found quite inadequate to
bear the number of heavy carriages traversing the principal thorough-
fares of the metropolis; of which some idea may be formed from the
fact that from six o'clock, A.M., of March 16, to six o'clock, A.M.,
March 17, 1859, there were observed to pass over London Bridge,
4483 cabs, 4286 omnibuses, 9245 waggons and carts, and 2430 other
vehicles, or 20,444 in all.
Another description of paved road, the origin of which is commonly
referred to the Romans, is the chaussée, or roughly-paved causeway
used in the principal highways of France and some other parts of the
Continent. This kind of road has been much recommended for its
durability when well made, but, unless laid with a degree of care that
would render it too expensive for general adoption, it causes a very
unpleasant and fatiguing jolting. In such roads the pavement usually
covers only a part of the breadth of the road, leaving the sides avail-
able for the use of the light carriages in dry weather; and it has been
suggested, that where the width of the roadway would allow, it might
prove advantageous to form, in all great roads, a track of pavement or
hard broken stone for winter use, and another of inferior materials
for summer, both to save the wear of the hard road and increase the
comfort of passengers.
Such an arrangement is convenient in the
principal approaches to great towns, where it is considered best to
have the pavement at the sides, that carters may walk either on or
near the footpaths, and that foot-passengers may not be incommoded
by the dirt of the metalled road.
In Holland, pavements of brick, which are also probably derived
from the practice of Roman engineers, are extensively used, not only
for footpaths, but also for the passage of heavy carriages, which run on
*Herm is an island adjoining Guernsey.
+A whinstone from Northumberland. All the rest are granites.
them with great facility. The bricks used for this purpose are thin,
and well bedded in lime.
Common stone pavements are, by most writers, divided into two
classes: rubble causeway, in which the stones are of irregular shape,
and very imperfectly dressed with the hammer; and dressed causeway,
which is formed of stones of larger size accurately squared and dressed.
In both kinds the excellence of the pavement depends greatly on the
firmness and evenness of the bed, and the careful fitting of the stones
to each other, which may be accomplished with very irregular stones
by judicious selection. If one stone be left a little higher or lower
than those adjoining it, or if it become so in consequence of defective
bedding, the jolting of carriages in passing over the defective place will
quickly damage the pavement; the wheels acting like a rammer in
driving the depressed stones deeper into the earth, while the derange-
ment of the lateral support that each stone should receive from those
adjoining it, occasions the dislocation of the pavement to a consider-
able distance, and the consequent working up of the earth through the
disturbed joints. Defective joints form another fruitful source of
injury and inconvenience both to the pavement itself and to the vehicles
jolted over it. If, as is often the case in inferior pavements, the edges
of two adjoining stones do not meet with accuracy, narrow wheels will
have a tendency to slip into the joint, and by doing so, to wear the
edges of the stones, till, as may be frequently seen, the surface of each
stone is worn into a convex form that renders the footing of horses
insecure, and causes the motion of vehicles drawn rapidly over them
to consist of a series of bounds or leaps from one stone to another,
accompanied by a degree of lateral slipping highly injurious to the
carriage, while the irregular percussion produced tends greatly to the
destruction of the pavement.
In order to procure a firm foundation, and to prevent earth from
working up between the stones, it is advisable in the first instance to
form a good carriage-way of gravel or broken stone, and to allow it to
be used by carriages till consolidated, before laying the pavement.
This plan is stated by Edgeworth, in his Essay on the Construction
of Roads and Carriages,' 1817, to have been practised successfully by
Major Taylor, of the Paving Board, in some pavements in Dublin, and
it is strongly advocated by more recent road-makers. Where broken
stone is laid to a considerable depth, it should, as in the case of
metalled roads, be applied in thin layers, each being separately worked
into a compact state. In streets of very great traffic, it is a good plan
to lay a sub-pavement of old or inferior stones, bedded on broken
stone, as a foundation for the surface pavement, a measure which has
been practised with advantage in Paris; but of late years it has been
the custom in London to form the bed of paved roads by means of a
layer of gravel, perfectly clean, which is rudely converted into a species
of concrete by floating the surface with lime-water. The bed of
the pavement should be formed into a slight convexity, the slopes
being about 2 inches in 10 feet. A thin coat of gravel or sand laid
immediately under the paving blocks is of use in filling up slight
irregularities in their shape, and enabling them to form a com-
pact bed.
For the paving stones hard rectangular blocks of granite are pre-
ferred, though whinstone, limestone, and even freestone, may be used.
Guernsey granite, as shown by the table in a previous column, appears
to be the most durable, but it is more liable to become inconveniently
smooth than some stones of inferior hardness, such as the Mount
Sorrel or Aberdeen granite. The stones may vary, according to the
traffic, from 6 to 10 inches deep, 6 to 18 inches long, and 4 to 18 inches
wide; but it is very essential that the depth of all the blocks in one
piece of pavement should be alike, and that where the width is unequal,
the stones be so sorted that all used in one course should be uniform
in this particular. The accurate dressing of the stones is a point often
too little attended to; and an injudicious mode of forming contracts
for paving, in which the payment has been by the square yard of
paving laid, has, in connection with the effect of competition in bring-
ing prices below the remunerating point, led to the use of stones in
which the base is smaller than the upper surface, and which, when laid,
scarcely come in contact with each other except at their upper edges.
In some pavements the stones are made smaller at the top than the
bottom, the joints being filled up with stone-chips, concrete, or an
asphaltic composition; and in those of the more common construction
the sides of the stones are occasionally hollowed, so as to receive a
small quantity of gravel or mortar, which serves as a kind of dowelling.
Ramming the stones with a heavy wooden hammer is a practice that
has been much recommended, and it is considered that a more efficient
application of the process, by means of a ramming-machine, or portable
monkey, would remove some of the defects arising from imperfect
bedding; but when the stones are well laid, and bedded in strong
mortar, as the best recent pavements are, a few blows with a wooden
maul of about 14 pounds weight are sufficient to fix them firmly in
their place. Grouting with lime-water poured all over the pavement
facilitates the binding of the whole together, and fills up the joints,
so as to effectually prevent the working up of the substratum.
blocks are commonly laid in rows across the road, the joints in each
row being different from those of the adjoining ones; but pavements
of superior smoothness have been laid in courses stretching diagonally
across the street, by which means all the joints are passed over by
carriages with greater ease. This arrangement is particularly desirablo
The
135
ROAD.
at the intersection of streets. as it diminishes the risk of horses slipping.
Longitudinal courses are objectionable on account of the tendency of
narrow wheels to enter the joints. In paving steep inclinations, it is
well to use narrow stones, où account of the number of cross-joints;
or, if large stones be used, to cut deep furrows across their surface, to
afford secure footing. A plan of paving for such situations, which has
been found very effectual, is represented in the annexed diagram, in
which the stones are so inclined as to present a series of steps. The
chief objection to this plan seems to be the jolting caused to carriages,
which produces so deafening a noise that, in one instance, such a
pavement was taken up at the request of the inhabitants of the street.
Many patents have been procured for plans of forming stone pavements
in which the pressure of carriages might be simultaneously distributed
over several stones, by various contrivances for dovetailing and other-
wise fitting the stones together; but such plans are generally too com-
plicated, requiring an accuracy of formation that would be very
expensive, owing to the hardness of the stone. Thin blocks of stone,
bedded in asphalte, have been tried, and appear to make a good
pavement.
When completed, a thin coat of gravel spread over the surface is
useful in diminishing the effect of the jolting of carriages on the new
pavement. In case of taking up any part of a pavement to attend to
water-pipes, &c., great care is necessary in relaying the part, in doing
which it is well to apply some fresh broken stone to the bed, and
to lay the paving stones without mortar, until the foundation is
settled.
The serious defects of the common stone pavements have led to a
variety of experiments on other methods of forming carriage-ways
suitable for streets, of which the adoption of broken stone, or mac-
adamised roads, has been the most general. Opinions differ widely as
to the propriety of this measure, but an idea seems to be gaining
ground that the comparative quietness of such a road, and its superior
ease to passengers, are insufficient to counterbalance the increased
draught of carriages, the dust of summer, the mud rapidly formed in
wet weather, and the great expense of keeping in repair a metalled
road when subjected to the constant wear of a busy town.
The enormous expense of maintaining some of the metalled roads
in London has led to attention being given to various plans of paving
with wood. A very coarse kind of wooden road, consisting of rough
logs laid close together across the track, is much used in North
America, under the name of corduroy roads, but the wooden pavement,
properly so called, seems to have been first used in Russia, and tried on a
limited scale at Vienna, New York, and some other places, within a few
years. One of the earliest kinds used consists of blocks of fir or other
wood cut into hexagonal cylinders, of 6 or 8 inches diameter, and from 8
to 12 or 15 inches deep, and placed close together, with the grain verti-
cally. The blocks are sometimes tarred, or may be kyanised; but
even where no such precaution is used, the wear is very trifling, as the
swelling of the wood from moisture makes the joints very tight and
impervious to water. Such a pavement is very smooth when first laid,
but unless the foundation be very carefully prepared, it is liable to
sink into hollows like the common stone pavement, owing to the want
of cohesion between the individual blocks, a deficiency which it has
been proposed to remedy by pegging or dowelling the pieces together,
though their form is not very suitable for the purpose. Some speci-
mens have been laid on a flooring of planks, to avoid this inconvenience.
Numerous other systems of wood pavements have been adopted,
but in spite of the incidental advantages (as in the case of the
suppression of noise, &c.) they have been found to be so danger-
ous to horses as to render it necessary to abandon the use of that
material.
Another description of road that has lately attracted much attention
is that consisting of an asphaltic composition. Many attempts have
been made to form roads of gravel and other materials united by
animal oleaginous or gelatinous substances, or coal-tar, into a kind of
concrete; but such attempts have seldom proved successful on a large
scale. Mineral substances of similar character have proved more
advantageous, and the native asphalte procured near Seyssel, in the
department of l'Ain, and some other places, has been found to produce,
when mixed with a small portion of native bitumen, a substance
admirably adapted for the formation of smooth roads, and a variety of
other important purposes. Its application to carriage-ways has been in
this country chiefly confined to court-yards, for which, as well as for
terraces and footpaths, it is very suitable. The asphaltic mastic of
Seyssel, as prepared for use, consists of ninety-three parts of native
asphalte reduced to powder, and seven parts of bitumen; the two
being melted together, and a little fine gravel or sand stirred in with
ROADSTEAD.
136
the mixture. The composition is ready for use when it simmers with
a consistency similar to that of treacle, and it is spread while hot so as
to form a coating about an inch thick upon a levelled foundation of
concrete. The thickness of the asphalte is regulated by slips of wood
or iron, which are often so disposed as to divide the pavement into
ornamental compartments, the asphalte being made of various colours
by the admixture of different kinds of sand or other substances.
Where the ornamental character of the pavement forms a distinguish-
ing feature, beautiful imitations of mosaic work may be executed with
asphalte. The genuine natural asphalte possesses a degree of elasticity
that renders it exceedingly durable; but artificial compounds in
imitation of it generally require too much bitumen, and are injuriously
affected by great changes of temperature. Some experiments have
been made, but with very indifferent success, on the formation
of carriage-ways with large blocks of asphaltic composition
containing a considerable quantity of gravel or broken stone.
[ASPHALTE.]
Foot-pavements of flag-stones require very little remark. The curb-
stones should be very hard, and firmly set in cement on a bed of gravel.
They usually rise about 6 inches above the surface of the carriage-way,
which may be made to abut immediately upon them, without the
intervention of a gutter. Where gutters are introduced, those of cast-
iron are to be preferred. The flagstones, which should never be less
than 2 or 3 inches thick, are commonly bedded in mortar on a layer
of gravel; but sometimes, when there are no cellars underneath, are
laid dry. The appearance of many of the new streets of London is
greatly improved by the use of flagstones of extraordinary dimensions,
extending the whole width of the pavement; and a similar appearance
at much less cost may be obtained by the use of asphalte. A slight
degree of slope should be given to the pavement, to conduct water to
the gutters, for which purpose a fall of 1 inch in 10 feet is sufficient,
while a steeper inclination is objectionable from its danger in slippery
weather.
Among the substitutes for common Yorkshire flagstones that have
been recommended, may be mentioned slate, which appears to be very
durable. Some pavements or floors of this material have been laid at
the London Docks, where, among other advantages, it is found pre-
ferable to wood in point of cleanliness. Trackways of slate 2 inches
thick are found strong enough to bear waggons or carts with 4 or 5
tons of goods; and some are laid of only half that thickness on an old
wooden floor.
A Treatise on Roads,' &c., by Sir Henry Parnell, of which a second
edition was published in 1838, may be consulted with advantage by
those desirous of obtaining further information on the theory and
practice of road-making. The works of Bergeir, McAdam, Edgeworth,
Sganzin, Schwilgué, Lehay, and several others; and the various
Parliamentary Reports relating to roads from the commencement of
the present century, as well as those of the Holyhead Road Com-
missioners, also contain much valuable matter on this subject. It
may be interesting to add, as a means of forming an approximate idea
of the importance of our ordinary roads, that the sum laid out in the
repairs of the turnpike roads of England and Wales in 1857 was not
less than 1,127,7917., including the interest on the debt, or a sum of
182,0347.; and that the county roads cost 2,286,559%. There are no
recent returns of the lengths of the different kinds of roadways, but
the cost of maintaining a turnpike road may be taken at 50l. per mile,
and that of county roads at 11. per mile.
ROADSTEAD, a sheltered bay, or portion of a sea-coast, in which
vessels may lie safely at anchor until the tide should allow of their
entering the harbour or dock at the bottom of the bay, or to pass the
bar of a river discharging into the same. There are other roadsteads
upon open coasts, formed by reefs or sand-banks running parallel to,
but at some distance from, the shore, which afford shelter from
winds blowing in certain directions, and thus materially assist
the coasting- trade. Portland Roads and Spithead are illustrations
of the first class of roadsteads; Yarmouth and Deal Roads are
of the latter class. Plymouth, Cherbourg, and Delaware Bay have.
been artificially converted into safe roadsteads, and the same
result has been attained by the remarkable works executed at the
Helder.
The essential conditions of a safe roadstead are, that it should pre-
sent a large area of water-surface of great depth; that it should have
good holding ground; and that it should be protected from all winds
which are likely to create much agitation in the water. The entrance.
must be casy, and indeed it is preferable that there should be more
than one entrance to a roadstead, so that a vessel driven by stress of
weather may be able to make either the one or the other pass, or, if
driven past one of them, may still have a chance of taking refuge in
the other. It is precisely for this reason that the roadstead of the port
of Vigo is one of the most admirable harbours of refuge in Europe;
for the Islas da Bayona stretch across the mouth of the bay, leaving
two channels near the shores of the main land, and an overlapped
channel between the two islands. The artificial roadsteads at Ply-
mouth and Cherbourg have two navigable passes, for the breakwaters
are in both cases formed in deep water, and without connection with
the shore; but neither of these marvellous triumphs of human inge-
nuity and perseverance are so efficient as is the natural screen at Vigo
in checking the transmission of the external agitation. In the open

137
138
ROASTING.
ROBBERY.
roads, such as Deal and Yarmouth, when the wind blows parallel to
the shores, or rather to the entrances, no protection whatever can be
afforded; and indeed the vessels which may be engaged in such narrow
passes, not having sea-room, are exposed to greater danger with such
winds than if they were in open sea. To some extent, all roads must
be exposed to inconvenience from the waves when the wind
blows straight into their entrances; but if the shelter from the
prevailing winds should be perfect, it would be found that the
waves, driven through the narrow passes, would soon be lost in
the large mass of still water behind the natural or artificial means of
shelter.
on them.
A ship of the line requires a minimum depth of 30 feet, and an area
of about 8 to 10 acres to swing freely at its anchors; a 1000 ton
commercial vessel would not require a greater depth than 21 or 22
feet, and the area it would occupy would be proportionally less. If
there should be any probability of the transmission of the external
agitation to the interior of the roads, the depth of water must be
greater than either of those stated, so as to ensure a sufficient depth
beneath the keels of the ships even when the waves are at their
lowest points. In the best roads, there are usually harbours, docks,
repairing slips, and other conveniences for the examination and repair
of vessels, and at all times the value of a roadstead is materially in-
creased if it should possess means for watering the ships which resort
to it. Some of the best roads in the Mediterranean are of little
practical value on account of the lack of fresh water in them;
as, for instance, the roads of Cagliari, in the island of Sardinia,
although there is a tolerably convenient little harbour at the head
of the bay. The passes between the main land and the sheltering
breakwater must be at least from 1200 to 2000 yards in width,
to allow large vessels to enter easily when they have any heavy way
ROASTING is that culinary process by which meat is brought from
a raw to a cooked state more directly by the action of fire than by any
other means except that of broiling. By the latter the heat is applied
immediately and suddenly to the surface, by which it is hardened, so
that the juices of the meat are greatly retained, evaporation being
thereby prevented; while, by the former, the heat is applied gradually,
the watery portion is evaporated, as well as the fat melted out to a
considerable extent, till the progressive browning and hardening of the
surface prevent the further escape of the juices. But the loss resulting
from the evaporation of the watery portion, and to a certain degree,
the melting of the fat, may be lessened by imitating in the first
stages the process of broiling, namely, by applying the meat at the
beginning quite close to the fire, so as to harden the outside, and then
removing it to a great distance, and conducting the subsequent stages
very slowly. About fifteen minutes is generally sufficient to effect
this encrusting for a moderately sized joint, if the fire be brisk and
clear, as it always ought to be for roasting-or if gas be used.
"Every house should have a moveable piece of iron or steel, with a
joint permitting it to be turned out of the way when not in use,
screwed on the mantel-piece, with teeth fixed in it, so as to be able to
hang the joint any distance from the fire." (Soyer's 'Shilling Cookery
for the People.') The evaporation may be further restrained by
beginning to dredge the meat with flour earlier than most cooks do.
The above eminent authority recommends that "all dark meats, such
as beef and mutton, should be put down to a sharp fire for at least
fifteen minutes, then remove it back, and let it do gently. Lamb
veal, and pork (if young and tender), should be done at a moderate
fire. Veal even should be covered with paper. Fowls, &c., should be
placed close to the fire, to set the skin." For young meats the process
should be carried farther than for older meats. The loss of weight in
roasting meat is much greater than by boiling: "By boiling, mutton
loses one-fifth, and beef one-fourth; but by roasting, these meats lose
about one-third of their weight. In roasting, the loss arises from the
melting out of the fat and the evaporation of the water, but the
nutritious matter remains condensed in the cooked solid; whereas, in
boiling, the gelatine is partly abstracted. Roasted are therefore more
nutritive than boiled meats.' (Paris, On Diet.') The digestibility is
also increased, especially in young meats, which are deficient in osma-
zome, to which the sapidity is mainly owing, and which during boiling
passes into the water employed, while in roasting it is powerfully
developed and almost entirely retained. "Young and viscid food,
therefore, such as veal, chickens, &c., is more wholesome when
roasted than when boiled, and are more easily digested." The best
and most tender meat may, however, be rendered hard and indigestible
by a careless or ignorant cook. Everybody knows the advantage of
slow boiling-slow roasting is equally important. See Dr. Kitchener's
'Cook's Oracle,' in which the most sensible and racy instructions on
this head are given; also in Miss Acton's 'Cookery,' as well as the
different works of Alexis Soyer.
((
>>
The digestibility is increased by the meat being well done, rather
than under-done; for though in this latter state it may contain
most nutriment, yet it will be less digestible on account of the density
of its texture." This is of importance to remember when it is intended
for the diet of convalescents, for whom broiled and roast meats are
preferable to boiled.
ROBBERY is theft aggravated by the circumstance of the property
stolen being aken from the person, or whilst it is under the protection
of the person, of the owner or other lawful possessor, either by violence
or putting in fear. This offence appears to have been formerly confined
to cases of actual violence to the person, but in later times it has been
extended to constructive violence by putting in fear, and not only to
cases where property has been taken or delivered under a threat of
bodily violence to the party robbed or to some other person, but also
where the fear has resulted from apprehension of violence to his
habitation or to his property, or where it has been occasioned
by threats of accusing the party of the commission of an infamous
crime.
Robbery was formerly regarded not as an aggravation of the crime
of theft, but as a distinct and substantial crime. Latterly, however,
robbery has been treated as an aggravation of theft, and it has been
held that if, upon the trial of an indictment for larceny, it appear that
the taking amounted to a robbery, the party may nevertheless be con-
victed of the larceny charged.
The stealing is said to be by violence when it is effected by doing
any injury, however slight, to the person of the party robbed, or when
the act of taking is accompanied by any degree of force for the purpose
of overcoming resistance. A snatching or taking of property suddenly
or unawares from the person, without some actual injury to the
person,
does not amount to robbery. If violence be used, it is sufficient to
constitute robbery, although resorted to under the colour of executing
legal process, or of the exercise of some other lawful authority. It is
not essential to the offence of robbery that the violence should have
been at first used for the purpose of obtaining the property, provided
the violence be unlawful and the property is yielded up, or permitted
to be taken, in order to prevent further violence.
Stealing is considered to be effected by threat of violence to the
person, when possession of the thing stolen is obtained by any threat,
menace, or other act calculated to excite fear or apprehension of
violence, present or future, to the person of the party threatened or of
any other party in whose welfare the party to whom the threat is
addressed may feel interested. It is immaterial whether the threat,
&c., be direct or indirect, or whether conveyed by words, gestures, or
signs, or whether made under pretence of lawful claim or of acting
under legal process or other lawful authority, or of asking charity, or
of making a purchase, or under any other pretence. The existence of
actual fear in the mind of the party robbed is not material, provided
the act of stealing be accompanied by such threats or other acts as are
calculated to create the expectation that force will be used in case of
resistance. Where no actual violence is employed, and the threats,
&c., used do not create any apprehension of violence or expectation
that force will be resorted to in case of resistance, or if such appre-
hension or expectation has ceased to exist at the time when the property
is taken, the offence of robbery is not committed. If property be taken
by violence or by threats, &c., it is robbery, although the owner may
have voluntarily exposed himself to the attack for the purpose of
apprehending the offender.
At common law, robbery was a felony punishable by death, without
regard to the quantity or value of the property stolen. The offender,
however, was entitled to benefit of clergy [BENEFIT OF CLERGY), until
this advantage was taken away in cases of robbery, under different
circumstances of aggravation, by several statutes.
The offender was liable to be punished at the suit of the crown after
a trial upon an indictment, and, in certain cases, when taken in the
very act, upon a trial without indictment. The party robbed also was
entitled to bring his criminal action or appeal [APPEAL] against the
robber, for the purpose as well of punishing the offender as of obtaining
restitution of the property stolen.
The party robbed may without any formality retake his goods
wherever he can find them, unless they have been waived or thrown
away by the robber during his flight, or seized by the officer of the
crown or of the lord of the franchise, or sold in open market. But after
such waiver, seizure, or sale, the owner cannot retake them of his own
authority. At common law a writ of restitution could be obtained
only upon the successful prosecution of a writ of appeal. But the
courts before which a party is convicted of robbery or of larceny
are now authorised to award writs of, or make orders for, restitu-
tion of stolen goods (21 Hen. VIII. c. 11; 7 & 8 Geo. IV., c. 20,
s. 57).
Robbery is punishable by penal servitude for life or for any term of
years not less than three years, or by imprisonment for any term not
exceeding three years, and for any period of solitary confinement during
such imprisonment not exceeding one month at a time, or three months
in the space of one year.
Upon an indictment for robbery, as well as for any other felony
which includes an assault upon the person, the jury may acquit of the
felony, and find a verdict of guilty of assault, against the party
indicted, if the evidence will warrant such finding; for which assault
the party may be sentenced to imprisonment for any term not exceeding
three years.
ROBBERY, in the Roman law, was called Rapina, and the remedy of
the injured person was the actio vi bonorum raptorum against the
robber. Robbery was, in fact, a species of Furtum; for the definition
of furtum was, a fraudulent carrying off (contrectatio) of a moveable
thing against the owner's consent." The word fraudulent " com-
prehended the notion of a person carrying off the thing for the purpose
"1
་
139
ROBES, MASTER OF THE.
of making it his own. Rapina only differed from Furtum in being
effected by force.
Furtum was committed in various ways, besides by taking another
person's property. A debtor committed furtum, if he fraudulently
carried off a thing which he had pledged to his creditor. It was furtum
to use a thing that had been lent, for a different, purpose from that for
which it had been lent. Furtum was either manifestum or nec mani-
festum. It was furtum manifestum beyond all doubt when the thief
was caught in the act; but there was a difference of opinion as to
whether it was furtum manifestum or nec manifestum in a variety of
cases. According to some writers, it was furtum manifestum if the
thief was taken with the thing before he had reached the place to
which he intended to carry it. Furtum which was not manifestum
was nec manifestum. The Twelve Tables made the punishment of
furtum manifestum a capital offence, that is, an offence the penalty for
which affected a person's caput or status. The edict changed this into
an actio quadrupli. The remedy in the case of furtum nec manifestum,
which the Twelve Tables gave, was an actio dupli, which the edict
retained. All persons could have the actio furti who had an interest
in the preservation of the stolen thing; consequently others besides
the owner might bring the action, a bailee for instance: and sometimes
the owner could not bring it, as in the case of bailment, provided the
bailee was a responsible person. If he was a responsible person, he
was bound to make good the loss to the owner, and consequently could
bring the action, and the owner could not. Condemnation in an actio
furti was followed by infamia.
The owner of the thing might also bring his action for the recovery
of the thing itself or its value.
The law of the Twelve Tables permitted a person to kill a thief who
was detected in the act of theft in the night; and a thief might be
killed in the day-time, if he defended himself with any weapon
(telum). But the severity of the old civil law was gradually miti-
gated by the edict, and the offence of theft was, as already observed,
only punishable by an action of furtum, and the consequent pecuniary
penalties.
The Roman law of Furtum is stated in Gaius, iii. 183-209; Dig., 47,
tit. 2: Inst., 4, tit. 1.
ROBES, MASTER OF THE, an officer of the household who has
the ordering of the king's robes. By statute 51 Henry III., the
"Gardein de la Garderobe de Roi," the warden of the king's wardrobe,
was to make accompt yearly in the Exchequer, on the feast of
St. Margaret. The office has always been one of great dignity. A
female sovereign has a mistress of the robes. High privileges were con-
ferred upon the office by King Henry VI., and others by King James I.,
who erected the office of master of the robes into a corporation.
ROBINIC ACID. An acid of doubtful composition, said to be
contained in the root of the Robinia pseudo-acacia. It is crystalline
and deliquesces in moist air.
ROCCELLIC ACID, (C2H22O?) obtained from the Roccella
tinctoria. This acid crystallises in fine colourless needles of a silky
lustre. It is insoluble in water, whether cold or hot; alcohol dis-
solves it readily, 100 parts of 0.819 density, at the boiling-point,
taking up 55 parts. Ether also dissolves it easily: it melts at 266°,
and solidifies at 251°.
The alkaline roccellates dissolve in water, and yield solutions which
froth like soap; but when concentrated, the solutions cannot be drawn
out in threads like those of other soaps. Roccellate of potash crystal-
lises in small lamine; the salt of lime is a white precipitate, insoluble
in water, and contains 15'9 per cent. of base.
ROCELLININ. [LICHENS, COLOURING MATTERS OF.]
ROCHELLE SALT. [TARTARIC ACID.]
ROCK ALUM. [ALUM.]
ROCK CRYSTAL, [SILICON.]
ROCK SALT. [SODIUM.]
ROCKET.
140
soil of plains. On this account, small shrubs and creeping plants of
any kind that will grow in a dry soil are selected for rock-work. Of
these, the varieties are numerous, and the taste and care of the culti
vator may be advantageously shown in the selection.
ROCKET is a cylindrical vessel or case, of pasteboard or metal,
attached to one end of a light rod of wood, and containing a compo-
sition which, being fired, the vessel and rod are projected through the
air by a force arising from the combustion.
Rockets have long been used as a means of making signals for the
purpose of communication when the parties have been invisible from
distance or darkness, or otherwise inaccessible to each other; and they
have occasionally served the important purpose of determining the
difference of longitude between two places. In the latter case the
rocket is fired at some convenient spot between the stations, from both
of which the explosion must be visible; and the latter being nearly
instantaneous, the difference between the times at which it is observed,
as indicated by chronometers regulated so as to show the mean times
at the places, is the required difference of longitude. Rockets have
also been constructed for the purpose of being used in warfare, and
such missiles were so employed for the first time at the siege of Copen-
hagen in 1807.
In signal rockets the part of the case which contains the composition,
by whose combustion the projectile force is produced, is joined, at the
upper extremity, to a conical case containing the composition for pro-
ducing the explosions or stars of light which constitute the signal, and
the length of this part is always rather greater than the diameter of
the cylindrical part of the case. Such rockets are made to weigh half a
pound, one pound, or occasionally even two pounds. The exterior diameter
of the one-pound rocket is 1 inch; the length of the cylindrical case is
123 inches, and the length of the conical head is 3 inches. The rod is
generally attached near the base and on one side of the rocket; its
length is about 8 feet, or 60 diameters of the rocket, and its thickness
is about half a diameter of the latter. The composition with which
the cylinder is filled consists generally of saltpetre, sulphur, and charcoal
or gunpowder; the whole is reduced to a mealed state, and well mixed
together in the following proportions:-saltpetre, 4 lbs.; sulphur,
1lb.; and charcoal, 1 lb. 8 oz. The composition which produces what
are called the stars consists of saltpetre, 8 lbs. ; sulphur, 2 lbs.; sulphide
of antimony, 2lbs.; mealed powder, 8 oz.; and isinglass, 33 oz.
latter is dissolved in one quart of vinegar, after which one pint of
spirit of wine is added, and then the mealed composition is mixed
with the liquid till the whole becomes of the same consistency as a stiff
paste. It is then moulded into short cylinders, and when dry, these
cylinders are packed into the head with a small bursting charge.
When the composition of the rocket is burnt out, the burster blows
open the head and frees the lighted stars.
The
The rocket case having been placed on a conical spindle, which passes
a certain distance up the centre, the composition for burning is rammed
or driven round it, so that in the interior about the axis a void space of
a conical form is left in order that a considerable surface of the com-
position may be at once in a state of combustion. The neck of the
rocket (the part to which the rod is attached), is then choked, or
reduced in size, leaving a small hole or vent through which the fire is
communicated to the composition. The combustion of the latter
immediately takes place on all the concave conical surface about the
void space just mentioned.
In order to understand the cause of the rocket's motion, let it be
observed, that if the composition were to be fired within a vessel or
case closed on all sides, the pressure of the gas generated would be
equal in every direction, and the case would either burst in pieces, or,
if sufficiently strong, would remain at rest while all the composition
was being consumed. But, the case having an aperture or apertures
at the choke or lower extremity of the cylinder, the pressure which
would have taken place against that extremity is reduced by the escape
of the gas into the atmosphere; and there is an excess of pressure on
the head, which is not counteracted by a pressure on the other ex-
tremity, equal in amount to the pressure due to a surface of the size
of the orifice, that is, disregarding the resistance of the atmosphere to
the escape of gas; and this pressure impels the rocket forwards or
upwards. This force acts in a manner similar to that by which a gun
recoils when the charge is fired; but, in the latter case, the fluid
escaping almost instantly from the bore, the force is one of impulse on
the bottom of the chamber which ceases nearly as soon as it is generated;
whereas, in a rocket, the composition continuing to burn during several
tinues to act till the material is consumed. Hence it follows that a
rocket ascends, or moves forward, with an accelerated motion till the
resistance of the air becomes equal to the accelerative force: aud
when the composition is burnt out, the rocket falls to the ground.
We see then that cæteris paribus, the larger the vent or aperture, the
greater will be the pressure on the head, driving the rocket forward.
But this is modified by the consideration that the smaller the aperture
the greater will be the condensation, and, therefore, pressure of gas
generated; or, in fact, that the gas should not be allowed to escape as
fast as it is generated. Again, the more rapidly the gas is generated,
or the stronger the composition is, the greater will be the pressure;
but at the same time, the sooner will it be burnt out, and the stronger
and heavier must be the case. These considerations are most import
ROCK-WORK, in gardening, an elevation, composed of earth and
other loose materials, and covered with stones and fragments of rock,
&c., amongst which plants adapted for such a situation are grown.
When the rock-work is managed skilfully, and in accordance with
surrounding objects, it may be made to add much to the beauty and
interest of the garden. In the first place a proper situation should
be selected, and the character of the rocks should harmonise with the
situation. Simple outlines and surfaces not broken into fantastic
shapes, are best suited to show off the plants. The best stones for
rock-work are those which resist the action of the air, and they may
be selected according to convenience from the rocks of the neighbour-seconds, the force of impulse becomes a force of pressure, which con-
hood in which they are used. The most irregular ought to be chosen,
especially those with cavities in them, which may be filled with earth |
for the growth of mosses, ferns, and small plants. Frequently stones
are met with covered with lichens, which, from their picturesque
colours, have a pleasing effect. Of these, the Lichen atroflavus, geogra-
phicus, ventosus, perellus, and stellaris, are most common. Such stones
are mostly large, and are best adapted for the base of the rock-
work.
Although rock-work is intended to present a mountainous or rocky
vegetation in a small space, yet there are many circumstances that
prevent the growth of true mountain and rock plants in such a situa-
tion; but the dry ridges of earth and stones of which it is composed
afford a favourable situation for the plants that chiefly occupy the dry
141
142
ROCKET.
ROMAN ARCHITECTURE
ant in the construction of the large military rocket, and will be found
fully treated in Captain Boxer's Treatise on Gunnery,' p. 67, chapter
on Rockets.
The rod serves to guide the rocket in its flight for the common
centre of gravity of the rocket and rod being a little below the top of
the latter (in the one-pound rocket it is 2 feet from the upper ex-
tremity of the rocket, or 7 feet from the lower extremity of the rod);
if we suppose the rocket to be fired vertically upwards, and a vibration
should take place about the centre of gravity by any excess of pressure
on one side arising from an irregularity in the burning of the com-
position, the resistance of the air against the long portion of the rod
below that centre, like a force acting on the longer arm of a lever, will
exceed the force by which the vibration is produced, since the latter
force acts on the rocket and the upper part of the rod which constitutes
the shorter arm of the lever; and thus the vibration is checked or
prevented, and the rocket is enabled to ascend steadily. But, in pro-
portion as the composition burns out, the common centre of gravity
approaches nearer the middle of the whole length of the rocket and
rod; and the resistance of the air acting at length nearly equally
above and below that centre, it can no longer counteract any inequality
in the burning of the composition. Thus, in falling, the top of the
rocket, or the rocket end of the rod, is downwards.
The rod performs a similar service when the rocket is impelled
horizontally or obliquely; for, while the force of projection is great
enough to carry the rocket forward, and the centre of gravity of the
whole is near the rocket end of the rod, the resistance of the air
against the tail of the latter will nearly prevent any vibration; but,
when the centre of gravity has got near the middle of the length, the
head of the rocket begins to droop, and at length the whole comes
obliquely to the ground. It has happened however, from the rod
being too short or too light, that the weight of the rocket, when the
latter had been projected with a small elevation, has so much in-
curvated the line of its path before the composition has burnt out,
that the rod has turned over it, and the whole has been driven to the
ground in a direction tending towards the place from whence it was
projected. In signal rockets, the stick is fixed to the side of the
cylinder, a very defective arrangement, as shown by Captain Boxer
in his chapter on Rockets.
Rockets whose diameters vary from 1 to 2 inches have been found
to ascend vertically to the height of about 500 yards; and those whose
diameters vary from 2 to 3 inches, have ascended to the height of
1200 yards. The distances at which rockets can be seen vary from
35 to 40 miles; and the times of ascent from 7 to 10 seconds. (Robins's
Tracts,' vol. ii.)
Rockets, to be employed as military projectiles, were invented by
Sir William Congreve, and, in the British artillery service, a body of
men, called the rocket troop, was organised expressly for their manage-
ment. Sir William caused the rockets to be made with strong iron cases
of cylindrical forms, and terminating at the head with a paraboloid or
cone; and he attached the rod so that its axis should coincide in
direction with that of the rocket. Five classes of rockets were first
made, namely, 3, 6, 12, 24, and 32 pounders. The 32 pounders have now
however been abolished.
against an inferior force of British troops was checked by a well
directed fire of rockets at the passage of the Adour in the last-
mentioned year; and it is said that the explosion of the powder-
magazine which in 1840 produced such disastrous effects at Acre, was
caused by the fall of a rocket on the building. Rockets were used both
by the French and English before Sebastopool. A rocket was invented
by Mr. Hale a few years ago to be used without a stick; the rocket was
something similar to the Congreve rocket, but at the base, which is in
form like the frustum of a cone, besides a large vent hole in the axis
there were five smaller holes cut obliquely through the exterior
surface of the conical part. These holes, termed "tangential holes,"
are made with the object of giving a rotatory movement to the rocket
to keep it point foremost. [RIFLE.] The rocket was restrained by a
spring in the tube till it had obtained sufficient initial velocity to
prevent its drooping.
ROD. [PERCH.]
ROGATION DAYS.
离
​It was a general custom formerly, says
Bourne, and it is still observed in many country parishes, to go round
the bounds and limits of the parish on one of the three days preceding
Holy Thursday; when the minister, accompanied by his church-
wardens and parishioners, used to deprecate the vengeance of God, beg
a blessing on the fruits of the earth, and preserve the rights and
properties of the parish. The primitive custom used by Christians on
this occasion was, for the people to accompany the bishop or some of
the clergy into the fields, where Litanies where made, and the mercy of
God implored, that he would avert the evils of plague and pestilence,
that he would send them good and seasonable weather, and give them
in due season the fruits of the earth. The Litanies or Rogations then
used gave the name of Rogation Week to this time. They occur as
early as A.D. 550, when they were first observed by Mamertius, bishop
of Vienna, on account of the frequent earthquakes that happened, and
the incursions of wild beasts, which laid in ruins and depopulated the
city. (Walifred, Stral., c. 28, ' De Repub. Ecclesiast.') In the canons
of Cuthbert, archbishop of Canterbury, made at Cloveshoo, in the year
747, it was ordered that Litanies, that is Rogations, should be observed
by the clergy and people, with great reverence, on the seventh of the
calends of May, according to the rites of the church of Rome, which
terms this the Greater Litany, and also, according to the custom of
our forefathers, on the three days before the Ascension of our Lord,
with fastings, &c. (Wilkins, Concil. Brit.;' Spelm., v. Litania.')
In the Book of Common Prayer they are still retained. The three Ro-
gation Days are the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday before Holy
Thursday, which are appointed fast days. The previous Sunday is
Rogation Sunday.
Rogation Week, in the northern parts of England, is called Gang
Week, from to gang, which in the north signifies to go. Gang-week,
occurs in the rubric to John, c. 17, in the Saxon Gospels; and
Gang-dagas are noticed in the laws both of Alfred and Athelstan.
(Brand's Popular Antiq.; Brady's Clavis Calendaria.)
ROGUE AND VAGABOND." [VAGRANT.]
ROLLING, ROLLERS. [IRON MANUFACTURE.]
ROLLING STOCK. [RAILWAY.]
ROLLS. [RECORDS.]
ROLLS-COURT, the Court of the Master of the Rolls, is usually held
in the Rolls Buildings in Chancery Lane; which were originally a
When the
house or hospital for the reception of Jewish converts.
Jews were banished from England by King Edward I., there was little
use for an hospital of this kind; whereupon it was assigned to the
Master of the Rolls, who had thenceforth the denomination of Magister
Rotulorum, Recordorum, &c., et Custos Domus Conversorum. One or two
converts were maintained on a poor pittance in this house in the 16th
century.
The paraboloid head is hollow, and can be used as a shell by filling
it with powder, or as a shot by leaving it empty. The 12 and 24
pounders can also be used as carcasses by substituting a conical
carcass head with four vents for the paraboloid head. The shell is
fitted with a fuze fixed in the base, that is, nearest the rocket com-
position. It also has a small hole at the apex, through which the
bursting charge is introduced. Through this hole the boring bit is
introduced when it is necessary to bore out any fuze composition for
short ranges. When the ranges are very short, it is necessary to bore
out some of the rocket composition also. But this is a dangerous ROLLS, MASTER OF THE, an officer of the Court of Chancery,
operation and hardly repays the trouble. The stick is screwed into second only to the chancellor himself. Originally he had, as the name
the bottom of the case, an iron disk, and round it are five vents for implies, the custody of the rolls or recorded proceedings of that court,
the escape of the gas. In order that the direction of their flight may and, it seems also, of any other documentary matter belonging to that
be more certain, military rockets are, in general, fired from tubes court. But the custody had long been merely nominal, and the actual
fixed in stands in such a manner as to be adjustable to any elevation, care of them was vested in certain keepers, under the authority of
and raised sufficiently above the ground to keep the stick off it; and an act of Parliament (1 & 2 Vict. c. 91), by which, however, very
the proper elevation, at least for the smaller rockets, is about one
out one extensive powers are given to the Master of the Rolls with respect to
degree for each hundred yards in the required range. From their the custody and use of them. This act further commits to him
form they penetrate to a considerable depth when fired against timber the records also of the Common-Law Courts and of the Court of
or earth: 12 pounder rockets, after a range of 1260 yards, have been Exchequer.
found to enter the ground obliquely as far as 22 feet. The principal
inconvenience attending rocket practice is the powerful action of
the wind when it blows in a direction perpendicular, and even oblique,
to the intended line of flight. The effect is very peculiar, for the wind
acting on the tail, a long lever, drives the head up into the wind. The
rocket should therefore be laid to leeward.
Rockets, being much lighter than any other kind of ordnance, and
capable of being used with or without carriages, are well adapted for
conveyance in mountainous countries. When fired in volleys against
troops, their effect is likely to create much disorder; and those which
act as carcasses, when fired against buildings, will almost certainly
cause their destruction. Besides being employed in the siege of
Copenhagen, rockets were used at the bombardment of Flushing
(1809); and in 1813 the British rocket-troop rendered considerable
service at the battle of Leipzig. The advance of a French column
By what means the Master of the Rolls became divested of the
peculiar duties indicated by the name, is a point of legal antiquarianism
which has not been satisfactorily elucidated; nor is it quite clear
when or how he came to sit to hear causes in equity. The chief
duties of this officer now are judicial; but from his decrees there is
an appeal to the chancellor, or lords justices.
ROMAN ALUM. [ALUM.]
ROMAN ARCHITECTURE. Although, as was said under ARCHI-
TECTURE, the Romans derived their architecture, as they did most
of their arts, immediately from the Greeks, yet they undoubtedly
borrowed the circular arch, and the fondness for circularity in the
plans of their buildings, from the Etruscans; and these features wero
what mainly brought about the modifications of style and ornamenta-
tion, the variety of form and the constructive peculiarities, which dis-
tinguish Roman architecture. We cannot here trace the progress of
113
ROMAN ARCHITECTURE.
the various modifications: all we shall attempt is to show the leading
characteristics of Roman architecture, especially marking its divergence
from that of the Greeks, referring the reader to the article GRECIAN
ARCHITECTURE for a general view of the parent style, and to COLUMN
for a particular account of the Orders.
With regard merely to the orders, Roman architecture presents
chiefly a corruption of the Doric and Ionic, for it may claim the
Corinthian as almost entirely its own, the Roman examples of that
order being not only numerous and varied, but at the same time
exceedingly different in character from the almost solitary specimen of
one with foliaged capitals which occurs in a Grecian building.
[GRECIAN ARCHITECTURE.] But even as regards the application of the
orders, there is a wide difference between the two styles; in the Roman
they are frequently employed as mere decoration, the columns being
engaged or attached to the walls, or in some cases (as that of triumphal
arches) though the columns are insulated and advanced from the
structure, they are in a manner detached from it, inasmuch as they do
not support its general entablature, but merely projecting portions of
it. Nor are these the only differences, for besides the frequent employ-
ment of pilasters as substitutes for columns-that is, as constituting
the order without columns-the practice of super-columniation, or
raising one order upon another, was by no means uncommon; a prac-
tice that was indeed a matter of necessity in such enormous edifices as
the Colosseum, if columns were to be employed at all.
From all this it will be evident that, as regards the orders alone,
there is a very marked difference between Roman and Grecian archi-
tecture; yet such difference is by no means the whole. If there were
no other distinction between them, that arising from the arch, and
diverse applications of its principles to vaults and domes, would be
a very material one; but we also meet with a variety and complexity
in Roman buildings of which there are no examples in those of Greece.
! With the exception of the Erechtheium, or triple temple on the
Acropolis of Athens, Greek temples were merely simple parallelograms,
differing from each other as to plan only in the number and disposi-
tion of the columns around the cella [TEMPLE]; whereas by the
adoption of the circular form in their plans, whether for the whole or
parts of a building, the Romans introduced an important element of
variety into architectural design. To this shape in the ground-plan
is to be ascribed the origin of the tholus, or concave dome, which
harmonizes so beautifully with all the rest, and renders the rotunda-
shape at once the most picturesque and the most complete for
internal effect, that in which both unity and variety are thoroughly
combined. [ROTUNDA.] The Pantheon alone would suffice to con-
vince us that the Romans were not mere copyists, and that if the
Greek orders deteriorated in their hands, they also added much to the
art and greatly extended its powers by new appliances. As regards
its exterior, the Pantheon presents what is certainly a strikingly
picturesque (and what we consider to be also a consistent and appro-
priate, because a well-motived) combination, namely, that of a
rectangular mass projecting from a larger circular one. In that
example the body of the edifice, or rotunda itself, has no columns
externally; but circular peristylar temples, or rotundas, whose cella
was enclosed by an external colonnade, were not uncommon. Of
this kind is the temple of the Sibyl, or, as it is otherwise called,
that of Vesta, at Tivoli, an edifice of singular beauty, and highly
interesting as a very peculiar and unique example of the Corinthian
order. Edifices of this kind were covered with hemispherical domes,
or with smaller sections of a sphere, which consequently did not show
themselves much externally, as they were raised only over the cella,
and therefore the lower part was concealed by the colonnade project-
ing around it.
The dome of the Pantheon is hemispherical within,
but is of very low proportions and flattened form without, for its
spring commences at about the level of the first or lower cornice of
the exterior cylinder, and is further reduced by the base of the outer
portion of the dome being expanded and formed into separate cylin-
drical courses or gradini.
Polygonal forms of plan were sometimes employed, of which there
is an instance in what is called the temple of Minerva Medica at Rome,
which is circular on the exterior, but internally decagonal, with nine
of its sides occupied by as many recesses, and the other by the door-
way-a remarkable peculiarity, it being very unusual to enclose a
polygon within a cylindrical structure, although not the contrary, nor
to erect a cylinder upon a square or polygonal basement. Octagonal
plans were by no means uncommon: such form was frequently made
use of for the saloons of public baths; and there is an instance of an
octagonal temple, supposed to have been dedicated to Jupiter, in one
of the courts of Diocletian's palace at Spalatro. Of hexagonal struc-
tures we are acquainted with no example, but a court with six
sides occurs in the remains of the temple of Baalbec, not however a
regular hexagon, but of elongated figure, two of the sides being
110, and the remaining four 88 feet each. In the later periods of
Roman architecture, circular and polygonal structures became more
frequent, and those of the first-mentioned kind deviated considerably
from the original simple rotundas and circular temples. An inner
peristyle of columns was introduced so as to make a spacious circular
or ring-shaped ambulatory around the centre, which was much loftier
than the colonnade, being covered by a dome raised upon a cylin-
drical wall over the columns. What is now called San Stefano
|
ROMAN ARCHITECTURE.
·
144
Rotunda, at Rome, supposed by some to have been originally a temple
dedicated first to Faunus, and afterwards to the emperor Claudius, and
by others to have been a public market, is a structure planned accord-
ing to the arrangement just mentioned, with a circular Ionic colonnade
of twenty columns and two piers. The church of Santa Costanza,
supposed to have been erected by Constantine as a baptistery, and
afterwards converted by him into a funeral chapel to his daughter
Constantia, is a remarkable example, owing to the columns being not
only coupled, but unusually disposed, and to there being arches spring-
ing from their entablature, that is, there are twenty-four columns
(with composite capitals) placed in pairs, on the radii of the plan, or
one behind the other, forming twelve inter-columns and as many
arches; and as far as the mere arrangement goes, this interior is strik-
ingly picturesque.
The circular form was a favourite one with the Romans for their
sepulchral structures of a more pretending class than ordinary:
following in this the example of the Etruscans. It will be sufficient
here merely to mention those in honour of Augustus and Hadrian, an
account of which has been given under MAUSOLEUM. The tomb of
Cæcilia Metella is a low cylinder, the height being only 62 feet, while
the diameter is 90; and it may be considered as nearly solid, the
chamber or cella being no more than 19 feet in diameter. This
cylindrical mass is raised upon a square substructure; which com-
bination of the two forms is productive of agreeable contrast; and it
was accordingly frequently resorted to. The tomb of Plautius
Sylvanus near Tivoli consists also of a short cylindrical superstructure
on a square basement, but is otherwise of peculiar design, one side
of that stereobate being carried up so as to form a sort of low screen or
frontispiece, decorated with six half-columns, and five upright tablets
with inscriptions, between them. The tomb of Munatius Plancus, at
Gaeta, is a simple circular structure, of low proportions, the height
not exceeding the diameter, and therefore hardly to be called a tower,
notwithstanding that it is now popularly called Roland's or Orlando's
Tower. Of quite different character and design from any of the
preceding, is the ancient Roman sepulchral monument at St. Remi,
which consists of three stages; the first a square stereobate raised on
gradini, and entirely covered on each side with sculptures in relief;
the next is also square with an attached fluted Corinthian angle, and
an open arch on each side; and the uppermost is a Corinthian
rotunda, forming an open or monopteral temple (that is, without any
cella), the centre of which is occupied by two statues.
As instances of other combinations, we may refer to what is called
the Tomb of Virgil, near Naples, consisting of a square substructure
surmounted by a conical one; to the Roman monument at Constantina,
in Africa, conjectured to have been a cenotaph in honour of Constan-
tine, the lower portion of which is a cylindrical structure surrounded
by a peristyle of twenty-four Doric columns, and carried up as a lofty
cone, in receding courses or gradini, leaving at its summit a platform
for an equestrian statue.
These notices may serve to convey some idea of the variety aimed at
by the Romans in the distribution of the plans and general masses of
their edifices, independently of decoration. Their Thermæ, or public
baths, a class of structures remarkable for their vast extent and
magnificence, are most interesting studies of combinations of plan, as
they were not merely baths, but places of public resort and amuse-
ment, and consisted of an assemblage of courts, porticos, libraries, and
spacious saloons and galleries, most of which presented some pecu-
liarity of form and distribution. [BATHS] If therefore we estimate
Roman architecture by the manifold resources which it opened to the
art, rather than by its debasement of what it borrowed from that of
Greece, we shall find much in it both to admire and to imitate, as
well as to censure and to avoid. Its Greek rival has nothing that will
bear a parallel with it in this respect. Judging from its remains, we
can see little in it that answers to the title of interior architecture;
whereas some of the Roman temples were striking on account both of
the size and the magnificence of their interiors. That of the Pantheon
has been already referred to; a very different example is the Temple
of Peace, erected by Vespasian. What was its external design is now
altogether doubtful, as only the ruins remain, but its interior is very
remarkable, the plan being divided in its breadth into three nearly
equal portions, the centre one of which formed a spacious nave, termi-
nating in a large semicircular tribune, or apsis, covered by a semi-
dome. This nave was disposed in three compartments, presenting as
many arches of exceedingly wide proportions, opening into as many
divisions of the lateral portions of the plan, which did not constitute
continuous aisles along the nave, but small chapels or recesses. OF
these the centre one on each side terminated, like the nave, in a
semicircular tribune, of the same dimensions as that apsis, so as to
form a transept, and give the whole a marked cruciform appearance.
The side divisions were covered by semicircular vaults, concentric with
the arches opening into the nave; and this latter had a vaulted roof,
in three groins or compartments, the ribs of which sprung from eight
Corinthian columns, placed against the piers of the arches. Besides
other peculiarities, we have here an instance of the effect resulting
from the application of the semicircular form to plans in interiors, and
of further varieties of design arising out of it, for the semidomes of
the tribunes exhibit a rich specimen of coffering, being composed of
octagons and squares.
145
118
ROMAN ARCHITECTURE.
ROMAN ARCHITECTURE.
The temple of Venus and Roma, built by Hadrian in the Roman
Forum, would seem from recent excavations to have been one of the
most splendid edifices in the city. According to the plan of
M. Caristie, the temple stood in the centre of a quadrilateral enclo-
sure, or peribolus, measuring 525 by 318 feet, and was enclosed by
double colonnades of the Corinthian order, consisting altogether of 264
columns. The temple itself was of the same order, upon a con-
siderably larger scale, and its dimensions about 350 by 166 feet. It
was consequently large in proportion to the area within which it
stood; and when viewed in combination with the extended files of
columns around it, must have produced a powerful effect,-one in
which harmony and regularity were blended with contrast. The
interior, judging from the indications afforded by the ruins, must have
been equally splendid and picturesque in character.
The Romans seem to have affected the practice of grouping buildings
together as features in one general symmetrical plan. Their temples
and basilicas were frequently placed, as the principal architectural
objects, at the extremity of a forum, or other regular area enclosed
with colonnades. The temple of Nerva stood at one end of, and
partly projected into an enclosure (measuring about 360 by 160 feet), |
the entrance end of which had five open arches, and the sides were
formed by screen walls, decorated with Corinthian pilasters, and
columns immediately before them, over which the entablature formed
breaks. Of Trajan's forum, which was surrounded not only by colon-
nades, but various stately edifices, nothing now remains except the
celebrated triumphal column that occupied its centre, and which, so
placed as a principal object, must have heightened the splendour of the
whole. Like that of Nerva, the temple of Antoninus and Faustina
was placed at one end of a court of moderate dimensions, whose sides
were adorned with coupled columns placed immediately against the
walls; and only the portico part of the temple (a Corinthian hexastyle,
triprostyle) [PORTICO] advanced into the enclosed area in front. The
forum of Caracalla was nearly a square, entirely surrounded by arcades,
presenting thirteen arches on each of the longer and eleven on each of
the shorter sides. In the centre was a Corinthian temple very similar
in plan to the Pantheon, with an hexastyle, triprostyle portico in front,
and remarkable for having inner columns behind the second from each
angle, so that there was a double range of them at each end, and the
central space within the portico was a perfect square equal to three
intercolumns.
The mention we have incidentally made in regard to these temples
may not improperly be followed by some additional remarks upon
Roman edifices of that class. Unlike those of Greece, peripteral
temples were of comparatively rare occurrence among the Romans;
they were mostly prostyle, the portico being attached only in con-
tinuation of the cella, whose walls formed the flanks of the building,
though the order of the portico was frequently continued along them
either in half-columns or pilasters. Such is the plan of that celebrated
one at Nismes, known by the name of the Maison Quarrée, which is a
Corinthian hexastyle, pseudo-peripteral, the cella being ornamented
with attached columns, thereby making ten intercolumns on each
flank, three of which are open, or belong to the portico, which latter is
accordingly triprostyle. The Corinthian temple at Assisi was similar
in plan, except that it was not pseudo-peripteral, the sides of the cella
being plain. That of Fortuna Virilis at Rome was an Ionic tetrastyle,
diprostyle, and pseudo-peripteral. Besides contributing to variety,
temples of this kind possess a certain variety of effect in themselves,
owing to the depth of the portico, and the contrast between that part
and the cella. The portico announced itself more decidedly as the
façade par excellence; particularly as such temples were generally
raised upon a stereobate continued as pedestals to enclose the steps
leading up to them in front, and which sometimes, as in the temple
of Nerva, and that of Antoninus and Faustina, projected very con-
siderably.
As our object is rather to direct attention to the modes of composition
affected by the Romans and the elements of their style, than to
describe their chief architectural monuments, either historically or
according to their respective classes and destination, we proceed now
to consider some of the individual peculiarities and features belonging
to their buildings. In the application of sculpture, particularly of
statues, they were prodigal; but they employed the latter chiefly as
architectural accessories, frequently placing them over columns, or on
the summits of their edifices as acroteria to pediments, by way of
giving variety to the outline of their buildings, and also of indicating
at first sight their particular appropriation—a practice almost unknown
to the Greeks, there being only one instance of it. The abundant use
of statues led to the adoption of the niche-a feature unknown in
Greek architecture-as a convenient mode of inserting them within
the surface of walls, and thereby decorating them; at the same time
space was gained in interiors, where, if otherwise placed, they would
have taken up room. Niches frequently occur in Roman temples and
baths. [NICHE.]
These various applications of curvilinear forms, both in plan and
elevation, undoubtedly furnished Roman architecture with resources
unknown to that of Greece. Nor can it be denied that the arch itself
is a very beautiful feature, although it was employed by the Romans
to such excess as rather to occasion monotony than to contribute to
variety of design; the amphitheatres and similar works of the Romans
ARTS AND SCI. DIV. VOL. VII,
consisting only of continuous tiers of arches, which constituted their
more strongly marked features, the columns placed against their tiers
being merely ornamental accessories, and comparatively of little effect,
and even that not of the very best kind. There was one class of
structures however, which, though consisting uniformly of arches and
piers alone, were eminently impressive and picturesque, namely, the
Roman aqueducts, works of extraordinary grandeur, if estimated by
their prodigious extent, and the colossal massiveness of their con-
struction, but not otherwise entitled to be termed magnificent, their
architecture being in the plainest and severest style. In these there
were sometimes two or even more tiers of arches, at others only a
single one, as in that at Metz on the Moselle, which has exceedingly
lofty arches, or, to speak more correctly, arches on exceedingly lofty
piers, divided by offsets into three stages, the effect of which is no less
advantageous than it is uncommon.
Another practice was eventually adopted, by means of which the
arch and column became amalgamated as integral parts of the same
ordinance, namely, that of supporting arches upon columns, making
them spring either directly from their capitals or from an entablature-
shaped block over them. This practice is commonly condemned as
barbarous, but in our opinion somewhat too hastily, and with more of
prejudice than of fair examination. That it was introduced during
the decline of the art, and that it was an innovation subversive of
former principles, is not to be denied. Yet if it must be reprobated,
it ought to be so for its own demerits, not as an innovation: for all
invention is such. It appears a very poor argument against it, to say
that columns were originally designed to support horizontal archi-
traves: we do not see how that circumstance, of necessity, renders
every other application inadmissible. Where columns are employed to
support, it certainly cannot be alleged that they are idle unmeaning
expletives; nor that they are mutilated by being apparently partly
embedded in the wall behind them. One very great advantage
attending the combination of the arch with the column as its support,
is that it allows the openings to be considerably wider than they other-
wise could be, because such intervals as would produce a poor and
straggling effect in a colonnade, become well proportioned and agreeable
when spanned by arches.
Of the two Grecian orders, the Roman specimens usually referred to,
namely, the Doric of the theatre of Marcellus, and the Ionic of that
building and the temple of Fortuna Virilis, are exceedingly poor and
meagre, spiritless and tasteless; while the Ionic of the temple of Con-
cord may be pronounced detestable. In this last example the volutes
of the capitals are turned diagonally, a mode afterwards adopted by
Scamozzi for that order, and also practised in what is called the Com-
posite. Even when comparatively pleasing in its contours, the Roman
Ionic capital is poor and devoid of expression, in consequence of the
smallness of the volutes, which is such that they almost cease to be
characteristic features of the order. To this defect may be added the
meagreness arising from the few revolutions made by the spirals, and
the omission of intermediate ones; and also the harshness occasioned
by the great projection of the ovalo, the narrowness of the face of the
capital above it, and by that part forming a straight line, instead of the
gracefully-flowing-festoon-hem which unites the volutes together in all
the Athenian specimens of the order. Numerous studies of both
voluted and foliaged capitals may be seen in Piranesi's ' Magnificenza
de' Romani;' and the variety of composition displayed in the latter
very greatly exceeds what would be imagined by those who are
acquainted only with what are referred to as standard examples of that
order. This last may in fact be emphatically denominated the Roman
order, although such distinctive title is usually applied to what is other-
wise called the Composite, but which is only a variety of the foliage-
capitalled class, and by no means the most striking as such, there
being instances of compound capitals, in which griffins, eagles, human
figures, or masks, are introduced above the foliage; consequently, if
the voluted variety is to be received as a separate order, each of the
others is quite as much entitled to the same distinction. How far
the ordinary Corinthian capital differs from that in which the small
volutes, or caulicoli, at the angles of the abacus are developed, and en-
larged to the size of those of the Roman Ionic capital, may at once be seen
by referring to COLUMN, col. 33, where a half of each example is placed
in juxtaposition; and at col. 45 will be found a similar comparison
between the capitals of the Tivoli Corinthian and that of the monument
of Lysicrates. The contrast presented by the two last is striking
enough, there being no similarity of character, but merely such degree
of resemblance as serves to make the differences the more obvious.
And if that Tivoli example be compared with the one shown in the
other cut, and which may be received as an average sample of the
order, it will be tolerably evident, even from such comparison alone,
that the foliaged capital was treated by the Romans in a variety of
modes and in a free artistical spirit. Neither are such distinctions
confined to the capitals alone, for different examples present equal
diversity in their entablatures and cornices. That of the Tivoli
temple is remarkable throughout; and has such a peculiar character
stamped upon it, that it almost deserves to be considered a separate
order certainly much more so than the Composite. Among other
examples, that of the three columns of the temple of Jupiter Stator
is the richest and most elegant in its capital, and is beautifully com-
posed throughout. The Romans in fact bestowed as great diversity
L
147
ROMAN CATHOLICS,
of character and expression upon this order, as the Greeks had done
upon their Doric and Ionic.
For information respecting Roman buildings adapted to particular
purposes, the reader is referred to the articles ARCH, TRIUMPHAL;
AMPHITHEATRE; AQUEDUCT; BASILICA; BATHS; FORUM; MAUSO-
LEUM; TEMPLE; THEATRE, &c.
ROMAN CATHOLICS. [CATHOLIC CHURCH; RECUSANTS.]
ROMAN CATHOLICS AND JEWS. By the act 9 & 10 Vict.,
cap. 59, passed August 18, 1846, intituled "An Act to relieve her
Majesty's subjects from certain penalties and liabilities in regard to
religious opinions;" all the previous Acts and parts of Acts imposing
disabilities on the professors of the Roman Catholic or Jewish religions
were repealed, of which a portion, as far as Roman Catholics were
concerned, had been indirectly removed by the Roman Catholic Relief
Act. On August 1, 1851, however, was passed an Act 14 & 15 Vict.,
cap. 60, "To prevent the assumption of certain Ecclesiastical Titles in
respect of places in the United Kingdom," by which a penalty of 100l.
was imposed on any one assuming the title of archbishop, bishop, or
dean of any province, place, or district in the United Kingdom; and
which declared any such creation by the see of Rome to be illegal and
void. It also made illegal and void, punishable with the like pecuniary
penalty, the publication of any bull, brief, rescript, letters apostolical,
or any other instrument or writing constituting such province or dis.
trict, whether such district be or be not the see or diocese, or deanery,
of the established church. On July 23, 1858, likewise was passed the
21 & 22 Vict., cap. 19, intituled "An Act to provide for the relief of
her Majesty's subjects professing the Jewish religion," by which Jews
on taking the oath before sitting in parliament, may be relieved,
by a resolution of the house, from making the declaration, "I make
this declaration on the true faith of a Christian;" and these words are
to be omitted in every other oath, except on making presentation to
an ecclesiastical benefice. Jews are also declared incapable of holding
the office of lord-lieutenant of Ireland, lord chancellor of Great Britain
or Ireland, or high commissioner of the general assembly of the church
of Scotland. The right of presentations to ecclesiastical benefices,
vested in Jews, is devolved in the archbishop of Canterbury, nor are
Jews to advise in the disposal of such matters; a contravention of
these provisions to be deemed a misdemeanour, and a conviction
entails a disability of serving the crown in any office, civil or military,
whatever.
ROMAN LAW. The historical origin of the Roman law is unknown,
and its fundamental principles, some of which even survived the
legislation of Justinian, are older than the oldest records of Italian
history. The foundation of the strict rules of the Roman law as to
familia, agnatio, marriage, testaments, succession to intestates, and
ownership, was no doubt custom, which, being recognised by the
sovereign power, became law. As in many other states of antiquity,
the connection of the civil with the ecclesiastical or sacred law was
most intimate; or rather, we may consider the law of religion as
originally comprehending all other law, and its interpretation as belong-
ing to the priests and the king exclusively. There was, however,
direct legislation even in the period of the kings. These laws, which
are mentioned under the name of Leges Regia, were proposed by the
king, with the approbation of the senate, and confirmed by the
populus in the Comitia Curiata, and, after the constitution of Servius
Tullius, in the Comitia Centuriata. That there were remains of this
ancient legislation existing even in the Imperial period, is certain, as
appears from the notice of the Jus Civile Papirianum or Papisianum,
which the Pontifex Maximus Papirius is said to have compiled from
these sources, about or immediately after the expulsion of Tarquinius
Superbus ('Dig.,' i., tit. 2), and from the distinct references to these
Leges made by late writers. Still there is great uncertainty as to the
exact date of the compilation of Papirius, and its real character. Even
his name is not quite certain, as he is variously called Caius, Sextus,
and Publius. (Dion. Hal., iii. 36; 'Dig.,' i., tit. 2.)
But the earliest legislation of which we have any important remains
is the compilation of the code called the Twelve Tables. The original
bronze tables indeed are said to have perished in the conflagration of
the city after its capture by the Gauls, but they were, satisfactorily
restored from copies and from memory, for no ancient writer who
cites them ever expresses a doubt as to the genuineness of their con-
tents. It is the tradition that a commission was sent to Athens and
the Greek states of Italy, for the purpose of examining into and collect-
ing what was most useful in their codes; and it is also said that Her-
modorus of Ephesus, then an exile in Rome, gave his assistance in the
compilation of the code. There is nothing improbable in this story,
and yet it is undeniable that the laws of the Tables were based on
Roman and not on Greek or Athenian law. Their object was to con-
firm and define perhaps rather than to enlarge or alter the Roman law;
and it is probablo that the laws of Solon and those of other Greek
states, if they had any effect on the legislation of the Decemviri,
served rather as models of form than as sources of positive rules.
Tén tables were completed and made public by the Decemviri, in
B.C. 451, and in the following year two other tables were added. This
compilation is quoted by the ancient writers by various titles: Lex
XII. Tabularum, Leges XII., sometimes XII. simply (Cic., 'Legg.,' ii.
23), Lex Decemviralis, and others. The rules contained in these
ables long continued to be the foundation of Roman law, and they
ROMAN LAW.
148
were never formally repealed. The laws themselves were considered
as a text-book, and they were commented on by the jurists as late as
the age of the Antonines, when Gaius wrote a commentary on them in
six books (Ad Legem XII. Tabularum '). The actions of the old
Roman law, called Legitimæ, or Legis Actiones, were founded on the
provisions of the Twelve Tables, and the demand of the complainant
could only be made in the precise terms which were used in the Tables.
(Gaius, iv. 11.) The rights of action were consequently very limited,
and they were only subsequently extended by the edicts of the
prætors. The brevity and obscurity of this ancient legislation rendered
interpretation necessary in order to give the laws any application; and
both the interpretation of the laws and the framing of the proper
forms of action belonged to the College of Pontifices, who yearly
appointed a member of their own body to decide in all doubtful cases.
The civil law was thus still inseparably connected with that of religion
(Jus Pontificium), and its interpretation and the knowledge of the
forms of procedure were still the exclusive possession of the patricians.
The scanty fragments of the Twelve Tables hardly enable us to
form a judgment of their character or a proper estimate of the com-
mendation bestowed on them by Cicero (De Or.,' i. 43). It seems to
have been the object of the compilers to make a complete set of rules
both as to religious and civil matters; and they did not confine them-
selves to what the Romans called private law, but they comprised also
public law. (Fons publici privatique juris,' Liv., iii. 34.) They
contained provisions as to testaments, successions to intestates, the
care of persons of unsound mind, theft, homicide, interments, &c.
They also comprised enactments which affected a man's status, as,
for instance, the law contained in one of the two last Tables, which
did not allow to a marriage contracted between a patrician and a
plebeian the character of a legal Roman marriage, or, in other words,
declared that between patricians and plebeians there could be no Con-
nubium. Though great changes were made in the Jus Publicum by
the various enactments which gave to the plebeians the same rights as
the patricians, and by those which concerned public administration,
the fundamental principles of the Jus Privatum, which were contained
in the Tables, remained unchanged, and are referred to by jurists as
late as the time of Ulpian.
+
The old Leges Regia, which were collected into one body by Papirius,
were commented on by Granius Flaccus in the time of Julius Cæsar
(Dig.,' 50, tit. 16, s. 144), and thus they were probably preserved.
The fragments of these laws have been often collected, but the best
essay upon them is by Dirksen, 'Versuchen zur Kritik und Auslegung
der Quellen des Römischen Rechts,' Leipzig, 1823. The fragments of
the Twelve Tables also have been often collected. The best work on
the subject is that by James Godefroy (Jac. Gothofredus), which, with
the more recent work of Dirksen, 'Uebersicht der bisherigen Versuche
zur Kritik und Herstellung des Textes der Zwölf-Tafel-Fragmente,
Leipzig, 1824, seems to have exhausted the subject.
For about one hundred years after the legislation of the Decemviri,
the patricians retained their exclusive possession of the forms of pro-
cedure. Appius Claudius Cæcus drew up a book of the forms of
actions, which it is said that his clerk, Cnus Flavius, stole and pub-
lished; the fact of the theft may be doubted, though that of the
publication of the forms of procedure, and of a list of the Dies
Fasti and Nefasti, rests on sufficient evidence. The book thus made
public by Flavius was called Jus Civile Flavianum; but like that of
Papirius it was only a compilation. The publication of these forms.
must have had a great effect on the practice of the law: it was in
reality equivalent to an extension of the privileges of the plebeians.
Subsequently Sextus Elius published another work, called
Alianum,' which was more complete than that of Flavius. This work,
which was extant in the time of Pomponius ( Dig.,' i., tit. 2, s. 2, § 39),
was also called 'Tripertita,' from the circumstance of its containing
the laws of the Twelve Tables, a commentary upon them (interpretatio),
and the Legis Actiones. This work of Elius appears to have been
considered in later times as one of the chief sources of the civil law
(veluti cunabula juris); and he received from his contemporary Ennius
the name of “wise":-
Jus
Egregie Cordatus homo Caius Elius Sextus."
Sextus Elius was Curule Edile, B.o. 200, and Consul, B.c. 198.
In the Republican period new laws (leges) were enacted both in the
Comitia Centuriata and in the Comitia Tributa. The Leges Curiata,
which were enacted by the curiae, were limited to cases of adrogation
and the conferring of the imperium. The Comitia Centuriata were
made independent of the senate by the Lex Publilia (Liv., viii. 12),
which declared that the leges passed in these Comitia should not
require the confirmation of the senate. The leges passed in the
Comitia Tributa were properly called Leges Tribute or Plebiscita, and
originally they were merely proposals for a law which were laid before
the senate and confirmed by the curiæ. But the Lex Publilia (B.c.
336), and subsequently the Lex Hortensia (B.O. 286), gave to the
Plebiscita the full force of leges without the consent of the senate
(Liv., viii. 12; Gaius, i. 8; Gell., xv. 27); and a Plebiscitum was
accordingly sometimes called a lex. The leges generally took their
name from the gentile name of the magistrate who proposed them
(rogavit), or, if he was a consul, from the name of both consuls, as
Lex Ælia or Ælia Sentia, Papia or Papia Poppaa. If the proposer of
149
150
ROMAN LAW.
ROMAN LAW.
the law was a dictator, prætor, or tribune, the Lex, or Plebiscitum, as
the case might be, took its naine from the proposer only, as Lex
Hortensia. Sometimes the object of the lex was indicated by a
descriptive term, as Lex Cincia de donis et muneribus.
The Senatus Consulta also formed a source of law under the
Republic. That a senatus consultum in the time of Gaius (i. 4) should
have the force of law (vicem legis optinet) may be easily admitted;
but Gaius in this passage appears to be referring not only to such
senatus consulta as had been passed under the empire, but to the
senatus consulta generally as a source of law. It appears that the
senate gradually came to be considered as the representative of the
curiæ, and that its consulta, in many matters relating to adminis.
tration, the care of religion, the ærarium, and the administration of
the provinces, had the full effect of laws. It does not seem as if the
Romans themselves had a very clear notion of the way in which the
senate came to exercise the power of legislation; but they imagined
that it arose of necessity with the increasing population of the state
and the increase of public business. The senate thus became an active
administrating body, and, as an easy consequence, that which it
enacted (constituit) was observed, and this new source of law was
termed Senatus Consultum. ('Dig.,' i., tit. 2.) It seems probable
that the senate began to exercise the power of making senatus con-
sulta after the passing of the Hortensia Lex, though it is not pretended
that the Hortensia Lex, or any other Lex, gave this power to the
senate. No senatus consulta are recorded as designated by the names
of magistrates till the time of Augustus, a circumstance which seems
to show that, whatever binding authority senatus consulta might have
acquired under the Republic, they were not then viewed as laws
properly so called, or as having the full effect of leges. But from the
time of Augustus the titles of senatus consulta frequently occur; their
names, like those of the leges, were derived from the consuls, as S. C.
Velleianum, Pegasianum, Trebellianum, &c., or of the emperor who
proposed them, as S. C. Claudianum, Neronianum, &c.; or they were
said to be made "auctore Principe," or "ex auctoritate Principis."
The expression applied to the senate so enacting was "censere." (Gaius,
i. 47.) Special consulta were sometimes passed for the purpose of
explaining or rendering effectual previous leges.
A new source of law was supplied by the Edicta of those magistrates
who had the Jus Edicendi, but mainly by the prætors, the prætor
urbanus and the prætor peregrinus. The edicts of the prætor urbanus
were the most important. The body of law which was formed by the
Edicta is accordingly sometimes called Jus Prætorium, which term
however might be limited to the Edicta of the prætors, as opposed to
those of the curule ædiles, the tribunes, censors, and pontifices. The
name Jus Honorarium, as opposed to Jus Civile, comprehends the
whole body of edictal law; and the name Honorarium was given to it,
apparently because the Jus Edicendi was exercised only by those
magistrates who had the Honores. Jus Civile, in its larger sense,
comprehended all the law of any given nation; but the Jus Civile
Romanorum, as opposed to the Honorarium, consisted of Leges, Ple-
biscita, Senatus Consulta, to which, under the empire, were added the
Decreta Principum and the Auctoritas Prudentium. The Honorarium
Jus was introduced for the purpose of aiding, supplying, and correcting
the defects of the Jus Civile Romanorum in its limited sense. (Dig.,'
i., tit. i., s. 7.)
time of Cicero.
The historical origin of the edictal power is not known, but in the
time of Cicero it had been so long exercised, and the Edicta had been
so far formed into a regular system, that the study of the edictal law
was a main part of the systematic study of the Roman law, and had
taken the place of the Twelve Tables as an elementary branch of in-
struction. (Cic., 'Legg.,' ii. 4, 23; i. 5.) Servius Sulpicius, a dis-
tinguished jurist and a friend of Cicero, wrote two small books on the
Edict, which were followed by a work of Ofilius, also on the Edict.
Though the history of the edictal law, as already observed, cannot be
traced, it thus appears that it had assumed a systematic form in the
An Edictum was a rule promulgated by a magistratus when he
entered on his office. It was committed to writing and put up in a
public place. Its object was to declare by what rules the prætor would
be governed in the administration of justice during the year of his
office; and hence the Edictum was sometimes called Perpetuum or
Annua Lex. An Edictum Repentinum applied only to the particular
occasion on which it was made. All offices being annual, the rules of
one magistratus were not binding on his successor, but his successor
might adopt them into his own Edictum, and such adopted Edictum
then became an Edictum Tralatitium. In this way numerous Edicta
were adopted by one magistratus from the Edicta of his predecessors,
and thus gradually a body of rules was formed and established, which
experience had proved to be useful. Those Edicta which were of great
importance are often referred to under the name of the magistratus
who promulgated them, as the Edictum Carbonianum and others.
The general character of the Edict has been already stated. It is
described in other words as CC
viva vox juris civilis," as a mode by
which the rigid rules of the civil law were altered and extended to
suit the altered circumstances of the times. The changes introduced
by positive enactments into the Jus Privatum of the Roman law seem
to have been very unimportant. It was not consistent with Roman
notions to alter or change fundamental principles, and most of the
legislation of the republican period had reference to the disputes
between the two estates of the patricians and plebeians, and to other
parts of the Jus Publicum. Accordingly it was left to the magistratus
gradually to introduce the necessary changes into the Jus Privatum;
but the process of doing this was in strict conformity to the principles
of the old law. The Edict did not affect to make new law, but to
adopt as law what custom had sanctioned, provided it was not against
the Jus Civile; to give an action when a bona fide right existed, if the
old law gave none; to protect a man in bond fide possession of pro-
perty, without affecting to give him ownership, which the law alone
could give him by virtue of usucapion; to aid parties by fictions, which
however were always of such a kind that the thing which the fiction
supposed, was that which would have given a strictly legal right. A
great part of the efficacy of the Edict consisted in extending the
remedies by action; and after the abolition of the Legis Actiones (with
the exception of the Actio Damni Infecti, and of matters which be-
longed to the cognisance of the Centumviri) by the Lex Æbutia and
two Leges Julia, the mode of proceeding in actions was settled by the
formula of the Edicta. Still even here it seems probable that the
prætors followed the analogy of the Legis Actiones and framed their
formulæ accordingly. The Actiones given by the Edict were named
after their author, as Publiciana, &c. The commentators on the Edicts
were numerous under the early emperors. Labeo wrote at least four
books on the Edictum of the Prætor Urbanus. Coelius Sabinus com-
mented on the Edict of the Curule Ediles. In the time of Hadrian,
Salvius Julianus, who had himself been prætor, compiled a work on
the Edict, which was called Edictum Perpetuum. Nothing is known
of the detail of this work, but it appears probable that it was designed
to be a systematic exhibition of the whole body of edictal law, and as
such it must have had considerable influence on the subsequent con-
dition of jurisprudence. At what time the Edicta ceased to be made
by the magistratus is a disputed point. The edictal power certainly
existed under the empire, and even after the compilation of the
Edictum Perpetuum of Julianus, but it must have been comparatively
little exercised, as the practice of making new laws by Senatus Consulta
prevailed under the Caesars after the time of Augustus, and the Im-
perial Constitutions are mentioned as one of the recognised sources of
law in the time of the Antonines. (Gaius, i. 5.)
With the establishment of the Imperial Constitution begins a new
epoch in the Roman law. The leges of Augustus and those of his
predecessor had some influence on the Jus Privatum, though they did
not affect the fundamental principles of the Roman law. A Lex Julia
came into operation, B.C. 13, but it is better known as the Lex Julia et
Papia Poppaa, owing to the circumstance of another lex of the same
import, but less severe in its provisions, being passed as a kind of
supplement to it in the consulship of M. Papius Mutilus and Q. Pop-
paus Secundus, A.D. 9. This law had for its object the encouragement
of marriage, but it contained a great variety of provisions: it is not
known whether it was passed at the Comitia Centuriata or Tributa.
A Lex Julia de Adulteriis, which also contained a chapter on the dos,
is of uncertain date, but was probably passed before the former Lex
Julia came into operation. Several Leges Julia Judiciariæ are also
mentioned, which related both to Judicia Publica and Privata, and
some of which may probably belong to the time of the dictator
Cæsar.
The development of the Roman law in the Imperial period was little
affected by direct legislation. New laws were made by Senatus Con-
sulta, and subsequently by the Constitutiones Principum; but that
which gives to this period its striking characteristic is the effect pro-
duced by the Responsa and the writings of the Roman jurists.
So long as the law of religion or the Jus Pontificium was blended
with the Jus Civile, and the knowledge of both was confined to the
patricians, jurisprudence was not a profession. But with the gradual
separation of the Jus Civile and Pontificium, which was partly owing
to the political changes by which the estate of the plebeians was put
on a level with that of the patricians, there arose a class of persons who
are designated as Jurisperiti, Jurisconsulti, Prudentes, and by other
equivalent names. Of these jurisconsulti the earliest on record is
Tiberius Coruncanius, a plebeian pontifex maximus, and consul B.C.
281: he is said to have been the first who professed to expound the
law to any person who wanted his assistance (publice profiteri); he
left no writings, but many of his Respousa were recorded. Tiberius
Coruncanius had a long series of successors who cultivated the law,
and whose responsa and writings were acknowledged and received as a
part of the Jus Civile. The opinions of the jurisconsulti, whether
given upon questions referred to them at their own houses, or with
reference to matters in litigation, were accepted as the safest rule by
which a judex or an arbiter could be guided. Accordingly, the mode
of proceeding, as it is described by Pomponius, is perfectly simple;
the judices in difficult cases took the opinion of the jurisconsulti, who
gave it either orally or in writing. Augustus, it is said, gave the
responsa of the jurists a different character. Before his time, their
responsa, as such, could have no binding force, and they only indirectly
obtained the character of law by being adopted by those who were
empowered to pronounce a sentence. Augustus gave to certain jurists
the respondendi jus, and declared that they should give their responsa
ex ejus auctoritate." In the time of Gaius (i., 7) the Responsa Pru-
dentium had become a recognised source of law; but he observes that
151
occasion.
ROMAN LAW.
the responsa of those only were to be so considered who had received
permission to make law (jura condere); and he adds that if they all
agreed, their opinion was to be considered as law; if they disagreed,
the judex might follow which opinion he pleased. The matter is thus
left in some obscurity, and, for want of more precise information, we
can only conjecture what was the precise way in which these licensed
jurists under the empire were empowered to declare the law. It is
however clear, both from the nature of the case and the statement of
Gaius, that their functions were limited to exposition, or to the decla-
ration of what was law in a given case, and that they had no power to
make new rules of law as such; further, the licensed jurists must have
formed a body or college, for otherwise it is not possible to conceive
how the opinions of the majority could be ascertained on any given
The commencement of a more systematic exposition of law under
the empire is indicated by the fact of the existence of two distinct
sects or schools (schole) of jurists. These schools originated under
Augustus, and the heads of each were respectively two distinguished
jurists, Antisteus Labeo and Ateius Capito. But the schools took
their names from other jurists. The followers of Capito's school, called
Sabiniani, derived their name from Massurius Sabinus, a pupil of
Capito, who lived under Tiberius and as late as the time of Nero:
sometimes they were called Cassiani, from C. Cassius Longinus,
another distinguished pupil of Capito. The other school was called
The other school was called
Proculiani, from Proculus, a follower of Labeo. If we may take the
If we may take the
authority of Pomponius, the characteristic difference of the two schools
was this: Capito adhered to what was transmitted,- that is, he looked
out for positive rules sanctioned by time; Labeo had more learning
nd a greater variety of knowledge, and accordingly he was ready to
make innovations, for he had more confidence in himself; in other
words, he was a philosophical more than an historical jurist. Gaius,
who was himself a Sabinian, often refers to discrepancy of opinion
between the two schools; but it is not easy to collect from the
instances which he mentions what ought to be considered as their
characteristic differences.
The jurisprudentes were not only authorised expounders of law, but
they were most voluminous writers. Massurius Sabinus wrote three
books Juris Civilis, which formed the model of subsequent writers.
The commentators on the Edict were also very numerous, and among
them are the names of Pomponius, Gaius, Ulpian, and Paulus. Gaius
wrote an elementary work, which furnished the model of the Institutes
of Justinian. Commentaries were also written on various Leges, and
on the Senatus Consulta of the Imperial period; and finally, the
writings of the earlier jurists themselves were commented on by their
successors. The long series of writers to whom the name of classical
jurists has been given, ends, about the time of Alexander Severus, with
Modestinus, who was a pupil of Ulpian. Some idea may be formed of
the vast mass of their writings from the titles of their works as pre-
served in the 'Digest,' and from the Index Florentinus;' but with
the exception of the fragments which were selected by the compilers
of that work, this great mass of juristical literature is nearly lost.
[JUSTINIAN, in BIOG. Div.]
Among the sources of law in the Imperial period are the Imperial
Constitutiones. A Constitutio Principis is defined by Gaius (i. 5) to
be "that which the imperator has constituted by Decretum, Edictum,
or Epistola; nor has it ever been doubted that such constitutio has
the force of law." As the emperor ultimately possessed all the sove-
reign power, he became the sole source of law. Under Augustus some
Leges were passed, as already observed; and under his successors
there were numerous Senatus Consulta. In the time of the Antonines
there were both Senatus Consulta and Imperial constitutions, and the
latter are referred to by Gaius as being of equally binding force with
Senatus Consulta. After the time of Gaius, Constitutiones became
more common, and few Senatus Consulta were passed. The Decretum
of the emperor was a decision made in a matter of dispute which came
before him either originally or by way of appeal. The Edict, or Leges
Edictales, were formed by analogy to the Edicta of the magistrates,
and were in effect Leges. Rescriptum was a general term which com-
prehended Epistolæ and Subscriptiones. The Rescripta were the
The Rescripta were the
answers of the emperor, made either to public functionaries or to
individuals who consulted him. Sometimes Constitutio and Rescrip-
tum are used as equivalent. (Gaius, ii. 120, 121.) Decreta and
Decreta and
Rescripta, being decisions in particular cases, could not by their form
have the force of leges; though when the determination made in a
particular case was capable of a general application, it gradually
obtained the force of law.
|
ROMANCE
152
the Eastern Empire, A.D. 438; and in the same year it was confirmed
as law in the Western Empire by Valentinian III. and the Roman
senate. This code consists of sixteen books, the greater part of which,
as well as of the Novellæ, subsequently promulgated by Theodosius II.,
are extant in their original form. The commission who compiled it
were instructed to collect all the Edicta and Leges Generales from the
time of Constantine, and to follow the Codex Gregorianus and Hermo-
genianus as their model. Though the arrangement of the subsequent
code of Justinian differs considerably from that of Theodosius, it is
clear from a comparison of them that the compilers of Justinian's
code were greatly aided by that of his imperial predecessor. The
valuable edition of the Theodosian Code, by J. Gothofredus (6 vols.
fol., Lugd., 1665), re-edited by Ritter, Leipzig, 1736-1745, contains the
first five books and the beginning of the sixth, only as they are epito-
mised in the Breviarium; and this is also the case with the edition of
the Jus Civile Antejustinianeum,' published at Berlin in 1815. But
recent discoveries have greatly contributed to improve the first five
books. The most recent edition of the 'Jus Civile Antejustinianeum'
is that of Bonn, 1835 and 1837.
The legislation of Justinian is treated of under JUSTINIAN'S LEGIS-
LATION.
There are numerous works on the history of the Roman law, but it
will be sufficient to mention a few of the more recent, as they contain
references to all the earlier works: Lehrbuch der Geschichte des Römischen
Rechts, by Hugo, of which there are numerous editions; Geschichte des
Römischen Privatrechts, by Zimmern; Geschichte des Römischen Rechts,
by F. Walter, 1840; and for the later history of the Roman law,
Geschichte des Römischen Rechts im Mittelalter, by Savigny.
ROMAN SCHOOL OF PAINTING. [PAINTING.]
ROMANCE originally signified any composition in the romance
language, or dialects which superseded the Latin after the fall of the
Western Empire. [ROMANCE LANGUAGE.] As however, in course of
time, the Trouveres of North France composed a number of poems
containing fictitious narratives of war and love, and their lays became
popular all over France and in the neighbouring countries, the name of
romance was more particularly applied to all compositions, whether
in verse or prose, in any language, which treated of marvellous or
uncommon incidents, and the name has been retained to this day in
several European languages to signify a fictitious narrative.
Italians and French call a novel " un romanzo,'
99 66 un roman.' But the
French call an historical ballad “une romance,” in the feminine gender.
The distinction between romance and the modern novel is shown
under NOVEL. The appellation romance in a narrower sense is applied
to those compositions which refer to the ages of chivalry, either real
or supposed. [CHIVALRY.]
The
The oldest romances in this latter sense appear to have been
legendary stories concerning Arthur and the Knights of the Round
Table, and they were of English origin; but the original narratives, if
they ever existed in writing, which is doubtful, are lost. The earliest
romantic legends which have come down to us are of the 12th century:
Geoffrey of Monmouth's Latin Chronicle of England; Turpin's Latin
Chronicle of France; Wace's 'Le Brut,' a metrical romance concerning
the fabulous history of England, in Norman French; Le Roman du
Rou,' by the same writer, concerning Rollo and his successors; and
'I Reali di Francia,' in Italian prose. To these may be added the
Latin romance of Gualtieri, found in the Chronicle of La Novalesa,
which relates to the wars of Attila; next in order of date comes Guido
della Colonna's War of Troy,' and Mathew Paris's account of the
Round Table. The Roman de la Rose' was written under St. Louis
of France. At that time chivalry was established over all Europe, and
the writers of romance introduced the customs and manners of
chivalry into their narratives of events, real or supposed, long ante-
cedent to the existence of chivalry.
(
The vast subject of romantic literature, in its general and more
extended sense, may be divided into the following branches :-1,
Romantic ballads and traditional songs, which appear to be the oldest
form, and which have existed among most nations in their primitive
state. The songs of the ancient bards, and those concerning Arminius,
which are mentioned by Tacitus ('Annal.' ii. 88, and 'German.', 2) ;
the German Niebelungen; the poems of Antar, and others before the
era of Mohammed; the song of Roland, mentioned by the chroniclers
of Charlemagne; and the old Spanish romantic ballads, all belong to
this class. M. de Tressan collected several fragments among the
mountaineers of the Pyreneès, which seem to belong to Roland's
Cantilena,' or war song. 2, The narrative romances of chivalry con-
cerning the deeds of Arthur and the peers of the Round Table. 3,
With the decline of Roman jurisprudence began the period of The romances concerning the supposed wars of Charlemagne against
compilations, or codes, as they were termed. The earliest were the
The earliest were the the Saracens. 4, The Spanish and Portuguese romances concerning
- Codex Gregorianus and Hermogenianus, which are only known from the fabulous exploits of Amadis and Palmerin. 5, The classic romances
fragments. The Codex Gregorianus, so far as we know it, began with concerning Jason, Hercules, Alexander, those heroes having been
constitutions of Sept. Severus, and ended with those of Diocletian and transformed into knights of chivalry.
transformed into knights of chivalry. 6, The epic romances of the
Maximian. The Codex Hermogenianus, so far as it is known, contained Italians in the 15th and 16th centuries. [PULCI, in BIOG. Div.] 7,
constitutions also of Diocletian and Maximian, and perhaps some of a The spiritual or religious romances concerning the miracles of saints
later date. Though these codes were mere private collections, they and the death of martyrs, such as the Contes dévots' of the French,
apparently came to be considered as authority, and the codes of the Golden Legend,' &c. 8, The pastoral romance, which Cervantes
Theodosius and Justinian were formed on their model.
ridiculed, and which afterwards gave rise in the 17th century to the
interminable and dull romances of La Calprenède, Madame de Scudery,
and others, in which perfection of beauty and pure spiritual love are
The code of Theodosius was compiled under the authority of
Theodosius II., emperor of the East. It was promulgated as law in
153
154
ROMANCE LANGUAGE.
ROMANCE LANGUAGE.
the chief ingredients. 9, The comic romances, which were written
chiefly as parodies of the heroic and chivalrous romances. Such were
those of Rabelais, Cervantes, Mendoza, and Scarron. 10, The political
romances, such as Télémaque, Sethos, &c. 11, The supernatural
romance, like the Castle of Otranto,' 'The Old English Baron;' in
which may be included those of Mrs. Radcliffe, where a supernatural
impression is given by inadequate natural causes. 12, Lastly comes
the modern novel, which forms a distinct species, as it does not deal in
-the marvellous and supernatural, but represents men conformably to the
manners of the age in which they lived.
the age.
ROMANCE LANGUAGE (Langue Romane' or 'Romande,' in
French) is the name given to a kind of bastard Latin, which came into
common use in Western Europe after the fall of the Roman Empire,
among the populations formerly subject to Rome, while the Northern
conquerors, the Goths, Franks, Burgundians, Langobards, &c., spoke
their own language or dialects, which are called by chroniclers of the
times" lingua Teutonica," or "Teutisca." The conquered people were
called by the general name of Romans, from whence came the name of
the language, which was also called "vulgaris." In course of time
however the conquerors adopted the language of the conquered, who
being more instructed, furnished most of the priests and scholars of
But the language thus adopted by both the conquering and
the conquered races, although essentially formed of Latin elements,
differed according to the various localities and the greater or lesser
degree of admixture of the northern people with the Roman popula-
tion. For instance, king Dagobert in the 7th century published a
statute, styled, "Lex Alamannorum," for the use of the German tribes
who had crossed the Rhine, the language of which differs from that of
the "Lex Ripuariorum," which the same king published for the use of
the people situated between the Lower Rhine and the Mosa, who were
mostly of old Roman extraction. The former employs the ille as an
article before substantives, in imitation of the articles sa and der used
by the Goths and Franks in their own language; but the Lex
Ripuaria does not employ ille for the same purpose. In the old
charters of Italy and Spain of the 8th and 9th centuries, we find ille
and ipse employed likewise as articles, ipsa ecclesia, illa alia, illas casas,
illa strada, illo rio, &c. ; but these charters are not so old by a century
or two as the Franco-Latin documents, in which those pronouns are
introduced for a similar purpose. The oldest documents in the
España Sagrada' in which the ille appears as an article is A.D. 775;
and the oldest of those of Italy quoted by Muratori are of the years
713 and 736.
Of the various dialects thus formed, that of the south of France,
called afterwards Langue d'Oc, became a refined language sooner than
the others, and retained its superiority from the 10th to the 13th
century, when the Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish languages assumed
a regular grammatical and literary form, which they have retained;
whilst the romance of the south of France has gradually fallen into
disuse, having given way to the Northern French Langue d'Oil or
d'Oui. The latter appears to have originally differed little from the
Langue d'Oc, but it gradually changed its terminations, and assumed
other peculiarities of form, which have been retained by the modern
French. It is demonstrated by Raynouard that the inhabitants of
Northern France in the 9th century spoke the same language as those
of the south. The text of the oath taken at Strasburg in the year
842, by Louis, called the Germanic, before the French people, would
alone be a sufficient proof of this. The text of this curious document
is as follows:-"Pro Deo amur et pro Christian poplo, et nostro
commun salvament, dist di en avant, in quant Deus sarir et podir me
dunat, si salvara jeo cist meon fradre Karlo, et in adjudha, et in
cadhuna cosa, si cum om per dreit son fradre salvar dist, in o quid il
mi altre si fazet, et ab Ludher nul plaid nunquam prindrai, qui meon
vol cist meon fradre Karle in damno sit." (Roquefort, Glossaire de
la Langue Romane,' Paris, 1808, Introduction.)
The gradual process by which the corrupt Latin spoken in the
provinces of Western and Southern Europe in the 6th, 7th and 8th
centuries was transformed into the Romance languages of the 9th and
10th centuries, is very clearly exhibited by Raynouard, in his 'Elémens
de la Grammaire de la Langue Romane avant l'an 1000.' The Latin
cases had become neglected or confused, and to supply their place the
prepositions de served to denote the genitive and ad the dative. The
next step was to cut off the final syllable of the noun, and so to make
it indeclinable. Thus the accusative abbatem became abbat; majes-
tatem, majestat; ardentem, ardent; amantem, amant; and so forth.
The accusatives in ionem were reduced to ion, religionem, religion, &c.
When the suppression of the Latin termination left two harsh-sounding
consonants at the end of the word, a euphonic vowel was added,
arbitr-um," "ar-bitr-e." The pronouns ille and ipse had been used in
the corrupt Latin as auxiliary to substantives: "Dono illas vineas
quomodo ille rivulus currit; "Illa medietate de ipsa porcione," &c.
From ille so used originated the romance articles el, lo, la, and from
ipse the demonstrative pronouns, is, so or su, and sa, which the
Sardinian dialect has retained to this day as an article. These articles
were declined with the prepositions de and a. Ego Hugo della
Roca; ""Fossatum de la vite; ""Villam nostram quæ vocatur al la
Corbaria," &c. These and other examples taken from documents of
the 9th century show the introduction of articles even in the written
language which affected to preserve in some degree the Latin form;
"}
the change must have been more rapid and complete in the spoken or
popular idiom. Other changes took place in the pronouns and the
verbs, for which we refer to Raynouard's 'Elémens. The use of the
auxiliary verb aver," habere," already existed in the Latin, in a certain
form: "De Cæsaro satis hoc tempore dictum habebo" (Cicero,
Philip. V.' 28); "Si habes jam statutum quod tibi agendum putes
(Epist. ad Famil.', iv. 2). The Latin also used the auxiliary "esse
in some tenses of the passive. The Romance language only made the
use of these auxiliaries more general.
After A.D. 1000 the Romance language may be considered as having
become duly formed, and the age of the Troubadours began. William,
count of Poictiers, is one of the earliest whose works have been pre-
served. In the 12th century the institution of the Courts of Love was
established. That century was the brilliant age of Romance poetry,
and in the same Wace wrote in North or Norman French his 'Roman
du Rou.' In the 13th century the war and massacre of the Albigenses,
and the establishment of the Inquisition, frightened away many of the
adepts of "la gaya ciencia ;" and afterwards several other events, such
as the accession of the house of Anjou or Provence to the throne of
Naples, and the encroachments of the Northern French, contributed to
the decline of the troubadour poetry, and at the same time of the
Romance language. The Italian or Tuscan rose upon its decay.
When Dante appeared, the decline had already begun, and it was com-
pleted during the first part of the 14th century. (Raynouard, Choix
de Poesies Originales des Troubadours;' Professor Diez, 'Leben und
Werke der Troubadours,' Zwickau, 1829.) In the 15th century king
René made some attempts at reviving the poetry of the Langue d'Oc,
but the race of the Troubadours was now extinct, and the only result
of his endeavours was the collecting and compiling the lives of the old
Troubadours by the monk of the isles of Hyeres, "Le Monge des Isles
d'Or." In Eastern Spain also the Inquisition destroyed many manu-
scripts in the Limosin or Valencian language, as being suspected of
containing heresy. In 1434 the library of the Marquis de Villena at
Barcelona was burnt on suspicion of containing sorcery. (Ferrario,
Storia ed Analisi degli antichi Romanzi,' &c.)
Various political and social circumstances had contributed to give to
the Langue d'Oc that early refinement in an age of comparative
ignorance and barbarism which is still a matter of surprise to philo-
logists and historical inquirers. The provinces of Southern France
had not, like Italy and the northern parts of France, been overrun by
a succession of barbarians; they had not been exposed to the ravages
of the Slavonians, the Huns, and the Danes. The Burgundians and
the Visigoths, who had settled there nearly about the same time,
were more civilised than the other German races; they amalgamated
gradually and quietly with the old inhabitants, and they applied them-
selves to agricultural pursuits, which a fertile soil and a happy climate
rendered pleasant and productive. The country suffered no subsequent
invasion from the northern tribes, and the victory of Charles Martel in
the plains of Tours arrested the advance of the Saracens from the west.
Southern France was, it is true, subjugated by the Franks, who had
occupied the countries north of the Loire, but the Franks had by that
time formed themselves into a regular monarchy under Pepin and
Charlemagne, and were no longer unruly barbarians. During the
decline and imbecility of the latter princes of the Carlovingian dynasty,
Southern France became a separate and independent state, of which
duke Bozon, an active and vigorous man, became monarch, and the
kingdom of Arles or Provence extended over the whole south of France.
The descendants of Bozon retained their sovereignty for more than two
hundred years; and when the male line ended in 1092, in the person
of Count Gillibert, his states became the dowry of his daughters, of
whom the elder, Douce, heiress of Provence, was married in the year
1112 to Raymond Berenger, count of Barcelona, and her sister Stephanie
married the count of Toulouse.
(Roquefort, Glossaire de married the count of Toulouse. A treaty, concluded in 1125, between
the counts of Barcelona and Toulouse, fixed the division of the states
of Gillibert between them. Another powerful baron, the count of
Poitiers, became duko of Aquitaine or Guyenne, which afterwards
came by marriage into the possession of Henry II. of England. These
three states, Barcelona, Toulouse, and Guienne included the whole
country in which the Langue d'Oc was spoken. The union of Provence
with Catalonia introduced into the former country a taste for poetry
and chivalry, which was fostered in Spain by the Moors. The maritime
towns of Catalonia and l'rovence carried on a lucrative trade all over
the Mediterranean, and Catalonian armaments took an activo part in
the Eastern wars between the Greeks, the Normans, and the Saracens.
All these circumstances contributed to refine the manners of the
people as well as their language, and the singular institution of the
Courts of Love gave a peculiar turn to their poetry. [TROUBADOURS.]
The Langue d'Oil, or Northern French, also called sometimes Nor-
man French, having bocome the language of the court and capital of
the kingdom of France, gradually encroached upon the Langue d'Oc,
as the various provinces south of the Loire became incorporated with
the monarchy. From the 13th century downwards, the edicts and
ordinances of the French kings being issued in the Langue d'Oil, were
forwarded, either in the original or translated into Latin, to the pro-
vinces of the south. The writers of Northern France, the Trouvères,
refined their own language, and found encouragement at court, which
was not extended to the writers in the Langue d'Oc. Ronsard, who
was a native of the south, in his 'Abregé de l'Art Poétique,' complains
155
ROMANCE LANGUAGE.
of this : "Now that our France is all subject to one king, we are
obliged, if we wish to attain honour or fame, to speak his language,
else our works, however honourable and perfect, would be thought
little of, or might perhaps be altogether despised and neglected."
With the invention of printing, copies of the works in the Langue
d'Oil were speedily multiplied, while those of the Troubadours re-
mained mostly in manuscripts, confined to a few libraries. In the
16th century it was enacted that all public acts and deeds should be
written in French. The Langue d'Oc, being thus restricted to the
mere purposes of a domestic idiom, degenerated into various patois or
dialects. Still there appeared, here and there, in the 17th and 18th
centuries, several native poets who wrote with spirit and humour in
their respective patois, such as Lesage, a Languedocian, whose bur-
lesque and frequently licentious poems were published at Montpelier:
'Les Folies de le Sage,' 1650; Ader, Lou Gentilhomme Gascoun,'
Toulouse, 1610, and Lou Catounet Gascon,' 1611; a version of
Homer's' Batrachomyomachia,' in Gascon, 'La Granoul-Batromachio,'
Toulouse, 1664; La Pastourale (a comedy in 4 acts) deu Paysan que
cerque mestié a son hils,' in the dialect of Béarn by Fondeville de
Lescar, Pau, 1767; L'Embarras de la Fieiro de Beaucaire,' by Michel,
Amsterdam, 1700; 'Actes du Synode de la Sainte Reformation,'
Montpelier, 1599, a satire against the Calvinists, by Reboul, a witty
but profligate adventurer, who was at last executed at Rome, under
pope Paul V., in September, 1611, in consequence of his undiscrimina-
ting satirical propensity; 'Lou Banquet,' par Augié, Gaillard, Paris,
1583; the Jardin deys Musos Provençales,' Aix, 1628; &c.
C
<
In Spain the Latin language became corrupted, though perhaps less
rapidly and at a later date than in Italy and France, which is proved
by the fact that during the 8th and 9th centuries masters were pro-
cured from the Peninsula to teach that language in Italy. It is
another evidence of this, that till the beginning of the 12th century,
Latin, though corrupt, was the only language used among the Christian
population of the Peninsula, not only in the acts of the cortes and
councils, but also in the municipal fueros, the public edicts, diplomas,
testaments, and the writings of authors. It was also the language of the
tribunals, until San Fernando, about the middle of the 13th century,
caused the 'Liber Judicum' to be translated into the vulgar tongue.
tane....
The corrupt Latin of Spain gave rise to the Catalonian and Valen-
cian, the old Portuguese or Galician, and the Castilian or modern
Spanish. The last two, and especially the Castilian, received a con-
siderable admixture of Arabic words (said to be about 2000 in the
Spanish language), from which the Catalonian remained comparatively
free. The process of corruption of the Latin into Romance was the
same as in France and Italy, and may be traced even in the writings of
the clergy, who professed to use the literary language of the country.
Elipando, bishop of Toledo, a man of learning for the time, who
strongly opposed the introduction into Spain of the tenets of the supre-
macy and infallibility of the Roman see, writes to Felix, bishop of
Urgel, in the following style: "Domino Felice, sciente vos reddo quia
vestro scripto accepi....direxi vobis scriptum parvum de fratre Mili-
ego vero direxi epistolam tuam ad Cordoba," &c.
It is impossible to fix the epochs of the origin of the various lan-
guages of the Spanish peninsula. The Catalonian and Galician or old
Portuguese appear to be the oldest. The Castilian, notwithstanding
the assertion of Bouterwek to the contrary, was not formed in the 11th
century; its oldest existing monument, the poem of El Cid,' is not
older than the year 1200. Previous to the 12th century the Galician,
or old Portuguese, appears to have prevailed in all western Spain. An
old manuscript Cancioneiro in this dialect, belonging to the library of
the Royal College of the Nobles at Lisbon, of which Sir Charles
Stuart obtained a copy, which he communicated to Raynouard, speaks
of the Galician dialect as being spoken in Galicia and in Portugal, as
far south as Coimbra, in the 10th and 11th centurics, after which the
Portuguese grew into a separate and polished dialect, which was much
in use for poetry among Galicians and Castilians as well as Portuguese.
(Raynouard, Grammaire Comparée,' Discours Préliminaire.)
In the ' Elucidação das Palavras, Termos, e Frases que em Portugal
antiguamente se usárao,' 2 vols. fol., Lisbon, 1798, are other specimens
of old Portuguese or Galician compositions. The original text of the
'Amadis de Gaula,' by Vasco de Lobeira, which is lost, was written in
the same language.
The Catalonian dialect became early a literary language, and as such
subject to fixed grammatical rules; it has its grammars and diction-
aries, a great number of printed books, and a still greater number in
manuscript. It had its historians; among others an anonymous bis-
torian of Catalonia, mentioned by Zurita in his Chronicas de Aragon;'
Bernard de Sclot, who lived in the 13th century, and wrote a history
of the principality of Catalonia and of the Aragonese kings subsequent
to the junction of the two states; and King Jayme I. of Aragon, who
wrote an account of his own reign, which has been published under the
following title: 'Chronica o Commentari del gloriosissim e invictissim
Rey Jacme Rey d'Aragó de Mallorques e de Valencia, Compte de
Barcelona e de Urgell, e de Muntpellier, escrita per aquell en sa
ingua natural, e treita de Archiu del molt magnifich Rational de la
insigue Ciutat de Valencia, hon estava custodita,' Valencia, 1557. King
Jayme also wrote a book de la Saviesa' on wisdom,' quoted by
Nicolaus Antonio, in his 'Bibliotheca Vetus.' The Catalonian is rich
in poetry, which was introduced into the Peninsula by the Troubadours
(
ROMANCE LANGUAGE.
156
of Provence and Languedoc. Alonso II. of Aragon, in the 12th
century, is numbered among its poets, as well as Guillermo de Bergue-
dan, a Catalonian noble, who lived in the following century, and some
of whose verses are preserved in a manuscript in the Vatican library.
Mosen Pero March, Jacme March, Mosen Jorde, Mosen Feblér, and
Ausias March of Valencia, rank also among the Catalonian, Aragonese,
and Valencian Troubadours. [TRoubadours.]
·
The languages of Aragon and Valencia, in the time of the Aragonese
monarchy, may be considered as one and the same with the Catalonian.
It is worthy of remark, that at the end of the 13th century, when the
Castilian language had already gained the preponderance in a great
part of Spain, we find a controversial conference between the Jews of
Granada and some Christian missionaries from Castile, carried on in
the Catalonian language, which appears to have been vernacular at
Granada. (Memoirs of the Royal Academy of Barcelona,' i., p. 615.)
In the same Memoirs (p. 613) it is stated that the bishop of Orense,
having been requested to examine what analogy there might be
between the vulgar Galician and the Catalonian, answered, that there
were in both, not only nouns, verbs, and other parts of speech quite
identical, but also entire phrases. And Terreros (in his 'Paleography')
and others have stated, that the language of Asturias is the same as
that of Galicia, bating the difference of pronunciation.
The Catalonian, observes Raynouard, is the living language which
most resembles the old Romance of the Troubadours, and that of the
Valdenses of Pignerol in Piedmont is the next. The following are
among the shades of difference between the Catalonian and the
Romance:-1. The Romance substantives and adjectives ending in an,
en, in, and un, add in Catalonian the euphonic final vowel y; affan,
affany, estran, estrany, &c. The plural feminine in as is changed into es.
The Catalonian often changes the s into an x; axi, puix: it doubles
the l at the beginning and at the end of words; aquell, lloch, lluny; it
sometimes changes the e into an i, especially of the Romance partici-
ples in ent; dormint, servint, fugint, premint: it adds a final u to some
inflections of the verbs, &c. The Catalonian has retained the affixes of
the Romance, of which the following are specimens taken from the
poems of Ausias March, the Valencian Troubadour :!
Mottram la llum de vera esperança,
Be ns mostra Deu lo mon que vol finir
Tot mon parlar als que no us auran vista,
No solament los leigs qui t venen contra.
The popular patois or dialects of the south of France, after being
long neglected, have of late years attracted the attention of philologists.
Colomb de Batines has given an account of the patois of Dauphiné;
Sainte Beuve inserted a notice in the 'Revue des Deux Mondes,'
vol. x., 1837, of the poems of Jasmin, the barber poet of Agen; a
Recueil de Poésies Béarnoises,' was published at Pau in 1827. (The
Bearnese dialect is a Romance and not a Basque dialect, and resembles
the Gascon.) The dialect of Gascony has been illustrated by the
Viscount de Métivier: 'De l'Agriculture et du Défrichement des
Landes,' Bordeaux, 1839; and also by Du Mege: 'Statistique des
Départemens des Pyrénées.' The Languedocian boasts of two graceful
poets, brothers: 'Poésias Patouesas de P. A. et Cyr. Rigaud,' Mounpeyé,
1806; Mêlanges sur les Langues, Dialectes, et Patois,' Paris, 1831;
Beronie, 'Dictionnaire Patois,' Tulle, 1820; the poems of Verdié, a
self-instructed artisan of Bordeaux, who died in 1820-whose works,
full of humour and nature, are unknown beyond the precincts of his
native town; an imitation of the fables of Lafontaine, in the dialect of
Limousin, by J. Fouçaud, 1835; Brunet, Notices et Extraits de
quelques ouvrages écrits en Patois du Midi de la France,' Paris, 1840;
Millin, 'Essai sur la Langue et la Littérature Provençale,' Paris, 1811;
J. Champollion Figeac, 'Nouvelles Recherches sur les Patois ou
Idiomes vulgaires de la France, et en particulier sur ceux du Départe-
ment de l'Isère, suivies d'un Essai sur la Littérature Dauphinoise, et
d'un Appendix contenant des pièces en vers et en prose peu connues,
et un Vocabulaire,' Paris, 1809; Grinet, Vocabulaire Limousin,'
a dialect which resembles those of Franche Comté and Western
Switzerland.
With regard to the ancient Langue d'Oc, or Langue Romane, the
most refined of all the southern dialects, but which may be considered
now as a dead language, it was illustrated in the last century, in Italy,
by Bastero, La Crusca Provenzale;' and in France, by L'Abbé Millot,
Histoire Littéraire des Troubadours,' who compiled his work from
the voluminous manuscript folios of M. de Sainte Palaye. In the
present century, Raynouard has been the most industrious and most
successful investigator of the Romance language and literature. His
Lexique Roman, ou Dict. de la Langue des Troubadours,' was pub-
M. Honnorat has published a
lished in 6 vols. 8vo, Par. 1836-44.
'Dictionnaire Provencal-Française,' or Dictionary of the Langue d'Oc,
ancient and modern, 2 vols. 4to, Paris, 1846-49; and G. F. Burguy a
Grammaire de la Langue d'Oil, ou grammaires des dialectes Français
aux XII. et XIII. siècles,' accompanied by a glossary, 2 vols., Berlin,
1853-54. Other valuable works have also appeared, either written or
edited by Mahn, Villemarque, &c.
In Italy, the dialect of the valleys of Pignerol, or of the Valdenses,
has most affinity to the old Romance. The Piedmontese, which is a
written language, and is spoken by all classes of people, bears also
157
158
ROMANCE LANGUAGE.
ROMANESQUE ARCHITECTURE.
considerable affinity to the modern Romance dialects of Southern
France, and we have heard it stated that natives of Languedoc can
understand those of Piedmont with case. Dr. Pipino published a
Piedmontese grammar, Turin, 1783; and Ponza published, in 1827-8,
a Dictionary, Piedmontese and Italian. The language of Nice is also a
corrupt dialect of the Langue d'Oc.
With regard to the other North Italian or Lombard dialects, they
differ more or less from the old Romance language, though they had a
common and perhaps coeval origin with it, and resemble it more than
the Italian or Tuscan. The Langue d'Oc, having been formed chiefly
from a corrupt and provincial Latin, as well as the dialects of Italy,
reduced its materials to a regular form sooner than they; and having
become a polished and literary language, the Italians in their turn
borrowed at second-hand from it. Raynouard, in his 'Grammaire
Comparée,' observes that the dialect of Ferrara is one of those which
has retained more completely the forms of the Romance with the least
admixture. That of Bergamo comes perhaps the next in affinity: it
often changes the e into o; for example, instead of el, del (Romance),
it has made ol, dol. The dialects of Bologna and Mantua abound with
contractions and aphereses, which render them very harsh; they have
taken away the t of the Romance terminations in at, it, ut. The
Milanese has a broad pronunciation, and many double vowels, changing
into aa, ii, and uu, the Romance terminations in at, it, and ut; veritaa,
servii, avuu, &c.; it also changes re into er; noster, sepolcher, for the
Romance nostre, sepolchre. The dialects of the Venetian territory,
with the exception of that of Friuli, are more remote from the
Romance in their formation, as are likewise still more so the dialects
south of the Apennines, or of Southern Italy. We cannot here
enlarge upon the multifarious subject of the Italian dialects, but must
refer the inquisitive reader to their grammars, vocabularies, and other
works.
The dialects of Western Switzerland, Vaud, Neuchâtel, Geneva, part
of Freyburg, and Lower Valais, and also of Savoy, have retained to
this day the name of patois Romand, or Langue Romande. Western
Switzerland, as far as the Aar, was occupied in the decline of the
Roman empire by the Burgundians, a less rude tribe than the
Alemanni, who settled in Eastern Switzerland. The Burgundians
shared the land with the native population of Roman, Helvetian, or
Allobrogic race; they applied themselves to agriculture, and soon
constituted themselves into a well regulated and orderly monarchy.
They gradually adopted the provincial Latin which they found in use
in the country, and from the corruption of which several Romance
dialects were formed, which resembled those of the south of France
that were formed through a similar process. Some of the dialects of
Western Switzerland approximate in their inflexions to the Northern
French, or Langue d'Oil, whilst others, like that of Gruyère in the
canton of Freyburg, bear more affinity to the Romance of the south,
and consequently to the Italian. Specimens of both are contained in
Stalder's 'Dialektologie,' and also in the collection of Ranz des Vaches,
both in German and Romance, 'Sammlung von Schweizer Kuhreihen
und Volksliedern,' Bern, 1818. To this day, Switzerland is divided,
by language, races, and habits, into German and Romande, and the
Germans call the latter by the general name of Wälschland.
Raynouard at the conclusion of his Grammaire Comparée' of the
languages of Latin or Roman Europe, enumerates twenty-three special
characteristics in the construction of the Romance language, most of
which occur also in the other languages and dialects of Western and
1. The use of articles
Southern Europe, which he styles Neo-Latin.'
to determine the cases, instead of their being designated by the termi-
nation of the word as in Latin. This characteristic is found in all the
modern languages derived from the Latin. 2 and 3. Relate to the
terminations of words, especially nouns, of which Raynouard gives com-
parative tables in the various languages. 4. Is peculiar to the old Ro-
mance, but existed also in the Northern French till the 14th century.
It consists in placing an s at the end of substantives in the singular,
when they stand as subjects; the absence of the s shows they were used
in the objective case. In the plural it was the reverse, the absence of
the s designated the nominative. The Northern French dropped the
s generally in the singular, and gave it to the plural without distinc-
tion. 5. Refers to other terminations employed by the old Romance,
especially in proper names, to distinguish the subject from the object.
6. Concerns the gender of the adjectives. 7. Concerns the degrees of
comparison. S. Is on the Romance affixes representing personal pro-
nouns, ous, os, m, x, which are also met with in the old French and old
Spanish, and also in some rustic dialects of France, in the Catalonian,
and in some north Italian dialects. 9. The pronoun altre is an ex-
pletive added to the personal pronoun. This has been adopted by all
the Neo-Latin languages of Europe; vous autres, vos otros, vos outros,
voi altri, &c. 10. Relative pronouns qui, que, lo qual. 11. The indefi-
nite pronoun om, derived from the Latin homo, which the French has
retained in on. The Spanish and Portuguese, which formerly employed
ome in the same sense, have since substituted se, and the Italians si.
12. Concerns the use in the conjugations of the auxiliary verbs aver,
ester, and estar, which have been adopted, with some modifications, by
all the other Romance languages. 13 and 14. Concern the formation
of the future and the conditional. 15. Concerns the participles in ut,
16. Concerns the double formation
of which the French has made u.
of participles of the same verb, such as rot and romput, defet and de-
fendat, cleit and elegit, &c. 17. The compound passive formed of the
auxiliary esser and the participle past, which has been substituted in
all cases for the Latin simple passive form. 18. Concerns the verbs
used impersonally. 19. The infinitive with the negative, used as an
imperative. The Italian has retained it: "Non parlare:" speak not.
20. The various uses of the conjunction que. 21. Formation of adverbs
from the feminine adjective by adding the affix ment, which has been
adopted by all the other languages derived from the Latin. 22. The
expletives pas, mica, gaire, &c., added to the negative particle to give
it greater emphasis. This form is retained by the French in pas, and
by the Italians in mica and guari. 23. Concerns the appellations
Romans, Romance, Roumonch, Romanza, which were used by the old
French, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese writers to designate their
respective idioms; an appellation which serves to show their common
origin. The most recent general dictionary of the Romance language
is the Lexicon Etymologicum linguarum Romanarum, Italicæ,
Hispaniæ, Gallicæ, &c.,' of F. Diez, Bonn, 1853.
ROMANESQUE ARCHITECTURE is that style of round-arched
In the country of the Grisons, or ancient Rhæti, one half of the architecture which (with local or national peculiarities) prevailed
people speak a language called Rumonsch, which is an Italian dialect through a large part of Europe during the 11th and 12th centuries.
of very ancient formation, supposed by some to be derived from the Under BYZANTINE ARCHITECTURE, it was pointed out how the archi-
language of the Etruscans, who emigrated to those valleys about 600 tecture of the ancient Romans diverged in the hands of their barbaric
years B.C.; but this is a mere conjecture. The Rumonsch is a written successors into a two-fold form: the older becoming moulded, in the
language, and books have been published in it. MSS. eight or nine Eastern Empire, into that known as the Byzantine style, and which
centuries old existed at the end of the last century, and perhaps some was the parent of the subsequent ecclesiastical architecture of the east
still exist in the convent of Disentis. The dialect of the Engadina, or of Europe; and the later, that which in the Western Empire became
valley of the Inn, is called Ladin: it has still greater affinity to the in the hands of the ecclesiastical architects what is now known as
Italian or Lombard dialects. Specimens of Rumonsch and Ladin are Romanesque, and which, as was shown under GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE,
found in the Appendix to Vieusseux's History of Switzerland,' pub- became in its ultimate development, Pointed Gothic. Romanesque
lished by the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. Ray-architecture then, both in time and place, stands between the classic
nouard observes that the Rumonsch has the affixes and other essential Roman and the Pointed Gothic; and is, in fact, the link which con-
forms of the Romance language, though it is disfigured by an admix- nects the one with the other.
ture of Northern or Teutonic orthography and pronunciation. It
often adds a g to the end of words; filg, volg, haig, testamaing, for the
Romance fil, vol, hai, testament.
If we take the appellation of Romance language in its most extended
sense, all the languages and dialects of Western Europe, that is to say,
of Italy, Western Switzerland, the Grisons, France, and Spain, may be
called Romance, being derived essentially from the Roman or Latin,
and having been formed after the fall of the Western Empire. The
Basque and the Armorican or language of Lower Britanny belong to a
different family. The Walloon of Lège and the Valachian are also
Romance languages. The Valachian resembles the others, though less
perhaps in its grammatical forms than in the etymology of the words.
Raynouard shows the analogy existing between them all in their gram-
matical construction and etymology in his Grammaire Comparée des
Langues de l'Europe Latine.' But if we take the word Romance in its
more restricted sense, as having been especially applied to the language
of the troubadours, or Langue d'Oc, we must consider it as confined to
the south of France, and the eastern provinces of Spain as far as
Murcia; and it is there that we find its legitimate offspring in the
languages of Catalonia, Valencia, and Majorca, and in the Languedocian,
Provencal, and Valdenses dialects.
Until the final separation of the Western from the Eastern Empire,
the Byzantine type was in the ascendant; but in the West such archi-
tecture as existed was rather a debased Roman, than an independent
or derived style. Yet traces of the Romanesque appeared at a com-
paratively early date. Its germ was certainly visible in the 6th or 7th
century; but this was followed by a long interval of quiescence. Some
have fancied that the revival is due to the Lombard kings, and have
consequently termed the style itself Lombardic. But the revivifica-
tion of architecture does not seem to be really traceable farther back
than the 10th century; the development of the style belongs to the
11th century, and its highest perfection to the 12th, when its obvious
insufficiency to meet the growing requirements of the age led to the
introduction of the feature which caused it to merge into what is
usually regarded as a totally different style. Nor, as we have intimated,
can it be especially assigned to any particular locality, Lombardy
may have been the cradle of the actual Romanesque, but it soon spread
through other parts of Italy; along the Rhine, in Germany and Switzer-
land; throughout France, and by way of Normandy to England. The
styles of these countries are indeed frequently treated as though not
only different but unconnected, but in principle they are essentially
the same; the differences consisting of those local and national features
1
*
159
ROMANESQUE ARCHITECTURE.
which are due to the character of the inhabitants, and the physical (or
geological) peculiarities of the country, and which are always found
unless the inventive faculties are controlled by rigid ecclesiastical or
professional precedents. We may say, however, that as the birthplace
of the style was Italy, it was there that it retained most decidedly the
resemblance to its original, the divergence from the classic type be-
coming more marked in proportion to its distance in place as well as
time from its source. And whilst in other countries the Romanesque
merged in the 13th century into Pointed Gothic, in Italy it maintained
itself as the prevalent style till the advent of the RENAISSANCE.
We shall here treat of Romanesque architecture generally: the
peculiar forms it assumed in our own country, first in a very rude
shape in the Anglo-Saxon, and afterwards in a more developed and
artistic condition as the Anglo-Norman style, are noticed under
NORMAN ARCHITECTURE, and SAXON ARCHITECTURE, to which articles
we refer for inany of the details necessarily omitted here, and which
are in a measure applicable to the style in other countries.
The earlier buildings of Christian Rome were merely a degenerate
imitation of the older buildings. From the establishment, if not from
the tolerance, of Christianity the ancient basilicas were employed as
churches; and the earliest churches erected, were modelled on the type
of the basilica. Presbyteries, chapels, and other features were gradually
added, and ultimately the church assumed the form of a Latin cross;
but even then the principles of the basilica form were retained.
[BASILICA; CHURCH.] In the buildings of the degenerate Roman
period it was usual to employ the materials as well as to imitate
the forms of the older edifices and columns, and other ornamental
fragments were appropriated to places which they could only be made
to fit by various modifications and contrivances. Hence the classic
proportions, at first little heeded, were soon entirely forgotten, and
the different parts of the building were designed according to the
necessities of the case, or the taste or caprice of the architect. Arches
were made of all sizes and placed anywhere. Columns were arranged
without regard to the orders; and the dimensions of the shafts were
regulated merely by the weight they had to sustain. Mouldings and
carvings assumed the most irregular and fantastic patterns.
Thus, then, we perceive, when Romanesque architecture was emerging
from the chaos, references in all its parts to ancient Roman forms and
principles, but the utmost licence in their application; and what the
architects of the period did, was to reduce the discord into order, and
to mould the whole into a consistent system. Among the distinctive
characteristics of this style in its maturity may be mentioned in the
first place, its general massiveness of construction and severity of
character. The walls are usually of great thickness and pierced by
windows of a comparatively small size and few in number. Indeed, in
nothing does pointed Gothic differ more markedly from the round-
arched style out of which it grew than in the enlargement and the
prominency given to windows-a characteristic due to the introduction
of painted glass, and the admiration felt for it by the ecclesiastles of the
west and north, the decorations of the Romanesque, essentially of
Italian origin, having been chiefly mural paintings and mosaics. But
besides the massiveness of construction, a leading characteristic is the
predominance of horizontal lines in the general composition, which
again distinguishes this style from Pointed Gothio, in which a general
tendency to verticality is as decidedly apparent.
The semicircular or segmental arch is distinctive of the style. It is
employed for all purposes, and occurs of all sizes in the same building.
Usually it is employed in combination with the columns, the column
being made the essential support of the arch- all appearance of en-
tablature being now discarded. At first the columns themselves were
mostly tapering, not cylindrical like the slender detached ones met
with in the Pointed style, and the capitals bore a more or less close
resemblance to those of the Corinthian order in contour and proportion.
The capital itself, however, was larger in proportion to the rest of the
column, thereby affording a greater surface or impost for the arches.
to rest upon; and also combining the appearance of security at that
point with general lightness of appearance. The shaft was mostly
plain, yet frequently highly ornamental, striated or carved in different
ways, and sometimes twisted, either singly or with two stems twining
spirally round each other. Columns furnishing examples of all these
different modes occur in the cloisters of San Paolo and San Giovanni
Laterano at Rome; and the capitals present quite as much variety, it
seeming to have been the aim on such occasions to introduce as much
diversity as possible, instead of so arranging the columns as to have two
of the same kind placed together: a practice probably originating in
making use of fragments taken from other buildings, and afterwards
retained as conducing to variety and richness.
Although the arches were, as frequently as not, quite plain, and
without archivolt mouldings of any kind, the use of archivolts was by
no means uncommon; sometimes consisting of merely a single mould-
ing enclosing a plain border around the arch, at others divided into
facia, and more or less enriched, as in the front of the cathedral of Pisa,
in which building the arches describe more than a semicircle above
the capitals of the columns, being prolonged downwards by a deep
abacus, consisting in some places of two, in others of a single plain
block resting immediately on the capital. Similar blocks or abaci occur
in the remains of Frederick Barbarossa's palace at Gelnhausen, where
small heads or masks are introduced immediately above such abaci, so
ROMANESQUE ARCHITECTURE.
160
as to fill up the same space there between the arches, and continue in
some degree the vertical lines produced by the columns.
In some Romanesque buildings the design consists of little more
than an assemblage of arches variously disposed, the apertures for
windows being few and small and destitute of ornament; and they
generally form either successive tiers, one above the other, like so
many blank galleries, or occur at intervals in the vertical line of the
edifice. In these kinds of arcades [ARCADE], that which is uppermost
is generally of much (smaller dimensions than the one beneath, so
that two of its arches occupy no wider space than one of those below
it. Another practice peculiar to this style is that of carrying a range
of arches beneath a gable, ascending one above the other in the same
sloping direction as the sides of the roof; instances of which occur
in the fronts of the Duomo at Parma, San Michele at Pavia, and in those
of the cathedral at Carrara, and the church of San Zeno at Verona, in
which two latter instances, however, the bases of the columns are all
on the same level, and consequently the columns themselves gradually
increase in height as they approach the centre. The front of the
cathedral at Pisa offers a double instance of the same kind in the upper,
or gable story, and in the half gables over the ends of the second one,
with the difference, that in the latter the pillars support merely blocks
placed beneath the inclined line of the roof. To this may be added
the very prevalent custom of making an upper cornice or border of
very small interlacing arches, or of mouldings producing that appear-
ance. Interlacing arches were also very common in the decorative
arcades.
Among the other more prominent characteristics of this style, which
are all that we can here touch upon, it should be noticed, that whether
forming actual porticos and galleries, or closed up and applied merely
as decoration, the arcades were generally small in proportion to the
building itself, and instead of occupying the entire width of the
front, or other elevation, were mostly inserted into distinct compart-
ments of it, slightly recessed within the general face of the wall, so
that the plain spaces between them assumed the appearance of but-
tresses, or, when narrow, of plain pilasters continued up to the cornice
of the gable or roof, and cutting through whatever string-courses, or
other horizontal mouldings (if there were any), divided the different
stories or stages of the edifice. Such buttress-like surfaces—for
buttresses they cannot properly be termed—were occasionally more or
less enriched; sometimes so much so, as to produce vertical lines of
ornament continued the entire height of the building, as in the front
of San Michele at Pavia. When, as was frequently done, these surfaces
were made wider at the angles of the front than elsewhere, they gave
an expression of repose and of great solidity to it, serving as it were as
a frame to the architectural decoration.
Pinnacles are of rare occurrence, and when introduced have the look
of being set on the part they rise above, being separated from it by
horizontal mouldings; besides which they are generally low, and some-
what resemble pedestals. Pinnacles of this description may be found
surmounting pilaster-breaks, and cutting through either an horizontal
cornice or the sloping cornices of a gable, as in the front of the cathedral
at Monza.
Windows, as we have said, were for the most part sparingly intro-
uced, and of small dimensions, so that they rarely contributed much
towards embellishment; circular or wheel windows are, however, not
unfrequently introduced in gables, and often with considerable effect.
Doorways were generally made very important features, the chief
ornament being lavished upon them. The aperture itself indeed was
generally plain, and also square-headed, but it was enclosed in a recess
formed by a series of arches one within another and resting upon
columns; and so deep was this outer casing as to be frequently very
nearly as wide as the actual doorway. Sometimes the tympanum was
filled with sculpture, and the arches and capitals were very richly
carved.
Vaulting is another important characteristic of the style. At first
the ordinary Roman semi-cylindrical or waggon vaulting prevailed;
but the awkward appearance of continuous vaulting supported by dis-
connected columns seems to have soon arrested attention, and the
Roman quadripartite vaulting was introduced. This was succeeded by
sexpartite, which met most of the immediate requirements of the case,
but led to other innovations which in turn introduced new changes.
Indeed, as Mr. Whewell, Mr. Scott, and other distinguished authorities
have suggested, and as appears highly probable, it may have been the
unceasing efforts of the builders to improve the system of vaulting
which led to the use of the pointed arch, and ultimately to the
adoption of the pointed style.
There are other points on which we might dwell, as the general
employment of the apsidal termination, and the use of the triforium
and the clerestory, but for these features it must suffice to refer to the
articles APSIS, CLERESTORY, and TRIFORIUM; and again for the illus-
trations of details omitted here to NORMAN ARCHITECTURE. We may,
however, just add a word or two on Towers, a new and important feature
in this style of architecture. In Italy, towers only occur as detached
buildings [CAMPANILES], but in the Romanesque churches of Germany,
France, and England, they are an essential and very characteristic
portion. As the rule they are square in plan; massive in structure;
pierced with a few narrow, round-arched windows, which are often
coupled and enclosed with a larger arch; the surface is often orna-
161
162
ROMANS, EPISTLE TO THE.
ROOF.
mented with arcades; and they are surmounted occasionally with a
low pyramidal spire. [NORMAN ARCHITECTURE; SPIRE.] Occasionally
round, and more rarely octagonal, towers are met with. In some
towers circular windows are seen.
Cupolas occur in many Italian and some French churches of this
date; but these may be regarded as evidence of a more or less direct
Byzantine influence.
ROMANS, EPISTLE TO THE. The Epistle to the Romans has
been almost universally admitted to be the work of St. Paul. The
only sects which have disputed its genuineness are the Ebionites, the
Encratites, and the Cerinthians, and these purely on doctrinal grounds,
inasmuch as the doctrines of this Epistle were adverse to their own
opinions. (Stuart's Commen. on the Epis.,' p. 42.) Some modern
commentators, however, have supposed that the Epistle properly ends
with the fifteenth chapter, a supposition which may seem plausible
from the want of connection between the last chapter and the rest of
the Epistle. But this want of connection may be accounted for easily
enough, without any such hypothesis. (Stuart, 'Introd.,' p. 49.)
The verses 25-27 inclusive of this last chapter are in some manu-
scripts, as in the Codex Alexandrinus, made to follow ver. 23 of cap. xiv.,
and Griesbach and others give them this arrangement. But a doxology
of so sublime a character as is contained in these verses does not seem
a fit conclusion for a discussion about eating meats or abstaining from
them, and accordingly Hug and others agree with the received text in
placing them at the close of the Epistle. Some few manuscripts omit
them altogether. The words I, Tertius, &c., xvi. 22, imply that this
chapter formed the end of the Epistle, and that the Epistle is one.
There are, however, indications in the last chapter that the Epistle
received several unimportant additions or insertions after it was in the
main completed, according as any afterthoughts occurred to the writer,
before it was finally despatched.
With respect to the date of the Epistle, various years have been
assigned to it, from A.D. 55 to A.D. 58. According to the most probable
opinion, it was written towards the end of 57 or in the beginning of 58,
when St. Paul was at Corinth, and on the point of setting out to
Jerusalem with the "contribution made by them of Macedonia and
Achaia for the poor saints which were at Jerusalem" and in Judæa
(xv. 25, 26), and before he had ever visited Rome.
<
The Epistle was dictated in Greek by the Apostle to Tertius, his
amanuensis (xvi. 22), and conveyed to the church at Rome by Phoebe
(xvi. 1), a servant or deaconess of the church at Cenchreæ, a place not
far from Corinth. Another proof of the Epistle having been written
from Corinth is given in xvi. 23, where St. Paul sends salutations from
Gaius, his host, and Erastus, the chamberlain of the city of Corinth.
(Comp. 2 Timoth, iv. 20; and 1 Cor., i. 14.) The position of this
Epistle in the New Testament does not depend upon its date, for it is
the seventh in order of time according to most authorities, and is
placed first, either from being the "longest and most comprehensive"
of the Epistles of St. Paul, or from the importance of the church to
which it was addressed. (Horne's Introduct.,' vol. iv.) With respect
to the origin of this church, we have no certain information in the
Scriptures. They do not tell us when or by whom it was founded.
The opinion that it was founded by St. Peter does not appear to rest
on any satisfactory evidence the chief authorities for it are, Irenæus
('Adv. Hær.,' iii. 1) and Eusebius ('Chron. an. 2 Claud.'); but if he
had indeed preached the Gospel at Rome, such a circumstance would
probably have been noticed in the Acts of the Apostles, nor is it likely
that St. Paul would have made no allusion to it in this Epistle.
Perhaps the most reasonable opinion on the subject is, that the Gospel
was first preached at Rome by "the strangers from that city, the Jews
and proselytes," who were converted by Peter's preaching at Jerusalem
on the day of Pentecost (Acts, ii. 10); so that, like many other
churches, that at Rome was at first composed of Jews, and gradually
increased by the admixture of Gentiles, till the whole Christian com-
munity there became so large and important, that their faith was
spoken of through the world." The fact of this combination and co-
existence of Jews and Gentiles as parts of one Christian church suffi-
ciently explains to a careful reader the occasion and object of the
Epistle. Prejudices and pretensions on one side would be met with
disdain or opposition on the other. (Cap. ii. and xi.) The Jews were
attached to the Mosaic institutes, and the Levitical rites and distinctions
between clean and unclean. They were impatient of subordination to
or equality with the Gentiles, and wished to impose upon them a con-
formity to many points of the Mosaic ritual, especially that of circum-
cision, before they were admitted to a participation in the privileges of
the Gospel. The Gentiles, on the other hand, disregarded (perhaps too
contemptuously) the prejudices of the Jews, and were of course
offended at their pretensions to superiority, for which their fallen
position afforded in the eyes of the Gentiles no justification. They
might not reflect with fairness on what the Jews conceived themselves
to have lost by the publication of the Gospel. Such a position of
parties, and such a state of feeling between them, would naturally give
rise to the divisions and offences which occasioned some of the admoni-
tions and cautions contained in the hortatory portion of the Epistle,
and the existence of it can scarcely fail to be observed by a careful
reader.
For examples of undesigned coincidence between this Epistle and
the Acts of the Apostles, the reader is referred to Paley. The writers
ARTS AND SCI, DIV. VOL. VII.
and commentators upon this Epistle, both English and foreign, have
been exceedingly numerous.
RONDEAU (Fr.), or RONDO (It.), a kind of air consisting of two
or more strains, in which, after finishing the second strain, the first is
repeated, and again after the third, &c., always returning to and con-
cluding with the first. (Rousseau.)
ROOD, the quarter of an acre. [ACRE.]
ROOD-LOFT. In Roman Catholic churches a large crucifix usually
occupies a conspicuous position at the entrance to the chancel. Prior
to the Reformation the same custom was, of course, observed in
English churches. The crucifix, here called a Rood, was placed on a
beam-called the Rood-Beam-fixed across the chancel arch, or on
the screen which divided the nave from the chancel; but more
commonly in large churches the Rood was placed on a gallery called
the Rood-Loft. The rood was of large size, painted in natural colours,
sometimes ornamented in front with the emblems of the evangelists;
and had figures of the Virgin and St. John standing one on each side
of the foot of the cross-the figures being all turned towards the nave.
The screen which supported the gallery was of wood or stone, often
richly carved or panelled. A flight of stone steps in the wall of the
nave usually led to the rood-loft; but in some instances the stairs
were carried up an external turret. Roods are of great antiquity. A
cross surmounting a chancel screen in the church of Santa Sophia,
Constantinople, is mentioned by a writer of the 6th century; but
there is no evidence of such a cross having a figure of Christ upon it
before the 8th century. In England roods were introduced as early as
the 11th century; but rood-lofts seem to have been first erected in English
churches in the 14th century. The galleries as well as the roods were
in most instances destroyed by authority in the reign of Edward VI.,
but more or less perfect examples remain in various country churches,
among others at Banwell, Long-Sutton, Minehead and other churches
in Somersetshire; Newark, Nottinghamshire; Great Handborough,
Great Rollwright, and Charlton, Oxfordshire; Dartmouth and else-
where in Devonshire; and Worm-Leighton, &c., Warwickshire. In
some churchès a small turret was erected over the chancel arch, and
consequently over the rood, in which was hung the sanctus bell [BELL-
COTE], and this was often called the Rood-Tower. The chancel-arch in
like manner, from the rood being placed beneath it, was sometimes
termed the Rood-Arch. On the continent the gallery-cross, in French
Croix de jubé, had gradually fallen into disuse sometime before the
present century, and old examples are now very rare. One of the most
perfect is in the great church of Louvain. In Germany, France, and
the Netherlands, the rood was often suspended from the chancel arch
by three ornamental chains, of which fragments still remain in several
churches.
s
ROOF, the covering of a house or other building. The name, in its
most extended sense, embraces the external covering itself, and the
framework by which it is supported; but, as a term in carpentry, it is
limited to the carcass-roof or framing.
The importance of this part of a building can hardly be overrated,
since on its right construction depends not only the comfort of those
for whose shelter it is designed, but also the safety and durability of
the edifice itself. For the former of these purposes it is desirable that
a roof should exclude extremes of heat and cold, and be impervious to
rain or snow. For the latter, the exclusion of water is equally neces
sary; and it is essential that the framework be so disposed as to throw
the least possible strain on the walls. By a judicious arrangement in
this particular, a roof may not only be prevented from pressing on the
walls in an injurious manner, but may be made to contribute greatly
to the stability of the whole structure. In order to the due combi-
nation of the requisite qualities, an intimate acquaintance with the
principles of mechanical philosophy is indispensable; and a correct
knowledge of the strength of different materials, when exposed to
various kinds of strain, is necessary to the economical adjustment of
the dimensions of the several parts of a roof. A roof of large span
forms, indeed, one of the most interesting applications of the science
of carpentry, theoretical or constructive.
In order to cover in a building in which the space to be spanned is
greater than can be covered by single blocks of stone extending from
one point of support to another, it is necessary either to have recourse
to the principle of the arch, as in vaults and domes of stone or brick,
or to form a framework of timber to support the covering. The former
plan is objectionable in the case of ordinary buildings from its expense
and weight, and from the great solidity required in the walls, where
they have to be used as the abutments of an arch. The principles on
which such coverings of masonry are formed are explained under ARCH
and DOME; and in this article the more usual kind of roof, that sus-
tained by a wooden framing, will be described. Such structures occa-
sionally partake of the character of an arch or dome, but more usually
consist of flat planes variously disposed. Roofs formed of one level
plane, which are extensively used in eastern countries, are not adapted
for buildings in which a large space has to be spanned over, nor to
resist the penetration of water, and are therefore unsuitable for
climates in which rain and snow are common. A simple inclined
plane is well adapted to resist injury from weather; but, as it is
scarcely more favourable to an economical disposition of the timbers
than a flat roof, it is only suited for small buildings, and is seldom
used except as a lean-to. Another objection to its use on a large scale
M
!
163
ROOF.
is the disproportionate height it requires on one side of the building.
The best figure for a simple roof is that formed of two inclined planes,
rising from the two opposite walls that approach nearest to each other
and meeting over the centre of the edifice, so as to form a ridge. By
this form, supposing the same slope to be maintained, one-half of the
height of the single inclined plane is avoided; and the length of the
timbers being diminished one-half, their scantling may be considerably
reduced. Fig. 1 represents a plan with side and end views of such a
Fig. 1.
Side.
End.
roof, which is called a common or gable-ended roof. Frequently four
inclined planes are used, disposed as shown in fig. 2, representing a
Fig. 2.
Side.
End.
ROOF.
164
similar to a valley, but in a horizontal instead of an inclined position,
the term gutter is applied instead of valley.
A further distinction, which it may be well to mention before
entering upon the details of construction, is that between roofs with
dripping eaves, and those in which the water is collected in gutters.
In the former case the roof projects several inches, or even feet, beyond
the walls, and the water running from the roof either drops at once on
the ground, or is collected in troughs fixed under the margin of thre
eaves, and conducted by them to descending pipes. This arrangement
has a clumsy appearance, and is perhaps unnecessary where a sufficient
projection is given to the eaves, though it is essential to the dryness of
the walls when they are of the diminutive size often adopted by
modern builders. In gutter roofs the timbers do not extend to the
outside of the walls, which are carried up as parapets, of a reduced
thickness, to such a height as to conceal the roof either wholly or
partially. The gutters, which are troughs of wood covered with lead
or other metal, are laid at the bottom of the slopes, just within the
parapets, and have a gentle inclination (usually about an inch in ten
feet), to cause water to run freely towards the pipes. In extensive
roofs it is well to use two or more falls instead of one, that the
elevated end of the gutter may cover as little of the roof as need be.
Similar troughs are often used in the valleys. Gutters are generally
made wide enough for a man to walk along them, and should be suffi-
ciently capacious to avoid all risk of overflowing during a sudden
heavy fall of rain.


The degree of slope given to the inclined faces of a roof varies
according to the covering material employed, as well as to the climate.
The ancient Grecian temples had very low, or pediment roofs, varying
hipped roof, which takes its name from the hips, or inclined ridges from about 12° to about 16°, the height being from one-ninth to one-
formed by the meeting of the sides and ends. Where a hipped roof seventh of the
Where a hipped roof seventh of the span. In Roman buildings the inclination is somewhat
covers a perfectly square building, the faces all meet in a point, and greater, being usually 23° or 24°, or from one-fifth to two-ninths of
form a pyramid; but when, as in the diagram, the plan of the roof is the span. The general introduction of the pointed style of architec-
oblong, the planes rising from the nearest opposite walls meet in a
ture led to the use of very high-pitched roofs, a very common
ridge. Sometimes the inclined faces are not continued upwards till proportion being that in which the length of the rafters is the same as
they meet, but the roof is completed by a horizontal plane. Such a the span, so that they formed an equilateral triangle. In comparatively
roof is called a truncated, terrace, or cut roof, and may have two, three, modern domestic architecture in this country, it has been considered
or four inclined faces. Fig. 3 represents a truncated roof hipped at desirable for the length of the rafters to be three-fourths that of the
Fig. 3.
span, and an angle of 45° is still considered by some to be the best
pitch when plain tiles are used. As builders can, in the present day,
obtain excellent covering materials, the pitch may be made of any
required degree, down to the low Grecian pediment, and it therefore
depends on the style of architecture and the taste of the builder; the
most common height being from one-fourth to one-third of the span.
High roofs discharge rain the most rapidly, and do not retain snow so
much as those of low pitch; but where they have gutters they are
liable to become choked by snow sliding into them, and to overflow
from water running into them faster than the pipes can convey it
away. Steep roofs may be covered with small slates, and are less
likely to be stripped by violent winds. Low roofs, in consequence of
their superior lightness, are less expensive, the timbers not only being
shorter, but of proportionately smaller scantling, and they press less
injuriously on the walls. The following table, extracted from Tred-
gold's Elementary Principles of Carpentry,' shows the proper angle
for roofs covered with the materials specified in the first column,
the last column indicating the comparative weight of each kind of
covering:-

Side.
End.
one end, and terminating at the other in a vertical wall, like the gable-
ended roof.
This arrangement is useful for diminishing the height of a roof, the
level platform being covered with lead to compensate for the want of
slope. It should be observed, however, that even this part is not per-
fectly level, the centre being slightly elevated to throw off water. A
similar saving of height is frequently obtained by means of a roof in
which each sloping face consists of two planes of different degrees of
inclination. This form, which is denominated a curb roof (or, from its
inventor, a Mansarde roof), is very common in London, because it
affords more space for the formation of bedrooms in the roof than the
simpler forms. A curbed of may be hipped or not, according to
circumstances. Fig. 4 represents it hipped at one end only, as the last
Fig. 4.
Side.
End.
Covering.
Copper or lead.
Slates, large
""
Inclination to
the horizon.
3° 50
. 22°
ordinary
26° 33'
Stone slate
29° 41'
Plain tiles
•
29° 41′
Pan-tiles
24°
•
heath
•
45°
Height of roof
in parts of
the span.
1
48
Albdtakakap
Weight upon a
square of
roofing.*
copper
lead
•
100
700
1120
900 to 500

2380
1780
650
figure, showing, like the previous diagrams, the plan, and side and end
elevations.
Such are the principal forms of roof used in covering simple rectan-
gular buildings, but they require many modifications to suit irregu-
larities of shape or combinations of rectangular forms. Thus, in figs. 5
and 6, which represent the junction of different roofs or portions of
Fig. 5,
Fig. 6.
roofing at right angles with each other, the lines a a a indicate valleys,
or the junction of two planes in such a manner as to form hollows the
reverse of hips. When two faces of a roof join so as to form an angle
Thatch of straw, reeds, or
In describing the timber-work of an ordinary roof, each of the
planes of which it is composed may be considered to be bounded by a
frame, the parts of which have the general name of bordering pieces.
Those which join the wall are the wall-plates; that at the meeting of
two faces, parallel to the wall-plates, is the ridge-piece; and the inclined
bars extending from the wall-plates to the ridge-piece are rafters, those
which form the salient angles in hipped roofs being distinguished as
hip-rafters. The support necessary for the external covering is given
by a series of rafters or inclined bars, extending, from the wall-plates
to the ridge-piece, and placed parallel with each other at equal
distances. In a hipped roof; the rafters near the ends, being parallel
with the others, are necessarily diminished in length, extending from
the wall-plate to the hip-rafter instead of the ridge-piece. All such
pieces, being shorter than the length between the wall-plate and the
ridge-piece, are called jack rafters.
It is not usual to vary the scantling, or transverse dimensions of
rafters, in any considerable degree, on account of their various lengths;
nearly the same scantling being used in all buildings, and the required
*A square of roofing contains 100 square feet.

165
166
ROOF.
ROOF.
!
strength being obtained by introducing intermediate supports between
the wall-plates and ridge-piece where the size of the roof renders such
necessary. This additional support is supplied by horizontal rectangular
bars called purlins, placed under the rafters in such a manner as to
divide their length into two or more equal parts, the ends of the pur-
lins being fixed to the sides of the bordering frame. Like the rafters,
the purlins are not much varied in thickness according to the strain
upon them, but they are in turn supported by a series of bars placed
equidistant from each other, and parallel with the rafters, but with
their upper face in the same plane as the lower face of the purlins.
These are called principal rafters, or, for brevity, principals, to distin-
guish them from the first described, or common rafters. Where it is
desirable to save room by reducing the thickness of a roof, the purlins
may, as shown in fig. 15, be notched into the principals and common
rafters, but this practice is not to be recommended, as it weakens the
timbers. Where principals are used, their lower ends are morticed into
the ends of a tie-beam, which stretches across the building, and rests
upon the wall-plates. This beam keeps the lower extremities of the
principals from separating, and discharges the weight of the roof on
the walls in a vertical direction, relieving them entirely from the
lateral thrust of the rafters. The triangular frame formed by the two
principals and a tie-beam, with any bars it may comprise for additional
strength, is called a truss, and such frames being placed at regular
intervals, the timber work between any two of them is called a bay of
roofing. The lower extremities of the common rafters, being elevated
by this arrangement above the wall-plates, are supported by pole-
plates, or pieces of timber parallel to the wall-plates, resting on the
ends of the tie-beams: The supporting frame-work altogether is called
a carcass-roof.
Fig. 7, which represents a small carcass-roof supported by four

Fig. 7.
:
or crown of the roof, it is in reality a tie, supported by it, and sustain
trusses, and having one purlin only between the wall-plate and ridge- | not a good one, as, though it appears like a post to support the ridge
piece, may assist the reader in comprehending the arrangement of
the parts enumerated; and their names will be found more dis-
tinctly by referring to the representation of a more complicated truss
at fig. 11.
lu fig. 7, the common rafters are represented on one half of the
roof only, that the trusses may be more distinctly seen; and the end
walls are omitted for the same reason.
The proper construction of the trusses of a roof, with reference to
the size of the building, and the weight of the covering, is a matter
requiring much scientific knowledge. For the want of this it is not
unusual to encumber trusses with much more timber than is necessary
or useful and the disadvantage of this is not confined to the increased
weight and cost of the roof, as superabundant timbers frequently
occasion injurious strains, and the increased number of joints adds to
the risk of derangement by the shrinking and warping common to all
timber constructions. The general principles to be acted upon may
be illustrated by a few diagrams; but in the limited space devoted to
this article no attempt can be made to describe all the modifications
required by the ever-varying forms of buildings; in the design of
which it is too common, instead of assigning its due importance to the
roof, to treat it as an unsightly feature, to be concealed as much as
possible from view.
a
Fig. 10,
b

ď
ing, instead of resting upon, the centre of the tie-beam. By cutting
the king-post out of a piece of wood of larger scantling than the shank
of the post itself, projections of the shape indicated in the cut may be
formed at its ends. These are called joggles, and those at the upper
end form a wedge between the heads of the rafters, like the keystone
of an arch. It is evident that a weight pressing on the projecting
joggles at the base of the king-post will be by it transmitted to the
crown of the roof. These therefore form fixed points, from which
support may be obtained, by means of struts or braces, e and f, for the
centre of each rafter. Where purlins are added, they rest on those
In a roof formed as shown in fig. 8, consisting simply of two inclined points of the principal rafters that are thus supported by struts, as
h
a
c a
Fig. 8.
Fig. 9.
planes abutting on the walls, it is evident that the weight of the
rafters ab and be, as well as that of the covering sustained by them,
will have a tendency to thrust out the walls. This tendency ordinary
walls have not the strength to resist, and therefore it becomes neces-
sary to add the beam a c (fig. 9), which by receiving the outward thrust
of the rafters, relieves the walls of lateral strain. If the tension of the
tic-beam a c be sufficient to resist the extending force of the rafters
without sensible elongation, the only effect that such a roof can have
upon the walls is a vertical pressure on each, equal to half its weight;
and it cannot fall without the tie-beam, which acts the part of a cord
or chain, being pulled asunder, or the rafters being crushed. If the
materials were perfectly rigid, no additional parts would be required;
but as they are not so in practice, it becomes necessary, when the
timbers are of considerable length, to provide means for counteracting
their tendency to sinking, or sagging. By adding a bar shaped like bd
(fig. 10), the centre of the tie-beam may be suspended from the crown
of the roof. This piece is called a king-post, but the name is perhaps
may be seen by reference to fig. 7. It may be observed that this truss
consists of two pieces (the tie-beam and king-post) in a state of
tension, and four (the two rafters and the two struts) in a state of
compression; and that in every well-contrived truss, however the
number of its component parts may be increased, every bar is in one
or other of these states. Those parts which are in a state of tension,
acting merely as cords to bind the truss together, may be and some-
times are formed of slender rods of wrought-iron; but the others,
needing stiffness as well as cohesion, require bars of considerable sub-
stance, and are therefore mostly formed of wood or cast-iron. Some-
times the king-post is dispensed with, and its office performed by two
similar posts, called queen-posts, at equal distances from the centre of
the truss. In order to keep these in their right position, a short hori-
zontal beam, called a collar-beam, is inserted between their upper
extremities, and another, termed a straining sill, between their lower
ends. This arrangement is explained by fig. 11, which also shows the
position of other parts of a truss. One side is represented as a gutter-
roof, and the other with eaves.
The auxiliary or cushion rafters, m, m, are pieces occasionally added,
in large roofs, to strengthen the principals; and they, with the collar-
beam, &c., form a complete truss within them. The trusses of trun-
cated roofs are formed in this manner, the collar-beam forming, as it
were, the keystone of the arch, and being surmounted by a camber-beam,
the upper edge of which is formed into two slightly inclined planes, to
give the necessary slope to the lead covering. In such a roof, pieces

*
167
ROOF.
of wood resembling ridge-pieces are inserted at the angles formed by
the meeting of the rafters with the horizontal bars that support the
flat.
Fig. 12, is a representation of a very simple truss, from Nicholson's
N
ROOF.
168
Carpenter and Joiner's Companion,'which illustrates the use of slender
king-posts and queen-posts of wrought-iron, and shows how the stress
of every part of the roof may be brought to bear on the ridge. The
lower ends of the struts rest in stirrups attached to the vertical rods

Fig. 11.
Ø
d
h
K
M
n3
ta
1
b
a a, Wall-plates; b, Tie-beam; c c, Principal rafters; dd dd, Purlins; e e, Polc-plates; ff, Common rafters; g, King-post ;
h, Collar-beam; ii, Queen-posts; k, Straining-sill; Struts or braces; m m, Auxiliary rafters; n, Ridge-picce.
and the weight bearing on the strut a is imparted, through b and c, to
the king-post. The tie-beam is suspended by bolts from each of the
Fig. 12.
Ն
form partitions between the bed-rooms, their posts and braces are so
arranged as to leave one or more doorways for communication between
them.

In roofs of very large span it is often desirable, in order to avoid
running up to a great height, to form two or more ridges. When
intermediate support can be obtained from partition walls, such con-
structions may be regarded as combinations of two or more distinct
roofs placed side by side. Fig. 15 is an example of a roof of large

a
d
ત
vertical rods, and the ends of the rafters are secured to the tie-beam
by iron straps passing round them, and bolted to the beam at d, d.
Trusses on the same principle may be made of timber only.
In curb roofs the upper rows of rafters are called curb-rafters, and
the horizontal bars that receive the upper ends of the lower rafters,
and the feet of the curb-rafters, are known as curb-plates. The proper
position of equilibrium for the rafters of a curb-roof may be ascertained
by very simple means, within the reach of persons not possessed of
sufficient mathematical knowledge for determining it by calculation.
If the rafters are to be equally loaded, as in a roof entirely covered
with one material, this position will be exactly the reverse of that
which they would take hy gravity, were they suspended in a chain or
festoon, the joints being flexible. If they are framed together in this
position of equilibrium, they will balance each other like the stones of
an arch; and the tie-beams, posts, and braces will have no other office
to perform than that of resisting such irregular strains as might tend
to alter their arrangement. The rafters thus suspended would fall
into the position a bcde, fig. 13, a line drawn through the angles being
a catenarian curve; and a'b' c' d' e', in the same figure, represents the
corresponding position in which they should be placed in an equally
loaded roof. If the rafters b'c and c' d' are to bear a greater weight
Fig. 15.
span without any intermediate support, and having a large available
space between the tie and collar beams. It represents the form of the
trusses, which were placed fifteen feet apart, of a roof of eighty feet
span, erected over Drury-Lane Theatre in 1793.
It is sometimes necessary, in order to obtain additional height inside
a building, to raise the tie-beam above the level of the top of the walls.
In small spans this may be done by the simple arrangement called the
carpenter's boast (4, fig. 16), in which a firm union is effected between

A
d
Fig. 16. B

b
ď
a
a
Fig. 13,
e
Fig. 14.
e
a
A
b
d
than a' b' and d'e', they will, if proportionately loaded when suspended
in a curve, fall in such a way as to increase the angles abc and c d e,
and diminish b cd, thereby indicating their proper position in the roof.
When the roof is to be loaded unequally, and more on one side of the
ridge than the other, as it would be if U'c' were to be covered with
lead, and the other planes with slates, a corresponding weight added
to the centre of gravity of bc will cause the bars to arrange themselves
as a b c d e, fig. 14, the angles of which, being transferred to the roof,
give the position of equilibrium a'b'c' d'e'. This practical method of
finding the proper angles of a curb-roof may be applied under all cir-
cumstances, the dimensions of the experimental bars being propor-
tionate to those of the rafters, and their centres of gravity being
loaded according to the pressure to be sustained by each plane of the
roof. The great advantage of curb-roofs consists in the space they
afford for chambers in the roof, such chambers being lighted by dormer
windows in the lower inclined faces. When the trusses of the roof
the beam and the rafters without the use of nails or pins. Such a roof
can only press injuriously on the walls by the rafters sinking into a
concave form, which however their lower ends are very liable to do.
In such a case additional strength may be obtained by inserting a
longitudinal truss, as in B, fig. 16, where c represents the end of the
truss, which should be firmly built into the gables: d and e are side
views of two longitudinal trusses suitable for such a situation, the first
being stiffened by an arch of iron notched into the short vertical
pieces, and the second formed of timber only. Similar trusses are
occasionally introduced under the purlins. Roofs without ties may be
greatly strengthened by the use of parabolic curves of iron, notched
into the rafters of each inclined face, and abutting on the wall-plates,
which in such a case are firmly bolted together. The timbers of such
a roof may be framed together in planes, each having a distinct ridge-
piece, and the ridges being screwed or otherwise firmly connected
together. The curves may be cast in short segments, as they are com-
pressed when in use, it being merely necessary to provide that the
joints should always abut on a rafter. Tredgold, in his ' Elementary
Principles of Carpentry,' recommends the use of similar curves, of
either wood or iron, in the trusses of an ordinary roof, by which the
derangement often arising from the shrinking of the king-posts and
queen-posts may be avoided. In this case the curves take the place
of the principal rafters, and, if made of wood, may be constructed of
169
170
ROOF.
ROOF.
short straight pieces, arranged as shown in fig. 17, and held together
by bolts or wooden keys. When curved timber can be obtained it is
Fig. 17.
posts by means of straps, so arranged as to allow the beam to be keyed
up to its true position in case of the roof sinking. When this is not
the case, the ties are sometimes drawn up into a slightly convex or
cambered form, to meet the same contingency. Height may be gained
inside a building by disposing the timbers as in fig. 20, the want of a
Fig. 20.
120
to be preferred, as it reduces the number of joints. For small roofs
timbers may be bent into the required form, as it is found that a piece
of wood the thickness of which does not exceed th part of its length,
may be bent into a curve rising one-eighth of its span without impairing
its elasticity. Two such pieces may be laid together, and bent by
twisting a rope attached to their ends, as is done in tightening the
frame of a bow or pit saw; and, being bolted together while curved,
they will spring back but little when the rope is relaxed. Another
mode of forming such a rib is to take a piece of wood whose thickness
is about one-sixtieth of its length, and cut along the middle with
a thin saw from each end, leaving about eight feet in the centre solid.
The beam may then be bent, and bolted or pinned together as before
described. In either case the rib should be bent about one-fourth
more than it is intended to remain, to allow for springing back. A
parabolic curve is the form most recommended; but a circular arc,
rising half the height of the roof, will answer the purpose. Fig. 18
Fig. 18.
a
continuous tie-beam being compensated for by an iron strap to unite
the ties to the bottom of the king-post at a; but it is evident that the
safety of the plan must depend wholly on the straps, which alone
counteract the outward thrust of the rafters.
In roofing a church with a nave and side aisles, the continuity of
the tie-beams may be dispensed with, intermediate support being
obtained from columns. It is however necessary to guard carefully
against any lateral strain to the columns.
Many of the high-pitched roofs of old Gothic churches and halls are
very ingeniously contrived, but they often throw great pressure on the
walls, owing to the absence or elevated position of the ties; thereby
rendering very solid walls and buttresses necessary. The Norman roof
is an ingenious but complicated contrivance for the construction of
roofs of large span with small pieces of wood. Fig. 21 shows this
represents the truss of a truncated roof strengthened by a curved rib,
the suspended pieces being, when the rib is formed in the manner first
described, placed at each joint, and each consisting of two pieces, one
on each side of the rib, notched to it and the beam, and fastened by
bolts and straps.
One of the advantages of this mode of construction is that the tie-
beams may be suspended from any number of points, which is im-
portant in large spans, where the beams have to be formed of several
pieces scarfed together. [SCARFING.] Diagonal braces, though un-
necessary with parabolic curves, may be added to meet accidental
strains, as shown by the dotted lines in the cut. This principle of
construction, with an arc composed of several pieces of timber, was
followed in one of the largest roofs ever built-that erected. in 1791
over a riding-house at Moscow. The span of this roof, which has been
of this roof, which has been
said to be the most extensive wooden roof in the world, is stated by
Tredgold at 235 feet, the slope being about 19°, and the external
dimensions of the building 1920 by 310 feet. He states that it had
sunk so much that it was proposed to add a second curve for additional
strength.
A simple and economical roof, invented by Mr. A. H. Holdsworth,
and rewarded by the Society of Arts in 1820, is supported by curved
ribs of timber applied in a different manner. A detailed description is
given in the 38th volume of the Society's Transactions; but fig. 19
a.
Fig. 19.
a
(
will sufficiently explain the principle of its construction: a is a beam
serving as a tie-beam, and also to support the upper floor of the build-
ing; bb are curved ribs, formed in a similar manner to those just
described, the lower ends of which are firmly secured to the tie-beam
The principal rafters rest on these ribs, and their lower ends bear
upon short timbers resting on the walls, these pieces being fastened by
strong iron straps to the curved ribs, to counteract the outward thrust
of the rafters. By this arrangement the whole of the interior of the
roof, which is usually encumbered with king-posts, queen-posts, braces,
&c., is rendered available for useful purposes, in addition to which it
effects a considerable saving of timber.
Fig. 21.
arrangement, in which all the rafters abut on joggled king-posts, of
which there are several, their relative position being maintained by
diagonal braces. The timbers of this kind of roof are often left visible,
being so carved as to have an ornamental effect. Such a roof may be
made to exert very little injurious pressure on the walls.
When the space covered in is of an irregular shape, it is best to
arrange the inclined planes of the roof in a similar manner to those of
a rectangular building, leaving a level platform in the centre, corre-
sponding to the plan of the inclosed space. Where the space covered
is circular, elliptical, or polygonal, although the construction of the
roof may appear more complicated to the eye, it is, in fact, simpler and
easier than that of a quadrangular building, the strain of the roof being
more equally distributed. The nearer a roof approaches to a circle in
plan, the stronger it will be, the parts deriving that mutual support
from cach other which forms the distinguishing character of the dome.
Domes of wood, of great size, have been made without trussing, simply
by forming the timbers into curved ribs abutting on the wall-plates,
which then form a circle, and are kept in their proper positions by hori-
zontal circles framed with them at intervals. As the ribs approach
the upper part of the dome, the intervals between them diminish in
width, to allow for which every second or third rib is discontinued at
intervals, the ends of the ribs thus discontinued being received by the
horizontal circles, which may be compared to purlins, the ribs taking
the place of rafters. The wooden dome formerly existing at the Halle
aux Blés, at Paris, was a remarkably bold example of this kind, being
200 feet in diameter, and having a large opening in the centre. It was
built at the suggestion of M. Moulineau, and, having been destroyed
by fire, has been replaced by a similar structure of iron, but of smaller
dimensions.
When the roof approaches the circular form, but not sufficiently to
have the character of a dome, it may be considered as consisting of
several trusses resembling those of an ordinary roof, but so contrived
Fig. 22.
a
Wrought-iron straps of various forms are very useful, when judi-
ciously applied, in strengthening the joints of a roof. They should
be fixed with regard to the unavoidable tendency of the timbers to
shrinking, so that while they may, in some cases, counteract or lessen
its effect, they may so far yield to it as to prevent a strain which
should come upon a timber, being entirely thrown, by its alteration of as to intersect each other in the centre; the king-post being common
form, upon the strap. Tie-beams are often suspended to the trussing-to all the trusses. Fig. 22, representing a design for a polygonal roof,
-
!






171
ROOF.
from Nicholson, may illustrate this, and exemplify also some of the
applications of iron straps: a shows the form of the strap by which the
ties are secured to the king-post; the post having as many faces, and
the strap as many arms, as there are trusses in the roof.
Though the number of contrivances for the construction of roofs is
very great, as may be seen by reference to various works on carpentry,
allusion can here be made to only one or two others. An admirably
simple plan for making a very flat roof is described in the 37th volume
of the Transactions' of the Society of Arts, in a communication from
the inventor, Mr. Smart. The beams or rafters are cut, with a circular
saw, as shown at a, fig. 23, while b represents their form when in use,
T.
Fig. 23.
a
ROOF.
172
Colonel Emy, generally speaking, had a span of about 60 feet. A.
sketch of one of them is appended (fig. 24) and a description of the


a wedge being inserted between the ends of the parts that are elevated
into a sloping position. These may be raised to an angle of 10° or
12°, and will bear a great weight, as they cannot be depressed without
thrusting off the ends of the beam, or breaking the lower part of it by
tension. This is called, by the inventor, the bow and string rafter, and
was used by him to support a roof at the Ordnance Wharf, West-
minster Bridge. Strong laths were nailed upon the rafters, and on these
a platform of bricks was laid in cement, the whole being covered with
tiles also bedded and pointed with cement, and twice coated with hot
linseed-oil. The cost of this roof is stated to be not more than half
that of lead.
About thirty years since Colonel Emy, of the French Génie
Militaire, applied, on a large scale, the system of bending thin planks
into arched ribs to support the rafters of roofs of considerable span,
erected over riding schools and building slips, &c.; and the system has
also been applied in the construction of timber bridges for railways,
with clear openings even of 133 feet. For the latter purpose the
laminated timber arches have failed, on account of the entrance of
moisture between the separate lamina, and the consequent rotting of
the beams; but in roofs, or in other positions where the arches are
not exposed to occasional efforts of a nature to cause the lamina to
open, the beams do not rot, and there seem to be decided economical
advantages in the application of Colonel Emy's system. It has been
introduced in the Great Northern Railway Station in London, and in the
station of the Baden Railway, at Freiburg, with great success; in both
cases the spans are not less than 100 feet; the riding schools built by
O
1
Fig. 24.-Riding School of Maroc.
mode of putting the principals together is to be found in Emy's very
valuable Traité de la Charpenterie.'
Colonel Ardant, also of the French Génie, has however published a


Fig. 25.-Ardant's Roof.
work under the title of 'Études sur les Charpentes à grande portée,' in
which he shows that these bent timber principals are not so advan-
tageous, or so strong, as built beams of a polygonal form, of square
timber, properly framed, and bolted together. The great objection to
the use of the bent timber ribs was considered by Colonel Ardant to
lie in their tendency to resume the straight line, or, in other words,
the elasticity of the lamina gave rise to a considerable force which
Fig. 26.-Roof of the Riding School, Metz.
tended to thrust out the side walls; and in fact this danger was
actually found to exist at the Great Northern Railway Station, London,
to so great an extent as nearly to lead to the overthrow of the whole
shed. It would, however, be easy at any time to counteract the
thrust of a principal of this description, and the bent timber ribs are
no doubt very convenient and economical in many positions. Local
considerations, therefore, ought alone to determine the selection of
173
174
ROOF.
ROOF.
either Emy, Ardant, or Philibert de l'Orme's systems of executing large
timber roofs without tie-beams. In the main, they are all founded on
the same principle-that of introducing a rigid beam for the purpose
of supporting the principal rafter; the differences consist in the man-
ner in which the physical properties of the wood are brought into
action. In Emy's beam the elasticity of the bent planks is the great
element of resistance; in Ardant and de l'Orme's principals, the wood
resists mainly efforts of compression.

I
:
97-5".
XXXX
.Ag...........
Fig. 27.-New Street Station, Birminghamı,

152....0.....
Fig. 28.-Lime Street Station, Liverpool.


گے
Fig. 29.-Terminus of Strasbourg Railway, Paris.
Fig. 30.-Terminus of Rouen Railway, Paris.

18
Fig. $1.-Entrepôt des Marais, Paris.
Some illustrations are appended of the most remarkable wrought-
iron roofs executed of late years, principally to meet the requirements
of the railway communications. They are, in their effect, light and
elegant, even though costly; and it is precisely on account of these
artistic qualities, and of the danger from the warping of complicated
assemblages of timber, such as must be used in roofs of large span,
that the preference is generally given to iron over wood roofs for
railway sheds, wherein the principals are always exposed to view, and
to the direct action of the atmosphere. The best work upon the
strength and the construction of this class of roofs is Morin's, Leçons
de Mécanique Pratique,' vol. iv. An important remark to be made
with respect to these iron roofs is that the steam and smoke from the
locomotives have a deleterious influence upon them; and for this
reason they cannot be used where the locomotives in steam are likely
to remain long under them.
In the valuable practical works of Nicholson, Tredgold, &c., the
methods of calculating the strength necessary in the various parts of a
roof may be found; and in the 'Principles of Carpentry,' by the latter
author, tables are given of the dimensions suitable for different spans.
The table here quoted refers to a roof similar to fig. 7; the trusses
being not more than ten feet apart, and the pitch at an angle of about
27° with the horizon, for a covering of slates. The scantlings are
suited for yellow fir, and must be somewhat increased for timber of
inferior quality.
175
ROOF.
Span. Tie-beam. King-post.
Principal
Rafters.
Braces. Purlins.
Common
Rafters.
Feet.
Inches.
Inches.
Inches.
Inches.
20
9 × 4
4 X 3
4 X 4
22
9
× 5
5 x 3
5 X 3
3 1 × 2
3×21
Inches.
8 ×43
8×5
24
10 X 5
5 x 3 1/2
5 × 31/12
26
11 × 5
5 X 4
28
11 x 6
30
12 × 6
6 X 4
6×41/1
X
5X4
6 x 3 1/1
6×4
4 x 2
4
8 × 5
5
9 X
1712
Inches.
3 × 2
3 X 2
4 x 2
44 × 2
42 × 2
ROOT.
.176
nailed to the rafters. Plain tiles, laid in mortar, and over-lapping, so
as to be of double thickness everywhere, make a very good though
heavy covering. Tiles of a peculiar form, called hip-tiles, are used for
covering salient angles; and gutter-tiles, which are similar to them,
but placed with the concave side upwards, in the valleys or receding
angles. Slates are laid in various ways. They are sometimes nailed
down on a close boarding; or, if large, on battens, or pieces of wood
from two and a half to three inches wide, and three-quarters of an
inch to an inch thick, which are nailed to the rafters at intervals
regulated by the length of the slates. Lozenge-shaped slating is
occasionally used, and has an ornamental appearance, but is easily
injured, as there is but one nail through each slate. It is always
laid on boarding. For what is called patent slating the best large
slates are selected, and fixed without either boarding or battening, the
common rafter being placed at such a width as to come under the
joints. The slates are screwed down, the courses over-lapping about
two inches. The meeting joints are covered by fillets of slate about
three inches wide, set in putty, and screwed down; and the hips
and ridges are sometimes covered in the same manner, though it
is best in all such cases to use lead. Patent slating, when well executed,
is water-tight with as low a slope as one in six. In some districts
lamine of stone are used in lieu of slates or tiles. Shingles, which are
like slates, but made of wood, were formerly much used in covering
pyramidal steeples, and in roofs of steep pitch. They are still used in
the United States, and are usually laid on boarding, in a similar
manner to common slates.

For the strength of different materials, under various circumstances,
the reader may consult MATERIALS, STRENGTH OF. As a general
remark, it may be observed that oak, when exposed to tension, is
weaker than fir, and is therefore less adapted for ties. Being, however,
less compressible, it is usually preferred for rafters, straining pieces,
and struts; but Tredgold observes that its greater tendency to warping
in summer renders it less fit for rafters and purlins than foreign fir.
Cast-iron is not much used in the framing of wooden roofs, excepting
for shoes, king-post heads, bolt-heads, and collars at the feet of
struts and straining pieces. Wrought-iron is very useful for straps and
fastenings, and also for ties and trussing-posts; but care is always
necessary to guard against imperfections, which are more likely to pass
unobserved than in wood. Wherever iron is applied, provision should
be made for its expansion and contraction, and it is desirable to
protect it from oxidation by painting. Though iron is far stronger for
its size than any kind of timber, it is neither so strong nor so cheap as
yellow fir, weight for weight, provided the spans of the roofs are
moderate.
The joints in the frame-work of a timber roof are of various kinds
according to the nature of the strain they have to resist. They should
be formed with great care, and with due regard to such probable
changes of form as all constructions of timber are liable to from shrink-
ing and warping. Cocking or cogging is the name given to that kind of
joining in which one piece of timber, in a state of tension, is so attached
to another that it cannot be drawn away without one piece breaking
Figs. 32 and 33 represent two methods of cocking the ends of tie-roofs,
Fig. 32.
Fig. 33.
br..
a
Ъ
b
a
α
beams on the wall-plates, giving a plan and elevation of each. In
both figures a represents the beam, and i the wall-plate. In the first plan,
which was formerly much practised, the contraction of the dovetailed
end of the beam would allow it to be drawn considerably out of its
place, and would therefore permit the walls to spread: but in the
second the amount of contraction is diminished, owing to the small
width of the rectangular tongue that enters the tie-beam, while its
position is such as to prevent the beam being drawn out of its place
beyond the actual extent of the contraction of the tongue. The
shrinking of the joggles of king-posts and queen-posts is often produc-
tive of serious derangement, a circumstance greatly in favour of the
substitution of iron for wood for such parts, especially in large roofs.
This inconvenience is sometimes avoided by making the upper ends of
the principal rafters abut immediately upon each other, as repre-
sented in fig. 12. A similar arrangement is made, in some cases,
where wooden king-posts are used, the king-post and rafters being
strapped together with iron. The sinking of a roof, particularly if it
be of low pitch, is very injurious to the mortise-and-tenon joints of the
struts and rafters, by throwing the strain on the shoulders of the
tenons in such a way as to break off the tenons or splinter the wood.
To guard against such injuries, it has been proposed by M. Perronet, a
French engineer, instead of making the tenons and joggles square, to
form them into circular arcs, the centres being at the opposite end of
the strut or rafter. This plan appears worthy of general adoption, as
it allows the joints to accommodate themselves to changes of form
without injury. All the timbers of a roof are usually fitted and
framed together on the ground, and taken to pieces again before being
elevated to the building.
Sheets of metal are very convenient for covering domes, and curved
or angular surfaces generally; and also for flat roofs, or such as have
too little slope for slating. Lead is the most common material for
such purposes, though copper, iron, tinned iron, and recently zinc, are
also used. Lead terraces or flats are commonly laid on boarding or
plaster. The joints are sometimes soldered, but the most approved
method is to roll or wrap the edges into each other, making allowance
for expansion and contraction. A fall of a quarter of an inch in a foot
is sufficient for surfaces covered with sheet metal.
roofs, and in some cases with success, though they have often been
Cements of various kinds have been applied to the formation of
found to crack, and thereby become permeable to water. Mixtures of
tar with lime, sand, gravel, ashes, &c., have been recommended; and
asphalte has been applied to this purpose, apparently with great
advantage. Compositions of tar, resin, and similar substances, spread
upon sheets of coarse paper, have also been used.
(Nicholson, Architectural Dictionary, Practical Builder, &c., &c.;
Tredgold, Principles of Carpentry; Robison, Mechanical Philosophy;
Rondelet, l'Art de bâttir.)
ROOT. The mathematical use of this term has gradually been
extended, until it may be defined as follows: every value of an
unknown quantity which satisfies a given equation is called a root of
that equation. Thus, 2, 1, 1+ √(−3) and 1-√(-3) are the roots,
and all the roots, of the equation

-
x¹ = 5x³ — 12x² + 16x — 8,
since they are the only algebraical formula and arithmetical numbers
which satisfy it. On this general use of the term root, see THEORY OF
EQUATIONS and INVOLUTION.
=
The more common use of the term root is as follows: the seventh
root of 8 is the incommensurable fraction whose seventh power is 8, or
the solution of the equation 8. There are altogether seven such
solutions, one only arithmetical, the others of the form a+b √ √ ( − 1);
the method of obtaining the arithmetical solution has already been
discussed in the article INVOLUTION; the importance of the SQUARE
RooT will justify its consideration in an article apart. We reserve for
the present article the method of finding and using any root (in the
common sense) of any algebraical quantity.
Every algebraical result is of the form a+b√√(−1) at widest, or
may be reduced to that form. Here a and b are meant to be real
algebraical quantities, that is, reducible to positive or negative whole
numbers or fractions, commensurable or incommensurable. Thus, if
b=0, we have the simple real quantity a; if a=0, we have the simple
impossible quantity b√(−1). It is indifferent, as to the present article,
in what light the impossible quantity (-1) is considered; whether
[ALGEBRA] upon that extended system of definitions which makes
it explicable and rational, or upon the more common system in which it
is used without such explanation: for we are now merely considering
all algebraic formula as results, subject to certain laws by which
their use is to be regulated, and without any reference to inter-
an arithmetical quantity, we shall use the symbols V, V, V, &c., but
the exponential fractions, §. 4, &c., will denote any one of the alge-
braical roots of a formula. Thus 16 means simply 4; but (16) is
an ambiguous symbol standing for either + 4 or -4. And when we.
have an equation which presents an ambiguous formula equated to
an unambiguous one, we mean that the unambiguous side of the
equation is one of the values of the ambiguous one in this sense
(1)=(-1+ √(−3)). When we use the simple arithmetical symbol
before an algebraical quantity, as in √(-3), we merely mean to
signify that the two values of (-3) are distinguished into + √(-8)
and √√(−3).
Allusion has been made in a previous column to the various mate-pretation. When we desire to consider only the arithmetical root of
rials used for the covering of roofs, with reference to the different
degrees of inclination suitable for them. Thatched roofs have been
considered by some to maintain the most equable temperature in the
buildings covered by them, keeping out alike the extreme heat of
summer and cold of winter. They are objectionable on account of
their harbouring vermin, being easily damaged by wind, and danger-
ously combustible. The frequent repairs required make thatch also
an expensive material. Besides straw, reeds and heath are sometimes
used for thatching, and possess the advantage of greater durability.
Tiles admit heat and moisture more than good slates. Pantiles, having
no holes for nailing through, are simply hung, by ledges, upon laths
177
178
ROOT.
ROOT.
Let us now take a quantity of the form a+b√(-1). Assume
▼ cos 0=a, r sin 0=6, which gives
tan 0 =
b
α
r = ± √(b² + a²)
Let us choose for r, which is called the modulus of the expression,
the positive value √(6²+a²). We can then always make the angle é
give the equation
a+b`√√(−1)=r cos ◊ +r sin ◊ √(−1) . . . . . (1)
COS
identically true. If a and b be both positive, must lie between 0
and a right angle, or between 0 and 7 [ANGLE]: if a be positive and
b negative, e must lie between 3 and 2: if b be positive and a
negative, o must lie between and π: and if both be negative, 0 must
lie between T and T. Thus reducing angles to degrees and minutes,
2+3√(-1)=√13{cos 56° 19' + sin 56° 19′. √(-1)}
—2+3√√/(−1) = √√13{cos 123° 41'+ sin 123° 41'√(-1)}
2-3(-1)=√13{cos 303° 41' + sin 303° 41'√(-1)}
-2-3√(-1)=√13 cos 236° 19' + sin 236° 19' (-1)}
Generally, if a and b be positive, and if, returning to the arcual mode
of measuring angles, & be that angle which lies between 0 and ¼” and
has ba for its tangent, we must use for a+b(-1), - for
· a + b √ ( − 1), 2π-0 for a−b√(−1), and + for-a-b√(-1).
Again, since + 2km has the same sine and cosine as e, when k is any
whole number, positive or negative, if we take @ so as to satisfy (1),
we find that the following is also satisfied:
-
π 0
•
a+b√√(−1)=r{ cos (0 + 2kπ) + sin (0+ 2kπ). √/(−1)} ………. (2)
for all integer values of positive or negative, but for no frac-
tional value of k whatsoever. This and various other results of
common trigonometry should be familiar to every student who
attempts the present subject.
Common multiplication makes it obvious that
{cos
cos x+sin x. √(~1)} {cos y + sin y √(−1)} =cos (x + y) +
sin (x+y) √(−1)
for all real values of x and y; so that if we represent_cos +
sin . (-1) by nx we have nxx ny=n(x+y). Now in BINOMIAL
THEOREM it is proved that this equation cannot be universally true
without giving as a consequence (n) = n(n.), for all values of n,
whole or fractional, positive or negative. We have then
{cos x + sin x √(−1)}" = cos nx + sin næ . √/(− 1) . . . . (3)
an equation which goes by the name of De Moivre's Theorem. It is
the key of the present subject.
Let it now be required to raise the nth power of a+b√(-1),
A being integer or fractional, positive or negative: this includes every
case of raising a power, extracting a root, performing both operations,
and taking the reciprocal of any result. Reduce a+b√(-1) to its
equivalent form »ŋ(0+ 2kπ), or
r
{cos (0+2) + sin (0+2kπ). √√(−1)},
whence {a+b√(−1)}" is {r(0 + 2kx)}*_or_v*n(n0 + 2nkr), or
{a+b√(−1)}"
=j« {cos (n0+2nkπ) + sin (að+2nk™). √(−1)},
are A and A,, nor A-3 and A,, nor A-2 and A,, nor A-1 and
Also it will be found that for every value of l
Ak±5, Ak±10, A15, &c.,
a
are all angles which differ, each from its predecessor, by 2″; so that
there are but five distinct angles in the whole series, which may be
and A+4, with any value of
found by taking Ak, Ak+1, Ak+1, Ak+8,
k positive or negative. And generally, if n be a fraction whose deno-
minator (when the fraction is reduced to its lowest terms) is 9, it will
be found that there are q distinct values of {a+b√(−1)}” and no
more.
The most important cases are those in which r=1, or a²+b²=1, in
which cos 0+ sin √(-1) may represent the expression. And of this
particular case, the most important more particular cases are
cos 9+ sin @\/(−1) = 1
0 = 0
0
{π
cos siu 0√(−1)= −1
+
0= cos 0+ sin @ √(−1) = √(−1)
0=π
Ө
cos 0 + sin 0 \\/(−1) = — √(−1)
Of these again, the two first are the most important.
Let n=17, and let the question be to find the q qth roots
of 1. Putting unity in the form cos 2k + sin 2k. √(-1), all
these roots are the distinct values of cus
or
{ c
2π
2π
COS
+ sin 2 √(−1)}*.
k
22. 121
27
Q
2π
Չ
27
q
24π
+ sin
q
2/m
Q
√(−1)
2π
- sin
√(−1)=, cos
Let cos + sin
√(−1) = B.
Then aß-1, as will be found by multiplication, and aẞ-k :
ak =a*±9=§−k±, since a² = 1. Consequently, since the series of
powers of a, positive and negative, are successions of qth roots of 1,
the series of powers of B will be the same; and we may therefore
select these roots at convenience from either series, or partly from one
and partly from the other. Thus, if we would have the ten tenth
roots of unity we may form them in pairs, as follows
a² and B² or a§ . . cos
10
√(−1) both=1
aº and 8º
give cos
2.0″
10
2.0T
+ sin
10
2 T
27
a¹ and 6¹ or a?
COS
·
+ sin
10
To V(-1)
4TT
10
+ sin
TO V(−1)
6T
a³ and ß³ or aï . . cos
+ sin
10
10' V´(—-1)
ST
Sπ
a¹ and ß¹ or a”.
COS
10
+ sin
10. V(-1)
107
a5 and B' or as
COS
10
+ sin
107
10
√(−1) both =
1
10
6T
Of these twelve forms, ten only are distinct, giving the ten tenth
roots required. In this way the following theorems may be easily
demonstrated.
1. The (2m)th roots of unity are +1, -1, and the 2m-2 quantities
contained in
COS
2T
2m
2π
sin
Qui
√(−1)
for all values of l, from 1 to k=m-1, both inclusive.
2. The (2m + i)th roots of unity are 1 and 2m quantities con-
COS
2kr
2m + 1
2kT
+ sin
2m+1 V(−1)
for all values of k, from 1 to k=m, both inclusive.
in which ™ is found by purely arithmetical operation, and cos (n0 + 2nka) | tained in
and sin (no + 2nkn) by aid of the trigonometrical tables.
So many
distinct values as the variation of k enables us to give to no + 2nk, so
many values do we find of {a+b√(-1)}". Two angles are distinct
when they are unequal, and do not differ by 2 or a multiple of 2π,
Firstly, let n be a whole number, positive or negative, then 2nk is
always an integer even number, and there is only one value, namely,
{a + b √√(−1)}" = p² (cos ne+ sin no. √(−1)}.
4
Next, let n be a fraction in its lowest terms, and, choosing an example,
say n = 5. Let us examine all the values of 1, from /=
5 to
+5, making An0+2nbr.
32
21
40
0 STT, And 0
A-3= 0
5
A
42
16
8
4
8
0
4
5 T
16
A-1
0
0, A,
@ + 5π,
21
Ag
32
5
4
π, As
=5
0 + 5 π, A = 5 0 +
ગા
0 + ST.
0 + 5 π, As
Here it would seem as if from this set of the possible values of k,
we get cleven distinct values of the fifth root of the fourth power of
7+ b√(−1). But a moment's inspection shows that A-5, A, A, are
not distinct in effect, since they differ by multiples of 27; neither
ARTS AND SCI. DIY, VOL. VII.
• •
·
3. If μ be one of the qth roots of unity, µ³, µ³, are also th
roots, but do not contain all the q roots, unless u be made from a value
of which is prime to q. Thus, if q=12, and k=1, we get
2π
a=cos + sin
12
27
12
√(-1)
the list of roots is complete in 1, a, a³, a³, .... a¹¹, and a¹ is 1,
is a, &c.
But if we make k-8, or take as for u, we have
µ²=a¹=a¹, µ³=aª¹=1, µ¹=a²²=a$, µô=a*0=a¹, &c.,
με
ไป
ala
so that we get no roots from this series but as, a¹, 1, which are only
the three cube roots of 1 (eube roots are among twelith roots). But
choose a³ (5 is prime to 12) and its successive powers are a³, a¹º, a¹³ or
a³, a⁰ or as, as or a, a³ or aº, a or all, a or a", a or aº, a50 or a²,
a³5 or aï, a60 or 1, after which the series recurs in the same order.
4. If m be any factor of q, all the mth roots of unity are among the
qth roots. Thus, if q: m=r, and if a be the first of the series of th
roots, the mth roots are a", a2", amy or 1. For (@²)" =arm=ar =1,
&c. All those powers of a which have exponents prime to q, may be
called primary qth roots of unity: thus the primary 12th roots are
a, a³, aï, a¹¹.
N
t
179
ROPE MAKING.
5. The qth roots of unity exist in pairs of the form cos o sino
+
√(−1). These pairs are a and aª—¹, â² and aª¬², or a and a―¹, a² and
a-2, &c.
-1. If we now
Let the question now be to find the 9th roots of
take
-1=cos (π+2kπ) + sin (π + 2kπ). √(−1)
we have all the 9th roots in the distinct values of the formula
α,
Let α=cos
·
if μ be
1
(−1) = cos
(2%+1)π
q
+ sin
(2k+1)π
Q
•
√(−1)
П
+ sin
q
q
√(-1), then the qth roots required are a, a³,
a24-1, beginning with k=0, and ending with l=q-1. Thus,
any one root, all the odd powers of μ (positive or negative) are
also roots, but do not contain among them all the roots unless the
value of 2+1, from which u is derived, be prime to q. Thus if q=15,
and if μ-a, we have (since a39=1)
=
Ɑ99;
µ³=a27, µ³=a15=--1, µ7 = a63 = a³, µ9= a§¹ = a³¹, μ¹¹ = a²=a9;
so that we only get, from the powers of aº, the distinct roots aº, a²7,
-1, a³, al, which are also the fifth roots of -1.
1. But if 2+1 be
prime to Q all the qth roots of 1 may be obtained from u. And
if m be any factor of q with an odd quotient, all the mth roots of -1
are among
the qth roots. Also these qth roots occur in pairs of the
form cos sin √√(−1), the pairs being a and a²-¹, a³ and a²-³,
&c., or a and a-¹, a³ and a-3, &c.
Every 7th root of -1 is one of the (29)th roots of +1, and the
(29)th roots of +1 consist of all the qth roots of -1 and all the 9th
roots of +1.
The following equations will also be easily proved;
ROPE MAKING.
180
site entanglement is produced by twisting, which causes the fibres to
compress each other; and it not only enables the ropemaker to
produce cordage of any required length, but also, by making the rope
hard and compact, increases its durability, and enables it to resist the
penetration of water, which would rapidly impair its strength. While
however some degree of twist is absolutely essential to the cohesion of
a rope, any twist beyond that which simply prevents the fibres being
drawn out without breaking, is injurious. A skein of fibres, or a rope,
may be twisted so hard that any further attempt at twisting would
break it; and such a skein will evidently have no power to support a
weight, each fibre being already strained to the utmost extent that it
will bear. In fact, whatever force is exerted by any fibre in compress-
ing the rest, may be considered the same as a weight hanging on that
fibre, and must be subtracted from its absolute strength before its
useful effect can be ascertained; the available strength of a rope being
the remainder of the absolute strength of its component fibres after
deducting the force exerted in twisting them.
Were a rope to be formed by simply twisting together, in one direc-
tion, the whole of the fibres of which it is composed, there would be
nothing to prevent its untwisting as soon as left to itself. It is there-
fore necessary to twist the fibres in comparatively small portions, and
so to combine these into a rope that the tendency to untwist in one
part may counteract the like tendency in another. Thus the same
force which would cause the component parts, if separate, to become
loose or untwisted, is employed, when they are combined into a rope,
to keep the whole firm and compact. This is illustrated in fig. 1,
which may be considered as the unravelled end of a cablet or
small cable. The cablet a may be untwisted into three smaller
ropes, b; untwisting either of these in the opposite direction, we find
it to consist of three smaller ropes, c; each of these may be untwisted
into several small strings, d; and each of these consists of several
distinct fibres of hemp, e. Thus several fibres form a yarn, several
yarns a strand, three strands a rope, and three ropes a cablet.
With fig. 2 as an illustration, we may briefly describe the hand
{√(−1)} = COS
(2%+ 1)π
I
(2%+1)π
+ sin
√(−1);

{~√(~1)}? = cos
(27: +31)π
Չ
+ sin
(2%+3)
q
√(−1).
As it is not our object here to write on the applications of these
formula, but only to supply an article of reference for those who may
have forgotten or imperfectly learnt the groundwork of this very
important branch of analysis, we finish here, referring to SERIES for
such applications as fall within the plan of this work.
ROPE MAKING. A rope is a combination of fibres of hemp, or
other material, so arranged as to form a flexible and tenacious cord or
band; retaining, as far as possible, their collective strength. The
name rope is generally confined to the larger descriptions of cordage,
such as exceed an inch in circumference; though the principles of
formation are much the same for cordage of every size.
If the fibres used by the ropemaker were of sufficient length, the
most effectual way of obtaining their united strength would be to lay
them side by side, fastened together at each end, so as to form a
bundle or skein; but, as the fibres of hemp do not, on an average, exceed
d
ww

b
Fig. 1.-Analysis of a Rope.
C
the length of 3 feet, it becomes necessary, in order to obtain rope of
greater length, so to twine them together that the strength of any
single fibre shall be insufficient to overcome the resistance caused
by the friction of those surrounding and compressing it; so that it
will sooner break than be drawn out from the mass. This requi-
Fig. 2.-Rope-yarn Spinning.
method of rope-making. The first process consists in twisting the
hemp into thick threads, called rope-yarns. This process, which
resembles ordinary spinning, is performed with various kinds of
machinery. The common mode of spinning rope-yarns by hand is per-
formed in the rope-ground, or rope-walk, an enclosed slip of level
ground 600 feet or more in length. As many of the operations of a
ropery would be impeded by wet weather, or by the unchecked heat of
the sun,
it is not unusual to cover the walk with a slight roof. At onė
end of this ground a spinning-wheel is set up, which gives motion by a
band to several small rollers or whirls. Each whirl has a small hook
formed on the end of its axis next the walk. Each of the spinners is
provided with a bundle of dressed hemp, laid round his waist, with
the bight or double in front, and the ends passing each other at his
back. He draws out a sufficient number of fibres to form a rope-yarn
of the required size; and, after slightly twisting them together with
his fingers, he attaches them to the hook of a whirl. The whirl being
now set in motion by turning the wheel, the skein is twisted into a
rope-yarn; the spinner walking backwards down the rope-walk, sup-
porting the yarn with one hand, which is protected by a wetted piece
of coarse cloth or flannel, while with the other he regulates thè quan-
tity of fibres drawn from the bundle of hemp by the revolution of the
yarn. The degree of twist depends on the velocity with which the
wheel is turned, combined with the retrograde pace of the spinner.
Great care is necessary in this operation to make the yarn of uniform
thickness, and to supply the hemp equally from both sides of the
bundle; because, if a considerable body of hemp bo supplied to a yarn
that is becoming too thin, it will not combine perfectly with it, but
will form a loosely connected wrapper; and any irregularity in the last-
mentioned particular will cause the fibres to bear the strain unequally.
:
181
182
ROPE MAKING.
ROPE MAKING.
The best mode of supplying the hemp is in the form of a thin flat
skein. When the spinner has traversed the whole length of the rope-
walk (or sooner, if the yarns are not required to be so long), another
spinner detaches the yarn from the whirl, and gives it to a person who
carries it aside to a reel; while the second spinner attaches his own
hemp to the whirl-hook. The hemp, being dry and elastic, would
instantly untwist if the yarn were now set at liberty. The first
spinner therefore keeps fast hold of it all the while that the reeler
winds it up, walking slowly up the walk, so as to keep the yarn equally
tight all the way. When it is all wound up, the spinner holds it until
another is ready to follow it on the reel. Sometimes, instead of being
wound on a reel as they are made, the yarns are laid together in large
hooks attached to posts at the side of the walk until about four
hundred are collected together, when they are coiled up in a haul or
skein, in which state they are ready for tarring.
The common size of rope-yarns is from one-twelfth to rather more
than one-ninth of an inch diameter; 160 fathoms of white or untarred
yarn weighing from two and a half to four pounds.
The next process is warping the yarns, or stretching them to a given
length, in order that they may, when formed into a strand, bear the
strain equally. When the rope is to be tarred, that operation is
usually performed upon the yarns immediately after their being
warped; as the application of tar to the yarns previous to their com-
bination is necessary to the complete penetration of the whole substance
of the rope. The most common method of tarring the yarns is to
draw them in hauls or skeins through the tar-kettle by a capstan; but
sometimes the yarns are passed singly through the tar, being wound
off one reel on to another, and the superfluous tar being taken off by
passing the yarn through a hole surrounded with spongy oakum.
Great care is required in this process that the tar may boil neither too
fast nor too slow, the common heat being from 212° to 250° Fahr.
The degree of impregnation necessary depends on the kind of cordage;
cables and water ropes needing a considerable quantity of tar, while
for standing and running rigging it is sufficient that the yarns be well
covered.
In making large cordage, it is not usual to twist together, at once, as
many yarns as would suffice to form a rope of the required thickness;
a suitable number of yarns, frequently from fifteen to twenty-five, are
formed into a strand, and three or more such strauds are afterwards
combined into a rope. The twist of the strand is in an opposite
direction to that of the yarns of which it is composed; in order that,
as before mentioned, the tendency to untwist in the individual yarns
may be counteracted, and taken advantage of to prevent the untwisting
of the strand. In closing or laying the rope, three strands, or some-
times four, (in which case a small central strand or heart is added) are
stretched at length along the walk and attached at one end to separate
but contiguous hooks, and at the other to a single hook; and they are
twisted together by turning the single hook in a direction contrary to
that of the other three. A piece of wood called a top (see fig. 3), in
-
Fig. 3.-Laying a Rope.
the form of a truncated cone, is placed between the strands, and kept
during the whole operation gently forced into the angle formed by the
strands, where they are united by the closing or twisting of the rope.
As the rope shortens in closing, one end only of the apparatus is fixed,
the other being on a moveable sledge, whose motion up the ropewalk
is capable of regulation by suitable tackle attached to it, or by loading
it with weights. The top also is mounted on a sledge, for closing large
cordage; and its rate of motion may be retarded, in order to give
greater firmness to the twist of the rope. The art of the ropemaker,
in this operation, consists in so regulating the various movements that
the strands may receive separately at one end just as much twist as is
taken out of them at the opposite end, by their twisting the contrary
way in the process of combination.
Such is the method, more or less modified by the kind of machinery
employed, of forming a shroud-laid or hawser-laid rope; and such
appears to have been the whole process of rope-making until cordage
of very large size was called for by the progress of navigation. In
making such it was not found advisable to increase the number of
yarns in a strand; it being difficult, when their number is very great,
to throw an equal strain upon each, and thereby obtain their aggregate
strength. To obviate this inconvenience, cables, or such large ropes
as are said to be cable-laid, are formed by the combination of smaller
ropes twisted round their common axis, just as shroud-laid ropes are
composed of strands twisted round their common axis. As cable-laid
ropes are harder and more compact than others, this mode of forma-
tion is adopted for ropes to be exposed to the action of water, even
though their thickness may not be very great.
Ropes formed by plaiting instead of twisting are made use of for
some purposes in which pliability is especially needed; they being
more supple and less liable to entanglement than those of the ordinary
make. Such ropes are preferred for sash-lines, clock-lines, &c., and
generally where the rope has to pass over pulleys of small diameter.
Originally all the yarns composing a strand were selected of the same
length. This arrangement was defective, as it is evident that when
a number of yarns are stretched at length in a cylindrical mass, they
will lie at different distances from the centre of the cylinder; so that,
when twisted together, as all the yarns must form spirals of the same
number of turns, those which are near the outside, forming spirals of
large diameter, will be stretched to their full extent; while those near
the centre, forming spirals of smaller diameter, will be less shortened
by the process of twisting, and must therefore be more or less
puckered up, according to their proximity to the centre of the mass.
The first successful attempt to remedy this defect by varying the
length of the yarns according to their position in the strand, was
that under Captain Huddart's patent of 1793; since which time many
further improvements have been effected in this essential point.
This brings us to notice briefly the application of machinery to rope-
making, which may be said to have begun about the year 1783, and
to have been the subject of numerous ingenious inventions since that
date. One series of machines relates to the combining of the hempen
fibres into yarns; another to the twisting of yarns into ropes; while
the more complex kinds include both of these actions. Mr. Lang, of
Greenock, was the first to produce successfully machine-spun yarns,
intended to get rid of the irregularities and defects of those formed by
hand. By his process the hemp is more completely heckled, or divided
into fibres, than in the common
into fibres, than in the common mode of proceeding; and the
advantage of each fibre being laid at full length in the yarn, instead of
being doubled, as in hand-spinning, is ensured. By a modification of
the usual process, the fibres of hand-spun yarns may be laid in at full
length, instead of being doubled, as when they enter the yarn by their
bight; but experiment has not shown any great advantage from such
a mode of spinning. That some improvement in this operation was
needful, may be inferred from the result of a comparison between Mr.
Lang's machine-spun yarns and those of equal grist spun by hand ;
the result showing the strength of the former to exceed the latter by
fifty-five per cent. Mr. Sherman, of Liverpool, patented a method of
rope-making intended to obviate the necessity for a long shed or rope-
walk. The machinery comprises rotating tables with hollow shafts or
axes; spindles project from the surfaces of the tables; bobbins are
mounted on the spindles; and hemp is wound on the bobbins. The
number of bobbins depends on the number of yarns and strands. The
ends of the yarns are passed through holes in a draw-plate beyond the
hollow shaft of one table, then through the hollow shaft, then through
another shaft; and so on. The yarn from each bobbin thus becomes
twisted round that of the other bobbins on the same table; then round
the similarly twisted strands of another series; and then of a third.
The finished strand or rope is drawn from the tube of the last
table, and is wound upon a reel ready for use. A modification of this
planetary system, as the inventor calls it, suffices for twisting the
strands into a rope.
Captain Huddart's rope-making machinery, above adverted to, is
very ingenious. In order to get rid of the unequal strain upon the
exterior and interior of a rope, Huddart saw that the outer yarns of
every strand ought to be somewhat longer than the inner, to com-
pensate for the greater circumference round which they have to turn.
This he accomplished in a beautiful way. Bobbins are arranged in a
skeleton frame, each poised on a pivot and loaded with yarn; the
number of bobbins depends on the thickness of the strands to be
made. The ends of all the yarns are passed through an equal number
of small holes in a plate, and combined into one close group, which is
slightly compressed by passing through a tube, and then wound on a
reel. The mechanism between the plate and the reel rotates on a
horizontal axis, thereby imparting a twist to the assemblage of yarns.
The free rotation of the bobbins, the arrangement of the holes in the
plate, the position of the tube, and the velocity of revolution-all
combine to produce a strand of any desired hardness of twist, without
undue strain upon any of the yarns. The strand thus produced is a
smooth uniform piece of cordage, varying in thickness according to the
size of the rope to be made; for a 12-inch cable, the strand is about an
inch thick and contains 80 yarns. Being worked by steam power and
having facilities for renewing the bobbins as they are exhausted, this
machine can produce a rope any length,

183-
ROPE MAKING.
The strength of twisted cordage has been made the subject of
numerous experiments. Réaumur, early in the last century, found
that a well-made small hempen cord broke in different places with 58,
63, 67, and 72 lbs., its mean breaking weight being 65 lbs.; while the
three strands of which it was composed bore 291, 334, and 35 lbs.
respectively; so that the united absolute strength of the strands was
98 lbs., although the average real strength of the rope was only
65 lbs., showing a loss of strength from twisting equal to 33 lbs. It
appears that the cord used by Réaumur was of very unequal quality,
as another portion of it broke with 72 lbs., while its strands bore
separately 26, 28, and 30 lbs.; which shows the diminution of strength
from twisting to have been from 8 to 72 lbs., the loss being in this
instance only 12 lbs. The later experiments of Sir Charles Knowles
ndicates a diminution of strength nearly equal in amount to the first-
mentioned of Réaumur. He found a white or untarred rope of
3 inches in circumference break, on an average of several trials, with
4552 lbs.; while the aggregate strength of its yarns, which were 72
in number, and bore on an average 90 lbs. each, was 6480 lbs.; the loss
being equal to 1928 lbs., or about 30 per cent. Duhamel endeavoured
to ascertain what degree of twist would produce the most useful
effect. He caused some ropes to be made, so that only one-fourth
of the length of the yarns was absorbed in twisting, instead of
the usual proportion of one-third. These ropes were tried in shipping,
and found to be lighter, thinner, and more pliant than those of the
ordinary make. The following statement shows the comparative
strength of ropes formed of the same hemp, and the same weight per
fathom, but twisted respectively to two-thirds, three-fourths, and four-
fifths of the length of their component yarns :—
Degree of twist.
Weight borne in two experiments.
Kinds.
Fishing lines
"
>>
Samson lines
""
Log lines
Marline
Sewing twine
Reefing twine
ROPE MAKING.
164
Length.
25
Weight.
1
""
میدان مار سران سرا
30
1
25
12 skeins
1 to 3
24
8 to 9
•
24
8 to 9
""
+24
Much of the cordage used on shipboard requires the process of
serving before it is fitted for its work. This consists in binding a
smaller rope very tightly round a larger one, to preserve it from rot-
ting after friction. It is done as shown in fig. 4, where a horizontally-

4098 lbs.
4250 lbs.
4850
6205
6753
7397
The result of these experiments led Duhamel to try the practicability
of making ropes without any twist, the yarns being wrapped round to
keep them together. These had great strength, but very little dura-
bility, the outer covering soon wearing off, or opening at bendings, so as
to admit water, and occasion the rope to rot. But while such untwisted
skeins of rope-yarns, or salvages, are unfit for most of the purposes to
which cordage is applied, they are used with advantage for the tackle
of great guns and some other purposes for which the greatest strength
and pliancy are required. The usual reduction of length by twisting
is one-third; this applies to shroud or hawser-laid ropes; those which
are cable-laid are further shortened, so that 200 fathoms of yarn are
required to make 120 fathoms of cable. Ropes formed in the common
manner, with three strands, do not require a heart, or central strand;
because the angles formed by the union of the three cylindrical strands
are so obtuse that the pressure of the operation of laying or closing
the rope causes the strands to fill them up completely; but when
the number of strands exceeds three, a heart is essential to keep them
equidistant from the axis of the rope, and to fill up the vacuity that
would otherwise be left by their not meeting in the centre. The heart
can however add very little to the strength of the rope; as its fibres lie
nuch straighter than those of the outer strands, and, not being able
to extend with them when the rope is stretched, are soon pulled
asunder. The following simple rule for calculating the strength of
ropes is given by Robison:-Multiply the circumference of the rope
in inchies by itself, and the fifth part of the product will express the
number of tons the rope will carry. For example, if the rope be
6 inches in circunference, 6 x 6 36, the fifth of which is 7, the
number of tons which such a rope will sustain. The following rules
for calculating the weight of cordage may also prove useful:-To find
the weight of shroud or hawser-laid rope, multiply the circumference
in inches by itself, then multiply the product by the length of the rope
in fathoms, and divide by 420, the product will be the weight in
cwts. Example: to find the weight of a 6-inch hawser-laid rope,
120 fathoms long, 6 × 636 x 120=4320, which, divided by 420 gives
the weight of the rope, 10 cwt. 1 qr. 4 lbs. Again to find the
weight of cable-laid cordage, multiply its circumference in inches by
itself, and divide by 4. The product will be the weight, in cwts., of
a cable 120 fathoms long; from which the weight of any other length
may be readily deduced. Example: required the weight of a 12-inch
cable, 120 fathoms long; 12 × 12=144, divide by 4, and the product,
36, is the weight in cwts.
Mr. Chapman, master ropemaker at Deptford Dockyard, in a
treatise recently published on this subject, gives the following names,
lengths, and weights of certain kinds of rope or line as usually made
in England:
Kinds.
Deep sea lines
Length.
Weight.
. 120 fathoms
36 lbs.
34
"
32
""
28
""
Hand lead lines
Hambro' lines, 12 threads
20
4
threads.
23
3
9
2
""
""
"
G
1
"
"}
>>
---
Fig. 4. Serving a Rope.
A
stretched rope is being "served" or covered with spun yarns.
mallet, having a concave groove on the side furthest from the handle,
is laid on the rope; two or three turns of spun yarn are passed
tightly round the rope and round the body of the mallet. A boy
passes a ball of yarn continually round the rope; while a man winds it
on by means of the mallet, the handle of which serves as a lever to
enable him to strain every turn as tightly as possible. The yarn thus
appears like a screw whose threads pass almost transversely round the
rope.
All the ropes hitherto described are round or cylindrical; but flat
ropes are also made, chiefly for mining purposes. They are either
formed of two or more small ropes placed side by side, and united by
sewing, lapping, or interlacing with thread or smaller ropes; or of a
number of strands of shroud-laid rope similarly united. In either case
it is necessary that the component ropes or strands be alternately of a
right-hand and left-hand twist, that the rope may remain in a quies-
cent state. The latter method of making flat ropes was first patented
by Mr. Chapman, in 1807; and he considered it to afford the strongest
possible combination of rope-yarns, his belts or flat ropes appearing to
be even stronger than salvages (which are skeins of rope-yarns without

Fig. 5.-Flat-rope Making.
any twist) of the same number of yarns. This seeming inconsistency
is occasioned by the imperfection of hand-spun yarns; because if each
185
180
ROPE MAKING.
ROPE MAKING.
yarn
bears its own strain unaided, it will break at its weakest part;
whereas, if combined, the mean strength of each will be rendered avail-
able. Huddart's flat-rope machine, of more recent invention, is shown
in part in fig. 5. Supposing four round ropes be needed to make one
fat rope, four reels are so placed that the ropes can unwind from them
with facility, and pass side by side through a steam-heated box,
where the tar becomes a little softened, and the ropes more easily
worked. They next pass through a groove or recess closed in tightly
at top, bottom, and sides, except holes at the sides to admit large
needles. A piercer, or sharp-pointed rod of steel, is then forced
entirely through the whole of the four ropes, by leverage produced by
steam power; and a man immediately passes a needle and thread
through the hole. Two piercers are employed alternately, one on
either edge, making holes as fast as two men can introduce needles and
thread. The thread here spoken of is sometimes yarn as much as
half an inch in thickness, requiring great force to draw it tightly.
Much attention has been devoted to the discovery of the best
method of preserving ropes from decay, especially when exposed to
the action of water. The operation of tarring, which has been almost
universally practised for this purpose, effects it very imperfectly, and
materially diminishes the strength of the cordage. Taking the mean
of several experiments by Duhamel, it seems that untarred ropes bore
a greater weight, by nearly 30 per cent., than those to which the tar-
ring process had been applied; and he states that it is decided by
experience that white cordage in continual service is one-third more
durable than tarred, that it retains its force much longer when kept in
store, and that it resists the ordinary injuries of the weather one-fourth
longer. Notwithstanding these facts, it is found that for cables and
ground-tackle, which are much exposed to the alternate action of
water and air, tarring is a valuable preservative; though cordage that
is only superficially tarred is said to be stronger than such as is tarred
throughout, and better able to bear the alternations of wet and dry.
The removal of the defects and bad qualities of common tar was the
object of a patent taken out by Mr. Chapman. Unsuccessful attempts
had been made to substitute oils and various fat substances, which
would be insoluble in water, for tar; but they had been found to
impede the operation of twisting. Chapman improved the ordinary
tar, first, "by boiling the tar in water one or more times, each of
which extracts a portion of its superabundant acid, and its mucilage,
which contains a disengaged acid ;" and, secondly, "by continuing these
processes until the tar has thrown off a larger portion of its essential
oil, and becomes more pitchy than usual; and, finally, by restoring the
requisite plasticity through the addition of substances less injurious
and less volatile, and therefore more continuous: namely, by the addi-
tion of suet, tallow, animal oils, or suitable expressed oils." Of the
advantages attending this process, an idea may be formed from the
subjoined statement of the relative strength of the cordage without
any tar, with common tar, and with Chapman's purified tar. The rope
contained twelve yarns in each strand; part was tried immediately,
and the rest steeped in water for about three months, then removed to
a foundry stove for three months, and finally kept at the ropery nine
months; when another trial gave the following results :-
:
Description of Rope.
White
Common tarred
Tarred with purified tar
Portion of original
strength retained.
5.7 per cent.
33.0
13.8
Sir Joseph Banks had some ropes tarred with teal: tar, by way of
experiment, and found them to be one-third stronger than those done
with common tar. Tanning has been tried for the preservation of
ropes, but apparently without realising any decided advantage. The
solution employed in kyanising, and a solution of caoutchouc, have also
been tried as preservatives; but common tar still continues to be the
chief substance used for this purpose.
Mr. Chapman gives the following notice of the mode of classifying
the work in her majesty's dockyards. Petersburg hemp is mostly
used for cables and cablets; Italian hemp for bolt rope and breechings;
and Riga hemp for all other cordage. To make Petersburg hemp
into No. 20's, the hemp is given to the hatcheller in bundles of 70 lbs.;
he takes out 7 lbs. of shorts, and gives 63 lbs. of heckled hemp to the
spinner, who spins it into 18 threads of 170 fathoms and 33 lbs. each.
To make Riga hemp into No. 25's, the hemp is given to the hatcheller
in bundles of 56 lbs.; he takes out 5 lbs. of shorts, and gives 51 lbs. of
heckled hemp to the spinner, who spins 18 threads of 170 fathoms
and 28 lbs. each. In using Italian hemp, 16 lbs. of shorts are taken
out of 112 lbs. of hemp; and the remaining 96 lbs. are made up into
bands of 1 to 3 lbs. each, according to the size of the yarns to be
made. Much old-fashioned routine still prevails in the royal dock-
yards, in defining exactly how many porters, parters, hatchellers, wheel-
turners, spinners, &c., shall be employed for each ton of hemp.
We have hitherto spoken only of hemp as the material employed;
but several other kinds of vegetable fibre have been made use of
in the manufacture of cordage; and some appear greatly to exceed
hemp in strength. In a comparative trial made at Paris between
ropes made of hemp and of the aloe from Algiers, the latter was found
to bear 2000 kilogrammes, while the former, of equal size, bore only
90. Ropes have been formed also of long wool; but they are only
about one-third as strong as the best hempen cordage of the same size.
Ropes composed of fibres of hemp intermixed with threads of caout-
chouc are very valuable for some purposes, owing to their superior
strength and elasticity. Their power of bearing sudden jerks without
injury is a highly important property. Such a rope was used with
the grapnel or anchor of the great Nassau balloon, and was found to
arrest the balloon without any unpleasant check when the grapnel
caught. Ropes made of thongs of ox-hide twisted together are used
in the rope-bridges of Peru, and for some other purposes.
cocoa-nut fibre has lately been much used for this purpose, owing to
the high price of Russian hemp; it wears well, weighs little, and is
cheap; and is useful for hawsers and warps owing to its great
elasticity.
Coir or
Wire Ropes.-Iron is the substitute which is now engaging most
attention. Ropes formed of this metal are found to effect a great saving
of expense from their durability and superior lightness. From a paper
communicated by Count Breunner to the British Association in 1838,
it appears that such ropes had been introduced about seven years
before, in the silver mines of the Harz Mountains, and had been found
so advantageous as almost entirely to supersede flat and round ropes of
hemp in the mines of Hungary, and most of those in the Austrian
dominions. The count observes that these iron ropes are nearly equal
in strength to solid bars of the same diameter, and equal to hempen
ropes of four times their weight. One of them had been in use for
upwards of two years without any perceptible wear, though a common
flat rope performing the same work would not have lasted much more
than one year. The diameter of the largest rope in ordinary use is
one inch and a half, and it is composed of three strands, each con-
taining five wires. Great care is observed in the manufacture of these
ropes, that the ends of the wires may be set deep in the interior of the
rope, and that two ends may not occur near the same part. In use, it
is necessary that the ropes be wound on a cylinder of not less than
eight feet diameter, and be kept well coated with tar, to prevent
oxidation. In one case mentioned by Count Breunner, so great a
saving of power was effected, that four horses were doing as much
work with a wire rope as six with a flat hempen rope.
Prior to the date of this memoir, patents had been obtained in this
country for the manufacture of wire ropes; and they have since been
improved and acted upon. The wire ropes of Mr. Andrew Smith are
formed in various ways, according to their intended use. For stand-
ing rigging straight untwisted wires are employed, bound round with
cloth or small hempen cordage saturated with a solution of caoutchouc,
asphaltum, or other preservative from rust. Flat ropes may likewise
be made of straight wires, interwoven or wrapped with hempen yarn,
or sewed between canvas, &c.; but the patentee prefers using them
with a slight twist. Other ropes are formed much in the same way
as those of hemp; the wires taking the place of rope-yarus, and being
twisted into strands, and combined into ropes, both hawser-laid and
cable-laid. The twisting should not be so hard as in hempen cordage;
and all the wires must be protected by an anti-corrosive composition,
or by coating with tin, zinc, &c. In a patent obtained by Mr. Newall
of Dundee, for improvements in wire ropes, coating with the follow-
ing mixture is recommended:-Tar, six parts; linseed oil, two parts;
and tallow, one part: the whole being melted together, and applied
while hot. In this patent it is proposed to twist wires round a core,
either of wire, hemp cord, spun yarn, or other material, to form a
strand; and to lay such strands round a similar core when there are
more than three strands in a rope. For joining the wires, Messrs.
Smith and Newall both recommend twisting their ends together for a
few inches; and the latter also suggests the possibility in some cases,
of welding them. Wire ropes may be very conveniently and firmly
secured at their ends by passing them through the small end of a
conical collar, and doubling up, or upsetting, the ends of the wires
which may then be welded into a solid mass, or secured by running
melted brass or solder among them. The collars may then be attached,
in various ways, to anything with which it is desired to connect the
rope; or they may, as suggested in Newall's patent, be screwed
together, so as to unite several lengths of rope. Iron is the material
usually employed for wire ropes, but copper and other metals may
also be used.
also be used. The annexed table, showing the comparative size and
weight per fathom for equal strength, gives the result of experiments
with the wire ropes of Mr. Andrew Smith, and may serve to show their
great superiority to those of hemp, which they surpass even in
flexibility :-
Hemp Rope.
Size. Weight per fathom.
Inches.
lbs.
24 a
Patent Wire Rope.
Size.
Size. Weight per fathom.
Inches. lbs. 0%.
Equal to a
OZ.
strain of
tons. cwts.
3
4
1}
1
4
2 10
4
3
15
1
1
9
3
10
5
6
0
1
14
6
15
G
9
0
2
8
0
7
12
3
2
9
8
11
8
14
3
4
1
9
18
9
. 19
6
3
5
4
15
6
10
25
0
31
7
1
24
G
11
80
0
4
11
6
29
5
12
36
8
41
15
12
35
4
اجرا به
Experiments were made at Liverpool in 1857 to find the relative
187
ROPES, RIGIDITY OF.
strength of hempen rope and wire rope for the standing rigging of
ships; as determined by the corporation testing-machine at King's
Dock. All the ropes were made by Messrs. Garnock and Bibby, with
equal care. The following results were obtained :-
3 inch galvanised iron wire rope bore a strain of
3 inch Manilla hemp rope
3 inch Russia hemp rope
3 inch galvanised iron wire rope
2/2/1
"}
""
""
203 tons.
5
4
16
8
The advantage of iron is here very obvious; indeed this metal is
found to be, for a given strength, less heavy, less bulky, one-fourth
cheaper, and less affected by the atmosphere, than hemp. Soft wire
makes the most pliable rope for splicing; but hard wire is stronger.
Three-fourths of all the ships now rigged at Liverpool are provided
with iron wire standing rigging.
Some of the machines for making wire rope act in the following
way. The wire is wound in bobbins mounted in frames set on the
periphery of a larger frame like a cage. The cage revolves round an
axis, on the bottom of which is a fixed spur-wheel; and the lower end
of the vertical axis of each bobbin-frame carries a spur-wheel gearing
into this. There is thus obtained a sort of 'sun-and-planet' motion,
the cage carrying the bobbin round the central axis, and each bobbin-
frame revolving also on its own axis. The wires, in their progress
from the bobbins, pass through holes in the top of the central axis, and
are there united to form the strand or rope. In Mr. Newall's patent
of 1857, the strand-wire for electric cables is drawn through dies or
between rollers after the twisting, to bring it to a close cylindrical
form, and thereby aid the electric conduction.
The demand for wire rope being now very extensive, for shipping
and for telegraphic cables, the patents are or have been regarded as
valuable property. Mr. Newall's first patent, which expired in 1854,
was a subject of many legal contests, arising out of infringements.
ROPES, RIGIDITY OF. [RIGIDITY OF ROPES.]
ROSA, Medical Properties of. Of the numerous species or varieties
of this genus, three only are indicated in the 'Pharmacopoeia' as the
sources of the officinal articles; but a very considerable number of
them contribute the different materials. Those indicated in the
'Pharmacopoeia' are: the Rosa canina, or common dog-rose; Rosa
gallica, the French or red rose; and Rosa centifolia, the hundred-leaved
or cabbage-rose. Of the first, the so-called fruit (hips) is the officinal
part. This is truly the enlarged persistent calyx, enclosing the real
fruits, which are numerous small achenia, clothed, as well as the inside
of the calyx, with silky hairs. The hairs and achenia are to be care-
fully removed, and the fleshy calyx beaten into a pulp, to which
gradually thrice their own weight of white sugar is to be added. The
employment of heat in the preparation of this conserve, though directed
by the Pharmacopoeia,' is better omitted. The pulp consists chiefly
of malic and citric acids, in combination mostly with some salts, tannin,
resins, a small quantity of volatile and fixed oils, fibre, and a large
quantity of sugar. The action on the stomach is slightly refrigerant
and aperient, its sweetness recommending it to children, and as a
vehicle for other medicines. It is apt to candy or concrete by keeping.
The fresh hips, freed from the fruits and hairs, bruised, and having a
little sugar added, yield, by pouring warm water upon them, a cooling
mildly astringent drink, which would be grateful to the poor suffering
from autumnal fevers.
The petals of both the Rosa gallica and R. damascena are supplied
to herbalists for medical and chemical purposes. The latter is most
extensively cultivated at Mitcham for the London market. The buds
are collected before they expand, and the calyx and lower part of the
petals, termed claws, being cut off, they are quickly dried. If this last
process be conducted slowly, it impairs both their astringency and fine
Modena colour. Their astringency and odour are greatest when col-
lected before the process of anthesis, or bursting of the anthers.
About 2000 flowers yield 100 lbs. of fresh petals, which when dry
weigh only 10 lbs. After drying the odour is faint, the taste bitter
and astringent. As by exposure to the light and air they lose their
fine colour, and soon become mouldy or worm-eaten, they must be
carefully preserved in well-stopped bottles or canisters.
According to the analysis of Cartier, they consist of volatile oil,
colouring matter, fatty matter, gallic acid, tannin, albumen, soluble
salts of potash, insoluble salts of lime, silica, and oxide of iron. The
tannic and gallic acids are the cause of the astringency, and also of the
dark colour, which results on adding a solution of any salt of iron to
an infusion of roses, and of a slight precipitate when a solution of gela-
tine is added to the infusion. The property of forming a black com-
pound with iron is taken advantage of by beating the petals with
cloves and other spices in an iron mortar, till a thick black paste is
formed, which hardens on exposure to the air, and is then polished or
turned, so as to form the perfumed beads for necklaces or rosaries.
The petals of R. centifolia are often preferred. The exact nature of
the colouring principle has not been ascertained, but it is not owing to
oxide of iron, as the quantity of iron is much greater in white than
red roses, Cartier having obtained from 1000 grains of white roses 99
grains of ashes, containing 124 of iron, while a similar quantity of
red roses yielded only 50 grains of ashes, containing only 4 grains of
iron.
ROSE.
188-
The petals of the Rosa damascena are the most laxative, except
perhaps the R. semperflorens, but it is seldom that they are used as
aperients, though the petals of the R. gallica are formed into a con-
fection which has the advantage over that of the R. canina, inasmuch
as it neither candies nor becomes mouldy. In forming this or the
other preparations, a stone (not an iron) mortar must be used. The
chief employment of the conserve of the Gallic rose is as a vehicle for
other medicines and as the basis of blue pill.
The infusion of roses is made by pouring boiling distilled water on
the petals, and adding dilute sulphuric acid, which are allowed to
macerate for six hours, and when strained, refined sugar is to be added.
The vessel in which this process is conducted should not be glazed
with lead. By this means is obtained an elegant, fragrant, and
mildly astringent tonic and refrigerant liquid, which is of great utility,
either alone, especially to check the wasting perspirations of consump
tion, or as a vehicle for most salts which are formed with sulphuric
acid. It is likewise employed as a gargle, alone, or with various
adjuncts, one of the best of which is the mel rosarum, or honey of
roses, made with the petals of this kind of rose. A syrup is some-
times made with them, which is only used to sweeten and colour other
medicines.
The Rosa centifolia, hundred-leaved rose, especially the variety of
it termed the Provence or cabbage rose, is cultivated both on account
of its exquisite perfume and the uses to which it, with its products,
can be applied. The petals are the officinal article. They are directed
to be collected when the flower is full blown; and to be plucked off,
not allowed to fall off. It is better to collect them before the flower
is fully expanded, as the odour rapidly diminishes as the anthesis
proceeds; 100 parts dry into 18 only. They are to be dried in the
open air, and not in an oven, as desiccation impairs their fragrance,
while it heightens that of the R. gallica. Their odour is said to be
singularly exalted by iodine. When dried, they are of a pale red,
with a faint rose odour, and an astringent taste. They easily part
with their colour, and are therefore to be protected from air and
light if salted, they may be preserved unimpaired for years. With
the addition of salt, pepper, and cloves, they are used to form the rose-
pots which adorn the apartments of the rich, but which may equally
be made to contribute to the enjoyment of the poor, as the expense of
this perpetual feast is so small as not to be felt by the poorest occupier
of a room. The colouring matter extracted by alcohol furnishes a most
delicate test for the presence of alkalies.
ww
A syrup is also made of this sort, but the chief use of it in England
and France is to yield by distillation rose-water, the medical properties
of which are too slight to merit further notice here. That to which
spirit of wine has been added is unfit for medical purposes. In hot
countries a large quantity of volatile oil is elaborated by the flowers of
this and several other species, such as the Rosa moschata, Rosa damas-
cena, and in Italy the Rosa sempervirens, which constitutes the athar,
ather, attar, utter, or otto of roses. [ATTAR OF ROSES.]
(Pereira's Materia Medica.)
ROSARY. [BEADS.]
ROSE, Culture of the. To obtain roses in their full perfection they
require a situation open to the south, and free from buildings, trees,
and the effects of smoke. They must also be sheltered from the wind.
The tenderer sorts should be trained on a wall; the hardier dwarfs in
beds or on the lawn, and standards arranged in lines along the walks.
In planting, care should be taken to give room for the roots. A hole
three feet in diameter and two feet deep should be filled with rich
loamy soil, or a mixture of leaf mould, or rotted cow or pig manure,
the straggling rootlets removed, and the plant be fixed in the centre,
supported by a stake to prevent it being loosened by the wind.
November and December are the general months for planting, but
February is perhaps better in moist soils if the holes are made pre-
viously and exposed to a winter's frost. Standards should be at least
three feet apart, dwarfs may be one-third closer. When planting in
pots, the same soil should be prepared, taking care to have the bottom
of the pot well supplied with broken crocks, and, to ensure sufficient
drainage, the hole for the pot should be made of such a size and such a
depth, that on pressing the pot into it, till about an inch below the
surface, it may drive some of the side soil down so as to form a
shoulder, and leave a vacancy of an inch or two below the pot. This
not only ensures drainage, as the plant requires good watering, but is
less likely to attract the roots to the adjacent soil. Roses are all the
better for such surface-manuring during the autumn, either with
compost of night-soil, or guano and wood ashes.
J
In raising roses from seed, the hips, gathered when quite ripe,
should be kept dry and whole till February, then broken and sown
in a seed-pan about 8 or 9 inches deep, filled with rotten manure
mixed with sandy loam or peat, covering the seed with about half an
inch of the mould. Care must be taken to guard the seed from the
attacks of mice; this is best done by covering with a wire web, which
also preserves the pan moist. Water occasionally, and the young plants
will begin to appear in April or May. After having made three or four
leaves, pot them in small pots, and in about a month they will be fit
to remove to the border; and the free-growers by August will have
made shoots sufficient to take buds from. The stocks must be cut
down and budded, and they will then flower in the following summer
if left unpruned.
{
·
189
ROSE-ENGINE TURNING.
Summer and autumnal roses are propagated by layers, cuttings,
budding, and grafting. These operations are the same for the rose as
for many other plants, and the budding is performed with even more
facility than with many other plants, as the bark opens and closes
firmly. Strong plants are also raised by budding on the roots, which
are divided from the parent stem, and by this practice a year is gained
for bushes flowering on their own roots.
The usual stock for grafting on is the common briar; but almost any
rose of a hardy nature will afford stocks for a more valued variety,
where the stocks are not required of a great height for standards, and
one of the most favoured is the Minetti, a variety introduced from
Italy, which has the advantage of not throwing up suckers. Of other
roses, from which stocks are wished for, the suckers may be allowed to
spring. The forcing of roses for early show or for the greenhouse
depends on the same principles as other plants-a somewhat earlier
budding, protection from cold, and moderate heat applied in the early
spring.
The varieties are now almost endless, and every season produces
new ones. All the chief families are mentioned under Rosa, in the
NAT. HIST. DIV., and a list of the principal varieties will be found in
Rivers's 'Rose Amateur's Guide,' last edition.
ROSE-ENGINE TURNING. [TURNING.]
ROSEO-CHROME. [CHROMIUM.]
ROSEO-COBALTIN. [COBALT. Ammoniacal Compounds of Cobalt.]
ROSETTA STONE is the name given to a stone in the British
Museum, which was originally found by the French in 1799 among the
ruins of Fort St. Julien, which is near the Rosetta mouth of the Nile. It
was delivered up to the British on the capitulation of Alexandria, and
was brought to England in the year 1802. This stone, which is a piece
of black basalt, contains parts of three distinct inscriptions: the
highest on the stone is in what we generally call hieroglyphic; the
second is in that character commonly called the " encherial," or "the
characters of the country;" and the third, which is in Greek, declares,
at the end, that the decree which this stone contains was cut in three
different characters, the "sacred characters," "those of the country
or the "enchorial," and the "Greek." In its present state the stone
is much mutilated, chiefly at the top and at the right side. Its
greatest length, in its present condition, is about three feet, measured
on the flat surface which contains the writing; its breadth, which in
some parts is entire, is about two feet five inches. A large part of the
hieroglyphic inscription is broken off, but it probably contained in its
entire state about twenty or at the utmost twenty-one lines; the
enchorial or second inscription consists of thirty-two lines, but the
beginning of the first fifteen lines are wanting, and the Greek text
contained, when entire, fifty-four lines, but the end of it is at present
mutilated. We learn from the Greek text that the Rosetta stone was
erected in the reign of Ptolemy V., Epiphanes, and probably about
B.C. 193. Epiphanes succeeded to the throne on the death of his
father Philopator, B.C. 205, when he was a child only four or five years
old. In this monument the acts done during the prince's minority
are attributed to him, and he is commended for his piety, his liberality
to the temples, his remission of the arrears of taxes and diminution
of the imposts, his victories over the rebels, and his protection of the
lands by dams against the inundations of the Nile.
It appears to have been placed in a temple dedicated by Necho to
the god Tcum, the setting sun. The Rosetta stone was the key to the
interpretation to the hieroglyphs, the first attempts of De Sacy to
decipher the demotic or enchorial having been followed by the more
successful results of Young and Champollion, in deciphering the hiero-
glyphic text. Lately a critical translation of the hieroglyphical portion
has been made by M. Brugsch.
A critical examination and restorations of the Greek text have been
made by Ameilhon, Heyne, Villoison, Drumann, Porson, and Letronne.
The enchorial text has been also published and translated by Young
and Brugsch. As the inscriptions are paraphrases and not literal
translations, and the hieroglyphical portion is much mutilated, it does
not add a great deal to the hieroglyphical vocabulary. [HIEROGLYPHICS.]
(Brugsch, H., 'Die Inschrift von Rosette,' fo. Berlin, 1850; 'Inscriptio
Rosettana,' 4to, Berlin, 1851; Letronne, Inscription Grecque de
Rosette,' 8vo, Paris, 1840.)
ROSICRUCIANS is the name of a secret society whose existence
became first known to the public in the 17th century, by means of
several publications which have been attributed to John Valentine
Andreæ, a German scholar, born at Herrenberg, in the duchy of Wür-
temberg, in 1586, who, after studying at Tübingen, became a minister
of the Lutheran church, and in course of time was made almoner of
the Duke of Würtenberg and abbot of Adelberg. Andrea died in
1654. He was a man of a mystiçal turn of mind, who had conceived
the idea of effecting a general reform of mankind. He wrote many
works, chiefly on mystic subjects. It is doubtful, however, whether
those particular works which would establish his connection with the
Rosicrucian Society are really his. The following are the titles of
three of his works:-1. Eleucidarius Major, über die Reformation
der ganzen weiten Welt, F. C. R. aus ihren chymischen Hochzeit,'
1617, in which there is a mixture of precepts of alchemy with maxims
of ethics. 2. 'Fama Fraternitatis des löblichen Ordens des Rosen-
kreuzes,' Frankfort, 1617, in which there is a story of a certain
Christian Rosenkreuz, a German noble of the 14th century, who, after
ROSOLIC ACID.
190
travelling long in the East, returned to Germany, and there established
a fraternity, or secret society, of a few adepts, under certain regu-
lations, living together in a building which he raised under the name
of Sancti Spiritus, where he died, at 106 years of age. The place of
his burial was kept a profound secret by the adepts, and the society
renewed itself by the admission of successive new members in silence
and obscurity, according to the last injunction of its founder, who
directed the following inscription to be placed on a door of Sancti
Spiritus :-" Post CXX. annos patebo." 3. Confessio Fraternitatis
Rosea Crucis ad Eruditos Europa,' which is appended to the pre-
ceding, and in which it is stated that the order does not interfere with
the religion or polity of states, but only seeks for the true philosophy;
that many absurd fables have been told of the fraternity, either by its
enemies or by fantastic people. It states also that once a year the
members are to meet at appointed places to converse together upon
secret matters, and that new members are to be admitted to supply
the place of those who are deceased, and to work for the common pur-
pose of the order, giving no clue however for discovering what that
purpose was. In fact the secret, if secret there was, has been effectually
kept to the present day. The Rosicrucians have not been heard of as
a separate order for a century past; but some have thought that
they continued to exist under the name of the Illuminati, who were
much talked of in Germany and France in the latter part of the 18th
century; and a connection has been supposed by some writers to exist
between the Rosicrucians and the Templars and Freemasons. The
reader who wishes to investigate this obscure subject may consult
F. Nicolai, 'On the Crimes ascribed to the Templars;' Chr. Murr,-
'On the True Origin of the Rosicrucians,' 1803; and J. G. Buhle,
Ueber den Ursprung und die vornehmsten Schicksale der Orden der
Rosenkreuzer und Freymaurer,' Göttingen, 1804.
ROSIN. [RESINS.]
ROSMARINUS OFFICINA'LIS, Rosemary, a term which is apt
to lead to the confounding of Rosemary with the Ledum palustre or
wild marsh-rosemary, which has very different and even dangerous
properties. Genuine rosemary is a shrub, a native of the south of
Europe, Asia Minor, and China. To the bees feeding on the flowers,
the flavour of Narbonne honey is said to be owing. The officinal
part is the top or upper part of the twigs. The flowers were termed
Anthos, being so highly esteemed, as if it were the flower of flowers.
This name it is necessary to know, as many of the earlier prepa-
rations come under it, rather than under rosmarinus. The leaves are
about an inch long, linear, slightly revolute at the margins, dark
green and reticulate on the upper surface, hoary and white on the
under. The leaves and calyces of the flowers have a strong, pene-
trating, aromatic odour, which is rendered stronger by bruising them;
and a bitter, burning, camphor-like taste. They owe this to the pre-
sence of tannic acid, bitter matter, perhaps resin, and especially to a
volatile oil, of which one drachm may, by distillation, be obtained from
one pound of the leaves.
Oil of rosemary (Oleum Rorismarini, or Ol. Anthos) is chiefly pre-
pared in Spain and the south of France, by distillation of the leaves
and flowers. At first it is nearly transparent and very limpid, but by
time it becomes both yellowish and thicker. It possesses the strong
penetrating odour of rosemary, with a camphor-like intermixture, and
a burning taste. It has an acid re-action. The specific gravity varies
with the purity and age of the specimen; it is commonly 0.91, but by
rectification with alcohol it is brought to 0.89 or 0.85. It mixes with
alcohol of 83 in every proportion. By shaking with potass, or by the
evaporation and absorption of oxygen which time effects, it deposits
a stearopten, or rosemary-camphor, to the extent of a tenth part.
Hydrochloric acid gas blackens it, but does not form an artificial
camphor. With iodine it partially explodes.
-
The oil of rosemary of commerce is an artificial preparation of oil
of turpentine distilled with rosemary; it is also adulterated with spike
oil, obtained from the Lavandula Spica. This may always be dis-
tinguished from the genuine by not reddening litmus-paper.
but it is chiefly employed as a perfume, entering into the composition
Rosemary possesses valuable stimulant and carminative properties;
of the Queen of Hungary's Water, Eau de Cologne, and aromatic
vinegar. Properly diluted it forms a useful evaporating lotion. It
is also used in preparations for promoting the growth of hair and
preventing baldness.
ROSOLIC ACID was discovered by Runge in 1834, and was
so called from the rosy-red colour of its salts. It is formed occasionally
in gas works when CARBOLIC ACID is exposed to the air in contact with
lime. Rosolic acid may be artificially prepared by heating together a
mixture of manganate of soda and crude carbolic acid. On decom-
posing the dark red rosolate of soda by hydrochloric acid, the rosolie
acid is precipitated in resinous flakes which unite to an amorphous
mass.
Pure rosolic acid is a dark green lustrous resin. Its powder is of a
bright red colour, soluble in ether, alcohol, creasote, the alkalies, and
in concentrated acids. Its acid characters are very feeble, and its
compounds unstable. Were it less fugitive it would be valuable as a
dyeing agent.
Rosolic acid has lately been examined by Hugo Müller and by
Angus Smith, with the following results in regard to per-centage
composition :-
191
Carbon
Hydrogen
Oxygen
ROSTRUM.
Smith.
Müller.
70.837
5.814
23.349
75.92
5.83
18-25
100-000
ROTATION.
192
equally distinct,notion of the state of the motion during an infinitely
small time. The most simple notion which we can form of a com-
-

100.000
At present the data are insufficient for the calculation of its formula.
ROSTRUM, or, more properly, ROSTRA, was a platform or elevated
space of ground in the Roman forum, from which the orators used to
address the people, and which derived its name from the circumstance
that after the conquest of Latium the beaks (rostra) of the Antiatian
ships were affixed to the front of it. (Liv., viii. 14.) The rostra was
between the Comitium, or place of assembly for the Curiæ, and the
Forum, properly so called, or place of assembly for the Comitia Tributa.
Bunsen, in his work on the Roman Forum, quoted by Arnold
('History of Rome,' vol. ii., p. 165), judging from the views of the
rostra given on coins, supposes that it was a circular building, raised
on arches, with a stand or platform on the top, bordered by a parapet,
the access to it being by two flights of steps, one on each side. It
fronted towards the comitium, and the rostra were affixed to the front
of it, just under the arches. Its form has been, in all the main points,
preserved in the ambones, or circular pulpits, of the most ancient
churches, which also had two flights of steps leading up to them, one
on the east side, by which the preacher ascended, and another on the
west side, for his descent. Specimens of these old pulpits are still to
be seen at Rome, in the churches of S. Clement and S. Lorenzo fuori
le Mure." The orators appear to have walked up and down the rostra
in addressing the people, and did not, like modern speakers, remain
standing in one spot. Down to the time of Caius Gracchus even the
tribunes in speaking used to front the comitium; but he turned his
back to it, and spoke with his face towards the forum. (Niebuhr,
"History of Rome,' vol. i., note 990; vol. iii., note 268.)
1834.
ROTATION (Rota, a wheel). The popular conception of a body in
rotation is vague, except only in the case in which the rotation is made
about an immoveable axis. This subject has accordingly been usually
treated by mathematical methods; and mathematicians content with
their results, and with their power of interpreting them, did nothing
towards the improvement of the manner of presenting the elementary
view of rotation. M. Poinsot first divested the subject of its previous
complexity, in a Memoir read to the Academy of Sciences, May 19,
There is this parallel between the conception we form of the simple
motion of a point and that of a solid body, namely, that each has a case
of peculiar simplicity, by which others are rendered more easy to
describe. A point may move in a straight line, or may preserve its
direction unaltered; a body may revolve round a fixed axis, or each
point may preserve its circle of revolution unaltered. But owing to the
comparative simplicity of the motion of a point, it is easy [DIRECTION]
to carry with us, when it moves in a curve, the idea of its still having
a different direction at every point of the motion, namely, that of the
TANGENT of the curve. It is not so easy to see that whenever a body
moves about a fixed point, no matter how irregularly, there is always,
at every instant of the motion, some one axis which is, for that instant,
at rest. This notion of an instantaneous axis of repose, not continuing
to be such for any finite time-answering to that of an instantaneous
direction in curvilinear motion, which does not continue for any finite
time to represent the direction-must be first distinctly formed, before
any satisfactory account of the rotation of a body can be given.
Let us suppose a uniform sphere, with a fixed centre, but otherwise
free to move in any way. Let a succession of forces act upon it,
gradual or not, in such a manner that it will never move round one
axis for any finite time during the continuance of their action. At a
certain moment, let all the forces cease entirely, leaving the sphere to
itself. It is easy enough to see that from and after the moment of
discontinuance, the sphere will move round an axis which remains
unaltered. There must then, at the very moment of discontinuance
of the forces, have been an axis which was for that moment at rest,
namely, the axis on which the motion is to continue after the forces
cease. In this way, knowing that curvilinear motion would become
rectilinear the moment that the deflecting forces are removed, we may
form an idea of the tangent of a curve, the line of direction for the
time being.
One of M. Poinsot's remarkable propositions is the following:-Any
motion of a system round a fixed point may be attained by cutting a
cone (in the most general sense of the word) out of the body, with
the fixed point for a vertex, and fixing in space another cone for it to
roll upon, also with the fixed point for a vertex.
Thus if, in the adjoining diagram, the cone A be made to roll
upon the cone B, both being supposed destitute of impenetrability, so
that the contact of the curves of A and B can always be made, and if
the system out of which a is cut be then restored (also without im-
penetrability), there will be a complete geometrical representation of
one possible motion of the system about c. Moreover, there is no
possible motion which might not be represented in the same manner
by properly choosing the cones A and B, and the axis of repose for the
instant is the line in which the two cones touch.
If we suppose no fixed point in the system, so that motion of trans-
lation, as well as of rotation, is possible, M. Poinsot has given another
C
B
bined translation and rotation is the screw-like motion, in which a
uniform motion of translation is accompanied by a uniform motion of
rotation round a line parallel to the motion of translation. M. Poinsot
has shown that every motion of a system must be, at any one instant,
either a simple motion of translation, or one of rotation, or the screw-
like motion above described. That is to say, at every point of time in
the motion of a system there exists a line (whether internal or external
to the material system matters not, so long as they are immoveably
connected) along which the system is at that instant sliding, while all
the rest of the motion at that instant is simple rotation about that
slipping axis.
Let us now suppose a system to receive at the same time two
motions, round two different axes of repose: that is to say, given two
different motions, required the motion which will result from the two
motions impressed on the system at once. There will be at the first
instant an instantaneous axis of repose, which it is required to find.
First let the two axes pass through the same point a (Fig. 1), and
Fig. 1.
A
B
D

choose the angle BAC out of the four angles made by the two axes,
in such manner that points of the system lying in the angle BAC
would be elevated by the rotation round BA, and depressed by that
round CA, or vice versa. On the axes take A B and AC, lines propor-
tional to the angular velocities about those axes, complete the paral-
lelogram AD, and draw the diagonal AD. Then AD is the axis of
repose at starting (which however it may not continue to be), and A D
represents the angular velocity round that axis at starting, in the same
manner as A B and A C represent the impressed angular velocities about
A B and A C. [COMPOSITION.]
Next let the axes be parallel to one another, say perpendicular to the
plane of the paper, passing through A and B (Fig. 2). If the rotations
C
A
Fig. 2.
D
B
be such that A and B would both rise, or both fall, on the paper,
each by the rotation about the other, take a point c in BA produced,
nearest to the axis about which the angular velocity is greatest (say
that of a), and such that CA is to OB as the angular velocity about B
to the angular velocity about a. Then the axis of repose at starting
is a line passing through c parallel to the former axes, and the angular
velocity is the difference of the angular velocities about A and B, and in
the direction of the greater. In this case the directions of the rotations
about A and B [DIRECTION OF MOTION] are different. There is one
remarkable case, namely, when the rotations about A and B are equal.
In this case the rule would lead us to a rotation equal to nothing
made about a point at an infinite distance-one of those extreme con-
clusions which require interpretation. The fact is that these two
rotations give only a simple motion of translation = AB × Angular
Velocity per second, and such as to make the system move upwards or
downwards on the paper according as the separate rotations would
make the points A and B move upwards or downwards. This parti-
cular case will be more intelligible when looked at with the help of
the THEORY OF COUPLES.
But if the rotations be in the same direction, so that a will be
lowered and B raised, or vice versa, each by the rotation about the
other :-Take a point D, dividing AB so that AD is to DB as the
Then will the axis of
angular velocity about B is to that about a.
reposc at starting be a parallel drawn through D to the axes passing
through A and B, and the angular velocity will be the sum of the
angular velocities about A and B, its direction being that which lowers
▲ on the paper and raises B, or vice versû, according as is done by tho
given angular velocities.
A
Lastly, let the axes be neither parallel nor intersecting (Fig. 3), as
A B and C D :-Through the point m, in which CD meets the common
perpendicular, mn, draw EF parallel to AB, and at the instant at
which the rotations round A B and CD commence, impress two equal
and contrary rotations about EF, each equal to that about A B. These
produce no effect, so that the composition of the four rotations gives
the same result as that of the two. Now, as above stated, the rotation
193
194
ROTATION OF CROPS.
ROTATION OF CROPS.
round ▲ B, and its equal and contrary round Er, produce nothing but
a motion of translation, while the remaining rotation about EF, com-
Fig. 3.
A
n
E
"H
B
D
F
C
no
pounded by the first rule with that about CD, gives what would be
an axis of repose, if it were not for that translation. The whole result
then is, that the system begins to move about an axis, which axis
begins to undergo a translation in space.
For higher theoretical investigations in this subject, the reader is
referred to the writings of M. Poinsot. The best practical view will
be derived from experiments with the GYROSCOPE. See also an
article on the Gyroscope by Mr. John Bridge in the Philosophical
Magazine' for November, 1857.
ROTATION OF CROPS. It has been observed in a former article
[ARABLE LAND] that a repetition of the same crops in succession has a
peculiar effect on the soil, so that if grain of the same nature be sown
year after year in the same ground, it will not produce the same
return of the seed, even when abundantly manured. The reason of
this is not satisfactorily explained, but the experiments which have
been made by men of science lead us to conclude that the real cause
will be gradually discovered; and considerable advances have been
made towards a rational solution of the question. It has been observed
that it is the formation of the seed which principally causes the
deterioration of the soil; for if the crop be fed off in a green state, or
mown before the seed is formed, the same may be safely repeated, and
no diminution of the plants is apparent. Thus grasses in a meadow
which are mown before the blossom is faded or the seed formed, will
spring up again vigorously; but if the seed be allowed to ripen, the
roots die away, and the best grasses gradually disappear. It is thus
that when a meadow is mown year after year for hay, and the earliest
grasses are allowed to ripen their seed, the crop will be later and later,
and all the earliest grasses will disappear. Irrigation prevents this,
and seems to restore to the land whatever the grasses require for their
continuance. Feeding off the meadows does the same; and this leads
to the conclusion that water restores the power of production; and
that the grasses not being permitted to run to seed, the deteriorating
effect is not produced.
If it had been a mere exhaustion of the nutritious particles in the
soil which caused the deterioration of the subsequent crops, some kind
of manure might restore the fertility; but this is not the case. How-
ever judiciously the land may be manured, it is not practicable to
raise a crop of wheat or clover, or of many other plants, on a soil
which has shown that, as the farmers say, it is tired of that crop; but
clover grows well after wheat, and wheat after clover, so that the same
effect is not produced in the soil by these two crops. A plant which
has fibrous roots, and throws up a seed-stem with few leaves, thrives
best after one which has a fleshy root and many succulent leaves on a
branching stem. Thus, wheat and oats thrive after beans or clover;
barley and oats after turnips, carrots, or potatoes. Independently of
the manure which may be put into the ground, the crops will be better
where the proper succession is attended to, than where plants of a
similar kind are made to follow each other.
In all countries where peculiar attention has been paid to agriculture,
the most advantageous succession of crops is generally known; and if
any deviation takes place, it is as an exception to the rule, and is not
looked upon as a model for imitation, but rather as an experiment of a
doubtful result. Certain general principles are commonly admitted as
fully established; the chief of these is, that a plant with a naked stem
and farinaceous seed should follow one with a branching stem and a
fleshy root, which has been taken from the ground by mowing or
feeding before the seed was ripe; or if all these conditions cannot be
obtained, that some of them at least should be complied with. Wheat
sown after clover, which is allowed to be the best succession on light
soils, fulfils all the conditions: when it is sown after beans, the con-
dition of the preceding crop not ripening its seed is given up; and
consequently this succession is inferior to the other, but it is admirably
effective nevertheless on all heavy soils. Potatoes, at first sight, appear
to fulfil all the necessary conditions; but although they do not often
ripen the seed above ground, in the formation of the tubers the soil is
notoriously deteriorated.
In order to find the crops which may advantageously succeed each
other in rotation, many circumstances must be taken into considera-
tion. First of all the quality of the soil, and its fitness for particular
crops; next the wants of the farmer and his family, and the mainte-
nance of the stock required to produce a sufficient supply of manure.
It is unreasonable to expect poor light land to produce wheat and
beans, although by high cultivation these crops may be forced. Rye,
oats, and roots may give the farmer a better profit, by being raised at
ARTS AND SCI. DIV. VOL. VII,
a less expense than more valuable crops, which must be forced with
manure, and at best are precarious in soils not adapted to their growth.
In moderate loams wheat may recur every fourth or fifth year,
whereas in very rich compact loams it may recur every third, and even
every alternate year. Clover and many artificial grasses do not succeed
well if they recur oftener than every sixth year, or with even a longer
interval. Rape, flax, and potatoes require a still more distant recur-
rence on the same ground. All these considerations lead the farmer
to the selection of the most advantageous rotation for the soil of his
farm; and where the land in a considerable district is nearly of an
uniform quality experience soon establishes a course which no one
finds it prudent to deviate from. It happens frequently however that
a great variety of soils, very different in their nature and fertility, are
intermixed; and then, unless the farmer can apply the true principles
of rotations, he may greatly err by following the course, which may be
very judicious for the prevailing soil of the district, but not at all
suited to some of his fields. Hence a knowledge of the crops suited to
any particular soil, and the order in which these crops should succeed
each other, is indispensable to the advantageous cultivation of a farm.
That which forms the food of man is always the principal object in
the cultivation; and, excepting rice, which only grows in warm
climates, there is no food more universally used than that which is
made from wheat. Rye, barley, oats, and pulse are only substitutes
where wheat cannot be raised in sufficient quantities. Next to grain
comes meat, chiefly beef, mutton, and pork, of which the consumption
increases with the wealth of a nation and the advance of its agricul-
ture. Wheat and fat cattle are therefore primary objects with every
good farmer; and he who can raise most wheat and fatten most oxen
or sheep or pigs will realise the greatest profit.
Many circumstances may indicate a deviation from the course which,
as a general rule, is most advantageous. The facility of purchasing
manure from neighbouring towns may allow of more frequent crops of
corn, and of nutritious roots which require much manure, such as
potatoes, and which give no return to the land in the shape of dung.
But we must lay down rules for those who are to rely on their own
resources to recruit the land with manure, so that it may give the
greatest produce without diminishing in fertility; and this can only be
done by a judicious feeding of livestock.
The simple rotation of wheat and beans alternately would be by far
the most profitable in rich clay soil, as both these crops always obtain
a good price in the market; but if a whole farm were so cropped,
nearly all the manure must be purchased; for, after a few crops, the
wheat-straw and bean-halm would not produce half the manure re-
quired for the land. Hay and oats must be purchased for the horses
required for the tillage, which might not be procured so readily or so
cheap as they may be raised on the farm. On very light sands wheat
or beans cannot be raised, except by a very expensive mode of culti-
vation; but rye, oats, peas, buckwheat, and roots for cattle must be
substituted. On chalky loams the principal crops are barley and
artificial grasses for sheep. In short, no particular rotation can be
prescribed without a complete knowledge of the soil, the locality, and
every circumstance connected with any particular farm. As the most
universal rule, it may be laid down that every alternate crop should
be consumed by animals on the farm, and that, as much as possible,
the plants which succeed each other should be of different natural
botanic families. Experience has generally shown the time that should
be allowed to intervene between the recurrence of the same kind of
crop, and we have only to form our plans accordingly.
Of the old triennial course (fallow, wheat, barley or oats) it must be
observed that the two corn-crops so rapidly deteriorate the soil, that a
complete year of fallow is required to purify it, and a good manuring
to keep the land in heart, and that all the industry of the farmer
cannot keep up the fertility of the land without extraneous help,
either from the manure made in towns, or in the farm-yard by cattle
bred and kept in commons or pasture-grounds. This system, which
prevailed so long, cannot be called a rotation; and no real improve-
ment was introduced into agriculture until the notion of its perfection
was exploded, and tenants were permitted to deviate from it. The
rotations adopted in the place of this old system necessarily partook at
first of its main defects. Green crops were introduced of necessity to
supply the loss of the commons and pastures, which, as the population
increased, were gradually cultivated as arable land: but the two white
crops remained in succession, and even now, such is the force of habit
and early impression, that one of the most difficult points to be gained
with practical farmers, accustomed to the old rotations, is to make
them have patience when their land is in a good state, and to prevent
their sowing a white crop, which is immediately profitable, instead
of a green crop, which will keep the land in heart and improve it for
future crops, but which does not figure in the account of sales. Yet
it can be clearly shown, that in most cases the second corn crop is
dearly purchased by the expense required to restore the land to the
state in which it was when the seed was sown a second time: manure
alone will not do this; fallowing and repeated ploughing can alone
effect it: and whether you plough several times before a crop, or are
forced to do so after it, there is no difference in the expense of labour,
although there may be much in the value of the subsequent crops.
The Norfolk course (turnips, barley, clover, wheat), which is so well
known and deservedly in repute for light sands, has only one defect,
0
195
ROTATION OF CROPS.
which is the too frequent recurrence of clover. Rye grass, the usual
substitute in sandy soils, unless it be fed off young, is far inferior
to clover as a preparation for wheat, and this accords with theory;
for wheat and rye grass are both of the natural family of the gramineœ.
Tares or vetches are a good substitute in heavy soils, as well as beans,
both of which are leguminosa, but not well suited to light sandy soils.
Peas are sometimes introduced; but they are apt to encourage weeds,
unless the crop be very heavy, and then they exhaust the soil, and
leave little vegetable matter behind them in their roots.
In many countries there are other vegetable products, which are
required for the food of the inhabitants, or supply the raw materials of
manufactures: these must be introduced into the rotations, according
to their effect on the soil and the cultivation they require. Indian
corn, or maize, and French beans, for their seed, are cultivated in more
southern climates as field crops. Potatoes are now an essential product
some districts, and one which, after maize, produces the greatest
quantity of food for man from a given portion of land. But potatoes
require much manure, and cannot profitably be cultivated to a very
great extent as a farm produce, nor repeated on the same land, for any
length of time, oftener than once in eight or ten years; they should
however always enter into the rotation in that portion of the land
which is to be much worked, cleaned, and manured after a crop of
in
corn.
We have ourselves for many years adopted a rotation without being
tied down to any positive rule, which has been suggested by circum-
stances, and in some measure regulated by our conviction of the truth
of the theory we have attempted to elucidate. In a clayey loam on an
impervious subsoil, but mostly completely drained, we have had
turnips and swedes on high ridges, tares, mangel-wurzel, potatoes, and
a portion of rye to cut up green; succeeded by barley and oats sown
with clover, rye-grass, and other biennial grass seeds. These were
mown for hay the first year, and sometimes the second also, but
generally depastured one year at least; then followed beans, and after
these wheat. The green crops were put in after repeated and deep
tillage, and with an ample allowance of manure. The whole of the
layer was top-dressed with peat or coal ashes in the first year, and
what manure could be got or spared was put on the second year before
winter, when it was ploughed up. All the corn crops were put in
upon one shallow ploughing. We have had no reason ro repent of
pursuing this course: but we allow that one year only in clover would
probably be more profitable. The land is not sufficiently fertile by
nature to bear wheat after the first year of clover, instead of feeding or
making it into hay. This would bring it to some of the rotations
adopted in rich alluvial soils. It is a rule which should never be
It is a rule which should never be
transgressed, that after every crop reaped there should be a remnant
of manure sufficient to ensure a good crop the next year; and that this
should always be in the land, and considered as stock in trade or
capital invested at good interest. By means of judicious rotations and
tillage a much greater quantity of produce may be raised at a certain
expense of labour and capital, than by any desultory and experimental
mode of cropping. The farmer should find it his own interest to
cultivate his land according to the most approved principles, and the
landlord should impose only such restriction as will prevent the tenant
from injuring himself by diminishing the produce of his farm.
It is in the relation of crops to manure-to the need of it for them,
and the supply of it through them, that the practical man sees the
advantage of rotations. There is a need of rotations arising out of our
relations to our labourers who want constant employment-to our live
stock, which need constant food-to the soil, which will not continue to
produce the same plant perpetually-to the plants we cultivate, which
grow more luxuriantly in rotation than in constant succession. And
the explanation of this last fact has been founded on the ideas that (1)
crops poison the land for themselves; (2) that they exhaust the land
for themselves; (3) that they improve the ground for their successors.
Turnips for instance consumed on the land bring on it more nitro-
genous matter than was given them in their manure; and so the land
is enriched by this practice and rendered fit for grain, which on the
other hand uses more nitrogenous matter than it can in general
naturally obtain.
The following are our common rotations-
1.
2.
3.
1. Wheat.
2. Turnips.
1. Wheat.
2. Turnips.
1. Wheat.
2. Turnips.
3. Barley.
4. Clover.
3. Barley.
4. Grass.
5. Grass.
6.
7.
1. Wheat
1. Wheat.
2. Turnips.
2. Beans.
3. Potatoes.
3. Wheat.
4. Wheat.
4. Clover.
5. Clover.
5. Wheat.
6. Oats.
6. Swedes.
7. Wheat.
7. Beans.
8. Mangold.
3. Wheat.
4. Barley.
5. Clover.
8.
}
4.
5.
1. Wheat. 1. Wheat.
2. Turnips. 2. Turnips.
3. Barley.
3. Barley.
4.
{
Clover. 4. Clover.
Beans. 5. Oats.
1. Wheat.
2. Rye followed
by turnips.
3. Barley.
4. Clover.
5. Oats or
6.
wheat.
Beans.
Turnips.
6.
{
9.
Potatoes.
Beans.
1. Wheat.
2. Oats.
3. Turnips.
4. Barley.
5. Clover.
10.
1. Wheat.
2. Rape.
ROTUNDA.
13.
196
11.
12.
1. Fallow.
1. Fallow.
1. Fallow.
2. Wheat.
2. Wheat.
2. Wheat.
3. Oats.
3. Clover.
3. Barley.
3. Beans.
4. Wheat.
4. Oats.
4. Clover.
5. Oats.
6. Barley or
wheat.
6. Beans.
7. Wheat.
5. Clover.
6. Wheat.
7. Beans.
5. Beans.
4. Wheat.
5. Mangold.
6. Barley.
7. Clover.
8. Wheat.
1, is the Norfolk rotation-2, the North of England modification of it
-3, Mr. Thomas's, of Lidlington, modification of it-4, a common
modification of it in Norfolk-5, the East Lothian 6-field rotation-6,
a common modification of it-7, the Whitfield 8-field course-8,
Hewitt Davis's light land rotation-9, the rotation of the Cotteswold
district, Gloucestershire-10, common in the fens of Lincolnshire-11,
in clay-lands, East Lothian-12, carse-lands of Scotland-13, clay-lands
of Essex. These rotations vary greatly in their manure producing
power. By some one cwt. of meat may be made per acre-by others
not a quarter of a cwt.-By some therefore there is food per acre for
an ox, making 20 tons of dung for every 4 acres, and on others hardly
one for every 16 acres.
ROTATORY OR CIRCULAR POLARIZATION. [POLARIZA-
TION.]
ROTE, a musical instrument of former times, mentioned by the
early French writers of romance, and by Chaucer, as well as others
among our early poets: it seems to have been similar to what the
French call a vielle, and the English a hurdy-gurdy.
ROTTENSTONE. [EMERY; Tripoli Powder.]
ROTUNDA, a term applied to buildings which are circular in their
plan both externally and internally, or else to halls and other apart-
ments of that shape, included within and forming merely a portion of
the edifice containing them. The technical application of the term is
however restricted to circular buildings whose height does not much
exceed their diameter, for we should not describe a lofty cylindrical
edifice, such as a round tower, by the term rotunda; while on the
contrary it is frequently employed to designate polygonal buildings
which approach in their general form to the circle.
In ecclesiastical architecture circular and polygonal structures were
by no means uncommon among the early Christians, especially for
baptisteries and sepulchral chapels. The tomb of Theodoric, or what
is now called Santa Maria Rotunda, at Ravenna, is a singular example,
having a flattish or segmental dome (about 34 feet in diameter) cut
out of a single block of stone.
out of a single block of stone. Of San Stefano Rotundo and Santa
Costanza mention has been made under ROMAN ARCHITECTURE, and to
them may be here added the Rotunda or Church of Santa Maria
Maggiore at Nocera, a work of about the same period. While it
greatly resembles Santa Costanza in plan, having coupled columns
placed on the radiating lines from the centre, and with arches springing
from them, it differs altogether in section from both those examples,
there being no cylindrical wall or tambour above the colonnade, but
the dome springs immediately from the columns, and the arches
groining into it. Consequently the proportions are much lower, the
diameter of the space enclosed by the columns being 39 feet, and the
height to the top of the dome 42,-proportions differing very little
from those of the Pantheon. The extreme internal diameter is 78 feet.
The earlier edifices of this class are, for the most part, of moderate
dimensions, but others were afterwards erected on a larger scale, and
among them is the celebrated baptistery at Pisa [BAPTISTERY], which
is externally about 120 feet in diameter, and 100 in height, exclusive
of the dome. Circular churches, or baptisteries, are also of frequent
occurrence in Germany and France; and in England are three or four
round churches of semi-Norman (12th century) character which are
supposed to have been designed in imitation of the Church of the
Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem: such are the round churches at
Cambridge and Northampton, and the Temple Church, London.
The rotunda became afterwards in a manner incorporated with or
added to the cruciform plan, being raised aloft and placed over that
part of it where the transepts intersect the body of the edifice.
Nearly all modern cupolas may be described as rotundas elevated
above the rest of the building and viewed by looking up into them
from below. Thus supposing there was a floor at the level of the
whispering gallery at St. Paul's, the dome and space beneath it would
form a perfect and well proportioned rotunda, whose height and
diameter would very nearly be the same.
In itself alone the rotunda form does not accommodate itself to the
purposes of a church: it does not afford space for the processions and
occasional ceremonies required by the Roman Catholic worship; nor
is it better fitted for the Protestant service from its requiring an
amphitheatrical arrangement of seats in concentric curves. Rotundas
are accordingly rare even in Roman Catholic churches, yet although
such structures are necessarily limited by their form to a moderate
size, they derive from it also a grandeur which would not be produced
by the same scale according to any other plan. Neither grandeur nor
beauty however results as matter of course from the plan alone,
because whatever charm that possesses may be nullified by other
circumstances. There is, for instance, nothing of the one and not
very much more of the other in the rotunda interior of St. Peter-le-
Poor's, London, one of the few instances we are acquainted with of
1
1
197
198
ROUGE.
ROUND TOWER.
such plan being adopted for a Protestant Church. The arrangement
of the pews and seats in parallel rows, strikes as a disagreeable con-
tradiction to the shape of the building; and in this case the vaulted
dome, which is almost essential to such plan, is wanting, a cove and
lantern with windows being substituted for it. Some few dissenting
chapels have been built of a circular form, but they are equally
unsatisfactory, whether regarded as architectural objects, or for con-
gregational purposes.
Instead of attempting to describe these and other examples of
rotundas, we shall put our notices relative to them into a condensed
form, and for convenience sake shall include those already mentioned,
as their relative sizes can thereby be more readily compared.
Pantheon, Rome. External diameter 188 feet, internal 142, internal
height 142. [ROMAN ARCHITECTURE.]
Temple of Minerva Medica. External diameter 110 feet. Interior a
decagon 78 feet in diameter and 105 high.
Santa Costanza, Rome. Extreme internal diameter 140 feet;
diameter of rotunda within the peristyle and beneath dome 70; height
of dome 130.
Nocera, Santa Maria. Extreme internal diameter 78 feet, diameter
of dome and peristyle 39, height 42.
Rotunda, Forum Caracalla. Exterior diameter about 100 feet.
Corinthian portico hexastyle, triprostyle. Interior diameter 80 feet,
height of order 48, entire height 90.
Rotunda at S. Pietro in Montorio, Rome. (Bramante.) Exterior
enclosed by a Doric peristyle of 16 columns. Internal diameter 22
feet, height 48. This edifice is generally admired as a classical piece
of architecture, but it has many striking defects, and the balustrade
(without pedestals) over the peristyle is intolerable.
Madonna di Campagna, Verona. (Sanmicheli.) Exterior 74 feet in
diameter, nearly surrounded by a low Doric peristyle of 28 columns,
making the entire diameter below 118 feet. Interior an octagon 64 |
feet in diameter and 101 high.
Capella Pelligrini, Verona. (Sanmicheli.)
(Sanmicheli.) Elegant in plan, but
enormously disproportioned in section. External diameter 40 feet,
internal 30. Two orders within. Height to spring of dome 46 feet,
entire height 64.
La Maddelina, Venice. (Temanza.) Internal diameter 55 feet,
height to spring of dome 36, entire height 63, or 7 more than dia-
meter. Arrangement hexagonal, that is, six arched compartments.
Halle des Blés, Paris. (De Mezières.) External diameter 228 feet,
interior diameter of the rotunda beneath the dome 127, height to spring
of dome 421, to summit 105.
Possagno. (Canova.) External diameter 116 feet; width of portico
90, projection of portico 55, height of stylobate 101, internal diameter
90, height 90.
Madre di Iddio, Turin. (Buonsignore.) A rotunda about 130 feet
in diameter, with hexastyle, diprostyle, Corinthian portico. Internal
diameter 74 feet, height 100; plan four semicircular tribunes, with
two Corinthian columns in front of each, bearing the entablature
continued over those spaces. Attic with a long panel over each of the
four recesses.
Museum of the Vatican, Rotunda. (Simonetti.) Divided into ten
recessed compartments: diameter 50 feet.
Radcliffe Library, Oxford. (Gibbs.) Basement a polygon of 16
sides, and 104 feet in diameter. Extreme exterior height 140 feet,
interior diameter 88, interior diameter of central space and dome 52,
height 90.
Berlin Museum, Central Hall. (Schinkel.) Diameter 67 feet, height
of gallery supported by a peristyle of twenty Corinthian columns,
around the lower part 21; height to spring of dome 42 feet, entire
height 70.
Catholic Church, Darmstadt. (Moller.) Extreme internal diameter
135 feet, peristyle of twenty-eight Corinthian columns supporting
dome; diameter of dome and peristyle 102 feet, height to spring of
dome 48 feet, to summit 102.
Reading Room, British Museum. (S. Smirke.) Diameter 140 feet;
height 106 feet. [BRITISH MUSEUM.]
ROUGE. [METALS. Iron, peroxide of iron.]
ROUND (rotundus, from rota, a wheel) is a term which is indis-
criminately applied in common language to everything which has no
very sharp corners. A cylinder and a sphere, a wheel and a ball, are
equally styled round. In geometry, the sphere, cylinder, and cone, are
sometimes denominated the "three round bodies," and it would certainly
add much to many persons' power of describing shapes if they would
learn the meaning of the terms circular, cylindrical, conical, spherical,
spheroidal, and annular, for all of which the term round is employed
without any distinction.
ROUND, a short vocal composition in three or more parts, in the
performance of which the first voice begins alone, singing to the end of
the first part, then passes on to the second, and afterward to the third,
&c., the other voices following successively the same routine, till all
are joined together, the round ending at the mark of a pause (
or at a signal agreed on. This is frequently, but most erroneously,
called a catch, and sometimes, not less incorrectly, a "Canon in the
unison."
ROUND TOWER, Numerous lofty towers, tapering from the
base to a conical cap or roof, which crowns the summit, are found in
Ireland, and are almost peculiar to that country. That they are of
great antiquity appears from their having been considered ancient even
in the 12th century, when the British connection with Ireland began.
Had they been then in actual use, it is not probable that so accurate a
writer as Giraldus Cambrensis, who had been in Ireland, and circum-
stantially describes them, should not also have mentioned to what
purpose they were applied. Dr. Petrie, Ecclesiastical Architecture of
Ireland,' however, quotes several records between the years 948 and
1170, in which bell towers are referred to, which he seems to be able
to identify, in some instances at least, with the existing round-towers.
There are 117 of these towers, or of the sites where they once stood,
now known, and there is reason to believe they were formerly more
numerous. Some of them are still perfect, and preserve their conical
roofs; but only one, the tower of Devenish, possesses the singular
ornament of an obtuse crescent rising from the cone, and somewhat
resembling what is called the trident of Seeva.
Ardmore tower, near Waterford, had also, within the memory of
man, this finishing ornament. In the other towers, the conical caps
are either more or less injured, or have altogether vanished. Some
few are topped by battlements, but these are all of more modern
construction than the towers.
Though most of these round towers were evidently divided into
stories, yet Cashel tower is smooth, and even polished on the inside
from top to bottom. That at Ardmore was plastered with a very fine-
and durable cement. The divisions are usually formed by projecting
ledges for the flooring joists, which however in some instances were
inserted in square holes in the wall, where the ends were still visible
not many years ago.
On each floor there is one very small window, and immediately
below the conical cap four windows may be traced in the greater
number of towers; in one there are five and in a few six windows;
and so many as eight appear in one or two of the towers. In a few
of these buildings no windows appear in the upper story-only one small
loophole. In most of the towers the doors are at a considerable height
above the ground, in one even twenty-four feet, in several fourteen,
and in others only eight, seven, or six feet, but in none of them are
there any traces to assist conjecture as to the mode of reaching those
doors, except in those where the door is on the ground, or raised from
it by a couple of steps.
The height of these towers varies greatly, one being only thirty-five
feet, while the loftiest is one hundred and thirty, but the common
range is between eighty and a hundred feet. Some stand on circular
bases, which form one or two deep steps round the tower. Thus
Donoughmore has a two-step base, each step or plinth being com-
posed of very large blocks of stone. The basement of Kell's tower is
square, and the stones are of great size. Killree and Aghaviller, both
in the county of Kilkenny, have circular plinths fourteen inches deep,
projecting six inches and resting upon a square base formed of great
blocks of stone. The tower of Clondalkin, about five miles from Dublin,
stands on massive stone-work; and St. Columb's tower, at Londonderry,
rises from a vaulted crypt. So also does that at Oughterard, in the
county of Kilkenny.
In external character all the towers may be said to agree, since there
is only one which does not taper, and in that case the tower is cylin-
drical throughout its entire height. It is nicely faced, inside and out,
with coggle-stones, and filled up with rubble. Though all bear to
each other the strongest family likeness, there are many striking
differences in the mason-work and in the minor details. The stones in
some are truly chiselled, and closely and beautifully laid in fine cement.
Some are only coarsely hammered, others merely faced, and of various
shapes and sizes, but still well fitted to each other. Some towers are
built of round coggle-stones. In all the mortar is as hard as the
imbedded stones.
The above and various other little diversities prove that these
remarkable structures were erected by various workmen and at very
different times, and, as Giraldus Cambrensis says, "according to the
manner of the country." Some excellent Irish archeologists imagine
that they range in date from the 5th or 6th to the 10th or 12th
century.
Their situation on hill or dale is equally variable, nor does any one
circumstance respecting their situations seem to be common to all,
except their immediate vicinity to a small and very ancient church,
though in some instances this ancient building has been replaced by a
more modern fabric.
It is a well known fact that the early missionaries usually chose the
sites of Pagan places of worship for their churches, and the undoubted
relics of Pagan places of worship still remain in close association with
these towers, and even in the same churchyard; the pillar stone of
witness, the tapering sun-stone, the crombac, the fire-house, and the
holy spring of sacred water necessary in the mystic rites, all these,
according to some Irish archeologists, are found along with the tower,
and the little ancient church, within the same narrow boundary.
The speculations of antiquaries as to the objects of rearing these,
mysterious towers have indeed been manifold-penitentiaries, the
abode of anchorites, beacon-towers, alarm-posts, places of safety for
goods, sepulchral stela, bell-towers, trumpet-towers, from whence, by
means of the great brazen trumpet, the people were invited to worship,
199
ROUNDHEADS.
fire-towers, where the sacred fires of Bel or Baal, who was undoubtedly
worshipped in Ireland and Scotland, were kept alive, the tower itself
being an emblem of the sun-beam or ray of heavenly fire, or finally
that they were Buddhic in their origin, and sepulchral in their
immediate application, they having been erected over the bones or
relics of saints. It now seems to be the opinion of the best autho-
rities that they are the work of Christian architects, and were built
for ecclesiastical purposes. They appear to have always stood in prox-
imity to a church or monastery, and in fact to have been employed
both for bell-towers and as keeps, or strongholds, into which the eccle-
siastics might retreat with the church plate and records, in case of an
attack. Their origin, or the type from which they were in the first
instance imitated, is however still matter of conjecture.
Before closing this article, it should be mentioned that though
these towers are almost peculiar to Ireland, there are two in Scotland,
but in that district which, in the very early ages, was in close and
constant connection with Ireland.
In other parts of the world, as Andalusia, the Caucasus, Persia, and
part of India, towers of all sizes and shapes, and in various situations,
have been discovered. As in all these there are some points of resem-
blance, they may all perhaps prove to be successive links of that long
chain of evidence by which these remarkable buildings may even yet
be traced downwards from their origin to the pagan rites of the Scoti
or Irish.
ROUNDHEADS, a name given to the republicans in England, at
the end of the reign of Charles I. and during the Commonwealth.
The name seems to have been first applied to the Puritans because
they wore their hair cut close, but to have been afterwards extended
to the whole republican party. The Cavaliers, or royal party, wore
their hair in long ringlets. [CAVALIER.]
ROUT. [RIOT.]
ROYAL ACADEMY OF ARTS IN LONDON. At the accession
of George III., painting, sculpture, and architecture, notwithstanding
there were eminent artists in all these branches, were in a lower state
in Great Britain than in most parts of Europe. Foreign critics did
not hesitate to assert, that the ungenial climate or the physical defects
of the English presented insuperable obstacles to the attainment of
excellence in the arts. Whether these opinions induced the young
king to turn his attention to the subject, and endeavour to remove
this national stigma, cannot now be known, but it is certain that he
soon began to show a strong disposition to encourage the arts.
This avowed disposition of the king encouraged the artists of the
metropolis to endeavour to establish an academy of art somewhat
similar to that which had long been in successful operation in France. A
private academy or association of painters had been formed as early as
1711, under the presidency of Sir Godfrey Kneller; but differences arose
between the foreign artists (then an important and comparatively nume-
rous body in London) and the English members, when the latter, with Sir
James Thornhill at their head, seceded and opened in 1724 a new academy.
On the death of Thornhill, ten years later, his son-in-law proposed to
the old society to reunite, and the two bodies formed the well-known
Academy in St. Martin's Lane." All these were, however, rather
schools for drawing from the living model and the antique, and pro-
moting mutual intercourse among the artists, than academies on the
continental model: that is, in which instruction should be given in
painting, sculpture, and architecture, and certain marks of distinction
be conferred on the most successful professors of those arts. Several
projects had, however, been put forward for the foundation of a royal
academy: among others one by Sir James Thornhill, prior to the
establishment of the private one above mentioned; one by Gwynn, the
architect, in 1749; one in 1753 by the members of the St. Martin's
Lane Academy, which probably fell to the ground through the oppo-
sition of Hogarth; and another, of which the proposals were issued in
1755. The next effort was more successful. An institution which
had been formed in 1754, called "A Society for the Encouragement
of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce in Great Britain," was the
first which included among its objects the offering of rewards to the
fine arts. In 1760, with the assistance of the above-mentioned Society,
who liberally allowed the use of their great room for the purpose, the
artists were enabled to open the first public exhibition, which though
not entirely satisfactory to the promoters, attracted great attention,
and was for several seasons successfully followed by a similar display
of their talents at a large room of their own in Spring Gardens. The
associated artists were in consequence induced to apply to the king
for a charter, which they readily obtained, and in 1765 they were con-
stituted a body corporate under the title of "The Incorporated Society
of Artists." The way was thus paved for the institution of the Royal
Academy; but its immediate cause was a schism which took place in
the "Society" soon after their incorporation. It arose from the claim
set up by the directors to fill up all vacancies in their own body; this
the members refused to allow, and the directors seceded. They were
all men of position and influence, and they at once determined to
establish a new and more restricted institution on the model of the
French Academy, if they could obtain the protection and patronage of
the king. W. Chambers, F. Cotes, G. M. Moser, and B. West pre-
sented to him a memorial signed by twenty-two artists, the purport of
which was to show the probability that with his royal sanction and
encouragement, and by means of an annual exhibition of their works,
|
ROYAL ACADEMY OF ARTS IN LONDON.
200
they would soon be able to raise sufficient funds for the support of a
gratuitous national school of art. The memorial stated, "The two
principal objects which we have in view are the establishing a well-
regulated school or academy of design, and an annual exhibition open
to all artists of distinguished merit; we apprehending that the profits
arising from the last of these institutions will fully answer all the
expenses of the first; we even flatter ourselves that they will be more
than necessary for that purpose, and that we shall be enabled annually
to distribute somewhat in useful charities." The proposal was
graciously received. The plan of a constitution was drawn up by
Mr. Chambers, and laid before the king, which he approved, and
signed on the 10th of December, 1768. Thus was founded "The
Royal Academy of Arts in London, for the purpose of cultivating and
improving the arts of painting, sculpture, and architecture."
The artists who signed this memorial were: Benjamin West,
Francesco Zuccarelli, Nathaniel Dance, Richard Wilson, George Michael
Moser, Samuel Wale, J. Baptist Cipriani, Jeremiah Meyer, Angelica
Kauffman, Charles Cotton, Francesco Bartolozzi, Francis Cotes, Edward
Penny, George Barrett, Paul Sandby, Richard Yeo, Mary Moser,
Agostino Carlini, William Chambers, Joseph Wilton, Francis Milner
Newton, Francis Hayman. These, with John Baker, Mason Chamberlin,
John Gwynn, Thomas Gainsborough, Dominick Serres, Peter Toms,
Nathaniel Hone, Joshua Reynolds, John Richards, Thomas Sandby,
George Dance, Francis Hayman, William Hoare of Bath, and Johan
Zoffani, composed the original thirty-six academicians. The number
forty was not completed till 1780-by the addition of Edward Burch,
Richard Cosway, Joseph Nollekens, and James Barry. Their first
meeting was held on the 14th of December, when the following officers
were elected, namely: J. Reynolds, President; G. M. Moser, Keeper;
F. M. Newton, Secretary; E. Penny, Professor of Painting; T. Sandby,
Professor of Architecture; J. Wall, Professor of Perspective: Dr. William
Hunter, Professor of Anatomy. The king appointed William Chambers
Treasurer, and R. Wilson Librarian.
The other academies of Europe which have been established for the
advancement of the fine arts and the promotion of public taste, are
supported entirely at the expense of their respective governments as
national objects, and are usually under the control of some person of
distinction. Such is the Royal Academy of Paris, founded just a
century before. The Royal Academy of London is essentially different
from these, inasmuch as it originated in the private munificence of the
reigning king, and, since the first years of its existence, has been
entirely maintained by the proceeds of the annual exhibition.
The king's adoption of the artists was immediately followed by the
most liberal and effective support. He caused apartments for the
schools to be fitted up in his own palace of Somerset House, supplied
the Society with rooms in Pall Mall for their exhibitions, and for
several years made up every deficiency in their expenditure from
his privy purse; at the same time he allowed them to reserve 1007.
a-year to form a fund for necessitous members or their widows, and
twice that sum to administer occasional relief to artists in distress,
whether they were members of the Society or not. When Old Somerset
House was purchased by the nation as a site for a number of public.
offices, the king took care to reserve a portion of the new building for
the Academy. In 1766 the plans of a new site were submitted to the
approval of the president and council, and the apartments devoted to
this purpose were fitted up with a degree of magnificence worthy of a
royal palace, the talents of many of the principal members having been
employed in their decoration. In July, 1780, the preparations being
completed, the Royal Academy obtained possession of their new
residence, by an order from the Treasury to the surveyor-general of
the works, and their first exhibition in Somerset House took place in
the following year. This friendly superintendence of its affairs and
anxious desire to promote the welfare and utility of the Society con-
tinued till the unfortunate illness of the king; and a like patronage
has been vouchsafed by his successors.
In 1834, a proposal having been made by Lord Grey and the existing
ministry to transfer the establishment from Somerset House to
Trafalgar Square, where an edifice was proposed to be raised which
would be also large enough for a national gallery of paintings, the
sanction of the king (William IV.) was obtained, and the necessary arrange-
ments were made with the president and council of the Academy. The
apartments, which comprise the whole of the east wing of the National
Gallery, were put into their possession in 1836; and they are still
occupied by the Academy, though formal notice has been more than once
given by the government of their intention to resume possession of
them, in order to appropriate them to the use of the National Gallery.
The Royal Academy consists of forty academicians, painters, sculptors,
and architects. There is a second order of members, styled associates,
twenty in number, from whom alone the vacancies that occur among
the academicians are supplied. The body of academicians elect, but
the approbation and signature of Her Majesty are necessary to make
this election valid.
There are also six associate engravers, who are classed-two as
"academician engravers," two as "associate engravers of the new
class," and two as "associate engravers." Associates are elected by the
body of academicians, from a list of exhibitors who declare themselves
candidate for this honour.
3
There are a treasurer, a librarian, a keeper, and a secretary. A bye-
201
202
ROYAL ACADEMY OF ARTS IN LONDON.
ROYAL SOCIETY.
law of the Academy requires that they shall be academicians. These
offices are filled by Her Majesty's nomination.
There are four professors, academicians, elected by the general
assembly, and approved by the queen, who read lectures on painting,
sculpture, architecture, and perspective.
There is also a professor of anatomy, elected by the academicians, with
the approbation of Her Majesty.
There are three schools: a school for study from casts from cele-
brated works of antiquity; a school for study from living models; and
a painting school. The first is under the care and direction of the
keeper; and the other two are under the care of visitors, annually
appointed.
The council consists of nine members, including the president, and
has the management of all the concerns of the Society. All bye-laws
of the Academy must originate in the council, and have the appro-
bation of the general assembly, and the sanction of Her Majesty's
signature to give them effect. The president, council, and visitors are
annually elected, and confirmed by Her Majesty's signature.
There are also several honorary members of the Royal Academy,
namely, a professor of ancient literature, a professor of ancient history,
a chaplain of high rank in the church, an antiquary, and a secretary for
foreign correspondence; these, who are always persons of eminence in
literature, are elected by the general assembly and approved by the
queen.
All persons are admissible as students of the Academy. Nothing
but indication of talent and a respectable character are required from
them. Their names remain unknown till judgment is passed on the
specimens which they send in, and when admitted they receive a
gratuitous education from the best masters. All painters, sculptors,
or architects, whose works show sufficient merit, are allowed to exhibit
with the Academy, and, being admitted exhibitors, they are immediately
eligible as associates.
The executive government of the Academy passes in rotation to all
the academicians, and half the council retires, and is renewed annually.
The schools of drawing, painting, and modelling are open daily from
ten to three and from six to eight, under the direction of the keeper
and visitors. A practical course of lectures on perspective is given
during the spring. The lectures on anatomy are delivered before the
Christmas recess; those on painting, sculpture, and architecture are
given twice a week, from January to the end of March. The library is
open three times a week.
Prizes are annually given to encourage meritorious students, and
those who have gained the biennial gold medal have from time to time
an opportunity of being sent abroad to study for three years at the
expense of the Academy.
The library of the Academy contains all the best works on art,
besides a considerable number of modern prints and a valuable collection
of engravings of the Italian school from the earliest period, formed by
George Cumberland, for which they paid 6007. On the death of Sir
Thomas Lawrence, the Academy purchased his collection of archi-
tectural casts for 2507. (although their apartments could not accom-
modate them): they are at present deposited in the South Kensington
Museum.
Considerably over two thousand students have been reared under
the tuition and auspices of the Royal Academy, and among them are
included by far the greater number of those who have distinguished
themselves as painters and sculptors in this country.
The attention which the Royal Academy has uniformly shown to
unfortunate artists in general, and the liberal assistance they have
bestowed to such out of their funds, should not be omitted. It
appeared in evidence before a committee of the House of Commons, in
1836, that the gross sum which they had expended in pensions to dis-
tressed members amounted to 11,1067., and the donations to artists,
not members, and their families, to 19,2497.; and since then, with
increased funds, the Academy has acted with still greater liberality.
With this generosity the Academy has combined a prudent degree of
economy in the management of its funds, both for the purpose of
providing against casualties and for the gradual improvement of the
establishment. Notwithstanding the large sum they have expended
in carrying out the objects for which they were associated, the
academicians have accumulated a reserve fund sufficient, as they
informed the Chancellor of the Exchequer when the question was
mooted of the removal of the Academy to Burlington House, to erect
a new building more adequate to their requirements than their present
apartments, provided the government would furnish the necessary
site.
It will appear from what has been stated, that the Royal Academy
owes its corporate existence entirely to the crown, and is neither sup-
ported nor aided by any public funds. It has also been shown in
what manner it became entitled to accommodation in the National
Gallery. Though the exertions of the Academy have been directed to
a public object-the improvement of the arts-it differs in no respect
from any other body incorporated for literary or scientific purposes,
such as the Astronomical Society for instance, and others, which sup-
port themselves by their own funds.
·
Accordingly when in the year 1834 the House of Commons had
addressed the king, William IV., requesting him to direct the Royal
Academy to furnish them with certain returns explanatory of the constitu-
tion of the body and its proceedings, the, Academy, though protesting
against the attempt to withdraw the Royal Academy from its immediate
connection with the crown and to bring it under the control of the House
of Commons, having first asked the permission of the king, gave the House
all the information that was desired. But in 1839, when an order was
made to furnish the House with similar returns in continuation, as well
as with the particulars of their domestic expenditure, these returns
were not made, and a petition was presented to the House, in which
the position and claims of the Royal Academy were fully explained.
The petition seems to have produced its effect, and the order was
rescinded.
Within the last few years it has seemed on more than one occasion
probable that the question of the position of the Academy, both as a
private institution and with reference to the public benefit, would
come under discussion in parliament, but it has been deferred. This
question it does not fall within our province to consider, nor to notice
the various attacks made on its constitution and administration. It
is sufficient here to have stated what these are.
ROYAL SOCIETY (of London), consists of a number of persons
associated together for the purpose of promoting mathematical and
physical science.
physical science. At its formation the more particular object of the
members was to assist each other in extending their knowledge of
natural and experimental philosophy.
Philosophical societies for the cultivation or advancement of par-
ticular branches of human knowledge existed, both on the Continent
and in this country, before the end of the 16th century. In Italy, the
Florentine Academy and the Academia della Crusca had been founded
with the view of improving the language and literature of that country.
France had its Academy of Painting and Sculpture, and its Royal
Academy of Inscriptions; and the Antiquarian Society in England was
founded in 1572.
England appears to have led the way to the formation of a body of
men who sought by mutual co-operation to advance the new philosophy,
as it was called; for Dr. Wallis, in an account of his own life, relates that
in 1645, which must therefore have been while the civil war was raging
in the country, several persons who then resided in London, at the
suggestion of a Mr. Haak, a native of Germany, joined themselves into
a club, in which, purposely excluding politics and theology, they
agreed to communicate to each other the results of their researches in
chemistry, medicine, geometry, astronomy, mechanics, magnetism,
navigation, and experimental philosophy in general. Among
Among those
who first met for this worthy purpose were Drs. Wilkins, Wallis,
Goddard, Ent, and Glisson, and Messrs. Haak and Forster (the pro-
fessor of astronomy at Gresham College); and the place of their
meeting was generally at Dr. Goddard's lodgings, but they occasionally.
assembled in Gresham College or in its neighbourhood. This is sup-
posed to be the club which Mr. Boyle, in a letter (1646), designates the
invisible or philosophical society.
Before the year 1651, Drs. Wilkins, Wallis, and Goddard, having
obtained appointments at Oxford, went to reside in that city, where,
being joined by Drs. Seth Ward, Bathurst, Petty, and Willis (the last
an eminent physician), and Mr. Rooke, they constituted themselves a
society similar to that which they had left in London. They met at
first at Dr. Petty's lodgings, which were in the house of an apothecary,
where they had access to such drugs as they wished to examine; and as
often as any of the members had occasion to visit the metropolis, they
did not fail to attend the meetings of their former associates. When
Dr. Petty went to Ireland in 1652, the meetings at Oxford appear to
have been for a time suspended; for that gentleman, writing from
Dublin to Mr. Boyle, in the beginning of 1658, expresses his gratifica-
tion that the club was revived; and in the same year the members
met either at the apartments of Dr. Wilkins, in Wadham College, or
at the lodgings of Mr. Boyle: the Oxford society continued to exist
till 1690, when the meetings terminated. It appears, however, that,
in the beginning of 1659, all of them, except Mr. Boyle, who con-
tinued to reside at Oxford till 1668, came to London, where they
rejoined the friends who had remained there, and where the united
clubs were almost immediately strengthened by the accession of
several new members. At that time the lectures on astronomy and
geometry in Gresham College were delivered, the former by Mr.
Christopher Wren, on every Wednesday, and the latter by Mr. Rooke
(who had been appointed in 1652), on every Thursday; and these
gentlemen, together with Viscount Brouncker, Mr. Brereton (after-
wards Lord Brereton), Sir Paul Neile, Mr. John Evelyn, Mr. Ball, Dr.
Croone, and others, besides the Oxford members, used after the
lectures to assemble for philosophical conversation in an adjoining
room. This state of things did not, however, continue long, for dur-
ing the same year, in consequence of the troubles which ensued on
the resignation of the Protectorship by Richard Cromwell, the apart-
ments which had been occupied for scientific purposes were converted
into quarters for soldiers, and the members of the society were
obliged to disperse.
We learn also from Dr. Wallis that, upon the restoration in 1660,
the meetings were revived; and on the 28th of November, in that
year, the members came to a resolution that they would assemble during
term-time in Mr. Rooke's chambers at Gresham College, and during
the vacation at Mr. Ball's chambers in the Temple. It was further
resolved that the members should constitute themselves a society for
:
203
ROYAL SOCIETY.
promoting physico-mathematical learning, similar to the voluntary
associations of men for other branches of knowledge in foreign
countries. At this time also a series of resolutions relating to the
objects proposed by the society was drawn up, of which the follow-
ing is a brief outline :- It was agreed that records should be made
of all the works of nature and art of which any account could
be obtained; so that the present age and posterity might be able to
mark the errors which have been strengthened by long prescription,
to restore truths which have long been neglected, and to extend the
uses of those already known; thus making the way easier to those
which are yet unknown. It was also resolved to admit men of different
religions, professions, and nations, in order that the knowledge of
nature might be freed from the prejudices of sects, and from a bias in
favour of any particular branch of learning, and that all mankind
might as much as possible be engaged in the pursuit of philosophy,
which it was proposed to reform, not by laws and ceremonies, but by
practice and example. It was further resolved that the society should
not be a school where some might teach and others be taught, but
rather a sort of laboratory where all persons might operate indepen-
dently of one another. Lastly, it was resolved that each member
should subscribe his name to an agreement that he would constantly
attend the society's meetings, if not prevented by illness or some
indispensable business; that he should pay 10s. on his admission, and
that he should subscribe 1s. weekly while he continued to belong to
the society; but from this obligation he was to be freed if he chose
to withdraw. At the same time Dr. Wilkins was chosen chairman,
Mr. Ball, treasurer, and Mr. Croone, registrar. It was agreed to meet
every Wednesday, from 3 to 6 o'clock in the afternoon.
The revenue thus raised from the members was intended to enable
the society to accomplish the various objects for which it was insti-
tuted, and particularly to defray the expenses of the philosophical
'experiments which it was proposed to make. The intention was, that
persons should be sent to travel abroad, for the purpose of collecting
information, while others should remain in London, and present the
results of their researches at the weekly meetings. It was determined
that the members should be formed into committees for the con-
sideration of the subjects which were to be illustrated by experiments,
and that the performance of the latter should be assigned to persons
who, by their particular talents, were best qualified for the duty.
Some of the members also were to be appointed to examine all works
on the natural history of foreign countries, that out of them they
might prepare directions as a guide in making inquiries concerning
the phenomena of the atmosphere and the currents of the sea, and in
performing experiments on light, magnetism, &c. It was proposed to
bring the results of the researches into one common stock, and to con-
sign them in public registers for the benefit of future generations,
without regard to any order in the arrangement; it being considered,
that if subjects of a like nature were brought together, persons might
be tempted too early to form general systems, which might be
detrimental to the progress of philosophy. (Dr. Sprat, History of
the Royal Society.')
Such were the plan and constitution of the infant society, which
was destined, in its maturity, to hold so distinguished a place in the
annals of science. Its first recorded steps, which took place Dec. 5,
1660, consisted in appointing Mr. Wren, at the next weekly meeting,
to perform an experiment on the vibrations of pendulums, and Lord
Brouncker to bring in a series of instructions for conducting some
experiments (relating to the temperature, moisture, &c., of the air),
the performance of which on the Peak of Teneriffe it was intended
to procure.
A week afterwards it was resolved that persons desiring to be
admitted should be recommended by some member, and that the
election should take place by ballot. No one below the rank of a
baron was to be admitted without a scrutiny; and the number of
members was to be limited to fifty-five, of whom twenty-one were to
be a quorum for elections and nine for other matters. It was agreed
also that the fellows of the Royal College of Physicians and the pro-
fessors of mathematics and natural philosophy in both universities
should, if they desired, be admitted as supernumeraries on paying the
fees and lending their assistance when convenient. The restriction
respecting the number of members was however soon afterwards taken
off; and, at this time, candidates who were proposed on one evening
were often admitted at the next, or at the second following meeting,
though the practice respecting the interval between the application
and the admission seems to have been very variable. The president or
chairman held his post sometimes during the evening only, sometimes
he was appointed for a month, and he was occasionally re-elected.
Two persons were appointed to superintend the arrangements for per-
forming the proposed experiments, and one of the members acted as a
reporter at the meetings. An amanuensis for copying minutes, and an
operator under the superintendents, were engaged as servants, and
received salaries.
;
In that age, the constitution and qualities of material bodies being
very imperfectly known, suggestions founded on ill-observed pheno-
mena, and the marvellous relations of credulous travellers, were often
thought deserving of consideration from the bare possibility that they
might lead to the discovery of useful truths; and this circumstance
may serve to account for the apparently absurd inquiries and experi.
ROYAL SOCIETY.
201
ments which appear in the notices of the society's first labours. Thus,
in 1661, Mr. Boyle was requested to ascertain the name of the place in
Brazil where there was said to have been a kind of wood which attracts
fishes; he was also desired to inquire into the truth of the circum-
stance mentioned by Schotter-that a fish suspended by a thread
would turn towards the wind. And in the same year, the opinion
that a spider could not get out of a space enclosed within a circle
formed of powdered unicorn's horn was actually made the subject of
an experiment. The philosopher will however forget these early
occupations of the society when he meditates on the works of a
Newton and a Davy, which are also recorded in the pages of its
history.
The society having presented an address to the king (Charles II.) on
his restoration, his majesty expressed much satisfaction that the
institution had originated in his reign, and promised to support it
with his influence. And in 1662, by the concurrence, it is said, of
Lord Clarendon, the chancellor, Sir Geoffry Palmer, the attorney-
general, and Sir Heneage Finch, the solicitor-general, he granted a
charter, by which the members were incorporated into a society con-
sisting of a president, council, and fellows, under the name of the
Royal Society. In this they were declared capable of holding lands,
tenements, &c. in perpetuity or otherwise, and of suing or defending
in any court of law; a coat of arms was given them, and they were
allowed to have a common seal for their use. William Viscount.
Brouncker was appointed president, and twenty-one persons were
appointed by name to form a council. It was further regulated that
the president should be elected annually on St. Andrew's day, and that
ten of the council should, at the same time, be replaced by ten other
persons chosen from among the fellows. (Birch, 'History of the
Royal Society,' vol. i.; Weld, Hist. of Royal Soc.' vol. i.) This
charter being found not sufficiently explicit, in the following year
another was obtained, in which the president and fellows are desig-
nated the president of the council and the fellows of the Royal Society
of London for promoting natural knowledge; and in which, after
declaring that the society might hold lands, &c., there is added
"Statuto de alienatione in manum mortuam non obstante." (Birch, ut
sup.) Between 1661 and 1664, the king made several visits to the
society, and on those occasions experiments were exhibited, for the
preparation of which committees of the members were appointed. In
1663 his majesty bestowed a mace on the society, and in 1664 he
signed himself, in the Charter-book, its founder; at the same time the
duke of York (afterwards James II.) signed himself a fellow.
The Royal Society of London may now be said to have been com-
pletely formed, and it must be considered as the oldest of its kind in
Europe, if we except the Academy of the Lyncei at Rome. The
Académie Française, which, in 1635, had been established by Richelieu,
had for its object only the improvement of the French language; and
though, in 1657, a number of learned men, among whom were
Descartes, Gassendi, and Roberval, were accustomed to assemble at
the apartments of Père Mersenne in Paris, for the purpose of making
philosophical experiments, and of reading the solutions of such
mathematical problems as, according to the general practice of that
age, had been proposed to them, yet it was not till 1666 that Louis
XIV., at the suggestion of M. Colbert, founded what was then called
the Royal Academy of Sciences for purposes similar to those which
engaged the attention of the Royal Society. To the latter therefore
belongs the honour of having preceded the former in time, and
probably that of having in some measure led to its formation. It
must also be considered as having been the parent of the numerous
scientific institutions which have since been formed in the British
Isles as well as on the continent.
From the time of the charter being granted, the business of the
society assumed more importance, and in 1664 Mr. Hooke was
appointed curator, with a salary of 80l. per annum. The west gallery
of Gresham College was appointed as a repository for the instruments
which were under his charge, and for a museum of natural curiosities
which had been given by Mr. Colwal, one of the members. Sir John
Cutler also settled on Mr. Hooke 50l. per annum, in consideration of
his delivering a course of lectures on the History of Nature and Art,
under the regulation of the society; and the latter, in the same year,
formed itself into seven committees for the purpose of considering the
different subjects of which it was cognizant. These were mechanics,
astronomy and optics, anatomy, chemistry, agriculture, the history of
trade, natural phenomena; and there was, besides, a committee to
manage the correspondence. The Royal Society early received many
tokens of approbation from foreign nations, as well as from the
nobility and the learned in this country. It corresponded frequently
with the scientific men in France, and it was invited by Prince
Leopold, the brother of the grand-duke of Tuscany, to keep up a
mutual communication with the philosophers of Florence.
Germans published in their books favourable testimonials of its
labours, and foreigners of distinction often attended its weekly
meetings.
(
The
The first portion, or number, of the Philosophical Transactions,' as
the work which the society published was designated, appeared on
Monday, March 6, 1665. It contained sixteen quarto pages, with an
introduction by the secretary of the society, Mr. Oldenburg, who was
considered as the editor; and it was intended that one such number
205
206
ROYAL SOCIETY.
ROYAL SOCIETY.
should be published on the first Monday of every month. After the
fifth number came out (June, 1665), the public meetings of the
members were discontinued on account of the plague which then
raged; but it appears from a letter written by Mr. Boyle, at Oxford,
to Oldenburg, who remained in London, that several of the members
were then in the former city, and that they met and made experi-
ments at his lodgings. From these experiments and the communica-
tions made by some of the members, there were formed three more
numbers of the 'Transactions;' these were published at Oxford; but
the ninth and all the succeeding numbers came out in London. The
title of the work was changed in 1679 to that of Philosophical
Collections,' when Dr. Hooke became the editor; but the former title
was restored in January, 1683, with No. 143, which was published by
Dr. Plot, who was then the secretary.
The council met again in Gresham College, in February, 1666, but
the public meetings of the society did not take place till June in that
year. In the same year the great fire, which laid nearly all London in
ashes, having compelled the authorities of the city to take possession
of the rooms hitherto occupied by the society, the latter gratefully
accepted the offer of apartments in Arundel House, and it met there
for the first time in January, 1667. The munificent owner of the
mansion, Mr. Henry Howard of Norfolk (afterwards earl marshal of
England), at the same time presented the society with the library
which had been purchased by his grandfather, Thomas, earl of Arundel,
and which had formerly belonged to Matthew Corvinus, king of Hun-
gary. This valuable library, consisting of several thousand printed
volumes and numerous manuscripts, thus became the property of the
society, which immediately took measures to put it under the care of
its own officers, and it has been subsequently greatly increased by
donations and purchases. Being probably anxious to trespass as little
as possible on the hospitality of the noble family to whom the mansion
belonged, the society proposed (November, 1667) to raise, by subscrip-
tion among its members, money to build a college for itself; and by
May in the following year 1000l. were subscribed. Mr. Howard at the
same time generously promised to give the ground for the purpose.
The same gentleman also offered a design for the building, and both
Dr. Christopher Wren and Mr. Hooke gave plans; but it does not
appear that the project was carried any further. In October, 1674, at
the invitation of the Gresham professors, the society returned to its
former apartments in that college, which had now the name of the
Royal Exchange. The west gallery was cleared out for the society as
a repository, and the long gallery as a library for the reception of the
books, which had till then remained at Arundel House.
Soon after this time the prosperity of the society seems to have
suffered some diminution. In 1667, when Dr. Sprat's 'History' was
published, there were nearly 200 members; in 1673, it appears that
the number was only 146, and of these 79 were persons who had long
neglected to pay their subscriptions. This great number of defaulters
gave much uneasiness to those who wished well to the society; and
the latter, besides making pressing applications for the arrears, seriously
contemplated an attempt to enforce payment by legal processes. It
does not appear that this last measure was ever put in practice, and
the council adopted a more effectual means of promoting the welfare
of the society in charging themselves with the duty of delivering
lectures on philosophical subjects, and in providing a number of good
experiments. The first lecture, in pursuance of this plan, appears to
have been delivered in 1674, by Sir William Petty, and it was ordered
to be printed. The president (Lord Brouncker) also proposed, in 1668,
that a silver medal, worth about twenty shillings, should be given to
any fellow, not a curator, who should make before the society any
particularly meritorious experiment.
Dame Lady Sadleir, the relict of Dr. Croone, one of the earliest
members, left by her will, in 1706, a sum of money for the purpose of
founding a lecture for the advancement of natural knowledge, to be read
before the Royal Society; this did not however come into operation
till 1738, when the first was delivered by Dr. Stuart. The Bakerian
lecture on electro-chemistry was founded in 1774, and the first was
delivered in 1775, by Mr. Peter Woulfe.
In the infancy of the society a due attention to the characters of
the persons admitted as fellows does not appear to have been always
given; and, in consequence, many joined who neither paid the fees
nor contributed any information at the meetings, and, at the same
time, the number of those who were excused the payments was
found to bear too great a proportion to the whole. In order to remedy
these evils, in 1682, the president, Sir Christopher Wren, brought in
the draught of a statute in which it was provided that any person pro-
posing a candidate for admission should give his name to some mem-
ber of the council; at the next or at some following meeting of the
council, it was to be considered whether the proposed candidate was
likely to be useful to the society or not; if the members were satisfied
on this head, the candidate was to be formally proposed at the next
meeting, and afterwards balloted for as usual. On his election he was
to sign the statute book, and on or before being admitted, he was to
pay the prescribed fees. In the same year it was agreed that none
except foreigners should be exempted from the payments. It is to
be presumed that the persons who were excused the payment of the
admission-fees or the weekly subscriptions were such as, from the
pressure of their circumstances, were unable to incur the expense, or
such as, from the services which they rendered to the society, might
justly claim the exemption: among those who petitioned to be
excused on the former ground is to be found the name of Newton,
then resident at Cambridge.
It was proposed, in October, 1674, to refuse to strangers the per-
mission, which had been before granted, to be present at the meetings
of the society, from an opinion that members might be unwilling to
bring forward their communications in the presence of such persons.
And at the same time it was proposed that the members should bind
themselves not to divulge what passed in their meetings, it being
thought prejudicial to the interests of the society that the particulars
of the experiments and communications should be made known before
they appeared in the printed Transactions.' We read that, on one
occasion only, a lady was permitted to be present at the meetings of
the society; this was in 1667, when the Duchess of Newcastle, having
expressed a wish to that effect, it was agreed to invite her grace, and
some experiments, which had been prepared for the purpose, were
repeated in her presence.
By the death of Dr. Wilkins (then bishop of Chester), one of the
earliest members, the society obtained a legacy of 4001., which, in
January, 1675, was laid out in the purchase of an annual income of 241.
from certain fee farm rents at Lewes, in Sussex; and in January, 1682,
the college and lands in Chelsea, which had been granted to the society,
were sold to the king for 13007; this sum was soon afterwards vested
in African and East Indian stock, and from that time the society began
Till the year 1668 no fixed salary
to possess a permanent revenue.
was allowed to the secretary; but Mr. Oldenburg, who had long held
that post, received 50%. occasionally, and in that year it was agreed to
allow him 407. per annum. After his death (1677) two secretaries were
appointed, with salaries; but in 1685, Mr. Aston and Mr. Robinson
declining on a sudden to serve the society, the council resolved, in
order to avoid the inconvenience of being so deserted in future, to
have two honorary secretaries; it was agreed also to have a secretary
with a fixed salary to transact the business, and the qualifications
required in the person who should fill the latter post are stated at
length in Birch's History,' vol. iv. Of the former, Sir John Hoskyns
and Dr. Gale were the two first; and in January, 1686, Mr. Edmund
Halley was appointed the paid secretary, at 50l. per annum.
In 1701, the society, which till this time had continued to hold its
meetings in Gresham College, removed to a spacious house which it
purchased in Crane Court, Fleet Street. This house afforded room for
the meetings, for the library, and for the museum of curiosities; and
here the reading of papers and the exhibition of experiments took
place, as before, till the year 1782, when the government assigned to
the society apartments in Somerset House. On removing to the latter
place, it became necessary to dispose of the museum for want of room;
but this inconvenience was obviated in 1826, when the rooms formerly
used by the commissioners of the lottery were given up to the society.
The rooms in Somerset House were resumed by the government in
1857, other and more commodious apartments being granted in their
stead in Burlington House, Piccadilly.
➡
In 1703 Sir Isaac Newton was appointed president of the society,
and this honourable post was held by the greatest of philosophers till
his death, which happened in 1727. The experiments of Newton on
telescopes and on light and colours were amongst the first subjects
which gave a value to the Transactions' of the society; and the latter
showed its sense of the honour which it derived from being able to
number him among its fellows, by publishing in 1686, the first edition
of the 'Principia.' [PRINCIPIA.]
The service rendered to the cause of science from the beginning of
the 18th century has earned for the society the respect and gratitude
of every man to whom the advancement of the human intellect is an
object of high consideration. The society numbers among those who
are and who have been its members some of the brightest ornaments
of philosophy and human nature; and it may be said that a large pro-
portion of the discoveries by which the face of science has been
changed have been made known to the world through the papers
published in the volumes of its 'Transactions.'
C
It has been said above that the 'Philosophical Transactions' were at
first published in monthly numbers: these were afterwards collected into
volumes, and, from the commencement in 1665 to the year 1800, the work
consisted of 90 volumes. From that time a volume has come out annually,
and, up to the present year (1861), 150 volumes have been published.
It appears that, till the 47th volume was published, the printing
of the Transactions' was entirely the act of the several secretaries,
the society never interesting itself further in that matter than by
occasionally recommending the revival of the publication, when from
any circumstance it appeared to be suspended. But in 1752 a com-
mittee was appointed to consider the papers which were read before
the society, and to select such as should be judged most proper to
appear in the future Transactions,' and this practice has ever since
been followed. The society, however, constantly declares that it
never, as a body, gives its opinion on any subject, whether of nature or
art, which comes before it, the facts and reasonings stated in their
papers resting entirely on the credit and judgment of their respective
authors.
Honorary recompenses have been liberally bestowed by the society
on persons distinguished by their discoveries in pure science or in phi,
207
ROYAL SOCIETY.
losophy. The first occasion on which the society became possessed of
the means of so rewarding merit arose from a bequest of Sir Godfrey
Copley, one of its members; this gentleman, at his death in 1709, left
1007., the interest of which, or 57., was to be given annually to the
person who, in the course of the preceding year, had written the best
paper on any subject relating to experimental philosophy. The dona-
tion has since been put in the more liberal form of a gold medal, and
it is awarded indifferently either to foreigners or Englishmen, for the
sake of encouraging an honourable competition among the philosophers
of all countries.
In 1796, Sir Benjamin Thomson (Count Rumford) presented to the
£ociety 10007. in the 3 per cent. stock, for the purpose of forming, with
the interest for two years (607.), a biennial prize to be given for the
most important discovery, or the most useful improvement, made
during the two preceding years on heat or on light. The prize is given
in the form of a gold and a silver medal, both of which are struck in
the same die. During several of the biennial periods no opportunity
occurred of awarding the prize, and at these times the interest was
added to the principal sum. The interest of this additional sum is
always given with the two medals; and the first who received the
prize was Count Rumford himself, in 1800, and the second was
Professor Leslie (1804). In 1825 his Majesty George IV., for the pur-
pose of further promoting the objects and progress of science, made to
the society an annual grant of 100 guineas in order to establish two
prize medals, which are to be presented to the persons who during the
year shall make the most important discovery in science or art; and in
1826 the medals were awarded to Mr. John Dalton and Mr. James
Ivory.
On delivering to a gentleman the medal which had been awarded to
him for his discoveries in science, Sir John Pringle, who held the
office of president from 1772 to 1778, made it a rule to deliver a
speech, in which, after touching on the history of that branch of phi-
losophy to which the discovery or communication referred, he stated
the particular points in which the individual had distinguished himself.
The first of these speeches was made on presenting to Dr. Priestley
the gold medal for his paper entitled 'Observations on the Different
Kinds of Air,' which had been read before the society in March, 1772.
This liberal practice, by which the value of the testimonial to the
receiver is so much enhanced, is still continued; and it is also become
customary, at every anniversary meeting, to notice, in an appropriate
speech, the principal circumstances in the life of any distinguished
member who may have died during the year.
It is perhaps impossible that, in a large body of men engaged in
similar pursuits, differences should not arise; and the Royal Society
has not been entirely free from the evils attending disagreements
among its members. It will be enough to refer to the dispute about
the comparative advantages of blunt and pointed conductors for pro-
tecting buildings from the effects of lightning, which in 1778 arose to
such a height that the president, Sir John Pringle, felt himself com-
pelled to resign [PRINGLE, JOHN, in BIOG. Div.]; and to the accu-
sations at a later period against Sir Joseph Banks of partiality in the
disposal of the medals and even in the election of members. In the
first instance, the president may have erred in putting himself at the
head of a party in the society; but it is probable that most of
the grievances subsequently complained of originated mainly in the
disappointed expectations of ambitious individuals. If at any time,
however, the complaints have not been without foundation, the ele-
vated character of the papers which for many years have been published
in the 'Transactions' shows that the interests of science have been
generously placed above every private consideration.
RUBEOLA.
208
exempted from the obligations which ordinary fellows are enjoined to
perform; but their number is not to exceed fifty.
The council and officers for the ensuing year are elected on the 30th
of November; the latter consist of the president, treasurer, principal
secretaries, and foreign secretary. The new council consists of eleven
members of the existing council and of ten fellows who are not so.
These are nominated previously to the anniversary meeting.
The ordinary meetings of the society are held once a week, from
the third Thursday in November till the third Thursday in June, at
half-past 8 P.M., in the apartments at Burlington House.
ROYALTY. The French words roi and royal correspond to the
Latin words rex and regalis; and from royal has been formed royalté
(now royauté); whence has been borrowed the English word royalty.
The corresponding Latin word is regalitas, which occurs in the Latin
of the middle ages. (Ducange, in v.)
Royalty properly denotes the condition or status of a person of royal
rank, such as a king or queen, or reigning prince or duke, or any of
their kindred. [KING.] The possession of the royal status or con-
dition does not indicate that the possessor of it is invested with any
determinate political powers; and therefore royalty is not equivalent
to monarchy or sovereignty. The powers possessed by persons of royal
dignity have been very different in different times and places; and
have varied from the performance of some merely honorary functions to
the exercise of the entire sovereignty. The kings (avakтes, Baσiλñes)
of the Homeric age were properly a governing class of nobles. (See
Müller, 'Hist. of Liter. of Greece, ch. iv, § 1.) Thus Telemachus says
that there are many kings in Ithaca, both old and young, besides
himself (Od.', i. 394); and Alcinous says that he rules over the
Phæacians, with twelve other kings ('Od,' viii. 390). As popular
institutions were developed in Greece, the office of king became, in
several states, merely honorary, and was particularly connected with
the performance of certain ancient religious rites. Thus at Athens,
the king-archon (ǎpxwv Baoiλeds) was an annual officer, who had the
superintendence of religious affairs; his wife was called, during the
year of office, Baoiλioσa, or queen. (Compare Hermann, 'Gr. Ant.,
§ 56.) Rome likewise retained, after the expulsion of its-kings, a high
sacerdotal officer, named the king of the sacrifices (rex sacrificulus), who
performed the sacred rites which had formerly been performed by the
kings. In like manner the Teutonic kings were only the chiefs of the
military and sacerdotal aristocracy of the tribe, and did not possess
the entire sovereign power ("nec regibus infinita ac libera potestas,”)
says Tacitus,' Germ.,' 7. [KING.]
In popular discourse royalty is made equivalent to monarchy or sove-
reignty; and a king is called monarch or sovereign without any re-
ference to the fact whether he possesses the entire sovereign power
or only a portion of it.
It may be added, that the attribute of royalty is sometimes trans-
ferred metaphorically to certain animals or species of animals, in order
to denote pre-eminence. Thus the principal bee in the hive is called
the queen-bee; the lion is known (particularly in fables) as the king
of animals; and a species of tiger is styled the royal tiger. Compare
SoVEREIGNTY.
Royalty is also used to describe certain rights in property. Thus on
the working of mines of gold and silver in the United Kingdom, the
sovereign is entitled to a royalty, as is also the Prince of Wales, as
Duke of Cornwall, on the working of tin mines. The term is likewise
applied to the sum paid for the use of a patent or a copyright. -
RUBEFACIENTS are external agents which cause redness of the
part to which they are applied. If long continued, they may, according
to their nature, produce inflammation and some of its consequences.
In such circumstances they are termed BLISTERS, or ESCHAROTICS.
It is however a degree of action short of what entitles them to these
appellations which is now contemplated. Thus friction with the hand
or warm cloths often relieves spasmodic or neuralgic pains; and a hot
poultice or warm fomentations lessen inflammation of superficial or
even deep-seated parts. Embrocations, when of a stimulating kind,
act as rubefacients; and blisters kept in contact with the surface for
a short time only, cause redness of the part, and some remote secondary
effects of a very beneficial kind. Many cases of fever in the sinking
porary applications are termed, placed on different parts of the body,
particularly over parts where the skin is thin. Their action may be
expedited by previously rubbing the part with proof spirit or oil of
turpentine, or by using a portion of linen steeped in the acetum can-
tharidis instead of the common blister. By diligent employment of
such means many valuable lives may be saved.
Rubefacients are
also very usefully applied to the spine in many nervous, and some
cutaneous diseases.
According to the present statutes of the society, every candidate for
admission must be recommended by a certificate in writing signed by
six or more fellows, of whom three at least must certify that the
recommendation is from personal knowledge; and the name, qualifi-
cations, &c., of the candidate must be entered in a book kept for the
purpose. At the first ordinary meeting in March of each year a list of
the names of all candidates proposed subsequently to March 1 of the
preceding year, is suspended in the meeting-room till the day of
election; and a printed list is forwarded to every fellow of the society.
From this list the council select by ballot fifteen names to be recom-stage may be recovered by a succession of flying blisters, as these tem-
mended to the society for election. The election takes place on the
first Thursday in June, when the person elected must appear for
admission on or before the fourth ordinary meeting of the society
after his election; and previously to such appearance he must pay the
sum of 101. for admission money; he must also pay 41. per annum as
long as he continues a fellow of the society; but the annual payments
may be compounded for by paying at once the sum of 60%. Fellows
are entitled gratis to a copy of the Philosophical Transactions,' com-
mencing with that volume which is published next after their admission.
Any fellow disobeying the statutes or orders of the society or council,
or defaming the society by speaking, writing, or printing, or doing any-
thing detrimental or dishonourable to the society, will be ejected
from it.
A prince of the blood, a peer of the United Kingdom, a member of
the privy council, any foreign sovereign prince, or the son of such
prince, may be proposed at one of the ordinary meetings of the society
and voted for on the same day, notice having been given of such pro-
posal at the preceding meeting of the society. Foreign members are
RUBEOLA is the name given by Sauvages, in 1768, to the disease
known as measles [MEASLES]. He was followed by Willan, Bateman,
and other writers on exanthematous diseases. Previous to the time
of Sauvages the measles was called morbilli, a name which is at present
adopted by many medical writers. The term rubeola has been re-
cently applied by Dr. Copland and other writers, to a disease which
has been called by Hildebrand and other German writers Rötheln.
This disease possesses characters in common with measles and scarlet
fever, and is supposed to be a hybrid disease originating in the poisons
of these two diseases. However much such a theory may be open to
209
210
RUBERYTHRIC ACID.
RULE, RULER.
criticism, there seems to be no doubt in the minds of many writers
that the disease is very frequent, and that it is confounded with its
two parent diseases. The following definition of this disease is given
by Dr. Aitken, in his 'Science and Practice of Medicine.' "A specific
eruptive disease preceded by and accompanied with fever, watery dis-
charges from the eyes and nose, sneezing, and sore throat. The erup-
tion appears on the third or fourth day, and consists of crimson
stigmata, rapidly running together into patches of an irregular shape,
with obtuse angles, and of sizes varying from a threepenny to a crown
piece, according to the severity of the case. The eruption continues
from six to ten days, and terminates in desquamation by furfuraceous
scales."
-
The distinction between this disease and scarlet fever and measles
has been pointed out by Dr. Paterson of Edinburgh, and by Dr. Heim
of Berlin. The premonitory fever is longer than in scarlet fever, and
about the same time as measles; scarlet fever appearing on the second
day, rubeola and morbilli on the third or fourth. The rash is more
easily confounded with scarlatina than morbilli. It seldom however
is of a uniform red as in the first, and the spots are larger than in
measles. The eruption in scarlatina and measles remains but three
days, whilst in rubeola it remains from five to ten days. The sore
throat is a marked symptom of rubeola in its mildest forms, whilst
this symptom is very slight in mild cases of scarlatina, and altogether
absent in measles. Dropsy is a frequent attendant on scarlatina, but
very rare in rubeola, whilst affections of the lungs are common in
measles but not in rubeola.
Like scarlet fever it is sometimes a rapidly fatal disorder. The
treatment of this disease must be similar to that of scarlet fever. In
mild cases little needs to be done. [SCARLATINA; MEASLES.]
RUBERYTHRIC ACID. [MADDER, COLOURING MATTERS Or.]
RUBIACIC ACID. [MADDER, COLOURING MATTERS OF.]
RUBIACIN. [MADDER, COLOURING MATTERS oF.]
RUBIADIPIN. A resinous substance contained in madder root.
RUBIAFIN. [MADDER, COLOURING MATTERS OF.]
RUBIAN. [MADDER, COLOURING MATTERS Or.]
RUBIANIN. [MADDER, COLOURING MATTERS OF.]
RUBICHLORIC ACID. [MADDER, COLOURING MATTERS OF.]´
RUBINDINIC ACID. [INDIGO.]
RUBINIC ACID. [TANNIC ACIDS.]
RUBIRETIN. [MADDER, COLOURING MATTERS OF.]
RUBITANNIC ACID. [TANNIC ACIDS.]
RUBLE. [MONEY.]
RUBRIC (from the Latin ruber, red), a name given to the titles of
chapters in certain ancient law-books; and more especially to the rules
and directions laid down in our Liturgy for regulating the order of the
service. These, in both instances, were formerly written or printed, as
the case might be, for distinction's sake, in red characters, and have
retained the name though now printed in black.
RUDDER. [SHIP.]
RUDOLPHINE TABLES. [KEPLER, in BIOG. DIV.]
RUE (Ruta graveolens), a plant, native of the south of Europe,
intermediate between a herb and a shrub, of a peculiar yellowish-
green colour. Every part of it is marked by transparent dots, filled
with volatile oil. The leaves and immature fruits are officinal, and
owe their virtue to the volatile oil and a bitter extractive. The odour
is peculiar, strong, and penetrating; the taste intensely bitter, aromatic,
and stimulating. One hundred parts of the fresh herb dry into
twenty-two parts. The quantity of oil obtained by distillation with
water varies much according to the period of growth when it is col-
lected. Thirty pounds of the fresh herb before flowering scarcely
yield one drachm, while twelve pounds with the fruits almost ripe
yield nearly one ounce. Rue possesses powerful, stimulant, anti-
spasmodic, and tonic properties. The careless handling of the fresh
plant sometimes causes rubefaction and vesication, and its improper
employment internally has produced serious results. When judi-
ciously used, it is very serviceable in hysteria and other convulsive
disorders; but its incautious administration by nurses to infants should
be guarded against.
Oil of rue obtained from the fresh herb is green, from the dried
herb yellow. It has the peculiar odour of rue, and a bitterish, acrid,
cardamum-like taste. Its specific gravity is 0.911. It does not redden
litmus-paper. The oil met with in commerce is rarely genuine, being
an artificial compound of oil of turpentine with petroleum and oil
of rue.
The pollen of the flowers produces inflammation of the skin, and any
of it received into the eyes causes violent lachrymation and other painful
effects.
Rue is frequently cultivated as an ornamental plant, for which its
curiously cut leaves, their glaucous hue, and the profusion of fine dark
yellow flowers appcaring for several months in succession, adapt it
exceedingly well. It may be increased by seeds, slips, or cuttings.
The seed should be sown in March, and when the young plants are
two or three inches high they should be put out in nursery rows; but
propagating by slips or cuttings is best, especially for continuing
varieties, of which there are three or four.
RUFIGALLIC ACID. [GALLIC ACID.]
RUFIN. [PHLORIZIN.]
RUFINIOŘIC ACID. [TANNIC ACIDS.]
ARTS AND SCI, DIV. VOL. VII.
RULE OF THREE. (THREE, RULE OF.]
RULE (in Law) is an order of one of the three superior courts of
Common Law. Rules are either general or particular.
General rules are such orders relating to matters of practice as are
laid down and promulgated by the court for the general guidance of
the suitors; the power of issuing rules for regulating its practice being
considered incident to the jurisdiction of the court. By recent acts
of Parliament, the judges are authorised to make rules of a more com-
prehensive nature, relating as well to pleading as to practice. Formerly
each court issued its own general rules, without much consideration as
to what was the practice in other courts. Of late the object has been
to assimilate the practice in all the courts of common law.
Rules not general are such as are confined to the particular case in
reference to which they have been granted. Of these, some, which
are said to be "of course," are drawn up by the proper officers on the
authority of the mere signature of counsel, without any formal appli-
cation to the court; or in some instances--as upon a judge's fiat or
allowance by the master, &c.-without any signature by counsel;
others require to be handed in as well as signed by counsel. Rules
which are not of course are grantable on the application, or, as it is
technically termed, "the motion," either of the party actually interested
or of his counsel. Where the grounds of the motion are required to
be particularised, the facts necessary to support it must be stated in an
affidavit by competent witnesses. After the motion is heard, the court
either grants or refuses the rule. A rule, when granted, may, according
to the circumstances, be either "to show cause," or it may be "absolute
in the first instance. The term "rule to show cause," also called a
rule niși,” means that unless the party against whom it has been
obtained shows sufficient cause to the contrary, the rule, which is yet
conditional, will become absolute. After a rule nisi has been obtained,
it is drawn up in form by the proper officer, and served by the party
obtaining it upon the party against whom it has been obtained, and
notice is given him to appear in court on a certain day and show cause
against it. He may do this either by showing that the facts already
disclosed do not justify the granting of the application, or he may con-
tradict those facts by further affidavits. The counsel who obtained
the rule is then heard in reply. If the court think proper to grant the
application, or if no one appears to oppose it, the rule is said to be
made "absolute." If they refuse the application, the rule is said to
be "discharged."
>>
Rules may be moved for either in reference to any matter already
pending before the court, as for a change of venue in an action already
commenced, or for a new trial, &c.; or in respect of matters not
pending before the court, as for a criminal information, a mandamus,
&c.
A copy of a rule obtained from the proper officer is legal proof of
the existence of such a rule.
RULE, RULER. In a mechanical sense these words are both used
for a straight piece of wood, brass, or ivory, from which a straight
line is drawn on paper by guiding a pen or pencil along the edge.
These rules or rulers are convenient for the laying down of scales, on
which point see SCALE; SECTOR; SLIDING-RULE.
The word rule, in its more common sense, means a set of directions
for the attainment of any required object, and various rules will be
found in this work, scattered under many heads. The word rule is
generally dropped; thus we do not speak of the rule of addition, or
the rule of subtraction, but simply of addition or subtraction. In
some isolated cases the word rule is most usually retained, as in the
rule of three [THREE, RULE OF] and the rule of false. [FALSE
POSITION.]
A rule differs from an algebraical formula only in the language
employed; both the former and the latter indicate processes to the
mind. The rule describes its data at length, and requires many more
signs than the formula, which however is much more intelligible than
the rule, so soon as its symbols are well understood. For example,
when it is known that a, b, c are the units in the sides of a right-
angled triangle, the formula for determining c is—
c = √/ (a² + b²):
the rule is-To find the hypothenuse of a right-angled triangle,
multiply the number of units in each side by itself, add the products,
and extract the square root of the sum: this square root is the number
of units in the hypothenuse required. It might perhaps be thought
that the preceding rule might have been expressed more briefly, but
the practice of abbreviating the language of rules is almost sure to
destroy the sort of advantage which, in one point of view, they possess
over a formula. A rule should embody a description of the object
to be gained, and the process by which it is to be gained; it should
also point out the step at which it is gained, and everything necessary
to describe the result. It should even specify the case in which the
rule is to be used, or that in which it becomes necessary rather than
any other; and should be so complete in itself, that any reader of
that class to whom the book is addressed might learn all it teaches
(that is, everything but the demonstration) by reading only what conies
between the word RULE and the full stop at the end of it. Thus,
though we have described the preceding rule in words which some
persons may think too many, we should say that they are not too many
for the student who is somewhat of a mathematician, and too few for
P
3
1
211
RULER, PARALLEL.
the beginner. For the latter we should state as follows:-To find the
hypothenuse of a right-angled triangle of which the two sides are
given, reduce the two sides to the same denomination if necessary
(feet and decimals of a foot, inches and decimals of an inch, &c., as
most convenient), multiply the units in each side by itself, add the
results, and extract the square root of the sum this square root is
the number of such units in the hypothenuse as were used in the
expression of the sides.
If however many rules are to be learned, it would in all probability
be found more easy to learn the symbols of alegbra, that is, to learn to
read an algebraic expression and to use formulæ, than to recur
frequently to rules.
RULER, PARALLEL. A good form of this instrument is
explained under MARQUOI'S RULERS, which is particularly applicable to
the case in which numerous and related parallels or perpendiculars are
to be drawn. The ordinary instruments are of two kinds, which might
well be called parallel rulers and parallel rollers.
The principle of the common parallel ruler is a parallelogram of
constant sides and changeable angles: one side being fixed and the
angles altered, the other side changes position, it and its parallels
always remaining parallel to the first side and its parallels. Two
rectangular rulers are connected by two cross-bars of equal lengths,
which move on pivots in the rulers in such manner that the four pivots,
two in each ruler, shall be the four points of a parallelogram. The
line joining two pivots on the same ruler is always made parallel to
the length of the ruler. One ruler being held fixed, and a line drawn
with the edge of the other ruler in any position, then any motion
given to the other ruler by the rotation of the cross-bars gives, on the
edge of the moving ruler, a line parallel to the first line. The defects
of this construction are, that the four pivots may not make an accurate
parallelogram, in which case the instrument is worthless and the
sides of the two rulers, when the instrument is closed, may not be
parallel to one another, in which case all the lines must always be
taken off the same ruler. Moreover, one ruler remaining fixed, there
is but a small command of distance from it; so that, to gain the
parallel required, it may happen that the first ruler has to be advanced,
the second brought up to it, the first ruler advanced again, and so on.
Now, owing to the rotation of the pivots, this gives an oblique motion
to the instrument; so that it often happens, by the time that the
required parallel is gained, that the point through which it is to be
drawn is off the ruler. To meet this disadvantage, and to give the
instrument more extent, three rulers are sometimes put together, each
connected with the next by cross-bars in such manner that the cross-
bars connecting the first and second have an opposite revolution to
those connecting the second and third. At its best however this
instrument is rather clumsy; but, such as it is, it is safe and easily
earnt, when well made.
The simplest kind of roller is the common round ruler, which, with
a little practice, will draw parallels for ordinary use very well. It is
good practice in the use of instruments to draw parallels in this way;
the ruler being held in the middle and gently allowed to take its own
rolling motion. If a ring be well drawn round the ruler, it is good
practice in drawing perpendiculars to adjust the ruler so that the ring
may roll over the line to which perpendiculars are to be drawn. But a
roller which is more easily used is sold in all the shops. It consists of
an ordinary ruler of rectangular form, both edges of which are
bevelled and divided into equal parts: one side into inches and tenths,
the other into inches and twelfths; the inch divisions being made to
come exactly opposite each other. A roller is let into a space cut out
of the middle of the ruler, in such manner as to project a very little
way from the under and upper faces of the ruler. When the instru-
ment is put down on the paper, either of the bevelled edges may be
brought down on the paper, or both may be clear of it. In this last
case the roller (the efficient ends of which are toothed cylinders, the
middle part being in a frame) rolls easily, and additional stability is
given if, while it rolls, one of the bevelled edges be kept slightly on
the paper. The ends of the roller are graduated and a fixed index is
in the frame, so that by allowing equal numbers of divisions to pass
the index at each roll, a good approximation (though not quite with a
draughtman's accuracy) may be made to equidistant parallels.
Perpendiculars to a given line are drawn by adjusting the ruler so that
opposite divisions of the bevelled edges may travel on the given line.
With a very little practice this is an instrument of great power and
accuracy. Before using it, draw a line with it, roll it away, and then
roll it up again to that line, and see if the coincidence is as perfect as
before. Various other modes of trial will suggest themselves: indeed
no one should use a parallel ruler at all until he has drawn pairs of
parallels across each other, and satisfied himself that he can get the
opposite sides quite equal.
A rough construction of this kind was (perhaps is) sold under the title
of 'Schlesinger's Patent,' in which a round ruler of wood is simply con-
nected with a flat bevelled ruler, so as to carry it when it rolls. This
is meant to rule lines for writing, but it may be made to do good
service as a parallel ruler for other purposes.
RUM is a spirit distilled from the sugar-cane, that is, from cane-
juice; or from the scummings of the juice from the boiling-house; or
from treacle, or molasses; or from "dunder," the lees of former distil-
lations. What is called pinc-apple rum is not distilled from different
RUMB.
し
​212
substances: it is simply flavoured with slices of pine-apple put into the
puncheon. As the entire juice of the cane is not necessary for making
fum, the distillation is carried on in conjunction with the manufacture
of sugar.
The best rum is made from the uncrystallised syrup
called molasses. [MOLASSES.] The proportion of molasses made in
crystallising a cwt, of sugar varies from 50 to 90 gallons, and
depends both upon the climate and the season; being lowest in the
Leeward Islands, which have a dry climate, and highest in Demerara
and Trinidad. It is in the latter that in fine seasons the proportion
reaches 90 gallons per cwt. Nearly one gallon of proof rum may
be made from one gallon of molasses.
•
The rum consumed in the United Kingdom is entirely the produce
of the West Indies, and to a great extent of the island of Jamaica,
which is of a superior quality. For many years the home demand has
not taken off the whole supply; and the surplus, which consists chiefly
of the Leeward Islands rum, and other kinds of inferior quality, is
exported.
British spirits are said to be extensively sold for rum, the flavour
being imitated by the rectifier.
The equalisation of the duties on East and West India sugar,
by 6 Wm. IV. c. 26, rendered it expedient to give a practical equality
to all the products of the sugar-cane, without which the cultivation of
sugar plantations in India could not have been so profitably extended,
as the molasses would have been comparatively wasted. The rum con-
sumed in the navy is exempt from duty. That which we re-export is
chiefly sent to Germany, Prussia, Holland, Italy, and Australia. After
various changes in the mode of arranging the duty, it was determined
in 1847 that rum should pay the same amount of Customs' duty as
British spirits paid of Excise duty. There still remained a few
anomalies, arising out of the excise duty being unequal in different
parts of the United Kingdom; but this inequality was removed in
1858, and in 1860 the State was put in the receipt of 10s. 2d. per
gallon on all rum, gin, whiskey, and British spirit of every kind,
consumed in the United Kingdom; and an additional 3d. per gallon on
rum not the production of the country whence imported.
The rum imported in four equidistant years will show the recent
progress of the trade:-
1844
1849
1854
1859
3,120,010 gallons.
5,306,827
-8,625,907
6,878,587
""
>>
The computed real value in 1854 (the first year in which such values
were calculated by the Customs), was 1,490,6611.; from which the
values for the other years named may easily be calculated, supposing
the price to have remained unchanged. In looking at the above
numbers, it would seem as if rum had been rapidly increasing in con-
sumption in England about the year 1854; but such was not the case.
Of the whole quantity imported, only the following (in each year) was
retained for home consumption :--
1844
1849
1854
1859
2,198,592 gallons.
3,039,862 ""
3,226,594
3,575,679
The large excess beyond these quantities was either re-exported, or
consumed on shipboard.
RUMB or RHUMB. Vitalis (Lex Math.') calls this a Portuguese
word, and no doubt it might have been introduced into navigation by
the Portuguese, but we suspect it to be the Latin "rhombus;" he
says it signified originally the meridian, or the principal meridian of a
map; perhaps it came to signify this from such meridian being usually
ornamented by a distinctive rhombus, such as is added to the north
direction on a compass-card. However this may be, a rumb certainly
came to mean any vertical circle, meridian or not, and hence any point
of the compass; so that, in modern phraseology, a rumb is one of the
thirty-two principal compass directions, and to sail on any rumb is to
sail continually on one course. Hence a rumb-line is a line drawn in
the sphere, such as would be described by a moving point which always
keeps one course; it is therefore the spiral of Mercator's projection,
and is that which is also called the loxodromic spiral.
The mathematical properties of the rumb-line may be easily deduced.
Let r be the radius of the earth, λ, and ↳ the longitude and latitude of
R
A₁ P
A 2
A,, and A, and l, those of A, A and 7 being those of any intermediate
point P: and let s be the length of AP. If then we increase s by the
infinitely small arc-ds, increasing λ and at the same time by dx and
4

213
214
RUMICIN
RUNES.
dl, we have the differential triangle PQR, in which PQ=ds, PR=rdλ
RQ=rdl. cos λ, while the angle RPQ, which is the same throughout
the curve, may be called p. We have then ds. cos p=rdλ, or s. cos p
=r(^—λ₁) integrating from A, to P. Again, ds. sin p=rdl. cos λ,
so that the two equations give
αλ
cos A
=
dl cot p, or log cot
Π
(1 - 212)
4
212 ) = 1 cot p + 0 ;
the logarithm being Naperian, and the angles being arcually measured.
If L be the length of the arc of a degree of longitude at the equator,
and if we now use degrees, and extend the preceding integration from
▲¹ to A₂, we have—
r log
cot (45° — ^₂)
cot (45°—λ)
(12-1₁) L cot p;
an equation from which p can be found for any two places, that is,
the angle which the course in sailing from one place to the other makes
with the meridian. And instead of : L may be put its value 57-29578.
The distance from one place to the other on the rumb-line sailed over
may be found from s cos p=r (^₂—^₁), which, when A, and λ, are
measured in degrees, becomes s cos p=(A₂-λ) L, neglecting the small
correction for the earth's eccentricity.
1
The first of these processes can be done by Mercator's chart, the
principle of which, mathematically described, is as follows:-Let equal
arcs of longitude remain equal throughout the map, but as increments
of latitude are to their corresponding increments of longitude as 1 to
the cosines of the latitudes, let the differential triangle PQR be similar
in the chart to that on the sphere, which gives a da: cos λ, for the
representation of dλ on the chart, provided a represent the length of
the degree of longitude on the chart. Hence a log cot (45°-A) is the
length of a degrees of latitude measured from the equator; and
a table of values of log cot (45° — A) is called a table of meridional
parts.
In such a chart all rumb-lines are projected into straight lines; but
equal parts on any such straight line do not represent equal distances
on the earth and the distance sailed must be found by the formula in
terms of the extreme latitudes and the angle of the course.
RUMICIN. [CHRYSOPHANIC ACID.]
:
RUNES, the letters of alphabets in use amongst the ancient Gothic or
Teutonic nations of the north of Europe. The word has been derived
variously from ryn, the Gothic for "to cut;" rin, or ren, "a furrow,"
or "channel," from the resemblance of the letters to those objects;
raunen, the German for " to whisper;" and ryne or rún, a mystery
or secret art." The two latter derivations are based upon the idea
that the Runic characters were taught perfectly only to the priests and
ministers of religion; or that they were used as lots when inscribed on
small sticks or stones, which, when shaken together and drawn out,
served for purposes of augury and divination.
|
Oriental origin, is more correct than that of those who suppose them
to have been derived from the Greek or Roman alphabets, although
there is but little doubt that they became afterwards modified by the
introduction of Greek and Roman characters.
The three classes into which Runic letters and inscriptions may be
divided are, 1, the Scandinavian or Norse; 2, the German; 3, the
Anglo-Saxon; and of these each has its own peculiar alphabet. The
origin of the first of them is, as has been already observed, involved in
considerable -obscurity; the second stands between the ancient
Northern, or Scandinavian, and the Anglo-Saxon, and is thus con-
sidered by Grimm to have sprung from the former, and to have been
sidered by Grimm to have sprung from the former, and to have been
the parent of the latter. The Anglo-Saxon Runes were in all probability
derived from the Marcomannic or Norman runic alphabets, that is, from
the characters used by the Nordalbingii, or Saxons north of the Elbe,
who were the progenitors of the Anglo-Saxon race. The Marcomannic
Runes resemble the Anglo-Saxon, but they do not at all resemble the
Norse in form; but all the three nations agreed in attributing the
primary invention of Runes to Woden (the Mercury of the Anglo-
Saxons), and all of them shared in the belief of the magical properties
and powers appertaining to and supposed to be inherent in runic
letters and inscriptions.
The fact that Runes were generally considered to have been the
invention of a pagan deity, that they were used by pagan priests and
prophetesses for purposes of augury and divination, and that these
priests and prophetesses were regarded by the people with religious
veneration and awe, accounts for the proscription of Runes by the
primitive Christian priesthood throughout Europe. Hence the Christian
missionaries laboured everywhere to introduce Greek or Latin characters
and endeavoured with the utmost zeal to suppress Runes. Notwith-
standing this, however, Runic characters were used in England at the
very earliest period after the introduction of Christianity, for Christian
inscriptions-a circumstance that is incontrovertibly proved by those
discovered at Bewcastle in Cumberland, and Hartlepool in North-
umberland, and elsewhere. This has been accounted for by the
supposition that the earliest converts to Christianity were the pagan
priests themselves, and that they, knowing the really worthless
character of Runic letters, had not the slightest objection to using
them, either by themselves, or in combination with Roman or other
letters, either in manuscript or for inscriptions. It is said, however,
that by the year 1001 the Runic characters were quite laid aside in
Sweden, and were officially condemned in Spain at the council of
Toledo in 1115.
The Norse Runic alphabet consisted of sixteen letters, called re-
spectively, fé, ur, thurs, os, reid, kaun, hagl, naud, is, ar, sol, tyr, biörk,
laugr, madr, yr, and answering in sound to our letters f, u, th, o, r, k,
h, n, i, a, s, t, b, l, m, y; from which it will be seen that there were
no letters corresponding to our d, e, g, p, q, v, w, X, Z. Hence the sign
of k acted also for g, d for t, b for p, u and y for v. O was expressed
By some writers the invention of Runes has been ascribed to Ulphilas, by au; and e by i, a, ia, or ai. H was sometimes used as a substitute for
a Gothic bishop, who flourished about A.D. 350; but more modern investi-gor gh, and u for o or y. Yr and or or ur were used as the final r. When
gations have shown that they were far anterior to his time. The cir- the insufficiency of the Runic alphabet became apparent, the letters
cumstance which led to the supposition that Ulphilas had inventede, g, P, v were added, but they received no special names as the old
Runes, arose from the fact that he introduced Greek characters among letters did, nor were they expressed by any new signs, but were mere
the Goths. These he amalgamated with the already existing Runic modifications of the old characters i, k, b, f. This alteration was
letters, and formed an alphabet which is now known as the Masogothic, effected by means of one or more dots added to the original letter, and
as the Latin characters introduced into England, probably by Augustine, the new characters were called stungnar runir, or "dotted Runes."
are known as the Anglo-Saxon. Others again have attributed to the And lastly, when the Roman alphabet became general throughout the
Runes a Roman origin; but Tacitus says that the Teutonic tribes North, new characters were formed for expressing the sounds of ae,
possessed letters of the alphabet when the Romans first became oe, ue, and the letters c, q, x, and z; but these cannot be regarded as
acquainted with them, although he calls them "secreta literarum," genuine Runes, and the same remark will apply to the three double
and thus seems to intimate that the knowledge of letters and their Runes, al, mm, and tt.
powers was confined to certain classes only of the people. Moreover
the pure Runic alphabet consists only of sixteen letters, and these have
nothing in common, either in their names or order, with the Greek,
the Roman, or the Gothic characters of Ulphilas. The probability is
that, according to the opinion of Fr. Schlegel, the alphabet was origin-
ally introduced amongst the inhabitants of the coasts of the Baltic by
the Phoenician merchants who traded there; that it was only revealed
partially to the general body of the people, whilst the priests reserved
the full knowledge of it to themselves, in order to establish their claim
to superior power and intelligence by the exercise of magic arts and
the employment of mystic signs. These signs were frequently cut
upon smooth sticks, called rûn-stafas, mysterious staves, and were used
for the purpose of divination and priestcraft.
There is a legend which attributes the invention of Runes to the god
Odin or Woden, and which states that he migrated from Asia about
the time of the invasion of Darius Hystaspes (B.O. 508); and, having
settled in Scandinavia, established temples, a priesthood (to whom he
communicated the Runic letters, together with the mythology of the
Edda), and became both the legislator and civiliser of the north of
Europe. Others again place the migration of Odin at the period of the
overthrow of Mithridates by Pompey (B.C. 66), and assert that he fled
from the country of the Caucasus, settled in Upsala, and, having
distributed Norway, Denmark, and Gothland amongst his sons, was
worshipped as a god after his death. Notwithstanding the obscurity
of these myths, they seem undoubtedly to point to the fact that the
pure Runes were introduced into the North from the East, and that the
opinion of Grimm, Schlegel, and those who attribute to them an
|
The Runic alphabet was also used to express numerals, the old letters
being employed as far as sixteen; the double letters, al, mm, and tt,
for seventeen, eighteen, and nineteen; twenty, and over that, being
expressed by two letters: for example, thurs, thurs=30, thurs, thurs,
os=34. The Runic characters were most commonly written from left
to right, and are seldom found running from right to left. Sometimes
they are written from the top to the bottom, and then turn up again;
sometimes from left to right, and so back to the left again; and
numerous examples of them, written in various ways, may be seen
engraved in the Archæologia,' especially in vol. 28, pp. 338-9.
Runic inscriptions or writings were divided into different classes,
from the subjects of which they treated. Thus, Runes imprecating
wrath or vengeance upon enemies were called noxious or bitter Runes;
those which were used for deprecating misfortune or disgrace were
styled propitious Runes; those which invoked victory were known as
victorious Runes, and those which applied to the healing art were
medicinal Runes. All these Runes were considered powerful in pro-
ducing the effect sought by them; and they were consequently
employed, not only for the purposes mentioned, but also as antidotes
against poison, as love charms, as efficacious in preventing accidents by
land or sea, as dispellers of unhappy thoughts and gloomy forebodings,
as foretellers of future events, as guards against the evil eye and the
jealousies and snares of enemies-in a word, for whatever end might
be desired for the person who inscribed them. In order, however, to
render them suited to their respective purposes, various ceremonies
were observed in writing them, each kind of Rune having its proper
material and place for inscription; the shapes of their arrangement
215
RUPTURE.
being those of serpents, circles, triangles, and similar mystic figures,
according to the event which they were intended and expected to bring
to pass.
Below is the Norse Runic alphabet. The reader is referred to
vol. xxviii., pp. 338, 350, 352, 366, of the 'Archæologia,' for examples
of various forms of Runic letters and inscriptions, which are inserted
in an able essay of the late John M. Kemble upon Anglo-Saxon Runes.
Kaun Hagl -Naud
Fé
Ur
Thurs
Y
*
Os
Reid
R
1
k
h
Madr
B
Y
1
m
f
u
th
Is
Ar
Sol
Tyr
A
8
t
RSS f
a
个
​"-་་
Biörk Laugr
b
А
n
Yr
y
Runic inscriptions exist upon rings, medals, coins, monumental
stones, croses, and sides of rocks, and a curious one may be seen upon
a sword-blade in the Department of Antiquities in the British Museum.
They have been discovered in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, in parts of
the British Isles, Germany, France, and Spain, in fact wherever the
Teutonic race settled itself during the early period of its migrations in
the 4th and 5th centuries after Christ.
The most useful information with regard to Runes and Runic inscrip-
tions will be found fully given in Planta's Essay on the Runic or
Scandinavian Language;' Olaus Wormius, 'Lexicon Runicum;' W. C.
Grimm's work, Uber Deutsche Runen;' Mallet's 'Northern Anti-
quities; Hicke's 'Thesaurus Linguæ Septentrionalis ;' articles in the
Archæologia,' the Journal of Philosophical Transactions,' and several
other philological journals, in which the references required will be
found by consulting their respective indexes.
>
RUPTURE. [HERNIA.]
RURAL DEAN. [DEAN.]
named.
RURAL ECONOMY. The whole subject of agriculture, with
all its details, might properly be discussed under this heading:
most of it is, however, referred to piecemeal in the various agri-
cultural articles which will be found throughout the Cyclopædia,
and it remains here to do little more than enumerate those more
general relations of country life, and of the several classes interested
in the ownership and cultivation of the land, which have not yet been
The common weal depends in great measure on these relations
tending to the highest productiveness of the land. We want wealthy
landowners in order that any hindrance to the proper cultivation of
the land, which stagnant water, defective farm-buildings, and poor
cottages present, may be removed. We want enterprising, intelligent,
and wealthy farmers, in order that a good machine, which an estate
properly equipped undoubtedly is, may be worked to its utmost capa-
bilities; and we want steady, domestic, intelligent, and well-condi-
tioned labourers, because without them it is impossible to carry out
the cultivation of the land perfectly.
Under the first head the legislature has granted facilities to the
owners of land, and even to the owners of a limited interest in it-as
in the case of the life-tenants of settled estates-for borrowing money
on land in order to the execution of such works as may tend to its
permanent improvement, in the way of draining, roads, fences, farm
buildings, cottages, &c.; and there are many companies and associa-
tions prepared to carry out such improvements, in return for a
rentcharge on the property during a sufficient term of years for their
repayment. The legislature has not yet, however, conferred all the
facilities required; for landowners are often disabled by the refusal
of neighbouring proprietors to concur in schemes for their mutual
benefit. This is especially the case where an outfall is needed for the
drainage of the property, and can only be obtained through the fields
of another. A refusal by a neighbouring proprietor can at present
be overruled only by an exceedingly costly and litigious process, and
no such difficulties ought to exist in the way of anything which
so much concerns the general interest. It is anticipated that a measure
will, during the current session of parliament (1861), be introduced by
government for granting the facilities required.
Leaving the subject of the relations of landowners to each other,
we come to those existing between them and the tenantry on their
estates. Under this head the relative merits of tenancy-at-will and of
leases for periods of varying duration, of the provisions for ensuring
to the tenant the return of all his property spent in cultivation in
the event of his leaving, and the conditions generally under which
land is "let" to the cultivator of it, would need to be con-
sidered. But on these points we have merely to remark in general,
that provision for the security of the tenant's capital when invested
on another's land is obviously necesary to the prosperity of
agriculture. Such provision is in many districts believed to exist
in a long family connection between owners of land and their
tenantry, which neither of them willingly break, though instances
every now and then occur to show the instability of such arrange-
ments; it is made by so-called "tenant-right" agree.
ci
RUSHES.
210
ments, which, co-existent with the right of the owner to give his
tenant six months' notice to quit, ensure that the latter should receive
on leaving a certain proportion of his expenditure under many different
heads, varying in quantity with the period which has elapsed since
such expenditure has been incurred. This is the system which pre-
vails in Lincolnshire, and under which large portions of that county
have wonderfully increased in fertility. The most efficient way, how-
ever, in which the property of the tenant is secured to him, is by a
lease of the land for a sufficiently long period to ensure the full fruition
of all his plans of improvement and good cultivation. It is in this way
that Scottish agriculture is generally so good and Scottish rents are
so high.
Lastly, there exists the relation between the labourer and his em-
ployer, on which good agriculture very materially depends. The
landlord should provide adequate cottage accommodation, and it is the
interest of the farmer to attach his labourers to him by personal interest
in their welfare, by the payment of wages according to the real merit
of the men, and the value of the work they do, rather than by a com-
mon rate per diem, including all alike without regard to differences of
merit, and thus discouraging individual effort at improvement. The
adoption of the allotment system, by which each cottager becomes, at
a moderate rent, the tenant of a large garden, either close to his
dwelling or in common-field, along with all the others in the village,
has the best influence on the character and comforts of the labourer.
"
RUSH; RUSHES. This material, which is used to some small
extent in the arts, is the Equisetum hyemale. The stem is very rough,
with from fourteen to twenty slender furrows. It is a native of
England, Scotland, and Ireland, as well as the continent of Europe;
but is almost unknown in the middle and southern English counties,
and is only sparingly distributed anywhere. It appears to possess
tannin, and to act as an astringent. It is supposed to be injurious to
cows, and is said to cause their teeth to drop out; but horses eat it
with impunity. This plant, more than any other species, is used for
the purposes of polishing. Lightfoot says, that in Northumberland
the milk-maids scour their pails with it. Rush is also used for the
purpose of polishing wood, bone, ivory, and various metals, particularly
brass. It is brought into this country from Holland, where it grows
abundantly, and is sold in the shops of London under the name of
Dutch Rush.
The well-known rushes of country places belong to a different genus of
plants from the Dutch rush. They come under the genus Juncus; of
which one species, the common soft rush, is to be found in most moist
pastures, by the sides of streams, and under hedges. In some districts
these rushes are used by the poor as a substitute for candles. They
are gathered in summer and autumn; the largest and longest being
deemed the best. They are kept in water until they are to be peeled;
which process consists in divesting the rush of its peel or rind, so as to
leave one regular narrow rib from top to bottom, to support the pith.
The rushes are then bleached on the dewy grass, and dried in the sun.
These rush-piths are finally dipped into any kind of fat or grease, until
they acquire a coating analogous to that of a candle. In the bacon
districts of Hampshire, hog's fat is employed for this purpose. When
White wrote his well-known Natural History of Selbourne,' he
strongly recommended this feature in domestic economy; but it is
possible that the cheapening of candies has lessened the relative
advantage of the more primitive system. Rushes are, however, more
ordinarily used for plaiting into mats and chair-bottoms, and for con-
structing small toy baskets. The wicks of rushlights are made of
the pith.
RUSH-BEARING, another name in some parts of England for the
country wake. It appears that in ancient times the parishioners brought
rushes at the Feast of Dedication, wherewith to strew the church,
and from that circumstance the festivity itself obtained the name of
Rush-bearing. The country wake occurs by this name in the glossary
of the Lancashire dialect. In the parish accounts of St. Margaret's, West-
minster, is this item, under the year 1544 :-"Paid for rushes against the
Dedication Day, which is always the first Sunday of October, 1s. 5d."
Notices of the custom of rush-bearing, as used in various parts of
Derbyshire, will be found in Glover's History and Gazetteer of that
county, vol. i. (Brand's 'Popular Antiq.,' vol. i.)
RUSHES are well-known plants which appear in all soils, especially
those which are fertile, when the water which cannot be evaporated
remains in a stagnant state under the surface. They are most common
on moist meadows with a retentive subsoil; and as they not only occupy
a space which might produce good herbage, but also greatly deteriorate
the hay with which they are mixed, every means to destroy them are
employed by industrious farmers. Formerly in this, as in most other
instances of defect in the soil, only a temporary remedy was generally
thought of. The rushes were mown down at particular times of the
year, alkaline ashes and salt were spread over them, and in some cases
they were destroyed by pouring boiling water on the roots. But all
these only killed the individual rushes, without removing the imme-
diate cause of them, or correcting the stagnation of water which
invariably reproduced them. The only effectual cure for rushy grounds
is a complete system of draining. The truth of this assertion is so
generally admitted, that it is unnecessary to dwell upon it. Wherever
the land can be effectually under-drained, rushes will generally dis-
appear as by magic. If they are strongly established in the soil, it
·
217
218
RUSSIAN CHURCH.
RUSTIC WORK.
may take some time before they completely die away, even after
drainage, at least in pastures which are not broken up; but if the land
is ploughed and has a proper tillage, they will not survive the first
year. In rich old meadows, which it would not be prudent to plough
up, they may be destroyed by mowing them when they are in bloom,
and immediately spreading ashes or salt over the place where they
grew. This repeated twice will clear the ground entirely, and the
draining will prevent their reappearing.
In heavy grounds which have been laid up in high ridges without
thoroughly draining the land, and sown with grass-seeds to remain in
pasture two or three years, it is not uncommon to see every interval
between the stetches filled with rushes, especially if the land be
reduced in fertility by overcropping. This indicates a wet subsoil,
and suggests under-draining; but the rushes are often caused by the
very roundness of the ridges, which is supposed to keep the land dry,
but which accumulates the water in the furrows. If the land had
been laid quite flat, it might have been too wet to produce good crops
of wheat, but rushes would not have appeared. In very flat meadows
rushes are only found where the land lies very low, with an impervious
subsoil, or a want of inclination in the surface to carry off the super-
fluous water. What might at first sight be considered as an anomaly,
is yet perfectly true-no rushes are found in the best water-meadows,
although they are for a considerable portion of the year entirely soaked
in water; but the water is never allowed to stagnate for a moment,
and is always kept running on and off.
The great advantage which has been obtained by the system of
thoroughly draining compact soils, or those which rest on impervious
subsoils, has induced proprietors and farmers of land to employ their
capital in this most certain of all improvements, and the consequence
will be, that in a few years rushes will only be seen in those low and
unprofitable spots from which the water cannot be drawn off by
drains, and where they will supply some small resource to the maker
of mats and the repairer of rush-bottomed chairs.
RUSSIAN CHURCH. [GREEK CHURCH.]
RUST, in the common acceptation of the term, is the red pulverulent
substance which is formed on the surface of iron when exposed to air
and moisture. It is an oxide of iron, and in point of fact other metallic
oxides may be considered as rusts of the peculiar metals which they
contain; the term is however limited in application to the red oxide
or per- or sesqui-oxide of iron. [METALS. Iron, peroxide of.]
RUSTIC or RUSTICATED WORK, in architecture, a species of
decoration for walls, wherein the joints between the courses, and
between the separate stones in each course, are strongly defined by
sunk channels or grooves. Although an imitation of what would in
itself be offensive, and therefore at first apparently quite at variance
with good taste, this mode is only a legitimate, artistical, or æsthetical
imitation, suggested by accident or defects. The expression, originally
derived from rudeness and coarseness of execution, from large stones
irregularly put together, without their edges being smoothed and
fitted to each other, is here only partially retained so as to indicate
boldness and strength, and also a certain attention to finish and to
regularity in the symmetrical arrangement of the courses and stones.
There is a studied intention manifested, which prevents our con-
founding the imitation with what furnished the hint for it. In reality
rustication contributes in an eminent degree to richness of surface,
and it was accordingly frequently employed by the ancients-by the
Romans at least, not only in those works which were characterised by
massiveness and by a certain degree of rudeness, such as amphitheatres,
bridges, &c., but on the exterior of temples and other edifices, on
which the most finished decoration was bestowed. For not only does
rusticating the face of the walls occasion contrast, and thereby tend to
set off columns or pilasters to greater advantage, but the lines and
shadows so produced remove that blankness which might otherwise
attend too much uniform plain surface.
Besides being different from plain masonry, rustication admits of
great variety, both in regard to design and execution, and of great
diversity of character, from severity and heaviness to studied elegance.
The most obvious distinction is that arising from the surfaces of the
rustics, according as they are either plain or rough; and if the former,
they may be either smooth, or hammer-dressed, that is, left slightly
chipped; else tooled, or with the marks of the chisel. Or if intended
to be rough, the rustics may be vermiculated, hatched, or frosted.
The first of these modes is produced by cutting deep hollows
into the surface, the second by making it jagged and rugged, while
the third consists in giving a delicate crispness like frost-work to
the stone.
As regards jointing, there are two modes: one in which the channels
between the stones are grooved, or form rectangular sinkings; the
other in which they are chamfered, that is, the edges of the stones are
bevelled off in such manner that the section of the joints forms a
rectangular triangle. Neither are the above by any means all the
varieties, as will be seen by some examples at the end of this article,
which cannot be very well explained without cuts. Great variety of
character and design may further be produced by an intermixture of
the different modes, for instance, by smooth and rough rustics to-
gether, or by different kinds of rusticating for different stories, the
bolder and coarser being placed below and the more delicate above.
rusticated work. The Florentine style-which, it may be observed, is
the direct antithesis of the Palladian-shows what may be accom-
plished by little more than rustication alone. If it be severe, it is also
simple, yet rich and dignified.
- In this country we have very few examples of rusticated work upon
a grand scale: for here it is almost entirely confined to basements. It
is scarcely ever employed as the general decoration of an entire front,
except it be occasionally for prisons, for which it is certainly appro-
priate, though it does not therefore follow that it is unsuitable where
richness and magnificence are more required than severity.
Much of the beauty of rusticated fronts depends upon the form and
proportions of the arches or openings, and on the arrangement, &c., of
the rustics which form the voussoirs either to arched or straight-headed
windows. Occasionally, moulded archivolts are substituted for
radiating voussoirs, but the effect is not good, because they cut the
horizontal joints of the courses very disagreeably; which, it may be
observed, is likewise the case where the voussoirs form an extrados
either concentric with the arch, or making a more elevated curve, as in
most of the Florentine examples. It is far better to make the voussoirs
elbowed, so as to unite with the horizontal courses, whereby the whole
looks firmly bonded together. Sometimes imposts to arches are
omitted altogether, or if there be such member, it is usually a mere
plat-band, although occasionally it is moulded. In arches the keystone
may either be similar or distinguished from the other voussoirs; which
last may be done in a variety of ways, although the most usual one is
to cut it into the form of a console, or else enrich it with a mask
sculptured upon it, of which kind are the keystones to the arches of
the Strand front of Somerset House, representing the nine principal
rivers of England, personified as old men. Bossages is a term more
particularly applied to rusticated cinctures on the shafts of columns,
which may be either square or cylindrical, but should not greatly
exceed the diameter of the shaft itself, more especially in the former
case, Columns of this kind ought invariably to be engaged, and the
wall behind them of course rusticated also. In such case the cinctures
serve as ligatures to bind and incorporate them with the rest, whereas
insulated columns with blocks upon their shafts are equally unmean-
ing and uncouth. The same remark applies to rustic blocks stuck at
intervals upon the architraves of doors and windows, as, for instance,
those of St. Martin's Church, London, although there is no rusticating
in that building. Of columns with bossages or rusticated cinctures,
the two arches within the court of Somerset House are a tastefully-
designed and well-executed example.
The following are some of the varieties of rusticating above referred
to, drawn sufficiently large to show the precise form and section of the
joints or grooves :-
No. 1. Rustics with rectangular joints or channels.
No. 1.

Rustics of this kind have always plain faces. French or horizontal
rusticating, without vertical joints, has generally rectangular channels;
this sort of rusticating, or pseudo-rusticating with horizontal joints
No. 2.

Italian architecture presents many fine studies and examples of only, has in t is country been still further impoverished by making
219
RUSTIC WORK,
the channels broad and shallow, and the courses so deep that there are
only a few horizontal streaks along the face of a wall.
No. 2 is an instance of chamfered joints and vermiculated rustics,
bordered, that is, having a plain surface around their faces.
No. 3 shows an example of Florentine rusticating with moulded
channels, the effect of which is particularly rich. One of the rustics
is facetted in the cut, in order to give an example of that mode in
rusticated quoins.
No. 3.
RUTIC GROUP.
220
dado to the building. This example is from the same building as the
preceding.
No. 5 shows one-half of a rusticated arch having elbowed voussoirs
running into the-horizontal courses.
No. 6 represents half of another arch with voussoirs whose extrados
form an eccentric curve from that of the arch itself, or else a pointed
arch, while the intrados form a semicircular one.
No. 6.


HOODTIMONIODIE
ANHUNÚTAVDALJE MNONU
No. 4.
No. 5.
KUNQUVONTUØNDAG
No. 4 is another mode peculiar to the Florentine style, in which the
rustics are facetted, or cut so as to form four triangular surfaces. It
is not used throughout, but only in the lower course, forming a sort of
RÚTAMIDE. [RUTIC GROUP.]
RUTATES. [RUTIC GROUP.]
RUTH, BOOK OF, an acknowledged canonical book of the Old
Testament, though Bertholdt and some other German writers have
considered it a fiction or parable. The history of Ruth seems to have
been inserted in the sacred canon as a necessary link in establishing
the pure genealogy of David, and consequently of the Messiah; and
perhaps also to furnish a record of the fact that one of the Messiah's
ancestors was a Gentile, thus intimating the truth that the Gentiles
were to have a part in the highest privileges of the Jews. In the
ancient Jewish canon this book forms a part of the Book of Judges,
because the events recorded in it happened during the rule of the
Judges. Its exact date is however uncertain, but most probably the
famine mentioned in verse 1 is that which happened in the time of
Gideon, about B.C. 1241. It is generally supposed to have been written
by the prophet Samuel. The style is marked by a touching simplicity,
and some parts of it are very pathetic, (The Introductions of Jahn,
Eichhorn, De Wette, and Horne; Umbreit, Ueber Geist und Zweck des
Buches Ruth, 1834.)

[RUTHENIUM.]
*
RUTHENIC ACID.
RUTHENIUM (Ru). This metal was shown to exist in platinum
ores by Clauss in 1845. According to Deville and Debray, who have
specially studied the metals associated with platinum, ruthenium may
be prepared from the native osmide by mixing it, in fine powder, with
three parts of binoxide of barium and one of nitrate of baryta; heating
the whole to redness in a crucible for an hour; treating the product
with hydrochloric, nitric, and sulphuric acids consecutively; precipi-
tating with chloride of ammonium; igniting the precipitate;__ and
finally fusing the residue with nitrate and hydrate of potash. From
the rutheniate of potash thus formed, the teroxide of ruthenium, or
ruthenic acid (RuO3), may be precipitated by carbonic or nitric acids,
and then reduced to the metallic state by heating in a current of
hydrogen.
Ruthenium is only fusible with extreme difficulty. It has a blackish-
brown surface, and is hard and brittle like iridium. Its specific gravity
is 11 to 114, and its equivalent 52.11.
Ruthenium and oxygen unite in four different proportions. Protoxide
(RuO); sesquioxide (Ru,03), the most stable of these oxides, formed
on igniting the metal in a current of air; binoxide (RuO,), obtained by
roasting and igniting the bisulphide; and ruthenic acid (RuO,), pre-
pared as already described.
Ruthenium and sulphur. The sulphides of this metal are probably
as numerous as the oxides, but they are very difficult of preparation.
Ruthenium and chlorine form three compounds. The protochloride
(RuCl) results from the ignition of the metal in chlorine gas; it is
insoluble in water or acids. The sesquichloride (Ru, Cl,) is formed on
dissolving the sesquioxide in hydrochloric acid; and the bichloride
(RuCl₂), which exists as a rose-coloured double salt with chloride of
potassium.
The salts of ruthenium are chiefly those of the sesquioxide. They
have a yellow colour, and alkalies re-precipitate from their solutions
the sesquioxide as a black powder. A sulphate, containing RuO,,2SO3,
has been obtained.

RUTIC ACID. [RUTIC GROUP.]
RUTIC GROUP. A cluster of chemical substances containing the
electro-negative radical rutyl (C20H190.).
221
222
RUTILE.
RYE-GRASS.
Hydride of rutyl (С20H1902, H) rutie or Capric aldehyd. This body
forms the greater part of the volatile oil of the common rue. [RUTA,
graveolens, in NAT. HIST. DIV.] Its specific gravity is 837; boiling
point from 442° Fahr. to 446° Fahr.; vapour density 5.83. It crystal-
lises in transparent plates at a few degrees below the freezing
point of water; gives crystalline combinations with the alkaline bisul-
phites; is but little acted upon by sulphuric or hydrochloric acids,
but is converted into rutic acid when placed in contact with nitric
acid.
Rutie acid (C20H2004) or capric acid. This acid may be obtained
from sources other than just mentioned. It is one of the products of
the saponification of butter; it may be formed by the action of nitric
acid upon oleic acid; it is contained in small quantity in cocoa-nut oil,
and is also found in the oily matters that accompany the distillation
of Scotch whiskey. From the latter source it is most conveniently
obtained, though the operation is tedious and somewhat difficult.
Rutic acid is crystalline and colourless; it has an odour recalling
that emitted from the skin of a goat, melts at 81° Fahr., is very solu-
ble in alcohol or ether, is not soluble in cold water, but is slightly
so in hot water. It is monobasic and forms crystalline salts termed
Rutic ether (C20H1,(CH)0₁) separates as an oily liquid on passing
dry hydrochloric acid through a solution of rutic acid in absolute
alcohol. Its density is 0.862. Ammonia converts it into rutamide.
The latter body crystallises in brilliant plates.
rutates.
19
RUTILE. [TITANIUM.]
RUTILIN. [SALICYLIC GROUP.]
12-
|
The preparation of the land for rye is the same as for wheat, except
that in very light soils no more ploughings are required than will
clear the ground of weeds. If rye is sown after harvest, one plough-
ing only is usually given. It will thrive upon rich wheat soils, as well
as upon lighter, and, as it throws out numerous stems in rich land, it
is the more profitable as fodder, although the crop of grain might not
be so abundant when the plants are too much crowded. To have as
much green food as possible, the rye is always sown broadcast, three
bushels at least to an acre; some sow a sack, and with advantage.
It is also usually sown amongst winter tares, which the stems of the
rye help to keep up from the ground: half a bushel of rye to three
bushels of tares is a fair proportion; some farmers sow wheat instead
of rye, as being stronger in the stem, but besides its being more
expensive, it does not shoot so early as rye, nor is it so much stronger
in the green stem, as is supposed. Oats are invariably sown amongst
spring tares, and answer the purpose well.
There is a variety of rye mentioned by continental authors by the
name of Seigle de la St. Jean, or St. John's-day rye, because it grows
so rapidly that if sown about St. John's Day (24th June), it will be
fit to mow green by the middle of September, and in favourable seasons
may be fed off again in November, without preventing its giving ample
feed in spring, and a good crop of grain at the next harvest. It has
been introduced into England, but whether or not owing to its
character not being maintained, it has not maintained its reputation.
There is no doubt that there are varieties of the same kind of plants
which have a much more vigorous vegetation than those commonly
cultivated; and the introduction of them where they are not known
is an important benefit to agriculture. The celebrated agriculturist
Du Hamel du Monceau mentions an individual who had obtained, from
one sowing, five abundant cuts of green rye for cattle in two years. If
will in general throw out fresh stems; and in very rich soils its
blossoming may thus be continually retarded, until the roots become
too weak to force successive stems.
RUTINIC ACID. (C₁₂H,O) A crystalline acid contained in the
stems and leaves of rue. It is insoluble in cold water and ether, but
readily dissolves in boiling water or alcohol. When an alcoholic solu-
tion of chloride of calcium is added to an alcoholic solution of rutinic any green plant is cut down before the fructification is completed, it
acid, a bright green precipitate is thrown down.
When the land is in good heart and clean after wheat-harvest, it
may be expeditiously cultivated by means of a strong scarifier, or some
similar instrument, which opens the soil several inches deep, without
turning it over; and rye may be sown immediately, without using the
most six horses will completely stir ten acres of land in a day, which
may thus be immediately sown before the wheat is out of the field, or
fit to be carried. A week gained in the time of sowing may make all
the difference between a crop which can be eaten off before winter and
one which will only be fit for the sheep in the succeeding spring. The
weeds which may spring up with the rye will either be choked by its
luxuriance, or at all events will never shed their seeds, being mown or
fed off with the rye, and the roots ploughed in the next year. The
large perennial roots will thus be more easily taken out by the harrows,
and all the annual weeds will be destroyed.
RYE is a plant of the family of the Gramines, and bears naked
seeds on a flat ear furnished with awns like barley. The straw is solid,
the internal part being filled with a pith, which, if it causes it to be
inferior as fodder, makes it more valuable for litter, and particularly
for thatching. The value of the straw is often nearly equal to that of
the grain. Rye grows on poor light soils which are altogether unfit
for wheat, and hence tracts of light sands are often denominated rye-plough. This is an immense saving of time and labour, as four or at
lands. On these soils this grain is far more profitable than wheat,
which can only be raised there at a great expense of marling and man-
uring. The value of rye in those countries where it forms a considerable
portion of the food of the labouring classes, is from two-thirds to three-
fourths of that of wheat. From experiments made to ascertain the
quantities of nutritious matter in rye and wheat, Thaer states their
real comparative value to be as 64 to 71. It was formerly raised in
considerable quantities in England, either alone or mixed with wheat,
and was then called meslin, from the old French word meslé, which
means mixed. The meslin when ground produced a very wholesome
and palatable household bread, and it was thought advantageous to
sow the two sorts together, from the notion that if either failed there
would still be a crop of the other. This, however, was an error. No
doubt the wheat would often fail on inferior soils when the rye would
thrive; but the reverse was seldom or never the case; and besides the
rye comes to maturity at least a fortnight before the wheat. If the
soil is capable of bearing a moderate crop of wheat, it would be much
more advantageous to sow one portion of a field with rye and another
with wheat; and if meslin bread is desired, the two grains may be
mixed in any required proportion. Excellent bread is made of two
parts of wheat and one of rye ground together, with only the coarse
bran sifted out.
L
Rye is at present raised in very small quantities in England. It
is however extensively cultivated on the Continent, especially in the
Netherlands, where it is the chief grain from which the spirit
commonly called Hollands is distilled, which is flavoured with juniper,
in Dutch called Genever, whence the name of geneva and its contrac-
tion gin. When malted it makes excellent beer, one bushel of rye
malt being equal to at least one and a quarter of barley malt. The
cultivation of rye is very simple; it is usually sown 2 or 3 bushels
per acre after wheat, where the soil is light and rich, or after turnips
and potatoes, in those soils which are not strong enough for wheat.
As it is ripe in June or July, turnips are often sown immediately
after; and by the manure produced by these, as well as their effect on
the soil, a second crop of rye can be obtained the ensuing year.
This is no doubt contrary to all sound theory; but such is the
practice in Flanders, and they do not find that their crops diminish
in consequence.
In England rye is mostly sown as a green crop, and when fed off
early in spring with sheep, the land is invigorated, and will bear excel-
lent potatoes or turnips the same year. This practice cannot be
sufficiently recommended and if the rye is sown very early in
autumn, it may be fed off in October and November, when sheep-feed
is beginning to fail and the turnips have not yet attained their full
size, with little detriment to the succeeding spring produce.
Winter barley and winter oats have been substituted for rye as
spring fodder by some farmers; but on land of moderate quality
rye is generally preferred. It bears the severest winters, which is
not the case with barley or oats,
Although the value of rye as a green crop is fully admitted in
England, very little is grown for food or distillation; yet on some poor
soils, where wheat and barley are now often sown with a very poor
return, and at a great expense of manure, rye and buckwheat would
give a much greater clear profit, and would require much less manu-
ring: and where there are not ready means of improving the soil by
claying or marling, the cultivation of rye would be found most advan-
tageous; and, by means of sheep, very poor sandy soils might thus be
made profitable.
Rye is subject to most of the diseases which attack the plants of the
family of the Gramineæ, such as rust, mildew, burnt-ear, and smut-
ball. These diseases are described in the article WHEAT. But there
is one remarkable disease, which, although sometimes found in wheat,
is much more commonly observed in rye. It is called the ergot, the
French name of a cock's spur, which the diseased grain resembles in
shape. [ERGOT.]
RYE-GRASS, sometimes called Ray-Grass, is one of the most com-
mon of the artificial grasses; it is of the family of the Gramineœ of
the genus Lolium. There are several varieties, some a nu il and others
perennial, some producing a strong juicy grass, and others a small
diminutive plant. These varieties arise chiefly from difference of soil,
climate, and cultivation. In the convertible system of husbandry,
rye-grass performs a very essential part, especially the perennial sort,
which, mixed with different varieties of clover and other grass-seeds,
produces a rich and close herbage, which may be either mown for hay
or depastured. In the course of two or three years the land is so
much recruited by the extension of the roots, and by the dung and
urine of the animals, that, without dung from the yard, it will produce
one or two very good crops. When clover is sown to remain only one
year, the annual variety of rye-grass is frequently sown with it. It
adds to the weight of the hay, and the stems of the rye-grass are a
good corrective to the richness of the clover, when they are given to
horses in a green state; but when the hay is intended for the London
market, or that of any of the great mercantile towns, the tradesmen
and carmen prefer the pure clover hay, thinking it more nutritious.
Those who cultivate their land on the Norfolk system have a prejudice
against rye-grass, as being unfavourable to the succeeding crop of
wheat. Accordingly, when they have a layer of rye-grass, instead of
cloyer (because the clover, having been too often repeated, fails in the
223
RYE, SPURRED.
end), they often take peas or beans between the rye-grass and the
wheat. This accords with theory; for when the rye-grass completes
its fructification, even if the seed is not ripe, it has a deteriorating
effect on the soil similar to that of a white crop, and therefore a legu-
minous crop should succeed it.
Different varieties of rye-grass have been recommended at various
times; one which goes by the name of Pacey's rye-grass has kept
its reputation as a perennial grass for a long time. The Italian re-
grass, well known in the south of France, in Switzerland, and in
Germany, is a native of Lombardy, where it grows most luxuriantly
and rapidly by means of irrigation. There is no grass which so soon
forms a water-meadow; and it bears well the cold and wet winters of
Britain. On rich moist land it grows most rapidly and luxuriantly. It
will bear several cuttings in a season. Those who have paid attention to
the cultivation of rye-grass think highly of it. It grows much more
rapidly in spring than any other grass, and is so much relished by cattle,
that they scarcely allow a single stem to spring up. A small space in a
layer being sown with Italian rye-grass, may be distinguished in the
pasture by its superior green colour and its very close pile; and
the cattle will always be found there, as long as there is the least
bite for them. It may be advantageously sown in autumn with the
Trifolium incarnatum, and together they will give much early green
food in spring. It may be a question whether this is preferable to
sowing rye; but it affords a variety, and on some soils may produce
earlier and more abundant feed for lambs. When Italian rye-grass is
sown by itself, and allowed to go to seed, it becomes thin after the
first year, from many of the plants dying off: it may therefore be
prudent to mix some other kinds of grasses with it, which will supply
its place where it is worn out. It is a most excellent practice to sow
Italian rye-grass on old meadows and pastures, at the time when they
are recruited with compost or earth. If they are well harrowed or
scarified, and the rye-grass be sown before the roller goes over them,
the succeeding crop of hay will be much increased in quantity and
improved in quality. On water-meadows, which require renovation,
this grass is invaluable, being early, rapid in growth, and very abundant
when irrigated. We have seen hay made in July from a newly-made
water-meadow sown with Italian rye-grass in March. This was at Mr.
De Fellenberg's, at Hofwyl, near Berne, in Switzerland. No plant will
more fully use abundant dressings of manure than Italian rye-grass.
If richly manured and irrigated after each cutting it will yield 18 to
20 tons of green food per acre, three or four times in the year.
When sown by itself 3 bushels per acre are sown broadcast in August
or September, and the next year the crop will be in full bearing. A
first or second cutting may be taken in the following year, and being
then ploughed down a crop of late turnips or rape may be taken pre-
vious to a succeeding spring-sown corn crop.
RYE, SPURRED. [ERGOT.]
RYOTS, the name by which the cultivators of the soil in Hindustan
are designated. The ryots pay rent out of the produce of their land to
a sovereign proprietor, and, so long as they pay the rent demanded of
them, have a claim to the continued occupation of the land.
The economical condition of the Asiatic cultivator may be described
as being made up of the three following circumstances:-1. He is an
hereditary occupier, or, in other words, has an hereditary claim to the
occupation of the land which he cultivates. 2. The amount of rent
which he pays is, in practice, determined by the sovereign power.
3. There exists a number of classes intermediate between the hereditary
occupier and the sovereign, all entitled to various portions of the
revenue which is yielded by the land, but none having any proprietary
right. The number of these intermediate classes, arising out of the
tendency of all offices connected with the land to become hereditary,
has contributed greatly to the ignorance prevalent among Europeans
of the position of Asiatic cultivators.
Such being the general features of the economical condition of the
ryot, his actual position necessarily depends most on the amount of
rent paid by him to the sovereign, and the manner in which the rent
is paid.
The amount of rent was fixed by the laws of Menu at a sixth, an
RYSWICK, PEACE OF.
224
eighth, or a twelfth of the crops, according to differences in the soil, in
the degree of labour necessary to cultivate it, and in the general pros-
perity of districts; but in times of urgent necessity, of war or invasion,
the same laws allowed the king to take even so much as a fourth.
(Institutes of Menu,' c. iii., 130; x. 118, 120.) A sixth part of the
produce had come to be the uniform tax in Hindustan when the
Mohammedans became its masters. (Sacontala.') But we find in
Strabo, that when Alexander invaded India, a fourth of the produce
was generally taken as rent. The despotic sovereigns of the East did
not long continue to observe their ancient laws, sometimes openly
violating them, at other times evading them by a resort to indirect
taxation. Indeed before the Mohammedan period there are instances
of oppression by Hindu governments, under which the ryots were
allowed to retain no more than a fifth or sixth of their crops.
in
The form in which the rent is paid has even a greater influence on
the condition of the ryot than its amount. In ancient times the rent was
always paid in produce. Whenever, in later times, it has been deman-
ded in money, the consequences have been ruinous to the ryot, chiefly
owing to the want of markets. When the ryot is compelled to pay
money, which, owing to the want of a ready market, he has a difficulty
in doing, his obvious resort is to a money-lender. The money which
he borrows for the purpose of relieving himself of immediate difficulty
is borrowed at a high rate of interest. The immediate difficulty is
thus got rid of at a great sacrifice, and the ryot becomes dependent on
the money-lender. In 1860 considerable discontent was created among
the ryots in Bengal by the system asserted to have been adopted by
the European indigo manufacturers: these, it was at least asserted by
the ryots, made agreements with the zemindars that certain portions
of the land should be devoted to the cultivation of the indigo plant, to
be sold to them, in consideration of certain advancements of money at
a rate which was ruinous to the cultivator. The attempt to enforce
these agreements by law occasioned several tumults, and the dispute is
not yet (1861) settled.
The agency by means of which the rents are collected, though less
important than the form of payment, has also a considerable influence
on the condition of the ryot. Under the ancient Indian governments,
the agents of the prince to whom districts were assigned transacted
immediately with the ryots, either singly or in villages. The latter
mode was the more general, by which the government levied a certain
sum on each village, and left it to the villages to settle the individual
quotas among themselves.
As regards the payment of rents, there were two kinds of arrange-
ment prevailing in the villages. In some villages the land was culti-
vated in common, and each cultivator had a share of the produce
assigned, according to certain fixed rules; these were called byacharry
(brotherhood) villages. In others, each ryot cultivated separately his
own spot of land, and paid rent for it separately: these went by the
name of putterday (partnership) villages.
The heads of villages paid the rents collected to the heads of dis-
tricts (des adikars); these again to the heads of larger tracts of country.
The system of government detailed in the Institutes of Menu'
enumerates lords of one town or district, of ten towns, of twenty
towns, of a hundred towns, and a thousand towns. All these lords
received assignments of land, and a per centage on their collections
besides.
The heads of districts (des adikars) came afterwards to be represented
by one class of zemindars, namely, those whose duties were confined to
the superintendence of police. The class of zemindars however
which is the best known is that class in which the duty of collecting
the revenue was added to the superintendence of police. This is not
the place to speak of these functionaries, or to trace the changes in
their duties and position until the commencement of the British
dominion. [ZEMINDAR.]
A full and interesting account of ryot rents will be found in Mr.
Jones's Essay on the Distribution of Wealth and on the Sources of
Taxation. The reader is referred also to Mr. Mill's History of India,
by Wilson, vol. i.
RYSWICK, PEACE OF. [TREATIES, CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE-OF.]
225
226
S.
SABAEI.
}
S is the chief sibilant of the English alphabet, and is employed to
represent two different sounds, as in this and these. The word
sugar would seem to justify the addition of a third sound, sh; but in
this word the vowel u, so often pronounced yu, has modified the pro-
nunciation of the preceding consonant. Syugar would easily glide into
shugar. In the Hebrew alphabet, whence those of Europe are derived,
a common symbol is employed, with and without an affixed dot, to
denote s and sh. The symbol referred to has for its name a word
which also signifies tooth or teeth; and if we call to mind that the so-
called Phoenician and Samaritan alphabets give older forms of the
Hebrew letters than those now used, it will be easily believed that the
symbol in its original shape [ALPHABET] was the representation of two
or three teeth: an origin which would agree with the fact that the
sibilants are all formed by means of the upper teeth, and the sound
sh by the upper and lower brought together. This explanation is con-
firmed by the consideration that in emitting the last-named sound the
teeth are not only the sole organs employed, but more than usually
exposed to view by the retraction of the lips. But for the strong
evidence thus furnished by the Hebrew alphabet, the form and power
of the letter might have been readily derived from an imitation of
a hissing snake.
The letter s is subject to the following interchanges, many of which
have been previously noted.
1, s with d. See D.
2, s with th and 8th, as in the Laconian dialect of the Greek language,
in which θεος, Τιμοθεος, Αθηναία, take the forms σιορ, Τιμοσεορ, Ασαναια.
Hence too TUπтоμеola, &c., readily glided into тUπтоμela, &c. The
English language formerly wrote loveth, hateth, but now prefers loves,
hates.
3, s with t. Thus again the Attic forms φησι, επεσον, Ποσειδων, συ,
were by the Dorians written pатI, ETETоv (regularly enough from the
present πIT(E)τw), Пoσeidav, TV. In like manner the German words das,
πιπ(ε)τω), Ποσειδαν, τυ.
was, es, wasser, hassen, essen, appear in English as that, what, it, water,
hate, cat.
4, s with z. Thus the Greek island Zakurbos was the mother city of
Saguntum in Spain, and no doubt gave its name to it. In fact the
manuscripts of Livy (xxi. 7), with one exception, scarcely worth men-
tioning, appear to have all got Oriundi a Sagunto-insula dicuntur, not
Zacyntho. But the most abundant evidence of the interchange is to
be found in the Somersetshire dialect of our own tongue.
5, s with sh. Witness the Berlin pronunciation of all German words
beginning with st. Moreover, the English words sleep, slay, smear,
snow, have for their German equivalents schlaf, schlag-en, schmier-en,
schnee.
See X.
6, s with c, g, and . See those letters.
7, ks with g.
8, s with n.
9, s with r.
See N.
See R.
σκαλευω
10. S often appears before an initial consonant, where it is doubtful
whether the older form be that with or that without the sibilant. Thus
the Greek σTeyw, opevdovn, σons, correspond to the Latin tego, funda,
vespa. So σKEλos and σkoλo would be found upon close examination to
be the equivalents of the Latin crus and crux, and okaλevw to differ from
scru-ta-ri only in the fact that the latter is a frequentative verb.
Again the Greek possesses within itself the double forms oμkpos and
μικρος, στρέφω and τρέπω. The English language contains numerous
examples of the same variation, as in melt and smelt, tumble and stumble,
pike and spike. The German as well as our own tongue not unfre-
quently prefixes an s when the Greek and often the Latin are without
that letter. Thus the Greek λei-w (root kλeis or kλeid), the Latin
claud-o or clud-o, and clavis, the German schliess-en, and the English
shut are all of one kin. Compare too the various forms of the words
signifying snow.
11. The sound sw at the beginning of words is often degraded by
the loss of the sibilant or w, or both. Thus to the Latin suavis and
suadeo correspond the Greek advs, &c., the German süss, and the
English sweet. Those who doubt the connection here assumed between
suavis and suadeo, may, as regards form, compare clavis and claudo, or
viginti with what must have been its older form, duiginti, while the
connection in meaning will be readily established by the common
comparison of advice with medicine, unpalatable but salutary, as in
Lucretius (i. 935), Sed veluti pueris absinthia, &c. Again, sop-or
and somnus (sop-nus) of the Latin correspond to the Greek T-vos,
to the Gothic verb in-sucpp-an, the German schlaf, and the English
sleep; socer and socrus in Latin, to the Greek érupos and ěkupa, and the
German schwieger as prefixed to sohn, vater, &c. ; the Latin sud-or, to the
Greek id-os, idpws, &c., to the German schweiss and English sweat; the
Latin sui, sibi, se, to the Greek où, oi, é, although the Greek has also
allied words beginning with ap. The Latin soror, German schwester,
English sister, have lost their correlative in Greek. Lastly this inter-
ARTS AND SOI. DIV. VOL. VII.
S
change will perhaps account for the fact that the river Oder has two
ancient names, Suevus and Viadrus, which have been the cause of
much confusion in the geography of ancient Germany. Indeed the
mouth of the river is still called Suinemünde.
12. Sp is interchangeable with ps, sk with ĺs, and sḍ with ds. For
the last we need only refer to the Doric use of od for (. Instances of
the second interchange occur occasionally in Greek and Latin. Ficos,
the misletoe, is written in Latin viscus; eoxaTos, ludicrously put down
as a primitive in some lexicons, is of course only the superlative of the
preposition e, for eaTos. The Latin misceo has for its participle
mixtus as well as mistus (=misctus). The tendency to this interchange
accounts too for the form sescenti, for sexcenti is never found in the
best manuscripts of the best authors. But the Anglo-Saxon and
English afford the most numerous instances of this metathesis.
Thus the former language has the double forms väps or räsp, a wasp;
äpse or äspe, tremulous (whence the name of the aspen tree); häpse
or häspe, a lock (Grimm, 'Deutsche Grammatik,' p. 251); also fresc
or frox, a frog; fiscas or fixas, a fish; tusc or tux, a tusk; asce or axe,
cinder; ascjan or axjan, to ask (ibid, p. 256). Hence it will be seen that
it is a mere accident if in our own tongue are and waps have been
rejected as vulgarisms in favour of ask and wasp. The provinces still
prefer the ks and ps. Thus a Kentish countryman talks of a whips
rather than whisp of hay. May we not in this way establish the
identity in name of several of our rivers, as Axe, Ece, Esk, and Usk?
13. S is often lost. Inattention to this fact is the cause of much
confusion in the grammars of the Greek language. Thus the neuter
nouns in os must once have had a corresponding σ in the genitive,
yeves, yeveσos, &c., afterwards yevos, yeveos. Hence the retention of
the s in the vocatives of proper names formed from neuter nouns of
this class, as Διογενες, Δημοσθενες, Σωκρατες. (See Journal of Educa-
tion,' vol. iv., 333.) Above all, the neglect of this letter in the original
(as here assumed) forms of certain present tenses leads to apparent
anomalies in the derived forms. Thus from Ae(o)w we should have
without any irregularity κεκλεισμένος; from γεν(σ)μαί without difficulty
Yevo-Tucos, as well as the Latin gus-tus, gus-ta-re; from de(g)w, deouos,
in which the sibilant corresponds, as it so often does, to the guttural
in liga-re, dica-re, and the English tight from tie. The Latin language
in such cases changes the sibilant into an r; but even this language is
not at all unwilling to discard au s, particularly at the end of words,
as in the double forms magis and mage, videris and videre, ipsus and
ipse, puer for pucrus. Nay, even the neuters of adjectives seem to have
lost the finals of the nominative in this way. At any rate potis is used
for a neuter nominative as well as pote. The third person of the Latin
perfect may possibly owe its occasional long quantity (perrupit, Hor.;
subiit, Hor.; rediit, Ovid, &c., &c.) to an older orthography ending in
ist; for as the other perfects of the indicative as well as those of the
subjunctive and infinitive of the active verb, to say nothing of all the
passive perfects, are evidently formed by the addition of the tenses of
the verb esse, so perrupistis and perruperunt contain in the two last
syllables the almost unaltered forms of estis and esunt, and seem to
justify the idea that perrupit is a corruption of perrupist, that is,
perrupest. As to form, we might compare this corruption with what
we know has occurred in the French subjunctive perfect, fusse, fusses,
fút, that is, fust. The French language abounds in examples of the
loss of the sibilant.
loss of the sibilant. Thus from the Latin asinus, magister, noster,
quadragesima, are derived, first, asne, maistre, nostre, caresme, and then,
according to the modern orthography, ane, maitre, notre, carême, to say
nothing of the silent s in such words as mais, vous, iste, est, &c.
SABADILLIC ACID, a name sometimes given to cevadic acid.
[CEVADIC ACID.]
SABADILLIÑE (Sabadillia). A poisonous alkaloid, found along
with jervine, colchicine, and veratrine in white hellebore. Its com-
position is not known.
SABAEI (Zaẞaîoi), a people of Arabia Felix, on the borders of the
Red Sea, in the northern part of the modern Yemen. They are
described by Diodorus and Strabo as the most numerous, and, toge-
ther with the Gerrhaei, as the richest people in Arabia. Their
country produced frankincense, myrrh, cinnamon, and balsam in
abundance, but was also infested by deadly serpents. The inhabitants
are represented as living an idle life, on account of the abundance of
the produce of the country, but are at the same time said to have
carried on an extensive commerce with Syria and Mesopotamia, both
with the productions of their own country and also with those of
Ethiopia, to which they sailed in boats made of skins.
The country of the Sabaei is mentioned in the Old Testament under
the name of Sheba (S), and is spoken of as rich in incense, spices,
precious stones, and gold (1 Kings x. 2; Jer. vi. 20; Isa. lx. 6; Ps-
lxxii. 15), and as carrying on an extensive commerce with the other
nations of Asia (Ezek. xxvii, 22; Job vi. 19; Joel iii. 8). The queen
227
SABAISM.
of Sheba who visited Solomon (1 Kings x. 1) is generally allowed to
have come from this country, and not from Ethiopia, as Josephus
relates (Ant. Jud.,' viii. 6, sec. 5), who has confounded Sheba with
Seba (), which, as he tells us in another part of his work (ii. 10,
sec. 2), was the ancient name of Meroe.
Korán, c. 34; Sale's Preliminary Discourse to the Korán, sect. 1;
Edrisi, Geographia Nubiensis.)
SABAISM was the name given to a religious system which anciently
prevailed to a great extent in Arabia and Mesopotamia. Sabaism is
Sabaism is
frequently confounded with the Sabaei, and is sometimes described as
the religion of the latter people; but the two words are quite distinct,
and are written differently in the Semitic languages. The first letter
in Sabaism is Tsade (y), and consequently the word would be written
more correctly Tsabaism.
Tsabaism was derived, according to its followers, from Tsabi, the
son or brother of Enoch, but is more probably derived from their
worshipping the “Host of Heaven" (y). According to
the Arabic writers, Tsabaism was the same as the religion of the
ancient Chaldæans, and appears to have been one of the earliest and
simplest forms of idolatry. They believed in the unity of the Deity,
but at the same time paid adoration to the stars, or the angels and
intelligences, which they supposed to reside in them and to govern the
world under the supreme Deity. In the course of time images were
made to represent the angels or intelligences dwelling in the stars; and
the consequence of this would naturally be, that the common people
would eventually worship them, as if they were gods. That the unity
of the Deity was however still acknowledged in the religious system of
the Tsabians is manifest from the way this religion is spoken of in the
Korán; in which it is distinguished from polytheism, and is allowed to
exist on the payment of tribute.
The religious books of Tsabaism were written in Syriac, and are
referred to by early Arabic writers, but none of them are known in
Europe. It appears that the Tsabians believed that the souls of
wicked men would be punished for nine thousand years, and would
afterwards be received to mercy. They were obliged to pray three
times a day, at sunrise, noon, and sunset; and to observe three annual
fasts, one of thirty days, another of nine, and a third of seven. They
offered many sacrifices, but ate no part of them. They abstained from
beans, garlick, and some other pulse and vegetables. They were
accustomed to go on pilgrimage to Haran in Mesopotamia.
i
<
SABBATH.
-
228
the reason assigned in Genesis for its institution was repeated. (Exod.
xx. 8-11.) The Mosaic laws respecting the Sabbath are contained in
the following passages, besides the two just quoted: Exod. xxiii. 12;
xxxi. 12-17; xxxiv. 21; xxxv. 1-3; Levit. xix. 3, 30; xxiii. 3; xxvi.
2; Numb. xv. 32-36; xxviii. 9, 10; Deut. v. 12-15. It was a day of
divine worship, though as to what that worship consisted in, we only
know that there was to be an additional sacrifice besides the daily one,
and a holy convocation of the people. This part of the institution
was intended, like many others of the Mosaic laws, to keep in the
remembrance of the people their allegiance to the true God, and to
distinguish them from the idolatrous nations among whom they dwelt.
(Exod. xxxi. 13, 17.) Its other feature was rest from labour, which
was to be observed not only by every Israelite, but by resident
strangers and beasts of burden. This rest had partly a religious
character, as it was an acknowledgment of belief in the God who
created the heavens and earth in six days, and rested on the seventh.
For this reason a wilful violation of the rest of the Sabbath was
punished by death, as it was an act of rebellion against God. A
second object of this rest was, of course, to afford leisure for the reli-
gious services of the day; and a third was the refreshment of man and
beast after the labour of the week. (Exod. xxiii. 12.) Moses does not
however define the meaning of the term work in the Law; but it is
evident from several passages in the Pentateuch that it was peculiarly
all work of a servile character that was forbidden. Thus there is a
special commandment to rest on the Sabbath in seed-time and harvest,
as well as at other seasons (Exod. xxxiv. 21), and there were prohibi-
tions against kindling fire (Exod. xxxv. 4) or preparing food on the
Sabbath (Exod. xvi. 5, 22-30); the people were severely reprimanded
by Moses for going out of their tents to gather manna (Exod. ibid.),
and a man was put to death by the express command of God for
gathering sticks on the Sabbath. (Numb. xv. 32-36.) This peculiar
feature of the Jewish Sabbath was intended constantly to remind the
people of their deliverance from their servile condition in the land of
Egypt, as Moses states in his rehearsal of the Law, where the reason
annexed to the fourth commandment in Exodus is omitted, and its
place is supplied by the following words: "And remember that thou
wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought
thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched-out arm;
therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath-
day." (Deut. v. 15.) All bodily labour which was necessary for the
service of God formed an exception to the statute. Thus the sacrifices
were doubled on that day, and the animals had to be killed; the per-
petual fire on the altar of burnt offering was to be supplied with wood
every day; and a child was circumcised on the Sabbath, if that day
happened to be the eighth from its birth. (Numb. xxviii. 3-10;
Levit. vi. 8-13; Matt. xii. 5; John vii. 22-23.) It seems to be satis-
factorily proved by Michaelis that the unwillingness to fight on the
Sabbath, which we meet with in the later periods of the Jewish
history, was never felt before the Babylonish captivity. The general
spirit of the Jewish law concerning the Sabbath may be gathered
from the following words of Isaiah (chap. lviii. 13):-"If thou restrain
thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day;
and call the Sabbath a delight, and the holy feast of the Lord honour-
able; and shalt honour him (or it), not doing thine own ways, nor
finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:" then
follows a promise. The Sabbath was reckoned, like the Jewish day
in general, from sunset to sunset.
Tsabaism as a religious system no longer exists, but the name has
been frequently, but incorrectly, applied to the Mandaites, or Christians
of St. John, as they have been called. The name of Tsabians has been
given to this sect by the Arabs, as they are accustomed to apply the
term of Tsabians to many different religious sects. The Mandaites
are found principally at the mouths of the Euphrates and near Bagdad,
but they are not Christians, and the name of Christians of St. John
has been given to them in consequence of John being the name of the
founder of their sect. From the manner in which John the Baptist is
mentioned in the sacred books of the Mandaites, it appears that they
supposed him to have been the founder of their religious system,
and that his doctrines were corrupted by Christ. Their sacred books
have been brought over to Europe; and an account of them is given
by Silvestre de Sacy, in the Journal des Savans,' Paris, 1819; but
they are written in such a mystical style that it is exceedingly difficult
to understand their meaning. There are three books: 1. The Book
of Adam;' 2. 'The Book of Yahya, or John the Baptist;' and 3. 'The
Kholasteh,' or Ritual. They are written in a peculiar character, which
bears great resemblance to the Syriac or Western Aramaan; but the
language in which they are composed more nearly resembles the
Chaldaic or Eastern Aramæan. The greater part of the Book of
Adam' was published by Norberg, under the title of Codex Nasa-(
ræus, Liber Adami appellatus,' 5 vols. 4to, Lond. Goth., 1816-17. In
the Book of Adam' the Christians, Jews, and Mohammedans are
equally attacked; but the Mandaites appear to have adopted many
things from Christianity, and they probably owe their origin to some
of the Gnostic sects, which extensively prevailed in Asia.
SABBATH. The narrative in the book of Genesis of the creation
of the world in six days is followed by these words: And on the
seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on
the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God
blessed the seventh day, and set it apart; because that in it he had
rested from all his work which God created and made." (Gen. ii. 2, 3,)
These words seem to imply that the seventh day is to be observed by
all the rational creatures of God as a day of worship in acknowledge-
ment of their Creator, and as a day of rest in imitation of his rest after
the creation. We find no further mention of this ordinance during
the patriarchal period, though some have supposed that there is a
reference to it in the intervals of seven days observed by Noah in send-
ing the raven and the dove out of the ark. (Gen. viii.) It is next
met with at the time of the Exodus, under the name of the Sabbath
(new, from a, to cease from labour), where rest from labour is
the peculiar character attached to the day. (Exod. xvi.) In the
passage referred to, it appears to be spoken of as an institution already
known, but this has been disputed. It was still more expressly en-
joined upon the Jews at the giving of the law on Mount Sinai, when
The Rabbins of later times added many superstitious and vexatious
observances to the Mosaic law of the Sabbath, such as the prohibition
of travelling further on that day than twelve miles, or, as it was after-
wards settled, two thousand cubits, that is, about one mile. For
further information on these points the reader is referred to Lightfoot
Works,' ed. Pitman, Index, art. 'Sabbath').
The word Sabbath was also used by the Jews as a general name for
their religious festivals, and also as equivalent to the word week.
(Levit. xxiii. 15; Deut. xvi. 9; Matt. xxviii. 1; Luke xviii. 12.)
The first teachers of Christianity abolished the Sabbath, but intro-
duced a similar institution in its place, the observance, namely, of the
first day of the week as a day of rest and of religious worship, in
commemoration of God's resting on the seventh day, and also more
especially of the resurrection of Christ. Hence it was called "the
Lord's day" (ʼn кνριакǹ ηµèρa), just as the ordinance by which Christ's
death was commemorated was called "the Lord's Supper." It has
been held by many eminent divines that there is not sufficient evidence
in the New Testament for such an institution, that the change of the
day from the seventh to the first day of the week is an insuperable
difficulty, that the Sabbath was a purely Jewish institution, and there-
fore that it is not binding upon Christians. The chief difficulties in
this discussion appear to have arisen from a mistaken view of the
question, as if it were, not whether the Christian church possesses any
Sabbatical institution, but whether the Jewish Sabbath is binding upon
Christians. The great fact of Christianity is the resurrection of Christ,
which was effected by the power of the same God who created the
world: this occurrence took place on the first day of the week; and
to keep it in remembrance, we observe that day as our stated time of
religious worship; or, as Bishop Horsley states the matter, " By keep-
ing a Sabbath, we acknowledge a God, and declare that we are not
atheists: by keeping one day in seven, we protest against idolatry, and
229
230
SABELLIANS.
SACER MORBUS.
acknowledge that God who in the beginning made the heavens and the
earth and by keeping our Sabbath on the first day of the week, we
protest against Judaism, and acknowledge that God who, having made
the world, sent his only begotten Son to redeem mankind."
the eye-piece is a short arm which traverses a circle divided into
degrees. The eye-piece and arm are previously so adjusted that when
the ray is no longer visible the arm points to the zero of the scale of
degrees. The saccharine solution, however, so twists the ray as to
In its very nature the Sabbath appears to be intended for the whole again render it visible; and the number of degrees which the eye-
human race. As a religious institution, designed to keep in remem-piece has to be rotated before the ray is once more invisible is exactly
brance the God who created the world, it belongs equally to all men, proportionate to the strength of the solution. The value of the
since all are the creatures of the same God, and all are prone to forget degrees having been ascertained by direct experiment and the results
every religious truth which is not continually and regularly forced tabulated, a reference to the table at once indicates the per-centage of
upon their attention. As a day of rest, if needed at all (and it is sugar in the liquid under examination. Grape-sugar also possesses the
generally granted that such rest is necessary), it is needed by every property of dextro-rotation, but less powerfully than cane-sugar ;
one who wears the human body. Its appointment is coeval with the moreover the former variety does not, like cane-sugar, suffer inversion
creation of man, and long before the giving of the Jewish law. These of the direction of rotation on the addition of hydrochloric acid to its
facts seem to prove that it was intended to be perpetual, which solution: an operation that furnishes data for ascertaining the amounts
appears also to be indicated by those words of Christ (Mark ii. 27), of cane and of grape-sugar, or of crystallisable and non-crystallisable
"The Sabbath was made for man," that is, not for the Jews merely, sugar, present in a mixture. In using the polariscope-saccharometer,
but for the benefit of the whole human race.
it is convenient to use tubes of uniform size, and always to operate at
the same temperature.
The Sabbath is used in the New Testament as a type of the eternal
rest of heaven : "There remaineth a rest (or Sabbath-keeping,
σaßßarioμds) to the people of God." (Heb. iv. 9.) Some understand
this passage of the Christian Sabbath.
(Michaelis, On the Laws of Moses, arts 194, 196; Lightfoot's Works,
see the Index; Horsley's Sermons, 21, 23; Wardlaw, On the Sabbath;
Hessey, Bampton Lecture-Sunday: its Origin, History, and present
Obligations; Winer's Biblisches Realwörterbuch, art. 'Sabbath.')
SABELLIANS, an heretical Christian sect, which arose about the
middle of the 3rd century. They were the followers of Sabellius, an
African bishop or presbyter, who resided in the Pentapolis of Cyre-
naica. They held that there was only one person in the Godhead,
namely, the Father; that Christ was a mere man, but that there
resided in him a certain energy proceeding from God, or a portion of
the divine nature; and they likewise deemed the Holy Spirit merely a
divine energy, or an emanation proceeding from God. They illustrated
their doctrines by comparing God to the sun, the Word to its illumi-
nating power, and the Holy Ghost to its warming energy. They were
successfully opposed by Dionysius of Alexandria, but continued for a
long time to be an important sect. (Lardner's Credibility and History
of Heretics; Neander's Kirchengeschichte; Mosheim's Ecclesiastical
History.)
SACBUT (Saquebute, Fr.) the name formerly given in England to
the TROMBONE, which see.
SACCHARIC ACID (2HO,C,,H,O,,). When sugar is gently heated
with nitric acid of specific gravity 125, and the liquid subsequently
boiled and evaporated, a colourless, deliquescent, sticky mass is obtained,
to which the name of saccharic acid has been given. It is only slightly
soluble in ether, but very soluble in alcohol or water; has a disagreeable
acid taste, and has not yet been obtained in a crystalline condition.
Saccharic acid is isomeric with mucic acid. Like the latter acid, it
is bibasic, forming, with bases, salts that are mostly crystalline. The
neutral saccharate of potash contains (2KO,C,,H,O); the acid salt
having the composition (KO,HO,C₁₂H,O₁₁), and occurring in acicular
or oblique prismatic crystals.
SACCHARIMETRY. A generic term for certain operations under-
taken with the view of ascertaining the quantity of sugar present in
any matter that may contain it.
Saccharimetry is frequently performed upon solutions which are
known to contain cane (ordinary) sugar only, the object being merely
to ascertain the amount present. In such a case it is only necessary
to take the specific gravity of the liquid by a hydrometer, and then
refer to a previously prepared table of densities and per-centages. If
Baume's hydrometer be used, the degrees of specific gravity marked
on its stem indicate the following centesimal proportions of sugar :—
50.0
52.1
Sugar
Sugar
Degrees.
per cent.
1
1.8
Degrees.
13
per cent.
23.7
Degrees.
25
2
3.5
14
25.6
26
Sugar
per cent.
46.2
48.1
3
5.2
15
27.6
27
4
7.0
16
29.4
28
5
8.7
17
51.5
29
51.1
•
•
6
10.4
18
33.4
80
56.0
•
7
12.4
19
35.2
31
8
14.4
20
37.0
32
60.1
9
16.3
21
38.3
33
62.2
10
18-2
22
40.6
34
64.4
11
20.0
23
42.4
$5
66.6
12
21.8
24
41.3
58.0
1° Baumé corresponds to sp. gr. 1.007; 10° to sp. gr. 1.070; 20° to
1152; 30° to 1.245; 35° to 1.299'; &c.
If a liquid contain other substances besides cane-sugar, the test of
specific gravity is of no value. In such a case advantage may be taken
of the fact that syrup causes right-handed twisting in a ray of plane
polarized light, to an extent exactly proportionate to the amount of
sugar in solution. The saccharine fluid is placed in a long tube having
opaque sides and transparent ends; and a ray of homogeneous light,
polarized by reflection from a black glass mirror [POLARIZATION OF
LIGHT], is sent through the liquid and optically examined by a plate of
tourmaline, Nicol's prism, or other polarizing eye-piece. Attached to
Cane-sugar is readily converted into grape-sugar by boiling for two
or three hours with dilute solution of sulphuric acid, and the grape-
sugar may then be estimated by the depth of colour which results on
boiling it with solutions of caustic soda or potash; comparison being
made with standard coloured solutions prepared from known quantities
of grape-sugar. The quantity of grape-sugar, and indirectly of cane-
sugar, may also be determined by the amount of its solution which is
required to be added to a given volume of a standard alkaline solu-
tion of tartrate of copper and potash, before complete precipitation of
the copper (as suboxide, Cu,O) is effected. The standard solution
referred to is known as Fehling's, and is thus prepared:-1 ounce of
crystallised sulphate of copper, 3 ounces of bitartate of potash,
1 ounces of pure carbonate of potash, and 14 or 16 ounces of a solu-
tion of caustic soda of sp. gr. 1·12 are mixed together, and water added
until the whole measures 15,160 grains: 200 measures of this solution
contain an amount of copper that is perfectly precipitated by one
grain of grape-sugar (C₁₂H120,2). In using Fehling's solution, a ten-
perature approaching the boiling point should be maintained, and the
saccharine liquid should be slowly added from a graduated burette.
By either of the above processes the separate amounts of cane and of
grape-sugar in a mixture of the two may be ascertained by two
operations; one performed before boiling with dilute acid and the
other after the quantity first indicated will be the grape-sugar, and
that, being subtracted from the numbers obtained in the second experi-
ment, gives the proportion of cane-sugar. One-eighteenth of the latter
number must, however, be deducted; the equivalent of grape-sugar
being higher by that amount than cane-sugar.
19
SACCHAROMETER, an instrument used principally in the opera-
tions of brewing, and making sugar. It serves to indicate the density
of the liquid extracted from malt, or the degrees to which the juice
expressed from the sugar-cane is concentrated previously to under-
going the process of crystallization. An instrument of the like kind,
called a lactometer, is employed to exhibit the density of milk. Both
of them are formed on the same principle as the hydrometer [HYDRO-
METER], and such instruments are sometimes comprehended under the
word aræometer, or gravimeter. Their general use is to determine,
when extreme accuracy is not required, the specific gravities of liquids
which are of greater density than water, and even those of solid bodies
in small quantities. [SPECIFIC GRAVITY.]
SACCHULMIN, the brown substance produced by the action of
sulphuric acid upon sugar.
SACER MORBUS ('Iepà Nóσos), a term applied apparently by the
ancients to more than one disease, as Athenæus ('Deipnosoph.,' lib. vii.
§ 33, p. 289) speaks of τὰς ἱερὰς καλουμένας νόσους, and Heraclitus is
said by Diogenes Laertius ('De Vit. Philosoph.,' lib. ix., cap. i., § 6
and 7) to have called Arrogance by that name: Thy Te olnow ¡epàv
vooov čλeye. Generally however it is merely used as one of the nuine-
rous names of epilepsy [EPILEPSY], and this is the explanation given
by Hesychius and Suidas in voc. It is first used by the author of the
treatise Пepl 'IЄpis Nósov, ' De Morbo Sacro,' which is published among
the works of Hippocrates (tom. i., p. 587, ed. Kühn), though it was
probably written by one of his successors in the Dogmatic school. (Sec
Gruner, Censura Libr. Hippocr.,' Vratislav., 1772, 8vo., § 44, p. 162;
and Ackermann, 'Hist. Liter. Hippocr., ap. Fabricii Biblioth. Gr.,' ed.
Harles, and Kühn's Hippocr.,' tom. i.) The term is also found in
Aretaus ('De Caus. et Sign. Diuturn. Morb.,' lib. 1., cap. 4). Theophanes
Nonuus (Epit. de Curat. Morb.,' cap. 36), Artemidorus ( Oneirocrit.,'
lib. ii., cap. 12, where see Reiff's note 35), and others. The meaning
of the term is obscure and uncertain, and several derivations of it are
mentioned by Aretaus (loco cit.): "There is," says he, in Dr. Rey-
nolds's translation, "a sort of ignominy too in the character of epilepsy,
for it seems to attack those who offend the moon, and hence the
disease is termed 'sacred; or it may be from other reasons, either
from its magnitude (for what is great is sacred'), or from the cure
not being in the power of man but of God, or from the notion that a
demon has entered the patient, or from all put together, that it has
been so called." The author of a treatise 'De Morbo Sacro,' seems to
have considered the origin of the term to have arisen from the belief
either that this disease proceeds more immediately from the anger of
the gods, or that it is more wonderful than others, or that its cure
>
231
εἴθισται καλεῖσθαι.
SACK.
<
SACRAMENTS.
232
offered to man is faith in the Saviour; that is, that through Christ a
path is opened to heaven. The eye of this Christian faith is not con
fined exclusively to the doctrine, or the person, or the sufferings and
death of Christ; but it comprises within its range the entire system.
him, and spiritual imitation of him, in which man appears as a new
creature, alike as regards knowledge, feeling, and action. The symbols
of this faith, and the acts by which an obligation to it is expressed are
the two Christian sacraments-baptism and the Lord's Supper. Baptism
will be found fully treated under that head.
depends more entirely upon divine assistance; as he refutes all these
opinions at some length. (See also Galen, Comment.' vi., in Hippocr.
Epidem.,' lib. vi., tom. xvii. B., p. 341, ed. Kühn.) The other reason
that is given, namely, "the magnitude of the disease," is supported by
the author of the 'Schol. MS. in Gregor. Nazianz. in Bastii Excerptis,' | It consists in a perfect devotion to Jesus; in an internal union with
quoted in Gaisford's Suidas: Tivès iepàv étépav tiva Xéyovoi vóσov T
νόσον
ὀνόματι τούτῳ, τὴν ἐπιληπτικὴν οἴμαι· ἱερὰ δὲ αὕτη κυριώτερον ἂν κληθείη,
διαφέρουσα πασῶν τῇ κακώσει· ἐπεὶ καὶ μέγα τὸ ἱερὸν τοῖς γλωσσηματικοῖς
Elliotαι Kaλeîoda. It is also indirectly supported by the analogous
expressions iepòv µévos 'Aλkivóolo (Homer, Odyss.,' lib. vii., v. 167),
iepòs ixoús (see Athenæus, 'Deipnosoph.,' lib. vii., § 17-20, pp. 282-4),
and especially by the anatomical name iepòv dσtoûv, "os sacrum," of
which this seems to be the most probable interpretation. Caelius
Aurelianus gives the following interpretations: "Appellatur Epilepsia.
sacra passio,' sive quod divinitus putetur immissa; sive quod sacram
contaminet animam [which is supported by Apuleius,' Apolog.,' p. 58,
ed. Price]; sive quod in capite fiat, quod multorum philosophorum
judicio sacrum templum est partis animæ in corpore nata [which is
the reason given by Theophanes Nonnus, loco cit.]; sive ob magni-
tudinem paasionis, majora enim vulgus sacra vocavit." (De Morb.
Chron.,' lib. i., cap. 4. p. 291, ed. Amman.) Of all the explanations
that have been proposed, perhaps that which derives the term from
the disease being supposed to be under the more immediate direction
of the gods is the most likely to be the true one, both as being the
most ancient and also as being that which Galen preferred: it is also
indirectly confirmed by two popular names mentioned by Leo in his
Synopsis Medicine, lib. ii., cap. 2 (ap. Ermerins, Anecd. Med. Gr.,'
Lugd. Bat., 8vo., 1840), namely, daíμwv and σeλnvicouós. If this is
not the real meaning of the term, it must have been applied "ob
magnitudinem passionis," for none of the other derivations bear the
slightest marks of probability.
SACK, a Spanish wine of the dry kind; in French, Vin sec. It is
the same wine which is now named Sherry. Falstaff calls it Sherris
sack, that is, sack from Xeres in Spain. Ritson supposed that the
old sack of Falstaff's time was a compound of sherry, cider, and sugar;
but he produced no good authority for the assertion. The chief
difficulty about sack has arisen from the later importation of sweet
wines from Malaga, the Canaries, &c., which were at first called
Malaga, or Canary sacks; sack being by that time considered as a name
applicable to all sweet wines. One of these sweet wines still retains
the name of sack. It is little used, but being proverbial for sweetness,
it has caused some misunderstanding as to the original dry sack.
SACRAMENTS and TRANSUBSTANTIATION. The Christian
Sacraments are not merely certain high forms, but the highest acts of
church membership. For the Christian Church being but the
outward visible representation of the internal fellowship of the
faithful with Christ, and with one another; this twofold element of
the church is most fitly corresponded to by the institution of external
visible actions, intended to express an internal spiritual effect or grace.
Such are the Sacraments, a term used to express "Sacramentum," by
which the Greek mysterion is rendered in the old Italic versions, and
also in the Vulgate.
The various opinions respecting the exact import and appropriate
benefits of the Lord's Supper are of high antiquity. A history of
these will be found in the article COMMUNION. The difficulties con-
nected with the question are increased by the general adherence to
the words of Scripture, observable in the liturgical formularies. The
non-existence of a dogmatical theology during the first ages of the
Church is well known, which renders it unnecessary to look for exact
scientific definitions throughout that period. But, concurrently with
the uniformity of practice, there is to be found a three-fold variety of
interpretation, corresponding with the peculiar views of what may be
considered the three principal schools of early Christian theology.
The Church of Asia Minor, as also some great Origenists in the
West, professed views of the holy eucharist which the Church of Rome
and the Lutheran have (to a certain extent,) pleaded as the sentiments
of antiquity supporting their own. Such were those of Ignatius,
Justin Martyr, Irenæus, Hilary of Poitiers, Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory
of Nyssa, Ambrose, Chrysostom, and Theodoret. The common point
of agreement among these writers is the communion of the body and
blood of Christ in a high spiritual sense generally. But a considerable
difference of statement regarding details is observable among them.
For example, some expressions of Cyril of Jerusalem are directly and
strongly opposed to the tenet of transubstantiation, which Gregory of
Nyssa is not unfairly quoted as supporting.
The views of the Church of North Africa, as expressed by Tertullian,
Cyprian, and Augustine, differed as a whole from those just named.
The African doctors may be considered as regarding the eucharist as
an active and efficacious symbol.
A third party, that of the school of Alexandria, applied in some
measure its usual allegorising views to this sacrament. But even in
the absence of all approach on the part of these Fathers to corporeal
views, a leaning to the sentiments of the first-mentioned party is
observable in some portions of their writings.
Each of the many designations by which this sacrament was known
until the close of the 4th century, bore some reference to the original
object of its institution.
being but the object of its institution. This may be traced throughout the various
expressions-breaking of bread, communion, Lord's supper, eucharist,
oblation, commemoration, and passover. Ecclesiastical antiquity can-
not be adduced with fairness in support of the literal interpretation
applied by a large body of Christians to the words used by our Lord
in His institution of the sacrament. John of Damascus, the principal
writer of the Eastern Church, maintained (it is true), on the authority
of some of the Fathers, a literal change of the bread and wine into the
body and blood of Christ. The figurative interpretation put upon the
words of Christ by a council at Constantinople in A.D. 754 was denied
at the second council of Nice in 787, when it was ruled that the sacred
symbols are not figures or images at all, but the real body and blood.
Theophylact and Euthymius Zigabenus coincide with John of Damas-
But it was reserved for the Western Church to carry out into its
remote consequences the doctrine of a material change, which, in
common with her Eastern sister, she ultimately came to maintain.
This doctrine was maintained during the 9th century by Paschasius
Radbert more precisely and authoritatively than before.
opposed, however, by Rabanus Maurus, and Katramn or Bertram (whose
sounder and more scriptural views many centuries later found an echo
in our own Ridley), and also by the suspected ingenuity of Scotus
Erigena.
With regard to the number of the Sacraments, as is well known,
two opinions are current among Christian communities, the Greek
and Romish Churches holding the number of seven, while all other
Catholic bodies limit the number to two. The history of this
difference may be briefly stated as follow~ The term Sacrament was
applied by the Fathers to the mysterious doctrines of religion, as the
Trinity, the Incarnation, and, in some instances, to the ordinances of
religion in a wide sense. In a certain sense the seven-fold system of
the Church of Rome may be considered as an abatement of the lax
terminology of some of the Fathers. The title of sacraments is by her
limited to seven actions-baptism, or the sign of our spiritual birth;
the eucharist, in which our spiritual life is nourished; confirmation,
for the strengthening of the same; penance, for the restoration of the
lapsed; extreme unction, as a preparation for death; matrimony, for
maintenance of the race of mankind in general; and orders, for that of
the race of God's ministers.
Without entering into the controversy on this subject, it will be
sufficient to observe that the number of seven, as asserted by the
Church of Rome, is very far from being sanctioned by the uniform
assent of ecclesiastical practice. Antecedently to a very modern synod
(that of Florence) the number of seven had never been positively
settled.
The two sacraments then, to which, in the judgment of all Catholic
bodies (save the Greek and Romish communions) the number is
properly limited, are those of baptism and the Lord's supper. It is
asserted that on the basis of two Jewish rites. of recognised typical
import our Lord established, by direct command, those two sacra-
ments, of which alone the authority is unquestionable. An indirect
argument in favour of this more restricted view may be drawn from
the Romanist statements respecting the relative value of the several
sacraments. For although the authorities of that church are con-
sistently anxious to prove the entire number of seven to be equal in
rank, the dignity which they directly attribute to the eucharist, and
that which they cannot withhold from baptism, may be in some sort
alleged as an involuntary assent to the doctrine of the opposite party.
The principal feature of the scheme of salvation providentially
cus.
He was
Various instances of opposition to the doctrine of transubstantiation
subsequently occurred; but, supported by authority like that of
Sylvester II. (the famous Gerbert), it continued to gain ground.
During the 11th century it had become an article, to dissent from
which was heretical; although a doctrine substantially the same with
that held by the Anglican Church at the present day was preached by
doctors such as Alfric, and although an archbishop of Sens, Leutheric,
advocated opinions regarding the eucharist similar to those which
involved Berengar of Tours in controversy with Lanfranc, and drew
upon him the hostility and condemnation of popes and councils.
Among the numerous controversies connected with the different
theories on the subject, the more modern opinions are marked by a
tendency to regard the eucharist as a purely symbolical rite. For
transubstantiation Luther substituted a corporal local presence, com-
monly called consubstantiation. There appears an inconsistency in the
obstinacy with which Luther contended for his theory. He had aban-
doned the sacrifice of the mass and the theurgic pretensions connected.
with the real presence which made this dogma of such importance to
the Church of Rome. Luther's great object was to preserve this
sacrament from being degraded by the same unspiritual subjective views
(as he conceived) with which it was menaced by Carlstadt and his party.
This evil would be best remedied by a bold assertion of the objective
•
293
231
SACRIFICE.
SAFFRON.
-
dignity of this sacrament, divested of the superstitious additions with
which it was encumbered in the Church of Rome. Hence the Lutheran
doctrine of the eucharist. What has been said will suffice to show how
ungrounded is the charge sometimes brought against Luther-that he
threw away the substance while he retained the shell. But his tena-
cious adherence to scholasticism in this respect contrasts strangely with
his uncompromising hostility to that philosophy respecting the funda-
mental dogma of justification by faith. Zwingli, on the other hand,
together with a corporal and local presence, rejected all notion of a
spiritual presence and graces. But the opinions of Calvin shortly
afterwards superseded the colder ones of Zwingli, many of whose
followers, to quote from Waterland, abandoned the "notion of naked
signs and figures to the Anabaptists of those times, where they rested,
till again revived by the Socinians, who afterwards handed them down
to the Remonstrants."
The point of divergence between the adherents of Luther and Calvin
respecting the eucharist may be stated thus:-The former party held,
according to the earlier Augsburg Confession and the Form of Concord,
that the body of Christ was contained in, with, and under, the sacra-
mental bread. The others held the doctrine only of a real spiritual
feeding on the body of Christ, which took place in the faithful contem-
poraneously with the reception of the outward elements. In the
opinion of Waterland, " Calvin refined upon Zwingli's scheme, steering
a kind of middle course between the extremes. He appears to have
set out right, taking his ground with good judgment; and had he but
built as carefully upon it afterwards, no fault could have been justly
found."
Bishop Lloyd considered that the Anglican doctrine was borrowed
from that of Calvin. The third and fourth clauses of the twenty-
eighth article, respecting the manner and means after and by which
the body of Christ is taken in that sacrament, would seem to support
this view. But the words of Waterland may be fairly quoted as
expressing briefly the opinion held by the majority of Anglican
teachers on this subject "Our divines who came after Calvin had
some advantage in point of time, and a greater still in the rule or
method which they pitched upon as most proper to proceed by. The
sum of all is, that sacramental or symbolical feeding in the eucharist
is feeding upon the body broken and the blood shed under the signs
and symbols of bread and wine; the result of such feeding is the
strengthening or perfecting our mystical union with the body glorified,
and so, properly speaking, we feed upon the body as dead, and we
receive it into closer union as living, and both in the eucharist when
duly celebrated."
of men.
SACRIFICE, an offering made to God, in which the thing offered is
wholly or partially destroyed. It is generally supposed that sacrifices
were instituted immediately after the fall of Adam, when God made
with him what is called "the covenant of grace;" and that on this
occasion the sacrifice was partly an atonement for Adam's sin, partly a
ratification of the covenant. This supposition is founded on the fact
that God clad Adam and Eve with the skins of beasts; and since
animal food had not yet been given to man, it is thought that these beasts
must have been slain as sacrifices. (Genesis, chap. iii.) In the next
generation we meet with sacrifices as a divine appointment. (Gen. iv.
1-5.) All over the world sacrifices have been found in some form or
ether, which is another proof of their great antiquity. Their chief
object is to atone for sin [ATONEMENT]; but they have also been
offered as the means of gaining the favour and assistance of God, and
of expressing submission and gratitude to him. They may be divided
into two classes, bloody and unbloody. In the heathen world human
sacrifices have been very generally prevalent, apparently from a notion
that human life is the most precious thing that can he offered to
the divine Being. Sacrifices form a large part of the Jewish law.
Christians believe them to be abolished since the death of Christ,
since, as Paul argues in his Epistle to the Hebrews, that was the
one great sacrifice which has for ever made atonement for the sins
SACRILEGE is "the felonious taking of any goods out of any
parish-church or other church or chapel." By the common law it was
a capital offence, though the offender seems to have been entitled to the
benefit of clergy at the discretion of the ordinary. But even if it were
not clergyable at the common law, yet the statute 25 Edw. III. c. 4,
"De Clero," comprehended this as well as other crimes, and gave "the
privilege of holy church to all manner of clerks, as well secular as
religious." Afterwards, by the statutes of 23 Hen. VIII., c. 1, and
25 Hen. VIII., c. 3, revived by 5 & 6 Edw. VI., c. 10, all persons not
in holy orders were excluded from the benefit of clergy who on an
indictment for robbing any church, chapel, or other holy place were
convicted, stood mute, or peremptorily challenged more than twenty
of the jurors; and by 3 & 4 Will. & Mary, c. 9, the same consequences
followed upon their outlawry. It seems, however, that no sacrilege
came within these statutes which was not accompanied by an actual
breaking of a church, &c. But by 1 Edw. VI., c. 12, all persons in
general were deprived of their clergy for the felonious taking of any
goods out of any parish-church or other church or chapel in all cases,
except that of challenging more than twenty jurors: and by 3 & 4 Will,
& Mary, c. 9, upon such a challenging, as well as upon conviction, &c.,
upon an indictment, whether in the same county wherein the sacrilege
was committed, or in a different one. It seems that sacrilege was the
only felony at common law which deprived the offender of the privilege
of sanctuary.
The present state of the law of sacrilege depends on the statute 7 &
8 Geo. IV., c. 29, s. 10, which enacts that "if any person shall break
and enter any church or chapel, and steal therein any chattel, or
having stolen any chattel in any church or chapel, shall break out of
the same, every such offender, being convicted thereof, shall suffer
death as a felon.”
By 9 Geo. IV., c. 55, s. 10, the same protection was extended to
meeting-houses and all places of divine worship.
By the statute 5 & 6 Will. IV., c. 81, the punishment of death was
abolished, and transportation for life or for any term not less than
seven years, or imprisonment with or without hard labour for any
term not exceeding four years, was substituted in its place. These
penalties were again altered by 6 Will. IV., c. 4, which limited the
term of imprisonment to three years, and gave to the court a discre-
tionary power of awarding any period of solitary confinement during
such term. But now, by the statute 7 Will. IV. and 1 Vic. c. 90, s. 5,
no offender may be kept in solitary confinement for more than one
month at a time, or three months in the space of one year. And see
16 & 17 Vict. c. 99.
SADDLERY. [LEATHER MAnufacture.]
SADDUCEES (Žaddovkaîoi), one of the four Jewish sects at the time
of Christ. The Rabbinical tradition makes them the followers of
Sadoc, a disciple of Antigonus Sochos. They denied the existence of
any spiritual beings except God, and believed that the soul died with
the body, and therefore that there was no resurrection. (Matt. xxii.
23; Acts, xxiii. 8.) In consequence of this disbelief in a future state
of rewards and punishments, they were inexorable in puuishing crimes.
They rejected the doctrines of predestination and providence, main-
taining that men were left to determine their own course without
assistance or hindrance from God. They rejected the traditions of the
Pharisees, and adhered to the text of the Mosaic law. They have been
accused of rejecting all the books of the Old Testament except the
Pentateuch;
Pentateuch; but the passage of Josephus, on which this charge is
founded, does not sustain it. Though inveterately opposed to the
Pharisees, they united with them against Christ. During the period
to which the New Testament refers, though less numerous and less
popular than the Pharisees, they seem to have been superior by the
eminent men they had in the Sanhedrim, and some of their body were
high-priests, as Caiaphas and Ananias. It seems that they consider-
ably modified their opinions in progress of time, and received
the doctrines of angelic beings and of the resurrection; so that at last
they were only distinguished by their rejection of tradition, from which
circumstance they obtained the name of Caraites, in the 8th century
A.D. (Josephus, Antiq.,' xiii. 5, 6, 9, 10; xvii. 1, 4; Jahn's 'Biblical
Antiquities; Winer's Biblisches Realwörterbuch.")
SAFES. [FIREPROOF CONSTRUCTION; FIREPROOFING.]
SAFETY LAMP. [LAMP, SAFETY.]
SAFETY-VALVE. An opening in a steam-boiler loaded with a
certain weight, which is raised by the steam when the latter acquires
a certain elasticity, so that a portion of the steam escaping relieves the
boiler from internal pressure and danger of bursting. In the locomo-
tive engine the boiler is furnished with two loaded valves, one of which
is beyond the engine-man's control, and is called the lock-up valve,
while the other, at a somewhat lower pressure, can be regulated by
him, by means of a lever and spring balance. By making the aperture
large enough, the whole of the steam can be let off as soon as it is
generated, by which means the engine is put out of work. The valve
may be loaded by means of a weight placed upon it, or by means of
a lever with an adjustable weight according to the pressure required.
SAFFLOWER, or Bastard Saffron, is noticed under the botanical
name of the plant [CARTHAMUS tinctorius, in NAT. HIST. DIV.] yielding
it. This plant has been cultivated in Eastern countries from the earliest
times, both on account of the oil expressed from its seeds and for the
colouring matter procurable from its flowers, which in their dried state
form the safflower of commerce. The oil of the seeds of carthamus was
valued by the ancients as a laxative medicine, and is still employed by
the Asiatics for the same purpose, as well as for external application.
It is most extensively used as a lamp-oil. The seeds are eaten by some
birds, especially parrots, whence they are called "graines de perroquets."
The plant is, however, chiefly cultivated on account of its flowers, not
only in China, India, and Egypt, but also in the south of Europe.
That from China is the most valued, and the Bengal safflower con-
sidered the most inferior. This might be remedied probably by select-
ing and sowing only the seed of the most highly coloured flowers, and
then adopting the Chinese method of gathering the crop when the
flower is in the highest perfection, and only picking off the upper and
coloured parts of the floret, instead of the whole floret, of which the
lower part is whitish-coloured. Besides this, careful drying is essential
to the preservation of the colour, or, as Mr. E. Selly has recommended,
gradual drying "in close chambers with some organic substance, or
perhaps with hot sand;" but the natural heat of the climate in
darkened chambers would probably be sufficient.
SAFFRON consists of the dried stigmas of the Crocus sativus, a
plant native of Greece and Asia Minor, but extensively cultivated in
Austria, France, Spain, and also formerly in England. The Siciliau
saffron is said to be the produce of the Crocus odorus, but both in
1
295
SAFRANIN.
SAIL.
The principal stars are as follows:
Character.
α
B
Y
No. in Catalogue
of Flamsteed.
5
6
12
No. in Catalogue
of British
Association.
6739
6858
Magnitude.
4
4
4
236
ancient and modern times this sort has been little esteemed. England
is chiefly supplied from France and Spain; that of Spain being pre-
ferred. In Germany, however, Spanish saffron is not in such repute as
the Austrian, great pains being taken in the cultivation of the plant in
that country. The cormi or stems are subject to the attacks of a
fungus, Sclerotium Crocorum, by which they are extensively destroyed.
When the flowers expand, and are thoroughly open under the influence
of the sun, the stigmas, of which there are three, are plucked out, a
portion of one style remaining attached to them, and spread upon
SAGITTARIUS (the Archer), one of the constellations of the
paper, to be dried either by means of portable kilns over which a hair-zodiac, the figure of which is that of a centaur drawing the bow, and
cloth or fine sieve is stretched, or in a room by the sun. The stigmas situated below Aquila, between Scorpius and Capricornus: it must
are from an inch to an inch and a half long, narrow and roundish not be confounded with CENTAURUS. The mythological account of
where they are attached to the style, but spreading out and club-shaped this constellation is very meagre, and confirmatory of the reason given
towards the apex, which is truncate. The upper part is of an orange in CONSTELLATION why the Greeks could not have been the first to
or brownish red; the part of the style termed föminelle is yellowish. give names to the constellations. Hyginus can find no more illustrious
The stigmas have a penetrating, aromatic, and, when in large quantity, mortal to fix in this part of the heavens than one Crotus, the son of
stupifying odour, and a bitter aromatic taste; by mastication the mouth Eupheme, the nurse of the Muses; but it is worth noting that he says
and saliva are rendered yellow. By long internal use of them many of many (in his time) denied that the original figure was that of a
the secretions acquire a yellow colour. The stigmas of Crocus Pallasii, centaur.
C. longiflorus, and C. Susianus, are not so long as those of the genuine
The principal stars are as follows:-
saffron crocus, and are altogether devoid of the strong odour. They
and many other articles, such as the florets of the safflower (Carthamus
No. in Catalogue
tinctorius), those of the marigold (Calendula officinalis), slices of the
of Flamsteed
flowers of the Punica granatum, and pieces of dried flesh, are used to
adulterate the true saffron. The saffron of English commerce is
generally very pure; but the high price offers much temptation to
sophistication, which might be diminished by collecting the stigmas of
the Crocus vernus, which are little inferior in colour or potency to
those of the autumnal crocus. According to Mr. Pereira, one grain of
good saffron contains the stigmata and styles of nine flowers; hence
4320 flowers are required to yield one ounce of saffron. Saffron was
formerly met with in two forms, hay saffron and cake saffron, the
former is now alone in demand, the latter being entirely an artificial
compound of the florets of the safflower, gum, and some other materials.
Genuine saffron is often moistened with oil, which gives an appearance
of freshness to old and dry safron; but the mixture is easily detected.
Saffron consists of a volatile oil, in variable proportion, which is heavier
than water, of polychroite, which is a compound of a volatile oil and a
bitter red substance (or polychroite properly so called), gum, and other
principles. [SAFRANIN.]
Saffron had formerly many powerful and important properties mis-
takenly assigned to it. On the Continent it is much used as a condi-
ment with food. In England it is used in medicine, chiefly as a
colouring principle. It is also employed as a pigment for water colours,
and as a dye, for which purpose considerable quantities are imported
from France.
SAFRANIN. (Polychroite.) Alcohol takes up from the aqueous
extract of saffron à peculiar colouring matter to which these names
have been given. On the evaporation of the alcohol it forms an un-
crystallisable mass, very soluble in water and alcohol, but almost
insoluble in ether and in oils. Its composition has not been
ascertained.
SAGAPENUM, said by Willdenow to be yielded by Ferula Persica
which no one regards as certain, though it is generally believed to be
furnished by some species of Ferula. The plant (or plants) which
yield it grow in Persia and other regions of the East. It is procured
in the same way as assafoetida. It occurs either in tears or irregular
masses, of a dirty brownish colour, containing in the interior white or
yellowish grains. It is difficult to break (unless when very old), is
tenacious, and not easily powdered, except in winter. It has the same
alliaceous odour, but less powerful, as assafoetida, with a nauseously
bitter, acrid, guttural taste.
It consists of, in the 100 parts, according to Pelletier :—
Resin
Gum
Rassorin
Peculiar substance
Acidulous malate of lime
Volatile oil, including loss
51.26
31.94
1.0
0.60
0:40
11.80
-100.
Brandes found only 3.73 per cent. of volatile oil, and less resin than
in the above; and Geiger says it has less volatile oil than assafoetida;
while Pelletier's analysis gives nearly three times as much. The resin,
by the action of hot hydrochloric acid, becomes first reddish, then
blue, and at last brown. The resin appears to be a mixture of two
kinds, one soluble, the other insoluble, in ether. Formerly there were
two kinds of Sagapenum in commerce, but at present only the worst
of the two is met with. It is said to be adulterated with asafotida
and bdellium. Its action on the human system is the same as that of
asafoetida and other fetid gum-resins. [ASAFOETIDA.]
SAGITTA (the Arrow). This constellation is one of the old ones,
and is situated over the back of AQUILA. In CONSTELLATION it is
stated that Sagitta is a part of Aquila in Aratus; but this, though
very commonly stated, is erroneous, as is noticed by Grotius in his
notes on Aratus; though the edition of Grotius himself countenances
the error in the plates. Grotius traces the mistake to Germanicus in
his Latin version,
Character.
22
행
​No. in Catalogue
of British
Association.
(Piazzi)
10
6115
Magnitude.
3
14
13
6168
δ
19
6209
3
€
20
0233
3
λ
22
6263
4
ૐ
37
6461
4
38
6489
3
39
6507
4
T
40
6521
4
π
41
6548
4
81
(54)
6608
4
SAGO, a word signifying, in the language of the Papuas, bread,
since it constitutes the staple article of food of the inhabitants of the
Eastern Archipelago and other parts where the plants which yield it
grow. It is not a seed, as sometimes supposed, but the farina from the
stem of several palms and palm-like vegetables. The old stems of
Caryota urens also yield goods ago. Sago is a variety of starch,
prepared by the plant for the use of the flowers and fruit, and is most
abundant just before the evolution or appearance of the spadix or
flower-bud, which is known by a whitish dust transuding through and
covering the leaves. At this time the stem is cut down, near the base,
and then divided into pieces of five or six feet in length. A part of
the outer hard wood is then sliced off, and the workman, coming to
the pith, cuts across the longitudinal fibres and the pith together,
leaving a part at each end uncut, so that when it is excavated there
remains a trough, into which the pulp is again put, mixed with water,
and beaten with a piece of wood; the fibres, being then separated
from the pulp, float at the top, and the flour subsides. After being
cleared in this manner by several waters, the pulp is put into cylin-
drical baskets made of the leaves of the tree; and, if it is to be
kept some time, those baskets are generally sunk in fresh water to
keep it moist, for the pulp will keep long if preserved from the air,
but if exposed it presently turns sour. (Forrest's Voyage to the
Moluccas.')
""
1
The quantity yielded by one tree is prodigious. Five or six
hundred pounds are not an unusual produce for one tree; and as the
vegetation still remains after being felled, a stem again springs up,
which goes through the different stages of growth till it is fit for the
axc.
The flour or powder is rarely imported, granulated sago being the
state in which it is commonly brought to Europe. To bring it into
this state from the flour, it must be moistened and passed through a
sieve into an iron pot (very shallow) held over a fire, which enables it
to assume a globular form. Thus all our grained sago is half baked,
and will keep long. Of this granulated sago there are two varieties,
the common or brown sago, and pearl sago. The latter is in small,
hard, horny, or semi-transparent grains, about the size of a pin's head;
the former are in large grains, about the size of the grains of pearl
barley. Both are inodorous, and have an insipid taste. They swell in
cold water, and are nearly thoroughly soluble in boiling water, so as to
form a thick starch-like solution, which may be used as a pudding, or
prepared in other ways as an article of diet for children and invalids,
if a farinaceous diet is required. Care must be taken to distinguish a
factitious eago prepared from potatoes. This can only be done by the
microscope.
SAIL, a quantity of canvas attached to the yards or stays of a boat.
or ship in order to receive the impulse of the wind, and thus give
motion to the vessel. The depth of a sail is capable of being diminished
at pleasure, according to the force of the wind, by means of the reef-
points.
The principal sails of large vessels can be placed at right angles to
the direction of the keel of the ship, and this position is given to them
when the vessel goes before the wind; in other cases the same sails
!
237
238
SAIL.
SAIL.
may, by means of the braces, be placed obliquely to the keel. The
sails which are attached to the ship's stays, and the sails of boats or
small vessels, are generally in a vertical plane passing through the
keel; a certain degree of obliquity to that plane may, however, be
given to them at their lower extremities if necessary.
Sails are
strengthened by ropes, called bolt-ropes, sewn along their edges in order
to prevent them from being easily torn by the action of the wind.
When a vessel is in still water, the pressure of the wind against the
sails overcomes its inertia, and motion takes place in some direction.
The motion goes on increasing by the accelerative power of the wind;
but at the end of a certain time the resistance in an opposite direction,
both of the air against the sails and hull of the ship, and of the water
against the latter, becoming equal to the accelerative power of the
wind, the ship acquires a terminal or uniform velocity, and in this
state (neglecting the resistance of the air) there may be said to be an
equilibrium between the pressure of the wind against the sails and of
the water against the vessel.
The principal problem connected with the motion of vessels on the
water has for its object the determination of the relation between the
velocities of the wind and of the vessel; and its solution consists in
finding algebraic expressions for those pressures, and making them
equal to one another. But many practical difficulties present them-
selves in investigating that relation; for the pressure of the wind is
modified by the form which the sail assumes when acted upon, by the
obliquity of the wind's direction to the general plane of the sail, and
by the interference of one sail with another, by which interference the
wind may be partly intercepted, or currents may be produced in
directions different from the general direction of the wind. The
resistance of the water is also greatly modified by the form of the
ship's hull, and by the direction of its motion with respect to the line
of the keel. These difficulties cannot be removed; therefore the
results of mathematical researches concerning the motion of ships can
only be considered as very remote approximations to the rules which
should guide the practice of the seaman. And in order to simplify
the problem, it is necessary to suppose that the ship is furnished with
only one sail, whose area is such that the action of the wind upon it
may be equivalent to the efficient action of the wind upon all the sails.
The centre velique, as it is called by foreign writers, or the centre of
pressure or effort, must also be supposed to be at the centre of gravity
of the sail. That part of the ship's surface which is resisted by the
water must moreover be represented by a plane surface whose area is
such that this resistance shall be equivalent to the efficient action of
the water on the ship.
500
The pressure of the air perpendicularly against a plane surface equal
to one square foot is usually estimated at lb. avoirdupois, the surface
pressed being at rest, and the wind moving with a velocity equal to
one foot per second, or about 0.68 mile per hour; also the resistance
of water against a like surface and moving with an equal velocity is
estimated at 1.5lb. The pressure or resistance, by the laws of hydro-
dynamics, varies with the square of the velocity; and, from the reso-
lution of forces, it may be shown [AERODYNAMICS] that the effective
force with which a fluid strikes a plane surface obliquely, when
estimated in a direction perpendicular to the plane, varies with the
square of the sine of the inclination to the plane. This, however, is
only an approximation for practical purposes, its insufficiency arising
from want of allowance for the accumulation of force depending on
the shape or curved surface of the sail; and, from the experiments of
Bossut, D'Alembert, and Condorcet, it appears to hold good only for
inclinations between 50° and 90°. The experiments of Smeaton
indicate that the pressures vary nearly with the sine of the inclination,
when the latter is between 50° and 60°; at greater inclinations the
pressure is some fractional power, of the sine, and at very small incli-
nations it approaches nearly to the square. But the following formula
of Smeaton gives the effective velocity very nearly as
=V sin @ 1812 cos.
From the experiments of Dr. Hutton it is found that at inclinations
between 50° and 90° the pressures vary nearly as the sines of the
inclinations.
both being expressed in feet per second; a for the area of the sail, and
A' for that of a vertical section through the immersed part of the ship
taken perpendicularly to the keel; the equation of equilibrium will
evidently be
A. P. (V-v')²= A'. P. V²;
and from this equation v' may be easily found. It follows from the
same equation that, when the other terms are constant,
varies
with A, or the velocity of the wind in the sail is to the velocity of
the ship as unity is to the square root of the surface of the sail.
But while the plane of the sail is supposed to be perpendicular to
the keel of the ship, let the direction of the wind be oblique to both,
and let the force of impulse perpendicularly to the sail be proportional
to the square of the sine of the inclination of the wind to the sail;
then, if KL be the keel, a the place of the mast, y z the position of the
shall have w/M. sin. wMz for the force of impulse with which a particle
yard, and w'M represent. the direction and velocity of the wind, we
of air acts on the sail. This value of the impulse is, however, correct
only at the moment before the ship begins to move; for, let the ship
be advancing in the direction KL with a velocity such that the sail
from w to M if the ship were at rest,-it will be evident now that a
moves parallel to itself from м to R, while a particle of air would move
M
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N
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R D
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TF
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flag at M, which, when the ship is at rest, would have its plane in the
direction w'м produced, being carried by the motion of the ship from
M towards L, would be acted on by the particles of air coming against
it, as if it were resisted by forces parallel to MR and tending from R
towards м; therefore the forces parallel to w' and R M being respec-
tively proportional to those lines, the flag will by the composition of
forces take the direction w'M, the diagonal of the parallelogram w'R.
This is the efficient direction of the wind, and its velocity may be
represented by that diagonal, when that of the wind in its true
direction is represented by wм: consequently the impulse of the wind
perpendicularly to the plane of the sail must be represented by P.A.
M. sin. 'Me. By this impulse notion is produced in the ship in
'M².
the direction of its keel, and the whole expression may be made equal
to A'. P'. v, the former expression for the resistance of the water.
The values of w'M and of MR, that is, v and v', the absolute velocities
of the wind and ship, and also the angle L M w' being known, the value
of w'м may be computed.
When the direction of the wind is not coincident with the line of
by placing the sail in some oblique position, as y z.
the ship's keel, its power to impel the ship forward will be increased
In this case let
MC, perpendicular to Yz, represent the velocity with which, if not
In determining the pressure of a fluid against the surface, which is Then, by the resolution of motions, letting fall CD perpendicularly on
resisted by the water, the ship would move by the action of the wind.
in motion, it must be observed that, by the laws of the collision of KL, MD and DC will represent the velocities in those directions; and,
bodies, the efficient velocity of impulse is to be expressed not by the in the case of equilibrium between the actions of the wind and water,
absolute, but by the relative velocity of the impelling power. Hence, the resistance of the latter against the side of the ship perpendicularly
when the wind and ship are moving in the same direction, the effective to the keel will be to that against the bow, parallel to the keel, as CD
velocity is the difference, and when they are moving in opposite to DM, or as tang. CMD to radius. Let A" be the area of a vertical
directions, it is the sum of their several velocities. It must also be section through the immersed part of the ship in the direction of the
observed that the force of the wind and the reaction of the water are keel, and A', as before, the area of the vertical section perpendicularly
to be considered as taking place in horizontal directions, and that the to the keel; also suppose that, in consequence of the reaction of the
effective pressure of the wind on a flat sail is in a direction perpen-water, the ship's motion, instead of being in the direction MC, should
dicular to the plane of the sail, whatever be the position of the latter be in some other, as ME. Then, y representing the velocity of the
and the direction of the wind.
Now when a ship sails before the wind in still water, if we consider ship in this direction, and the resistance of the water being supposed
to be proportional to the square of the velocity and square of the sine
the sail as a plane surface at right angles to the keel of the ship and of the inclination, we have P.A".v sin." E MD for the resistance of the
to the direction of the wind; representing the pressure of the air on a
water against the ship's side, and P'.A'.v cos. EMD for the resistance
square foot, when the velocity is one foot per second, by r, and the against the bows. Therefore
pressure of the water on a square foot with an equal velocity by r';
also putting v for the velocity of the wind, and v' for that of the ship,
**
tan, CMD: radius :: A" sin. END; A' cos.2 EMD;
MD
239
SAIL.
consequently, the ratio of A' to A" being supposed to be known, the
value of E M D, that is, the ship's lee-way, might be found. If z MD=
45°, and the ratio of A" to A' be assumed to be as 12 to 1, the lee-
way will be found to be 16° 6'; and if z MD = 30°, the lee-way will be
20° 49'. But experiment alone can determine this element, for, with
equal velocities and equal quantities of sail, it varies in different ships;
and, in the same ship, with the velocity, and the disposition and
quantity of the sail.
Let MN represent the velocity of the ship in the direction ME; then
w M, the diagonal of the parallelogram w N, will represent the efficient
velocity of the wind in that direction, wм being the true direction of
the velocity; and letting fall on Yz the perpendicular wz, this last
line will represent the velocity perpendicularly to the sail. Therefore
the force of the wind in this direction will be proportional to w z²;
then drawing wQ parallel to M E, to meet so drawn through z perpen-
ilicularly to ME and wQ, we have z wq equal to the complement of
Z M E, and consequently w z² being resolved in the direction M E or wQ,
becomes w z2 cos. z wQ, or w z sin. z ME. But w z varies as sin.
wMz; therefore the force of the wind to impel the ship in the
direction M E is proportional to sin². w M z sin. Z ME; and the force of
impulse being proportional to the square of the velocity produced by
it, it follows that the velocity of the ship will vary with sin. w MZ
sin. z M E. Now making the differential of this expression equal to zero,
considering w M E as constant and Z ME as variable, it will be found
that this product is a maximum when wME is so divided that tan.
20 M Z: tan. Z ME:2:1, or that sin. (w MZ - Z ME) = sin. w M E.
! In Maclurin's 'Fluxions' (art. 912) there is given an investigation of
the angle w м z, between the true direction of the wind and the plane
of the sail, when the velocity of the ship's motion in ME is a maximum.
The general expression is complex, but when the direction of the wind
is perpendicular to the ship's course we have tan. w M Z =
+
3 v
~ { 2 + 2 = }} ; v′ being the velocity of the ship and v that
4
of the wind.
have tan. WM Z =
2 V
Therefore, if the velocity of the ship were very small, we should
√2 nearly, or WMZ = 54° 44′ nearly. But, on
making v' equal to 1,, and of V, we obtain for WM Z the several
corresponding values 61° 27′, 63° 26', and 66° 58'. It may be observed
also that, if both Z ME and v are given, the velocity of the ship will
be a maximum when the angle w M Z is a right angle, or when the sails
are perpendicular to the true direction of the wind.
In the same work (art. 917) there is given the investigation of an
equation from which may be determined the angle z ME, between the
plane of the sail and the line of the ship's motion when the velocity is
a maximum; and from that equation it is inferred (art. 919) that, if
the wind is perpendicular to the sail, the velocity is the greatest
(provided the velocity of the ship before the wind be not less than
one-third of the velocity of the wind) when sin. z ME: radius::
(v — 1): 1·5874; the velocity of the ship being expressed by
unity, and v, the true velocity of the wind, by a multiple of that
velocity. It may also be inferred from the same equation, that if
the velocity of the wind be such as to cause the velocity of the
ship to be greater than one-third of itself, the ship will sail faster
when the course is oblique to the wind than when coincident with
its direction.
The force of the wind, which is denoted by P. A. W M2 sin.2 w M z sin.
Z ME, being made equal to P'. A'. v'2 (which will express the resistance
of the water, if a' represent the area of the immersed section of the
ship perpendicularly to ME), the value of v', the velocity of the ship,
might from thence be obtained; and from the expression of that
value it may be seen that, while the other terms remain the same, the
velocity of the ship varies with the relative velocity of the wind
and ship, with the sine of its inclination to the plane of the sail,
and with the square root of the area of the sail. Hence also, when
the velocity of the wind and both the area and position of the sail
are constant, the velocity of the ship varies with sin. wMz; that
is, with the sine of the angle made by the apparent direction of the
wind with the plane of the sail. It may be inferred from the
general equation, that, by sufficiently increasing A and the angle
w M Z, the velocity (v') of the ship may be made to exceed w M, which
is that of the wind.
If it were required to find the course of the ship and the position of
the sails, so that the ship might recede most rapidly from any point of
danger, as from a lee-coast situated, for example, in the position
indicated by M'P', at right angles to w M, the direction of the wind;
we must imagine MP to be drawn parallel to M'P', that is, perpen-
dicular to w M. Then, the velocity of the ship in the direction ME
being represented by sin. w MZV sin. Z ME, let this velocity be
resolved into the direction perpendicular to MP; that is, let it be
multiplied by sin. EMP: the ship will recede most rapidly from м'r'
when the expression sin. w M Z. sin. EMP sin Z ME is a maximum.
On making the differential of this expression equal to zero, we shall
find that the velocity perpendicularly to MP is the greatest when
WMP is divided so that the tangents of the angles w M Z, Z ME, and
EMP are to ore another as the numbers 2, 1, and 2. If the velocity
of the ship be very small, we shall have wME, or its equal z M P,
44′ nearly and wм z = 35° 16′ nearly. And since receding at
54
·
SAILINGS.
240
right angles from a line M'P', when that line is perpendicular to the
the above value of w MZ will indicate the position which the sail
direction of the wind, is an advance towards the wind; it follows that
wMz
should have with respect to the wind, in order that the ship may get
to windward with the greatest possible velocity. If the velocity of
the ship be taken into consideration, the angles w ME and w M z will, as
before, be modified by the relation between the velocities of the ship
and wind.
oblique to the direction of the wind, destroys the equality of the
Since the lee-way, which a ship always makes when her sails are
reaction of the water which would take place on the two bows if her
movement were in the direction of her keel, and gives rise to an excess
of pressure against the lee-bow; it follows that in these circumstances
the ship's head is constantly forced to windward, and that the tendency
of the ship to turn on the axis of the rotation is so much greater as
the bows are more acute. To oppose, in some measure, this tendency,
the quantity of sail in front of the centre of rotation, is greater than
that which is behind it; but, notwithstanding such disposition, it
always requires some movement of the rudder to complete the counter-
action.
SAIL-MAKING. The canvas used for sails is a very stout material,
woven in England or Scotland from Russian hemp, and purchased in
the form of rolls called bolts, each bolt containing about 40 yards of
canvas 24 inches wide. There are six or seven different qualities of
this canvas, according to the size and position of the sail to be made;
have a certain weight per square foot. Thus, in the Royal Navy, a
and each quality has a particular number attached to it, and must
bolt of No. 1 canvas, containing 38 yards, must weigh 44 lbs.; whereas
No. 7 weighs only about half as much: the intermediate numbers
having intermediate weights.
As the canvas is only two feet wide, many breadths are required to
700 yards of canvas; while the whole suit of sails for such a ship
form a large sail. The mainsail of an East Indiaman contains nearly
requires as much as 9000 yards. As the sails vary much in shape,
considerable tact is required in cutting up the canvas so as to avoid
waste. The art of the sail maker consists not only in seaming up
the
but also in strengthening the sail by sewing rope to its edges. The
numerous breadths, so as to give the requisite dimensions to the sail,
seaming and sewing are effected with large three-sided needles, of
having from 200 to 400 fathoms to the lb.
seven or eight different kinds, which are threaded with sewing twine
The skeins of twine
previous to being used are dipped into a trough, containing melted tar,
thumb-stall and a palm-thimble, for protecting his right hand.
The sail-maker has a
grease, and oil, which is afterwards dried.
stitches have a regulated degree of closeness, on which his rate of
payment in part depends; there are usually about 100 stitches in a
half. Besides the seaming, sundry small pieces of canvas are stitched
yard. The overlapping of the breadths is an inch or an inch and a
to the sail to strengthen it in various directions; and the edge-rope or
bolt-rope is sewn on with great firniness. So skilfully is the canvas
marked out and cut up by a master sail-maker, that in the 9000 yards
for the forty sails of a large ship, there will not be more than three or
four yards actually wasted.
His
The storm sails patented in 1844 by Mr. Archibald Trail are made
in the usual manner, but are subsequently strengthened by sewing
to their surface a number of canvas bands about an inch broad,
with cords woven in them, such bands being secured at their ends
into the bolt-ropes, or cords forming the boundaries of the sail,
and carried diagonally across the surface of the sail at an angle of
45° with the seams, and at a distance of about three feet from each
other. Two sets of bands are used, crossing the sail in opposite
directions, one set being attached on each side of the canvas. By
this simple contrivance the strain is so equalised as to render tearing
less probable than with an ordinary sail; while, if any injury be
inflicted, the rent is confined within the narrow limits of one of the
diamond-shaped compartments into which the sail is divided by the
protecting bands.
SAILINGS; or THE SAILINGS. The various modes in which the
calculations of a ship's true course are conducted, have already, under
the head RECKONINGS AT SEA, been referred to individually, as
forming part of a seaman's "day's work," or dead reckoning as it is
called; distinctive of such portions of his work as depend on observa-
tion of the heavenly bodies. In this article it is proposed to review
the peculiarities of the sailings with reference to the great problem
of the accurate navigation of the surface of a sphere.
Under the word NAVIGATION the subject has been treated rather as
the practice of a general system; and its details have been partly re-
ferred to under the terms COMPASS, GREAT-CIRCLE OR TANGENT SAILING,
LONGITUDE AND LATITUDE, &c. It remains then to treat of the
relative values of the various means of estimating a ship's true position
by means of certain operations called "sailings.
In considering first the nature of the most simple form of naviga-
tion, namely, plane sailing, but which is only available for small
spaces on the earth's surface and in low latitudes, the following dia-
gram will assist.
Suppose for example, a ship bound to a port bearing true N.W.,
distance 80 miles or knots. Her average general velocity to be 8
knots per hour. A W.N.W current to be setting at the rate of 3 miles
241
SAILINGS.
SAILINGS.
242
per hour. The terrestrial deviation on the compass to be 2 points
westerly. The ship's local attraction upon the average course to be
16° westerly while, moreover, the wind being north-easterly (true),
and the ship being nearly close-hauled, we should allow about 1 point
leeway. It is obvious that with so many elements of disturbance an
approximate course must be selected before starting. Now, the un-
scientific ship-master would guess at his course, and if he found himself
by subsequent observation or otherwise, setting either to leeward or
the reverse, would so vary his course as to attempt by time-losing ex-
periments to finally reach his destination; while the complete navigator
would probably proceed thus-He would either roughly calculate his
true course, having in his mind's eye the following figure, or would
construct the figure itself, as under :-
N
-་་བ
left and that reached would be 2
==
herself at B. By middle latitude sailing the mean between the parallel
44° + 46°
45°, but if we measure
along the track sailed, it will be found that one-half the distance
sailed would actually fall to the southward of 45°, or at c; hence the
inaccuracy of middle latitude sailing in finding the longitude. Of
course the remedy for this would be to divide the track into portions,
and find the difference of longitude for each. When near the equator
where the meridians are not so convergent, middle latitude sailing may
be used with very trifling error; but Mercator's sailing is at such
places less accurate, because, as the following figure will show, a small
error in the course would make a large error in longitude.

C

d
WNW
D
E
N
R
Let o represent the ship's position at starting, and a the intended
port. It is usual to take the current as a course and distance. We get
the approximate distance by saying in this case 8: 80: 3: 30. oz
will, therefore, represent in position and magnitude the current
course and distance; compounding the ship's bearing and distance
from her intended port, and the set of current, as forces [COMPOSITION],
we get the parallelogram oz Ay, and the Aoy (composed with the
N.W. line 0A) will be the course, which measured from north would
be about N. 321 W., or by calculation, thus: o A being given as 80,
and bearing N.W., and oz being given 30, bearing W.N.W., the
▲ 20 A would = 2 points: hence in the triangle a oy we have given
the two sides and included angle o ay (=zo A) to find the rest by
trigonometry. From this it would be seen that starting from o, in the
direction oy, would, as influenced by the current, carry the ship
along the resultant o A to its intended port at A, were no other in-
fluence at work. But perhaps the most difficult portion of a mariner's
duty is to clear his course from compass errors. To continue the
example;-after projecting the 2 points variation westerly from в to C,
and the 16° W. by local attraction [LOCAL ATTRACTION] from c to D,
and the 1 point leeway (westerly) from D to E, we find that the
correction for leeway and compass error amounts in this case to the
correction B E, which, measured to the eastward of OB, gives the true
course which must be steered by compass to be o F, or instead of about
N. 325° W., it should be about N. 18° E.
Whatever method of sailing we adopt, the above mode of correction
is indispensable; but with the exception of terrestrial deviation, the
amount of correction to be applied depends chiefly on the judgment,
and perception, and vigilance of the navigator.
Middle latitude sailing has already under the article RECKONINGS AT
SEA been partially explained as regards its application to practice;
its principles will now be briefly considered. The meridians of the
globe meeting at the poles, the parallels of latitude diminish in magni-
tude as they recede from the equator; but as each parallel circle must
'contain 360° of longitude, it evidently follows that the term degree of
longitude is one of only relative value, depending on the latitude at
which it is situated: and when we estimate longitude by turning (as
the phrase is) departure into longitude, the assumption of its latitude
is either obtained by using middle latitude sailing, which adopts a
mean between the latitude left and that arrived at, or by Mercator's
sailing, which in most cases is more accurate. The questions will be
better understood from the following figure:
A
B
In this, cx would be the distance run, and the angle ACB the course,
dx the departure, and AB the difference of longitude.
Parallel sailing is used when the ship makes no difference of latitude,
but sails upon a parallel of latitude. It is only preferred for its simplicity,
because in "running along a parallel" the distance is the departure,
and the true course is east and west: but it is at the expense of accu-
racy, for a ship thus sails along an arc of a circle instead of its chord,
although at first sight the reverse appears to be the case. It is how-
ever certain, that the shortest distance between two points on the
surface of a sphere is the arc of a great circle, the plane of which passes
through the earth's centre. Now, if in the following fig. 1, we draw
on a right sphere, ab, equal to the parallel of 40', and assume the
points thereon at c and d, the nearest distance between them will
appear to be cd. This may be shown to be incorrect if the parallel of
40° be drawn in fig. 2 on gnomonic projection, where the chord ced
connects the two points and is their nearest distance; hence the
curve ced, in fig. 1, is the nearest distance between the points c and d,
Fig. 1.
Fig. 2.

N

d
N
because its plane would pass through the centre, while the plane of c d
Would be parallel to it. But these errors might be avoided altogether
by the use of great circle sailing, and especially as Mr. Saxby has
rendered the finding of a great circle course more easy than even the
Mercator's; as already fully explained under GREAT CIRCLE, OR
TANGENT SAILING.
Windward sailing is a term used in connection with great circle
sailing, by which is implied the advantage taken of the changes in the
course of a ship when sailing upon the tangents of a great circle, and
is such that a considerable saving of distance in a voyage may be
effected when a ship is opposed by contrary winds, in determining on
which "tack" to sail with reference to the great circle track itself.
For example, suppose that a ship starting from B towards a on a great

Long. 13°
12°
11°
10°
B
46° Lat.
45
NW

D
Port luck
45
444
41
On a portion of an ordinary map, let a ship start from a, and after a
day's run (say of 200 miles) in various directions, suppose she finds
ARTS AND SCI. DIV. VOL. VII.
Starboard
Tack
B
circle track, as drawn upon a Mercator's chart, meets at c with the
wind N.W.; if her captain puts her upon the port tack, he absolutely
sails away from his proper course, while by keeping her on the starboard
tack, as at p, he sails in a direction nearly parallel to it.
Oblique sailing is merely a term applicable to those problems in
which no right angle appears in the projected triangle. It is a mere
term of oblique trigonometry, such as occurs in setting off one's posi-
R
243
SAILORS.
tion by cross bearings of objects whose relative bearing and distance
from each other are well known.
Composite sailing was so called, and ably illustrated by Mr. Towson,
but the subsequent invention of the Spherograph has rendered it as a
sailing quite unimportant.
Having thus explained the usual resources of the navigator in his
work of calculation under systems of progression, the subject may be
viewed from another point. The comparative steadiness of large
steamers on the ocean, and the greater advantages they possess in their
partial independence as to the direction of the wind, might seem to be
a relief to the ship-master; such is, however, counterpoised by the
extreme difficulties inherent in steam navigation, and especially in iron
ships. It is true the courses of steamers are more direct and free from
"traverses," but it is the question of local attraction, ever liable to
vary, which needs all the vigilance of the commander. This important
subject has been treated of under LOCAL ATTRACTION, but we may
add that Professor Airy has further illustrated his previous investiga-
tion by a very valuable communication read before the Institution of
Naval Architects on March 1st, 1860.
SAILORS. [SHIPS; SEAMEN.]
SAINFOIN, Onobrychis sativa, is a plant of the family of the Legu-
minosa, which grows luxuriantly and spontaneously on the calcareous
soils of the middle and south of Europe. It has been in regular culti-
vation for upwards of two centuries for the purpose of supplying
fodder for cattle, either in the green state or when converted into hay.
There are few plants which have more rapidly improved the value of
poor, thin, calcareous soils than sainfoin; and in the richer kinds of
loam, which contain a considerable proportion of calcareous matter, its
value surpasses even that of broad clover, giving fully as great a return,
with a much smaller expenditure of manure. The plant has a strong
woody and fibrous root, which insinuates itself into the fissures of
calcareous rocks, and finds moisture in the driest seasons, while its
spreading fibres keep the earth from being washed down the steep
slopes of the hills. Being nearly perennial, or at least of many years'
duration, it binds the soil together. In favourable situations it may
be made into hay twice in the year, or cut oftener as green fodder. In
the most arid and exposed situations it gives at least one good crop of
hay. The plant grows about two feet high, and the stem, which
branches out into many compound leaves, is crowned with a beautiful
spike of papilionaceous flowers. After it has been mown it shoots out
rapidly again, and may be advantageously depastured by every kind of
cattle or sheep. There are varieties of the plant which differ in the
rapidity of their growth: the best is called in France esparcette, or
sainfoin à deux coupes. From France it has been introduced into
England. The duration of sainfoin depends on the nature of the soil,
and the state it was in with respect to weeds when it was sown. A
cold wet subsoil soon destroys the roots, whereas a free and dry one,
whether rocky or gravelly, gives them vigour. Grass and weeds, which
choke the crown of the plant, soon cause it to decay, as is the case with
lucern. With every advantage, it may last in vigour ten years, espe-
cially if it be occasionally invigorated with a top-dressing of manure.
During that time it may be cut for hay every year, taking care to cut
it before the flower is faded or the seed formed; and if sheep are
folded on the aftermath, the next crop will well repay the trouble. It
is usually sown in spring in a crop of barley or oats, which should be
sown thin in order that the sainfoin may not be smothered. The land
should have been prepared by a cleansing crop, such as turnips fed off
by sheep folded on them. From three to four bushels of rough seed
may be sown, harrowed in, and rolled. It is not often drilled, although
this method, by allowing the use of the hoe between the rows, would
much strengthen the young plants, and protect them against coarse
grasses, which are their greatest enemies. In the first year the sainfoin
should not be fed off by sheep; and if it is mown, it should not be
mown too close to the ground. The crown of the root in the young
plant rises a little above the ground, and if this be bit off or cut with
the scythe the plant dies. It is useful to harrow the ground lightly,
to draw the earth round the roots, and to destroy the seed-weeds soon
after the barley or oats are reaped. The sainfoin does not produce a
large crop the first year, for some of the seeds will lie a twelvemonth
in the ground before they spring up. It is in perfection after the
second year, when a portion may be reserved for seed. Sainfoin hay is
extremely nourishing for every kind of cattle, especially if it has been
made without rain. Although it is not apt to heat in the stack, it
must be put up in a very dry state; and if it has suffered from rain
too much care cannot be taken thoroughly to dry it, for the water
insinuates itself into the hollow stems, and is long in evaporating, so
that when it feels quite dry it may yet contain much water. The
mode of discovering this is to twist it strongly in the hands into a
rope, when the moisture, if there is any, will ooze out. It is better to
let it dry thoroughly, than, by carrying it in a hurry, to run the risk
of its becoming mouldy within. In very precarious seasons it may be
carried in a half-dried state, provided there be no moisture in it from
dews or showers, and stacked in alternate layers with good straw. It
will impart some of its fragrance to the straw, and lose none of its
nutritive qualities. The same may be done with lucern or clover.
The most advantageous use of sainfoin, however, is to cut it green and
give it immediately to the cattle. There is little danger of their being
hoven by it, for it ferments very slowly, owing to the fibrous nature of
SAINT.
244
the stem. If the situation of the field admits of occasional irrigation,
without danger of the water stagnating, the produce of the sainfoin
will be greatly increased; and it has been known to be cut four or
even five times in a season without exhausting its strength. When it
begins to appear thin on the ground, and other plants seem to get the
better of the sainfoin, it is time to break it up. The land will be
found much improved in fertility by the sainfoin. A poor chalk or
gravel, which before would scarcely repay the seed sown in it, will
now, by the gradual decay of the roots and fibres of the sainfoin, pro-
duce good crops without manure. If clean, it may be ploughed up for
wheat; if foul, as it is most likely to be, it may be pared and burned,
and yield a crop of turnips, to be partly fed off and followed by barley.
Many a poor barren tract of calcareous rock and gravel has been
fertilised and raised in value by the sole effect of the sainfoin, without
which it must have remained in its unproductive state.
Although a chalky soil is best adapted to the growth of sainfoin, it
may be sown with advantage in all light calcareous loams, provided the
substratum be sound and dry. On very rich deep moulds lucern is a
more profitable crop; but sainfoin will thrive where lucern will fail,
and it is particularly adapted for poor dry soils.
There is nothing peculiar in the manner in which sainfoin is made
into hay. It should not be shaken about too much, but treated as
clover is, for fear of injuring the flower and breaking off the leaves.
The swathe should be merely turned over when dry on one side, and
then, as soon as it is dry through, it should be put into small cocks,
turned once or twice when the dew is off the ground, and carried to
the stack as soon as it is sufficiently made. It should take a good heat
in order to make it compact, but without acquiring too dark a colour.
Experience alone can teach the exact time when it should be stacked.
When it is left for seed, it should be examined carefully after the
blossom fades. The lower pods will be filled with ripe seed before the
blossoms at the top of the spike of flowers are withered or the seed
formed in them. If the sainfoin were left standing till these seeds
were ripe, the lowest would be shed; but by cutting it at a proper
time these may be preserved, while most of the latter will ripen in the
straw sufficiently to vegetate when sown. Rainy weather is very
injurious to the seed crop; a fine time should therefore be selected, if
possible, even at the risk of a smaller crop. The produce varies from
three to five, or even six, sacks per acre. It is easily threshed out,
and this operation is often done on a cloth in the field, when the
weather permits. It is readily done by a threshing-machine, and
winnowed like corn. On the whole, there are few plants the culti-
vation of which is so advantageous as that of sainfoin on the limestone
soils on which it thrives best.
SAINT, derived from the Latin "sanctus," through the French
"sainct," properly signifies a holy or pious person, and is so used in the
Christian church. From the commencement of the Christian religion,
great veneration was always shown to persons remarkable for their
holiness or piety, and their memory was cherished after their death.
In course of time it became the custom to implore departed saints to
assist the living by their prayers and intercessions with the Deity; and
as man has in all ages felt the want of a mediator between himself and
the Deity, the practice of praying to saints increased rapidly, and
superstition multiplied the number of such mediators to so great an
extent, that it was at length found necessary to put some restraint
upon the practice. It was accordingly decreed by the ecclesiastical
councils in the 9th century, that no departed Christian should be con-
sidered as a saint to whom prayers might be addressed, until the
bishop in a provincial council, and in the presence of the people, had
pronounced him worthy of that honour. Even in that century many
divines thought that it was proper that the decisions of bishops and
councils should be confirmed by the consent and authority of the pope,
who was regarded as the supreme and universal bishop. It was not,
however, till the following century that any person was sainted by the
bishop of Rome alone; and this honour was first conferred on Udalric,
bishop of Augsburg, by John XV. Shortly afterwards the privilege
of declaring departed Christians to be saints was confined to the
pope; and the creation of saints was distinguished by the name of
"canonisation."
The invocation of saints in the Roman Catholic church is frequently
stigmatised as idolatry; and the Church of England condemns the
Romish doctrine on the subject as "a fond thing vainly invented, and
grounded upon no warranty of Scripture, but rather repugnant to the
word of God." (Article xxii.) In this, as in any other case of religious
controversy, it is right to take the account of the doctrine from the
persons who believe in it, and not from a statement of their opponents.
Thus Bellarmine says, "It is not lawful to ask of the saints to grant to
us, as if they were the authors of divine benefits, glory, or grace, or the
other means of blessedness. This is proved, first, from Scripture: The
Lord will give grace and glory.' (Psalm lxxxiv.) Secondly, from the
usage of the church; for in the mass prayers and the saints' offices we
never ask anything else but that at their prayers benefits may be
granted to us by God. Thirdly, from reason; for what we need sur-
passes the power of the creature, and therefore even of saints; there-
fore we ought to ask nothing from saints beyond their impetrating
from God what is profitable to us. Fourthly, from Augustine and
Theodoret, who expressly teach that saints are not to be invoked as
gods, but as able to gain from God what they wish. However, it must
245
246
SAINT ANTHONY'S FIRE.
SALE.
be observed, when we say that nothing should be asked of saints but
their prayers for us, the question is not about the words, but the sense
of the words. For, as far as words go, it is lawful to say, 'St. Peter,
pity me, save me, open for me the gate of heaven;' also, 'give me
health of body, patience, fortitude, &c.,' provided that we mean 'save
and pity me by praying for me; grant me this or that by thy
prayers and merits.'
For so speaks Gregory Nazianzen, and many
others of the ancients." (De Sanct. Beat.,' i. 17.) The doctrine of
the Roman Catholic church is explicitly stated in the council of Trent:
Though the church has been accustomed sometimes to celebrate a
few masses to the honour and remembrance of saints, yet she doth
not teach that sacrifice is offered to them, but to God alone, who
crowned them; wherefore neither is the priest wont to say, I offer
sacrifice to thee, O Peter, or O Paul, but to God." (Sess., 22.)
"
The Lives of the Saints have been written in the Acta Sanctorum,'
51 vols. fol. [BOLLANDUS, JOHN, in BIOG. DIV.]; and in Alban Butler's
'Lives of the Saints,' 12 vols. 8vo.
SAINT ANTHONY'S FIRE. [ERYSIPELAS.]
SAINT ELMO'S FIRE. [LIGHTNING.]
SAINT MARTHA WOOD. [BRAZIL WOOD.]
SAINT VITUS'S DANCE. [CHOREA.]
SAL ALEMBROTH. [MERCURY. Bichloride of Mercury.]
SAL AMMONIAC. [AMMONIUM, Chloride of]
SAL ENIXUM. [POTASSIUM: Bisulphate of Potash.]
SAL MIRABILE, a name formerly applied to sulphate of soda.
SAL PRUNELLA. [POTASSIUM. Nitrate of Potash.]
SALE is that transaction by which the ownership of property is
transferred to the buyer, in consideration of a money payment by him,
or on his behalf, to the seller. Such transfer of ownership may some-
times be made, although the property does not belong to the seller;
as in the case of sales in open market, which are valid, though made
by parties wholly without title to the property, or authority to sell it;
and sales by factors and agents duly authorised. Under the present
head it is proposed to treat only of the law relating to the simple act
of sale, it being assumed that the parties to the sale are legally
qualified to effect it. Persons in certain conditions are by law in some
cases restrained and in others disabled from buying and selling, but
these restrictions and disabilities form no part of the law of sale; they
belong rather to those branches of the law, such as infancy, bank-
ruptcy, insolvency, coverture, lunacy, alienage, &c., which create and
define them.
Generally, all things may be the subject of sale; but there are some
exceptions, such are a mere title to lands of which a party is not in
possession, a presentation to a living actually vacant, the pay of a naval
or military officer, and some other things.
Property is distributed under the two heads of real and personal pro-
perty, which differ materially in many respects; and the modes of effect-
ing the sale of each of these kinds of property likewise materially differ.
Some incidents, however, are common to a sale both of real and
personal property.
No sale is valid so as to be capable of being enforced unless-
1st. The parties to it act with good faith;
2nd. Unless there is consent in each of them; and,
3rd. No sale is valid the subject of which is illegal, or which in-
volves an illegal transaction, or has for its object an illegal act.
With respect to the first principle, it is a maxim of the common
law that fraud vitiates all contracts. The fraud may be, with respect
to the property, the subject of sale, either of a positive character, such
as wilful misdescription of it in some material particular by the seller,
or negative, such as a designed concealment of defects and incum-
brances. In these cases the contract of sale cannot be enforced, not-
withstanding express stipulations that the property shall be taken with
all its faults, or that misstatements shall not invalidate the sale, but
shall be provided for by compensation.
in the fraudulent intention, the sale will be invalid. In an action at
law, the question whether fraud has existed is to be determined by the
jury.
2. There must be consent in each of the parties to the sale. This
rule involves the proposition that each must be a free and intelligent
agent: no sale therefore can be valid where either of the parties was
under coercion by violence or imprisonment, or bodily fear, or was
lunatic, or idiot, or utterly intoxicated. Again, in order that a buyer
may be a legally consenting party to a sale, he must be truly informed
in all material particulars as to the property which is the subject of
sale. This must be understood of such particulars as he cannot by
reasonable care and observation inform himself upon, for a man has no
legal protection against the consequences of his own carelessness and
negligence. If, however, he has been deceived in any other particulars,
even unintentionally, by the buyer, he cannot be said to consent to
the bargain.
the bargain. The consent which he gives is to the purchase of such
property as has been described to him, and the consent therefore
cannot relate to the property which is the subject of the sale, if it
differs in material points from what has been described. Thus in the
common case of a horse warranted sound, the consent is to buy a sound
horse, and the buyer cannot be considered to have consented to buy an
unsound horse. If therefore the horse is manifestly unsound, a party
cannot be compelled to carry into effect his contract to purchase it.
The case is the same with an estate said to be tithe free, which in
reality is not so, or with any other property the description of which,
as stated, varies materially from the truth. Where indeed the variance
from the description is obvious, and the buyer has had an opportunity
of inspecting the property and afterwards chooses to complete the
purchase, the contract will not be invalid. The reason of this rule is
manifest, for the legal presumption is that ordinary diligence has been
used, where it might and ought to have been used, and there is there-
fore no ground for supposing an absence of the buyer's consent.
In cases where there is no fraud, and a possibility of variance from
the description is contemplated in the conditions of sale, the sale may
still be valid notwithstanding the existence of such variance, for in
this case both parties knowingly take the chance of the variance being
either favourable or adverse to them. As when for instance it is
stated that an estate consists of so many acres, &c., be the same more
or less, &c. If the conditions of sale contain a provision that com-
pensation shall be made for such variances when they are ascertained,
then the party in whose favour they turn out to be, will be bound to
make such compensation. If, however, from the circumstances of the
case it should appear that such compensation cannot be made, the sale
cannot be enforced against the purchaser, forasmuch as the terms to
which the parties consented are impossible, and there is therefore
nothing to which the consent is applicable.
A court of equity will in some cases compel a buyer to complete his
bargain, on the condition of the seller making him compensation in
respect of those matters in which there is a variance, even although
there is no provision to that effect in the conditions of sale. The
principle on which this is done is, that parties ought to carry into
effect what was substantially their intention. This power of the
court therefore is not exercised where the variance is material, or where
the attainment of the particular matter in which a variance exists
really was the main object of the purchase. The common terms of
exaggerated praise in which persons speak of the property that they
have to sell, is not such misdescription as will make a sale void. In
cases where property is agreed to be sold by one contract, in one lot, a
buyer cannot be compelled to take some part of it without the rest.
3. No sale is valid if the subject matter of it is illegal or prohibited,
or if an essential part of it is an illegal transaction or involves an illegal
act. A sale of treasonable, blasphemous, or obscene publications is
void, for the acts of treason, blasphemy, and obscenity are legally
punishable. A sale of property known by the seller to be intended to
What is a material particular, will of course depend upon the be used for illegal purposes is void, such as drugs to be used for the
A mis- adulteration of provisions, or a house to be occupied for the purposes
subject-matter of the sale and the circumstances of the case.
description of the situation of an estate, a statement that a public- of prostitution. Sales for the purpose of avoiding the forfeiture to
house which was bound by covenant to purchase beer of a particular the crown incident upon judgment after a conviction for felony, are
brewer was a free public-house, that a long leasehold estate was free- void. Sales to an alien enemy are unlawful, although a power exists
Offices of public
hold, have been held to be material. Under this head may be adduced in the crown to grant licences legalising such sales.
as an instance the employment of more persons than one to make trust, such as those which are connected with the administration of
false biddings at an auction on behalf of the seller. Such persons are justice or government, either in the United Kingdom or in the
commonly called puffers. One such person may lawfully be employed dependencies upon it, cannot lawfully be made the subject of sale.
to protect the interests of the seller by merely buying in the property The enactments affecting the sale of various articles are too numerous
at a predetermined sum. But the bidding of more than one has the to be referred to here. It may, however, be laid down generally that
effect of inducing an incorrect opinion as to the value of the estate, where a thing is prohibited and made unlawful by statute, a contract
and such bidding, being fraudulent, invalidates the sale. In like for the sale of such thing is void, even although the statute does not
manner fraud on the part of the buyer will have the same effect; as enact that it shall be so, but only attaches a penalty to an infringement
Sales of contraband articles are also void; and
where he prevents other persons from purchasing by fraudulently of its provisions.
misrepresenting the nature of the property, or attempts to obtain even in the case of a foreigner selling goods abroad, to be delivered
possession of it with a design not to pay for it; or where, when in this country, the sale will be invalid, if he be eognisant of and
negociating the sale, he knows himself to be insolvent, or makes pay- aiding in an attempt to introduce them into this country in contra-
ment by cheques or bills which he knows will not be honoured, &c.vention of the revenue laws. A sale of property in the ordinary course
These are instances of fraud which is intended to operate only on one
of the parties to the sale. But the same effect may be produced where
the fraud is intended to operate on other persons not parties to the
sale; as where a sale is attempted to be made by a seller for the pur-
pose of defrauding his creditors. If in such case the buyer participate
1
of a party's trade is void if made on a Sunday, although the sale of
the same article by another person whose ordinary dealings are not
in such matters would be valid.
In case of a sale of lands, it is assumed that the seller has a good
title to them, and that he will deliver over the title-deeds to the
3
247
SALE.
buyer. In failure of either of these particulars the sale cannot be
enforced. The right to receive a good title is one which is conferred
upon the buyer by the law, independently of any agreement between
the parties.
By the statute 29 Charles II., c. 3, s. 4, certain forms were required
in order to give effect to a sale of "lands, tenements, or hereditaments,
or any interest in or concerning them." Such forms are no part of the
sale, which consists in the consent of parties who are competent to
consent, but the statute merely declares that such consent shall, in
certain cases, have no legal effect, unless the prescribed forms are
observed. If an agreement for sale has been made without the
requisite formalities, and has been carried into effect in some material
part, a court of equity will enforce the performance of the whole
contract, on the ground that the informal contract, having been partly
completed, is not a case within the statute. In all other cases of con-
tracts as to interests in land, "the agreement, or some memorandum
or note thereof, shall be in writing, and signed by the party to be
charged therewith, or by some other person thereunto by him lawfully
authorised." The agreement binds the party who signs it, although it
is not signed by the other party. No established form is requisite,
and it is not necessary that the agreement should be contained in one
instrument: it may be collected from a series of letters, or a written
offer followed by a written acceptance, or from documents referred to
by a letter. The signature may be attached to any part of it. An
agent may be appointed verbally, and the same person may act as agent
for both parties to the sale. An auctioneer is such agent, and his
writing down the name of the highest bidder in his book is a sufficient
signature.
The law which relates to the construction of agreements for sale
falls under the ordinary rules as to the construction of agreements
generally. The same observation applies as to the remedies which
parties possess for the enforcement of them. When the contract for
the sale of an estate is completed, the estate is, in equity, considered
to be sold, and the buyer is viewed as the owner of the estate, and the
seller as only a trustee for the buyer, while the buyer is considered as
a trustee of the purchase-money for the seller. If, therefore, a party
has contracted for the sale of an estate of inheritance, and die before
payment of the purchase-money, the money will be considered as part
of his personal estate, and his executors will be entitled to it. On the
other hand, if the party who has contracted to buy the estate die
before it is conveyed to him, his heir or devisee will be entitled to the
estate, and the executors must pay the purchase-money out of the
personal estate of the buyer, if they have sufficient assets. It is a con-
sequence of this equitable doctrine, that the buyer must, as a general
rule, bear any loss which happens to the estate after the completion of
the contract of sale. A person who has obtained such an equitable
ownership may deal with the property in all respects as if it were his
own; and such dealings, though not valid at law, are viewed as valid
transactions in a court of equity.
With respect to sales of personal property, the common law required
no formalities. The terms of sale might be agreed on either verbally or
in writing; and they might be proved by any evidence legally appli-
cable to the proof of other matters. Sales of goods made at one time,
and not together exceeding in price 10l., still remain on this footing.
By the same statute (29 Chas. II., c. 3) which prescribed certain
formalities in sales of land, it was enacted (s. 17) that "no contract for
the sale of any goods, wares, and merchandise for the price of 107.
sterling and upwards shall be allowed to be good except the buyer shall
accept part of the goods so sold and actually receive the same or give
something in earnest to bind the bargain, or in part payment, or that
some note or memorandum in writing of the said bargain be made
and signed by the parties to be charged by such contract or their
agents thereunto lawfully authorised." By the 9 Geo. IV., c. 14, s. 7,
the enactments of this act are extended to all contracts for the sale of
goods of the value of 107. sterling and upwards, notwithstanding the
goods may be intended to be delivered at some future time, or may
not at the time of the contract be actually made or fit for delivery.
The statutory requisites are thus four in number:-
1. Delivery and receipt of part of the goods.
2. Payment of earnest.
3. Payment of part of the price.
4. A signature of a memorandum of the bargain by the party or his
agent. By the performance of any one of these requisites the parties
to the sale are bound.
If the goods themselves are delivered to the buyer himself and
accepted by him, of course no question can arise as to the completion
of the bargain. Where, however, the delivery is not to him personally,
many cases of nicety occur as to whether or not a delivery has taken
place, so as absolutely to vest the property of the goods in the buyer.
A delivery which would be sufficient, if not afterwards interfered with
by the seller, to accomplish the requisite of the statute, is complete as
soon as the goods have been delivered to a carrier for the purpose of
being conveyed to the buyer, even although the carrier has not been
selected by the buyer. But during the course of actual transit to the
place indicated by the buyer to the seller as the place of destination,
the goods are subject under certain circumstances to a right of the
seller to detain them. This is called the right of stoppage in transitu, and
the time and place when it ceases are often a question of great nicety.
SALICOR.
248
[STOPPAGE IN TRANSITU.] Where no delivery of part of the goods
themselves has been made by actual removal, a constructive delivery
may effect the same purpose: a delivery of the key of the warehouse
where the goods lie; the receipt of rent for their warehouse-room by
the seller; the endorsement and delivery of a bill of lading or a dock
warrant; an order to a wharfinger to deliver, &c., amount to a
delivery. In all such cases, however, it must be understood that the
delivery is not complete if anything yet remains to be done to the goods
on the part of the seller, such as their separation by weighing or
measurement from a larger bulk. Again, the exercise of ownership
over the goods by the buyer, with permission of the seller, is an act
legally equivalent to delivery: such as marking the goods, tasting
wine, and cutting off the pegs from the cask, &c. But in these cases it
must distinctly appear that the act which is done is an act of ownership;
if done with any other view, as for the purpose merely of identifying
the property, it will of course afford no ground from which a delivery
may be inferred. Where a sample is taken out of the whole bulk sold,
a delivery of the sample operates as a part delivery.
2. The earnest-money paid must be retained. In a case where a
shilling had been paid to bind a bargain, and was returned, it
was held that this was not a compliance with the requisite of the
statute..
3. The part payment need not necessarily be made in cash; a pay-
ment by acceptance of a bill, or by a promissory note, will, while the
instruments remain undishonoured, have the same effect as by actual
money.
4. The general observations which have been made as to a note or
memorandum in writing relative to sales of land, will apply equally to
one relative to sales of goods.
(Sugden, 'On the Law of Vendors and Purchasers; Ross's' Treatise
on the Law of Vendors and Purchasers of Personal Property.')
SALEP, Salap, or Saloop, a nutritious article of diet, much valued
in the East for its supposed general stimulant properties, but which is
justly esteemed as bland and nutritious, and well suited to children
and convalescents. Salep consists of the tubers of different species of
Orchidea, which have been known in medicine from very early times
by the name Orchis. All the European saleps are far inferior to and
considered only as indifferent substitutes for that brought by commerce
from Africa. Salep is highly valued in India, and forms an article of
commerce from Cabul and Cashmere to the north-western provinces
of India, where it is sold, at the Hurdwar fair held in April, at a high
price. This is very similar in form and appearance to Turkey salep,
though the tubers are twice as large as the best procurable in London.
All the plants that yield salep have two tubers, charged with nutri-
tious matter; while one is nourishing the flower-stem and seeds of the
current year, by which it is robbed of its store, the other serves as a
reservoir for the flower-stem of the succeeding year. This last alone is
fit for use. Both are dug up together, but the solid one only is
retained. It is dipped in warm water, after which the fine brown skin
is easily removed by means of a coarse cloth or brush. The tubers,
being thus peeled, are arranged on a tin plate, and placed within an
oven heated as for baking bread; here they remain for seven or ten
minutes, in which time they exchange their opaque and milky whiteness
for a semi-transparent horn-like appearance and a yellowish colour,
retaining their original bulk. Being then withdrawn from the oven,
they are exposed during some days to dry and harden in the air; or,
by the employment of a very gentle heat, they may be brought to the
same state in the course of a few hours. All that is then required to
adapt the salep for food is to boil it in water (or milk) to the required
consistency. In Armenia, the tubers, while yet soft, are strung
together on threads, and suspended in the sun to dry without artificial
heat. The chemical composition of salep varies according to the period
of growth when the tubers are taken up. Though salep is regarded as
a variety of starch, there is very little pure starch present, the chief'
With cold
constituent being that form of gum termed bassorine.
water salep very slowly swells and forms a mucilage; but one part of
salep-powder with forty-eight parts of water boiled or heated forms a
thick mucilage, which has very peculiar qualities, inasmuch as with
either calcined magnesia, bisulphate of quinnia, or biborate of soda, it
thickens into a solid glue-like substance. The chief use of salep is as a
mild and digestible article of food; and as the orchis abounds in our
meadows, a large supply of nourishment might be obtained by digging
up the tubers and drying them, as above stated, and as was recom-
mended in the last century by Dr. Percival (On the Preparation,
Culture, and Use of the Orchis-root,' 1773).
Salep is composed chiefly of bassorine, some soluble gum, and a little
starch; by some it is considered as containing the largest portion of
nutritious matter in the smallest space. Its presence in small quan-
It is
tity in milk retards the tendency of that fluid to become gour.
a harmless and useful ingredient in the preparation of bread, and is
free from the objections to potato-starch, which is too often used by
bakers in the place of wheaten flour.
SALERNITANA SCHOLA, will be found under this head in the
BIOG. DIV.
SALHYDRAMIDE. [SALICYLIC GROUP.]
SALICIN. [SALICYLIO GROUP.]
SALICOR, the ash of the plant Salicornia annua. It is produced
on the French coast of the Mediterranean, and is used in the manu-
249
250
SALICYL.
SALICYLIC GROUP.
facture of carbonate of soda, of which it contains about 15 per
cent.
SALICYL. [SALICYLIC GROup.]
SALICYLAMIDE. [SALICYLIC GROUP.]
SALICYLIC ACID. [SALICYLIC GROUP.]
SALICYLIC GROUP. A cluster of chemical substances, compounds
or derivatives of the electro-negative radical salicyl (C₁H¸0.). The
members of this group-itself a subdivision of the benzoic series in
Gerhardt's arrangement are numerous; including the odoriferous oil
of meadow-sweet and of winter-green, and the bitter principle of
Salicyl (С₁HÃO) itself has not yet been isolated. As it contains
the elements of phenyl (C₁H¸) and carbonic acid (C₂O̟), and as, more-
over, its compounds are not unfrequently converted into bodies
identical with derivatives of phenyl, the salicylic group has sometimes
been termed the phenyl-carbonic group.
willow-bark.
14
4
14
2
Salicylide of benzoyl (CHO, CH,O,), parasalicyl, or spirine, is
obtained by acting upon chloride of benzoyl with hydride of salicyl, or
from the destructive distillation of salicylide of copper. It is insoluble
in water, soluble in alcohol or ether, crystallises in prisms, melts at
260°, and sublimes at 356° Fahr., and is converted into picric acid on
being boiled with nitric acid.
Hydride of salicyl (CH,O,,H); salicylous acid; spirous acid, or
essential oil of spiræa ulmaria. Besides the method of obtaining this
body from the flowers of meadow-sweet, as described under ESSENTIAL
OILS, it may be produced by decomposing salicin under the influence
of oxidising agents. According to Buchner, such an operation is simply
an imitation of what occurs naturally in the spirea flowers; the buds
of this plant contain salicin, and have scarcely any smell; but, on
expanding, freely expose their parts to the air, when oxidation of the
salicin goes on, and hydride of salicyl results, giving odour to the
flowers. The artificial oxidation of salicin is conveniently effected by
bichromate of potash. To two parts of salicin, two of bichromate of
potash, and sixteen of water, in a retort, are added three of oil of
vitriol, previously diluted with eight parts of water. After a short
time a gentle heat may be applied, when the oil passes over; twenty-
five parts of salicin yielding six of the essence. The salicin for this
process need not be pure; indeed, aqueous extract of willow-bark serves
very well.
C26H18014 + 4H0
Salicin.
C₁₁H8O4 + C12H14014
Saligenin.
Glucose.
Hence salicin is one of the glucosides. Salgenin crystallises in
ether. It is partially volatile; most oxidising agents convert it into
colourless crystals, very soluble in boiling water, alcohol, or
hydride of salicyl, while chlorine gives rise to trichlorophenic acid.
Saliretin (CHO) is a product of the action of heat upon saligenin
in closed vessels; it is also produced by prolonged ebullition of
saligenin with dilute acids. It is a white or yellow-coloured resinoid
body, insoluble in water or in ammonia, but soluble in alcohol, ether,
Helicin (2 (C₂H100₁₁) + 3aq.) is obtained on digesting salicin in
ten times its weight of nitric acid of specific gravity 1-160 for about a
day: hydrogen is thus removed from the salicin, water being formed,
and helicin deposited in acicular crystals. It is inodorous, of slightly
bitter taste, very soluble in boiling water or alcohol, but almost
insoluble in ether. Chlorine and bromine act upon, and give rise to
derivatives of, helicin.
or concentrated acetic acid.
16 14
Helicoidin (CH3028 + 3aq.) seems to be a combination of helicin
52
and salicin (C5₂Hз( C20H10014+ C20H18011). It is produced
59
28
=
when the oxidation of salicin by nitric acid is incomplete, or when the
specific gravity of the acid is less than that above indicated.
Populin (C2H,(C₁₂H₂O₂)O₁+ + faq.), or salicin in which an equiva-
lent of hydrogen is replaced by benzoyl, has already been described.
[POPULIN.]
20
17
Coumarin, a fragrant principle of several plants, seems to be allied
to the members of the salicylic group, inasmuch as it yields salicylate
of potash when fused with the hydrate of that base. It is further
described in a separate article. [COUMARIN.]
acid exists naturally in oil of wintergreen. [ESSENTIAL OILS.] On
Salicylic acid (HO, C,,H,O,). In combination with methyl this
boiling the oil for a few minutes with solution of potash, neutralising
by hydrochloric acid, and allowing the mixture to cool gradually,
salicylic acid crystallises out in acicular tufts. Salicylic acid may also
be formed by projecting salicin, in small portions at a time, into
hydrate of potash fused in a silver basin, the temperature not being
allowed to rise higher than 750° Fahr. On dissolving the mass in
water and adding hydrochloric acid, the salicylic acid is precipitated,
and may be purified by recrystallisation from boiling water.
sublimes unchanged. It is soluble in alcohol, ether, or oil of turpen-
Salicylic acid fuses at 316° Fahr., and at a higher temperature
tine. A mixture of peroxide of manganese and sulphuric acid oxidises
it to formic acid. By ebullition with nitric acid it is converted first into
nitrosalicylic acid and, finally, into picric acid. Distilled with excess
give an inky-blue precipitate with persalts of iron, the colour disap-
of lime it is split up into carbonic and phenic acids. Its solutions
pearing on the addition of hydrochloric acid.
When quite pure, hydride of salicyl is a colourless oil, but from
contact of air soon acquires a red hue. It has an agreeable aromatic
odour, acrid taste, boiling point 360° Fahr., specific gravity 1173,
vapour density 4.276, and burns with a bright smoky flame. It is
somewhat soluble in water, the solution giving a deep violet colour
with persalts of iron. Hydride of salicyl is an acid body: it decomposes
the alkaline carbonates with effervescence, and combines with bases
generally to form neutral and acid salicylides. The potassium salts
contain respectively K, C₁,H,O₁+2 Aq. and K, С₁‚¤¸¸÷н, С₁₂Н¸O,
Chlorosalicylous acid (C(HCl)O,H), bromosalicylous acid (C(H.
Br)O,H), iodosalicylous acid, and hydride of nitrosalicyl (C₁(H.NO)
O,,H), are respectively produced by the action of chlorine, bromine, (KO,C,H,O,,
iodine, and nitric acid upon hydride of salicyl. They are crystalline
compounds, and form crystalline salts with bases.
བ་
147
5
Salhydramide, salicylimide, or hydride of azosalicyl (C,H,N,0) is
the product of the action of ammonia upon hydride of salicyl :—
C₁₂H18N206 + 6По
HO
2C₁₁₂+ 2NH3
2014
Пydride of
salicyl.
Ammonia. Salhydramide. Water.
It crystallises in prisms, is insoluble in water, slightly soluble in cold
alcohol, and more so in hot alcohol.
སའ་
15
2
Chlorosamide (C,,H,Cl,N₂O), or the hydride of chlorazosalicyl, and
bromosamide (CH₁Br₂N₂O) or the hydride of bromazosalicyl, are
42
3 2
14
salicylates that are, for the most part, monobasic and crystalline. The
Salicylic acid decomposes carbonates with effervescence, and forms
potash salt contains (KO, C₁HO, aq.); the double salicylate of copper
and potash has the formula KO,C₁{}0, + 4aq.: it crystallises in
beautiful emerald green plates.
H
14 Cu 5
5
Salicylic ethers. Although the oil of wintergreen appears to be a
definite salicylate of methyl (C¸H₂O, С₁H¸Ó¸), it nevertheless plays the
part of an acid, and from its source has been termed Gaultheric acid:
it still admits of the replacement of an equivalent of hydrogen by a
metal or a radical, gaultherates being formed; thus:
Gaultherate of potash.
Gaultherate of methyl
•
14
3
KO, CH(CIs) Os
CHIO, CH¸(С‚¤¸)¸
14
formed on acting with ammonia upon the chlorine and bromine. But this gaultheric acid or hydrate of methyl-salicyl admits of the
derivatives of hydride of salicyl.
14
Thiosalicol (C₁₂HO₂S.), or hydride of sulphosalicyl, is a pulverulent
substance, formed on treating salhydramide with sulphuretted hydrogen.
Sulphurous derivatives of hydride of salicyl, and of the preceding
compounds of salicyl, result from the action of sulphurous acid upon
their alkaline salts, or of the alkaline bisulphites upon the compounds
themselves.
Salicin (C20H1014) is a neutral bitter principle contained in the bark
of the various species of willow and poplar (sallow, osier, aspen, &c.).
It readily crystallises out from a concentrated decoction of the bark,
after tannic acid and colouring matter have been removed by hydrated
oxide of lead.
When pure, salicin occurs in white silky crystals, soluble in water or
in alcohol, but insoluble in ether or oil of turpentine. It melts at
248° Fahr., loses water at 392° Fahr., and at a higher temperature
decomposes. Concentrated sulphuric acid communicates a blood red
colour to it; the liquid, neutralised with chalk, yields a deliquescent
chestnut-brown powder, containing, according to Mulder, sulphorufic
acid. Water decomposes the red body formed by sulphuric acid;
heat, also, gives rise to the formation of a resinoid body, that has been
called by one chemist olivin, by onother rutilin, while a third thinks it
to be saliretin. Several chlorine derivatives of salicin exist.
Saligenin (CH,O,) and grape sugar result from the action of boiling
dilute acids upon salicin :-
substitution of an acid radical for hydrogen, and thus are formed:
Benzoate of methyl-salicyl
Cuminate of methyl-salicyl
3
C₁H(CH3)05 1
C14H50 f
C₁4H (C₂H₂) Os
C20H1103 J
Similarly the ethyl-gaultheric acid, or rather hydrate of ethyl-salicyl,
and the amyl-gaultheric acid, or hydrate of amyl-salicyl, on being acted
upon by the chloride of benzoyl yields :-
Benzoate of ethyl-salicyl
Benzoate of amyl-salicyl. :
C₁₁H(CH)0s 1
14
3
:
11
action of chlorine and bromine on salicylic acid.
Chlorine and bromine derivatives of salicylic
Chlorosalicylic acid
Bichlorosalicylic acid
Bromosalicylic acid
Bibromosalicylic acid
Tribromosalicylic acid.
•
C14103
Their formulæ are:-
acid result from the
II. CIO
G
C₁H CO
5
+
•
C14Hs Bros
5
CHBrO
G
C14H3Br300
251
SALICYLIMIDE.
5
14
Nitrosalicylic acid (CH(NO)Ò¸ + 2aq.), called also indigotic acid
and anilic acid, has already been described [ANILIC ACID]. Binitro-
salicylic acid, or nitropopulic acid, contains C₁₂H₁(NO)₂O。.
Anhydrous salicylic acid, or salicylic anhydride (C,,H,Os, C₁,H,Os), is
formed by the action of oxychloride of phosphorus on dry salicylate
of soda. It is a gummy or oleaginous-looking body, soluble in alcohol.
It is converted into ordinary salicylic acid by boiling with solution of
potash.
Salicylide (C,,H,O) is a white, amorphous, pulverulent substance,
formed in the preparation of salicylic anhydride. It is insoluble in
ether, and almost insoluble in alcohol.
Salicyluric acid (HO,C,,H,NO,) is found in the urine, after salicylic
acid has been taken into the stomach. Boiled with hydrochloric acid
it splits up into salicylic acid and GLYCOCOLL.
Chloride of salicyl (CH,O,, Cl) is a fuming liquid, obtained on
acting upon oil of meadowsweet by perchloride of phosphorus.
Salicylamide (CH.NO) results from the action of a strong solu-
tion of ammonia on the oil of wintergreen. It is a volatile solid, of
yellow colour, soluble in boiling water, alcohol, or ether. By the
action of the chlorides of benzoyl or cumyl upon salicylamide the
following compounds are generated :-
Benzoyl-salicylamide
Cumyl-salicylamide
14
C₁₁(H.NO.)O
Nitrosalicylamide N
H
H
14
C, HO
N C₁4H502
1
H
C₁4H50
4
. . I N C20H1103
H
¡
SALIX.
252
digitalis, and even opium, are apt to produce it; and it is almost a
constant effect of the long-continued or copious administration of
mercury.
The quantity of mercury_required to produce salivation varies
greatly in different persons. In some, two or three grains of calomel
are sufficient; but by other persons such large quantities may be
taken with impunity, that they appear insusceptible of its action. No
general rule, therefore, respecting the quantity of mercury that may
be safely given to any one can be made; but in no case can there be
safety without caution and careful watching of the effects produced
by it.
Salivation from the use of mercury is distinguished from that which
arises from other causes by its being preceded by a peculiar brassy
taste in the mouth, fotor of the breath, and tenderness, redness, and
sponginess of the gums. These are soon followed by the increased
flow of saliva, and if mercury be still taken, or if the quantity already
taken was very large, they increase; the whole mouth, tongue, face,
and throat become swollen and tender, and ulcers and sloughs quickly
form on the mucous membrane. In extreme cases, the mouth and
cheeks and throat become extensively gangrenous, the teeth fall out,
the gums swell up as they do in scurvy, the jaws are affected with
necrosis, and by the spreading of the disease to important parts it may
prove fatal; or the patient may die exhausted by the profuse discharge
of saliva, or by the peculiar nervous and other constitutional dis-
turbances that often accompany the poisonous influence of mercury.
[MERCURY.]
The best treatment of mercurial salivation is exposure to cool pure
air, a nutritioùs diet, and mild purgatives. Gargles of chlorinated
soda or lime are useful in correcting the foetor of the breath; and
honey, or the Mel Boracis, may be applied to the smaller ulcers in the
is the product of the action of mouth. The permanganates of soda and potash may also be employed
ammonia on nitrosalicylate of methyl.
SALICYLIMIDE. [SALICYLIC GROUP.]
SALICYLOUS ACID. [SALICYLIC GROUP.]
SALICYLURIC ACID. [SALICYLIC GROUP.]
SALIENT, a term applied to an angle which presents its point to
the outside of the figure, as opposed to the re-entering or re-entrant,
which is applied to an angle presenting its point to the inside of the
figure. These terms are frequently used in fortification, and seldom
in geometry.
SALIFIABLE BASE, a term applied to any substance capable of
uniting with an acid to form a salt. [SALTS.]
SALIGENIN. [SALICYLIC GROUP.]
SAL'II were twelve priests of Mars Gradivus, who formed an
ecclesiastical collegium or corporation at Rome. They were chosen from
the patricians, and established by Numa to take care of the twelve
ancilia, or sacred shields of Mars. The original ancile was said to have
been found in the palace of Numa, and was supposed to have fallen
from heaven. To secure its preservation, Numa commanded the
armourer Mamurius Veturius to make eleven other shields exactly like
it; and the twelve were deposited in the temple of Mars on the
Palatine hill, and committed to the care of the Salii. (Liv., i. 20;
Dionys., ii. 70, 71; Cic., 'Rep.,' ii. 14; Ovid. 'Fast.,' iii. 387; Festus,
s. v. Mam. Vet.')
On the calends of March, and on several successive days, the feast
of Mars was celebrated by the Salii, on which occasion they carried
the shields through the city dressed in their official garments, which
consisted of an embroidered tunic with a brazen belt, the trabea, and
the apex, or conical cap, with a sword by their side, and a spear or
staff in their right hand. They at the same time performed a dance,
and sung hymns or songs called Axamenta in honour of Mamurius
Veturius, and all the celestial deities, with the exception of Venus,
(Macrob., 'Sat.,' i. 12; Virg., Æn.,' viii. 286; Varro, De Ling. Lat.,'
vii. 26, ed. Müller.) These songs were in later times scarcely under-
stood even by the priests themselves. (Quint., i. 6. p. 54, Bipont.;
Hor., ' Ep.,' ii. 1, 86.) At this festival the Salii were accustomed to
partake of an entertainment in the temple of Mars, which was pro-
verbial for its magnificence and excellence. (Suet., Claud.,' 33; Cic.
'ad Att.,' v. 9; Hor., ' Carr.,' i. 37.)
Another corporation of Salii, also consisting of twelve members
chosen from the patricians, was established by Tullus Hostilius in
fulfilment of a vow which he made in a war with the Sabines. These
Salii were also called Collini or Agonenses, to distinguish them from
the Salii established by Numa, who were surnamed Palatini. (Dionys.
ii. 70, iii. 32; Varro, De Ling. Lat.,' vi. 14.)
SALIRETIN. [SALICYLIC GROUP.]
SALITHOL. [PHENYLIC GRour.]
SALIVATION, or PTYALISM, is a superabundant secretion of
saliva. This sometimes occurs as an idiopathic disease, originating
without any evident cause. Dr. Christison (Treatise on Poisons') has
collected several such cases, in some of which the quantity of saliva
discharged amounted to three or more pints daily. Irritation of the
salivary glands, or accompanied with profuse secretion, is also an occa-
sional attendant on common inflammations of the throat and mouth,
and on those that accompany eruptive diseases, especially small-pox.
But far more frequently salivation is the effect of medicines or poisons.
Some preparations of gold, copper, antimony, and iodine, croton oil,
with advantage as gargles and lotions. The more extensive ulcerations
and the gangrene can be treated only by maintaining the patient's
strength by tonics and stimulants, and by the usual local applications
to such diseases. The idiopathic kinds of salivation usually require
only cool air and gently reducing measures.
willow have been long celebrated for their astringent and antifebrile
SALIX, Medical Properties of. The barks of several species of
qualities; but from the great difficulty of determining the species, it is
not ascertained which kind is entitled to the preference. The Salix
Russelliana (Bedford willow) appears to possess the greatest quantity
of tannin; but the peculiar principle termed salicin seems to exist in
the largest proportion in the S. Helix, or rose willow; while the
and leaves, the largest amount of bitterness and resin, and a most
S. pentandra L. (the bay-leaved willow), possesses, both in its bark
balsamic odour. The barks of S. alba, S. fragilis, and S. caprea (or
great round-leaved willow, which yields the broad-leaved willow bark),
are also gathered, often indiscriminately. Whichever species is selected,
the bark should be stripped in spring from branches not less than three
years or more than six years old, and from trees growing in moist
rather than swampy places. It should be carefully dried in the shade.
The fresh bark has a faint odour somewhat resembling bitter almonds;
the dried bark is devoid of odour. The taste is at first mucilaginous,
afterwards bitter and astringent. The degree of astringency may be
Tincture of nut-galls does not affect it. According to the analysis of
easily tested by adding to a decoction of the bark a solution of gelatine.
Pelletier and Caventou, the bark of S. alba contains a green fatty
matter similar to that of cinchona, a yellow slightly bitter colouring
matter, tannin, resinous extract, gum, wax, woody fibre, and an organic
acid, which with magnesia forms a salt easily soluble in water and
alcohol. Since these analyses, salicin has been found. [SALICYLIO
GROUP; SALICIN.]
Willow bark possesses astringent, tonic, and febrifuge qualities,
which render it a valuable substitute for cinchona, and as it often suits
the stomach better, it is well calculated for the treatment of agues
among the poor. In debility of the stomach and relaxation of the
mucous membranes, it is often very serviceable. In the latter cases,
an infusion, made with cold water, of the powdered bark of Salic
pentandra, is preferable; but any of the others may be made equal to
it by the addition of bruised cinnamon bark. Like all astringent
tonics, it is often useful as an anthelmintic.
Salicin has febrifuge properties, but they are much weaker than
those of quinia; it must therefore be given in considerably larger
doses. It may be given in substance or solution, and also in con-
junction with many other salts, without undergoing decomposition or
entering into combination. "In its passage through the system it
undergoes oxidation, and is converted into hydruret of salicyle, which
is found in the urine. Its presence is detected by a persalt of iron,
which strikes an intense violet colour with urine containing it."
(Pereira.) Of this property advantage might be taken in the treatment
of some renal complains.
The barks of many species of willow contain a valuable dyeing prin-
ciple. It is capable of dyeing drab with the help of a mordant only.
For this purpose bitartrate of potass (cream of tartar) is best. If the
bark be macerated in one vat, and the water then containing the
colouring principle be drawn off into another vat, the mordant can
then be added, and the stuff immersed in it. For the production of
drab colour four materials are generally used, the shade resulting
268
254
SALSEPARIN.
SALTS.
being often uncertain and varying in the same piece of cloth, in many common salt, which it still means when used merely by itself, is now
spots being foxy, as it is technically termed.
SALSEPARIN. [SMILACIN.]
SALT. [SODA; SODIUM: MANURE.]
SALT CAKE. [SODIUM; Sulphate of.]
SALT OF SATURN, an old name for acetate of lead.
SALT OF SORREL. [OXALIC ACID. Binoxalate of Potash.]
SALT OF TARTAR. [POTASSIUM: Carbonate of Potash.]
SALT OF TIN. [TIN. Protochloride of Tin.]
SALT AND SALT TRADE. The chemical nature of common
salt, as a chloride of sodium, is treated under SODIUM. The vast stores
of rock-salt and salt-brine in Cheshire and Worcestershire, whence
England obtains her supply, are described in the GEOG. DIV., under
such headings as CHESHIRE, DROITWICH, NANTWICH, NORTHWICH, &c.
A few additional details in this place are all that will be needed.
A rocky bed is the source of nearly all our inland salt; but as sub-
terranean streams flow over this bed and become saturated with salt,
the original form is changed. It is simply a question of manufactur
ing convenience, whether to raise the solid salt and purify it by dis-
solving, boiling, evaporating, &c.; or to raise the liquid brine and
operate upon that. The salt-works adopt the latter course in most
parts of England; but at Northwich they also operate upon a rocky
kind of salt, which is transparent and colourless, and is loosened by
blasting. There are other kinds of rock salt, much rougher and
darker. On many parts of the coast salt is obtained from sea-water,
at places called salterns; but as the salt would be too costly if evapo-
rated by heat, the makers mostly rely on the slow process of evapora-
tion by exposure to the open air. At Lymington both methods are
combined.
In Cheshire the brine springs have been known and worked from
very early times, but the bed of salt whence the brine is obtained was
not known until about two hundred years ago. In the pits, the rock
salt is loosened much in the same way as coal, by blasting and by the
pick, and is brought to the surface to be dissolved in water. The
brine springs in the valley of the Weaver mostly spring from a depth |
varying from 10 to 60 yards. The brine is pumped by steam power
into large cisterns, where it is more completely saturated by an addi-
tion of rock salt. The brine then passes through wooden troughs to
the evaporating pans, large flat open vessels with flues underneath.
The evaporation, and the conversion into grains or crystals of salt
vary according as common salt, stoved salt, flakey salt, fishery salt, &c.,
are to be produced; but in all, the crystals are allowed to form, and
are then removed to the drying house. The blocks of common salt
familiar in the shops are produced by transferring the crystals from
the pan to wooden moulds, whence they are removed to be dried.
Nearly the whole of the salt exported is made in Cheshire, and is
sent down the river Weaver, which communicates with the Mersey,
to Liverpool. The sources of supply are said to be inexhaustible;
and latterly the salt-manufacturers have so far extended their works,
that the opening of new markets would be of the greatest advantage to
them. The Staffordshire rock-salt is chiefly exported from Hull, and
that of Worcestershire from the port of Gloucester.
A duty of 10s. per bushel was laid on salt in 1798, which in 1805
was increased to 15s. In 1823 this duty was reduced to 2s.; and on
the 5th January, 1825, was wholly repealed. Salt used in the fisheries
was always duty-free, and in 1821 the quantity so used was 2,406,602
bushels; and about 150,000 bushels, required by bleachers, was also
exempt from the duty. A duty of only 5s., which was afterwards
reduced to 2s. 6d., was charged on salt used for agricultural purposes.
During the existence of the duty, the retail price was 44d. per lb.;
it is now about 4d. Salt is now used more largely than hitherto by
the poor, and is employed in manufactures and in agriculture to an
extent which is only compatible with cheapness.
In 1852 an estimate was made that 300,000 tons of salt were used in
the United Kingdom annually for domestic purposes, 200,000 tons for
manure and manufactures, and 500,000 tons exported. In that year
the prices varied from 2s. 6d. to 12s. per ton. The aggregate value of
the whole was set down at 350,000. In Cheshire only, in that year,
there were 29 salt mines and 97 salt works belonging to 47 proprietors,
employing 8000 persons, and an invested capital of 1,000,000. In
1858 the total produce was believed to have risen from 1,000,000 tons
to 1,400,000 tons annually, of which about one half is exported. If
the above figures are correct, the domestic consumption must be far
more than 16 lbs. per head, which was an estimate made several years
ago. In 1858, the salt-manufacturers of Cheshire and Worcestershire
memorialised the government, praying that means might be adopted
for facilitating the consumption of British salt in India and China. A
relaxation had been made in 1846, by which British salt was admitted
under certain conditions into India; and the memorialists asked for still
more favourable conditions. As for China, they suggested that, in
any treaty between the two countries, a demand should be made for
the admission of British salt, either free or under a small duty. The
Cheshire manufacturers have, in fact, more salt than they know what
to do with; and they are looking out for an extended market. At
present, the two best customers are Calcutta and New Orleans, each of
which takes about 80,000 tons a-year.
SALTPETRE. [POTASSIUM: Nitrate of Potash.]
applied to a vast number of substances which have in many cases few
properties in common.
Common salt is the principal of a class composed of a metal and
such bodies as chlorine, iodine, bromine, and fluorine, and the radicals
of the hydracids, and which are included by Berzelius in his class of
haloid-salts (from As, sea-salt, and eidos, form), because in constitution
they are analogous to sea-salt. The whole series of the metallic
chlorides, iodides, bromides, and fluorides, such as chloride of sodium,
iodide of potassium, and fluor-spar, are, as well as the cyanides, sulpho-
cyanides, and ferrocyanides (though the three last are very differently
constituted from the former), included by Berzelius in his list of
haloid-salts.
It was for many years admitted as an unquestionable fact that com-
mon salt was a compound of muriatic acid and of soda; and hence it
was very commonly called muriate of soda. But it has been shown by
Davy, that the acid and alkali during their action on each other suffer
mutual decomposition; and that while water is formed by the union
of the hydrogen of the acid with the oxygen of the alkali, the chlorine
of the former and the sodium of the latter unite to form chloride of
sodium. It has since been proved that this occurs with all so-
called hydracids, when they act upon metallic oxides: thus hydro-
chloric acid and soda give chloride of sodium and water, hydriodic
acid and soda yield iodide of sodium and water, and hydrocyanic acid,
cyanide of sodium and water, &c.
While then the hydracids, by the decomposition which they suffer,
do not yield hydro-salts with the metallic oxides, yet hydro-salts may
be formed by saturating these acids with the vegetable alkaloids; for
example, hydrochloric and hydriodic acids yield respectively hydro-
chlorate and hydriodate of quinine, when made to act upon this base.
With ammonia hydrochloric acid forms the salt called sal-ammoniac;
but these salts are analogous to the chlorides, chloride of ammonium
being formed by the conversion of the ammonia into ammonium, by
the transference of the hydrogen of the hydrochloric acid to the am-
monia, which is theoretically supposed to consist of one equivalent of
nitrogen and four equivalents of hydrogen, instead of one equivalent
of nitrogen and three equivalents of hydrogen, which exist in am-
monia.
The oxy-salts form another numerous and important class of com-
pounds: these are formed when an oxacid is made to combine with an
oxidised base; as, for example, when sulphuric acid unites with soda,
the result being sulphate of soda. The sulphates of potash, lime,
magnesia, &c., are similarly constituted; but a question has arisen
whether these salts are not also analogous to the chlorides, in
containing a metal rather than an oxide; thus, instead of supposing
that sulphuric acid, composed of one equivalent of sulphur and three
equivalents of oxygen, is combined with soda, formed of one equivalent
each of sodium and oxygen, it has been, and with much plausibility,
supposed that the oxygen is transferred to the sulphuric acid, forming
a compound which has never yet been isolated, consisting of one
equivalent of sulphur and four equivalents of oxygen, and that this is
combined with sodium. Professor Daniell proposed the name of
oxysulphion of sodium for such compound, while Professor Graham
denominates it a sulphat-oxide composed of sulphat-oxygen and
sodium.
Another class of bodies has been described by Berzelius as coming
within the description of salts; namely, the sulphur-salts. Electro-
positive sulphides, termed sulphur-bases, are usually the protosulphides
of electro-positive metals, and therefore correspond to the alkaline
bases of those metals; and the electro-negative sulphides, sulphur-acids,
are the sulphides of the electro-negative metals, and are proportional in
composition to the acids which the same metals form with oxygen.
Thus sulpharsenious acid (AsS,) and sulpharsenic acid (AsS,) combine
respectively with sulphide of potassium (KS) to form the sulphar-
senite and sulpharseniate of potassium. These salts obviously corre-
spond with the arsenite and arseniate of potassium. Hence, if the
sulphur of a sulphur-salt were replaced by an equivalent quantity of
oxygen, an oxy-salt would result.
In general properties the various classes of salts, and indeed the
individuals of the same class, differ as widely as possible; some are
crystallisable, others uncrystallisable; they are colourless, and of
various colours; sapid and insipid; soluble and insoluble in water,
alcohol, and other menstrua; volatile and fixed in the fire; decom-
posable or undecomposable by the same reagent.
Salts have been conveniently, though not quite correctly, divided
into alkaline, earthy, and metallic salts; for, strictly speaking, most of
the two former belong to the latter, and to these classes must be added
the ammoniacal salts and the salts of the vegetable alkaloids. Again,
salts constituted of the same elements may contain one or other in
excess; thus soda and various other bases combine with three different
portions of carbonic acid. The first is the neutral carbonate, containing
one equivalent each of acid and of base; the second contains one-half
more carbonic acid, and is called the sesqui-carbonate; and tha
third contains twice as much carbonic acid as the first, aud is tha
bi-carbonate.
Super-salts are such as contain an excess of chlorine or of acids, and
sub-salts such as contain excess of base. Dr. Thomson has proposed-
SALTS. The term salt, originally restricted in its application to and it is very conveniently adopted in practice-to describe the degree
255
SAMARITAN CHARACTERS.
of excess of acid in the super-salt. by Latin terms, and that of the excess
of base by Greek: thus while a compound of two equivalents of chlorine
and one of a başe, or of an acid and base, is called a bi-chloride or bi-
sulphate, as the case may be, a compound containing one equivalent
of chlorine or acid to two of base, is termed a di-chloride, &c. [CHEMICAL
NOMENCLATURE: Nomenclature of Salts.]
SAMARITAN CHARACTERS, are the old Hebrew characters,
which were disused by the Jews during the Babylonish captivity, but
retained by the Samaritans, from which circumstance, and especially
from their being used in the extant copies of the Samaritan Penta-
teuch, they have obtained their present name. They are nearly the
same as the Phoenician characters. [ALPHABET; HEBREW.]
SAMENESS or IDENTITY. This term is generally applied to
what is called personal identity, or the sameness of a living and
intellectual being, as man. There are some remarks on this subject by
Bishop Butler in his 'Dissertation of Personal Identity.'
The sameness of objects which are external to a man consists in the
perception of a variety of circumstances as to these external objects
and at different times, from which arises an opinion of sameness in a
certain sense. A man sees a tree growing in a certain place, and he
may have remembered it for many years. But in the mean time the
tree may have increased a hundred-fold in bulk, and therefore its
substance is not the same as that of the tree which he first saw there;
and besides this, there may not be a single particle of matter the same
in the tree at two remote times of his observation. The tree then is
by the supposition not the same in a strict sense; but for all practical
purpose it is called and is the same. A man can no more believe that
all the change that the tree has undergone belongs to some other tree,
than he can believe that the growth of his own body belongs to
another being than himself.
"
""
When sameness is applied to a living and intellectual being, it
includes both the matter of the body and something else. A man can
have no doubt that his body is not entirely the same in youth, in
middle age, and in old age. He can view his body as he does any thing
external, and he has a belief that it undergoes changes, and is there-
fore not the same in the strict sense. But yet he considers himself
the same person; person here including something besides the body,
whether that something be a property of an organised body or some-
thing else. Locke, as quoted by Butler, says, "that the consciousness
of our own existence, in youth and in old age, or in any two successive
moments, is not the same individual action, that is, not the same con-
sciousness, but different successive consciousnesses. Butler's answer
to this vague talk is sufficient. But more may be said. How is con-
sciousness of our personal identity, or if this form of words be objected
to as a way of begging the question, how is the thing called "con-
sciousness of our existence" at any two successive moments shown to
be "not the same consciousness, but different successive conscious-
nesses? What are successive moments in a man's consciousness of
his own existence? It is more consistent with that consciousness
which we have, to say that the consciousness of our personal identity
is one and the same always; and if it is allowed that there is in man a
belief that he is at different times the same being, in some sense which
he cannot otherwise explain than that he feels that he is, it follows
that this consciousness of personal identity is one indivisible thing,
that it is as continuous as the personal identity itself which it pre-
supposes. Nor is it any objection that a man's faculties may be
temporarily impaired by illness, and he may lose the exercise of his
reason and recover it; or an accident may befall him, which for a time
renders his bodily and mental powers inactive, though he may finally
recover both.
On his recovery he does not doubt that he is the same
person that he was before his illness or accident, and therefore his con-
sciousness is one. The division of consciousness by successive times,
corresponding to certain external signs, and the making that supposed
succession a ground of objection to personal identity, is to confound
things that are unlike, and to apply a measure to both that does not
fit one of the things.
Every person," says Butler, "is conscious that he is now the same
person or self he was, as far back as his remembrance reaches." This
cannot be disputed. It is a bare fact that this consciousness does
exist in us. We have not this consciousness from the time of our birth
up to manhood and old age: it does not go further back in its
particular manifestations than our remembrance does; yet we doubt
not that we, the man, were once that particular child of our parents
rather than any other child of these parents or of any other parents.
But this belief is derived from evidence: our consciousness in its
particular manifestations does not extend farther back than our
remembrance. Yet remembrance does not make personal identity, as
Butler remarks: "Consciousness of personal identity presupposes, and
therefore cannot constitute personal identity, any more than knowledge,
in any other case, can constitute truth, which it presupposes."
The remembrance of particular things is a very different thing from
the consciousness of personal identity. When this consciousness
begins, when it ends, how its activity is suspended, we know not: but
we know that it is a law of our nature that, in the ordinary state of a
man's bodily and intellectual faculties, he has a perception, whatever
it may be and however it may arise, whenever he reviews certain acts
of his own or events in his life, that he the perceiver, and no other
person, is the agent or is the person affected by these events. The
SANCTUARY.
256
remembrance then merely makes the consciousness of personal identity
active; and this consciousness of personal identity is not constituted
of the remembrance of different acts or events, but is as permanent
and uninterrupted as the animal life itself, which nobody supposes to
consist of successive lives, but to be one life. And it should be
observed that the question of personal identity only arises upon the
suggestion of the memory. Every man all through his life feels that
he is in some sense or in some way, which he expresses by that term
is." And he is never without this present consciousness of existence.
There is therefore an uninterrupted consciousness, which, as already
observed, is one, and not divisible by a measure of time. The
remembrance of any particular act of a man's own or of any event in
his own life, is a present act, and the consciousness of such present act
of memory accompanies the act of memory as it does any other present
act; and as the act of memory is retrospective, so is the consciousness
of that act of memory retrospective, but only incidentally, according
to the nature of the act. The memory merely directs the conscious
agent to an act of the kind called passed, and to a passed act of such a
kind that the consciousness of sameness in the agent is inseparable
from the notion of the act that is remembered.
SAMIELI is the Turkish name of a wind which the Arabs call
samoom, or simoom, which in Egypt is called khamsin, and in Sene-
gambia and Guinea harmattan.
gambia and Guinea harmattan. It occurs in most countries which are
situated at no great distance from sandy deserts, and it blows always
from that quarter in which the desert is situated. Thus, in Sene-
gambia and Guinea it blows from the north-east; in the Delta of the
Nile from the south-south-west and south-west; on the eastern shores
of the Gulf of Suez from the north-east; in Syria from the south-east;
at Mecca from the east; at Bagdad from the west; at Basra from the
north-west; and at Surat from the north. These winds are extremely
hot, and a considerable quantity of fine sand is generally suspended in
the air, which has been collected by the winds in rushing over the
desert. They affect the human body very powerfully, producing great
feebleness, and sometimes even death. They usually consist of a quick
succession of hot and cold puffs of wind; and the difference of the
temperature between these puffs, which is stated to amount to more
than twenty degrees of Fahrenheit's thermometer, is probably one of
the reasons of their effect on animal bodies being so great. It is also
thought that the hot puffs bring a pestilential air, as a putrid and
sulphureous smell is perceived when they blow. Formerly it was
asserted that the hurtful effects of the wind could be avoided by a
person throwing himself on the ground with the mouth downward;
but modern writers say that the Arabs disapprove of such a proceeding,
and perhaps justly, if it is true that the hot air is heavier than the
atmosphere. To diminish the effects of the wind, the Arabs cover
their faces with the kefieh, a handkerchief which they wear on their
heads.
SAMPHIRE, a herb used in some parts of the country as a salad
and pickle. The true samphire is the Crithmum maritimum, a plant
belonging to the natural order Umbellifera. It is a very succulent
plant, with pale green leaves, and flowers arranged in umbels. It
grows on rocks by the sea-side. The species of Salicornia [SALICORnia,
in NAT. HIST. Div.] are often called samphire, and are used in the
same manner; but they are inferior to the Crithmum as an article
of diet.
SANCTIFICATION, a term in theology, denoting the highest
Christian attainment; the state of those who are perfectly pure and
holy, having lost the inclination to vice, and are wholly devoted to
virtue and godliness. It is understood to be produced by the special
operation of the Holy Ghost, and to ensue upon justification.
SANCTUARY, a consecrated place which gave protection to a
criminal taking refuge there. The word also signifies the privilege of
sanctuary, which was granted by the king for the protection of the life
of an offender. Under the dominion of the Normans there appear
early to have existed two kinds of sanctuary, one general, which
belonged to every church, and another peculiar, which commenced and
had its force in a grant by charter from the king. This peculiar sanc-
tuary could not be claimed by prescription only; and it was also
necessary that it should be supported by usage within legal memory,
and allowance before the justices in eyre. These two kinds differed
from each other with respect to some of their privileges. The general
sanctuary afforded a refuge to tliose only who had been guilty of
capital felonies. On reaching it, the felon was bound to declare that
he had committed felony, and came to save his life. [ABJURATION OF
THE REALM.]
THE REALM.] A peculiar sanctuary might, if such privilege was
granted by the charter, afford a place of refuge even for those who had
committed high or petty treason; and a party escaping thither might,
if he chose, remain undisturbed for life. He still, however, had the
option to take the oath of abjuration and quit the realm. Sanctuary
seems in neither case to have been allowed as a protection to those
who escaped from the sheriff after being delivered to him for the pur
pose of execution. During the latter part of the reign of Henry VIII,
at the time when the religious houses were dissolved, several statutes
were passed (26 Henry VIII. c. 13; 27 Henry VIII. c. 19; 32 Henry VIII.
c. 12), which regulated, limited, and partially abolished the privilege
of sanctuary, both as regarded the number and classes of criminals
entitled to it, and also the places possessing the privilege. Finally, by
21 James I. c. 28, s. 7, it was enacted that no sanctuary or privilege of
267
258
SAND.
SANDARAC.
sanctuary should thereafter be admitted or allowed in any case.
[ABJURATION OF THE REALM; ASYLUM.]
(Reeves's History of the English Law; Comyn's Dijest, tit. 'Abju-
ration;' 4 Bl., Com.)
SAND. The fine angular materials derived from the disintegration
of rocks, and deposited according to the gravity of the various particles
under the action of running water, are technically known by the
generic term "sands." They are, for the purposes of classification,
subdivided into river sand, sea sand, and pit sand; volcanic, cal-
careous, argillaceous, or silicious sand; red, yellow, or white sand;
according to their manner of occurrence, their qualities, or their colour.
In the arts they are used for many purposes, but as their applications
in the manufacture of mortar, of plastic building materials, and of glass,
are, perhaps, of the greatest practical importance, attention will be
principally called to these applications; but before doing so it may be
of interest to observe that the sea-sands on some parts of the shores of
the Atlantic are largely used in agriculture, on account of the large
quantity of calcareous and nitrogenous matters they contain. This
application of sand, of the description known locally by the name of
tangue," prevails in the departments of the Calvados, Manche, Côtes
du Nord, &c., in France, to a very great extent, and it is found to be
very beneficial.
For mortar making, sands may be selected according to the pro-
perties of the lime in connection with which they are employed, as
under some circumstances they play a very important part in the
chemistry of the hardening of the mortars. As was said under MORTAR,
the value of that class of materials depends upon the rapidity and the
energy with which the double silicate of lime and alumina is formed;
and it therefore follows that the sands which contain the various ingre-
dients in a state susceptible of entering into combination with the
lime, are those which are of the greatest value. The sands derived
from the destruction of the purely silicious rocks are for the most part
totally inert for the purposes under consideration, because the silica
they contain is in a permanent crystalline form; but the sands derived
from the destruction of gneiss, grauwacké, felspathic granites, and
other rocks, in which the silicious acid does not exist in a stable com-
pound, are easily acted upon by pure caustic lime. Thus it is found
that in the north of Spain, and in the granitic district of the north of
France, the decomposition of the felspathic granites of those districts has
produced a sand in which the silicate of lime of the felspar exists in a
state able to combine with the pure hydrate of lime, there obtained by
slaking the caustic lime derived from the more pure crystalline lime-
'stones. The volcanic sands, known technically by the names of
pozzuolanos and trass, act, even more energetically than the sands from
the felspathic rocks; and when mixed with the pure hydrate of lime
in proper proportions, they even communicate to it properties nearly
similar to those of natural cements. On the other hand, sands con-
taining plastic clay in its natural state are positively injurious; not
only because the clay does not exist in them in a state able to form
any stable compound with the lime, but also because it prevents the
latter from performing one of its most useful functions in a mortar;
namely, that of presenting a nucleus around which crystallisation could
take place in the lime itself. At the present day it is believed that
with the energetic cements a sharp, angular, crystalline sand, one whose
chemical properties would be totally inert, is the best adapted for
mortar making; with hydraulic limes the sands ought to possess the
faculty of slowly forming new compounds with the hydrates of lime;
and with rich limes, especially if they are required to be used in sea-
water, sands exercising an energetic action on the hydrates must
exclusively be used.
These remarks point to a rough practical subclassification of sands,
into the classes of the inert, slightly energetic, and decidedly energetic
sands; and Vicat, who was the first to call attention to this description
of action, states that when sands are treated by acids and by lime-
water they may easily be distinguished from one another. Thus the
inert sands resist the action of acids, and are totally without action upon
even boiling limewater. The slightly energetic sands yield in a trifling
degree to the acids, and take up a small proportion of lime from the lime-
water. The decidedly energetic sands are powerfully affected by acids,
and they take up a large proportion of the lime presented to them in
solution. Care must, however, be taken in the experiments on the
nature of this class of materials to allow for the action of the acids
upon the lime present in the sand; for all purposes connected with the
formation of the insoluble silicate of lime and alumina by the reciprocal
actions of the caustic lime and the sand, the calcareous matters of the
latter will remain practically inert.
When considered with reference to their sources of supply, it may
generally speaking be regarded that sea sands are purer and better
fitted for mortar making than any other; provided always that the
efflorescence of the muriate of soda they contain should not be likely
to affect injuriously the character of the work. This would be the
case with all internal decorations; and sea sand must therefore
be carefully excluded from all ornamental structures. River sand is
also very likely to contain the muriate of soda when obtained from the
tidal portions of a stream, and in addition to this inconvenience there
is almost a certainty that the river sand will contain a large proportion
of nitrogenous elements, which would in a building give rise to the
formation and efflorescence of the nitrate of lime, which in its turn
ARTS AND SCL DIV. VOL. VII.
|
|
would be fatal to any coloured decorations or paintings exposed to its
effects. Pit sand is in fact the most generally fitted for building pur-
poses; but care must be taken with it to secure that it should be free
from argillaceous ingredients, and only that sand should be used whose
grains are sharp and angular. The specific gravity of a sand is a primâ
facie evidence of its goodness.
In brick and tile making, and in some processes of the higher
ceramic arts, sand is occasionally used when the clay is, to use the
workman's phrase, "too rich;" that is to say, when it is exposed to
run together in the kiln in an irregular manner, in consequence of an
excess in the proportion of alumina the clay may contain. A clay is
considered, in fact, to be rich when the proportions of silica and
alumina are respectively 60 and 40 per cent.; it is considered to be.
poor when those proportions are 80 and 20 per cent.; and according to
the usage intended to be made of the clay a greater or less proportion
of pure silicious sand must be added to the richer varieties. See
Brogniart, 'Traité des Arts Céramiques.'
The very pure and perfectly white silicious sands which are found
in Norfolk and in Alum Bay, Isle of Wight, used formerly to be raised
in large quantities for glass making. The supply has been nearly
exhausted; and latterly some of the best sands for this important
branch of manufacture have been imported, in ballast, from Australia;
rich ferruginous sands for steel making are also imported from New
Zealand.
It may be desirable to add, that the fine sands charged with organic
matters to be found in the embouchures of rivers, or in some bays
on the sea-shore, are technically known by the name of silt, and that
they are very rarely of any commercial value. Pit sands, or large
deposits of sand in the interior, are occasionally found to be so charged
with water as to remain constantly in motion, and are then called
running sands. Under these conditions they form one of the most
dangerous class of foundations, for if an escape should be found for
the waters they may contain, the sands would in all probability be
removed by them, and the foundations would be exposed to lateral
displacement. The precautions to be taken in such cases are, if
possible, to intercept the supply of water to the sand; if that
cannot be effected, to keep it constantly charged; and, under either
of those conditions, to isolate the immediate surface of the foundations
in such a manner as to allow any movements which may be produced
to take place vertically. Dry sand has, in its dry state, been often use l
in foundations instead of concrete; and if it be prevented from spread.
ing laterally, that material is practically incompressible. It is also
used for tamping round the charges of mines.
SAND; SANDPAPER. Many varieties of sand are used for
manufacturing purposes. Stone-masons often use the scrapings of
granite roads to aid the action of their stone-saws. Engineers fre-
quently employ grindstone dust. River-sand and pit-sand are gene-
rally sharper or more angular than sea-sand; this difference leads to
the selection of each for certain purposes. Kent sand is largely use
at Sheffield, being fine and sharp; it is found an economical substitute
for polishing powder for steel goods. Sand-paper consists of sand
sprinkled over and cemented upon sheets of paper; it differs from
emery-paper [EMERY] and glass-paper rather in the kind of substance
used than in the nature of the action.
SAND VOLTAIC BATTERY. A form of battery sometimes used
in connection with the Electric TELEGRAPH, Consisting of a number of
pairs of copper and zinc, with the cells filled with sand, which is kept
moist by means of dilute sulphuric acid. This battery will remain
active for a considerable time, and its activity can be renewed at
pleasure merely by wetting the sand.
SANDAL-WOOD, RED, or Red Saunders Wood of Commerce.
[PTEROCARPUS, in NAT. HIST. DIV.]
SANDARAC is a secretion from the Callitris quadrivalvis, a tree of
enormous size, native of Marocco, and there called Arar. It exudes
spontaneously from the bark, and concretes on the surface. It occurs
in small, irregular, but rather elongated, seldom perfectly round tears,
or in masses run together, of a light yellow colour, sometimes verging
to brownish, of a dull hue externally, generally covered with powder,
but when this is removed, semitransparent. It breaks easily with a
conchoidal fracture and vitreous lustre. The powder is white, and
forms the substance called pounce. By chewing, it forms a fine powder,
which does not agglutinate, and has a faint balsamic taste. At ordinary
temperatures it is without odour, but by the application of heat it
easily melts and diffuses a strong though not unpleasant odour, resem-
bling that of juniper or mastic. It is easily ignited. It is soluble to
the extent of four-fifths in cold alcohol; and the insoluble residuum is
easily soluble in ether, or, slowly and with difficulty, in boiling turpen-
tine. The portion insoluble in alcohol is termed Sandaracin.
Sandarac is used for the preparation of varnishes, also occasionally
for incense or pastiles, plasters, and ointments. The powder is rubbed
on parchment to render it fit to be written on. Sandarac is sometimes
used to adulterate mastic; and on the other hand, a resin obtained
from the Juniperus communis, and another from J. Oxycedrus, are
employed as a substitute for the genuine sandarac. In Sweden, lumps
of resin which are found under ants' nests below the juniper bushes
are called sandarac. The resin of the Pinus dammara is called French
sandarac in commerce. Sandarac is incorrectly called a gum; it
partakes more of the nature of a resin,
8
259
SANDEMANIANS.
SANDEMANIANS. [SANDEMAN, ROBERT, in BroG. DIV.]
SANDIVER. [GLASS MANUFACTURE.]
SANGUINARINE. (C,H,,NO, ?) An alkaloid, found in the
Sanguinaria Canadensis, but only partially investigated. It is a yellow
insipid powder, insoluble in water, but very soluble in alcohol. It
neutralises acids perfectly, forming red salts, which are soluble in water
and very bitter.
SANHEDRIM, or SANHEDRIN (7), the great council of
the Jews, which consisted of seventy-one or seventy-two members, and
decided the most important causes, both ecclesiastical and civil. The
name is a corruption by the Talmudists of the Greek σvvédpiov (a
συνέδριον
council). The rabbis attempt to find the origin of the Sanhedrim in
the seventy elders who were appointed by Moses to assist him in his
judicial duties (Numb. xi. 16); but this council was evidently tempo-
rary, and we hear nothing of it in the subsequent history of the Jews.
(MOSES, in BIOG. DIV.; Michaelis On the Laws of Moses,' art. 50.)
The exact time of the institution of the Sanhedrim is unknown; but
there is no reason to suppose that it was earlier than the time of the
Maccabees. There can however be little doubt that the Sanhedrim
was an imitation of the seventy elders of Moses. The first mention of
the Sanhedrim is in the time of Hyrcanus II., when Herod was tried
before it. (Joseph., ‘Antiq.,' xiv. 9, s. 3, 4.)
The Sanhedrim had a president (WS¬ or Ni?), who was generally
the high-priest, a vice-president (77) who sat on the right
of the president, and, according to some, a second vice-president
(), who sat on his left. The other members were:-1, Chief
Pricsts, who are often mentioned in the New Testament and in
Josephus, and who were partly ex-high-priests and partly the heads of
the twenty-four classes of priests. 2. Elders; that is, the princes of
tribes and heads of families. 3. Scribes, or men of learning. All
chief priests were members of the Sanhedrim, but of elders and scribes
only so many were admitted into it as were required to fill up vacancies.
(Matt. xxvi. 57, 59; xxvii. 3, 12, 20, 41; Mark viii. 31; xi. 27; xiv.
43, 53; xv. 1; Acts iv. 5; v. 21, 27.) The Talmudists say that the
tribunal had its secretaries and apparitors. Both Pharisees and
Saddueces were found in it. (Acts v. 17, 21, 34; xxiii. 6.)
The Sanhedrim met at Jerusalem, and, according to the Talmudists,
in a chamber within the precincts of the Temple, called Gazith, in
which also their archives were kept; but, according to Josephus ('Bell.
Jud.,' v. 4, 2; vi. 6, 3), in a room on the east side of Mount Zion, not
far from the Temple. In cases of emergency, as in the trial of Christ,
they met in the high-priest's house.
The causes brought before this tribunal were either appeals from
the inferior courts, or matters which were thought of sufficient import-
ance to come before them in the first instance: for example, the
question whether a person was a false prophet (Luke xiii. 33), and
matters which effected the whole state, a whole tribe, or the high-
priest. The accused was brought before the tribunal, and witnesses
wore required to appear to support the charge. Either capital or
minor punishments might be inflicted by the Sanhedrim; but under
the Roman government its power was so far restricted that a capital
sentence required the confirmation of the Roman governor, who was
also charged with its execution. The stoning of Stephen was not done
in accordance with the sentence of the Sanhedrim, but in a riot; and
the execution of James and others by the high-priest Ananias (A.D. 64)
took place in the absence of the Roman procurator, and is admitted by
the Jews themselves to have been an illegal act.
Besides the Sanhedrim at Jerusalem, there were inferior courts in
cach town of Judæa, consisting of twenty-three members, to which
the same name is sometimes applied. From these courts an appeal
could be made to the Sanhedrim.
:
(Jahn, Archäol. Bibl., th. ii., b. ii., § 186; Calmet's Dictionary;
Lightfoot's Works; Winer's Bibl. Realwörterbuch, 'Synedrium.')
SANJAK, a word primarily signifying a standard, is also applied to
a military division, the subdivision of an eyalet, into which the whole
Turkish empire is divided in this sense, it signifies, as much as is
congregated under one standard. The commander of such a division
is styled Sanjak, Sanjak Bey, or simply Bey, and the supreme general
of all the Sanjaks of a province is styled tho Beglerbey (commander of
cominanders). The word is found under the forms Sangiac and
Sandschack, the French and German modes of rendering the Turkish
word
SANKHYA. [SANSKRIT LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE.]
SANSKRIT LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE. Language.-
The Sanskrit is a branch of the Indo-Germanic family of languages.
Of all those languages it is that which approaches nearest to the
primitive type; and by the originality, purity, and abundance of its
forins, is peculiarly calculated to throw light on the obscure laws of
the formation of language. Being also possessed of a rich literature,
and the whole of its materials Laving been fully treated of by native
grammarians, it was no sooner introduced to the learned of Europe
thau it gave rise to a new philological science, that of comparative
grammar, and led to the conclusion that the ancient Persian, the
Armenian, the Greek, and the Latin, formed but one language with the
German, the Lettic, the Slavonian, and even the Celtic, each of these
languages affording the most extraordinary illustrations of the others.
|
SANSKRIT LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE.
260
The Sanskrit was introduced into India when the Brahminical race
obtained possession of the country (A. W. von Schlegel, ' De l'Origine
des Hindous,' in the Trans. Roy. Soc. Literature,' ii., 2, 405, &c.;
Chr. Lassen, Indische Alterthumskunde,' i. 515, 531, ff.; M. Müller,
History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature, 1859, p. 12); and having
driven out the languages of the aborigines of India, which are now only
spoken in the Southern Deccan, as the Telugu, Tamul, Canarese, and,
others, and by some detached tribes, chiefly in the Vindhya mountains,
for example, the Gonds and Khonds (Lassen, 1. 1. i., 366, ff.; M. Müller,
'On the Classification of the Turanian Languages,' p. 169, ff.; R. Cald-
well, Compar. Grammar of the Dravidian Languages,' 1856, p. 8, ff.),
has spread over the extensive tract of country between the Himalayas,
the Indus, and the Kistna. Within these limits it has had a history of
its own, and has passed through various changes. It appears in its most
ancient form in the Vedas, about the 15th century before Christ, and
in that state is very nearly related to the Zend, the ancient language
of Persia, and contains many forms and words which have become
obsolete. The classical Sanskrit, on the contrary, having once become
fixed, has, for about 3000 years, partly as a living language and partly
as a learned one, retained the same structure, with the mere exception
of difference in style, and a few archaisms, which only occur in the
most ancient works.
Prakrit dialects.-Out of the Sanskrit, however, even in compara-
tively early times, dialects arose, which gradually became still farther
dialects those of the languages now spoken in India are derived, which
removed from the original and from each other; and from these
do not belong to the aboriginal languages mentioned above. There is
a law, however, which pervades the whole of those Prabritas, that is,
derivative languages, as they are called by the Indian grammarians, in
contradistinction to the Sanskrita, or that language which is regularly
and grammatically constructed (A. Weber, 'Vorlesungen über indische
Literaturgeschichte,' 1852, p. 168); and it is worthy of remark, that
this law is precisely the same as that according to which the Romance
language, the Italian, the Spanish, and the French, have grown out of
the Latin. There is the same softening, the same assimilation, and the
same exclusion of the harsher sounds, the same weakening of the
forms, the same substitution of particles for cases, and the same
periphrastic conjugations.
<
The oldest of these dialects, and that which deviates least from the
Sanskrit, is the Pali, which has become the sacred language of the
southern branch of the Buddhists, who, when they abrogated the
institution of castes, required a language which, at least for works not
strictly scientific, should not be exclusively understood by the privileged
classes.
Having originally been carried by the Buddhists from
Northern India to Ceylon, the Pali has continued to exist in that
island, as well as in Burmah, Siam, and Kamboja, and possesses a
copious literature. (Burnouf and Lassen, Essai sur le Pali,' Paris,
1826; Clough, Pali Grammar,' Colombo, 1824; Journ. Ceylon
Branch R. As. Soc.,' 1847, No. 3, p. 189, ff.; Pallegoix, "Gramm.
Linguæ Thai,' Bangkok, 1850, p. 181, ff.) Different from the Pali is
the Gatha, or ballad dialect, which appears only in the poetical portion
of the Buddhist literature of Nepal (Journ. As. Soc. of Bengal,' xxiii.
p. 604; 'Lalita Vistara,' ed. by Rajendralal Mittra, Calc. 1853, ff.) The
language which, in a peculiar sense, is called Prakrit, properly Mahd-
rashtrt (for its local origin is to be sought in the country of the
Mahrattas), differs little from the Pali; it is used by the Jains. The
Mûgadhi and the Saurasent, the former originally spoken in Behar,
and the latter on the banks of the Jumna, are only a little farther
removed from the Sanskrit. (Lassen, Institutiones Lingue Pracri-
tica,' Bonn, 1838; J. Muir,' Original Sanskrit Texts,' vol. ii., p. 138, ff,
where the different opinions on the origin of the Prakrits are set forth
and examined.) In addition to these there are numerous more modern
dialects, among which we shall only distinguish the Vrajabhashâ (Brij
Bhakha), on account of the excellence of its poetical literature, and as
being the parent of the Hindustani.
C
The formation of the Prakrita languages out of the Sanskrit flowed
naturally from the character of the parent tongue, and this tendency
This
is manifested even in the earliest shape of the Sanskrit.
appears, to take a single instance, in the substitution of the ch and
(the Italian ci and gi) for the original k and g (just as the Italian gielo
is formed from gelu). In like manner, it was perfectly consistent with
the character of the classical Sanskrit to adopt the verbal forms of the
Prakrit, and to retain them together with the legitimate and settled
forms, which is a proof that the two languages must have co-existed
for a long period.
The Pali appears as a perfectly-formed language in the Buddhist
works carried to Ceylon, which we cannot fix at a later date than the
4th century before Christ (Lassen, 'Ind. Alt.,' ii. 489; Muir, 1. 1. p. 65-
107); and the Magadhi dialect has been found distinctly recorded, in
the middle of the 3rd century before Christ, in the inscriptions of
King Asoka, which were first deciphered by the late Mr. J. Prinsep
('Jour. Asiat. Soc. Beng.,' 1837, pp. 566, 794, 963), whose translations
were subsequently revised by Prof. H. H. Wilson ('Journ. R. Asiat.
Soc., for 1849, vol. xii, p. 153-251, and vol. xvi., p. 357, ff); and a
portion of them were lastly examined by M. E. Burnouf ('Le Lotus
de la bonne Loi,' Paris, 1852, p. 652-781), whose researches on the
whole question may be considered as conclusive (Lassen, ‘Ind. Alt.' ii.
p. 215-229). A Prakrit language likewise appears on the coins of the
1
:
201
202
SANSKRIT LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE.
SANSKRIT LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE.
(
Greek kings found in Caubul, and near the Indus, which have been
deciphered by Prinsep, Lassen, Wilson, and E. Thomas. (J. Prinsep,
Essays on Ind. Antiquities,' Lond., 1858, 2 vols.) Many of the names
also which have been transmitted to us by the Greeks are Prakrit;
that of the Deccan, for instance, in the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea,
▲axivaßádns, does not correspond to the Sanskrit dakshinapatha, but
strictly to the Prakrit dakkhinabadha. Hence it follows, that in the last
five centuries B.C. the Prakrit must have become completely the language
of the people; and indeed the dramas which were written about this
time show the relation of the two languages in the most distinct
manner, the men speaking Sanskrit, and the women and inferior
characters Prakrit; which is likewise a proof that the Sanskrit
was actually a living tongue, and was used in conversation by
all educated people. This is proved by many other circum-
stances; and it would be a great mistake to view the Sanskrit as
having become from this time merely a learned language. On the
contrary, it was in vogue at the court of Cashmere as late as the 12th
century A.D. (Lassen, 1. 1., iii., p. 1082, ff.), and probably in the small
independent courts of Malwa even in the 14th and 15th centuries. It
is consistent with all that we know, that the language should be in
a different condition in the different provinces of India, The Moham-
medan conquest, however, gave the final blow to it, and it is now used
only in learned disputations in the colleges of the Brahmins.
Literature. The Sanskrit literature begins with the Vedas, and is
founded entirely upon them. [VEDAS.] The rest of the literature
may be divided into the poetical and the scientific. The poetical
literature may be referred to two distinct periods, one of which is
chiefly distinguished by the composition of the great epic poems, and
the other may be characterised as the period of artificial poetry. In
the former, the interest is a national one, and arises from the subject;
in the latter, it depends upon the form.
Epic Poetry. We possess the epic poetry only in its most perfect
state, and consequently its origin is involved in obscurity, and must be
looked for among the rhapsodists, whom the Râmâyana' presents to
us pretty much in the same character as that in which they appear
among the later princes of India. The materials of the epic consisted
primarily of the genealogies of the princely families whom the rhap-
sodists served, and next, of certain prominent events in the family
history, which were at first sung separately, but afterwards incorporated
in the genealogy itself. It is possible therefore that there may have
been as many epic poems as there were princely races. In the lapse
of time, however, all these poems have been lost except two, which are
indebted for their preservation partly to their poetical merit, and still
more to the interest of the subject: these are the 'Râmâyana' and the
'Mahabharata.' But even these have undergone many important
alterations since they came from the hands of the authors; in fact,
they have been entirely remodelled in accordance with the interests of
the priesthood, by the addition of those parts in which Râma and
Krishna, originally no more than mortal heroes, appear as incarnations
of Vishnu; these additions, however, have been so loosely attached,
that they might easily be separated without detriment to the whole.
In the Mahabharata,' the object has been kept in view of including
in one collection the whole cycle of tradition; and as the epic
poems were intended for the instruction and amusement of the
warrior caste, not only was everything added which could increase their
reverence for the Brahmins, but there are whole books, of considerable
length, in which their systems of cosmogony, philosophy, and law are
explained in a popular manner.
•
The Ramayana.-The subject of the 'Ramayana' is the descent of
Vishnu, for the purpose of averting the threatened destruction of the
whole world by the prince of the demons, Râvana. Rama, the son
of Dasaratha, king of Oude, was brought up by wise Brahmins, espe-
cially Visvamitra; while yet very young he overcame the demons in
several battles, and by his superhuman strength obtained the hand of
the beautiful Sita. He was about to be appointed successor of his
aged father, and to be his partner on the throne, when the plan was
frustrated by a court intrigue, and he was compelled to wander
abroad as an exile. With Sitâ and his brother Lakshmana, who also
participated in the divine nature of Vishnu, he dwelt in the inhospit-
able wilds of the Deccan, in the forest of Dandaka, at the sources of the
Godavery. This course of events was necessary in order to bring him
and Ravana together, for here Rama made himself terrible to the
demons, and having mutilated, among others, Surpanakha, the sister of
Ravana, the demon-prince, partly out of revenge for this outrage, and
partly inflamed by violent love for Sitâ, carried her off, and brought
her in safety to his residence at Lanka (Ceylon). Râma and Laksh-
mana, unacquainted with the abode of Ravana, wandered about in the
peninsula in search of Sità. The ape-king Sugriva, who had been
dethroned by his own brother Bali, was restored to his kingdom by
Rama, and from a feeling of gratitude sends out a host of apes for the
purpose of finding the abode of Sita. The ape Hanuman at length
discovers it, passes across the strait, seeks out and speaks with Sitâ,
sets fire to Lanka, and conveys the intelligence to Rama, who proceeds
with the whole army of apes to the southern point of the peninsula,
when an enormous bridge is formed by throwing mountains into the
As the army is about to march upon the island, Rama is
encountered by Vibhishana, Ravana's brother, and a Titanian conflict
commences, the description of which is one of the most admired parts
sea.
of the poem: but the demons are at length subdued; Ravana falls by
the hand of Râma; and Sîtâ is recovered, and having been found
pure, as well by the ordeal of the gods as by the word of Brahma
himself, she is again united to Rama, who, returning to Ayodhya,
receives from the hand of his brother Bharata the dominion to which
he is entitled.
These are the contents of the first six books, and here the poem
terminates. But there is a seventh book, which is obviously a later
addition, and consists of matters which are entirely independent of the
former narrative: Sîtâ is again separated from Rama, and bears two
sons, Kusa and Lava, to Vâlmîki. After her innocence has been
again established, she is carried away by the goddess Earth. Kusa
and Lava have learned the poem from Vâlmîki, its mythological
author, and recite it at a great sacrificial festival, whereupon Râma
acknowledges them as his sons. This is obviously an etymological
myth derived from the Sanskrit name of the rhapsodists, kustlava.
This agrees with the present introduction to the first book, in which
the origin of the poem is told in the same way, and both parts
must therefore be regarded as additions made by the last editor. That
the Râmâyana' has undergone many other alterations, may easily be
shown. It contains, in some parts, many things which point to very
ancient times, and customs introduced at a later period are not even
alluded to; as, for instance, the burning of widows, which was prac-
tised in the age of Alexander. In other parts circumstances are
referred to which bring us as far down as the 2nd century a.D., the
names of comparatively recent nations being mentioned: for instance,
the Huns.
The time of the composition of the poem cannot therefore be ascer-
tained with any further degree of accuracy; and it is still a contro-
verted question whether the Mahabharata or the Ramayana, in the
form in which they have been handed down to us, has the better claim
to antiquity. It is more easy to determine what historical fact forms
the foundation of it. This is evidently the introduction of the Brah-
minical worship and civilisation into the peninsula, the wild aborigines
of which, as being the opponents of Brahminism, are made to appear
the character of demons. The apes must represent another and a less
hostile race, whom the Brahmins made use of in order to overcome the
ruder tribes. This fact is indicated by another circumstance in the
poem: the guide of Rama is the hermit Agastya, to whom tradition
ascribes the conversion and cultivation of the Deccan, and who even
now shines, according to a sublime symbol, as the radiant Canopus of
the South.
in
The Ramayana,' since the last recasting of the poem, has under-
gone several revisions, four of which are known to exist (Weber,
Verzeichniss der Berliner Sanskrit-Handschriften,' 1853, p. 119), which
differ from one another less in substance than in style and arrangement.
That which contains the oldest and the best text is confirmed by com-
mentaries; a critical edition of it to the end of the second book, accom-
panied by an elegant Latin translation (as far as ii. c. 20), by À. W.
von Schlegel, appeared at Bonn, 1829, 3 vols. The same recension is
represented also by the Oxford manuscript (Catal. Cod. MSS. Sans-
criticorum,' 1860, vol. i., p. 6). An edition, based on a different text,
was commenced by Carey and Marshman (Serampore, 1806-10, vols.
4to); it goes as far as iii. c. 63, and contains also an English translation.
The whole Râmâyana, according to the Bengali or amplified recension,
was edited, with an Italian translation, by G. Gorresio (Paris, 1843-58,
10 vols.); there is also a French translation of the same by M. H.
Fauche (Paris, 1854, ff., 9 vols.)
Mahabharata. For the second of the two great epic poems, sce the
article MaHÂBHârata.
Laws and Jurisprudence.-Besides the book of Manu, which has
obtained the highest reputation among the 'Dharmasastras,' or law-
codes [MANU], there were many similar books, which were likewise
referred to sacred mythological personages, as Vishnu, Vrihaspati,
Narada, and others. The principal sources from which they draw
are the Sâmayacharikasûtras,' a class of works belonging to the last
period of the old Vaidic literature, in which the laws of caste, the rules.
of discipline, the occupations of kings, householders, &c., and the
adminstration of justice, are accurately detailed. (M. Müller, History
of Anc. Sanskrit Lit., p. 134.) There was a considerable number of
these works, according to the different Vedas or Vaidic schools to
which each professed to belong, the names by which they went being
either those of their authors or of the families in which they were first
current. These names were retained by the compilers of the Dharma-
sustras; and the law-book of Apastamba, for example, is distinctly
traceable to the Samayâchârikasûtras which bear the same name.
The subjects of which the Dharmasastras treat are these three:
chúra, comprising domestic and civil observances and all matters
relating to caste; Vyarahára, of the duties of kings and the adminis-
tration of justice; and Prayaschitta, of the civil consequences of caste-
defilement, or other sinful actions, and of the way how to avoid those
consequences by purification and penance. This threefold division is.
strictly adhered to in the law-code of Yajnavalkya (edited by Prof.
Stenzler, in Sanskrit and German, Berlin, 1849), the first after Manu
in point of time and authority. In the other law-codes (eighteen of
which were printed, together with that of Yajnavalkya, at Calcutta,
1845, ff.), prominence is given to one or other of those three divisions.
In the laws of Vishnu, for example, the judicial portion is very meagro,
263
SANSKRIT LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE.
whereas the first and third are more fully treated than either in Manu
or Yajnavalkya. The laws of Daksha and Parâsara contain nothing
about civil law at all, but so much the more about purification, penance,
&c. These minor Smritis, as they are also called (Smriti means imme-
inorial usage), are for the most part of small extent, and touch upon
civil law only incidentally; they are, moreover, although received in
common by all the schools, no longer final authorities, even where they
do treat of law. For that purpose recourse must be had to the Com-
mentaries and Digests. "Some of the former are merely explanatory
of the text, but others are regarded as final authorities; and these
latter, together with the Digests, form the immediate groundwork for
the opinions of lawyers in the respective schools where the doctrines
they uphold may prevail. Many of the Commentaries on the Smritis
-such, for instance, as those on Manu's institutes-are not considered
to be final authorities, any more than the Smritis themselves; but
others again which, by the introduction of quotations from other
writers, and by interpreting and enlarging on the meaning of the
author, partake so far of the nature of general Digests, are referred to
for the final decision of questions. The 'Mitakshara' (printed at
Calc., 1812) is a remarkable instance of this; since, though professedly
only a commentary on the Smriti of Yâjnavalkya, it is consulted as a
final authority over the whole of India, with the exception of Bengal
alone." (Morley, The Administration of Justice in Brit. India,' 1858,
p. 213.) In the Bombay presidency are Nilakantha's Mayûkha,' and
in the Deccan the Smritichandrika' by Devandabhatta, of equal
authority with the 'Mitâkshara;' whereas in Bengal the latter has
been entirely superseded by the 'Dâya Bhaga' (on the laws of inherit-
ance) by Jimûta Vâhana. For the modern law literature in Sanskrit,
which is very extensive, consult Wilson's preface to Macnaghten's
'Principles of Hindu and Mohammedan Law,' London, 1860; Morley,
'The Administration of Justice in Brit. India,' p. 213-36; Sir A.
Steele, 'Summary of the Law and Custom of Hindu Castes,' Bombay,
1827, p. 1-29; Borradaile's Introduction to his translation of the
'Vyavahara Mayukha,' Surat. 1827.
<
<
<
Puranas.-The Purânas, if we regard the form, must be classed
with the ancient epic. They are voluminous collections of legends and
traditions, written to elucidate the origin and history of some par-
ticular holy place or a certain sect, and to be read to the people for
their instruction at the great festivals. They all begin with a cosmo-
gony, to which they add the genealogy of the gods and the development
of the periods of the world, as well as unconnected historical traditions,
so as to form a fabulous chronology; and thus they come down to the
history of the sacred place to which they are especially dedicated; they
then conclude with the miracles, and so forth, which have been per-
formed there. As they were intended to be read publicly, they are of
course used as vehicles for conveying such instruction as the people
might be presumed to require. They contain, therefore, not only
recommendations to devotion and faith, and copious representations of
the religious usages and customs, but also systems of the sciences
which were known to the natives of India, as astronomy, mensuration,
and jurisprudence, which are different in each Purâna, according as the
priesthood of a temple belonged to this or that sect, or to this or that
school of philosophy, astronomy, or law. In their present form, the
Purânas are decidedly very late compositions, but the elements out of
which they have been constructed belong to very different periods.
They themselves refer to still older sources, and all the circumstances
combined lead to the conclusion that there must have been another set
of Purânas, which are now lost, and of which the present are an altered
form or an imitation. Their great similarity, as well in their general
structure as in particular parts, shows that they must have been
formed upon one type, and that one very ancient, and that the differ-
ences which they present arise from the difference of object, according
as they emanated from this or that place, or this or that sect. The
older authorities actually give definitions of the Purânas which do not
apply to them as they exist at present, and which presume an older
form. It may even be asserted that entire portions of them must
originally have belonged to the Vedas. In their present shape, none
of the Purânas can be referred to an earlier date than the 9th century
A.D., and the greater part of them are much later, and closely connected
with the formation of the more recent sects. Though they are metrical
compositions, they have no pretensions to poetic merit, if we except
theBhagavatapurâna,' which was probably written by Vopadeva.
They are arranged according to a certain canon, and are eighteen in
number, under the titles of Brahma, Padma, Brahmânda, Agni,
Vishnu, Garuda, Brahmavaivarta, Siva, Linga, Naradiya, Skanda,
Markandeya, Bhavishya, Matsya, Vârâha, Kûrma, Vâmana, and Bhaga-
vata. Besides these, there are said to be eighteen Upapurânas, or
secondary Purânas, only a few of which, however, are known. There
are many others, not included in this canon, which are called Sthala-
purânas, or local Purânas, and are of little importance. Several of
these have been described by Prof. Wilson, in the Catalogue of
the Mackenzie Collection' (Calc., 1828). The Puranas have been
chiefly made known to us by the analyses of Wilson, in the
'Asiatic Journals' of Calcutta and London; by his translation of
the Vishnupurâna,' London, 1840, 4to; and by Burnouf's edition
of the 'Bhagavata,' 3 vols., Paris, 1840-47, fol, as far as B. ix.
Two complete editions have appeared in India, one at Calcutta,
1830, and the other at Bombay, 1839, both with the scholia of
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SANSKRIT LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE.
C
264
Sridharaswâmin. An edition of the Mârkandeyapurâna' was com
menced at Calcutta in 1855.
Artificial Poetry.-Sanskrit poetry received a new character, and one
essentially different from that which we have been just considering, in
consequence of the revolution which took place in Sanskrit literature
about the first century before Christ. Instead of the popular and
national character which appears in the two great epic poems, it now
assumed an artificial form, and became the poetry of courts and
princes. How this was effected cannot be historically shown, for the
various steps of the transition are lost, and the new poetry appears at
once in its perfect state. It is, however, quite obvious that the two
great epic poems had long been completed and were in universal
repute. The new poetry is poor in invention, and drew its materials
from the former. Its whole merit consists in what may be called.
style. Even the epic versification is for the most part neglected, and
lyric metres are substituted for it. This is not merely a difference in
external form, but it is connected most intimately with the mode in
which things are viewed by the Indians, who, being devoted to con-
templation, delight to work up their poetical materials not so much
into a continuous action, as into a series of single situations. Each of
these situations is exhibited in a single stanza or strophe, which forms.
an independent whole, and is not connected with the others either
grammatically or metrically. This peculiarity is as obvious in the epic
as in the lyric and dramatic poetry.
The new Epic poetry begins with Kâlidâsa, to whom two works of this
class have been ascribed, Kumarasambhava' and 'Raghuvansa.' [CALI-
DÂSA, in BIOG. DIV.] They are written in a style worthy of imitation,
and their whole character shows that they are older than the others, from
whose superfluities these early works are free. The materials belong
to the mythic cycle of the 'Râmâyana.' The disposition to describe
rather than to narrate is exhibited as well in single passages as in the
whole. Whenever an opportunity occurs, long descriptions are intro-
duced, such as pictures of natural objects, to which the old epic poetry
was also inclined, but more sparingly, and only incidentally: here,
however, they encumber the whole progress of the action. This is
much more the case in the two following poems, in which the descrip-
tions appear to the poet to be so important that he seems to have
undertaken the works only for the purpose of introducing them. These
works are the 'Kirâtârjunîya,' or "the battle of Arjuna with the
Kirâta," by Bhâravi, and 'Sisupâlabadha,' or "the death of Sisupâla,"
by Magha, both founded on episodes of the 'Mahâbhârata.' They are
classical compositions, and elaborated with the utmost nicety; but the
art of the poet degenerates into a mere play upon words. There are
verses which may be read forwards and backwards, and upwards and
downwards; others in which only one and the same consonant is used
(as "Sis. 19, 114, 'dâdado duddaduddâdî dâdâdo dûdadîdadoh dud-
dâdan dadade dudde dadadadadado' dada," which indeed is not very
clear, but still has a meaning), or two consonants or more are used.
These poems were printed at Calcutta, 1814, 1815, and again 1848,
with the commentary of Mallinâtha. The 'Bhattikâvya,' written in
the 5th or 6th century, in Vallabhî, the chief town of Guzerat, narrates
the history of Râma, but only for the purpose of elucidating the more
rare grammatical forms, every canto being written in a certain tense,
&c. (Published at Calcutta, 1828, with two grammatical commen-
taries.) The 'Nalodaya,' falsely ascribed to Kâlidâsa, gives the history
of Nala out of the Mahabharata, but only to show the skill of the poet
in an incessant play of words and rhymes. (Edited by F. Benary, with
the commentary of Prajnakâra, a Latin translation and notes, Berlin,
1830; and by W. Yates, with a metrical translation, grammatical
analysis, &c., Calc., 1844.) The most artificial of all these poems is the
Raghavapândavîya' of Kavirâja. (Published at Calc., 1854, with a
commentary by Premachandra Tarkavagisa.) It is written with such a
purposed double meaning, that the same words give us the histories of
Râma and also of the sons of Pandu, which is only possible in conse-
quence of most of the Sanskrit proper names having also a perfect
appellative meaning, so that in the one history the proper names must
be dropped, and in the other the appellative meanings. We shall
mention in the last place the 'Naishadiya' of Sriharsha, king of Cash-
mere in the 12th century. It treats of the marriage of Nala, and
nothing else, in twenty-two long cantos, written throughout in a very
artificial manner, which however makes it a great favourite among
the Indians. The descriptions in this poem exceed in length and num-
ber all reasonable bounds, and there can hardly be said to be any action
at all. It was printed at Calcutta in two volumes, the first with the
commentary of Premachandra, 1836, and the second with that of
Nârâyana, 1855.
Lyric poetry, in the proper sense of the term, did not exist among
the natives of India at this period, for even here their fondness for
description has taken the place of everything else, and, instead of lyric
poetry, we have the epigrammatic, didactic, and descriptive. Even
their amatory poetry appears to be not so much the expression and
effusion of feeling as a studied and laboured display of situations. An
agreeable work of this description, the 'Amarûsatakam,' consists of
100 single small poems, each of them being nothing more than a stanza
which represents an amatory scene, and which we should call an epi-
gram. (Published at Calcutta, 1808.) To this class belongs also
the Sringaratilaka,' which has been improperly ascribed to Kali-
dâsa. To these must be added the first book of the 'Centuries' of
265
266
SANSKRIT LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE.
SANSKRIT LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE.
Bhartrihari, while the two other books contain didactic poetry. The
work has been ascribed to the brother of King Vikramâditya, who
lived in the 1st century, B.C.; and we have the high authority of
Prof. Lassen (Ind. Alt.,' ii. 803, 1161), for the probability of this
assertion being correct. (First edited at Serampore, with the
'Hitopadesa, 1804; and at Berlin, 1833, by Bohlen.) Among the
poems properly called descriptive, by far the best is the 'Meghadûta,'
certainly a genuine work of Kâlidâsa, which in a style of the utmost
elegance and simplicity, describes the course of a cloud over a part of
India, the residence of the god of riches and of the wife of a demigod
who had been banished to earth [CÂLIDASA, in BIOG. DIV.]: the poem
is put in the mouth of the demigod himself. The value of this poem
as a work of art lies chiefly in this, that every single external pheno-
menon receives a spiritual meaning, and all nature seems to be
endowed with life. It is very different in the later poems of this class,
which are properly only rhetorical centos and collections of all the
current expressions and comparisons of previous poets. A work of
this kind on the seasons-a subject indeed which is frequently intro-
duced in the epic poems, the 'Ritusanhâra'-has been improperly
ascribed to Kâlidâsa. (Printed at Calcutta in 1792, and at Leipzig in
1839.) A similar one on amatory common-places, 'Chaurapanchasikâ'
(in Bohlen's Bhartriharis'), is bombastic and spiritless. This branch
of literature must have been very rich, and many of the older works
have undoubtedly been lost. Most of those that are extant, including
the 'Meghadûta," Ritusamhâra, 'Gitagovinda,' 'Nalodaya,' 'Bhartrihari,'
'Amarúsataka,' are contained in Haberlin's 'Sanskrit Anthology,' Calc.,
1847.
The classic age of the Indian drama may be divided into three-
periods: the first includes the time before Kâlidâsa, of which only one
piece remains, 'Mrichhakati,'' The Toy-Cart,' by King Sûdraka (who
probably lived about the end of the 1st century A.D.). It is easy to
discover that this piece belongs to the early period of art: the poet.
has to contend with materials which he does not well know how to
handle. There is a certain clumsiness in the management of the acts.
and scenes, and the excess of descriptive poetry is fatiguing, a whole.
act, for instance, being occupied with the description of a storm. In
other respects it is strikingly original, and contains few of the common-
places which occur in the other poets; the different dialects of the
Prakrit also are more closely amalgamated than in the other pieces.
To Europeans this drama is particularly valuable, as giving a repre-
sentation of Indian manners which cannot be found in any other work.
Though it is the only remaining piece of this period, many others must.
have existed before Kâlidâsa; for the general theory of the dramatic
art was already perfected, which is obvious from his frequent allusions.
to it.
The second period begins with Kâlidâsa (about the middle of the
2nd century A.D.), under whom the Indian drama reached its highest.
degree of perfection. We have two pieces by him, 'Sakuntala' and.
'Vikramorvasi' [CÂLIDÂSA, in BIOG. DIv.], of which the last has been
denied to be his; but, to judge from the style and spirit, it must.
certainly be ascribed to him. Kâlidâsa is indeed the most perfect of
the Indian dramatists, for in his pieces we have the utmost elegance of
style, without anything over-laboured or artificial; the development of
his plot is natural and well considered; and there is always a correct
relation of parts. As to his poetical merit, Europeans have been
enabled to form a judgment from the graceful translation of his
Sakuntala,' by Prof. M. Williams (Hertford, 1855).
The third period begins with Bhavabhuti, at the commencement of
the Sth century, whose era is established by a passage in the Chronicle
of Cashmere' (iv. 144). Dramatic poetry had now undergone a great
change, the historical progress of which we are unable to describe for
want of the necessary evidence. Bhavabhûti was a learned poet, who
constructed his works entirely according to the dramatic theory of
previous writers. He has accordingly a very high reputation in India,
but he has all the faults consequent on the direction thus given to his.
genius. With all his poetic talent, he is deficient in true dramatic
spirit; his results are laboured, and there is always a display of art
and a want of nature. Description is with him always in excess, and
the diction of single passages is not only too artificial, but also pompous,.
and to Europeans therefore not without difficulty. There are three
pieces of his; one in which a domestic subject is treated, the loves of
Mâlati and Madhava, and two others taken from the cycle of traditions.
of the Ramayana, ' Mâhâvîracharitra,' and 'Uttararâmacharitra.' The.
last is most free from the excessive elaboration of style.
The Drama.-According to the tradition of the Hindus, the Indian
drama had its origin in very ancient times, the rules concerning it
having been communicated by Brahmâ himself to the hermit Bharata
(which means the supporter, bard, actor). Though we are unable to
trace it historically, as we know it only in its perfected form, still we
may perhaps not be far wrong if we fix about the end of the 4th or
the beginning of the 3rd century B.C. as the most probable time when
it received its first development. An examination of the technical
terms employed in the Hindu drama favours the supposition that, in
its first stage, it consisted in dances, accompanied by gestures and songs,
in which some historical event was celebrated; that then the persons
themselves who were the subjects of those songs were represented by the
singers; and that, lastly, the regular dialogue took the place of the dancing
and singing. (Lassen, Iud. Alt.,' ii. 502-5; Weber, Ind. Lit.,' 184, ff.)
Such performances are still retained in their original form at the
festivals of Râma and Krishna. The characters of the pieces come
forward one after another, and sing a song accompanied with gesture.
It is obvious that a considerable time must have elapsed before so
simple a beginning could have grown into a regular dialogue and a
complicated action, in which mythological and domestic, and even
historical, materials are interwoven into the representation. But the
Indian drama, even in its highest state, is still in a low condition.
Among the Greeks and the moderns individual action and the collision
of moral powers form the moving forces of the drama; but that of
India is rather a series of events and situations which are exhibited in
succession to the spectator. The distinction between tragedy and
comedy is unknown, and the Indian drama most nearly resembles the
modern opera.
The Indian dramatists have not yet arrived at the
discrimination of character; the heroes and heroines resemble one
another more or less in all their dramas; and the species rather than
the individual is everywhere represented. There are also standing
characters, such as the vita, who is the gracioso of the Spanish stage,
and the vidûshaka, who is the clown of the old English. This latter
personage is always the necessary attendant of the principal hero,
whom he parodies, and whose ideal wishes he contrasts with his own
practical views, and these contrasts are often very strongly coloured.
The strict rules of the Greek drama are unknown to that of India, and
even in many external particulars it is comparatively unfettered,-as,
for instance, in the number of acts, of which there may be as many as
In the form there are two peculiarities which especially require
notice: first, the interchange of dialects in the dialogue, which is in
general skilfully and delicately managed, and gives us a high idea of It was much later before the peculiar species of drama made its.
the social cultivation of the Indians in those remote times (it has appearance which is called prahasana (comedy, or rather farce). The
already been observed that the heroes speak Sanskrit, but that the pieces are short, and are valuable as exhibiting an entirely new kind of
women and inferior characters speak various dialects of Prakrit); and, literature. They are bitter satires, as unrestrained as those of Aristo-
second, the interchange of prose and verse. The dialogue is entirely in phanes, and aimed at the deep state of degradation into which the
prose, but is interspersed with verses in the lyric metres, always of the Indians had sunk, chiefly through the corruption of the Brahmins..
descriptive character before mentioned, which sometimes exhibit a The Dhûrtasamagama' ("the assembly of rogues ") is a playful wrangle
feeling or a situation, and sometimes describe something which cannot between a Brahimin and his scholars about a courtesan. The piece has ·
be actually represented on the stage, as the rapid travelling of a vehicle. the merit of parodying in a happy manner the bombastic style of
As to the scenic representation, our information is limited. It may be Bhavabhuti, which is a proof that even in India there were critics who.
inferred from their rhetorical books that great care was bestowed on were opposed to the common opinion, and who ridiculed the perverse-
the declamation and the costume, but the stage-management and the ness of the general taste. This little piece belongs to the end of the
decorations appear to have been very rude. Still the dramatic lite- 15th century.
Still the dramatic lite- 15th century. (Published in Lassen's Anthologia Sanscritica,' Bonn,.
rature of India is beyond all doubt much richer than we are yet aware 1838.) The later dramas confine themselves entirely to mythological
of. The names of about 60 pieces are known to us, of which 13 subjects. The greater number of the sixty pieces before mentioned.
have been edited, and we are indebted to Professor Wilson for longer belong to this class. An imitation of the 'Prabodhachandrodaya' is the
or shorter notices of 20 others. (Theatre of the Hindus,' 2nd edit., Chaitanyachandrodaya,' a drama in ten acts by Kavikarnapura, in.
which the life and mystical reveries of the philosopher Chaitanya are
Lond., 1835.) Fortunately, the pieces which have been edited are
sufficient to enable us to take a rapid view of all the eras and divisions celebrated. It dates from the 16th century. Amongst its faults are a.
of this branch of their literature.
profusion of alliterations, and a gorgeously ornate style: but, regarded
As specimens of dramas of intrigue in the Indian style, 'Ratnâvali"
and 'Malavikâgnimitra' are worthy of notice. The first was written
in the 12th century by some poet at the court of Sriharsha, king of
Cashmere; the other was long prior to Bhavabhuti, probably by
Kalidasa himself. The plan of these pieces is not unskilful, and the
language is easy and graceful; the subject itself warning the poet to
avoid a highly ornamental style. Another kind of interest belongs to
the ' Mudrârakshasa' of Visakhadatta; the exact time to which this
drama belongs is unknown, but it is certainly after Bhavabhuti; the
matter is historical, namely, the history of Chandragupta, the Sandro-
cottus of the Greeks. In the deficiency of historical information, even.
such a tradition is important, and the piece also throws much light on:
the politics of the Indian courts.
This latter the politics of the Indian courts. As a drama it is not of much value *
it is mostly written in prose. The Prabodhachandrodaya' ("the:
rising of the moon of reason ") is of a character quite peculiar: it is an
allegorical play, written by Krishnamisra in the 11th century, in which.
purely abstract ideas, as virtues, passions, and crimes, are personified.
and act, and by means of whom the Vedanta philosophy at last.
celebrates her triumph. Setting aside the strangeness of such a work.
of imagination, it must be admitted that the author has performed his.
task with great skill.
ten.
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267
SANSKRIT LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
as an ideal drama-a series of tableaux vivans, presenting faithful
portraitures of the adored object of a large body of enthusiasts-the
work will always command the esteem of the lovers of literary worth.
It was published at Calcutta, 1854.
TheGitagovinda' of Jayadeva, written in the 12th century, is
entirely different from the works already described. It is a poem
intended for performance at a festival of Vishnu, and belongs to that
class to which we ascribed the origin of the drama. It exhibits the
separation of Krishna from his wife Râdhâ, his love adventures with
the shepherdesses, and the reconciliation of the husband and wife, in a
series of songs, which are connected and introduced by strophes which
describe the situations. The strophes were intended for recitation, the
songs to be sung. This is therefore the only Sanskrit poetry which we
possess that can properly be called lyric. But the songs are entirely
written on the model of the Prakrit songs, which alone appear to have
been intended for singing, and they have throughout the Prakrit
metres. The word gorinda itself is a Prakrit form of the word
gopendra, "the master of the shepherdesses," which is one of the titles
of Krishna. The scholiasts explain the poem in a mystic sense:
Krishna is the soul, which emanated from God, with whom it was
originally in union, but was drawn down from him by sinful objects (the
shepherdesses); at length, however, full of desire for its original purity,
it returns to God. In fact, the author himself, in certain passages,
seems to intimate that he had some such deep meaning in view: and
perhaps we may here find indications of the influence of the mystic
poetry of Persia. (Printed at Calcutta, 1806; and there is an excellent
edition by Lassen, Bonn, 1836, 4to.)
SANSKRIT LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE.
209
Kalhana, partly from ancient sources, which he specially mentions.
"the stream of the kings;" it was written in the 12th century by
There have been three successive continuations of this chronicle, which
The work is written in the artificial style, in the epic metre, and has a
describe the period of the Mohammedan dominion down to Akbar.
good deal of the form of a "Purâna.'
drawn almost entirely from Buddhist sources.
The first part of it has been
known in Europe by Wilson's analysis (‘Asiat. Resear.,' xv.); after-
It was first made
wards edited at Calcutta, 1835, 4to.; and lastly, the first six books,
with a French translation of the whole work by Troyer, were published
at Paris in 1840-52, in 3 vols. The Buddhists, on the other hand, have
a history, chronologically worthy of credit, which is continued
according to the series of their patriarchs. Hitherto the only publi-
cation of the original Indian text has been that of the 'Mahavansa,' in
Pali, by Turnour. (Colombo, 1837, vol. i., 4to.) This deficiency of
historical literature is in some degree compensated by numerous in-
scriptions of various ages, which have been found in all parts of India,
and most of which have hitherto successfully been deciphered. As
many of them contain genealogies and other matters which indicate
the time when they were written, they are of inestimable value for
historical inquiries, being almost the only documents which we possess.
As to any other historical notices, we are entirely indebted to the
writings of the Greeks, the Chinese, and the Arabians, which have
been very useful, at least for settling dates.
Scientific Literature.-The sciences to which the natives of India
have been original contributors, are philosophy, grammar, and astro-
nomy, together with algebra.
Philosophy is of great antiquity in India. The contemplative
character of the natives must have early led them to metaphysical
speculations, and the collision which must soon have occurred between
the results of those speculations and the revealed word of the Vedas,
would become a principal cause of the wider extension of philosophy.
Hence arose many systems; of those which are held to be orthodox
we are specially acquainted only with six; but as these six are related
to each other by twos, they can only be regarded as three distinct
systems. We are acquainted with them only in their complete form,
in which they have a mutual relation to each other, and we are not
able to point out their historical development.
Narratives.-As the old epic poems were especially designed for the
warrior-caste, so the Vaisyas, the third class, have a literature of their
own, the narrative, of which the first which requires notice is Fable.
In the 'Râmâyana' and in Manu there are allusions to well-known fables,
and others are related in the 'Mahabharata.' The two chief works of
later times, but which are still of some antiquity, are the 'Panchatan-
tra' and 'Hitopadesa.' [PILPAY, in BIOG. Div.] The 'Kathânakâs'
are short narratives and tale. They are known to us chiefly through
three modern prose works, which contain obvious marks of having
been derived from older metrical collections. They are called-
Vetâlapanchavinsati,' the 25 tales of the ghost," by Sivadâsa;
Sukasaptati,'"the 70 tales of the parrot," known in Europe as the The Sankhya system however must be regarded as the first and
'Tatînâmeh,' from a Persian translation; and the 'Sinhâsanadvâtrinsati,' most ancient, and this system, on certain mythological grounds, has
"the 32 tales of the statues on the throne of Vikramaditya." The been traced back to Kapila. It is founded on a duality of soul and
whole series has only been printed in translations into the modern matter (or nature); the first being the free, pure, uncreated, and
languages of India. Lassen has published part of the Sanskrit original uncreating principle; the second, the creating power of nature, blind
of the 'Vetâlapanchavinsati,' and the commencement of the 'Sukasaptati,' and purposeless. The one cannot be thought of without the other;
in his Anthologia;' and Prof. R. Roth has given extracts from the they form for themselves the yet undeveloped being, and from them
Sanskrit text of the 'Sinhâsanadvâtrinsati,' in the 'Journal Asiatique' proceeds, by a regular gradation, from the spiritual to the intellectual,
for 1845, vi. 278, ff. But there is another still more important work, and then to the most corporeal, the whole visible world. Every human
a great collection of all the existing tales, which was undertaken by being indeed possesses the spirit, but in union with the senses; and
Somadeva of Cashmere, in the 12th century; it is entitled 'Vrihat- his task is, by the conquest of the senses through the medium of
katha,' "the great narration," or Kathâsaritsagara,' "the ocean of the the intellect, to attain to the final deliverance, "moksha," or blessedness,
streams of narrations." It is written in the epic metre, and in a simple which is accomplished in the "jnâna," that is, the "gnosis," knowledge.
style. (About a fourth part of the work has been published by But this system had an appearance of atheism, and therefore under-
Brockhaus, Leipzig, 1840.) Viewed with reference to their matter, went a reformation in the Yoga system of Patanjali. It is here
the works of this collection are peculiarly interesting to us, since even established, that knowledge is the way to attain to the final deliverance,
in the middle ages they had found their way to Europe under various but knowledge itself can only be obtained through "yoga," absorption
forms, as 'The Book of the Seven Wise Masters,' &c.; and the know-into God and mystical union with him, and a perfect abstraction from
ledge of the original text clears up many difficult questions of literary everything which can disturb the mind or awake the passions. The
history. Some of the oldest and best of the Tales of the Thousand system further assumes, that the pure spirit is the creator, and thus it
and One Nights' have been drawn from this source, and even in the connects itself with the notions which belong to religion; it also adopts
Arabic version they retain many features which belong only to India. the metempsychosis, inasmuch as it fixes degrees of the yoga; the
See Prof. Benfey's translation of the 'Panchatantra,' Leipzig, 1859, spirit comes back to inhabit new bodies till it has attained the highest
2 vols.
degree of the yoga. The Vedas are also held in esteem as means of
There are two other kinds of narrative works, which need only be knowledge, but they are not valued more highly than other means,
noticed briefly: the champs, which are narrations in prose and verse, since a man is to perform what is said in the Vedas freely, and not
sometimes written in the artificial style; and the charitras, which are merely on account of the written word. Hence has arisen the saying,
short and wonderful stories from the history of some celebrated man. that the "yogin" is exalted above the Vedas.
Of this last kind there are two which relate to the kings Vikramaditya
and Bhoja, and at first sight appear to contain some valuable infor-
mation; but they are entirely without authority, and have only served
to introduce error into questions of literary history. To the elaborate
prose works of this class belong the 'Dasakumaracharitra,' or "the
adventures of the ten princes;" and the 'Kâdambarî;' the former by
Dandi, about the middle of the 11th century, the latter by Vânabhatta,
of a somewhat later date, and composed in a very abstruse style,
Lastly, in the 'Vâsavadattâ,' a romance in prose, written by Subandhu
probably as early as the 7th century, the display of alliteration and the
love of ambiguity of import are carried to such an extent that the
work may truly be called an entire volume of puns.
Before we proceed to the scientific literature, we must add to the
narrative class the scanty remains of
{
The doctrines of the Buddhists are founded on the Sankhya system,
which they carry out into all its consequences, both in their religion
and politics. [BUDDHA.]
The second system is the Nyaya, of which Gotama is the author.
This system is entirely confined to logic and dialectic, on which it has
been constructed even in the most minute particulars. It is therefore
more in accordance than the Sankhya with the other systems; and as
the natives of India generally have bestowed much labour on the study
of logic, so philosophers also of all the different sects have occupied
themselves with it. The number of the Nyaya writings is very great.
The Vaiseshika system may be looked upon as a reformation of the
Nyaya. It is derived from Kanada. It applies the logical principle
to nature, and has arrived at a complete atomic doctrine by the
resolution of all substances into their elements. It asserts that there
is a union of atoms, which however is purely mechanical; so that,
contrary to the Sankhya, in its consequences it necessarily leads to
materialism.
Historical Literature. The peculiarly contemplative cast of mind
which distinguishes the natives of India, and the circumstance of the
whole country having never been formed into a single kingdom, but
consisting of small independent governments, will sufficiently account The third system, the Mimansa, the first teacher of which was
for the almost entire want of historical writings. With the exception called Jaimini, is directly opposed to the two former. It maintains
of a very modern chronicle of Orissa (abridged by Stirling, Asiat. religion and the revealed word of the Vedas, and is a positive theological
Resear., xiv.), there is only one historical work in existence in the system. Accordingly it is occupied chiefly in conimenting upon the
Sanskrit, 'The Chronicle of Cashmere,' properly entitled 'Rajataranginî,' | Vedas, and in reconciling their contradictions. The first part of this
´
}
2€9
270
SANSKRIT LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE.
SANSKRIT LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE.
!
*
system is predominantly practical; it is called 'Pûrvamîmânsâ," "the
first Mîmânsâ ;" here also it is affirmed that the final deliverance must
be worked out by knowledge, but it limits the knowledge to that of
the duties prescribed in the Vedas. The metaphysical part of this
system is displayed in the Uttaramîmânsa, commonly called the
Vedanta. Here too knowledge is considered as the condition of
deliverance, but still the sacred word of the Vedas is the great rule by
which all thought is to be regulated. The Vedanta required philosophy
and dialectic, and has therefore adopted from the other systems every-
thing not contradictory to its objects; the consequence of which is,
that one-half of the philosophy is given up, and the Vedanta is inter-
mediate between philosophy and dogmatism, as was the case in the
Christian system of the schoolmen. It has been however of great
service in the later corrupted times, in regenerating the old religious
and political system, and in maintaining it to the present time. The
two greatest restorers of this system were Kumârilabhatta in the 6th
century A.D., and Sankarâchârya in the 7th and 8th, both of whom
contributed largely to the expulsion of the Buddhists. The latter
travelled through the whole of India, combating and refuting the
opposite sects. The system is indebted to him for its perfection, and
it is even now universally received throughout India in the form into
which he brought it.
The heterodox systems are chiefly known to us through the refuta-
tions of them by their opponents, especially Sankaracharya, for the
writings themselves have been intentionally destroyed. They are
alluded to in Manu, and they are combated in the 'Râmâyana;' which
are proofs of their antiquity. The most important among them is that
of the Lokayatikas, a connected continuation and development of the
Vaiseshika doctrine, and a perfect materialism. Those who adopt
this system do not announce a final deliverance as the highest aim, but
deny a future existence, and regard the soul as a material substance.
The only source of knowledge is considered to be that of a true per-
ception by means of the senses; and the world is held to be uncreated
and eternal; they consequently deny the first cause of things, and are
perfect atheists.
(Colebrooke, 'Essays on the Religion and Philosophy of the Hindus,'
London, 1858, pp. 143-269; Ballantyne, Christianity contrasted with
Hindu Philosophy,' 1859, pp. xv.-xxxviii.; Mullens, Religious Aspects
of Hindu Philosophy,' 1860, pp. 1-174; Lassen, Ind. Alt.,' i. 830-36,
ii. 509 f. 1165 f., iii. 421-39; Weber, Ind. Lit.,' pp. 210-20; Dr.
Ballantyne commenced in 1849 to edit at Benares the Sûtras (short
aphorisms) of the six principal schools of philosophy, in Sanskrit and
English; Sarvadarsanasangraha' (short notices of the different systems
of philosophy), by Madhavacharya, Calc., 1858; Sankhyapravachana-
bhashya,' ed. Hall, Calc., 1856; Sânkhyakârika,' ed. Wilson, Oxford,
1837; Bhagavadgitâ,' ed. Lassen, Bonn, 1846; Calc., 1856 (with the
commentaries of Sankara and Sridharaswamin); transl. by Thomson,
Hertford, 1855; M. Müller, 'On the Nyaya' (app. to Thompson's
'Laws of Thought'); 'Bhasha Parichheda,' and' Siddhanta Muktavali,'
ed. Roer, Calc., 1850; Vedantasâra,' by Sadananda, Calc., 1855;
'Bâdarayana's Brahmasûtras,' ed. Roer, Calc., 1854; 'Sariraka Mîmânsâ
Bhashya,' by Sankaracharya, Calc., 1829, 4to; 'Sankara, sive de Theo-
logumenis Vedanticorum, auct. Windischmann,' Bonn, 1838, Svo.)
Grammar.-The Philological Sciences arise among an ancient people
as soon as a sacred literature gives occasion to their growth. The
Vedas were written in a language which soon became obsolete. The
necessity of defending them against corruption and innovation, and of
preserving their correct interpretation, naturally led to grammatical
inquiries; and as the Sanskrit language is in itself so original, regular,
and perfect, that its laws are easily discovered, philology has become
the most valuable part of Indian literature. The Indian grammarians
are far above those of any other ancient people; and they have a
strong predilection for this science, and have treated of it in number-
less writings. The first beginnings of Sanskrit grammar reach back to
very remote times, and are included in the collected system of the
Vedas. The oldest grammarians appear also as the authors of the
Upanishads.' Here too we are unable to trace the gradual formation
of the science; the system appears at once in its complete state in the
Sutras,' or Aphorisms, of Panini, who certainly did not live later than
the middle of the 4th century before Christ. He takes notice of a
series of older grammarians, as well as of schools; and though in
certain particulars there was some variation in what they taught, yet
in general the system was the same, and they had the same technical
terms. The form in which grammar is presented is one peculiar to the
natives of India, and they apply the same principles to other sciences,
as for instance philosophy. Everything is compressed into rules,
which are brought into the most concise forms of expression possible,
and the grammatical categories are expressed by a kind of figures or
algebraical signs. They are intended to be committed to memory, and
without a commentary they are unintelligible; they are all connected
one with another. (Published at Calcutta, 1810; at Bonn, 1840, by
O. Bochtlingk. A severe criticism on this edition is contained in the
introduction to 'The Mânava-Kalpa Sûtras' edited by Dr. Goldstücker,
London, 1861. See also Lassen, Ind. Alt.' ii. 479 ff.; Weber, Ind.
Lit.' p. 199 ff.; Weber, Ind. Studien,' i. 141, ff.; Müller, 'Anc.
Sanskrit Lit.', p. 188, 150 ff.; Westergaard, Om de (Eldste Tidsrum i
den indiske Historie.' Copenhagen, 1860, p. 72 ff.) Panini is not
systematic, but indeed very arbitrary in his arrangement, which
<
appears to have been adopted merely from the necessity which the
object of attaining the greatest possible brevity imposed upon him.
The whole of more modern Sanskrit grammar is founded on Pânini,
and at first grammarians were merely occupied in explaining and
correcting him. Two ancient commentaries by Katyayana (who is also
called Vararuchi) and by Patanjali, who in later times have themselves
been copiously commented upon, are nearly as old as Pânini himself.
In comparatively recent times, grammarians began to take some pains
to reduce the 'Sûtras' to a system, and to compose grammars more in
accordance with European notions. Here the Siddhântakaumudî'
must be particularly mentioned, which was written by Bhattojidikshita
about the year 1600, and has served as the foundation of a number of
more modern works. ('Siddhântakaumudi,' Calcutta, 1812, 4to.;
Laghukaumudi,' ibid, 1827, and Mirzapore, 1849.) All these are
entirely occupied with teaching the grammatical forms, and it is only
as opportunity offers that they give a few syntactical rules. Syntax,
on the contrary, is developed in many distinct works, and is grounded
on the logic of the Nyâya system, which is a proof of enlarged and
correct views. So in like manner the different Prakrit dialects have
been exhibited in their separate grammars. The oldest work of this
kind is the grammar of Vararuchi, which belongs to the 4th century
before Christ (the greater part of it published in Lassen's Instit.
Linguæ Pracr.,' the whole edited by Cowell, Hertford, 1854); it treats
of the principal dialect and of the three others which are most nearly
connected with it. He is followed by a series of later grammarians,
who successively include within the limits of their works more of the
inferior dialects. The most important of these grammarians is
Hemachandra, a Jain. The canonical books of the Jains being written
in the Prakrit, that language is regarded by them with peculiar
interest.
Lexicography also had its origin as far back as the Vedas, for the
necessity must soon have been felt of collecting and explaining the
obsolete words. A work of this kind, entitled 'Nirukta,' (edited with
commentaries, by R. Roth, Göttingen, 1852) forms an essential part of
the Vedas themselves. For the purpose of perfecting grammar, it was
afterwards found necessary to make alphabetical lists of the verbal
roots. The nouns, chiefly for the purpose of fixing the genders, were
arranged by themselves, not alphabetically, but according to the
subjects to which they belonged. The chief work of this class, which
has served as a foundation to all the later ones, is the 'Amarakosha'
(Amarasinha. '), which they have imitated even in their arrangement.
[AMARA, in BIOG. Div.] Next in celebrity and more complete than
the before-mentioned is Hemachandra's Abhidhanachintamani,' from
the 12th century (edited by Boehtlingk and Rieu, St. Peterb., 1847).
None of these works, of which there are many, completely exhausts
the treasures of the language.
Metre,-In like manner, the Veda-hymns, which were to be com-
mitted to memory, led to the consideration of the laws of metre, and
treatises on metre have been ascribed to very early teachers of the
Vedas. Here also the more early essays, such as the Nidana-sûtras of
the Sâma-Veda, have been superseded by a work which exhibited the
subject as a complete system. Pingala, who is commonly considered
to be the same as Patanjali, is said to be the author of it: this work,
which, like the whole science, is called Chhandas, has been elucidated
by numerous commentaries.
Music.—The theory of music has also been elaborated according to
various systems, but in a strange manner, for the different notes and
musical scales have been personified.
Of the musical sciences nothing has been printed except quotations
from Bharata's Gândharvaveda,' and from the works of Isvara, Nârada,
Pavana and Kalinâtha in the commentaries to the dramas. But
several treatises, such as the 'Sangitaratnakara' by Sârngadeva, the
Ragavibodha' by Soma, the 'Sangitadarpana' by Damodara, the
Ragamala,' exist at least in manuscript. (Catal. Codd. MSS. Sanser.
in Bibl. Bodl.', Oxford, 1859, p. 199-201.). See also Colebrooke's
copious Treatise on Metre ('Asiat. Res.', x.).
Rhetoric.-To the philological sciences belongs also the Indian
system of Rhetoric, or rather Poetry, in which the rules for poetic
composition are deduced, not from any principles of art, but from the
existing classical works, with particular reference to the drama, the
theory of which is extremely copious, and goes into the nicest
distinctions. This theory belongs to a late period. There have been
printed the Kavyaprakasa,' by Manmathabhatta, of Cashmere
(Calcutta, 1829), and Sahityadarpana,' by Kaviraja (Calcutta, 1853),
both of which belong either to the 12th or 13th century.
C
Commentaries.-In later times the Indian grammarians have occupied
themselves in writing commentaries, particularly on the works belonging
to the Vaidic literature, to classic poetry, and to philosophy and
grammar. The most important of the scholiasts with whom we are
yet acquainted are Sâyana, Mahidhara, Sankara, on the first mentioned,
Mallinatha, on the more modern epic poems, and a host of others.
The commentators have done good service in fixing and maintaining a
pure text, especially in the Vedas and the great epic poems.
philological school was established in Bengal, upon a directly opposite
principle, for they began to make editions of classical works, in which
most uncritically, according to European notions, they kept to the
meaning, but took the liberty of entirely altering the expression. As
we have before mentioned, they made such a recension of the
A
A
271
کہ
1
SANSKRIT LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE.
SANTONIN.
272
Râmâyana,' as well as of the 'Sakuntala,' and other dramas.
and other dramas. once commenced, its progress was extremely rapid, the acquisition of
Vopadeva, a grammarian of this school, in a similar manner invented it being much facilitated by the previous labours of native gram-
a new grammatical system, according to which he altered the technical marians; and by the printing of a great number of their most
expressions of Panini, without in other respects varying in the smallest important works, a large part of the literature became generally
degree from this method. ('Mugdhabodha,' Calcutta, 1826, St. accessible, an advantage which most of the other oriental languages
Petersburg, 1847.)
have not enjoyed. In India this progress has been connected with the
Astronomy. The oldest Indian astronomical documents are the names of Wilkins, Jones, Colebrooke, Wilson, Mill, Prinsep, Roer,
calendars which are annexed to the Vedas, and which, according to Hall, R. Mittra, Râdhâkânt Deb.
Colebrooke, belong to the 13th century B.C., but are, at least in their behind; and the rich collections of manuscripts in the possession of
But Europe has not remained
present form, of much more recent date. They include a solar year the East India Company in London, of the Bodleian at Oxford, of the
of 365 days, and are so composed as to determine it correctly. Here Royal Library at Berlin, and of the Imperial Library of Paris, have
also we are unable to point out how the mathematical and astronomical been abundant sources, and perhaps more than sufficient to compen-
sciences were gradually developed from such simple elements, as we sate for the peculiar advantages enjoyed by India. In England, the
possess them only in their perfected form. Assisted by the system of study of Sanskrit was in the first place most indebted to Haughton
notation which they discovered, the natives of India have been and Rosen [ROSEN, in BIOG. DIV.]; it now counts among its Sanskrit
particularly happy in their methods of treating arithmetic and scholars such men as M. Müller, Goldstücker, Ballantyne, M. Williams,
algebra, which have had such influence on their mathematical studies and Aufrecht. In France, it was chiefly introduced through Hamilton
that they prefer solving geometrical questions analytically, just as the in 1804, and cultivated by Chézy and Burnouf. In Germany however
Greeks, on the contrary, solved arithmetical questions by geometry. Sanskrit has experienced the most cordial reception, though at first,
(Lîlâvatî,' by Bhaskara, Calcutta, 1828; Colebrooke, 'Algebra of the owing to the want of manuscripts, the study of it was prosecuted under
Hindoos,' Calcutta, 1817, 4to.)
the greatest disadvantages. In that country, the knowledge of Sanskrit
was chiefly diffused by A. W. von Schlegel and Bopp, both of whom
learnt it about the same time in Paris. At present there is hardly a
university or college that has not its chair for Sanskrit; and of the
success with which it has been studied, the works of Lassen, Roth,
Weber, Stenzler, Brockhaus, Benfey, Kuhn, and Spiegel, give abundant
proof. Also in other continental countries Sanskrit scholars of
eminence, such as Westergaard in Denmark, Bochtlingk and Schiefner
in Russia, Regnier in France, Nève in Belgium, and Gorresio in Italy,
have done much to promote and popularise the study of ancient
Indian literature.
In the earliest works on Indian astronomy now extant, several
different systems are apparent, and these systems have been treated of
in five works, entitled 'Siddhântas,' which apparently contain the
same theories which were afterwards successively extended and
improved. Varâhamihira, at the beginning of the 6th century A.D.,
compared them with each other, and other astronomers worked them
up again under different titles, each with the view of introducing into
them his own theory. The most important of all astronomers that
preceded Varâhamihira is Aryabhatta, who was the first to free himself
completely from all mythological notions; he was acquainted with the
motion of the earth about its axis, and estimated more accurately than
Ptolemy the precession of the equinoxes. His work, 'Aryâshtasata,'
an exhibition of his system in 800 strophes, has not yet been recovered,
but his abridgment of it, 'Dasagîtaka,' and another work, Aryab-
hattîya,' which in 4 chapters and 123 strophes contains his system of
mathematics, are still extant. According to Colebrooke's reckoning,
the latest period at which he can be fixed is 478 A.D., and he may have
lived two or three centuries earlier; and Whish ( Trans. Asiat. Soc.', iii.
2, 509), fixes the year of his birth about 502 A.D. By the researches
of Weber ('Ind. Stud.', ii. 236 ff.; 'Ind. Lit.' p. 221 ff.) and Lassen
(Ind. Alt.', ii. 1114-46) the question whether the Indian astronomy
was entirely native, or whether it was constructed with the aid of that
of the Greeks, has been finally settled in favour of Greek influence.
Aryabhatta, who most probably flourished as early as the beginning of
the 4th century A.D., availed himself largely of the progress which the
Greeks (especially Hipparchus) had made in astronomy; and he not
only improved upon their new theories and inventions, but added also |
the results of his own independent investigations. In algebra he made
even greater progress than the Greeks. Astronomy has not been
improved in India since his time; on the contrary, those who have
come after him have not relinquished the false views consecrated by
religion, but have endeavoured to defend them against him. This
This
was chiefly done by Brahmagupta, the author of the Brahmasiddhânta,'
in the 6th century A.D., who is the classical astronomer of the
moderns, and whose track was followed by Bhaskara in the 12th
century, in his work 'Siddhântasiromani.' Since one of the other
Siddhântas, the Suryasiddhânta, has lately been edited in Calcutta
(1859), and an excellent translation of the same has appeared in the
sixth volume of 'The Journal of the American Oriental Society,' (1860)
p. 141-498, we have the means to make ourselves acquainted with all
the peculiar features of Hindu astronomy. (See several discussions
by Colebrooke in the second volume of his 'Essays,' and an article by
F. E. Hall, on the ´ Ârya-Siddhânta' in the 'Journ. Am. Or. Soc.', 1. I.
p. 556-64.
C
Medicine.-There are many Indian works on medicine, and the
systems are various. Many parts of the medical science of India are
valuable even to us, as for instance the Materia Medica, in which they
were much favoured by nature. The Indian physicians were highly
esteemed by the Greeks. In surgery especially they have made con-
siderable progress, and have even discovered and performed difficult
operations, as for instance the restoring of noses. The most cele-
brated medical work, Susruta,' has been printed (Calcutta, 1835,
2 vols. Svo); and Ainsley (Materia Indica,' London, 1826 and 1831),
and more recently Royle, ('On the Antiquity of Hindu Medicine,'
London, 1837), and Wise (Commentary on the Hindu System of
Medicine,' Calc. 1845), have done much to make known the Indian
systems of medicine.
↓
Natural History.-The observation of external nature still remains
in a very low state among the natives of India, and they seem never
to have made any progress even towards the commencement of a
scientific system of natural history; at least no works of this kind are
known.
Study of Sanskrit.-The Sanskrit language was for many years con-
sidered unattainable, but towards the close of the last century this
study received a powerful impulse, partly from the necessities of the
English government in India, and partly from a desire of knowledge
among the leaned of Europe. The study of the language having been
For the practical study of Sanskrit we would recommend the
following books:-
a, Dictionaries: Wilson's, 2nd ed., Calc. 182; 3rd ed. by Gold-
stücker (in the course of publication)); Sauskrit-Wörterbuch,' by
O. Boehtlingk and R. Roth, St. Petersburg, 1855 ff. (in the course of
publication); Engl. and Sanser. Dict.', by M. Williams, Lond. 1851.
b, Grammars: Wilson, 2nd ed., London, 1847; Williams, 2nd
ed., London, 1857, Bopp, Grammatica critica linguæ Sanscritæ,'
Berlin, 1829-32, and his Kritische Grammatik der Sanskrita-Sprache,'
Berlin, 1845; Boller, Ausführliche Sanskrit-Grammatik,' Wien, 1847;
Benfey, 'Vollständige Gramm. der Sanskrit-sprache,' Leipzig, 1852, and
his Kurze Sanskrit-Grammatik,' Leipzig, 1855; Desgranges, Gram-
maire Sanscrite-Française,' 2 vols., Paris, 1845; Oppert, Gramm.
Sanscrite,' Paris, 1859; Rodet, Gramm. abrégée de la langue Sanscrite,'
Paris, 1860; Flechia, Grammatica Sanscrita,' Torino, 1856.
C
<
c, Readers: Johnson, Selections from the Mahâbhârata,' London,
1842; 'Sanskrit-Chrestomathie,' by O. Böhtlingk, St. Petersburg,
1845; Anthologia Sanscrita,' ed. Lassen, Bonn, 1838; Chresto-
mathie aus Sanskritwerken,' by Th. Benfey, Leipzig, 1853.
d, Works on comparative Grammar: Bopp, Vergleichende Gram-
matik des Sanskrit, etc.', 2nd edit., Berlin, 1856-61, 3 vols.; translated
into English, London, 1854, ff., 3 vols.; Bopp, Glossarium Sanser.,'
Berlin, 1847; Kuhn, Zeitschrift für vergleichende Sprachforschung,'
Berlin, 1852 ff., 10 vols.; Kuhn and Schleicher, Beiträge zur vergl.
Sprachforschung,' Berlin, 1858-61, 3 vols.; many articles in the
Transactions of the Philological Society.'
SANTALIC ACID. [SANTALIN.]
(
SANTALIN (C30H14010?). Santalic acid. The colouring matter of
the Plerocarpus santalinus, or red sandal-wood. It was examined by
Pelletier in 1814, and is readily obtained by digesting the rasped wood
in alcohol, and then diluting the clear solution with water, by which
the solution is precipitated of a beautiful red colour; it is tasteless,
nearly insoluble in water, but readily dissolved by alcohol, ether,
alkaline solutions, and slightly by the oils of lavender and rosemary.
The alcoholic solution of santalin gives different coloured precipi-
tates with metallic solutions: thus with tin it gives a beautiful purple,
with lead a violet, iron a deep brown, silver a reddish-brown.
Santalin reddens litmus-paper, and forms ill-defined salts with some
bases.
Santalin, or rather the red sanders which contains it, is little used in
this country as a dye stuff, but in India it is employed both in dyeing
silk and cotton. It is used in pharmacy to give a colour to certain
tinctures, but the colour is not generally regarded as a permanent
one.
SANTONIC ACID (C20H1808?) Santonin. A vegetable principle pos-
sessing acid properties obtained from the seeds of the Artemisia santonica,
or southernwood. Its properties are, that it is colourless, crystallises
in six-sided prisms and some other forms, is destitute of smell, and
when long chewed is slightly bitter. It is soluble in 4000 to 5000
times its weight of cold water, and 250 times when boiling. It is
soluble in alcohol, and in the fixed and volatile oils. When strongly
heated, it is decomposed. The alcoholic solution reddens litmus-
s-paper,
and with some bases it forms neutral and crystallisable salts; this is
the case with santonate of soda and santonate of lime; some of the
metallic santonates are soluble and others insoluble in water. None
of them is applied to any use.
SANTONIN. [SANTONIC ACID.]
:
i
1
973
SAP.
SAP is a mode of executing the trenches at the siege of a fortress,
when the besiegers arrive within such a distance from the covered
way that the fire from thence becomes too dangerous to allow the men
to work on the ground without being protected by some covering
objects, as gabions, placed between themselves and the enemy.
The process of sapping varies with the distance from the works of
the fortress and the degree of activity with which the fire of the
defenders is kept up. It is, therefore, divided into what is called the
flying sap and the complete or full sap. In ordinary circumstances, in
sieges, before the introduction of rifled ordnance or rifles to any great
extent, the flying sap began to be used in forming the second parallel
trench, which may be about 320 yards from the covered-way; and it is
executed in the following manner.
SAPPERS AND MINERS, ROYAL.
274
the fourth sapper excavates a portion 3 feet deep, increasing the
breadth of the trench towards the rear by 10 inches. By this arrange-
ment the tasks of the different men are rendered nearly equal, and
complete cover is obtained when the work of the third man is executed.
The four men thus form a trench 4 feet wide and 3 feet deep, and a
step is left on the side nearest to the gabions for convenience in
standing to fire over the parapet. The working parties from the
infantry of the line afterwards complete the trench by increasing the
width to its usual extent, about 12 feet.
Since the head sapper has the most dangerous post, the second,
third, and fourth sappers relieve him by alternately taking his place;
and the work advances about 8 or 10 feet per hour, according to the
tenacity of the earth.
If the distance from the depôt of siege-materials to the place of If the fire of the place should be considerably subdued by the
the intended trench is not too great, every man carries two gabions,action of the besiegers' batteries, the full and flying sap may be com-
one on each side of him, or both slung at his back; he carries also a bined in order to expedite the approaches. Thus a party of sappers
pickaxe and a spade, and in the first case these are fixed in the gabions, advancing on their hands and knees, and rolling gabions before them,
but in the latter he carries them in his hands. If the distance which the on arriving at convenient places set up the latter in line; then two or
working party has to march is considerable, this burden would be too three men, at certain intervals from each other, dig pits behind the
fatiguing, and then each man carries on his shoulder one gabion toge- gabions, in order to get cover, and afterwards work towards each other,
ther with a pickaxe or a spade. Carrying the gabions one on each making a small trench, and filling the gabions with earth. The trench
side has the advantage of permitting the man to carry his musket may subsequently be made of the required width.
slung. The work is begun at night, and when the sappers have arrived
at the ground where the tracing-line for the intended trench has been
laid down, they set up their gabions a few inches in front of that tracing-
line, the officers observing that the row of gabions in its whole length
is correctly placed. The portion of trench to be executed by each
sapper, or workman, is equal in length to the space covered by two
gabions (about 4 feet): the men sit down or otherwise keep themselves
covered till the order is given to commence digging, and when the
number of men who constitute the working party is greater than
suffices to allow one man to every two gabions, those who have not
room to work retire to a little distance till they are required to relieve
the others. A man may fill his two gabions with earth in about a
quarter of an hour, and then they will be proof against a musket
bullet, except at the place where they touch each other; after this the
earth obtained in executing the trench is thrown beyond the gabions
towards the fortress. During the progress of the work the gabions
are pushed a little way outwards at the top, in order that they may
effectually resist the pressure of the earth which they are to retain;
and they are sometimes crowned by two or three rows of fascines
which are laid upon them in a direction parallel to the trench.
If the work proceeds by day and night, the parties are relieved
every eight hours; and a trench executed by flying sap may, in soil of
medium tenacity, be completed by three reliefs of men.
When the approaches of the besiegers have advanced so near the
covered-way that the fire of the defenders will no longer permit the
men to bring the gabions openly to the ground, the full sap is prac
tised. For this purpose the sappers are divided into brigades of eight |
men each; and of these a demi-brigade only of four men is employed
in the formation of a single line of trench. The party is provided with
a mantelet (a plate of iron thick enough to be musket-proof, and
capable of being moved forward by being mounted on small wheels) by
which the men may be covered in front, or, instead of this machine,
there is provided for the same purpose a great gabion called a sap-
roller. This is a cylinder of basket-work, 6 feet long, and about 4 feet
diameter, and having within it a gabion cf equal length, but about
2 feet six inches diameter; the axes of the two gabions are coincident,
and the space between the exterior of the one and the interior of the
other is stuffed with fascines, by which means it is rendered musket-
proof. The sap-roller turning on its convex surface is found to be
more manageable than the mantelet; and when it is intended to form
a trench in any proposed direction, by breaking out from one which
has been already executed, it is raised over the parapet of the latter
trench, and gradually lowered on the exterior side, being guided by
means of a hook, so that it may have a position perpendicular to the
line of the intended trench. The leading sapper of the demi-brigade
then cuts through the parapet, and pushing the sap-roller forward
about 2 feet, he hastily places an empty gabion in rear of that extre-
mity of the sap-roller which is nearest to the enemy's work, in order
that he may be covered on his flank: then kneeling behind the
gabion, he excavates a portion of a trench, 18 inches wide, and as
many in depth, leaving a berme about 12 inches broad between the
gabion and the nearest edge of the excavation, and throwing the earth
into the gabion. When this portion is dug, the sap-roller is advanced
about 2 feet farther, and another gabion is set up in its rear, adjacent
to the former, and in the line of the intended trench; a short fascine
or two sand-bags (bags full of earth), are placed one above another in
the hollow between the two gabions, in order, that a musket-ball may
not be able to penetrate through the screen in that part. The sapper
then excavates as before, and having filled the second gabion, a third
is handed to him, which he places and fills as he continues to advance.
The second sapper of the squad follows the first, keeping a little way
in his rear, and increases the width only of the trench by 20 inches on
the side which is farthest from the line of gabions, and he also throws
the earth into and beyond the gabious. The third sapper follows, and
increases the depth only by 18 inches on a breadth of 20 inches
measured from the rear side of the trench towards the gabions; and |
ARTS AND SCI. DIV. VOL. VII.
When the distance to be passed over to the work attached becomes
very small, the angle formed by the adjacent zig-zags becomes very
small, or rather when 100 yards of the zig-zag does not carry the
approaches so much as 32 yards in advance (those being the propor-
tionate rates at which the single and double sap can be executed), then
the line of trench is carried on directly towards the place, sometimes by
a simple trench with traverses at intervals, and sometimes by what is
called the double sap. This is performed by two squads or demi-
brigades, who work parallel to each other, each being covered in front
by its own sap-roller, and there is a third roller in rear of the small
interval between the others. A row of gabions is placed on the right
of the trench executed by one squad, and on the left of that which is
executed by the other; the distances between the rows of gabions is
about twelve feet, and traverses are formed in the trench at intervals
as the work advances. These project alternately from opposite sides,
so as to leave a serpentine passage along the trench. Hence this is
termed the serpentine sap. There is however another form of double
sap, called Jebb's, or the double direct sap, which is now adopted in the
English service. This is formed by three brigades of sappers with four
sap rollers in front. The three brigades work parallel to one another,
and drive three saps straight forward. Traverses are formed as the sap
proceeds, projecting alternately from each side like teeth and over-
lapping one another. The intermediate space is then excavated, and a
covered passage is thus obtained. The distance between the parapets
on each side is 22 feet, or the breadth of eleven gabions.
SAP-GREEN, a pigment, prepared by evaporating the juice of the
berries of the Rhamnus catharticus, or buckthorn, to dryness, mixed
with lime. It is soluble in water, less so in alcohol, and insoluble in
ether and oils. Acids redden it; but the alkalies and alkaline earths
restore the green colour. [COLOURING MATTERS.]
SAPOGENIN. [ESCULIC ACID.]
SAPONIC ACID. [ESCULIC ACID.]
SAPONIFICATION. [FATTY ACIDS.]
SAPONIN. (CH200?) A colourless non-crystalline body, found
in the soapwort (Saponaria officinalis) and many other plants. The
seneguin of Gehlen appears also to be identical with this substance.
Saponin is extracted from the root of the soapwort by boiling alcohol
from which it is deposited on cooling. It is inodorous, tastes at first
sweet, then astringent, and finally acrid. It is soluble in water in all
proportions, forming a remarkably saponaceous solution. It is almost
insoluble in ether and in absolute alcohol, but readily dissolves in
dilute alcohol. Lime-water does not precipitate aqueous solutions of
saponin. Introduced into the nostrils a very minute quantity of
powdered saponin occasions violent sneezing. [ESCULIC ACID.]
SAPPAN WOOD. [BRAZIL WOOD.]
SAPPERS AND MINERS, ROYAL, formerly the name given to
the non-commissioned officers and privates of the corps of Royal
Engineers. The men and officers are now collectively termed the
Royal Engineers, but in specifying any individual private he is termed
sapper of the company of Royal Engineers. They are employed in
building and repairing permanent fortifications, in raising field-
redoubts and batteries, in making gabions and fascines, in digging
trenches [SAP], and executing galleries of mines during sieges, and
also in forming bridges of rafts, boats, and pontoons.
The troops belonging to the department of the engineers were first
embodied at the termination of the war between Great Britain and her
American colonies, and they then received the designation of Royal
Military Artificers. The duke of Richmond, who was at that time
master-general of the ordnance, formed them into independent com-
panies, and caused them to be stationed chiefly at Portsmouth, Ply-
imouth, Chatham, Dover, and Gibraltar. In the year 1807 the
Military Artificers constituted a corps of 32 companies, each consist-
ing of 126 men; and a sub-lieutenant was attached to each company,
which was placed under any senior captain of engineers who might
happen to be where the company was stationed. But the want of a
proper organisation, and of officers permanently attached to the troops,
T
275
SARACENIC ARCHITECTURE,
gradually brought on a relaxation of discipline and a neglect of the
particular duties for which the men were intended; it is even said that
when detachments were to be drawn from the companies for any
intended expedition, the engineer officers who selected the men sent
only those who were the least efficient, and that consequently, during
the first years of the war against the French in Spain, the service
ruffered much from the inexperience of the troops of this class.
After the failure of the attack on Badajoz, in 1811, it was proposed
to select some companies from the corps of Royal Military Artificers,
and to form them into a body expressly for the purpose of executing
field-works; and in the following year this proposal was carried into
effect. Lieutenant-General Mann, who was made inspector-general of
fortifications, obtained permission to have the name of the whole
corps changed into that of Royal Sappers and Miners; and lord
Mulgrave then formed at Chatham the institution at which the men
have ever since been regularly instructed in all the duties connected
with military engineering. The junior officers of engineers were at
the same time appointed to act as the regimental officers of the com-
panies. This institution has been from the first (April, 1812) under
the direction of Colonel, now General, Sir Charles Pasley, K.C.B., an
eminent officer, who as an engineer had previously distinguished
himself in the service of his country.
A detachment, consisting of 300 men, was sent, in 1813, to perform
the duty of sappers and miners at the siege of St. Sabastian, where
they rendered essential service. In 1814 a brigade of engineers was
attached to every division of the army; each brigade consisted of a
company of sappers and miners, with horses and carriages sufficient to
convey the tools necessary for the work of 500 men; and five com-
panies of sappers and miners served with the pontoon train, which
consisted of 80 pontoons, with the forges, waggons, &c. The whole
corps was under the orders of a brigade-major of engineers.
From 1812 to the peace in 1814, the corps of sappers and miners
amounted to 2861 men; and during the hostilities in 1815, it consisted
of 2421 men. At present it consists of 36 companies, and 4837 men,
exclusive of officers; and, besides the regular course of instruction in
sapping, mining, making gabions, fascines, &c., the men are taught the
most elementary principles of fortification, the manner of drawing plans
and sections of buildings, and, to a certain extent, the art of land-
surveying. Several of the companies are employed in the colonies in
the exercise of their professional duties; and of those which remain
in this country, some are engaged under the officers of engineers in
the mechanical operations connected with the ordnance survey of
Great Britain and Ireland which is being carried on by the war depart-
ment; parties of the corps also regularly attend the Royal Academy
at Woolwich and the Military College at Sandhurst, where they assist
to execute, for the instruction of the gentlemen-cadets, the several
works connected with the practice of field-fortification. It ought to
be mentioned that the troops of the corps have invariably, in whatever
part of the world they have been employed, conducted themselves as
intelligent men and steady soldiers.
SARACENIC ARCHITECTURE, is the term usually applied in this
country to what would perhaps be better named Mohammedan archi-
tecture, since it embraces the architecture of all Mohammedan peoples,
or Arabian architecture, from the race with whom it originated. But
though the style may be traced back to them, the Arabians cannot be
considered as themselves the inventors of it. They had in fact no
distinctive style of their own, when the rapid spread of the religion of
Mohammed and the conquests of his followers rendered necessary the
erection of numerous religious edifices, and called into existence a new
style of architecture. Mohammed is said to have built a mosque at
SARACENIC ARCHITECTURE,
278
others. Hence, as has been often pointed out and is now generally
admitted, the Mohammedans wherever they secured a standing adopted
the architecture of the subjugated race.
Thus in Persia we may
clearly trace in Mohammedan buildings the older Persian type; in
India (as was observed under INDIA, ARCHITECTURE of) that of the
Hindus; in Spain the debased Roman or early Romanesque; in Egypt,
Syria, and Turkey, the Byzantine; but everywhere this native character
was modified and adapted, overlaid with a certain exuberant oriental
fancifulness, imbued with Mohammedan feeling in short combined
with a new and foreign element, instead of being prosaically copied as
it stood; and thus was rapidly evolved a distinct and well-charac-
terised style.
What may be regarded as the typical varieties of the earlier
Saracenic architecture are those which appeared in Spain in the 8th
century of the Christian era, and in Egypt somewhat earlier: its later
form appeared in Constantinople. In each of these a striking and
distinctive feature is the horse shoe arch. But this though a peculiar
is by no means a constant feature of the style, or used to the exclusion
of other forms of arches. On the contrary there are several varieties,
and among them is the pointed arch, which is already a well-established
form in the mosque of Ahmed Ibn Tooloon, erected at Cairo in the
9th century, and is of frequent occurrence in other Mohammedan
structures erected in that city in the 10th century. The arch being so
essential a characteristic of the style we give a few of its various forms
in the annexed figurés.
A
Fig. 1 is an example of the horse-shoe form, having the centre con
the diameter of the arch raised above the chord or spring of the curve
(the dotted line), and consequently the curve itself is greater than a
semicircle. The same figure further exemplifies some differences of
application, the side or half a showing the arch supported on columns,
the other without columns; besides which it illustrates other varia-
tions; for on the side в the head of the arch is closed over a square-
headed aperture not wider than the span or chord; whereas on the
side a the opening between the columns is as wide as the diameter of
the arch itself in its greatest width through the centre c.
Fig. 2 is an instance of a pointed horse-shoe arch it being struck

Fig. 2.
Fig. 1.
A
B
from two centres, which, as in the other case, are elevated above the
line of the impost, or spring, from which the curve commences.

This

Fig. 3.
Medina, but it was a structure of the simplest kind, and he left no
directions in the Koran for the guidance of his disciples in erecting
figure also exhibits two varieties of decorations, both of them by
scalloping; one half being scalloped on the intrados, or edge of the
277
273
SARACENIC ARCHITECTURE,
SARACENIC ARCHITECTURE.
arch itself; and in the other, the extrados, or outer circumference,
being so cut, or more properly speaking, the edge of the face of the
wall within which the arch recedes: of which kind is the gate in what
is called the Casa del Carbon at Granada,
The next example is of what may be called the cusped or scalloped
arch, strictly so termed, the outline being produced by intersecting
semicircles, similar to the trefoil-headed compartments in our Gothic
windows; but beyond that general resemblance, which certainly goes
some way to confirm the opinion that the Gothic style borrowed some
thing from the Saracenic, the character is altogether different, not only
because it is here the whole arch which is so shaped, instead of merely
a subdivision within a larger opening, but also both on account of the
external moulding following the same form, and of quite a different
mode of decoration. In Gothic architecture the spandrels, or trian-
gular spaces between the foils, are panelled with splayed surfaces
uniting in the centre. Arches of the kind here shown occur in the
sanctuary of the great mosque at Cordova (8th century), where they
rest upon columns which both in their capitals and shafts bear con-
siderable similarity to Corinthian ones, except that they are shorter
and without bases, and are therefore very different from the slender
pillars peculiar to Arabian architecture.
Fig. 4 exhibits an example of such pillars, and also another variety
Fig. 4.
ILY:(UIVVILY,TAM
of Saracenic arches (from the Court of the Lions in the Alhambra, 19th
century) very unlike any of the preceding specimens, it being circular
headed, and stilted, that is, it is considerably more than a semicircla,
its height in fact almost equal to its breadth, but, instead of contract
ing downwards, like the horse-shoe form, it is continued down straight
to the impost, whereby the arch or semicircle has the appearance of
being raised or stilted, and made loftier than the arcli itself would else
be. It also exhibits another peculiarity which the Arabs seem greatly
to have affected, namely, corbelling, or resting arches upon brackets
which serve as their imposts owing to which such arches have the
appearance of being suspended over the opening below, which becomes
wider and the support or pillar slenderer in proportion to the projec
tion given to the corbels.
at intervals, or on the alternate voussoirs or arch-stones, some idea of
which may be obtained from B, fig. 1.
Pillars are commonly of exceedingly slender proportions, almost to
apparent insecurity; but owing to the style of the embellishment
this lightness of particular forms tends to heighten the general
luxuriance. Some have imagined that this element of slenderness in
regard to pillars indicates a tent origin of the style; and that while
the pillars themselves were fashioned in imitation of the poles which
supported the awning, the idea of the latter was in a measure kept
up by the general decoration of various devices in mosaic work, and
painted stucco, or glazed tiles, which gave to the whole the semblance
of being covered with richly-patterned carpeting or embroidered
tapestry; not indeed in exact imitation or so as to aim at illusion, but
with just that degree of adherence to a prototype which is observable
in all artist-like architectural decoration. This tent-like character it
has been suggested was further kept up by concave ceilings and
cupolas, emblazoned with painting and gilding. The whole surface,
in fact, was frequently broidered over with decoration, which consisted
almost entirely of ornamental patterns composed either of foliage or
geometrical figures, though occasionally with an intermixture of both.
The decorations of the former class have given rise to the modern
term Arabesques, as indicating scroll work and foliage ornament filling
up a frieze or compartment, although it is not very correctly applied,
being usually intended to express a combination of animal and veget-
able forms, human figures, and those of birds and quadrupeds termi-
nating in foliage and flowers; whereas no such mixture occurs in
Arabian architecture, all imitation of the human or even animal shape
being interdicted by the Mohammedan law. Their geometrical pat-
terns exhibit singular beauty and complexity, inexhaustible variety of
combinations, and a wonderful degree of harmonious intricacy, arising
out of very simple elements; to which must be added the variety
produced by colour also, whereby the same arrangements of lines aud
figures could be greatly diversified. Hence though apparently quite
unmeaning, and intended only to gratify the eye, such embellishment
must have powerfully recommended itself to a people both imaginative
and contemplative, and whose fancy would find occupation in patiently
tracing and unravelling the manifold intricacies and involvements, the
mazes of what at first sight looks like a mere labyrinth, until its
scheme unfolds itself; but merely momentarily as it were, being again
lost when attention is diverted from it to particular parts. It is on
this account that Hessemer, Jones, and others who have paid special
attention to the subject, assign so very high a value to Arabian decora
tion, as being strictly ornamental and strikingly characteristic.
One very prevalent and very peculiar element of Arabian decoration
is the use of inscriptions evidently with reference to their ornamental
effect. So far there is a very striking analogy between the practice of
the Moslems and that of the ancient Egyptians; if the latter covered
the walls of their edifices with hieroglyphics, the others inscribed theirs
no less profusely with sentences; and the characters of their ordinary
writing, elegant and fanciful in themselves, were as studiously ornate
and calligraphic as possible; and so well do they harmonise with the
rest, as to seem to belong to the embellishment, and to have sufficient
value as such independent of their meaning. Neither was the effect of
colouring and gilding wanting to set off the inscriptions in the most
brilliant manner. The colours chiefly used were the primaries, red,
yellow, and blue; the secondaries, except in the decline of the style,
being only used in the lower and subordinate parts of buildings. The
use of these colours appears to have been most profuse; gilding was
also freely employed. In short, even by those who consider much of
it to have been in false taste, architectural decoration must be allowed
to have been carried by the Arabians to a very high pitch; and
although it may be too florid, too prodigal, too inflated, and overlaid
with ornament, it well deserves to be studied, as many ideas may be
derived from it, for novel combinatious both of forms and colours.
And for such study ample materials are supplied by Mr. Owen Jones's
splendid work on the Alhambra,' and Hessemer's Arabische Bauer-
zierungen;' in both of which publications the plates exhibit the
original colours. The general reader will hardly need to be reminded
that Mr. Jones's admirably executed Alhambra Court at the Crystal
The above will suffice to show the principal varieties, in which we | Palace affords a means of examining copies the actual size, made from
have chiefly attended to the form of the arches themselves, withoutcasts taken by Mr. Jones at the Alhambra, of the finest and most
attempting to show detail and decoration, to which it would be impos- elaborate examples of Moorish ornamental work at its most advanced
sible to do any sort of justice upon so contracted a scale, although it stage; but we may point out that the little Handbook of the Alhambra
may serve for mere explanation. As supplementary however to what Court,' written by Mr. O. Jones, contains much valuable information
has been said, it should be observed as one characteristle of the style, on the principles of Saracenic ornamentation, and indeed on the second
that whatever their shape, or however applied, arches are generally period of Saracenic architecture generally.
placed within a square-headed panel or compartment, variously orna-
mented, and frequently surrounded with a margin or border similar to
the square label in Gothic architecture. Sometimes there are two
margins or labels, and the space between them is filled up either with
inscriptions or other decoration. This mode however was confined to
large arches, not supported upon columns, but forming an opening
through a wall, for a gate or door; and it was for such purposes that
the horse-shoe arch was chiefly used, particularly for entrances to
mosques. These were further distinguished by the breadth and rich-which, the character of Saracenic tracery is altogether different, it
ness of the archivolt or border surrounding the arch; antl which was
sometimes equal to the radius or semidiameter of the curve. In some
instances the whole archivolt was uniformly decorated; in others only
t
Lattice or open trellis-work was another fertile source of embellish-
ment, and was very much akin to the perforated tracery frequently
met with in Gothic buildings. In this respect the two styles display
great similarity of taste, distinguishing themselves herein from almost
every other, notwithstanding that each has a peculiar character of its
own. But in Saracenic architecture the interstices are smaller, and
the design fills the whole of one aperture; whereas in the Gothic style
the ornamental tracery is confined to the heads of windows. Besides
being composed of straight lines, frequently so disposed as to form
stars in some parts of the design. As far as an idea of the peculiarities
of the style in this respect can be formed from a single specimen, the
+

879
SARACENIC ARCHITECTURE.
example here annexed (from Hessemer) of a portion of a window in
the mosque of Hakim at Cairo, may be of some assistance. The pattern
is rich and playful; and notwithstanding that, although regular, it
appears at first sight to be rather complicated, will be found to be
composed of merely a repetition of the same forms, yet producing a
constant variety, according as the lozenge or the star is fixed upon by
the eye as the centre from which the rest of the pattern diverges.
Fig. 5.
Of perforated battlements and parapets, this style furnishes some
exceedingly rich and tasteful specimens. Several of them are exceed
ingly intricate and delicate also, and may therefore, almost without
exaggeration, be compared to lace-work as seen against the sky. Of
this kind are the parapets of the mosques Lashar and Akmer at Cairo,
which in some parts have perforated battlements of fanciful outline
rising above the general parapet of open-work. Curves, forming
pointed horse-shoe arches, occur in some of the patterns; further than
this it is impossible to pretend to describe them, except it be to remark
that the stone-work is very slender, and the open spaces large in pro-
portion, and that the ribs or stems of which the former is composed
have something the resemblance of being interwoven, one passing alter-
nately before and behind the next, after the fashion of wickerwork.
Equal fancy and diversity of invention are shown in the devices of
mosaics and pavements, many of which appear exceedingly elaborate,
SARACENIC ARCHITECTURE.
280
although, when analysed, they are found to be very simple in prin-
ciple: for instance, some patterns exhibiting octagons, stars, and other
figures, are produced merely by series of zigzag lines intersecting each
other at right angles, different combinations being obtained according
as the points of the zigzag are turned from or towards each other.
Among the other ornaments which mark this style, the honeycomb
fretwork and stalactite-like drops, or pendents of ceilings and roofs,
deserve to be mentioned: of these, the rich example in the Alhambra
Court, a copy in full size of the stalactite roof of the Hall of the
Abencerrages, but coloured and gilt in accordance with what Mr. Jones
conceives to have been the appearance of the hall in its original state,
will at once recur to the memory. Another characteristic form of
ornament is that of the smai 'star-shaped apertures cut in a sloping
direction through the domes or vaults over baths, &c., for the purpose
of admitting only a subdued degree of light.
The above are characteristic elements of the style generally. But
there are others equally characteristic of the Asiatic varieties, though
not found in the Spanish. Of these, a constructive feature, as striking
as the arch itself, is that of the dome. For the most part domes occur
in mosques and other religious edifices, but they are also usual in tombs.
Domes were derived directly from Byzantine examples, and were there-
fore pendentive in character; but following the Oriental tendency to
inflation and luxuriance, they were variously altered in size, appli-
cation, and ornamentation, and ultimately in Persia, Turkey, and still
more extravagantly in India [INDIA, ARCHITECTURE OF, col. 848]
assumed a bulbous form, thus losing sight of the mathematical prin-
ciples which render the dome so constructively simple an architectural
feature. [DOME.] Moreover, instead of being employed singly, domes
were sometimes used in great profusion, there being, besides the prin-
cipal dome, a number of subordinate ones, sometimes according and at
others contrasting with it in shape. Minarets are another characteristic
feature in the Asiatic varieties of Saracenic architecture; but for an
account of them it will be enough to refer to the article MINARET.
The long and slender forms of minarets being opposed to the swelling
curves of domes, contributed not a little to that picturesqueness of
outline which is so striking in buildings of later Saracenic style.
The cut of the At-Meidan at Constantinople, given under MOSQUE, will
serve as an illustration of the multiplication of domes and the appli-
cation of the minaret, whilst the article itself will furnish some general
information on the subject of mosques.
We may now briefly notice a few of the more characteristic existing


Mosque (Cathedral) at Cordova.
examples of the style; beginning with those of Spain. Of these the
oldest is the mosque at Cordova, which now serves as the cathedral of
that city. It was the earliest structure of any inportance erected by
the Moors in Spain, having been commenced by the Caliph Abd-el-
Ramhan, in 786 A.D., with the avowed intention that it should surpass
in splendour the mosques of Baghdad, Damascus, and Jerusalem.
was completed in 796. Like all early Saracenic work it is characterised
by a certain severity and massiveness of style. Byzantine architects
It
are said to have been specially invited into Spain to superintend its con-
struction. In its plan the original building bore a general resemblance
to a basilica, but it was greatly altered about the close of the 10th
century by El Mansour, who converted it into a parallelogram by
adding eight aisles to the eastern side. As it now stands it is an insu-
lated oblong building, extending 620 feet from north to south, including
a spacious court at its north end or side. The interior presents almost
a forest of jasper and other marble columns, upwards of 600 in number,
281
9822
SARACENIC ARCHITECTURE.
SARACENS.
and dividing the plan into nineteen aisles in one direction (350 feet in
length), and thirty-five in the other. But it is disproportionately low
as compared with its great extent, the height to the roofs being only
about 34 feet. The arches are carried upon columns without entabla-
tures as in Romanesque buildings. [ROMANESQUE ARCHITECTURE.]
The interior presents a singular array of double, circular, and horse-
shoe arches, some of the upper ones being curiously interlaced. There
is a great display of rich carving of a modified Byzantine character,
and much of the peculiar tracery and diapering, as well as numerous
inscriptions of the kind described above. The pointed arch does not
occur; the domes are comparatively recent additions. In that division
of the building appropriated to the imams and chiefs was the great kibla,
or sanctuary (in which the Koran was deposited), an octagon covered
with a cupola shaped out of a single block of stone; the mihrab, or
pulpit, and the maksura, or khalif's seat. After the conquest of the
city in 1236, by San Ferdinand, this mosque was converted into the
cathedral, in consequence of which the character of the interior has
been greatly injured by the erection of a Gothic choir in its centre.
As a splendid work of a later epoch of the style, Cordova could once
boast of the palace called the Az-zahrá, erected about the middle of the
10th century by the celebrated Abd-el-Rhaman III., the eighth
Umeyyah sovereign of Spain. Of this edifice, which was at the dis-
tance of about two leagues from the city, nothing now remains to
attest its former magnificence, except the descriptions given of it by
Mohammedan writers, according to which it was adorned with 4000
marble pillars, and had walls and pavements of the same material.
The sumptuousness ascribed to the edifice and its fountains and baths
might pass for mere Oriental hyperbolism, were it not that the evidence
still afforded by the Alhambra, and by parts of the Alcazar at Seville,
removes the suspicion of exaggeration; or rather, the exuberant
beauties revealed to us by the latter structures greatly surpass any
thing the most florid description can picture to the mind.
The Alhambra, the residence of the Moorish kings of Granada, is
supposed by some to have been founded by Mohammed Ibn Alhamar,
the first ruler, who reigned from 1238 to 1273; according to others,
was begun by his successor Mohammed II. (1273-1302), or by Nasser,
and completed by Abu-l-hejaj in 1348. This highly interesting and
important monument of western Arabian architecture is now rendered
comparatively familiar to us, by descriptions and drawings, and by
geometrical and pictorial illustrations of its principal parts and deco-
rations, not only in the elaborate works of Murphy, Jones, and
Hassemer, but also in many drawings and publications of a more popular
kind by Roberts, Lewis, and other able draftsmen, while several parts
of the interior have been reproduced by casts and restorations in the
Crystal Palace at Sydenham. Here therefore it need only be noticed
briefly and generally: it is described, with cuts, under ALHAMBRA, in
the GEOG. DIV.
The Alhambra was a fortress palace, the outer-walls of which enclosed
an area 2500 feet long and 650 wide. Its superb palace has suffered
alike from wilful destruction and from neglect, yet its ruins are among
the most romantic and most interesting in the world. What is left of
it consists of two great courts or halls and several of smaller size. Of
these the richest and most impressive is the Court of the Lions, which
extends 100 feet from east to west, and is 60 feet wide: yet impressive
as it still is, and gorgeous as it must have originally appeared, it is
really composed of only the most seemingly fragile materials-wood
covered with stucco. Its general character and appearance will be best
understood by the reproduction at the Crystal Palace; but it must be
remembered in looking at the copy that whilst the original is of much
larger size, the central fountain, from which it derives its name, is, in
each, of the same dimensions. On each side of the Court of the Lions
is a much smaller apartment, that on the north being known as the
Hall of the Sisters, while on the south is the gorgeous Hall of the
Abencerrages, reproduced of the actual dimensions by Mr. Jones at the
Crystal Palace. At the east end stands the Hall of Judgment. Before
the Hall of the Two Sisters are the Baths. West of the Court of the
Lions, and at right angles to it, is the second great court, called the
Court of the Alberca-an older and less ornamented building. There
are other connected rooms and detached buildings to which it is suffi-
cient to allude, while a third large court, probably a mosque, is said to
have been removed to make room for the cold and formal palace
erected by Charles V. adjoining the Court of the Alberca. The archi-
tectural character of the interior, on which almost exclusively the
florid ornament is lavished, has been already spoken of, and the arches,
pillars, tracery, diapering, &c., described. The Alhambra is considered,
and justly, as the crowning work of Saracenic architecture in Europe;
it marks a period when the style had reached the very verge of deco-
rative propriety, and it is probable that any further progress would
have been towards mere voluptuous excess, and that the decline
would have been swift and certain. Other remains of Saracenic build-
ings are still numerous in all those parts of Spain which were occupied
by the Moors, and some of them are of considerable interest. It is
noteworthy, however, that the only approximation to a minaret, or to
any of those light and lofty forms in which the Saracenic architects of
the East delighted, is found in the Giralda at Seville; and this bears
more resemblance to an Italian campanile, it being a square of 45 feet,
and rising undiminished to a height of 185 feet: the upper and smaller
portion was added in 1568.
The earliest of the Egyptian buildings of which any portions re-
main is the Mosque of Amrou at Old Cairo, begun about A.D. 642,
but greatly altered, if not rebuilt, about 60 years later.
It is a nearly
square building about 390 by 360 feet, surrounded on each side by
colonnades or arcades, the columns of which, 245 in number, were
taken from Byzantine and Roman buildings. The arches, as is usual
in arcades in the Saracenic buildings of the East, have tie-beans.in
this instance of wood. Of the original ornamentation little is left. A
more important example of the style is the great mosque erected by
Ibn Tooloon at Cairo, towards the end of the 9th century, and which is
still in a state of tolerable preservation. Like the preceding, it is:
a nearly square structure, the outer walls being 455 feet by 390; the:
great court, nearly 300 feet square, is said to have been designed by a.
Byzantine architect. Like all early Mohammedan buildings, it is built.
entirely of brick covered with stucco, and all the rich interior orna-
mentation is of stucco. The arches of the colonnade surrounding:
the great court are of the pointed horse-shoe form, and are borne on
massive piers with attached shafts at the angles. The windows,
mostly of pointed horse-shoe arches, are all filled with the pierced
tracery described above, which is not only singularly graceful in design,
but the effect of which is described as exceedingly cool and pleasing in:
such a climate. Other mosques in Cairo afford very interesting speci-
mens of this style of architecture of a later date; as that of Barkook,
erected about the middle of the 12th century, which has a fine dome,
a lofty and very elegant minaret, and other ornamental features, and
in which the pointed arch is employed with as much facility as in
a Gothic cathedral. But a far more imposing building is the mosque
of Hhasaneyn, or Hassan, which is of great size and height, very
massive in construction, and is crowned by a noble dome and two very
handsome minarets, each 280 feet high. The mosque of El Moyed,
erected in 1415, is remarkable for the richness of its interior.
For the fall of the Moorish dynasty in Spain, the Mohammedans
were to a certain extent recompensed by the conquest of the great
Christian city and territory of Byzantium; and from that time dates:
a new variety of Saracenic architecture which had its origin in Constan-
tinople. On the capture of Constantinople, Santa Sophia was con-
verted by the conquerors into their chief mosque, and made their
architectural model. The older Saracenic style indeed continued to be
the basis of the new, but it was modified throughout by the Byzantine
influence. The dome became a more and more prominent feature;
ornamentation was applied with more economy, more grouped and
massed, more simplified and less diffused. But the old Eastern exu-
berance found vent in various ways, while the taste and energy which
served at once to direct and control it, became less and less apparent,
and the style steadily deteriorated, though as long as vitality lasted, it
exhibited gleams of a rich quaint fancy. The first mosque erected in
Constantinople was built by Mahomet II., the conqueror of the city;
and a large mosque is still shown as his; but very little remains of the
original fabric. More perfect is the great mosque erected about the
middle of the 16th century by Suleiman the Magnificent. Avowedly
an imitation of Santa Sophia, it is yet larger, richer, and to an archi-
tectural eye, superior in form, the dome especially being higher and
better proportioned. The great mosque, called At-Meidan, erected
by Achmet in the first half of the 17th century, is remarkable among
other things for its array of cupolas and its minarets. No less than
thirty small domes surround the outer court, each bay of the arcade
being surmounted by one. The mosque proper has a well-proportioned
great dome (80 feet in diameter), flanked by four smaller domes, while
(as will be seen from the cut in the article MosQUE), several other
small domes occur in different parts of the building. In this, as in the
other Constantinopolitan mosques, the columns which support the
horse-shoe arches of the arcades are fastened together by iron tie-rods.
The great dome of this mosque is borne on four immense piers, which
are faced with marble. The minarets are of very graceful form and
proportions. The various ornamental details are pure in character,
whilst they, as well as the general form of the building, show almost
entire freedom from Byzantine taste. But this was the last great
effort of Turkish architecture. European artificers soon after this
began to be employed, and European fashions to be imitated, and the
native style became proportionally debased.
a
SARACENS, a name improperly given by the Christian authors of
the middle ages to the Mohammedans who invaded France and settled
in Sicily. Concerning the etymology of this word there have been
various opinions. Du Cange (Glossarium,' v. Saraceni') derives it
from "Sarah," the wife of Abraham; Hottinger (Bib. Or.') from the
Arabic word saraca, which means "to steal, to plunder." Forster, in
his 'Journey from Bengal to England,' derives it from sahra,
desert." But the true derivation of the word is sharkeyn, which
means in Arabic "the Eastern people"-first corrupted into Saraceni
(Zapaкnvol) by the Greek, and thence into Saraceni by the Latin
writers. Stephanus Byzantinus says that "Saraka is a region of
Arabia, adjoining the Nabathæi, and the inhabitants are called
'Saraceni.' Ptolemy (vi. 7) makes Saraka a city of Arabia Felix.
The name Saraceni occurs in Pliny (vi. 28), and it seems that it began
to be used about the 1st century of our era, and was applied to the
Bedouin Arabs who inhabited the countries between the Euphrates
and the Tigris, and separated the Roman possessions in Asia from the
dominions of the Parthian kings. The description of the Saraceni by
5
:
着
​I
}
283
SARCOCELE.
Ammianus Marcellinus (xiv. c. 10) exactly corresponds with the habits
of the Bedouins. In course of time it became the generic name of all
the Arabian tribes who embraced the religion of Mohammed, and
spread their conquests over the greater portion of Asia and Africa.
SARCOCELE (from σáp, flesh, and rýλŋ, a tumour) is the name of a
disease by which the testicle becomes altered from its natural structure
and converted into a hard flesh-like substance. The term however is of
such general import, that there are few diseases of the testicle which
may not be included under it; accordingly the older writers called all
indurations and enlargements of this organ sarcoceles, whether they
were of a benign or of a malignant nature. In modern phraseology the
term is restricted to certain chronic enlargements and indurations of
the body of the testis, of a perfectly benignant character, but incon-
venient on account of their size and weight. These swellings may
continue for years without undergoing any visible change, or a sudden
increase in their bulk may arise, and the testicle be converted into a
painful, ulcerated, and incurable mass of disease. Sarcocele may be
distinguished from hydrocele, the disease which most nearly resembles
it, by its hardness, weight, and want of transparency; but occasionally
the two diseases are met with together, and this compound affection
is called hydrosarcocele. With respect to the treatment of sarcocele,
various and rather opposite remedies have at times proved successful.
When the enlargement is accompanied by pain or any degree of inflam-
mation, leeches, hot fomentations, and poultices applied externally,
with the administration of an emetic, and the adoption of a general
antiphlogistic regimen, would seem to be indicated. When the disease
When the disease
is altogether chronic, stimulating lotions, liniments, or ointments may
be applied to the swelling. In either case, the use of a suspensory
bandage, or bag truss for the support of the part should not be
neglected. If these means fail in arresting the progress of the disease,
extirpation of the gland must be had recourse to.
SARCOCOLLIN (C22H19010?). A gummy matter, extracted from
the sarcocolla of commerce, the dried juice of the Panea mucronata.
It possesses a peculiar but feeble odour, and a bitter-sweet taste. It is
sparingly soluble in water, but readily so in alcohol. Nitric acid trans-
forms it into oxalic acid.
SARCOMA is a morbid tumour whose tissue is fleshy and moderately
firm. Several species of sarcoma were described by Mr. Abernethy in
his Classification of Tumours,' such as the common vascular sar-
coma, the adipose or fatty kind, the pancreatic, the mammary, &c.
Some of these still retain the same names, but in general the term
sarcoma has no other meaning in surgical works than the indefinite
one already given, and includes all fleshy tumours that are not
cancerous, or medullary, or melanotic. [TUMOUR.]
SARCOPHAGUS, a word derived from the Greek signifying flesh-
cater, but used to designate any kind of coffin, especially large ones of
stone. This name was given from sarcophagi being originally made
of a kind of stone from Assos in Mysia, supposed to be alumens chisti,
or a kind of pumice stone, which was fabled to consume the entire
body, with the exception of the teeth, in the space of forty days.
(Pliny,' N. H.,' ii., 98, xxvi. 27.) The term was, however, applied at
the time of the Roman Empire to all kinds of stone coffins. (Juvenal,
x., 172; Dig., 34, tit. i., s. 18, s. 5; Orellius Inscript.,' Nos. 194,
4452, 54.) The earliest sarcophagi are the Egyptian, called in the
hieroglyphs teba, or chest, and found from the time of the pyramids
[PYRAMIDS] till the 1st century A.D. Those of the early dynasties
were sculptured in shape of a square chest, or edifice, and left plain
or else only ornamented with two leaves of the lotus. Those of the
18th and following dynasties were of different shapes, the most usual
being that of an Egyptian mummy swathed, dividing into two parts
lengthwise, the cover forined by the front, and the chest by the back
of the figure-the two fixing by mortices and grooves, holes for which
were cut in the stone. The coffins of this period were principally of
red granite, and ornamented with inscriptions or scenes relating to the
myth of Osiris, or the passage of the Sun through the lower hemi-
sphere, or regions of the night and darkness. The most remarkable of
this period are the arragonite or oriental alabaster sarcophagus of
Seti I., in the Soane Museum, and that of Rameses III., in the Louvre,
the cover of which is in the Fitzwilliam Museum at Cambridge. At
the period of the 26th dynasty, the sarcophagi were generally made
of basalt; although a coarse red granite, black or white marble was
The hieroglyphic legends of this age are often
occasionally used.
chapters extracted from the Ritual of the Dead. The last of the royal
sarcophagi is that of Nekhtherhebi, or Nectanebes I., in the British
Museum, made of a fine breccia, and sculptured with scenes of the
passage of the Sun. This was formerly at Alexandria, and supposed
upon very insufficient grounds by some to have been the tomb of
Alexander the Great. Recent discoveries have shown that the
Phoenician kings were buried in sarcophagi of basalt or alabaster, of a
mummied shape like the Egyptians, although different in treatment
and art. The most remarkable of these is that of Esmunazar, king of
Sidon, inscribed with a long Phoenician inscription, and supposed to be
of about B.C. 574. The Persian monarchs were also buried in sarco-
phagi, and one of those of the kings of Judah, a plain rectangular chest,
decorated with a simple floral ornament of vine branches, is in the
Museum of the Louvre. Rude sarcophagi were also used by the
Lycians and other Græco-barbaric people of Asia Minor.
In Asiatic and European Greece many sarcophagi have been found,
SAROS, NEROS, SOSOS.
28
but few, if any, earlier than the Roman Empire, and generally of the
1st and 2nd century A.D. These are of the same character as those
discovered in the Roman columbaria, consisting of rectangular chests
about 8 feet long, 3 feet high, and as many broad. The covers are
often in shape of a pent roof, or ornamented with figures of the
deceased in full relief. They are richly decorated with bas-reliefs, at
an earlier period, of many figures representing mythological subjects,
but at a later with festoons of flowers, fruit, and arabesques, witli
small figures. A still larger class than the Greek are the Etruscan,
none of which, from their style of art, seem older than the middle of
the 4th century B.C., and are made of peperino, alabaster, or terra-
cotta, generally having on their covers a full-length recumbent figure
of the deceased leaning on the elbow as if on a couch at a feast. The
chests are decorated with reliefs, representing Greek myths, treated in
the Etruscan manner, with the names of the persons represented in
the Etruscan language. Those found in the tombs of Volterra and
Chiusi are of arragonite or marble, of small dimensions, about 14 inches
long by 3 inches broad, and 1 foot 6 inches high, and are rather
cinerary urns, as they contain only the ashes of the dead. The Roman
sarcoplagi, at the time of the republic, appear to have been plain
architectonic chests, as shown by those of the Scipio family, but under
the empire they became more richly ornamented, like the Etruscan,
with recumbent figures on the cover and bas-reliefs of mythological
subjects, allusive to the life or death of the person buried, as Prome-
theus, Orestes, and Ganymede. These sarcophagi continued till the
6th and 7th century, when arabesques were introduced, and two
remarkable ones of the first period of Christian art are those of St.
Constantia and St. Helena of red porphyry, ornamented with bas-
reliefs, representing triumphs and processions, at present in the Vatican.
At a later period Christian sarcophagi are ornamented with subjects
taken from the Old and New Testament. Stone chests or sarcophagi
were also used for interment by the Gaulish tribes, and their use for
the sepulture of distinguished persons has been continued till the
present day.
(De Rougé, Monuments Egyptiens du Musée de Louvre, 8vo, Paris,
1855; Duc de Luynes, Le Sarcophage d'Esmunazar, 4to, Paris, 1856;
Micali, Storia d'Italia, Fir., 1832.)
SARCOSINE (C,H,NO,). An organic alkaloid, belonging to the
same class of bodies as urea and sugar of gelatine. It is procured by
adding hydrate of baryta to a boiling saturated solution of creatin.
On filtration a colourless liquid is obtained, containing caustic baryta
and sarcosine. Through this liquid a current of carbonic acid gas is
passed whilst it is gradually heated to boiling. The filtered liquid
becomes syrupy on evaporation, and finally deposits large crystalline
leaves of sarcosine, which is purified by conversion into sulphate,
agitation with alcohol, solution in water, and final treatment with
carbonate of baryta. The filtered liquid being then evaporated upon
the water-bath deposits crystals of pure sarcosine, which are colourless
and transparent, very soluble in water, slightly so in alcohol, and
insoluble in ether. They fuse at a temperature somewhat above 212°,
and volatilise without residue.
Sarcosine is isomeric with lactamide, urethane, and alanine. It does
not affect vegetable colours, but forms salts with acids. The sulphate
of sarcosine has the formula C,H,NO, SO,HO+aq., that of the
double platinum salt is C,H,NO, HCI, PIC1, + 2 aq. The solution of
the sulphate reacts strongly acid.
SARDONICUS RISUS, a convulsive affection of the muscles of the
face, in which the lips are drawn involuntarily apart, so as somewhat
to resemble the expression of the countenance in laughter. The name
is derived from a species of ranunculus that grows in Sardinia, called
Herba Sardonica, or Sardoa, which is said to produce this affection in
those who eat it.
Risus Sardonicus is observed as an effect of certain vegetable
poisons, such as the Ranunculus sceleratus of Linnæus, but is more
frequently met with as one of the symptoms of tetanus, or locked-jaw,
or as an attendant on other convulsive affections.
The term is employed figuratively to denote that forced laugh by
which persons sometimes endeavour to conceal their real feelings.
SAROS, NEROS, SOSOS. These names are from the fragments
left of Berosus, who says that the Chaldæans had three astronomical
periods so called, the saros of 3600 years, the neros of 600 years, and
the sosos of 60 years.
Of the two latter we know nothing more, and
as to the saros, the duration given by Berosus is either entirely wrong,
or else subsequent writers have taken another Chaldæan period, which
is neither of the three above, and applied the term saros to it. Geminus
(ch. 15) mentions that the Chaldæans 'had found a period of 669
months, or 19,756 days (so the text stands after an emendation by
Bouillaud). Ptolemy mentions the same period, and Pliny (lib. ii.,
c. 13) remarks relative to it, that eclipses return again after a period of
223 (the third of 669) months; but the text here again was corrupt,
until Halley ('Phil. Trans.,' No. 194) restored the true reading, which
was afterwards confirmed by manuscripts. To complete the mis-
fortunes of this period, Suidas has the word Saros, but it was omitted
from his Lexicon either by mistake or faultiness of manuscripts, until
Dr. Pearson restored, it (Exp. of the Creed,' 1683, fol. 59, according to
Weidler), and even then it gives 222 months instead of 223, which
was again corrected by Halley. In the time of Riccioli, Geminus and
Ptolemy were the authorities cited on this period, and the name Saros
i
295
284
SARSAPARILLA.
SATISFACTION.
was not applied to it. Many writers (Costard for example) confound
it with the Metonic period of 235 lunations, which is a totally different
thing others again, as Geminus, and even Riccioli, appear to consider
it as a period for the determination of the lunation or month; and
perhaps the assertion made by some others, that the Chaldæans were
in possession of the Metonic cycle, may be another confusion between
the latter and the saros.
ཟ་
Leaving the authorities on the subject, we know [MOON] that 223
average intervals between full moon and full moon make up very
nearly 242 nodical months, or passages of the moon from one node to
the same again. Now since the eclipses entirely depend upon the
manner in which the full and new moons take place relatively to the
node, it is obvious that if 223 lunations were exactly 242 nodical
months, and if the sun's and moon's orbits were truly circular, and
their motions uniform, all the eclipses of one set of 223 lunations
would be produced again precisely in the same order during the next
223; that is, if there were (say) an eclipse of the sun during the 47th
lunation, reckoning from a given full moon, there would necessarily be
another in the (47 + 223)rd, or the 270th lunation, and so on. -
All these suppositions are near enough to the truth to make this
sequence of eclipses very nearly take place. For since 223 lunations
make 241 029 sidereal months, 238 992 anomalistic months, and
238992
241.999 nodical months, it is obvious that at the end of a saros the
moon is in the same position with respect to the sun, nearly in the
same part of the heavens, nearly in the same part of her orbit, and
very nearly indeed at the same distance from her node as at the
beginning of the period. Now 223 lunations make 6585 32128 days,
or 6585 days, 7 hours, 42 minutes, and 38 seconds; or 18 years (of
365 days), 15 days, 7 hours, 40 minutes, and 38 seconds. Consequently
a saros of five leap years is 18 years, 10 days, and one of four leap
years is 18 years, 11 days, nearly. The Chaldæan period is 6585
days; and to avoid fractions they appear to have put together three
such periods, making 19,756 days, and 669 lunations. From what has
been said above, it might be inferred that the rotation of the moon's
node is made in nearly a saros; and in fact that revolution does take
18.6 years.
It is to be observed, however, that the end of each saros is not in
the same part of the day as the beginning, which is of consequence as to
the solar eclipses, though not so as to the lunar, and still more does
the inexactness of the period affect the former. For a saros contains
241-998659 mean nodical revolutions; so that if the moon be in her
node at the beginning of a saros, she will want 001341 of a revolution
of being in her node at the end of it. This is about 29', nearly the
moon's diameter, which makes it sometimes happen that a lunar
eclipse which takes place in a certain lunation of one saros does not
take place in the same lunation of the next, and very often causes the
same as to a solar eclipse. And the effect must be that at last the
eclipse of any lunation is destroyed, by the accumulation of these
errors of 29' each time. Nor do the circumstances of one saros pre-
cisely resemble those of another until a longer period of about 746
such periods has elapsed. But in the same manner that eclipses are
removed out of one lunation by the inexactness of the period, they are
carried into another. There are about 70 eclipses in each saros, 30
lunar and 40 solar.
The Metonic cycle of 235 lunations gives 255'021 nodical months,
which is not near enough to a whole number to produce anything like
a return of similar eclipses. But it is, as explained [Moon], near
enough to an exact number of years to restore the full moons to the
same days of the year, or the preceding or following days. The
Metonic cycle is a chronological period; that is, portions of time
measured from a given epoch, and each equal to 19 years, are used in
chronology. But the Saros is not a chronological period, but only a
portion of time with any arbitrary commencement. Hence the student
must not look in works on chronology for any information upon it.
(Riccioli, Alm. Nov.; Weidler, Hist. Astron.; Bouillaud, Astron.
Philol. Ferguson's Astronomy.)
sometimes 2 feet long, and from the thickness of an arm to half a foot
in diameter, irregularly bent, knotty, and with a light, soft, porous
wood. The bark also occurs detached from the wood in pieces two or
three inches long, from one and a half to two inches broad, sometimes
rolled outwards, but more generally curved inwards; of a dirty grey
or brownish colour externally, and a fungoid surface of a reddish
colour internally. The taste is sharp, acrid, aromatic, and, as well
as the odour, resembles fennel.
The chief constituents are: volatile oil, resin, and extractive. The
oil is the most active. It may be obtained by distillation. Ten pounds
of the root yield two and a half drachms. The specific gravity is
1094. It consists of two oils, separable by water, in which the one
floats and the other sinks. By time or a low temperature, it deposits
a stearopten, or crystals of sassafras camphor.
Sassafras acts as a stimulant to the circulation, especially of the
capillaries, causing an increased secretion from the skin, if the person
be kept warm, or from the kidneys, if cool. Should these organs fail
to be influenced by it, heat and general excitement, with headache, are
the results. It is of unquestionable utility in gout and rheumatism,
but its activity is generally destroyed by the improper mode of admi
nistering it. Decoction dissipates the volatile oil, and is a most objec-
tionable preparation. Infusion or a tincture may be used, or the
volatile oil rubbed up with sugar. Other species of Sassafras are used
in India and Java. Sassafras tea is sold in the streets of London under
the name of saloop.
SATELLITE (satelles, an attendant soldier or guard), a name given
to the smaller planets which accompany and revolve round the larger
ones. With this exception, that the rotation of a satellite round its
own axis is made in the same time as its orbital revolution round its
primary, in every case in which it has yet been fully made out that
there is a motion of rotation, there seems to be no circumstance which
can be pointed out in which the satellites have any distinctive pecu-
liarities. The earth has one satellite [MooN], JUPITER has four,
SATURN eight, URANUS six (according to William Herschel), though
the existence of four only has yet been established, and NEPTUNE
See also GRAVITATION, SOLAR SYSTEM, ASTRONOMY.
SATIN. [SILK.]
one.
*
کھے
SATIRE is properly a species of Roman poetry, and must not be
confounded with the Satyric drama of the Greeks. The Latin word
Satura or Satira appears to have originally signified a collection of
various things, and accordingly this name is applied to food composed
of various ingredients, and also to a law consisting of several distinct
particulars of a different nature. (Festus, s. v., Diomed. iii., p. 483, ed.
Putsch.) The Roman satire is first mentioned as a kind of dramatic
performance (Liv. vii., 2), and appears to have been, like the early
Atellana Fabulae, only a rude improvisatory farce, without dramatic
connection, but full of raillery and wit. This species of
This species of composition
arose from the practice, which has prevailed in Italy from the earliest
times to the present day, of the country people making rude extempore
verses in ridicule of one another at various festivals, and especially at
the time of the vintage. Such were the Fescennini verses, which
Macrobius tells us (Saturn.,' ii., 4) were sometimes written as satires
upon persons. The old dramatic Sature continued to be performed
on the Roman stage till a late period, under the name of Exodia, which
were laughable interludes in verse, and were performed between the
different Atellane plays.
The name of satire was afterwards limited to a species of poetry
peculiar to the Romans, in which Ennius is said to have been the first
writer.
The writer. The satires of Ennius appear to have been so called because
they were written on a variety of subjects, and in many different
metres; but as hardly any fragments have come down to us, we know
very little of the subjects of which they were composed. Lucilius
however was the first who constructed satire on those principles of art
which were considered in the time of Horace as essential requisites in
a satiric poem. Lucilius principally used the hexameter metre, which
was afterwards almost exclusively employed by the satiric poets. His
poems were not only satires upon the vices and follies of mankind in
general, but also contained attacks upon private individuals. They
formed the model on which Horace wrote his satires. His easy temper
and happy disposition, as well as the principles of the Epicurean
philosophy, led him to attack the foibles and follies of mankind in a
style of playful raillery, which forms a striking contrast, to the severe
invectives of Juvenal. The increased corruption of morals at Rome
under the early emperors, and the cruel punishments which had been
inflicted by Domitian upon the wise and the good, naturally led
Juvenal to attack the vices of his age with severity and vigour. The
works of the other Roman satirists are lost, with the exception of
Persius and a few verses on the banishment of the philosophers by
Domitian, which are ascribed to Sulpicia, who is supposed by some
writers to be a contemporary of Tibullus, and by others of Ausonius.
SARSAPARILLA. [SMILAX.]
SASSAFRAS, Medical properties of. The tree which yields this
substance is the Sassafras officinale (Nees) (Laurus Sassafras, Lin.); a
native of North America, occurring from Canada to Florida. It is
said to grow in Mexico, and Martius mentions it as a part of the
Materia Medica of Brazil; but it is probable that it was introduced
from Florida. Though Martius distinctly enumerates Laurus Sassa-
fras (Linn.) among the medicinal plants of Brazil (Spix and Martius's
Travels in Brazil,' English translation, London, 1824, vol. ii. p. 96);
yet recent writers state the Brazil sassafras to be the produce of
Nectandra cymbarum (Nees), the Ocotea amara of Martius. (Mart. in
Buchner's Report,' xxxv. 180.) This point is worthy of careful
determination, if Martius' statement be correct, that the bark of this
tree is an ingredient in the famous woorary poison. Sassafras nuts
are probably the produce of one or two species of Nectandra. The
bebeerine, an important anti-febrile medicine, is the bark of Nectandra
Rodici (Schomb.). It is a constituent, probably, along with quinia, of
Warburg's fever drops. The root is the officinal part in the London
Pharmacopoeia; but the whole plant possesses the aromatic odour
common to the Laurinece, and some assert that the bark of the stem
and branches is stronger than that of the root; but this seems to be
The root, invested with the bark, comes to Europe in pieces

an error.
SATISFACTION (in Law), is said to exist where a party, having
a right of action, accepts from the party against whom he has it, a
certain and valuable thing, or the performance of a certain and bene-
ficial act, in lieu of his right of action.
ficial act, in lieu of his right of action. If the action is afterwards
brought, the satisfaction may be pleaded in bar of it. Satisfaction may
exist as to actions in which damages are recoverable, and as to some
others; but it cannot operate so as to dispense with the performance of
a covenant under a deed, as a deed can only be made void by an
2287
A
•
↑
SATRAP.
instrument of the same nature. Where, however, a right of action
upon the deed has vested, as in the case of a breach of covenant to
repair, to pay rent, &c., there may be satisfaction. The satisfaction, to
ibe valid, must have been accepted by the party who has the right, and
must have proceeded from the party who is liable.
Nothing which is paid or done to a third party, or proceeds from him,
can operate as a satisfaction. It must also be certain, that is, definite
as to time, &c., and available; thus where the satisfaction is by mutual
agreement, it must be such an agreement as an action may be main-
tained upon.
It must be valuable by which it is understood not only
that there can be no satisfaction consequent of a thing which has no
value, as, for instance, a rush; but also that the value must be at least
not obviously inferior in amount to that for which it is given, such as
a payment of a less sum of money at the same or a subsequent day as
that on which a greater is due. Although if there are advantageous
circumstances attendant on the payment of a less sum, this may
· operate as satisfaction. But the giving of a horse or a statue may be
: a satisfaction of a claim for a sum of money, if accepted as such,
though the horse or statue be in reality of less value than the money.
A negociable instrument may operate as a satisfaction of a debt; and
if the party who accepts it, by his own negligence fail to recover upon
it, the debtor will nevertheless continue discharged. The performance
: must be actually executed; a mere endeavour, or a readiness to per-
form, such as a tender of money, or a part performance, cannot operate
as a satisfaction. It must be beneficial; thus where one has made a
tforcible entry on the lands of another, it is not a satisfaction for the
wrongful entry to permit that other to re-enter. In an action for
#trespass and taking cattle, a mere re-delivery of the cattle is not a
satisfaction, though their conveyance to another place, and redelivery
there, may be so. The benefit also must be one partaking in some
shape of a pecuniary character. It must either be money, or capable
of being measured by money. Thus a submission before certain
persons made in pursuance of the order of a court-martial, or an
acknowledgement of the injury and prayer for forgiveness kneeling,
though a satisfaction in honour, is not such satisfaction as to deprive
the party of his right to damages. Satisfaction to one of several
plaintiffs is a bar to all: and satisfaction by one joint wrongdoer dis-
<charges the others. (Com., ' Dig.,' tit. 'Accord.')
I
SATRAP (σαтрánns) was the name given to the governor of a pro-
- vince of the Persian empire. He was appointed by the king, and was
: responsible alone to him. Such a system of government has always
existed in the large Asiatic empires; but the advantage which the
Persian system had over many others of a similar kind, was the careful
separation made between the civil and military powers. The governors
of the garrisons and the commanders of the troops were independent
of the satraps, and responsible only to the king. The duties of the
satraps are briefly defined by Xenophon to consist in governing the
inhabitants, receiving the tributes, paying the garrisons, and attending
to whatever else is necessary. (Cyrop.,' viii. 6, § 1-3.) In the later
times of the Persian empire, it became the custom to appoint the
satraps to the command of the troops also, especially if they were
members of the royal family. In this manner the younger Cyrus was
appointed satrap of one of the western provinces of Asia Minor, and at
the same time general of all the forces which assembled in the plain of
Castolus. (Xeň., ‘Anab.,' i. 1, § 2.) The practice of uniting the civil
and military powers in one person, and the greatness of the command
entrusted in some cases, was also dangerous to the royal power. An
iinstance of this kind occurs as early as the time of the first Darius, in
tthe case of Oroetes, who was governor of Phrygia, Lydia, and Ionia,
and was so powerful that Darius dared not proceed openly against
him. (Herod., iii. 127.) Subsequently this practice became still more
frequent; Cyrus had the command of the greater part of the western
Tovinces of Asia Minor; and after his death, Tissaphernes was allowed
hold them in addition to his own. From this period we frequently
read of revolts of the satraps, and many of them became quite inde-
pende ut of the king of Persia. (Heeren's Asiatic Nations,' vol. i.)
P
to
SA1 'URATION, a term applied in chemistry to denote two widely
different phenomena: namely, first to the solution of the greatest
possible quantity of any substance in a liquid medium; and, secondly,
to the neut.alisation of a base by an acid or of an acid by a base.
When common salt, and indeed most other saline and many vegetable
bodies, are added to water until it ceases to dissolve them, the solution
so obtained is termed a saturated solution of the substance dissolved.
Saturation of this kind may exist with regard to one body and not
to another: thus water saturated with common salt will still dissolve
sulphate of soda, and vice versa; so also a saturated solution of com-
mon salt will dissolve sugar. The saturating power of bodies is in
many cases greatly influenced by heat, while in others variations of
temperature produce but little effect: thus cold water will take up
nearly as much common salt as hot water; but sulphate of soda is
more soluble in hot water than in cold, and hence it is that a
saturated hot solution of this and many other salts deposits crystals on
cooling. Cold water, on the contrary, dissolves more lime than hot,
and a saturated solution prepared with water at about 32° holds nearly
twice as much lime in solution as one prepared at 212°, and when the
cold prepared solution is heated lime is deposited. This, however, is
a case of much rarer occurrence than the contrary one.
As instances of the second kind of saturation, the following may be
SATURN.
288
adduced :—If to a solution of carbonate of potash any strong acid,
such as the sulphuric, be added until effervescence ceases, the potash is
said to be saturated. In like manner, if a solution of caustic soda be
added to nitric acid until the latter be exactly neutralised, the acid
is said to be saturated. In these cases the point of saturation is
determined by the use of papers stained with different vegetable
colours; if, for example, too much carbonate of potash should have
been added to the nitric acid to saturate it, its presence will be
indicated by turning paper coloured yellow with turmeric, brown;
while, on the other hand, excess of acids is in general ascertained
by paper stained blue with litmus, which is rendered red by the action
of acids.
By these means a very important process in the manufacture of soap
and glass is conducted; it is termed alkalimetry, and employed for
ascertaining the strength of different samples of the carbonates of
potash and soda, so largely used in glass- and soap-making. Sulphuric
acid diluted to a known extent is added to the alkaline solutions, and
when they affect neither blue nor yellow paper, the saturation is
perfect, and the purity and strength of the alkalies are determined.
[ALKALIMETRY.]
SATURDAY. [WEEK.]
SATURN. The name of one of the old planets, the largest of all
the bodies of the solar system, except the Sun and Jupiter. It is
encompassed by three rings, unconnected with the planet, but revolv-
ing around it. It is also accompanied by eight satellites.
The apparent semi-diameter of Saturn, at the mean distance of the
planet from the earth, is about 16" 4. The real diameter, that of the
earth being represented by unity, is about 79,000 miles. The mean
density is about 0.55 of that of the Sun, or th of that of the Earth,
and the mass of the planet is about, the Sun's mass being repre-
sented by unity. It revolves on its axis in 10 hours, 29 minutes; its
equator is inclined to the ecliptic at an angle of 31° 19'. Its light and
heat are to the light and heat received by the earth as 11 to 1000. The
following are the elements of its orbit :-
Epoch 1801, January 1, 12th hour, mean astronomical time at.
Greenwich. Semi-axis major, 9.5387861, that of the Earth being
represented by unity.
Excentricity, 0561505; its secular diminution (diminution in 100
years) 000,312,402.
Inclination of the orbit to the ecliptic, 2° 29′ 35″-7; its secular dimi-
nution, 15":5.
Longitudes from the mean equinox of the epoch: (1) of the ascend-
ing node, 111° 56' 37"-4; its secular increase (combined with the pre-
cession), 3070"; (2). of the perihelion, 89° 9' 29"-8; its secular increase
(combined with the precession) 6950"; (3) of the planet (mean), 135°
20' 6" 5.
Mean sidereal revolution in 365 days, 43996" 13; sidereal revolu-
tion, 10759-2198174 mean solar days.
The discovery of the ellipticity of Saturn is due to Sir William
Herschel, who concluded, from his observations, that the polar is to
the equatorial diameter as 10 to 11. On a subsequent occasion he
was led to suspect an irregularity in the figure of the planet, but the
researches of Bessel, and also those of Mr. Main,* late first assistant at
the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, have proved beyond all doubt that
the form of the planet is strictly spheroidal.
When viewed in the telescope the planet Saturn appears to be
diversified with belts extending across his disc in a direction parallel
to his equator. It was by watching the changes in the appearance of
these belts, that Sir William Herschel succeeded in discovering the
motion of the planet on his axis, and in determining the time of a
complete rotation.
The satellite of Saturn which was first perceived is the sixth in the
order of distance from the primary. Its discovery was effected by
Huyghens in 1655. Four other satellites were subsequently discovered
by Cassini in the same century. These five satellites were named the
first, second, third, fourth, and fifth, reckoning according to their
distance from the primary. In 1789, two additional satellites were
discovered by Sir William Herschel. Both of these satellites were
found to revolve within the orbit of the first of the five satellites pre-
viously discovered. They ought therefore in accordance with the
prevailing nomenclature, to be designated as the first and second
satellites, but this would have rendered a revision of the names of the
earlier satellites indispensable. The Herschelian satellites however
were usually styled the sixth and seventh, reckoning inward in the
order of distance from the primary. To remedy the imperfection
which thus arose from confounding the order of discovery with the
order of distance, Sir John Herschel has recently proposed to apply to
the satellites the names of the Titanian divinities,-Japetus, Titan,
Rhea, Dione, Tethys, Enceladus, Mimas, commencing with the most
distant satellite. This nomenclature has been generally adopted by
astronomers.
On the 19th of September, 1848, an eighth satellite of Saturn was
discovered by Mr. Bond, at the Observatory of Harvard College, Cam-
bridge, U. S.; and also independently, on the same evening, by Mr.
Lassell at his Observatory near Liverpool. In conformity with Sir
John Herschel's nomenclature it has been called Hyperion. It ranks
Now director of the Radcliffe Observatory, Oxford.
289
200
SATURN.
SATURN.
Name of Satellite.
Mimas
Enceladus
Tethys
Dione.
Rhea
•
Order of
Distance
from the Planet
reckoning
outward.
123456
Period.
Mean Distance from
the Planet in terms
of the Planet's
Radius.
Date of Discovery.
Discoverer.
W. Herschel.
W. Herschel.
d. h. m. s.
0 22 37 22.9
3.3607
1.8 53 6.7
4.3125
1789
1789
1 21 18 25.7
5.3396
1684
Cassini.
2 17 41 8.9
6.8398
1684
Cassini.
4 12 25 10.8
9.5528
1672
Cassini.
7
15 22 41 25.2
22 12?
22.1450
8
28 +
64.3590
1655
1848
1671
Huyghens.
Bond and
Lassell.
Cassini.
the seventh in the order of distance from the central body. The although one of its sides may then be illuminated by the sun, it is
following table will be found useful :-
only the edge which is turned towards the observer. Besides these
two causes of disappearance, which are of a transient nature, and
render the ring invisible only for a few days at most, there is a third
cause, which generally continues in operation during a longer period
of time, and produces a more lasting effect. When the planet is so
situated that the plane of the ring passes between the earth and the
sun, the unenlightened side of the ring is then turned towards the
earth, and consequently during the whole time that the planet is in
this position (which frequently extends to several months) the ring
will be invisible. The same theory affords an equally satisfactory
account of the different phases assumed by the appendages of the
planet during the period of its visibility. It is manifest that when
the plane of the ring passes through the sun, and when consequently
the ring ceases to be visible, the planet, if viewed from the sun, would
appear in the node of the ring. When the planet revolves from this
position, the sun commences to ascend above the plane of the ring, and
the latter in consequence becomes visible in the form of a very elon-
gated ellipse, gradually opening out in breadth. The ellipse continues
to approach towards a circular form until the planet has reached a
distance of 90° from the node of the ring, when the elevation of the
sun above the plane of the ring has attained its maximum. The ring
henceforth begins to contract, and the same succession of appearances
in a reverse order will obviously ensue as the planet revolves towards
the opposite node, where the ring again will cease to be visible. The
ring will therefore complete the cycle of its phases in a period equal to
half a revolution of the planet, or in about fifteen years. The appear-
ances will not be materially different whether the ring be viewed from
the earth or the sun, except during the time that the planet is in the
vicinity of either of the nodes of the ring. At such a juncture, the
combined motions of the earth and the planet may cause the plane of
the ring to pass more than once through the earth, and the ring may
in consequence disappear and reappear twice before its plane has
entirely swept over the terrestrial orbit.

Titan
Hyperion.
Japetus
79 7 53 40.4
The periods and mean distances inserted in the foregoing table have
been taken from Sir John Herschel's 'Outlines of Astronomy.' The
period and mean distance of Hyperion have not yet been determined
with sufficient precision.
The light of Japetus has been found to be subject to a variation
depending on the position of the satellite in its orbit. From this
circumstance it has been inferred, with a strong degree of probability,
that the satellite effects a complete rotation on its axis in the same
time as that in which it revolves around its primary, as in the case of
the moon revolving around the earth. By far the most considerable
of the satellites is Titan, which Sir John Herschel considers may be
equal in magnitude to the planet Mars.
Huyghens was originally under the impression that the plane of the
ring is parallel to the equator, and he consequently supposed its inclina-
tion to the ecliptic to be 23° 30'. On a subsequent occasion, however,
he determined the inclination by actual measurement in conjunction
with Picard and he found it to amount to 31°. Huyghens also fixed
the ascending node of the ring in 170° 30' of longitude. Several suc-
ceeding astronomers determined the elements of the ring. The most
recent as well as the most complete investigation of the subject is duc
to Bessel. The conclusion at which he arrived was that in the begin-
ning of the year 1800 the longitude of the ascending node of the
ring was 166° 53′ 8"-9 and that the inclination of its plane to the
ecliptic was 28° 10' 44"-7. He also found that the node of the ring
retreats upon the plane of the ecliptic at the rate of 46" 462
annually.
The appearance which Saturn presented to Galileo, when he first
turned his telescope on the planet, was utterly inexplicable. The
illustrious philosopher remarked, that the planet seemed to consist not
of one but of three bodies, which almost touched each other and
always maintained the same relative position. The three bodies were
arranged in the same straight line, the largest body being in the centre,
and the two others on the east and west sides of it. Pursuing his
observations he found that the two lateral bodies continued gradually
to diminish, until at length, after the lapse of about two years, they
entirely vanished, leaving the planet quite round. He now felt much
alarmed, lest those who derided his discoveries as optical illusions
having no real existence, should adduce this mysterious transformation
of the planet in support of their views. Writing to Welser on Decem-
ber 4, 1612, he says, "What is to be said concerning so strange a
metamorphosis? Are the two lesser stars consumed after the manner In 1675 Cassini found that the ring around Saturn consists in
of the solar spots? Have they vanished and suddenly fled? Has reality of two distinct rings separated from each other by a dark
Saturn perhaps devoured his own children? Or were the appearances interval.
appearances interval. This interesting fact was subsequently established beyond
indeed illusion or fraud, with which the glasses have so long deceived doubt by Sir William Herschel. The following are the dimensions of
me, as well as many others to whom I have showed them? Now, the planet and the two rings as assigned by M. Struve:—
perhaps, is the time come to revive the well nigh withered hopes of
those who, guided by more profound contemplations, have discovered
the fallacy of the new observations, and demonstrated the utter im-
possibility of their existence. I do not know what to
I do not know what to say in a case so
surprising, so unlooked-for, and so novel. The shortness of the time,
the unexpected nature of the event, the weakness of my understanding,
and the fear of being mistaken, have greatly confounded me."
It was reserved for Huyghens to ascertain the real nature of the
appendage with which Saturn is furnished. He originally announced
his discovery in the form of an enigma, in a pamphlet entitled 'De
Saturni Luna Observatio Nova,' published in 1656. The logogriphe
ran thus:-
700 440 4
d
ССССС
0000
eeeee g h iiiiiii 1111 m m nnnnnnnnn
Pp q r s tttt uuuuu,
In 1659 he published a work entitled 'Systema Saturnium,' in
which he reveals the real nature of his discovery, and gives a detailed
explanation of the various circumstances connected with it. Restoring
the letters of the logogriphe to their original places, they now stood
thus:-
Annulo cingitur tenui plano, nusquam cohærente, ad eclipticam inclinato ;
or, as thus translated :-
The planet is encompassed by a slender flat ring, everywhere uncon
nected with its surface, and inclined to the ecliptic.
Nothing can be more convincing or beautiful than the explanation
which this theory affords of the various phenomena presented by the
planet. When the position of the planet in its orbit is such that the
plane of the ring passes through the sun, the edge only of the ring
is exposed to the solar rays, and the extent of the illuminated surface
being very small, it is incapable of producing a sensible impression on
the visual organ. In this position, then, the ring is invisible, and the
planet presents a round appearance like the sun or the full moon. The
ring also disappears when its plane passes through the earth; for
ARTS AND SCI. DIV. VOL. VII.
Exterior diameter of the exterior ring
Inner diameter of the exterior ring
Exterior diameter of the interior ring
Interior diameter of the interior ring
Equatorial diameter of Saturn
Breadth of the exterior ring
10" 095
35"-289
•
84" 475
Breadth of the division between the rings
Breadth of the interior ring
Distance of the interior ring from the ball
Equatorial radius of Saturn
•
26"-668
17"-991
•
2" 403
0"-408
3":903
4" 339
S"+995
These measures are supposed to refer to the mean distance of tho
planet from the sun. At such a distance an object which would sub-
tend an angle of only 1" would measure 4387 miles. This would give
78,927 miles for the diameter of the planet. The absolute dimensions
of the rings will of course bear a similar proportion to their respective
angular measures. Thus, it will be found that the diameter of the
exterior ring amounts to 175,928 miles.
The thickness of the rings around Saturn would seem to be very
inconsiderable. This is plainly indicated by the circumstance that
when the edge of the ring is turned towards the observer, it is
generally found to be invisible, even when the most powerful tele-
scopes are directed towards it. From certain lucid protuberances
which Sir William Herschel remarked upon the ring, he was led to
suspect that it had a rotary motion around the planet. A closer
scrutiny of the phenomenon confirmed this impression, and he finally
concluded that the ring effects a complete rotation around the planet in
a period of 10h. 32m. 15s'4.
On the 15th of November, 1850, Mr. Bond, Director of Harvard
College Observatory, Cambridge, U.S., discovered a third ring around
Saturn, situated between the interior of the two rings already dis-
covered, and the body of the planet. The same phenomenon was
discovered by Mr. Dawes on the 19th of the same month, and, of
course, before intelligence of Mr. Bond's discovery had reached Eng-
land. The new ring is much fainter than either of the two exterior
U
2
291
SATURNALIA.
rings. Its breadth is equal to about two-fifths of the interval between
the interior bright ring and the planet.
SAVINGS BANKS.
C
CC
202
no
giving to servants and slaves a complete holiday. They were on this
occasion allowed to appear in the dress of free citizens (Dion Cass., lx.,
It turned out, soon after the discovery of the faint ring by Bond and p. 779), were waited upon at their feasts by their masters, were free
Dawes, that the phenomenon had been also seen by Dr. Galle at the from every kind of service, and enjoyed the most perfect freedom of
Berlin Observatory in the year 1838; but its exact nature was not speech. Even criminals were sometimes restored to freedom, and then
made out, and consequently, the circumstance did not receive any dedicated their chains to Saturnus. The whole season was one of
further attention. It would seem, indeed, that Hadley observed the universal rejoicing for all the people of Rome, and the city resounded
faint ring as early as the year 1723. In the course of his observations with the shouts, "Io, Saturnalia! Io, bona Saturnalia!" Everybody
of the planet in that year, he remarked that the dusky line which in ate and drank plentifully, and invited or visited his friends and
1720 he observed to accompany the inner edge of the ring across the relations. It was also customary for persons to make presents to one
disc, continued close to the same, though the breadth of the ellipse another on this occasion (Senec., Epist.,' 18; Sueton., Aug.,' 75), and
had considerably increased since that time ( Phil. Trans.,' 1723, No. clients presented their patrons with wax-candles. (Macrob., 'Sat.,' i.
378). He asserts, moreover, in reference to the hypothesis of the belt 7; Varro, De Ling. Lat.,' iv., p. 19, Bipont.) Children generally
|
being produced by the shadow of the ring upon the planet, that when received little figures, which were called oscilla, or sigilla, from which
he considered the situation of the sun, with respect to the ring and the the last day of the Saturnalia derived the name sigillaria." During
planet, he found that the belt could not arise from such a cause. this festival all business, private as well as public, was suspended;
From an examination of the recorded measures of the rings of the war was commenced, no battle was fought, and no punishment was
planet, extending from the time of Huyghens down to the present day, inflicted on offenders. (Macrob., Sat.,' i. 10.) The persons who offered
M. Otto Struve was induced to conclude that the rings are gradually sacrifices to Saturn had their heads uncovered.
approaching the body of the planet. Mr. Main, however, who recently
subjected to a thorough discussion his own measures of the Saturnian
system, has discovered no trace of the existence of such a movement.
The question with respect to the physical constitution of Saturn's
rings, and the mechanical conditions which assure their stability, has
naturally given rise to much speculation. Laplace, who investigated
the question of stability, concluded that in order to prevent the rings
from being precipitated on the body of the planet they must be
irregular in their contour. Several succeeding astronomers and mathe-
maticians have considered the same subject. The most complete
investigation of it is due to Professor Clerk Maxwell; he concludes
that the only system of rings which can exist mechanically is one com-
posed of an indefinite number of unconnected particles, revolving round
the planet with different velocities according to their respective
distances. These particles may be arranged in series of narrow rings,
or they may move through each other irregularly. In the first case
the destruction of the system will be very slow; in the second case it
will be more rapid; but there may be a tendency towards an arrange-
ment in narrow rings, which may retard the process.
We shall conclude this article with referring to an admirable
delineation of Saturn and his rings by Mr. De la Rue, founded on his
own observations with his 13-inch reflector. Several valuable measures
of the Saturnian system by Mr. Main, Mr. De la Rue, Mr. Dawes, and
other observers, will be found in the recent volumes of the Memoirs
and Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. In the 28th
volume of the Memoirs the reader will find an elaborate investigation
of the orbits of the Satellites (except those of Mimas and Hyperion) by
Captain Jacob.
SATURNAʼLIA, a festival celebrated by the Romans in honour of
the god Saturnus. [KRONOS.] According to some traditions, it had
been celebrated by the aborigines long before the building of the city,
and was instituted by the fabulous king Janus, after the disappearance
of Saturnus from the earth. Others said that it was instituted by the
Pelasgians, or by the followers of Hercules, who had been left behind
in Italy. (Macrob., 'Sat.,' i. 7.) A second set of traditions referred
the institution of the Saturnalia to a much later period; one of them
ascribed it to King Tullus Hostilius, who, after a successful war against
the Albans and Sabines, was said to have founded the temple and
established the festival of Saturnus at Rome. (Macrob., Sat.,' i. 8.)
Another tradition, adopted by Livy (ii. 21) and Dionysius (vi., ab
init.), which refers it to a still later time, ascribed the institution of
the Saturnalia to the consuls A. Sempronius and M. Minucius (497 B.C.).
The apparent incongruity of this and some other accounts may easily
be removed: those who trace the Saturnalia to a period antecedent to
the building of the city, can only mean that the worship of Saturnus
was very ancient in Italy, while those who assign a later date to the
institution must be understood to refer to the introduction of the
worship into the city of Rome; and although festivals in honour of
Saturnus may have been celebrated at his altar in the Roman Forum
previous to 497 B.C., yet the regular and periodical celebration of the
Saturnalia may not have been established before this time, when a
temple was dedicated to the god in the clivus leading from the Forum
to the Capitol. After this time the Saturnalia were celebrated regu-
larly every year, on the 19th of December, the whole of which month
was sacred to Saturnus; but after J. Caesar had added two days to this
month the celebration began on the 17th (Macrob., 'Sat.,' i. 10), and
the people, being fond of such merry-makings, continued the festivities
until the 19th, and even longer. Augustus at last sanctioned the
celebration of the Saturnalia during three days, and Caligula and
Claudius increased the number to five days. (Macrob., Sat.,' i. 10;
Sueton., Calig.,' 17; Dion Cass., lix., p. 739.)
The Saturnalia was a harvest festival, and was held, as we have seen,
at a time when all agricultural labours were over; and as at such a
season every husbandman would naturally give himself and his servants
a holiday, and offer his prayers to the god whose especial protection he
solicited, so the Saturnalia were national festivals instituted with the
same object. It was generally believed that during the golden age of
the reign of Saturnus there were no slaves, and the Saturnalia were
ntended to restore that happy state of things for a short time, by
The Greek writers, when speaking of the Roman Saturnalia, gene-
rally call the feast "Kronia," as they considered the two festivals, as
well as the deities in whose honour they were held, Saturnus and
Kronos, as identical. (Comp. Buttmann, 'Mythologus,' ii., p. 52, &c. ;
Hartung. 'Die Religion der Römer,' ii., p. 124, &c.)
SATURNUS. [CHRONOS.]
SATYR (Satyrus, Zárupos) is the name by which the ancients desig-
nated a class of rustic deities, or Dionysii. Like the Panes and Fauni,
they were a kind of intermediate beings between men and animals, and
the features which they had in common with the latter were chiefly
derived from goats. They were by some said to be the sons of
Hermes and Ipthima. They seem originally to have been a sort of
rustic or sylvan gods, who were worshipped in some parts of Pelopon-
nesus. In the earlier works of ancient art they are represented with
rather long and pointed ears, bald-headed, and with little protuberances
like horns behind their ears. Sometimes their figure approached still
nearer to the animal form, as they were represented with goats' feet
and horns. During the best period of Grecian art the human form is
entire, and the animal character is expressed by a little tail at the
lower part of the back, and by a considerable degree of sensuality in
the features and attitudes. They carry the thyrsus, shepherd's staff,
or syrinx, wine-cups, &c., and are clad in the skins of animals, with
wreaths of ivy, &c. Satyrs of a more graceful_form are seen playing
the flute, or, like Ampulus, as cup-bearers to Dionysos. Often, how-
ever, especially in later Greek and Græco-Roman art, they are of a
lascivious character. Satyrs were the constant companions of Diony-
sos, and in the Dionysiac processions they always appear dancing, with
cymbals or flutes in their hands. In the Greek drama the chorus at
the Dionysia originally assumed the character of satellites of Dionysos,
-that is, of satyrs,-and it is expressly stated that Arion not only
invented the tragic dithyramb, but introduced satyrs, whence, accord-
ing to some accounts, the name tragedy, or goats' song, arose. But the
chorus of the Attic tragedy, in the course of time, gradually lost its
satyric character, and a distinct satyric drama was developed, which
is described by the ancients as a playful tragedy. The complete sepa-
ration of this satyric drama from tragedy is ascribed to Pratinas of
Phlius.
(Müller, Archäolog. der Kunst, § 385; H. C. A. Eichstädt, De Dramate
Græcorum Comico-Satyrico, Lips., 1793; and, above all, Casaubon, De
Satyrica Graecorum Poesi et Romanorum Satira.)
SAVANNA. [PLAINS.]
SAVINGS BANKS are institutions of modern invention, established
in this country to encourage habits of prudence on the part of the
poorer classes, who were previously without any places where they
could safely and profitably deposit the small sums which they might
be able to set aside from their earnings.
The origin of savings banks has been attributed to the Rev. Joseph
Smith of Wendover, who, in the year 1799, circulated proposals, in
conjunction with two of his parishioners, in which they offered to
receive from any inhabitant of the parish any sum from twopence
upwards every Sunday evening during the summer months, to keep
an exact account of the money deposited, and to repay at Christmas
to each individual the amount of his deposit, with the addition of one-
third to the sum as a bounty upon his or her economy.
The deposi-
tors were at liberty to demand and receive back the amount of their
savings, without this bounty, at any time before Christmas that they
might stand in need of their money.
The next institution of this kind that was established, of which we have
any account, was founded at Tottenham in Middlesex, by Mrs. Priscilla
Wakefield. This, which was called the Charitable Bank, bore a nearer
resemblance to the savings banks of the present day than the
Wendover plan. The Tottenham bank was opened in 1804. At first
the accounts were kept by Mrs. Wakefield, who was assisted in other
respects by six gentlemen acting as trustees, who undertook each to
receive an equal part of the sums deposited, and to allow five per cent.
interest on the same to such depositors of 20 shillings and upwards as
should leave their money for at least a year in their hands. In
proportion as the amount of the deposits increased, additional trustees
were chosen, so as to diminish the loss, which might otherwise havo
293
294
SAVINGS BANKS.
SAVINGS BANKS.
been considerable, owing to the high rate of interest that was allowed.
In 1808 a society was formed at Bath, managed by eight individuals,
four of whom were ladies, who received the savings of domestic
servants, and allowed interest upon the same at the rate of four per
cent.
The Parish Bank Friendly Society of Ruthwell was formed in 1810
by the Rev. Henry Duncan, who published an account of his institution
with the hope of promoting similar establishments elsewhere. This
was the first savings bank, regularly and minutely organised, which
was brought before the public, and it is doubtless owing to the suc-
cessful example thus set, that previous to 1817 there were seventy sav-
ings banks established in England, four in Wales, and four in Ireland.
In the year just mentioned legislative provisions were first made for
the management of these institutions. Acts were passed (57 Geo. III.
c. 105 and 130) for encouraging the establishments of banks for
savings in Ireland and England respectively. Under these Acts, the
trustees and managers, who were prohibited from receiving any
personal profit or advantage from the institutions with which they
should be connected, were required to enrol the rules of their insti-
tutions at the sessions. A fund was established in the office for the
reduction of the national debt in London, entitled, "The Fund for the
Banks for Savings," and to this fund the trustees were bound to
transmit the amount of all deposits that might be made with them
when the sum amounted to 50l. or more. For the amount so invested
the trustees received a debenture, carrying interest at the rate of
three-pence per centum per diem, or 41. 11s. 3d. per centum per
annum, payable half-yearly. The rate of interest then usually
allowed to depositors was four per cent. In Ireland the depositors
were restricted to the investment of 507. in each year, and in England
the same restriction was imposed, with a relaxation in favour of the
first year of a person's depositing, when 100%. might be received. No
further restriction was at this time thought necessary as to the amount
invested, neither was the depositor prevented from investing simul-
taneously in as many different savings banks as he might think proper.
This circumstance was found liable to abuse, and an Act was passed in
1824, which restricted the deposits to 50l. in the first year of the
account being opened, and 30%. in each subsequent year, and when the
whole should amount to 2007. exclusive of interest, no further interest
was to be allowed. Subscribers to one savings bank were likewise
not allowed to make deposits in any other.
In 1828 a further Act was passed, entitled "An Act to consolidate
and amend the laws relating to Savings' Banks," and it is under the
provisions of this Act (9 Geo. IV. c. 92) that all savings banks are at
present conducted. It is provided herein, "that the rules of every
savings bank shall be signed by two trustees, and submitted to a
barrister appointed by the commissioners for the reduction of the
national debt, for the purpose of ascertaining whether the same are in
conformity to law, and that the said barrister shall give a certificate
thereof, which, together with the rules signed by the trustees, shall be
laid before the justices for the county, riding, division, or place at the
general or quarter sessions; and it shall be lawful for such justices to
roject and disapprove of any part or parts thereof, or to allow and confirm
the said rules or such parts as shall be conformable to the act." The
rules and regulations thus made and confirmed were to be deposited
with the clerk of the peace for the county or division, and are then
declared to be binding on the officers and the depositors of the institution.
The money deposited in savings banks must be invested in the Bank
of England, or of Ireland, in the names of the commissioners for the
reduction of the national debt. The receipts given to the trustees of
savings banks for money thus invested bore interest at the rate of 2
per cent. per diem, or 31. 16s. Od. per cent. per annum, while the
interest paid to depositors was not in any case to exceed 24 per cent
per diem. or 31. 8s. 54d. per cent. per annum, the difference being
retained by the trustees to defray the expenses of the bank. The
trustees were not allowed to receive deposits from any individuals
whose previous deposits have amounted to 150%., and when the balance
due to any one depositor amounts with interest to 2007., no further
interest is to be allowed. Friendly societies and charitable institutions
were allowed to invest sums not exceeding 3001.
By another Act (3 William IV. c. 14) the industrious classes were
encouraged to purchase annuities, to commence at any deferred period
which the purchaser may choose, the purchase-money being paid either
in one sum at the time of agreement, or by weekly, monthly, quarterly,
or yearly instalments, as the purchaser may determine. The transac-
tions under this act were to be carried on through the medium of
savings banks, or by societies established for the purpose, and of which
the rector or other minister of the parish, or a resident justice of the
peace, shall be one of the trustees.
The 5 & 6 Wm. IV. c. 57, passed in September, 1835, extended the
provisions of the 9 Geo. IV. c. 92, and of 3 Wm. IV. c. 14, to savings
banks in Scotland, and enabled existing banks to conform to the said
acts by preparing and depositing their rules pursuant to these acts.
Military or Regimental Savings Banks were established by warrant
dated October 11, 1843.
On the 9th of August, 1844, the royal assent was given to an act
(7 & 8 Vict. c. 83) entitled "An Act to amend the Laws relating to
Savings Banks, and to the Purchase of Government Annuities through
the medium of Savings Banks."
The first clause of this Act reduces, from and after the 20th of
November, 1844, the interest of all moneys invested by the trustees of
savings banks in the national funds, to the rate of 31. 5s. per cent. ;
and s. 2 declares that the maximum of interest to be allowed to
depositors shall not exceed the rate of 31. Os. 10d. per cent.
From the same date every depositor, on making his first deposit
(s. 3), is to sign a declaration as provided by previous Acts, a copy of
which is to be annexed to the deposit-book; and once in every year at
least this book (s. 5) is to be produced at the institution for the purpose
of examination.
Any actuary, cashier, or other person holding a situation at a savings
bank (s. 4), receiving deposits and not paying over the same to the
managers, is declared guilty of a misdemeanor; but no trustee or
manager to be liable (s. 6) for any deficiency unless they have declared
in writing their willingness to be so responsible, and this responsibility
may be limited, except in cases of money actually and personally re-
ceived by them.
When deposits are made in trust for another (s. 7), the sum is to be
invested in the names of the trustees and the person on whose account
the same is so invested; and repayment is not to be made without the
receipt of both, or of their trustees, executors, or agents appointed by
power of attorney.
Annuities under the 3 & 4 Wm. IV. c. 14 are not to exceed the sum
of 30%. in the whole, but separate annuities to that amount may be
granted to a husband and wife: but instead of the charges under the
former Act, the charges are now (s. 9), for an annuity under 57.,
the sum of 58.; 51. and under 107., 10s.; 10l. and under 157., 15s.;
15. and under 20., 20s.; 201. and under 25l., 25s.; 257. and not ex-
ceeding 30., 30s.
Where deposits exclusive of interest do not exceed 507. (s. 10), if a
will or letters of administration are not produced within a month, the
money may be paid to the widow, or the person entitled to the effects
of the deceased; if a depositor be illegitimate and die intestate, the
managers (s. 11), with the sanction of the barrister appointed to certify
the rules, may pay the same to such persons as would be entitled to
the same under the statute of distribution, if all the parties were
legitimate; and where a married woman has made deposits it is lawful
for the managers (s. 12) to repay such woman, unless the husband give
notice to the contrary.
The time for issuing the half-yearly receipts for interest is extended
(s. 13) to sixty days from and after the 20th of May and 20th of
November; and the time for transmitting the annual statement is
extended to nine weeks after the 20th of November in each year.
Any dispute between the depositors and the managers is to be settled
(s. 14) by arbitration of the barrister appointed under the previous
acts, whose award is to be exempt from stamp-duty; the barrister is
empowered for this purpose (s. 15) to inspect the books of the insti-
tution, and to examine witnesses on oath or affirmation: false evidence
to be punished as perjury.
Bonds given as security under previous acts (9 Geo. IV. c. 92, and
3 & 4 Wm. IV. c. 14) are to be deposited with the commissioners for
the reduction of the national debt (s. 16), to be delivered up on the
application of not less than two trustees and three managers when
required to be cancelled. Every officer trusted with the receipt or
custody of money (s. 17) is to give sufficient security; such security,
when given by the treasurer, actuary, or any other officer receiving a
salary, shall be by bond, which is exempted from stamp-duty.
The direction for depositing the rules of a savings bank with the
clerk of the peace (s. 18) is repealed; but two written or printed copies
of them are to be transmitted (s. 19) to the barrister for his certificate,
who, on approval, is to return one copy to the institution, and transmit
the other to the commissioners.
Payments to the relations of intestate depositors (s. 20) are to be
made to the next of kin by the law of Scotland, in the case of deposits
in that country.
The act is declared (s. 21) to extend to societies for purchasing
annuities as well as to savings banks, and (s. 22) to Great Britain and
Ireland, Berwick-upon-Tweed, Guernsey, Jersey, and Isle of Man.
The 11 & 12 Vict. c. 133, limits the liabilities of trustees in Ireland,
except for money actually received by them and not paid over, to any
sum specified by them in writing, not being less than 1007.
By the 16 & 17 Vict. c. 45, the amount of annuities. granted is ex-
tended to 307., but still not to be less than 47., for one or two lives;
and they may be granted to a husband and wife, though one may already
have secured an annuity to the full amount.
By the 19 & 20 Vict. c. 41, the shipping-offices for saving are consti-
tuted branch savings banks, and the Board of Trade is empowered to
make regulations for the investment and withdrawal of deposits.
Rules framed in agreement with the statutes have been issued by
the commissioners for the reduction of the national debt. These rules
provide, among other things, that no person being a trustee, treasurer,
or manager of the society, shall derive any emolument, direct or
indirect, from its funds; that the treasurer, and the paid officers of
the society, shall give security for the faithful execution of their trust;
that the age of the party, or nominec, upon whose life the annuity is
contracted, must not be under fifteen years; that no one individual
can possess, or be entitled to, an annuity, or annuities, amounting
altogether to more than 30, and that no annuity of less than 44 can
!
1
205
SAVINGS BANKS.
be contracted for; that minors may purchase annuities. The annuities
are payable half-yearly, on the 5th of January and 5th of July, or on
the 5th of April and 10th of October. If any person wishes to have
an annuity payable quarterly, that object may be accomplished by
purchasing one half payable in January and July, and the other half
payable in April and October. Upon the death of the person on whose
life the annuity depends, a sum equal to one-fourth part of the annuity,
beyond all unpaid arrears, will be payable to the person or persons
entitled to such annuity, or to their executors or administrators, if
claimed within two years. These annuities are not transferable,
unless the purchaser becomes bankrupt or insolvent, when the annuity
becomes the property of the creditors, and will be repurchased, at a
fair valuation, by the commissioners for the reduction of the national
debt. If the purchaser of an annuity should be unable to continue
the payment of his instalments, he may at any time, on giving three
months' notice, receive back the whole of the money he has paid, but
without interest; or he may have an immediate or deferred annuity
granted, according to the amount of money paid. If the purchaser of
à deferred life annuity should die before the time arrives at which the
annuity would have commenced, the whole of the money actually con-
tributed, but not with interest, will be returned to his family without
any deduction. If a person who has contracted for, or is entitled to,
an annuity, becomes insane, or is otherwise rendered incapable of
acting, such weekly sum will be paid to his friends for maintenance
and medical attendance as the managers shall think reasonable, or any
such other payments may be made as the urgency of the case may
require, out of the sums standing in the name of the party. Any
frauds that may be committed by means of mis-statements, and false
certificates will render void the annuity, and subject the parties
offending to other and severe penalties. The rules of societies formed
for carrying into effect the purposes of this Act must be signed by
trustees, certified by the barrister appointed for the purpose, and
enrolled with the clerk of the peace for the county or division in the
manner already described with regard to the rules of savings banks.
Annuity tables, calculated under the direction of government, for
every admissible period of age, and for every probable deferred term,
may be had at the office of the commissioners for reducing the national
debt, in the Old Jewry, London.
These measures appear to be well calculated for enabling the in-
dustrious classes to secure a small provision in the time of their youth
and strength, for the days of their age and decline, and for inciting
them, while yet unencumbered, to apply the surplus of their earnings
to meet the wants of those who may become connected with or de-
pendent on them in after-life.
The growth of these societies has been continuous from their esta-
blishment. We give below the number and amount in 1833, and add
those of 1859; but it should be remembered that when the amount
reaches 2001. it is usually transferred to the public funds, as interest
is no longer paid. On the 20th of November, 1833, there were 385
savings banks in England holding balances belonging to 414,014 de-
positors, which amounted to 13,973,2437., being on an average 347. for
each depositor. There were at the same time in Wales 23 savings
banks, having balances amounting to 361,150l. belonging to 11,269
depositors, being an average of 321. for each depositor; while in Ire-
land there were 76 savings banks, with funds amounting to 1,380,718.,
deposited by 49,872 persons, the average amount of whose deposits was
281. The total for England, Wales, and Ireland was consequently 484
savings banks, with funds amounting to 15,715,1117.; the number of
accounts open was 475,155, and the average amount of deposits was
consequently 331.
On November 20th, 1859, the total amount of deposits, including
interest, in the United Kingdom, was 38,995,8767. The number of
individual depositors was 1,479,723, of whom 213,473 were depositors
of sums not exceeding 17., 294,739 not exceeding 5l., 194,133 not ex-
ceeding 10., 140,092 not exceeding 15l., 86,250 not exceeding 207.,
148,575 not exceeding 30%., 121,501 not exceeding 40l., 58,032 not ex-
ceeding 50l., 98,380 not exceeding 757., 45,580 not exceeding 1007.,
30,700 not exceeding 125l., 18,134 not exceeding 150l., 28,482 not
exceeding 2007., and 1652 above 2001. There were also 16,315 Chari-
table Institutions, with deposits amounting to 802,341., and 10,738
Friendly Societies, with deposits amounting to 1,731,0957. There were
580 Friendly Societies with direct accounts with the commissioners
for the reduction of the national debt, their deposits amounting to
2,001,754l. The number of annuities granted through Savings Banks
or Parochial Societies, from the commencement in 1854 to January 5,
1860, was 9707 immediate annuities, amounting to 196,112l., for
which 2,064,8127. had been paid, and of which 30467. of the yearly
amount of 59,4327. had fallen in; 160 deferred annuities on payment
of one sum, to the amount of 2704l., for which 30,9791. had been paid,
and of which 261. of the yearly amount of 4787. had fallen in; and
1875 deferred annuities for annual payments, to the amount of 37,486,
for which 187,6221. had been paid, of these 1110 had fallen in, to the
yearly amount of 21,390., and 44,0377. had been returned in conse-
quence of death or default.
In November, 1858, the total amount of securitics given by mana-
gers and trustces of savings banks had been only 67,070., and these
almost entirely in Ireland.
Much useful information as to the formation, management, and the
SAW AND SAW-MILL.
200
means of ensuring the security of savings banks, will be found in ‘A
Practical Treatise on Savings Banks,' by Arthur Scratchley, M. D.,
1860.
(History of Savings Banks, by J. Tidd Pratt; The Law relating to
the Purchase of Government Annuities through Savings Banks and
Parochial Societies, by the same author.)
SAW AND SAW-MILL. The division of wood by riving or
splitting was probably the most ancient method of reducing it to pieces
of convenient size and shape. If the grain of timber were straight,
this plan would have the advantage of economy; but as it is not so in
general, considerable waste is occasioned by riving when the pieces are
required to be straight, much wood having to be removed with an
adze in order to make it so. Hence the invention of saws.
Saws were used by the ancient Egyptians. The annexed cut repre-
sents a saw that was discovered, with several other carpenters' tools,

in a private tomb at Thebes, and which is now preserved in the British
Museum. The following cut, from Rosellini's work on Egyptian anti-

quities, represents a man using a similar saw; the piece of wood which
he is cutting being held between two upright posts. In other repre-
sentations the timber is bound with ropes to a single post; and in one,
also copied by Rosellini, the workman is engaged in tightening the
There is a curious
rope, having left the saw sticking in the cut.
picture among the remains discovered in Herculaneum, representing a
carpenter's workshop, with two genii cutting a piece of wood with
a frame-saw. On an altar preserved in the Capitoline Museum at
Rome there is a representation of a bow-saw, exactly resembling in
the frame and the twisted cord those used by modern carpenters.
Saws are of various forms and sizes. Those used by carpenters and
other artificers in wood are the most numerous. Among these are the
following:-The cross-cut saw, for dividing logs transversely, two per-
sons being employed to pull the saw backwards and forwards, and the
teeth being so formed as to cut equally in both directions. The pit-saw,
It is used for
with large teeth, and a transverse handle at each end.
sawing logs into planks, the piece to be cut being laid over a saw-pit
six or seven feet deep. One man stands on the log, and the other in
the pit, and they pull the saw alternately up and down, the saw cutting
in its descent only. The frame-saw is from five to seven feet long,
stretched tightly in a frame of timber, the plane of the saw being at
right angles with that of the frame. It is used in a similar manner
to the pit-saw, but causes less waste, because the blade, being stretched,
may be made much thinner. The ripping-saw, half-ripper, hand-saw,
and panel-saw are saws for the use of one person, the blades tapering
in width from the handle. They are of different lengths, the largest
being about twenty-eight inches; and the teeth vary from one-third
to one-eighth of an inch. Tenon-saws, sash-saws, dovetail-saws, &c., are
very thin, of equal width throughout their whole length, and stiffened
with stout pieces of iron or brass fixed on their back edges. These are
used for many purposes for which a neat clean cut is required, but
where it is not necessary for the whole width of the saw-blade to pass
through the wood. Compass and key-hole saws taper from about an inch
to an eighth of an inch in width, and are used for making curved cuts.
Small frame-saws and bow-saws, in which very thin narrow blades are
tightly stretched, are occasionally used for cutting both wood and
metal. Saws are made for cutting bone, iron, brass, and many other
hard substances; and there are several varieties used by the carpenter
besides what have been enumerated; but it is unnecessary here to
detail them.
The very commonest kind of saws are made of iron-plates, hammer-
hardened, and planished upon an anvil, to give them some degree of
stiffness and elasticity. The more useful saws are made either of shear
譬
​207
200
SAW AND SAW-MILL.
SAXON ARCHITECTURE.
or cast steel. The steel is cast in the form of a small slab, about an
inch and a half thick. This slab is extended, by rolling, to the re-
quired degree of tenuity, and then cut, by shears, into pieces of suit-
able form and size. The edges are next perfected by filing, and holding
the flat side of the plates against large grindstones, which process
them for the cutting of the teeth. This operation is usually
prepares
performed by a die-cutter in a fly-press, the motion of the saw-plate
being duly regulated, so that the teeth shall be uniform; the larger
teeth being cut one at a time; and the smaller two, three, or more at
a time, according to circumstances. The wire edges left on the teeth
by the cutting-out press are removed by filing; after which the plates
undergo the processes of hardening and tempering. They are heated
to a cherry-red and dipped into a fatty composition. When sufficiently
cooled therein to be handled, they are taken out, and are found to be
extremely hard and brittle. They are passed backwards and forwards
over a clear charcoal fire, so as to cause the unctuous matter to inflame,
or blaze off, as it is termed, which reduces the saws to the required
temper; and, whilst the saw-plates remain hot, any warping they may
have acquired in the process is removed by smart blows from a
hammer. The next operation is planishing by hammers, to make
them more even and equally elastic: after which the saws are ground
on large grindstones. As the grinding impairs the elasticity, they are
submitted to a second hammering, and to heating over a coke fire until
they attain a faint straw-colour. The marks of the hammer are re-
moved by again passing the saws lightly over a grindstone; after
which the final polish is given by a fine hard stone, a glazing-wheel
covered with buff-leather and emery, or a wooden wheel, called the
hard-head. Any defects acquired during these processes are removed
by a few blows with a small polished hammer upon a post of hard
wood. The saws are "cleaned off" by women, by rubbing fine emery
over them lengthwise with a piece of cork-wood. The setter lays each
alternate tooth over the edge of a small anvil, and strikes them so as
to bend each uniformly into a slight deviation from the plane of the
saw ; and then, turning the saw-plate, sets the remaining teeth in like
manner, but in the opposite direction. The degree of deviation from
the plane of the saw depends upon the kind of wood to be cut; the
softest wood requiring the widest or rankest set. Sometimes an instru-
ment with a notched edge, called a saw-wrest, is used for setting the
teeth. After being set, the saw is placed, between two plates of lead,
in a vice, and the teeth are sharpened with a triangular file. The
handles are then fixed on by nuts and screws, and the saws cleaned off,
oiled, and packed in brown paper for sale.
The teeth of carpenters' saws are so formed as to contain an angle
of 60°, and they are made to incline more or less forward according to
the intended use of the saw. Ripping-saws have the front of the teeth
perpendicular to a line ranging with their points. For very delicate
operations saws are frequently made of watch-spring.
Saws for cutting stone are without teeth, although they are some-
times slightly notched upon the cutting edge. The saw-plate is tightly
stretched on a kind of rectangular frame, of which it forms the lower
side; and the frame, being suspended by ropes, is moved backwards
and forwards by one or two men. Coarse sharp sand is used for
cutting soft stones, and fine sand for those of harder quality. Sawing
stone is a very slow and laborious operation. As in saw-mills for
wood, any number of saws may be worked together, so adjusted as
to cut a block of stone into slabs of any required thickness.
Saw Mill.--The machinery used for the purpose of converting
wood from the log into squared lumber, or for subsequently cutting it
up into plank, or veneer stuff, is known in the arts under the generic
name of saw mill. It consists of a prime mover, setting in operation
either a circular plate with serrated edges, vertical saw blades fixed
rigidly in a frame, or a series of knife blades forming the segments of a
large circular plate bearing a sharp cutting edge; and at the same time
motion is communicated by the prime mover to a ratchet-wheel, which
causes the frame to advance horizontally so as to keep the log of wood
to be operated upon in actual contact with the edge of the cutting-tool.
Rough logs and scantling stuff are cut by the circular saw; and deals,
battens, and planks are dressed for the market by the same description
of machinery. Thin boards (between 14 inch and of an inch in thick-
ness) are cut by the frame saw; and veneers, or thin slices of the harder
and more precious woods, are cut by the plate saws with knife edges. |
As many as 100 veneers are at times cut out of planks only 1 inch in
thickness.
The prime motors of saw mills may be either water-wheels, wind-
mills, or steam-engines, and even in some cases horse-power is used.
In mountainous districts, such as are usually covered with forests,
water-wheels can generally be economically established, and they are
rarely used for any other purpose than for squaring logs, or dressing
plank stuff. Windmills are largely used in such countries as the Feus
of East Anglia, and Holland, for both circular saws and frame saws;
whilst the application of steam power to this purpose is the system
almost universally adopted, in countries where fuel is cheap, for the
ordinary kind of saw mills, and it is the only motive power ever
employed for veneer cutting. Of late years, circular saws have been
used for the purpose of cutting the ends of iron rails, and they also
are invariably worked by steam power. The sizes of circular saws
vary from 4 to 60 inches in diameter; vertical saws are made of
cast steel of Nos. 13, 14, and 15 gauge, and from 4 to 8 inches wide by
from 3 to 7 feet in length; veneering saws vary from 4 to 10 or 12
feet in diameter.
.
All the varieties of apparatus that have been described are for the
purpose of making straight cuts; but it is sometimes desirable to pro-
duce curved forms by sawing, for which purpose there are several
ingenious contrivances. Mr. Trotter has invented a concave circular
saw, resembling a watch-glass in form, which is mounted in a bench
like the common bench-saw, and to which the wood is directed by
curved guides. Many useful forms are cut by a saw consisting of a

cylinder of steel, toothed on the edge. Such saws are used for cutting
circular pieces of wood to form the sheaves of blocks; and, when of
larger dimensions, for cutting chair-backs, felloes of wheels, curved
brush-handles, &c. For these purposes they are sometimes used as
much as five feet in diameter. In another machine, an arrangement
resembling the common reciprocating saw-mill is applied to curvilinear
sawing, by causing the carriage on which the timber is supported to
deviate from the straight course, and follow the curvatures of a model
of the required form; while the saws, being attached to the frame by
pivots, are capable of adapting their position to the curve.
Among the recent inventions in saw-machinery is a beautiful appa-
ratus called the band-saw. It consists of a very long, narrow, and
thin saw, made of highly tempered steel, and so flexible as to be
wound round two rollers placed at such a distance apart as to keep
the saw always on the stretch. When the rollers rotate, the saw is
put in motion, and it thus becomes an endless saw, applicable to many
purposes in the finer kinds of carpentry and joinery. Messrs. Powis
and James's band-saw, patented in 1858, is an elegant example of
this kind.
SAXON ARCHITECTURE. Until recently, all those old English
churches of which the doors and windows had semicircular arches were
usually termed Saxon. More careful study of our architectural anti-
quities showed that these were for the most part of Norman date; and
it was then by many somewhat hastily assumed to be at least doubtful
whether there were any buildings remaining of Saxon construction.
That there are churches which were in part erected prior to the
Norman Conquest there is now, however, no longer any dispute. Their
number is indeed small, as might be expected; for the condition of
the people, the disturbed state of the country, and the ravages of
foreign invaders, would either prevent many churches, except of a
comparatively rude character, being erected, or account for their
destruction; and it will be readily perceived how churches which
remained at the Conquest, would, one after another, with the progress
of refinement be removed to make way for others of a costlier character,
or more fashionable style of architecture and that consequently,
after the lapse of 800 years, but few fragments of such buildings
should be extant.
Yet some vestiges, as we said, are left. Mr. Bloxam, who has paid
particular attention to the subject, gives in the last edition of his
Gothic Architecture' (1859, p. 90) a list of more than 90 churches
(46 of which he has himself examined), which contain portions of
presumed Saxon architecture. Mr. Rickman believed he had verified
the existence of such remains in 120 churches.
Saxon architecture would be best described as the earliest form
of Anglo-Romanesque. [ROMANESQUE ARCHITECTURE.] The earliest
Anglo-Saxon architects made use of the materials of the Roman build-
ings, wherever they could obtain them, and imitated the Roman
workmanship. In the brick walls and semicircular arches of the oldest
Anglo-Saxon buildings, there are evident attempts to copy what is
called the herring-bone work of the debased Roman architecture which
prevailed in England. But the buildings were constructed by, or under
the direction of, ecclesiastics who had acquired on the continent the
current taste in ecclesiastical architecture; and who carried out their
views as well as the skill of the workmen and the materials at their
command permitted. For the more important buildings-and there
are accounts in the chronicles of the erection of cathedrals and monastic
edifices of considerable importance-foreign workmen were brought
over. Accordingly, we find throughout the period a reference more or
less direct to continental models, and, as might be expected from the
connection of the court and the clergy, towards the latter part, a
growing approximation to the Norman taste.
The style extends over a period of nearly four hundred years-from
the latter part of the 7th to the middle of the 11th century. It is
299
SAXON BLUE.
usually divided into two periods, the first extending to nearly the end
of the 10th century, the second continuing to the Conquest. But the
second period is that when the Norman influence prevailed, and when
the style differed in little from the Norman but in its being less refined
and artistic. [NORMAN ARCHITECTURE.] Here, therefore, it will be
enough to indicate a few of the distinctive characteristics of the older
variety.
No complete Anglo-Saxon church remains; but from those which
are most perfect, as Brixworth in Northamptonshire, and from the
references in Saxon records and the drawings in manuscripts, we see
that the churches were rude, plain, and massive in appearance, and
that whether cruciform, or with nave, side-aisles, and a tower at the
west end, the chancel was usually apsidal. [APSIS.] Crypts appear to
have been not uncommon in the larger churches, and a tolerably per-
fect one is still extant beneath the chancel of Repton church, Derby-
shire. Towers were commonly very massive, divided into two or three
stories by the rib-work described below; the surface being also divided
by strips of similar rib-work, and having at the angles quoins of long-
and-short work. The walls, where surmounted with a spire, or rather
spire-roof, seem to have mostly had a gable-like termination; of this
gable termination a good example remains in the tower of Sompting
church, Sussex, though the roof-spire has been lowered. Of a more
elaborate tower, Earl's Barton, Northamptonshire, is one of the most
perfect existing examples. From their solidity of construction, the
towers have proved the most lasting parts of Saxon churches.
The walls were usually built of coarse rag-stone, rubble, or flint,
having as bonding at the angles oblong quoins set alternately upright
and horizontal, so as to form what is called long-and-short work.
Narrow ribs or strips composed of alternately long and short pieces of
stone, projecting a few inches from the surface, are carried vertically
up the face of the wall, and have been variously supposed to be rude
imitations of pilasters or of timber-work. The piers were low and
thick. The arches are either triangular, as at Brigstock, or, as is more
common, semicircular. Windows are small; mostly, in fact, mere
narrow openings. Sometimes, and the belfry-windows commonly, they
consist of two semicircular-headed windows, divided by a thick and
variously shaped baluster-shaft. Occasionally these double windows
are enclosed within an arch or hood, formed of the pilaster rib-work
above described: engravings of all these varieties will be found in
Bloxam (ch. iii.), and other works on English Gothic architecture.
The chancel arches are commonly small and quite plain, or have at
most a moulded hood rudely worked on the face. Doorways have
either semicircular or triangular arches: the former spring from plain
projecting imposts, and are encircled with a hood of long-and-short
rib-work which is usually carried down to the ground.
Mouldings are few and plain. In the later examples semi-cylindrical
roll-mouldings are not infrequent. In the older churches sculpture is
seldom found; but later, rudely carved animals and flowers, knot-work,
Greek crosses, in relief, and other ornaments, are let into the walls.
The imposts from which the arches spring are commonly mere rude
massive blocks left square and plain, but they are sometimes moulded,
and are occasionally rudely sculptured, as at Sompting, Sussex. Plain
square string-courses are often met with; and inscriptions seem to
have been not uncommon. The distinctive features of the style are,
however, the long-and-short work of the quoins, the pilaster rib-work,
the triangular arches, and the baluster-shafts of the belfry windows:
the other particulars are not infrequent in early Norman work.
SAXON BLUE. [COLOURING MATTERS.]
SAXON LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE. The terms Saxon
and Anglo-Saxon are popularly used to designate that dialect of our
language which prevailed to the close of the 12th century. The use of
these terms is, however, comparatively modern, and the men who
spoke this dialect always called it the English. Several of our manu-
script chronicles begin thus:-"Britain island is eight hundred miles.
long, and two hundred miles broad. And there are in the island five
languages, English, and Brit-Welsh, and Scottish, and Pightish, and
Book-Latin," &c. Still we may use these terms with some con-
venience, and (thus cautioned) without any danger of being misled.
We proceed to point out the peculiarities which distinguish the Anglo-
Saxon from the succeeding dialects of our language.
The Anglo-Saxon, like the Latin and the Greek, often distinguished
the cases of its noun, and the conjugations, numbers, and persons of
its verb, by a change in the vowel of the final syllable; in the dialect
which succeeded, and which has been called the Old English, all
these vowels were confounded, and in our modern dialect they have,
for the most part, been lost. Thus the Anglo-Saxon ath has athas in
the nominative and accusative plural, and athes in the genitive singular;
the Old English oth has othes not only for its genitive singular, but also
for its nominative and accusative plural; and in our modern English
these three cases are all represented by the monosyllable oaths. Again,
in the Anglo-Saxon, athe was the dative singular, and atha the genitive
plural; in the Old English, othe represented both dative singular and
genitive plural; and our present dialect, having lost the final vowel,
had no means left of distinguishing these cases from the nominative
oath. The third person singular of lufian was lufath, and the first,
second, and third persons plural lufiath; in the Old English, loveth
represented both numbers, and lov'th is the third person singular in the
spoken language of the present day.
|
SAXON LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE.
300
We say "spoken language," because our grammarians make eth the
ending of the third person singular. But in Somersetshire, west of the
Parret, where the southern dialect still lingers, they uniformly say he
lov'th, he read'th, he zee'th, it rain'th, &c. (Jennings, Obs. on the West.
Dial.'). We have very satisfactory evidence, that in the 16th and 17th
centuries this dialect was general throughout the south of England,
and we find numerous traces of its peculiarities in the literature of
that period. Dolman wrote the following passage, in the 16th cen-
tury-
"So, mid the vale, the greyhound seeing stert
His fearful foe pursu'th, before she flert'th,
And where she turn'th, he turn'th her there to beare,
The one prey prick'th, the other safeties feare."
Mirr. for Mag.
Hastings.
Spenser has melt'th and hat'th, and Sackville leap'th. It is probable,
that the inflexion used by the translators of the Bible, and which is
found in other contemporary works, was merely an old form, taken from
the language of books, and adopted chiefly with the view of raising the
style. The same observation will apply to est, the inflexion of the
second person singular, and to some other endings, which are still
preserved entire in our grammars, though they have lost their vowel in
the spoken language, for the last two centuries.
It is obvious, that either of the changes above noticed must have
brought with it a new language. When, in the 12th century, the
vowels of the final syllables were confounded, there was at the same
time a confusion of case and number, of tense and person,-in short,
of those grammatical forms to which language owes its precision and
its clearness. A writer had to seek for new forms of expression before
he could convey his meaning clearly. As he had lost the means of
distinguishing several cases of his noun, he called in the prepositions
to his aid, and to show more clearly the "regimen" of his sentence,
was obliged to confine within very narrow limits the position of his
verb,-thus abandoning all that freedom of transposition, which is
almost as remarkable in the Anglo-Saxon as in the Greek and Latin.,
The confusion introduced into his conjugations and tenses, he sought
to remedy by various devices, which have hitherto been very little
investigated, and at last he had recourse to that general use of the
auxiliary verbs, which is at present so marked a feature in the language.
The new dialect which resulted from these changes kept its ground
for nearly two centuries. It exhibits the most striking analogies with
the contemporary dialects of Germany and the Netherlands, and the
further changes which converted it into our modern English were
rapidly working a like revolution in these sister-tongues, when the
invention of printing doubled the influence of their written language,
and thus preserved them from further corruption.
In tracing the causes which melted down the Anglo-Saxon into the
Old-English, we have not once alluded to the influences supposed to
have been exercised by the French language. The popular notions on
this subject are, we believe, most erroneous. Had Harold been the
conqueror at Hastings, the Anglo-Saxon must have perished, just as
the Old-German perished in Germany, and the Old-Norse in Denmark.
The victory of William merely hastened by a few years an event that
was inevitable. The use of Norman-Romance as the court language of
England rendered unfashionable a literature already too weak to stem
those changes to which the language of a busy adventurous people is
peculiarly liable; and thus far the Norman conquest may be considered
as having assisted in the destruction of the Anglo-Saxon. But the
vulgar notion, that it produced a mixed language, a jargon composed
half of English and half of French, is wholly at variance with the
manuscript literature of that period. The Ormulum, in which all the
peculiar features of the Old-English are developed, and not a trace of
the Anglo-Saxon can be found, is almost as free from Gallicisms as any
of our manuscripts written before the Norman-French existed. The
same may be said of most of the Old-English manuscripts of the 13th
century, and it is not till we approach the latter half of the 14th cen-
tury that we find those “cart-loads" of French words poured into the
language, of which Skinner complains so loudly. We must reluctantly
agree with this writer, in charging upon Chaucer much of the mischief
resulting from these importations-not that he first introduced, but
that his authority chiefly sanctioned them. The learned but pedantic
writers of the Elizabethan era, and, at a later period, Johnson, followed
his example.
.
Having noticed the changes which converted the Anglo-Saxon into
the Old-English, we will now call the reader's attention to a subject of
rather difficult inquiry--its local dialects. It is abundantly clear that
the Romans looked upon all the Gothic races as forming but one
people, and as speaking the same language; but a comparison of the
Anglo-Saxon with the Meso-Gothic, as well as the analogy of other
languages, may convince us that even thus early there were dialects,
and these dialects have now been acted upon by various influences for
nearly 2000 years, till they have at last arranged themselves into four
great families-the Northern, the English, the Low-Dutch, and the
High-Dutch. Now we have ample proof that the Sexe came from the
south-western corner of the Cimbric Chersonesus, and that they were
only separated by the Elbe from the Netherlands, or flat alluvial
country, where the Low-Dutch was spoken. We know also that the
Engle came from the eastern coast, and that they were separated from
the Danish islands merely by a narrow arm of the sea. We might
301
302
SAXON LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE.
SAXON LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE.
3
then expect that in the counties colonised by the Engle we should find
many peculiarities of the Northern languages, and in the counties
colonised by the Sexe much that reminded us of the Netherlandish or
Low-Dutch. We believe the Northern and Southern dialects of our
island have been at all times distinguished by such peculiarities, but
so few early records have come down to us written in the pure dialect
of our northern counties, that it is only by comparing them in the
second or Old-English stage of their progress that we can form any
just notion of their distinguishing features. Perhaps these are best
seen in the conjugation of the verb. The following table may show
us how closely the inflexions which distinguish our northern dialect
agree with those of a Swedish conjugation:-
North Dialect.
Pres.,
South Dialect.
Ich hop-e
I hop-es
thu hop-est
thu hop-cs
??
he hop-eth
he hop-es
Swedish.
jag hopp-as
du hopp-as
han hopp-as
i
""
we hop-eth
we
hop-es
""
Je hop-eth
J'e hop-es
vi
I
they hop-eth
they hop-es
de
thu hoped-es
du
hop-eth ye
to hop-en
Perf.,
Imper.,
Infin.
thu hoped-est
hop-es yo
to hop-e
hopp-as
hopp-ens
hopp-as
hoppad-es
att hopp-as
The inflexions in s are generally used in the Northern languages
with a passive meaning; and there are some traces of their having
Another peculiarity of our Northern dialect is the frequent use of
the substantival ending er (in which it again resembles the languages
of Northern Europe), as wulfer, a wolf; hunker, a haunch; teamer, a
team; heather, heath; fletcher, a fletch, &c.
been used in our Northern dialect for the same purpose.
In this dialect we have also a less frequent use of the articles, con-
junctions, and personal pronouns. This is one of its most striking
features. Every person who has been in the North of England must
have heard such phrases as come out o' house," gang into field,"
"put'n in poke," &c.
ཀ
All these peculiarities of our Northern dialect may be traced to the
Anglo-Saxon period; and there is little doubt that the most striking
feature of the Southern dialect, namely, its preference of the vocal
to the whisper letters, as z for s, and v for f, is equally ancient. It
always prevailed in the Netherlandish dialects, and may be traced
in the orthography of our Southern manuscripts to the beginning of
the 13th century; but, as the Anglo-Saxons had neither a v nor a
z, it is only by analogy we infer the existence of the corresponding
sounds in their language. The argument however from analogy is so
strong, that we may safely conclude either that the Anglo-Saxon
f, s, were pronounced in our southern counties as y, z, or that, like
the modern s, they represented both a whisper and a vocal sound;
in other words, were pronounced sometimes as f, s, and sometimes
as v, 2.
It may possibly be asked, were not the forms here attributed to our
Northern dialect introduced by the Danes? Are they not, in fact, the
peculiar features of the "Dano-Saxon?" We will not affect to treat
these questions as altogether without difficulty; but there are some
considerations which may be laid concisely before the reader, and
which, if they appear to him as forcible as they appear to us, may
lead him to answer these questions in the negative.
J
In the first place, it must be remembered, that if no Dane had ever
set foot on the island, the very results which have taken place might
have been expected. It is also an argument of weight, that we find all
the great features of our Northern dialect in places where there never
was a Danish settlement, and vainly search for them, or at best only
faintly trace them, in counties where we have historical evidence that
the Northmen were numerous. But the strongest argument may be
drawn from the pages of our Northern manuscripts. We have two of
very ancient date-the Gloss of the Durham Bible, written by a priest
named Aldred, and the Durham Ritual, published by the Surtees
Society. The first of these was written, according to Wanley, in the
age of Alfred, and the second has been assigned by its editor to the
early part of the 9th century. If we can rely on the judgment of
either of these antiquaries, the question seems to be answered; for
there was no Danish settlement in the north of England till a later
period; and we have the Northern conjugation and other peculiarities
of the Northern dialect in every page of the Gloss, and in many parts
of the Ritual. The name too of Aldred is thoroughly English; and
we can hardly suppose that the monks of Durham would have per-
mitted a rude and unlettered foreigner to interpolato their most
precious manuscript-a volume which we know they regarded with
even superstitious veneration. The language used by Aldred was pro-
bably a mixture of the written language of the day and the spoken
dialect of his shire, such as might be used by a provincial writer of the
present day, and such as was avowedly used by Gawin Douglas in the
15th century, and at a later period by Burns.
This mixture of the written and the spoken language in our manu-
scripts, and the total extinction in many counties of our local dialects,
render it extremely difficult to point out the limits within which our
two great dialects were spoken. Layamon, whose language seems
clearly to belong to the Southern dialect, is described in all the
histories of our poetry as a native of South Gloucestershire; but the
localities mentioned in his poem belong to the north of Worcester-
shire; and he was, beyond doubt, an inhabitant of Areley-Regis near
Stourport in that county. If he used the dialect of the neighbourhood
(and this must be assumed till the contrary be shown), the Southern
dialect must have prevailed over the whole of Worcestershire, and the
men of that shire must have been Sexe in origin, and not, as hitherto
supposed, a colony of Engle. Perhaps a line drawn from the north of
Essex to the north of Worcestershire would pretty accurately define
the portions of the island respectively colonised by the Engle and the
Sex.
The origin of the Midland dialect may admit of the following
explanation. Neither natural obstacles nor political divisions ever
separated the Northern and the Southern dialects. During the hep-
tarchy, Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire belonged to Mercia, and not
to the kindred race of the West-Sexe; and when the Danes held
possession of the north of England, the shires of Warwick and North-
ampton, and generally that of Leicester also, were united in the closest
ties with the Southern countries. This fellowship seems to have
led, at a very early period, to the use of an intermediate dialect, which
would naturally be encouraged by the vast numbers that flocked from
all parts of the country to the universities. The 'Reve's Tale' affords
us a specimen of the ridicule which attached to the forms of Northern
speech, and we know that the speech of the Southern was treated with
just as little ceremony in the north of England. (See "Towneley
intermediate dialect, and are prepared for the conclusion, to which
Mysteries.') Hence we may understand the progress made by the
we are led by an examination of our Old-English manuscripts, no
less than by the express declaration of a contemporary philologist.
Higden, who lived in the 14th century, ranges our provincial dialects
under three heads, the Northern, the Midland, and the Southern; and
this division seems to have been generally recognised by our antiqua-
ries, for in our catalogues we find some manuscripts noticed as
belonging to our Southern dialect, others as belonging to the Northern,
while many of them, exhibiting the marked peculiarities of neither
dialect, are passed over without remark.
The change which gradually produced the Midland dialect most pro-
bably first showed itself in the counties of Northampton, Warwick,
and Leicester. It seems to have been brought about not so much by
adopting the peculiarities of Southern speech, as by giving greater
prominence to such parts of the native dialect as were common to the
South. The Southern conjugations must at all times have been
familiar, at least in dignified composition; but other conjugations were
popularly used, and in the gradual disuse of these and other forms
peculiar to the North the change consisted. We have many manu-
scripts written in the Midland counties, in which all trace of the
Northern dialect seems to have been studiously avoided; yet in very
many of them may be found some verbal inflexion in es, or some
other popular form, quite sufficient to betray the writer.
The Northern dialect was still broadly spoken, within the last three
centuries, in the counties of Lincoln, Rutland, Derby, and Stafford;
but it has been gradually giving way before a language so much more
widely understood, till it is now to be found only in scattered localities
amid the mountains of the north of England, or in the lowlands of
Scotland. The Southern dialect began to yield at a later period. It
was certainly spoken at the beginning of the 17th century in all the
counties round London. For specimens of the Middlesex dialect see
Ben Jonson's Tale of a Tub;' Lear,' iv. 6, furnishes us with an
example of the Kentish dialect; and nearly one half of 'Gammer
Gurton's Needle' is written in the same dialect of Essex. Milton, when
he issued forth
"To breathe
Among the pleasant villages and farms,"
must have heard a dialect around him in all essential particulars thẹ
same as the Somersetshire.
We will now take a rapid survey of the literature which belongs to
the language whose history and peculiarities we have been endeavour-
ing to trace. As in the case with the literature of most nations, wo
find that all its earlier specimens are metrical. We will therefore first
call the reader's attention to our Anglo-Saxon poems; and to define
more clearly the range of our present inquiry, we will briefly notice
the properties which, at that early period, distinguished verse from
pross.
An Anglo-Saxon verse is made up of two sections, which together
may contain four, five, six, or even more accented syllables. These
sections are bound together by the law of alliteration, or, in other
words, each verse must have at least two accented syllables (one in
each section) beginning with the same consonant or with vowels.
Sometimes, and particularly in the longer verses, there are two such
alliterative syllables in the first section, as in the verse
met | od for | thy man | e- -man | cynne fram |
It is very incorrect to call this alliteration the "essence" or the
"groundwork" of Anglo-Saxon verse. It is certainly an important
part, but still a mere adjunct. The purposes it served were similar to
those which are provided for by the final rhyme of our modern versi-
fication. The essence of Auglo-Saxon verse consisted in its system of
rhythm. As the accents generally varied from four to six, it may be
303
SAXON LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE.
thought that the rhythm was too vague and loose, but in practice it is
generally found sufficiently definite; and there are some of its rules
which certainly give it a more scientific character than belongs to the
system that has superseded it. For example, no sentence, nor any
important member of a sentence, could end otherwise than at the
close of a section. In our modern poets we often find a sentence ending
in the midst of a section, or even immediately before the last syllable
of the verse :—
"His peers
Have found him guilty-of high-treason. Much-
He spoke and learnedly for life," &c. ;
but such a verse would not have been tolerated in an Anglo-Saxon
poem. We may indeed find scores of such verses in the printed
editions of these poems; but not one single example, and we speak
advisedly, in any Anglo-Saxon manuscript.
The Gleeman's Song' is the oldest specimen extant of Anglo-Saxon
literature. It is found in what is called the Exeter manuscript, one of
the books left by Bishop Leofric to his cathedral, about the middle of
the 11th century. Of the Gleeman himself we know nothing, save
what can be learned from the poem; but from certain passages in it
we may gather that he was born among the Mirgings, a tribe which
dwelt on the marches that separated the Engle from the Swefe in the
4th century. In early youth he attended a Mirging princess named
Ealhild to the court of Eormanric, the celebrated king of the East-Goten,
and who figures so often in Roman history under the name of Ermen-
ricus. (Amm. Marc.' xxxi. 3, &c.) His professional skill appears to
have gained him the favour of this monarch, and of the great lords
who frequented the court, and whom he visited in their respective
'governments. He afterwards accompanied a Mirging prince into Italy,
probably during the inroad of Alaric, A.D. 401; and as Gothic leaders
were now rapidly gaining a footing in the empire, he seems to have
seized the opportunity of wandering through its provinces. On his
return, he must have been an eye-witness of the wars waged between
Ætla (Attila) and the East-Goten; and as Ætla's accession dates only
in 433, and Eormanric died in 375, he must have been more than
seventy when he wrote the poem.
The Gleeman's Song,' like many other Anglo-Saxon poems, has a
short preface in verse, which appears to be of almost equal antiquity
with the poem,
Then follows a list of celebrated kings, from which the Gleeman
selects for special notice Alexandreas, who appears to be Alexander of
Macedon, and Wala, who is, no doubt, the Wallia that founded the
kingdom of the Visigoths at Toulouse, A.D. 417. With the exception
of Alexander, all of them appear to have been the Gleeman's contem-
poraries. After this enumeration he proceeds-
"So I fared through many stranger lands,
Through the wide earth; of gcod and evil
There I tasted; from family parted,
From kinsmen far, widely I did my suit-
Therefore may I sing, and story tell,
Relate fore the crowd, in mead-hall,
How me the high-born with largess blest.
I was with the Huns," &c.
We have then the names of nations and of countries visited by him,
which appear to be strung together in the order best suited to the
alliteration. There are also certain notices of the great people by whose
bounty he had benefited, and the reader will not be surprised at the
Gleeman seeing only a liberal patron in the same monarchi (Eormanric)
whom the author of the preface denounces as "a wrathful treachour."
The whole concludes with a short eulogy on the dignity and privileges
of his craft.
The great value of this poem lies chiefly in that string of names,
which we have omitted as being so little interesting to the general
reader. We do not stop to examine the question, whether any or how
many of these notices have been interpolated during the five centuries
which elapsed between the composition of the poem and the writing
of the manuscript. Our knowledge of early Saxon history is so scanty
that all such speculations must be hazardous. But we may observe,
that the Scriptures had been translated into a Gothic dialect long
before the Gleeman began his wanderings, and we know from Roman
history that during the 4th century nearly one-half of the Gothic
tribes were Christians. We need not therefore necessarily feel
suspicion, when we read of the Assyrians and the Persians, the Jews
and the Idumæans: they may have been as well known to the Glee-
man as to the Saxon monk who transcribed the manuscript. The
chief interest however attaches to the mention of the various Gothic,
Slavish, and Finnish races. In tracing their history, the Gleeman's
Song' is the great link which connects the knowledge gained from
Latin sources with the information gleaned from the Middle-Age
chronicle. In many instances it furnishes the only means of penetrat-
ing the mystery which surrounds these races. There are tribes, still
to be found between the Wolga and the Vistula, which we can identify
with others named by the Gleeman, and thereby prove to have had a
political existence fourteen hundred years ago, of whom hardly
another trustworthy memorial can be found, till within the last two or
SAXON LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE.
304
three centuries. The helps which it affords us in unravelling the web
of Gothic fiction are also most valuable, and may, if rightly taken
advantage of, save us from much of that speculation in which German
scholars have indulged so largely.
There are two other poems, which must have been composed before
the Engle left the Continent, the "Battle of Fins-burgh," and the
Tale of Beowulf.' The first of these is a mere fragment, and appears
to have belonged to one of those historical songs which Tacitus
(Germ.,' 2) represents as the only literature of the ancient Germans.
The other is chiefly taken up with the relation of two of Beowulf's
adventures: the first against a monster called the 'Grendel;' the
come down to us in a modernised form, and the mixture of "Christian
second against a terrific "worm," or earthdrake." The poem has
and heathen notions is sometimes singularly curious. For the most
part, the nature of the subject, and the marked change that takes
the interpolation begins. The following is one of the attempts to
place in the rhythm, enable us to lay our finger on the very line where
reconcile the old superstitions and the new creed :—
"The grim stranger was Grendel hight-
Mighty pacer of the March; who held the moors,
Fen and fastness-land of the Fifel-kin.
The hapless man long had kept it,
Sithen his Maker him had doomed.
On Cain's kin the slaughter avenged
The eternal Lord,-for that he Abel slew;
For joy'd he in that feud, but him out-drave
His Maker, for the sin, far from mankind.
Thence evil births all proceeded,
Ettyns, and Elves and Orknees;
So too the Giants, that with God fought
A long throw-for it he paid them meed!"
The Goths seem to have peopled every solitude with a race of
monsters called the Fifel-kin. The sea, the moor, the fen, the march,
or desert track which surrounded the territory of every Gothic tribe,
were their dwelling-place. The battle, by which Offa settled the
marches between the Engle and the Swede, was fought at Fifel-door
(see Gleeman's Song'), and Alfred, when he brings his hero from Troy,
launches him on Fifel-stream, that is, the monster-deep. Ettyns-were
long remembered in our popular superstitions :
ettyns will come to snatch it from him."
They say the king of Portugal cannot sit at his meat, but the giants and
Beaum. and Fl. Knight of the Burning Pestle.
Elves still live in our poetry; and genuine Gothic giants (notwith-
standing the worthy monk tried hard to convert them into rebel
angels) still terrify or amuse the nursery. The Orknees are probably
the same monsters as the Orks of the Italian romancers.
Some of the oldest pieces of poetry, written after the removal of the
Engle to this country, and now extant, are the songs of Cadmon. The
circumstances which first called forth the talents of this poet are
related by Bede; and as he must have known many of Cadmon's con-
temporaries, his account may be looked upon as a simple narrative of
facts. Cadmon, it appears, was neatherd to the monastery of Whitby,
then under the government of its first abbess, the celebrated Hild.
One day at supper, as the harp was passing from hand to hand, and it
came to his turn to amuse the company, he stole from the room in
one of those fits of diffidence which so often overtake the sensitive
poet. As he slept in the neathouse, some one, he thought, encouraged
him to sing, and the song he composed, and which was next day
repeated to an admiring audience, established his reputation as a poet,
and gained him the patronage of the abbess. He became a monk was
looked upon as one who had received the gift of song from above; and
on his death his body was enshrined, and valued as one of their most
precious relics by the monks of Whitby.
Only six of Cadmon's poems have reached us. The subject of the
first is the Creation; that of the second, the Temptation and Fall, to
which is added, rather inartificially, a narrative of the events recorded
in Genesis, to the offering of Isaac; the third relates the Exodus; the
fourth, the story of Daniel; and the Torments of the Damned, and
Christ's Harrowing of Hell, followed by his Ascension and Glory, are
the subjects of the other two. Bede tells us that he also wrote on our
Lord's Incarnation and his Passion, as also on the Advent of the Holy
Ghost, and the teaching of the Apostles. What remains is equal in
length, to about one half of the Paradise Lost.' [CEDMON, in BIOG.
Div.]
C
We have called the Battle of Fins-burgh' an historical poem:
another poem of the same class was written on the death of Byrthnoth,
who bravely fell in resisting one of the Danish inroads, A.D. 993.
Works, now lost, were written in the 11th century, by Leofric, Here-
ward's chaplain, on the warriors of our early history; and the songs
commemorative of Hereward's exploits, which Ingulf tells us were in
his day so popular, were probably written by the same hand. There
can be little doubt also that many of the Old-English romances, as
'Horn,'' Havelok,' 'Bevis of Southampton,' 'Guy of Warwick,' &c.,
are mere adaptations of Anglo-Saxon poems. Occasionally the subject
was taken from foreign sources, of which the Tale of Judith,' pro-
205
306
SAXON LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE.
SAXON LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE.
bably written in the 10th century, affords a splendid example. The
Tale of Apollonius of Tyre' is in prose, and a mere translation from
the Latin.
There are other songs preserved in our chronicles, and closely allied
to those last mentioned, but which are much shorter, and partake
more of the lyrical character. Among them may be enumerated the
Brunanburgh war-song, Edgar's coronation song, the two songs which
commemorate the death of this monarch, and the elegy written on the
death of the Confessor. The first and last of these are among the
noblest specimens of Anglo-Saxon poetry.
A great deal of Anglo-Saxon verse was written during the 11th
century. One of the writers seems to have been called Deor. His
name occurs in a poem which exhibits many difficulties of construction,
and perhaps some blunders of transcription; but it may be gathered
that he was scop or minstrel to the Danish princes who succeeded
Knut, and he appears to have lost his place at court when the Con-
fessor mounted the throne of England. The name of Cynewulf has
also been extracted from certain poems found in the Exeter and
Vercelli manuscripts. It was hid in a kind of riddle, similar in
character to our modern acrostic. He was probably the compiler of
the two manuscripts, and may have been the author of much of the
poetry which they contain.
But the noblest relic of this period is the Psalter published by the
University of Oxford, from a manuscript preserved in the 'Biblio-
thèque du Roi.' In the first part, each psalm has an Anglo-Saxon
translation in prose; and also a preface giving some account of its
history, general scope, and tendency. The translation often para-
phrases the Latin, so as to show more clearly its doctrinal or prophet-
ical meaning: but from the 50th Psalm, the translation is metrical,
and though generally literal, exhibits many cases of glaring miscon-
struction. The prefaces also disappear, and the whole seems to be the
work of a man very slenderly provided even with the rudiments of
learning. This deficiency, however, may now be considered as amply
compensated for by the high character of the poetry. Some of the
psalms are translated with a terseness and also an elegance, which
place the translation far above any of our modern versions, and there
is occasionally a Miltonic sweep of language, that has not often been
surpassed even in the choicest specimens of our sacred poetry.
A note in the manuscript informs us that a priest named Wulfwin
Cada "wrote it with his own hand" (manu suâ conscripsit). We
think it extremely probable that Wulfwin copied from some manu-
script the prose version as far as it went, and then drew on his own
resources. There are numberless instances of transcribers altering and
continuing the work they were copying. Most of our manuscript
chronicles were transcripts up to a certain date, and were then con-
tinued as original compositions. The verb conscripsit shows it was a
compilation; and if Wulfwin had before him a metrical translation, he
would hardly, with that passion for stately language so common among
his countrymen, have postponed it to the prose version. To Wulfwin
Cada we think may fairly be ascribed both the faults and the merits of
the metrical translation.
also divers transcripts and collations made by Lambarde, Junius
Josselyn, and other antiquaries of the 16th and 17th centuries, some of
which were evidently taken from manuscript authorities no longer
extant. Josselyn appears to have had in his possession a second
Peterborough Chronicle; and Lambarde's transcript in Trinity College,
Dublin, is thought to have been made from an ancient manuscript
which perished in the fatal fire that destroyed so many of our Cotto-
nian treasures. The Plegmund, the Dunstan, the Abingdon, and the
ancient chronicle transcribed by Lambarde, all began with Cæsar's
invasion. The Worcester, Peterborough, and latest Canterbury manu-
scripts begin with a description of Britain, extracted chiefly from Bede
and Orosius.
The antiquaries of the 16th and 17th centuries seem to have
assumed that the Anglo-Saxon monasteries kept a regular record of
contemporary events; and there are certainly grounds for believing
that registers of a certain kind were really kept by them. Bede's
History' (iv. 14) has been referred to in proof of this. He tells us,
that in the year 681 a boy, who was an inmate of Selsey Abbey, was
seized with the plague, which was then desolating the country. As
the poor lad was lying on his bed, he was accosted by two angel-
visitants, who bade him tell the frightened monks that the plague
would spread no farther, that it been stayed by the prayers of Oswald,
of whose death that very day was the anniversary. "Let them," said
Saint Peter, for no less a person is the speaker," search in their books
(in suis codicibus) in which are recorded the deaths of deceased persons
(defunctorum depositio), and they will find that on this day he was
taken," &c. The abbot, we are told, believed the boy's words, and
straightway went and searched in his chronicle (in Annali suo), and
found that on that very day King Oswald had been slain, &c. Here
reference seems to be made to some public register of the convent;
and this register, or the earlier manuscript it was copied from, seems to
have furnished materials for the Peterborough Chronicle.
"An. 642. Now was Oswald, king of the Northhymbre, slain," &c.,
'upon the Maser-field, on the day called the nones of August," &c.
The mention of the day on which an event occurred, is rare in our
chronicles; it is therefore probable that we have here the very passage
which the worthy monk was sent in search of.
That there were also public (or perhaps we might say national)
registers, in which were recorded the accessions, &c. of the kings, we
also gather from the same venerable historian. We are told (Hist.'
iii. 4), such was the horror excited by the cruelties of the Welshman
Ceadwalla, and the apostacy of the Northumbrian kings, that "it was
resolved upon by all who had to reckon the chronology of the kings
(regum tempora computantibus) that the memory of the faithless
kings should be blotted out, and the year assigned to the reign of the
the king next following," &c.; and he elsewhere adds, with studied
phraseology, "unanimo omnium consensu firmatum est," 'Hist.,' iii. 9.
In the Chronicles we have the entry :-
"An. 634. And Oswald also took to the kingdom of the North-
hymbre, and he reigned ix. winters. They assigned him the ninth, on
account of the heathenism which they practised who reigned the one
year between him and Eadwine."
Among the most important prose works of our Saxon literature
must be ranked those extraordinary compilations which are commonly
Here we find, within a century after Ida landed at Bamborough, a
called (as if they constituted but one work) the 'Saxon Chronicle.' register kept of the Northumbrian kings, and general interest excited
The earliest copy of a Saxon Chronicle now extant is the Plegmund as to the entries made in it. From details mentioned by Bede, and
Manuscript, in the library of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. It is which could only have been supplied by written documents, it is clear
written, as Wanley observes, in the same hand to the year 891, and in that these historical notices reached to the times of paganism. They
hands equally ancient to the year 924. After that date it seems to must have been originally written in English, and with Runes, those
have been continued and interpolated by various transcribers, whose ancient characters which were only partially given up when Chris-
notices of Christ Church, Canterbury, leave little doubt that the tianity introduced the literature of Rome, and which occasionally make
volume was once the property of that cathedral. As Plegmund was their appearance in our manuscripts to the end of the 11th century.
consecrated archbishop in 890, and died in 923, it has been inferred [RUNES.] A too literal translation of these venerable documents, no
that the original text was compiled by his order, and continued doubt, introduced the many Anglicisms to be found in the works of
from time to time under his direction. The internal evidence favours Bede, and even of the Welshmen Nennius and Asser.
On this ground
this supposition. The notices which it contains respecting the opera-only can we account for the intrusion into the pages of scholars like the
tions of Alfred and his immediate predecessors could hardly have been first and last of these writers, of such phrases as
victoriam sumpsere'
furnished by any but those who were present at them, and were (sige namon, An.-Sax.), " loco funeris dominati sunt" (ahton walstowe
probably the substance of conversations which had passed between the geweald, An.-Sax.), &c.
prelate and the king.
The next' copy, in point of time, is the Dunstan manuscript in the
British Museum. This is also a Canterbury manuscript, and appears
to have belonged to St. Austin's Abbey. It is written throughout in
the same hand, and ends in the year 977. As Dunstan was then arch-
bishop, and as the handwriting resembles that of other manuscripts
ascribed to him, he has been named with some degree of confidence as
the transcriber. However this may be, it must have been written by a
man of scholarlike attainment. We have only to compare the passages
which relate to the period after Plegmund's death, with the corre-
sponding passages in the Christ Church manuscript, to see at once its
superiority. This is particularly striking in the poetical portions. The
noble ode on the battle of Brunanburgh would have remained for ever
mutilated, and in parts unintelligible, but for the copy preserved in
the Dunstan Chronicle.
Besides these two chronicles, we have a Worcester, an Abingdon,
another Canterbury Chronicle, and a fourth, which appears to have
been written at Peterborough. It has been inferred (chiefly for
reasons connected with the handwriting) that these were compiled
respectively in the years 1016, 1048, 1058, and 1125. We have
ARTS AND SCI. DIV. VOL. VII.
With these materials at hand, we may readily understand the course
followed in the compilation of our early chronicles, Who were the
parties that continued and interpolated these chronicles, is a question
very difficult to answer satisfactorily. Archbishop Elfric, Saint Wulf-
stan, Hugh White the monk of Peterborough, and others, have been
named, with more or less of confidence, by different critics. For our own
parts, we could never resist a feeling, almost amounting to conviction,
that the character of William was the work of the venerable Wulfstan.
It begins thus:—
"An. 1087. If any wish to know what manner of man he was,
or what state he held, or of how many lands he was lord, then will we
of him write, as we him knew, we that have waited on him (the him
onlocodon), and otherwhiles in his court have wonned," &c.
There were few English churchmen at the close of William's reign
who could put forth this claim to the confidence of their reader, and
still fewer that could have drawn William's character with the freedom
and at the same time with the Christian feeling that distinguishes
the whole of this noble composition. Wulfstan was at. that time the
only English bishop; and when, after describing the cruelty and
sternness of the king, he adds the prayer, "may the Almighty God
X
蒼
​S07
SAXONS.
Show to his soul mercy, and grant him of his sins forgiveness!" who
does not feel that the moral qualities of the writer were as eminent as
the opportunities enjoyed or the talents that improved them?
Among Anglo-Saxon prose writers, we must not forget the name of
Alfred. His chief works are translations from the Latin, and of these
the most remarkable are his versions of Bede, Orosius, and Boethius.
Certain verses of the last-named author he has also paraphrased in
verse. Among what may be termed his original works, are his
accounts of the voyages of the two Northmen Wulfstan and Ohthere,
which were inserted in Hakluyt's collection, and have been the subject
of so much comment and criticism.
SCAFFOLDING.
308
tribes, that is, on both banks of the Weser. Their hostile feeling
towards the Franks was kindled into a war under Charles Martel, who
conquered some Saxon districts on the northern banks of the Lippe,
and made their inhabitants tributary. This, however, was only a
prelude to the great and bloody wars which, with several interruptions,
were carried on by Charlemagne from 772 till 803. During these wars
many thousand Saxons fell in battle, and thousands were put to death
because they refused to adopt Christianity. But they held out to
the last, even after their chief Wittekind had submitted and become a
Christian. The treaty of Selz on the Saale (803) at last terminated.
the war the Saxons agreed to become Christians, and were put on a
footing of equality with the Franks. Henceforth their history forms.
a part of that of the Carlovingian empire. To diffuse a knowledge of
Christianity among them, and to establish the new religion more
firmly, Charlemagne founded seven bishoprics, and from the places he
see the extent of country which they then occupied. The seats of the
bishops were Osnabrück, Verden, Bremen, Paderborn, Minden, Hildes-
heim, and Münster.
SBIRRI, the name of a police force which existed in the Papal and
other Italian states. They were not a military corps; they wore no
uniform, and lived in their own houses; they received a small pay, and
were furnished with arms. They were ready at any time of the day
or night to rally at the summons of their captain, who was styled
Bargello, for the purpose of tracing and arresting bad characters or
suspected persons. Parties of them went their rounds in the towns at
night. The Sbirri acted also as informers, and assumed various dis-
guises for the purpose. They were placed under the orders of the
respective governors of the towns and districts. This body of men fell
at last into great disrepute: they were open to bribery, and often had
a secret understanding with robbers and assassins. They were
recruited from among bad characters, respited criminals, &c. In 1809
they were abolished in almost every part of Italy, and replaced by the
Carabinieri, a regular military body, like the French gendarmes, who
are found much more effective and trustworthy. Sbirri, however, are
still employed in most of the Italian states, but generally under a
materially improved institution.
SCABIES. [ITCH.]
Archbishop Wulfstan, better known by the name of Lupus, was a
voluminous writer of homilies. He was translated from Worcester to
York in 1002, and must be carefully distinguished from the Saint
Wulfstan already mentioned. A still more celebrated divine was
Elfric, the great champion who led the English church in its re-appointed as the seats for these new ecclesiastical dignities, we may
sistance to the Romish innovations of the 11th century. As might
have been expected, his authority was appealed to, and with powerful
effect, by the friends of the Reformation. One of Archbishop Parker's
works is entitled 'A Testimony of Antiquity, showing the ancient
Faith of the Church of England, &c., being a Sermon translated out of
Latin into English by Elfric, abbot of St. Alban's,' &c. It required
all the exertions of the new theological school founded by Lanfranc
and Anselm to keep under the principles so deeply sown by Elfric.
We will close this notice of Saxon literature by observing that the
influence it has exercised upon the modern literature of the country
has been much underrated. Without maintaining, as some authors
have done, that Milton diligently studied Cadmon, yet we do not fear
to assert that some favourite images, and even certain terms of expres-
sion, may be traced through our literature, century after century,
from the pages of the Saxon scop to those of Spenser and of Shakspere.
The mistaken criticism which some of these have called forth might
afford matter for instructive comment; and serve in some measure to
teach us the value of a literature which has been so much neglected.
SAXONS is the name of a branch of the German nation. Their
name is derived by some from that of the Saces on the Indus, by
others from sex, a weapon, probably of the nature of a stone axe, and
by others it is traced to the work sassen, that is 'settled,' in contra-
distinction from those German tribes who led a sort of nomadic
life. The earliest writers who mention the Saxons describe them
as neighbours of the Danes, south of the Cimbrian Chersonesus.
(Geograph. Ravennas,' iv. 17.) Ptolemæus also speaks of the islands
of the Saxons, which were probably the modern islands of Eiderstedt,
Nordstrand, Wicking Harde, and Böking Harde. Orosius (vii. 32)
Orosius (vii. 32)
says that they inhabited a marshy country which was almost inacces-
sible to strangers. Towards the south-west they seem at first not to
have extended beyond the Elbe. Tacitus, though he speaks of the
Angli and Varini, who must have been close neighbours to the
Saxons, does not mention them.
The similarity of their language to that of the Persians and ancient
Indians affords reason for believing that the Saxons were of eastern
origin; but how and when they came to occupy the north-western
extremity of Germany, are questions which history cannot answer.
Thus much only is certain, that at first they occupied a great part of
the country between the Elbe and the Cimbrian Chersonesus; but
when, during the migration of the barbarians, the neighbouring tribes
changed their countries and migrated towards the south, the Saxons
likewise began to extend in the same direction, and at last we find
them occupying the country between the Elbe, the Rhine, the Lippe,
and the German Ocean. This extensive tract of land is called by
Anglo-Saxon writers Old Saxony, to distinguish it from New Saxony,
or England.
In the 3rd century the Saxons often landed on the coasts of England
and France, and ravaged the maritime districts; but about the middle
of the 5th century (449) a large body of Saxons and Angles established
permanent settlements in this island. The Angles, however, seem to
have prevailed in numbers or influence, for it was they that gave
the name to their new country, Angel-land, Anglia (England), though
it was sometimes called Saxonia Transmarina. The name Anglo-
Saxons, which comprises both Angles and Saxons [ANGLES and
ENGLAND, in GEOG. DIV.] was invented by later historians for the
sake of convenience. The history of the Saxons, who settled in
England, and here, together with the Angles, became the origin of a
new population, henceforth forms part of the history of England.
Those Saxons who remained in Germany conquered, about 530,
conjointly with the Franks, the northern part of Thuringia as far as
the little river Unstrut, but soon after gave up the eastern part of their
conquest to a Slavonic tribe. The southernmost of the Saxons, about
550, became tributary to the Franks, to whom they paid an annual
tribute of 500 cows. In proportion as the Saxons advanced towards
the interior of Germany, and became better acquainted with the
advantages of agriculture and the breeding of cattle, they gradually
abandoned their former piratical mode of living, but remained never-
theless a spirited and warlike people.
Towards the close of the 7th century we find the Saxons divided
into three great tribes, namely, the Ostfali on the western side of
the Elbe, the Westfali in the country between the Rhine, Lippe,
and Ems, and the Engeri in the centre, between the two former
|
*
SCAFFOLDING. A temporary wooden structure, by means of
which the workmen employed in erecting the framework of a building
are enabled to place the various materials in their definitive positions.
Scaffoldings are either supported wholly, or in part, by the buildings to
which they are attached; or they are made totally independent of those
buildings, with points of support upon the ground. Sometimes the
machinery for hoisting the building materials is placed upon the
independent scaffoldings; at others, it is placed on the walls, or at the
foot of the structure, or again, the materials may be carried up inclined
roads formed in the scaffolding.
—
When scaffoldings are supported by the buildings they are designed
to serve, they are usually formed by inserting cross-bearers in the
walls (if the latter should be of a con-
siderable thickness, and at some distance
apart), which cross bearers project beyond
the faces of the wall for a sufficient dis-
tance to allow the construction of a gang-
way for the workmen, and the extremities
are strengthened by means of inclined
struts. These cross-bearers are placed
about 5 feet apart, horizontally; and in
rows, vertically, about 6 feet apart; and
upon them boards of 14 or 14 inches in thickness are laid. Holes are
left in the walls to receive the bearers, or putlogs, as they are called,
and the feet of the struts are clipped by vertical ties, which clip
also the putlogs, and thus form a complete frame acting on both
sides of the wall; the whole of this framing is removed on the com-
pletion of the work, and the putlog-holes are filled in. When the
walls are close together, the putlogs bear upon them without any
struts, but the scaffolding in such cases rarely goes beyond the external
face of the wall, so that the workmen are obliged to lay the materials
"overhand." Chimney shafts are built in this manner, without framed
scaffolding; many of the keeps of medieval castles were built by means
of framed projecting trusses; and in Viollet le Duc's 'Dictionnaire
Raisonné de l'Architecture Française,' some curious illustrations of the
manner in which the medieval architects combined in the same
scaffolding the functions of a working stage, and of an inclined road,
will be found.
The ordinary scaffoldings used in the south of England, which are
partially independent of the buildings, are composed of poles fixed in
the ground at distances of about 9 feet from centre to centre; these
poles are called the standards, and they are tied together by horizontal
poles, or ledgers, at distances of about 6 feet vertically, as well as by
raking braces. Upon the ledgers putlogs are laid at distances of about
4 or 5 feet, and with clear bearings, between the wall and the outer
ledger, of from 3 feet 6 inches to 5 feet. The boards are laid upon
the putlogs. Both the putlogs and boards are left loose, in order to
allow materials to be hoisted without difficulty; but the standards,
ledgers, and braces are firmly bound together by cords and wedges;
nails or screws being, it is to be observed, rarely used in the construc-

$09
810
SCAGLIOLA.
SCALE.
'
porphyry, verde antico, giallo antico, &c. be successfully imitated but
any combination of colours may be produced; for instance, purple, or
emerald green, streaked with gold, Siena veined with purple, or any
other splendid caprice that fancy may dictate.
SCALD. [BURNS AND SCALDS.]
SCALD, properly SKA'LLD, is an ancient Scandinavian word which
signifies poet, as skálldmär or skálldkona signifies a poetess. The name
is, therefore, sometimes applied to the Scandinavian poets in general;
but it belonged more especially to that class of poets who celebrated in
their songs the exploits of heroes. The Scalds were thus not merely
poets, but also the historians of their nation. When Snorri Sturluson,
the last and most celebrated of the Scalds (1178-1241), states that
the Scalds indeed always praised their contemporary heroes most, but
never attributed to them any fictitious deed, we must infer that the
creative powers of these poets had no scope, at least as far as contem-
poraneous history was concerned. The form and mode of diction
were thus the only parts in which they displayed their poetic powers;
and how they availed themselves of this right is clear from the nume-
rous specimens of Scaldic poetry still extant: they are full of the
boldest and most extraordinary imagery, whence they are frequently
very obscure and almost unintelligible.
Scaldic poetry is almost the only source from which we derive our
able portion of it goes back to the remotest antiquity, and contains
only mythological legends; while another portion, in the form of
poetry, contains historical accounts of contemporary events. Such
poetical histories, very different from the rhymed chronicles of other
nations, continued to be written down to the middle of the 13th
century. The Scalds were generally in the service of a chief or king,
whom they accompanied on his expeditions in the capacity of historio-
graphers; and it was the pride of the chieftains to obtain such Scalds
as possessed most ability and learning. Their services were richly
rewarded by the heroes whose praise they sang.
tion of scaffolding. It is customary to strengthen some portions of the
scaffolds thus formed, in order to provide for the reception of the
hoisting machinery when stonework is used in conjunction with
bricks; but of late years the scaffoldings of buildings in which stone
is largely employed have been executed with framed baulk timber and
constitute structures of great solidity. Detailed accounts of scaffolds
of this description are to be found in the Transactions of the Institu-
tion of Civil Engineers,' in the 'Builder,' in the 'Nouvelles Annales
de Construction,' in the "Annales des Ponts et Chaussées,' &c., in
Rondelet's 'Art de Batir,' Kraft's 'l'Art de la Charpente,' Perronnet's
'Nouvelle Architecture Hydraulique,' Fontana's Templum Vatica-
num,' &c. Descriptions of scaffoldings which have been made to serve at
the same time as centres, or supports for parts of the work of the
permanent structure, are to be found in those works. In Foster's
Bauzeitung' for 1854 there is a very good account of the suspended
scaffolding used in the reconstruction of the Pont Neuf, to which it is
desirable to call attention. See also Emy's' Traité de la Charpenterie.'
The scaffoldings which are erected independently of the buildings,
throughout, are in point of fact timber structures of a very elaborate
description, and they have to resist not only the various actions pro-
duced by the movements of the materials and of the workmen, but
also those produced by the wind, acting as the latter frequently does
with a great leverage. It becomes essential, under these circum-knowledge of the ancient history of the north of Europe. A consider-
stances, to frame and brace the whole system with extreme care; and,
should the scaffolding have to remain a long time in place, precautions
must be taken to guard against any decay of the wood. This, of
course, would be the most likely to commence in the portions of the
scaffolding built into the ground, or in those directly exposed to the
action of the rain; the scarf or tenon joints also are very likely in
these structures, which always have a degree of flexibility, to give
access to the atmospheric moisture, and thus to rot. It is only in
buildings of the greatest importance, or of a very peculiar nature,
that scaffoldings entirely independent of the walls are used; for their
construction really requires the erection of a timber frame on each
side of the wall, and is consequently a very costly operation. The
scaffolds used for raising the obelisks of Luxor, and in the Piazza in
front of St. Peter's at Rome, are amongst the most remarkable works
of this kind yet executed. See Fontana and Emy.
SCAGLIOLA (from the Italian scaglia, a scale or shell) is an in-
crustation of artificial composition which is applied to columns, and
produces the most perfect imitation of marble, from which it can
hardly be distinguished either by the eye or the touch, as it takes an
equally high polish and feels equally hard and cold. Scagliola has long
been in use in Italy, where, according to Lanzi, it was invented by
Guido Fassi of Carpi (1584-1649), and where it was afterwards much
used for Florentine or inlay-work of the kind called a commesso. It
was not introduced into this country before the latter half of the last
century, and the earliest application of it was in the columns of the
Pantheon in Oxford-street, London, built by James Wyatt. Since
that time, it has been brought into more general use, the manufacture of
it has been considerably improved, and it can be executed at a com-
paratively moderate cost. In fact, it has to a great extent superseded
the use of coloured marbles for columns and other interior decorations.
It is far less costly than any kind of variegated marble, though too
expensive to be brought into ordinary use on every occasion, and it
answers the purpose of the real material not only as regards appearance
and effect, but durability also, since it will last quite as long as any
other part of the interior of a building. There is besides the advan-
tage attending it, that columns incrusted with scagliola may be made of
wood and hollow, or else filled with a plaster core, and consequently do
not require that support in the floor beneath them, which would be
necessary if solid marble shafts were employed; or if required to
support a bearing above them, the columns may be of brick or ordinary
stone, and afterwards coated with scagliola. Nor is the use of this
composition confined to columns and pilasters only, for it may be and
indeed is applied to other ornamental purposes, for table-slabs, pedestal-
stands, dados of rooms, borders of floors, &c.
The composition or cement itself is prepared from the purest
gypsum, which is first broken into small pieces, and after being
calcined is reduced to powder. It is then passed through a fine sieve,
and mixed with Flanders glue, isinglass, &c. In this state it is mixed
up with colouring matter of the hue required; and as it is generally em-
ployed for the initation of variegated or veined marbles (all coloured
ones being more or less so), as many different colours and shades of
the same colour must be mixed up separately as there are in the kind
of marble to be imitated. Thus prepared, the composition is applied
to columns or other surface intended to receive it, and which has a
rough coating of lime and hair. The different colours are laid on and
mixed by the workman, and consequently much depends upon his skill
and taste in regard to the exactness of the imitation or the beauty of
the veining and streaking, which is done in the floating, as it is termed,
or laying on the cement. The next operation is to prepare the surface
for polishing, by rubbing it with pumice-stone and cleansing it with a
The polish is then given by rubbing it again, first with |
tripoli and charcoal on a piece of fine linen, secondly with felt dipped
in tripoli and oil, and lastly with oil alone. By this means a durable lustre
is obtained equal to that of the finest and most highly polished marble.
By means of scagliola, not only may the costliest and rarest stones,
wet sponge.
We still possess a very long list of Scalds, among whom are persons
of the highest rank, and even kings. The most distinguished, how-
ever, were those of Iceland, and it is to these that we are indebted for
the collection of ancient poetical traditions known under the name of
the Eddas. Those which are more historical are known as Sagas,
though in many cases these are mythical or legendary, as in the saga
of Ragnar Lodbrok, and the 'Heldensage von Völund' (our Wayland
Smith). Between the time when the death-song of Ragnar Lodbrok
was composed (about the end of the 8th century) and that of SNORRI
STURLUSON [BIOG. DIV., where, by mistake, it is printed STURULSON],
we have the names of upwards of two hundred Scalds, of whom the
more eminent were, Egil Skallagrimson, who wrote in praise of Erik
Blödaxe, king of Norway; Einar Skaloglam, on the deeds of Hakon
Jarl; Eynind Skaldaspillar, one of the best of the race, whose
'Harkinamal' is also an eulogism on Hakon; Olaf Hvitaskald, said to
be the author of a part of the prose 'Edda;' and Sturla Thordarson,
the writer of the Rafnsmal;' but none of them possess the vigour
and freshness of the earlier productions, though sufficiently curious as
presenting pictures of the life and manners of the times. With the
introduction of Christianity the poetic power was devoted to the cele-
bration of saints and miracles, and the zeal of the priests succeeded
not only in suppressing the inspiration of the poets, but in destroying
the existing specimens, so that only in Iceland, where the priesthood
was selected from the natives, and no foreign influence interfered with
the old national literature, have any relics been preserved. Compare
'Fundgruben des Nordens,' by Legis; John Olafsen, 'Om Nordens
gamle Digtekonst, Grundregler, Versarter, Sprog og Foredrags mode,”
Copenhagen, 1786; and the article SNORRI STURULSON, in BIOG.
DIV.
SCALE (Mathematics). A scale is any line drawn upon wood or
other solid substance, and divided into parts, equal or unequal, the
lengths of which may be taken off by the compasses, and transferred
to paper, in aid of any geometrical construction. The manner in which
the scale is divided depends of course upon the nature of the alge-
braical or trigonometrical expression the values of which are to be
represented. When the subdivisions of a scale are equal, any of the
methods noticed in GRADUATION may be employed to obtain them;
but in other cases, and indeed in the preceding one, it is usual to forni
scales by copying from an original which is carefully made in the first
instance.
The most simple of all scales is that in which the subdivisions are
all equal, or, as it is called, a scale of equal parts. Such a scale is not
only the most easily constructed, but may be considered as containing
all other scales. For example, suppose it required to lay down very
accurately an angle of 25. It appears [CHORD] that if the radius
contain 500 equal parts, the chord of 25° contains 216 such parts and
ths of a part. With a good scale of equal parts, and 500 of them
taken as a radius, the angle may be laid down, if required, much more
correctly than by a common scale of chords. [PROTRACTOR.] The
largest table of chords which is laid down on common scales has a
radius of 3 inches, the 500th part of which, or about the 167th of an
inch, is a very small length; and it is difficult to trust any scale so far
without verification, except the scale of equal parts. In the latter
species, one part may be tried against another. and any one may for
himself very soon ascertain whether there be any perceptible error.
311
SCALE
In all the most accurate species of drawing, it is better to rely on
tables and a really good scale of equal parts than on any of the common
scales, though the latter are generally very good, and will do abundantly
well for ordinary purposes.
Long scales of equal parts are made with different subdivisions,
ranging from the 30th part of an inch to the 50th. If the substance
of the scale be ivory, an inch will very well bear division into 60 parts,
but 50 is more convenient for decimal calculation. A common ivory
scale, of a rectangular form, such as is usually found in cases of
drawing-instruments, if it have no trigonometrical lines laid down,
usually contains the following scales of equal parts :-
1. The quarter of an inch divided into 10 equal parts, each of which is
again subdivided into 10 equal parts by a DIAGONAL SCALE. There are
commonly two diagonal scales, one at each end of the scale of quarters,
the one on the left dividing the 8th of an inch into 100 parts, and the
one on the right the quarter. It will easily be seen that the 400th of
an inch is a uselessly small quantity, even when the lines are drawn on
ivory.
2. A set of scales in which the inch is severally divided into 30, 35,
40, 45, 50, and 60 equal parts: 10 of these parts make, in each case,
one of the larger subdivisions of the scale, and one larger division is
also divided into 12 equal parts; so that, when the larger division is
made to represent a foot, feet and inches may be easily laid down.
3. A set of scales in which the larger divisions are,,,,,,,
and of an inch. The larger division is, as before, divided both into
10 and 12 parts.
When trigonometrical lines are laid down they are usually one or
two scales of chords, the radius of each of which is found by its chord
of 60 degrees; a scale of rumbs, which is nothing more than a scale of
chords, the angular unit being, not a degree, but a point of the
compass; a scale of sines, with one of secants sometimes added; a
scale of tangents, and of semitangents, the latter being really the same
scale as the former, but marked with double angles, semitangent being
a technical term, not for the half of a tangent, but for the tangent of
half an angle. We shall have something more to say of these lines
under SECTOR. In Gunter's scale, as it is called, which is a scale of
2 feet in length, used in navigation, there are also scales of logarithms,
of numbers, sines, tangents, &c., and also a scale of meridional parts
[RUMB LINE]; of these logarithmic scales we shall have to speak more
particularly under SLIDING RULE.
SCALE (Music). A great deal has been written on this subject,
by mathematicians, by musicians, and by those who combine both
characters; but, from various circumstances, hardly anything which is
accessible to the young arithmetician wishing for something which
may really be a help to him in his musical studies. The Greek scale
[MUSIC; TETRACHORD], the only fruitless subject of inquiry out of all
that is Greek, has exhausted the learning, science, and ingenuity of
the best writers, with no result but this, that over-refinements of
theory are found either to have hindered practical excellence, or to
have arisen out of the want of it; most likely the latter. The learning
however which it was necessary to apply to the explanation of the
Greek writers, has made it usual to write on this subject more pro-
foundly than on others of the same difficulty: it is our object in the
present article to explain the musical scale, if possible, more simply,
and in its simplest parts: leaving to the article TEMPERAMENT such
considerations as, arising out of the present article, are required by
those who would understand the higher practical details of the
subject.
The object of music being to please the ear, or the mind through
the ear, there is no test of excellence nor criterion of fitness, in any one
detail, except the opinion of the best judges. This seems to assume
the question, for the best judges can only be described as those who
best know what is good music. This circle cannot be avoided, either
in speaking of music or any other of the fine arts; to taste we must
appeal, but not to the taste of every one. All we have here to do with
this is to remark, that the mathematical considerations employed in an
article like the present are not to be considered as placing the musical
scale upon a mathematical basis, but simply as showing that there is
something like an explanation of those rules which derive their
authority, not from the mathematical system which embodies them,
but from the sanction of the majority of cultivated cars. Those things
which are agreeable in practice are found to be in certain mathema-
tical relations to one another which make the theory of the musical
scale simple and interesting: but had it been otherwise, we should
have left mathematical simplicity, and preferred a more pleasing
complexity.
The sounds which are agreeable to the ear are found to be those
which are the consequence of vibrations of equal duration following
one another: and the pitch of the note depends on the rapidity of
vibration only. [ACOUSTICS.] The note called A, for instance, sounded
at the same time on a harp, a flute, and a horn, presents three different
characters, three different intensities, but only one species of vibration
as to the time of lasting. If the first instrument communicate 430
vibrations in a second to the air, so docs the second instrument, and
also the third. With the difference of intensity or loudness, and with
the difference of character, the twang of the harp, or the tone of the
horn, we have nothing to do in considering the place of the note they
sound in the scalo; a cultivated car discovers that they sound the
SCALE.
312
same note, and a mathematician knows that they severally communi-
cate to the air the same number of vibrations per second.
*
Let us then suppose a string to be mounted, and stretched at both
ends, or, better still perhaps, suspended vertically by one end, and
bearing a weight at the other. If this string be then set in vibration
by the finger or by the bow of a violin, a musical (that is, a pleasant)
sound is produced, if the string be not too long, nor stretched by too
small a weight. With the phenomena of vibration, as connected with
the length, material, and stretching weight of the string, we have here
nothing to do [CORD] except to remark,-1, That the ear observes that,
material and tension remaining the same, the longer the string the
lower the tone, and vice verså. 2, That the mathematician knows
that, cæteris paribus, the longer the string the fewer the number of
vibrations in a given time, in inverse proportion to the length. Thus
if a certain string, stretched by a certain weight, give 100 vibrations
per second, a string of half the length, stretched by the same weight,
will give 200 vibrations per second. If a vibration mean a double
motion of the string, once backwards and once forwards, the effects
begin to be musical soon after the string is short enough, or stretched
enough, to give 30 vibrations per second.
The number of musical tones is, theoretically, infinite: that is,
between any two tones as many different tones as we please can be
interposed, no one of which is so high as the higher, nor so low as the
lower. Highness and lowness of tone are terms which are purely
relative, and refer to an effect upon the ear which does not admit of
definition; common terms usually distinguish only extreme cases;
thus, a tone disagreeably high is a squeak, and one disagreeably low is
a growl. There is no absolute reason why we should call the former
high and the latter low, rather than the contrary; and in fact the
earlier Greeks (naming them after the parts of the throat in which
they thought they were produced) called the squeaking sounds low,
and the growling ones high. But while we endeavour to separate
names from things, we must not forget that there is much which all
men acknowledge of real connexion between the associations which
accompany sounds and those derived from other sensible phenomena.
For instance, it would be impossible to persuade any one, that if light
and darkness were to be imitated by musical tones, the light ought to
be represented by low notes, and the darkness by high notes: and a
composer who should accompany words expressive of transition from
darkness to light by a marked descent from the higher part of the
scale to the lower, would be thought to mean irony or burlesque. No
satisfactory explanation has ever come to our knowledge as to what
associations are awakened by the lower notes of the scale which con-
nect them with darkness; but that this connexion does exist is
certain.
Taking such a string or monochord (single string) as above described,
it is immediately found that any alteration of its length produces some
alteration of the tone. If the change be very slight, a dull`or
unpractised ear may not readily perceive it; but let the alteration be
carried alittle further, and there can be no difficulty. Such tones,
near to one another, when sounded together, have a disagreeable and
jarring effect, accompanied by beats [ACOUSTICS]; but when the
second string has been considerably shortened (say that this is done
gradually), the disagreeable effect ceases almost at once, and at the
moment when the shortened string is to the longer one as five to six.
Two sounds are then heard which harmonise together, and on their
joint effect the ear dwells with pleasure until it becomes monotonous
(this very common word is itself derived, as to its common significa-
tion here used, from the wearying effect of the same tone, or set of
tones, long continued). In the mean while, and during the shortening
of the string, the joint effect, though always disagreeable, is not
equally so throughout; and there is one place in particular where the
effect; though not agreeable to the beginner, is bearable for a little
while, and highly agreeable to the practised ear, which knows that
full compensation is at hand in what is called the resolution of the
discord, or transition to a more harmonious combination in a manner
which seems peculiarly natural. This intermediate and more tolerable
phase of sound takes place when the shortened string is to the other
as eight to nine. Moreover, it may be observed that this last com-
bination, hardly bearable, is rendered perfectly so if the two tones,
instead of being sounded together, are made to follow each other in
succession, no matter how rapidly. In both these cases the student
will observe that the proportion of the lengths of the strings is that of
some small numbers, five to six, and eight to nine. And it is matter
of experiment, that the more simple the proportions of the lengths of
two strings (stretched by the same weight), the more useful the com-
bination in music-it is usual to say, the more agreeable sounded by
itself; but to this we cannot subscribe, as we believe that to most
ears the more complicated combination of a third (presently to be
described) is more agreeable than the less complicated one of a fifth.
Instead of speaking of the lengths of the strings, we may pass to
the relative numbers of vibrations in a second, which are inversely as
the lengths. Thus, two strings of ten and seven feet, stretched by the
Woolhouse On Musical Intervals,' p. 64. The author repeated the experi-
ments of Fischer [Acoustics] and found a monochord thus constructed better
than the common one for the purpose. His result was that A (the second space
of the treble clef) made 424 vibrations in one second.
313
314
SCALE.
SCALE.
same weight, vibrate so that the one of ten feet makes seven vibrations
while that of seven feet makes ten.
We now proceed to consider the most simple combinations; and
first, that of two to one. Let the second string be half the first, or
make two vibrations while the first makes one: there is then not only
a joint effect which is agreeable, but a peculiar sameness of the two
notes, insomuch that two instruments made to play together in such
manner that the notes of the second shall always be of twice as many
vibrations as the simultaneous notes of the first, would be universally
admitted to be playing the same air, with no more difference than of
that sort which is heard when a man and a boy attempt to sing the
same air together. This perfect sameness, for so it will be called,
though the two instruments never sound the same tone together,
admits of no explanation; for though the ratio of the simultaneous
vibrations is the simplest possible (two to one), there is no perceptible
reason why, because simple ratios generally give harmonious com-
binations, the most simple of all should produce an absolute feeling of
identity of character in the two tones. To this circumstance however
we owe the most material simplification of the musical scale; for let
it be settled, for instance, what strings give agreeable notes between
those of 20 and 10 feet long, and division by two will give all the
strings which can be admitted between those of 10 and 5 feet; thus,
if it be proper to admit a string of eight feet in the former set, one of
four feet must also take its place in the latter.
Again, it is observed that the relative effect of two tones is always
the same as those of other two, when the numbers of vibrations made
in a given time in the first pair are in the same proportion as the corre-
sponding numbers in the second pair. Thus, suppose that in a given
time the numbers of vibrations made by four strings are 12, 18, 40,
and 60. Then, since we see that
12: 18; : 40: 60 or 12 = 48
we may say that, according as the first and second sounded
together are pleasant or unpleasant, so are the third and fourth; also
if an air beginning on the first string require an immediate transition
to the second, then the same air begun on the third string will require
an immediate transition to the fourth.
A musical interval, then, is given when the fraction which expresses
the proportion of the vibrations of its two notes in a given time is
given. By the interval we mean that of two notes, the higher of
which makes three vibrations while the lower makes two. Thus, if
18, 23, and 30 be the numbers of vibrations made by three strings in
the same time, and we wish to find a fourth note which is as much
above the third as the second is above the first, we must not make a
string of 35 vibrations in the same time (as the beginner might do),
that is, not one of 30+23-18, but one of 30 x 23, or 383 vibrations in
the same time.
Let us now take a string, and call the note sounded by it C, and let
the string of twice as many vibrations (or half its length) have the
same name, with a difference (for the reason above given); call it C¹.
Let us now seek for the simplest fractions which lie between 1 and 2.
Take the numbers up to 6 (the ear does not so well agree with 7 and
all higher prime numbers, why of course cannot be told, but sim-
plicity must end somewhere, and, by the constitution of the ear, ratios
in which 7 and higher primes occur are not agreeable), and form
every fraction out of them which lies between 1 and 2; we have
then-
움
​5 5
31
1, 1, §, 1, (§ = 3), §
Put these down, with 1 and 2, in order of magnitude, and we have
1
$$$spe
2
Take such a set of strings that while the first makes one vibration the
second makes g of a vibration, the third of a vibration, and so on
up to the last, which makes 2 vibrations; or take a set of strings
equally stretched, of which the length of the first being 1, that of the
second is, &c., and of the last. Every one of the notes thus pro-
duced will be agreeable when sounded with the first, and if the first
sound C, the musician will have the following part of the scale before
him in its most natural form :—
C Eb
1
E F G A C1
2
while the second makes §, or the first makes 1 vibration while the
second makes x, or 2. This is much too near to a unison for con-
tinual repetition.
2. That a frequent repetition of sounds too far from each other is
not pleasing to the ear, after a little cultivation. If we look at the
intervals from the fourth to the fifth, and from the fifth to the sixth,
we find and 10 for their representatives, while from the fundamental
៖
note to the minor third, and also from the sixth to the octave, the
interval is g, much larger than the preceding intervals.
Both these defects, as must easily be seen arithmetically, and as the
ear finds out for itself, may be remedied by inserting a note between
C and E in place of Eb, which shall make a better division of the
interval CE, and by placing an additional note between A and C¹.
But how are we to choose these additional notes? If we cannot have
any more very simple consonances with the fundamental note, we
must take those tones which make the simplest consonances with
other notes, and the more they make the better. We have already a
repetition of some consonances; for instance,
Interval F C¹ is 2 =
Interval G C is 23
Interval FA is
6
col* cs/as cd/+
, or a fifth.
, or a fourth.
, or a major third.
151
Now since x, we see that a note, or one which makes 9
below G, and & divides C and E well, the three notes 1,,, giving the
vibrations while the fundamental note C makes 8, will be a fourth
intervals, 10, already found in another part of the scale. This note
is D. Again, observe the interval from E to F, or 18, and take a
fifth above E, orx or 15: this fraction falls between and 2, and
looking at the intervals of, 5, and 2, we find & and 19, both of them
intervals already found. This note 5, or which makes 15 vibrations
while the fundamental note makes 8, is B, and the usual scale of
civilised nations, called the diatonic scale, is now complete in the
following-
C D E F GA
A B
B C¹
15 2
1
5
£ 15
This diatonic scale seems then to be the scale of the simplest con-
cords of the fundamental note, with one alteration on account of the
too great proximity of two concordant notes, and one interpolation on
account of the too great distance of two others. If we examine all
its intervals, we shall find both repetition and variety as follows
(CD standing for the interval from C to D, &c.), some new appel-
lations being added:
CD = F G = AB.
DE GA
BC¹
EF
CEFA = GB
GB
EG
= A C¹
DF
G C²
CF DG = EA = G C¹
= DG
FB
•
CG EBF C
DA
CA DB
E C¹
CB
D C¹
C C¹
(major tone).
10 (minor tone, f of major).
18 (diatonic semitone).
(major third).
(minor third).
(of minor third),
(fourth).
(flattened fifth).*
(fifth).'
(of fifth).
(sixth).
(minor sixth).
(seventh).
16 (flat seventh).†
(octave).
81
We observe here the consonances mentioned before, two inhar-
monious intervals, a new species of consonance (the flat seventh)
standing as it were between the more perfect consonances and the
others, and new varieties of a tone, of a minor third, and of a fifth,
differing from those already described, and flatter by the interval
This interval is called a comma, and though the ear can distinguish
a difference between the tones of two strings, one of which vibrates
81 times while the other vibrates 80, yet the difference is so slight as
to produce no prejudicial effect. With regard to the comparatively
harmonious character of the flat seventh, observe that is very
nearly equal to 3, differing only by the interval o§.
We have also the diatonic semitone, 19, which is incorrectly named,
These intervals have the following names; why, will presently be since, if beginning with 1, we repeat the interval of a semitone twice,
seen,-
coje ela aja
minor third.
major third.
fourth.
fifth.
major sixth.
2 octave or eighth.
We have not yet, however, got a sufficiently agreeable scale, and the
reasons why the ear will not be contented with the preceding most
simple concords, must be derived from observation, from which it
1. That a frequent repetition of sounds very near to one another
is not pleasing to the uncultivated ear. Now the interval from the
minor to the major third is as follows: the first makes g of a vibration
appears-
10
we have 18, or 250, which is very near to , sharper (that is, higher,
as flatter means lower) than a major tone by the interval and than a
minor tone by 39, very nearly.
30
We shall presently resume the diatonic scale, but we now proceed
to mention two varieties of it. It seems to have been offensive to the
ears of rude nations to hear any semitones at all. If we deprive the
diatonic scale of F and B, the notes which make semitones with their
nearest neighbours, we have C, D, E, G, A, C, for all the sounds which
remain in the octave. This unfinished scale, as we should call it, is the
original scale of the Chinese, Avans, Hindus, and Eastern Islands, the
* An inharmonious interval, when the notes are sounded together.
+ Decidedly more harmonious than the seventh,
1
315
SCALE.
northern nations of Europe, &c. It is the well-known scale of the old
Scotch and Irish music; it is said to have been found in Wales and
Cornwall, in various parts of Africa, and even in old Italian music.
The Chinese, who never change, have preserved it in absolute perfec-
tion, though the modern form of most ancient airs in other countries
has been relaxed. We copy the notes of a Chinese air given by
Laborde:-
DCCGAGGCCAGEDCCGAGAACECAGGCCAGECCEDAC
It will be observed that F and B never occur. An almost perfect
specimen of this scale occurs in the Scotch air The Campbells are
coming.' The effect of the scale may be tried by playing ad libitum on
the black keys of a piano-forte.
+
The other scale which we have here to mention is that known by
the name of the minor scale, the common diatonic scale being for
distinction called major. It may easily be observed that the intervals
of the minor third and minor sixth have a sad, or at least plaintive
effect, as compared with the major third and major sixth. No expla-
nation can be given of this: perhaps the effect of musical intervals is
governed in some degree by associations derived from the human voice
in speaking. All persons, except perhaps schoolboys reading what
they do not understand nor care about, are constantly, whether they
know it or not, varying the tone in which they speak, and making
intervals which are very nearly musically correct: and the effect of
sorrow, regret, fatigue, &c., is to make those intervals minor. Any
person of a quick musical ear who will watch the method of saying
the simple words "I cannot," pronounced as a determination of the
will, and compare it with the same when it is an expression of regret
for want of power, will almost always find such an interval as CF or
CG in the first, and C Eb or C¹ A in the second; if this be so, it is
not surprising that a scale in which minor intervals occupy conspicuous
places which in the other scale are occupied by major intervals,
should produce those associations which have been alluded to. This
is a conjecture merely, for after all nature will take the liberty in art,
as in science, of concealing her operations. But this much is certain,
first, that the minor scale is more plaintive than the major, and
secondly, that all musical composers are acquainted with the fact,
¡from the African women who sung of Mungo Park, "Let us pity the
white man, no mother has he to bring him milk, no wife to grind his
corn," up to the composer of 'Der Freischütz,' with all the power of
cultivation and the memory of centuries of art. The change from the
minor to the major scale is perhaps the most effective of musical
resources, certainly the most powerful of those which are easily under-
stood by ears of the ordinary degree of cultivation, Take as an in-
stance the music of the following words from Oberon :—
Oh-Araby,-blest-Ara-by, my own, my native-land,
Methought I-crossed-the dark-blue sea, and touched a-gain-thy strand;
And-there I saw my-father's house, &c.
The intervals with which the voice passes over the hyphens in the first
two lines are minor, but in the third line a modulation is made into a
major scale, and the composer has skilfully taken care to produce a
strong result of the new scale in the first two syllables: the effect of
the change is strikingly appropriate.
we are
What is the minor scale? This question has been differently
answered by different writers on the theory of music, who severally
contend for one or another scale as the true scale. For ourselves,
no believers in true and orthodox scales, or rather we
hold every scale to have that character which has been used by
good composers and approved by good hearers. It seems to have
been thought that because there is one diatonic major scale, by
universal consent, therefore there must be one lawful diatonic
minor scale just as well might it be said, that because the iambic
trimeter is the one metre of Greek tragic dialogue, there must also be
some one other metre, and that one only, in the choruses. Fortunately
however the scholar knows, what the musician ought to know, that no
one metre is dictated by any absolute law of taste, and teaches that
the best tragedians must be the guide, because of the universal approval
which has been conceded to their writings. Taking the same sort of
guide, we find in the writings of musicians (the unknown authors of
national airs, writers of very high authority, included) one major scale
and several minor scales; a thing not more atrociously wrong in itself
than the one metre of dialogue, and the variety of chorus metres, of
the Greeks. And if, moreover, we take the mathematical theory of
the scale, we shall find several with equal claims on the score of sim-
plicity of consonances.
Return to the fundamental note C and its consonances, namely—
C Éb E F G A C1
12
4435 948 5p 2
No 3
Instead of throwing out Eb as too near to E, let it be the latter which
we reject; if we finish this with the D and B of the diatonic scale, we
have what is called the common ascending minor scale, the common-
ness of which we cannot deny upon data, though it strikes us that
others are as common, if not more so.
(1)
C D Eb F G A B CL
ee
15 2
1
45
98
SCALE.
$16
descent, and for the obvious reason that in going from C¹ to C there
is no distinction between this scale and the major scale till we come to
Eb; though in the ascent the minor interval occurs early. To
remedy this, A and B are both lowered a semitone, or the A is made
Ab, a fourth to Eb, and the B is made B, a fifth to Eɓ, which
gives
(2)
C D Eb F G Ab Bb C1
1. 용
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2.Op
and this scale reversed is called the common mode of descending the
minor scale; but as we also find it used in ascending, we put it down
as a second minor scale, both for ascent and descent, observing also
that (1) may be, and is, used in descent. Again, suppose we retain
the B of the original scale, and lower the A, we have then
(3)
F G Ab B C
448 3 ៖
C D
1
Eb
98
15
2
a wild and pleasing scale, both in ascent and descent, and employed
too, in spite of the wide interval between Ab and B. Its harmonies,
technically speaking, are easier and more natural than those of the
common scale, and Schneider (Elements of Harmony') makes it the
principal minor scale, treating all others as incidental deviations: the
English translator of Schneider contends for its absolute truth, and
asks (justly enough) which scale a composer would take who was con-
verting the air of Robin Adair' into the minor key (the original air
having the notes G A B C D E) namely, G A B C D Eb, or G Ab B
C D Eb? There can be no doubt that the latter would be preferable,
but we might add, that if the composer were required to make two
for his
variations in the minor key, he would probably choose scale
other case. The following minor scales are used, and are agreeable :-
(4)
C Db E F G Ab B C
(5)
1
C D
1 ge
5
14-08
5
2
Eb F
G
A
Bb C
48
2
dla ma
alia
Of all these minor keys, we prefer (3). For an instance of the use of
it, take the first part of the air "Charlie is my darling," the notes of
which run thus, C D E F G C¹ G Ab C¹ Ab G C¹, C D Eb F G C¹ D¹ Eb
CDBC'. It is also the scale used in the first two lines of the air
from Oberon, already noticed.
We now come to the extension of the diatonic scale by the inter-
polation of notes between all such notes as are far enough apart to
bear it, which completes what is called the chromatic scale. There
are various ways in which this can be done, and if notes were only
occasionally interposed between those of the diatonic scale, it would
be a subject of comparatively little importance how it was done. But
we must now explain what is meant by different keys in music.
The note C having heen fixed, and the diatonic scale on it, let an air
be composed and written down, say 'Robin Adair.' The consecutive
notes of the first part of this air, played in the key of C, that is, in the
diatonic scale which has C for its fundamental note, are (we have
nothing here to do with the time)
GA B C¹ D¹ E¹, G C¹ A C¹ B D¹ C
Let us now transpose this, as it is said, into the key of F, that is, show
how it is to be played in a diatonic scale having the F of the preceding
scale for its fundamental (or key) note. If all the intervals of the
scale were equal, this would be done by playing as follows :—
CDEFGA, CFDF, EG F
Again, to remove this air into the key of A, or into the diatonic scale
constructed on A, we should write (if the intervals were all equal),
EFGA B C¹, EA FAGB A
If we chose to confound the intervals of a major and minor tone, we
should find the second of these (so it happens) correct, for the intervals
of the original air are (m, minor tone; M, major tone; s, semitone)
m Ms M m (2M+2m+s) (M+m+s) (M+s) (M+s) s (M+s) M, and
those of the second are Mms M m (2 M + 2 ms) (M+m+s) (m+s)
(m+s) s (M+s) M, which are undistinguishable from each other, if M
and m be supposed (as is the fact) too nearly equal to make it worth
while to take account of their difference. But the third is s M m M s
(2 M+2s+m) (M +m+s) (M+m) (M +m) m (m+M) M, which does not
agree with either of the other two, nor can do so, except to an ear
which cannot distinguish s from in or M. To see what intermediate
notes will be wanted, we must construct a diatonic scale on each of the
seven notes, which we shall now do, putting an equivalent to every
note above C¹ or below C into the octave between C and C', by halving
or doubling the fraction which expresses its vibrations. Moreover, we
express the notes in the diatonic scale on D by D, D₁i Diñí Div D, Dvi
Dvii and Dviii; and so on.
Dvii and Dvii; and so on. Also let ¡¡D stand for an octave below Dr,
C stand for the note an octave below C,, and so on, the rule being
that mC and Cn are octaves when m and n together make nine. All
this is well known, if anything of the scale be practically understood.
What we have to do, for instance in forming the diatonic scale on F, is
to take, the representative of F in the diatonic scale of C, and multiply
it successively by 1, 3, 1, &c. Our scales then are as follows, putting
jv
The ear will not very quickly acknowledge this as a minor scale in down under each note gained any note of the original diatonic scale,
י
317
818
SCALE.
SCALE.
or any one of the scales previously formed, from which it differs
insensibly little, removing each note an octave lower when necessary.
B₁b C
Eb F Ꮐ
AGO
D
Eb F G
A
B b
(two flats,
Bb)
Ab Bb C¹
D¹
E¹b
(three flats,
·
Eb)
Db
pp
A₁b Bi C Db Eb F
G
A b
(four flats,
•
Ab)
Eb F
F Gb A b B b
C¹
(five flats,
•
Db)
G b
G¹b
Gb)
Fiv
D vli
Fv
(D)
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(E)
1,D.
D Dii
Diii
Div
Dr
Dri
Dvii
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225
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15
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135
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Dvii
Fiv
In order therefore to make an instrument which shall play in perfect
tune in every one of these diatonic scales, we must have it capable of
sounding the following notes, those of the original diatonic scale, or
very near to them, being in parentheses, and requisite notes of nearly
equal sound being written under one another.
(1) 25
81
(3)
(3) 1/1 (2) 25/3
238
725 (15) (2)
10
With this we might go on ad infinitum; for it might be required to
construct new diatonic scales upon every one of these new notes,
which would introduce more new notes, on which again new diatonic
scales might be produced, and so on. But since the original scale
consists only of major and minor tones (nearly equal) and diatonic
semitones (nearly half-tones), the new notes will very nearly divide the
whole tones into equal parts, a circumstance of which advantage will
presently be taken. In the mean time we proceed to explain, so far as
it can be done, the distinction musicians draw between flats and sharps.
Unfortunately we are unable to make writers on this subject agree
with each other, or with themselves, as to the meaning of these words
in an untempered scale. The conventions under which the names sharp
and flat are used come easily enough, and temperament avowedly
makes small adjustments and accommodations between the several
notes, which cause the sharpened A to be practically the same as the
notes, which cause the sharpened A to be practically the same as the
flattened B, and so on. But what the clear and admitted distinction
of sharp and flat is previously to that adjustment, we wish we could
evoke or provoke some musician to tell us. One word to those who
write on the scale without much mathematical knowledge: get into a
tempered scale as fast as you can, and keep there.
The nomenclature is regulated as follows. The notes A, B, C, D,
E, F, G are preserved in every key; so that if any key contain A and
a note between A and B, the latter is not called A# for then (A A#)
A would occur twice in the scale-but Bb, giving A Bb. Follow this
rule in every one of the scales just given, and we shall find the
following sets of notes in them severally :-
C D E F G *A B C¹
D E F# G A B C# D¹
Name of the Key.
E
F# G# A B
C# D# E
F
G A Bb C
D E FL
G
A B C Ꭰ
E F# G¹
A
L
(natural,
(two sharps,
(four sharps,
(one flat,
(one sharp, G)
(three sharps, A)
B)
(five sharps
C)
D)
•
F# G# A¹
A¹
F# G# A# B¹
B C# D
B C# D# E
That is to say, a diatonic scale on D, for instance, only keeps D, E, G,
A, B, or notes very near to them, of the diatonic scale, and requires
the insertion of notes between F and G and C and D, which the
avoidance of repetition of letters requires us to denote by F# and
C#, and not by Gb or Db. In the preceding keys then, we have five
sharps mentioned (though really seven notes of the kind, two between
C and D, two between F and G, one between each of D'and E, G and
A, A and B) and one flat (between A and B). Where are the other
two sharps? If we construct diatonic scales upon F# and C# we shall
F#)
find
F# G# A# B C D# E# F# (six sharps,
•
•
C# D# E# F# G# A# D# C# (seven sharps, C#)
with not precisely the same notes as before, but very near to them,
excepting two notes which are new; one between E and G (called E#),
and one note between B and C (called B). But on which of the values
of F# and C# in the table are these scales to be constructed, and why?
Again, as to the flats, if we construct diatonic scales on B, and on
cach new flat as it is successively introduced, we shall find that our
nomenclature gives us new keys, as follows:-
A b Bb Cb D¹b E¹b Fl
Cb Db Eb F G b Ab Bb c¹ b
(six flats,
(seven-flats,, Cb)
But if we were actually to proceed to form this scale, beginning from
B2 (10) gained from the preceding process, we should find ourselves
keeping very near the chromatic scale of sharps already obtained, so
that the notes which appear in the preceding as remnants of the
diatonic scale would really be close to the real notes. Let us see, for
intance, what the F would be in the key of Gb :—
Bb, a fourth above F=¹, E¹b, a fourth above Bb ={$.
Eb=3, Ab, a fourth above E = ???•
512
128
3.
D¹b, a fourth above Ab=13, Db = 255.
Gb, a fourth above Db = 102.
243*
F¹ (so called), a seventh above Gb = 1024 × 15 = +8
320
F (so called) = 2, F (really) = †•
Now from 2 to the interval is only §, the comma, which we meet
with so often elsewhere. But we should find different values for the
same flat in the different keys above, just as we have found different
values for the same sharp in the preceding. To show, however, in
how confused a state the natural chromatic scale has been left, we
copy three scales, the first from Wallis (Phil. Trans.,' No, 242, 1698),
the second from La Borde (' Essai sur la Musique ancienne et moderne,
vol. ii. p. 9, A.D. 1780), and the third from Montferrier ('Dict. des Math.,
vol. iii. p. 243, A.D. 1840). All these writers omit the flats, mentioning
only the sharps :—
C C# D D#
1
# 15
45
1
75
1
18
E F
F# G
G# A A# B
#
16
15
29
12 5 5 5
2 ble nje nje
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争
​ના માન
25
་
It has been laid down by some writers that the definition of a
sharp and flat is as follows: when it is necessary to take a note
between, say A and B, that note is called A# when it is nearer to
Let such be the definition; then
A, and Bb when it is nearer to B.
the note which is exactly half way between C and D, being expressed
by(9: 8), is 1.0607, while 19, 5, and 1 are severally 1·0588, 1·0417,
and 1.0667.
C#, according to this definition, while the third ought to be called
The two first only come under the denomination of
D. In fact, this third scale is almost a scale with its semitones,
collected from the minor keys which are found to please the ear,
with a slight alteration and one addition. In (3) Bb is made as a
fourth to F, instead of a fifth to Eb (giving in place of, the
interval of the two being only a comma); let g be taken instead of
Then between F and G insert Gb, a minor third to Eb (giving
Take the simplest sharps from the diatonic scales herein before
found, and, putting all the results together, we shall have the follow-
ing, which, if a complete untempered ENHARMONIC scale is to be
10
16
given, will, we believe, be as defensible as any. The sharps are all
derived from the diatonic major scale, the flats from minor scales.
than the flat of the following, though the former and the latter are
made by the usual minor intervals; the sharp of each note is lower
not always in different halves of the interval:—
5
C C# Db D D# E E F F# Gb G G# Ab A A‡ Bb. В C
B
1 22 18 8 7 9 ÷ ÷ 33 49 2 13 # # 225 8 15 2
The enharmonic intervals of this scale are as follows:—
or
C# D=1•024, D# Eb=1·024, F# Gb=1·024, G# Ab=1·024, A#Bb=1·024:
so that this enharmonic interval will be in every instance,
1.024. This circumstance was not looked for in the formation of the
scale, and it is thus seen that if the sharps be derived from the
major diatonic scales of the different notes in the fundamental
diatonic scale, and the flats solely from the minor scales which have
been judged admissible, the result is an enharmonic scale in which
the enharmonic interval is everywhere the same, namely, the interval
by which three major thirds fall short of an octave.
We :
If an instrument could give all the above sounds, the same music
We
played in different keys would have slightly different effects.
remember to have seen a statement of the supposed characters of
the different keys, which would be useless here, on account of its
not describing the scale which was supposed to be the basis.
might suppose beforehand that of two keys, the one in which some
prominent consonances are a little flatter than in the other, would
partake, in a slight degree more than the other, of the plaintive cha-
racter which distinguishes the minor keys. But, in the first place,
instruments in general, and particularly the piano-forte, on which the
greater part of music first comes into existence, have not two notes
interposed between each note of the diatonic scale, but one only, which
must serve both to sharpen the lower, and flatten the higher. Next,
the preceding scale would be found not very tolerable in some keys,
particularly if laid down on an organ, Some TEMPERAMENT, that is,
00.00
51 68.07
2
12.00
52 68.40
19.02
4 24.00
53 68.73
54
5 27.86 55 69.38
6 31.02
101 79.90
102 80.07
103 80.24
69.06
104 80.40
105 80.57
56 69.69
106 80.73
8
9
12
13
14
15
33.69 57 70·00
36.00 58 70.30
38.04
10
39.86 60 70.88
11 41.51 61 71.17
43.02 62 71.45
41.40 63 71.73
45.69 64 72.00
46.88
16 48.00
107 80.90
108 81.06
59 70-59
109 81.22
110 81.38
111 81.53
112 81.69
113 81.84
114 82.00
65 72.27
115 82.16
66 72.53
116 82.30
17 49.05
67 72-79
117 82.44
18
19
20
222 CI
♡ ♡
50.04
50.98
51.86 70 73.55
21 52.71
71
73.80
22 53.51 72 74.04
23 54.28 73 74.27
24 55.02 74 74.51
25 55.73 75 74.74
26 56.40 76 74.98
27 57.06 77 75.20
28 57.69 78 75.42
29 58.30 79
30
68 73.05
118 82.59
69 73.30
119 82.74
120 82.88
121 83.02
122 83.17
123 83.31
124 83.45
151 86-86 201 91-81
152 86.98 202 91.90
153 87.09 203 91.99
154 87.20 204 92.07
155 87.31 205 92.15
156 87.42
206 92.24
157 87.54 207 92.32
158 $7.65 208 92.40
159 87.75 209 92.49
160 87.86 210 92.57
161 87.97 211 92.65
162 88.08 212 92.73
163 88.18 213 92.82
164 88.29
165 88.40
166 88.50
167 88.60
168 88.70
169 88.80
170 88.91
171 89.02
172 89.12
173 89.22
214 92.90
215 92.98
216 93.06
£19
SCALE.
mutual accommodation of notes to each other, would be necessary,
and though we defer to a separate article the account of the systems
which prevail, or have been proposed, it will be desirable here to lay
the mathematical foundation of the subject, which is easy enough to
one who can use logarithms. The following table will be necessary,
which we proceed to explain :-
193
SCALE.
820
log blog a mean semitones below, the fundamental note, according as
a is greater than b, or b greater than a.
Example 1. What is the value of a comma in mean semitones ?
Log 81-log 80 is 76-08-75·8622, and the answer is, that the
comma is 22-hundredths, or something less than a quarter, of a mean
semitone. Raising a note by a comma four times successively would
not raise it quite a semitone.
Example 2. What is the enharmonic interval above obtained, in
mean semitones? Log 128-log 125=84.00-83.59-41, or about
four-tenths of a mean semitone. This shows that an untempered
enharmonic scale, such as that proposed, if bearable when the sharps
and flats are only incidental deviations, would never do for any other
key except the natural one.
The following is the complete basis above given, of the enharmonic
scale, with all the intervals, measured from the fundamental note,
expressed in mean semitones; it shows how much alteration a system
of mean temperament would require it being remembered that
although some few instruments have been made which give more than
twelve different notes in the octave, this is so unusual a circumstance
that it is not worth while to dwell upon it :-
:

•41
217 93.14
218 93.22
Q
1
00.00
.71
219 93.29
220 93.38
221 93.45
222 93.53
Db
D
223 93.61
174 89.32
125 83.59
175 89.41
126 83.73
176 89.51
127 83.86
177 89.61
128 84.00
178 89.71
75.65
129 84.14
58.88 80 75.86
31 59.45 81 76-08
32 €0.00 82 76.29
33 60.53 83 76.50
34 61.05 84
35 61.55
130 84.27
131 81.40
179 89.81
180 89.90
181 90.00
224 93.69
225 93.76
226 93.84
227 93.92
228 94.00
229 94-07
230 94.15
231
昔​昔​昔​骨
​1.
Gb
6.31
•71
00.71
G
24
•41
2
1.12
15
25
G#
.92
2.01
-70
Ab
sole will
7.02
•71
7.73
16
*41
8.14
•70
D#
વળ
2.74
A
8.S4
•42
*92
Eb
3.16
A#
225
9.76
•70
128
42
A K
E
3.86
Bb
1.12
៖
F
F#
4.98
B
⚫92
5.90
C
9/10 2010 2
10.18
⚫70
10.88
1.12
12.00
94.22
132 84.53
182 90.09
232
94.30
133 84.67
183 90.19
233
94.37
76.71
85 -76.91
134 81.79
184 90.28
234
135 84.92
36 62.04
86 77.12
136 85.05
37 62.51 87 77.32
38
62.98
39 63.42
40 63.86
41 64.29
42 64-71
43 65.12
44 65.51
45 65.90 95 78.84
46 66.28 96 79.02
47 66.66
79.20
97
48 67.02 98 79-38
49 67.38 99 79.55
50 67.73 100 79.73
137 85-18
88 77-51
138 85.30
89 77.71
139 85.43
90 77.90
140 85.55
91 78.09
141 85.68
92 78.28
142 85.80
93 78.47
94 78.66
143 85.92
141 86.04
145 86.16
146 86.28
147 86.40
148 86-51
185 90.37
186 90.47
187 90.56
188 90.66
189 90.75
190 90.84
191 90.93
192 91.02
193 91.11
194 91.20
195 91.29
196 91.38
197 91.47
198 91.55
149 86.63
150 86.74
199 91.64
200 91.73
α
91.44
235 94.52
236 94.59
237 94.67
238
94.74
239 94.81
240 94.88
241 94.95
242 95.02
243 95.10
244 95.17
245 95.21
246 95.31
247 95.38
24S 95.45
249 95.52
250 95.59
The first column gives the name of the note; the second, the ratio
of its number of vibrations per second to those of the fundamental
note; the third, the interval from the fundamental note in mean semi-
tones; the fourth, the interval between each consecutive pair of notes.
The small variations observable in the last column arise from imper-
fection of the table (every table must be imperfect in its last figures);
and we see four intervals in it, namely, the old diatonic semitone 1.12,
the major and minor chromatic semitones (as we will call them) ·92 and
•71, and the enharmonic interval (or enharmonic diesis, as it is called)
41. And the major tone is in every instance
maj. chrom. semit. + min. do. + enh. int.
while the minor tone is
2 min. semit. + enh. int.
If we confound the major and minor tone (and to distinguish them
is the ultima Thule of temperament), we must take a mean value, and'
substitute it both for the major and minor chromatic semitone. The
mean tone is 1.9, which is to the diatonic semitone nearly as 5 to 3.
The mean chromatic semitone is 81, about of the diatonic semitone,
and the enharmonic interval is its half. This is a well-known system
of temperament (that of Huyghens): the octave being divided into 31
equal parts, five of them are a tone, three a diatonic semitone, two a
chromatic semitone, and one the enharmonic interval. Introduce
E# and Cb, which are omitted in the preceding, and we have the
following for a tempered enharmonic scale, upon which we doubt of
any improvement being practicable, without attempting the distinction
between a major and minor tone:
C C# Db D D# Eb E Fb E# F F# G G G# Ab A A# Bb B Cb B# C
2 1 2 2 1 2 1 1 1 2 1 2 2 1 2 2 1 2 1 1 1
This system, however, is useless, inasmuch as instruments are required
to have only twelve notes in the octave; but we should recommend
the student to bear it in mind, as explaining those enharmonic changes
which in piano-forte music are only fictions. This scale would enable
us to play with equal correctness in all keys up to seven flats among
the flats, and seven sharps among the sharps. Naming these keys by
their principal notes, they are the keys of
Since all intervals are found by multiplication and division, it is
obvious that if for intervals we substitute the logarithms of intervals,
we form logarithms of new intervals by addition and subtraction.
Hitherto, we express a note which makes a vibrations while the fun-
damental note makes 6 vibrations, by; let us now express it by
log a-log b, the logarithm of the preceding. It only remains to see
what system of logarithms it will be most convenient to take. Having
made the octave, or the interval from 1 to 2, consist of twelve semi-
tones (not equal indeed, but nearly so), let us take a new scale, to
which all others shall be referred, and which divides the octave into
12 equal semitones. This is a tempered scale, on the (theoretically)
simplest system of temperament, and it is agreeable enough to the ear
in practice. Let 1 be made the logarithm of the interval of any one
of these mean semitones, then 12 is the logarithm of the interval of an
octave, or we must choose that system of logarithms in which log 2=12.
The preceding is such a table; to the mathematician it would be
described as a system the base of which is 2. But to the musician
it be described as follows: it shows the number of mean semi-
may
tones contained in every HARMONIC of the fundamental note, from the
first to the 250th inclusive. Thus, opposite to 21 we see written 52.71,
which means that the 21st part of a string sounds a note which is 52
mean semitones and 71 or of a mean semitone above the funda-
mental note of the string; or that there are 52.71 mean semitones of
interval between two notes, one of which vibrates in a second 21 times
as often as the other. This interval 71 of a mean semitone is one
which, repeated a hundred times, gives 71 mean semitones. All the
numbers of the table must be understood to be approximate, within
the hundredth of a semitone or thereabouts; which is more than
exact enough for practical purposes. The following rule is all that is
vibrations while the fundamental
necessary :-If a note make
note makes 1, then that note is log a - log b mean semitones above, or
71
a
12
G
C
D A
F Bb Eb
E
Ab
B T# C#
Db Gb Cb
Now suppose an incidental deviation into the key of A#. Looking
into the preceding scale from A# ascending, we find we can get a
whole tone at B#, but the next whole tone is wanting, nor can we get
it except by interposing a note between Db and D, two tempered chro-
matic semitones above C, and therefore called C## or Cx. On the
piano-forte we must be content with D for C# #, and accordingly we
have in like manner
E for D##, D for Ebb, D# for Fbb, &c.
In the preceding scale also, when enharmonic transitions are written,
they can most frequently be actually made; on the piano-forte, though
written, they can only be made in imagination. The ear, knowing what is
coming, so soon as the enharmonic modulation is seen, prepares itself
for a change of key, and gives the chord in its possession to the mind
:
!
321
822
SCALENE.
SCANDINAVIAN LITERATURE.
not altogether in the same way as when it was not a note of prepara-
tion. If any one will compare the effect of music heard the second
time with that produced by the first time, he will, we think, be
inclined to accede to our opinion, that sounds heard without any
knowledge of what is to come afterwards, differ more from those which
are heard with such knowledge than the effects of two scales con-
structed on the two most remote of all the approved systems of tem-
perament. In Huyghens's system, his subdivision is 387 of a mean
semitone, the chromatic semitone is 774, the diatonic semitone 1.161,
and the tone 1·935.
The harmonics of any string C may be readily found from the
table, reduced into the octave between C and C¹; they may then be
compared with the untempered diatonic scale. For example, what is
the 53rd harmonic of C? C itself counting as the first. It is by the
table 68.73 mean semitones above C, lower this five octaves, by sub-
tracting 60, and we have 8.73, lying therefore between A þ and A, but
nearer to the latter.
[CHROMATIC SCALE; DIATONIC; ENHARMONIC. For Scales of Voices,
ALTO, BASE, &c. For Scales of Musical Instruments, BASSOON,
CLARINET, HARP, VIOLIN, &c.]
SCALENE, a name given by Euclid, in his definitions (but seldom
or never afterwards used by him), to a triangle no two sides of which
are equal to one another.
SCAMMONY, properly so called, is, in the present day, the produce
of Convolvulus scammonia, a plant growing in Greece and the countries
along the Levant. The scammony of the ancients was in all proba
bility yielded by C. sagittifolius (Sibthorp), C. Sibthorpii (Römeretsch),
from which it is conjectured that the scammony called of Samos or
Trebizond is obtained. The best comes from Aleppo; the next from
Smyrna. The French scammony, called Montpellier S., is the pro-
duce of Cynandum Monspeliacum, an asclepiadaceous plant, endowed
with most of the acrid and poisonous properties of that tribe, and
therefore a dangerous substance. But even of the products of con-
volvulaceous plants the qualities are so various, either from' natural
inferiority, or, far more frequently, from carelessness in collecting it,
or intentional adulteration, that no drug is more unequal in its consti-
tution or more uncertain in its operation. Strictly speaking, it is a
gum-resin; but the proportion of gum is at all times small, while the
resin in different specimens varies from 81 per cent. in the best to 16
in the worst. Besides mechanical impurities, such as sand, fragments
of the stem or roots, owing to the manner of collecting, chalk, and
flour of wheat or barley, or dextrine, are purposely mixed with it to
bring it down to the market price. The latter sophistications are not
objectionable, further than they necessitate a larger and more bulky
dose. But a most pure preparation can now be obtained by extracting |
the resin from the root itself, according to the patent plan of Prof.
Williamson, suggested by Mr. Clark of Sockia, Asia Minor. (See
of
'Pharm. Journ.,' vol. xvii., p. 37; and vol. xviii., pp. 449 and 546.)
For an account of the mode of collecting scammony in the north-west
of Asia Minor, see the same Journal, vol. i., p. 522, new series, April,
1860. Perfectly pure scammony is, in a very small dose, a very
efficacious purgative, clearing away mucous accumulations, more espe-
cially from the bowels of children, which are the favourite resort of
worms. To expel these, scammony is often associated with calomel;
but this is generally needless, as extract of rhubarb, from its bitter
and tonic properties, is in every way more to be`commended. By
giving bitartrate or tartrate of potass, with carbonate of soda, its
properties are heightened, and it may be rendered a useful hydrogogue
cathartic. It should not be too frequently repeated, as it is apt to
abrade the mucous covering of the intestines; nor should it be given
in inflammation of these.
SCANDAL (scandalum magnatum, slander of great men). By the
statute 2 R. II., c. 5, confirmed 12 R. II., c. 11, as to "devisers of false
news and tellers of horrible and false lies of prelates, &c.," it was
enacted that none devise or speak false news, lies, or other such false
things of the prelates, nobles, and great men of the realm. By the
same statute the tellers of such lies were liable, as by the statute of
Westminster the first, to be imprisoned till they discovered the authors
of them. No statutory punishment was provided against the authors,
perhaps because they were liable at common law to fine and imprison-
ment. Upon this statute is founded the action of scandalum magnatum,
which is now fallen into disuse, and superseded by the common action
of libel and by the criminal information. It lies at the suit of any
nobleman, though of a dignity created since the date of the statute, of
the judges, and of other great officers of the realm. It has been held
that the action may be brought not only for such words as are action-
able in ordinary cases, but even for those which are not certain enough
to maintain an action against a common person, as where one said, "My
lord has no more conscience than a dog."
The object of the statute originally, though afterwards it appears to
have been applied in private cases, was wholly of a political character.
The mischief recited is that "debates and discords might arise betwixt
the said lords, or between the lords and the commons, which God
förbid, whereof great peril and mischief might come to all the realm,
and quick subversion and destruction of the aforesaid realm." The
statute of Westminster, 3 Edw., c. 33, referred to, is also directed to
cure the same mischiefs, the discord and scandal that might arise
between the king and his people, or the great men of the realm.
4.
ARTS AND SCI. DIV, VOL. VII.
The term scandalous is applied to matter in a bill or answer in
chancery which reflects on the character of a defendant or plaintiff,
and is at the same time irrelevant. Such matter will be struck out on
exceptions being taken to it and allowed.
(2 Inst., 225; Com., Dig., tit. 'Action on the case for Defamation;'
B., Libel, C. 5.)
SCANDINAVIAN LITERATURE. The ancient Scandinavian
language, once common to the whole north-western portion of Europe
beyond the Baltic, is now confined to Iceland, where it has undergone
little change since the 9th century. [ICELAND, in GEOG. DIV.] This
dialect of the Gothic is the parent stock of both Swedish and Danish,
the former of which tongues has retained more of the original character
than the other, which is also the language of Norway; and, if not for
the literature they contain, in a philological point of view they deserve
far more attention than they have hitherto obtained from Englishmen,'
since they throw considerable light on the history of our own language.
There is also a striking similarity of construction between them and
English, which renders them of comparatively easy acquisition to our-
selves. Nearly the same grammatical simplicity prevails, nor are their
verbs and nouns subject to those numerous changes of terminations
which render such languages as the German and the Russian so per-
plexing to a foreigner.
Though literature, in the usual meaning of the term, was of ex-
ceedingly tardy development in both Denmark and Sweden, the people
possessed an abundant stock of those traditional poetical records which
scarcely lay any claim to individual authorship, being rather the
embodying of the sentiments and feelings of an entire race than those
of individuals. Of these, by far the most important are the Eddas.
Though committed to writing by Bishop Samund only in the 11th
century, it is supposed that an earlier collection was then in existence.
A part of Bishop Sämund's gathering has been lost, and what remains
we owe to Snorri Sturluson, the grandson and pupil of Sämund. The
elder Edda is in verse, not rhymed, but rendered metrical by the use
of alliteration or assonance, in which the alliteration is employed twice
in the first line of a couplet, and the second begins with the same
letter. Many variations, including end rhymes, were subsequently
introduced. The younger Edda is in prose, with a mixture of verse,
partly quoted from earlier poems, in nearly every case from the elder
Edda.
:
Though a distinction has been drawn between the elder and younger
Eddas, there is little doubt but that some parts of the latter are at
least equal in antiquity to some of those in the elder and as litte
that in the elder Edda there have been many interpolations, which
have been pointed out by Simrock ('Die Edda, die ältere und jüngers,'
1855), who, however, says, "Who would venture to lay hands on so
reverend a piece of antiquity, and where would it end if each were to
follow his inclination or caprice, and began to model the tradition
according to his own notions." The elder Edda consists of thirty-seven
poems, of various degrees of poetical merit, all relating to the mytho-
logy, which will be treated of in the next article. After being forgotten
for nearly four centuries, a copy was found by Bishop Svensen, and
published in 3 vols. 4to, containing the original text, a Latin trans-
lation, and a dictionary of the northern mythology, in 1787. A later
and more correct edition has been since published by Rask in 1818.
The later Edda is divided into two books,-Gylfaginning, or Gylfa's
fascination, and relates a like story to that of Vafthrudnismal (or song
of Vafthrudni) in the elder Edda; but occasion is taken to deliver the
principal doctrines of the northern faith in answer to the disguised
Odin's inquiries. Bragaroedhur, or Bragi's Discourse, borrowed also
from the Oegirsdrecka, or Oegir's Drinking Feast: here Bragi, the
scald of the gods, discourses of the origin of poetry. These were first
translated and published by Resenius in 1640. In some manuscripts,
however, and in Rask's printed edition, these are accompanied by some
of the Scaldaic songs. [SCALD.]
Of other Scandinavian poems there are many distinguished by the
title of Kämpe Viser, or Heroic Ballads, which strains of romantic
minstrelsy serve to give an idea of the compositions of the ancient
bards or scalds. Deeds of arms and bravery constitute their main
subjects; for in the infancy of states personal courage and physical
strength are regarded as the chief titles to pre-eminence, more especially
in such a region as Scandinavia, where the sword was the only patrimony
of the younger branches of a family, and was a possession quite as
honourable and frequently more lucrative than that of the soil.
Possessing a very great extent of sea-coast, the inhabitants regarded
that element also as their natural territory. Their piratical expeditions,
undertaken partly through necessity and partly from the love of
adventure, obtained for them a fearful fame; and the leaders of these
hardy pirates assumed the imposing title of Sea-kings. These 'Viser'
contain moreover no small quantity of legendary fable and supernatural
lore, derived from the ancient Sagas and the mythology of the Edda
[SCANDINAVIAN MYTHOLOGY], whose wild traditions were so congenial
to the spirit of the people that they continued to cherish the remem-
brance of them long after the establishment of Christianity (which was
not earlier than the commencement of the 11th century); and in
modern times they have been largely made use of by Oehlenschläger
and other living or recent poets, who have found in them a source of
powerful interest for their countrymen. For a while indeed it was
very doubtful whether the Gosrel would prevail against the popular
.
Y
$23
SCANDINAVIAN MYTHOLOGY.
SCANDINAVIAN MYTHOLOGY.
324
called Midgard, and was encircled by a deep ocean (sometimes typified
by a vast serpent), outside of which was Jötunheim, the abode of the
giants.
sun, moon, stars, lightning, and meteors; and their courses were pre-
With sparks of hot cinders from Muspelheim were formed
scribed, thus forming night and day, and the seasons.
belief in the Valhalla. The labours of the carly missionaries in the
9th and 10th centuries produced very little effect; the people con-
tinued to be almost entirely pagan, and Svend Tvæskiæg, the successor
of Harald, renounced Christianity, and did all he could to re-establish
the worship of the ancient idols; nor was it until after the accession
of Canute the Great (1014), that Christianity became the national Asgard, the residence of the Asar, was apportioned into Vanheim,
religion, and churches and convents began to be built. For several the domain of the elementary deities; Gladsheim, in which was Val-
years afterwards, however, little improvement took place in the intel- halla, where dwelt Odin and the deities of his family; Muspelheim,
lectual condition of the people. Literature can hardly be said to have the district of celestial fire; and Licht-Alfheim (elves of light), the
been cultivated at all. Its sole monument. is the history (written in residence of the benevolent dwarfs, or elfs, in which also was situated
Latin) by Saxo Grammaticus, who died in 1208. In Germany, as well Gimli, the place of future beatitude.
as in England and Scotland, where this literature and mythology were
once predominant, both faded away more quickly under the influence
of civilisation. Odin, or, as he was called by those nations, Woden,
was forgotten, but the popular tales and fictions remained. The ballad
poetry of Scotland retains many a lay identical almost with those of
the Scalds; while Puss in Boots, Blue Beard, the Pig who would not
go over the style, and Jack the Giant-killer, have their Scandinavian
originals. Howitt's Literature and Romance of Northern Europe;'
and Dasent's Tales from the Norse,' contain much that is interesting
on the subject.
Of the modern literature of the Scandinavian nations, Iceland, Sweden,
Norway, and Denmark, notices will be found in the BIOGRAPHICAL
DIVISION, under the names of the more eminent authors.
SCANDINAVIAN MYTHOLOGY. The genuine and older Scan-
dinavian mythology, which, in regard to wild imagination, sublime con-
ceptions, a rough vigour, and a naïve simplicity sometimes approaching
the ludicrous, will bear comparison with those of the Hindus, the
Greeks, or Romans; and which, from the extensive influence it has
exercised on all nations of Gothic and Teutonic descent, has a peculiar
interest for them, is to be found in the Edda, a word meaning great grand-
mother, or rather ancestress, probably used to indicate that the cycle
of poems, to which the name is given, had a more remote origin. As
we have stated in the preceding article [SCANDINAVIAN LITERATURE],
the Edda consists of two parts-the elder Edda, a cycle of poems, and
the younger or prose Edda, which is chiefly a compendium of the
elder, with occasional extracts from it..
The Scandinavian mythology comes to us, not in the shape of a
religious system, so much as the poetical expression of some of the
worshippers. It does not approach a system even so much as Hesiod's
Theogony; for it has to be gathered from various poems or frag-
ments of poems, of which some are manifestly of much greater anti-
quity than others. Some, no doubt, are of a period anterior to the
Christian era; but as all were collected at a long subsequent period, it
is probable that the belief in the destruction of the world and its
renovation may have been derived from Christian sources. Thus the
Edda presents in the very beginning the germs of one all-destroying
catastrophe, of a creation which by necessity involves the final destruc-
tion of the universe, with a promise of a resurrection and a happier
existence. This destruction has been long foretold.
The history of the Creation by the Asar has little resemblance to
that of Christianity. In every creation by the heathen gods, the mate-
rial stuff is always in existence. In the Asar creation, the world
becomes a living organism. Nature is not a rude mass, she is not
dead, but an organised whole, that is ever penetrated by a super-
human life. When this idea, which approaches to the pantheistic, is
expressed in a poetically-material manner, we may compare it with
other mythologies, in which, like it, giants, Titans, Cyclops, the original
dwellers in Chaos, embody the unrestrained force of the elements till
subjected to the might of a higher and regulating power. There is
also the peculiarity of accepting the principle of evil as the first exist-
ence, to counteract which the principle of good was formed, or rather
descended, for Odin's mother was a daughter of the giants.
Utgard was under the earth, deprived of the sun's light, and was
divided into Jötunheim, the country of the giants; Swart-Alfheim,
that of the black dwarfs, or gnomes; Niflheim, in which was Hel, the
residence of Hela, goddess of death; and Naströnd, a horrible swamp,
inhabited by serpents, into which, at the end of the world, the wicked
are to be thrown.
According to the Völuspá, the (three?) gods in council next created
the dwarfs, who had been bred like maggots from the corruption of
Ymir's blood, and who were now endowed with human shape, though
often deformed; and they formed a counterpoise to the giants, who
are represented as stupid, while the dwarfs make up for their want of
size by their ingenuity, acuteness, and knowledge. They have still,
however, to dwell in the earth or in rocks and caverns. The Völuspá
and the prose Edda differ here, as the Völuspá says they were created
from Brimir's blood. They also differ as to the next creation, that of
mankind. The Völuspá says, after creating the dwarfs,-
"Then the three went, From this assembly,
Mighty and mild The Asar especially.
They found on the sea-coast, Powerless,
Ask and Embla, Without fixed destiny;
Possessing no soul, Having no sense,
J
Neither blood nor motion, Nor yet blooming colour.
Odhin gave soul, Hünir gave sense,
Lodur (Loki) gave blood and blooming colour."
In the prose Edda, as the children of Bör wandered by the sea-shore
they found two trees, of which they formed the male and female, Ask
and Embla: Odin bestowing on them life and spirit; Veli, sense and
feeling; and Ve, visage, speech, hearing, and sight; and from these two
are descended the whole human race. Jacob Grimm remarks on this
(Deutsche Mythologie") that only dwarfs and men are created; the
giants and the gods come into existence as if of themselves, from the
influence of merely natural forces; they owe their being to the union
of fire and water, while mankind and the men-like dwarfs are made by
the formative activity of the gods themselves acting with a purpose.
After the creation came the golden age of the Asar, till at length
three maidens of the race of giants surprised them. They took away
their golden table, and left instead a desire for gold; this led to a war
with the Vanir, who had broken down the outer wall of Asgard; but
a peace was at length concluded, when Hödur was given as a hostage on
one side, and Niörd on the other, who received a seat and a dwelling
in Asgard.
Ygdrassil, the tree of life, which forms so important a part of the
cosmogony, is first mentioned very abruptly in the Völuspá,' and
equally so in the Grimnismal' (song of Grimni). This tree has three
roots, one in heaven, one in the residence of the Frost-giants, and the
third in Niflheim or Hela. At each root was a fountain possessing
wonderful powers, and its branches spread around the whole universe.
At the root in Niflheim lives the serpent Nithhögg, constantly
gnawing them, and in its topmost branches sits an eagle with a hawk
between his eyebrows. A squirrel, Ratatoska, runs up and down,
exciting strife between the eagle and the serpent; and on its branches
browse four stags. The tree is an ash, and is the greatest and holiest
of all trees, uniting heaven, earth, and the lower regions. The
springs are also sacred. Round the heavenly Urdar-brunnen the Asar
assemble every day to pronounce judgments, assisted by the three
chief Nornen-Urd, Verdaldi, and Skuld. There are, however, many
other Nornen, who decide on the length of life, and the good or ill-
fortune of every individual of the human race, some of whom are
descendants of the Asar, some, of the races of elves, and some of the
fountain, to keep it in vigour, and from its leaves falls the dew. The
well of the giants is guarded by Mimir, an old and wise man, but
whether god, giant, or demi-god is uncertain, and in this well lie
hidden wisdom and knowledge. The third is Hvergelmir or the roaring
basin.
In the beginning was a chaos. On the north was Niflheim, cold, dark,
and foggy; on the south, Muspelheim, warm and light; betwixt these
two was Ginnunga-gap, in which contended the ice and frost of
Niflheim, the light and heat of Muspelheim, and into which flowed
twelve streams called Elivagar, which were poisonous, issuing from the
fountain Hvergelmir. This water, hardened by the frost, by degrees
filled the gap; was again gradually melted by the warmer south; and
the heat thus imparted at length produced Ymir, a being of enormous
size and malignant disposition. Ymir fell asleep, and under his left
arm grew a male and female; from his right hand and foot a six-race of the dwarfs. Every day the Nornen water the tree from the
headed giant. These were the progenitors of the race of giants. The
ice continued to melt, and a cow, Audhumbla, was produced, by whom
Ymir was nourished from its four milk-streams (the four elements).
The cow, Audhumbla, licked the icy salt stones, and on the evening of
the first day arose the hair of a man, on the second his head, and on
the third the complete man, handsome, large, and strong. He was
named Buri, and had a son (no mother is mentioned) called Bör, who
took to wife a daughter of the giant Bölthorn, and had by her Odin (or
Odhin, the Woden of the Saxons), Veli, and Ve-the first of the Asar.
These three having slain Ymir, carried the body to Ginnunga-gap, and
with it therein formed the world: the blood became water; the flesh,
earth; the bones, mountains; the teeth, pebbles; the hair, grass,
trees, and other vegetation; the skull, the firmament; the brains,
thrown into the air, became clouds; and of the eyebrows were made a
wall of defence against the frost-giants, This round flat world was
The chief gods, who were especially to be worshipped, are twelve;
the goddesses are fourteen. The subordinate superhuman powers are
numberless. We only enumerate the chief, which are-1, Odin, who
governs all things, and who is obeyed by the other deities, as a father
by his children. Hence he is named Alfadir (All-father) and, with
numerous other names, Valfadir, from having prepared Valhalla and
Vingolf for the reception of the Einheriar (his selected heroes) who
have fallen in battle. Near his seat in Hlithskialf are two wolves,
which he feeds with the viands set before him, as he needs no food; and
on his shoulders sit two ravens, Hugin and Munin (Thought and Mind)
825
326
SCANDINAVIAN MYTHOLOGY.
SCANDINAVIAN MYTHOLOGY.
who whisper in his ear all the tidings they have collected. His wife is
Frigga, who foresees all things, but never foretells them. 2, Thor, the
mightiest and strongest of gods or men; possessing a hammer, Miölnir,
of enormous power, which returns of itself to him after having been
flung at any one; a belt by which his strength is doubled when it is
worn; and gauntlets without which he cannot grasp the haudle of his
hämmer. He was the son of Odin by Fiörgyn (the earth), who also
figures as a male, the father of Frigga, the wife of Odin. Thor is the
protector of the earth, whose cultivation he has established, whose
fruitfulness and kindliness in favour of its inhabitants he unweariedly
fosters and furthers, and is therefore in continual conflict with the
wild elements. His wife is Sif, from whom by a trick Loki stole her
hair, and was forced by Thor to supply its place with hair of gold. 3,
Baldur, the second son of Odin by Frigga, the handsomest and best of
the Asar, the wisest, mildest, and most eloquent. His wife was
Nanna. He was early threatened with death, to guard against which
every created thing was required to swear to do him no harm; but,
instigated by Loki, his blind half-brother, Hödur (unreasoning strength),
slew him by throwing at him a branch of inistletoe, which had been
overlooked in the swearing. His fate occasioned the visit of Odin to
Hela, which has been paraphrased by Gray. 4, Niörd governs the
winds, stills the sea, and checks the fire. But he is not of the race of
the Asar. Born and bred in Vanaheim, a district of the giants, he was
given as a hostage to the Asar on a peace being concluded with the
Vanen, who received from the Asar as a hostage on their part, Hödur,
one of the joint creators of mankind. His wife was Skadi, daughter
of the giant Thiassi. They had two children; a son named Freyr, and
a daughter named Freyja, both beauteous and powerful. 5, Freyr
governs the rain and sunshine, gives abundant harvests, promotes
peace, and dispenses riches to men. He fell in love with Gerda, the
daughter of Gymir, one of the giants in Jötunheim, and obtained her
for his wife through the intervention of Skirnir, and this forms the
subject of one of the poems of the elder Edda, Skirnirsfôr or Skirnir's
Journey. His sister is equally benevolent, she assists all who desire
her assistance, is especially favourable to lovers, and claims the half of
all who fall in battle (the other half belonging to Odin), whom she
entertains in Sessrumnir, her mansion in Asgard. 6, Tyr, whose
descent is uncertain, is bold and courageous, promotes strife, and gives
victory in war. He has but one hand, as the other was bitten off by
Fenrir, the wolf, who demanded of the Asar the pledge of one of their
hands in his mouth before he consented to be bound in order to try
his strength. None of the Asar dared this but Tyr. The wolf
remains bound until the day of the destruction of the world. 7,
Bragi, celebrated for wisdom, éloquence, and his skill in poetry: he was
the skald of the gods. His wife was Iduna, who had charge of the
golden apples, by eating of which the gods renewed their youth.
Loki by a trick delivered her and her apples to one of the giants; the
gods became wrinkled and gray; and then Loki by another trick brought
her and her treasure back to the Asar. 8, Heimdall is one of the Asar,
the son of nine virgin sisters, but beyond the epithet weisse Acs
(white Aes, singular of Asar) his descent must be admitted as obscure.
He was a powerful god, and much honoured. He is the warder of the
bridge Bifröst (the rainbow), requires less sleep than a bird, sees by
night, as well as by day, can even hear the grass grow on the earth,
and the wool on the sheep's back. His horn when sounded is heard all
over the world, and his sword fights of its own accord. 9, Vidar is
one of the sons of Odin, and surnamed The Silent. He is next to
Thor in strength, and on the day of combat against the giants is to kill
the wolf Fenrir, by driving his sword down his open jaws. 10, Vali,
another son of Odin's by Rinda, who undertook to revenge the death
of Baldur, and assisted in binding Loki. 11, Ullur is the son of Sif,
step-son of Thor, skilful with the bow, swift on snow shoes, handsome
and brave. 12, Forseti, the son of Baldur and Nanna, celebrated for
his correct judgments, from which all disputants depart satisfied.
Other lists somewhat vary from this. Hödur, the blind and strong,
has been mentioned, but seems not to be included among the twelve.
The prose Edda says, "the gods might well wish they had never to
name him, for too long will his deed remain in their memory."
Besides the Asar, there are some other important deities. One of the
chief is Loki, one of the sons of the giant Farbauti and Nal, or
Laufey, his wife; the others being Byleist and Helblindi. Loki is
handsome in person, but capricious, cunning, and perfidious. He was
at times the friend, and commonly the associate, of the Asar, but the
continual contriver of mischief against them. He had a wife called
Siguna, and a son by her named Nari, who was devoured by his
brother, the wolf. But his most celebrated progeny was by the
giantess Angurbodi, by whom he had the wolf Fenrir, who used to
follow the sun, endeavouring to swallow it, whose binding has been
already mentioned, and who will at length break loose, and assist in
the destruction of the world; the serpent Jörmungand, who was
thrown by the gods into the deep ocean that surrounds Midgard,
which he encircled, holding his tail in his mouth; and Hela, who was
cast into Niflheim, and has power over nine regions, into which she
distributes all who die through old age or sickness. The dominion
of Hela is not a place of punishment, but only the abode of those not
deemed worthy of dwelling in Valhalla. Loki himself is at length
bound on sharp-pointed rocks, with a serpent suspended over him;
whose venom should fall on his face, but his wife Siguna catches the
+
drops in a cup till it is full; she then has to empty it; and while
this is being done, the drops which fall on his face cause such
extreme pains, that he writhes and causes earthquakes. He is thus to
lie till the end of the world. Oegir, also called Gymir, is one of the
giants, and has dominion over the sea. It will be seen that Odin's two
brothers, Veli and Ve, have disappeared. At the end of heaven sits
Hrässchwelger (corpse-devourer), one of the giants, in the shape of an
eagle, and from the flapping of his wings proceeds the wind, according
to the force of their motion. Surtur, another god or giant, who
remains in Muspelheim, is only to appear at the day of destruction.
All the monsters are loosed, whom he will lead to the conflict with the
Asar, some are killed, but they remain conquerors. After this final com-
bat, Surtur spreads flames over the earth, and all will be consumed. But
Naströnd is formed, a place of punishment vast and awful, constructed
of serpents, whose venom collects in floods, through which wade
murderers, perjurers, and adulterers; but in the plain of Ida, where
Asgard formerly stood, another earth will arise from the sea, and says
the Völuspá-
"I see a hall, Brighter than the sun,
With gold covered, On Gimli's height;
There will the worthy Princes dwell,
And without end, Enjoy their honour;"
where Surtur's fire can no longer harm them.
forest, and fed with dew, who are to replenish the world; and the sun
The prose Edda adds, that a man and woman survive, hid in a
is to bring forth a daughter (the sun is feminine in the northern
dialects) more lovely than herself. This seems to be an addition. This
Edda, compiled by Christians, has much more of the Christian element
than the elder, and is therefore less to be depended on as a faithful
transcript of the ancient mythology.
Of the goddesses, besides those mentioned, the most prominent after
Frigga, were-Saga (history), a favourite of Odin's; Eir, skilful in the
healing art; Gefion, who is a virgin, and to whom belong all who die
unmarried; Fulla, also a maiden, the attendant and confidant of
Frigga; Freyja (already mentioned) was married to Odhur, who left
her, and Freyja wept tears of gold. She bears several other names,
which she assumed while seeking her husband, and was the possessor of
a famous necklace called Brisinga; Siöfna, who turns the hearts of men
and women to thoughts of love; Lofn and Vöra are also deities favourable
to lovers; Syn, is door-keeper of the hall of the gods, shutting it against
all who have not the right of entering, and likewise presides at trials
in which anything is denied on oath; Snotra, the wise and courteous;
Gná is the messenger of Frigga, riding a horse on which she glides
through the air; Sol, so named by her father on account of her
beauty, while her brother he named Mani (moon). This pride offended
the gods, who made the sister the driver of the horses of the sun, and
There are other goddesses, such as the
the brother those of the moon.
Valkyrien, who serve the mead in Valhalla, and are sent by Odin to
every battle-field to select the slain and to give victory; the Nornen
also assist in this latter office. Also, Jörd (the earth), Thor's mother,
and Rinda, the mother of Vali, are reckoned among the goddesses.
In Asgard are the twelve heavenly palaces or abodes, of such extra-
ordinary splendour, that the light of the sun or moon was not needed.
Asgard is protected by an abyss crossed by a heavenly bridge, strong
enough to bear the gods, but which will break under the weight of the
giants. This is called Bifröst, and is the rainbow, formed of water,
air, and fire, as shown by its colours. The water and air would have
been sufficiently strong for the Asar, but the fire was added to guard
against the giants. On the boundary between Asgard and Midgard
stands Thrudheim, the dwelling of Thor, which forms a thirteenth.
The twelve are: 1. Ydali, the valley of moisture, in which Uller, the
son of Sif, and the step-son of Thor, dwells. 2. Alfheim, or Elfinland,
inhabited by Freyr, the son of Niord, and, according to the prose Edda,
by the elves of light (by which is thought to be represented the ger-
minating powers of the sun's rays), who are to exist till the overthrow
of the universe, and then to betake themselves to the higher heaven.
3. Valaskialf, Vali's watchtower, in which dwells Vali, the son of Odin
and Rinda. Here was also built Odin's chief seat, Hlithskialf, from the
elevated throne of which, he and his wife Frigga could overlook
the whole world. 4. Söckvabeck (the stream of descent or depth),
rushing with cold water, whence Odin and Saga (history) drink every
day from golden vessels, and intoxicated with the precious drink,
rejoice in the love that may be derived from the water-oracle. 5.
Gladsheim (realm of joy), where is Idavölle (the field of business),
because here are forged the arms with which the heroes disport.
This is the gathering-place of the Asar; here are held the feasts
and the combats of the souls of departed heroes who reside in
Valhalla; they wander arm in arm with the virgin Valkyrien, whose
love and unfading charms are the rewards of those who have received
their kiss in battle, the sign of an invitation to the feast of the
gods. In Idavölle both Valhalla and Vingolf are situated. The last
is the residence of the Einheriar (or heroes), whose help is needed by
the gods in their final contest against the inhabitants of Muspelheim,
on the destruction of the world. Vingolf is a palace of gold reaching
to the clouds. Before the gates of Valhalla lies the forest of Glasir
in which the trees bear leaves of red gold. But Vingolf is the
sanctuary of the goddesses, where the half of the slain whom Freyja
י
327
SCANDINAVIAN MYTHOLOGY.
has chosen are immediately conveyed, while the other half are received
by the Valkyrien in Valhalla. Lastly, in Idavölle is the seat of
judgment, under the ash Yggdrassil, upon the actions of gods and
men. Seats were here provided for the twelve gods already men-
tioned. In like manner, upon earth, courts of judgment were to be
held under a sacred tree and near a sacred well. After having dis-
pensed justice, the Asar ride on splendid horses. 6. Thrymheim
(groaning or thunder-home), where dwelt the giant Thiassi, and after
his death his daughter Skadi. 7. Breida-blik (world-glancing) the
most magnificent of the heavenly dwellings, where is not the least soil,
and which is Baldur's residence. 8. Himun-biorg (heavenly palace) on
the border of the celestial region, where resides the wise god Heimdall,
who is entrusted with the care of the bridge Windhjalm, from being
possessed of the Giallarhorn, which is heard throughout the world,
from his sleeplessness, and from his wonderfully acute senses; in order
that the Asar may not be unexpectedly surprised, one end of this
bridge, called Bifröst (rainbow), is close to Heimdall's abode. At
the time of the destruction of the world, the invaders from Muspelheim
will attempt the passage, the bridge will break or dissolve. 9. Fölkn-
vangr (field of the combatants), the abode of Freyja; a splendid
palace, surrounded by a beautiful garden, in which is the hall Sessrumer,
wherein the fortunate, who have been selected by the benevolent
goddess, enjoy every bliss the world can bestow. 10. Glitnir (splendour),
the palace of Forseti, resting on golden pillars, the windows of
diamonds, and the roof covered with silver. 11. Nöa-tun (Newcourt),
the palace of Niord; and 12. Landvidi (Broadland), overgrown with
long grass, that of Vidur.
་
That under the symbols of these twelve palaces, the twelve months,
or the zodiacal signs, are to be understood, there can be little doubt,
though it has been controverted, and although we are unable to decide
which month or sign the various palaces are meant to represent.
In Asgard the gods had placed their dwellings in the earliest times
(Urzeit), and they will all perish in the general conflagration. But
this conflagration, though destroying everything, is to give birth to a
new creation, in which Asgard will re-appear with increased splendour,
and the Asar will revive to resume their original powers. Odin and
Thor only will disappear, and the late palace of Odin will become, after
this terrific crisis, the abode of Baldur and Hödur. In the first poem,
the Völuspá (the decision or judgment of the Veli or prophetess *), it
is said,-
"The sun becomes black, The earth sinks in the sea,
From heaven fall The bright stars,
A fiery vortex rages round The all-nourishing world's tree,
The hot flames Lick the skies.”
SCARFING.
323
Grimm, and others, in Zeitschriften für Geschichtswissenschaft;"
Mannhardt's 'Germanische Mythen;' W. G. Frye's 'Trois Chants de
l'Edda,' Paris, 1844; and Mallet's Northern Antiquities,' edited by
I. A. Blackwell, 1847.
dimensions of a piece of timber; and also in some cases as a general
SCANTLING, a term used by carpenters to express the transverse
name for small timbers, such as the quartering for a partition, rafters,
purlins, or pole plates in a roof, &c. All quartering or squared timber
under five inches square is designated scantling. [TIMBER.]
length, breadth, and thickness.
In masonry the same word is used to express the size of stones in
22
SCAPEGOAT, or AZAZEL (). On the great day of atone-
ment among the Jews, the high-priest was to choose two goats, and
after presenting them before the Lord at the door of the tabernacle, he
was to cast lots upon them, one lot being for the Lord, and the other
"for Azazel.' The one upon which the Lord's lot fell was to be sacri-
ficed as a sin offering, and the other was to be presented alive before the
Lord to make an atonement with him, which was done by the high-
priest laying both his hands on the head of the goat, and confessing
over him the sins of all the people, which were thus said to be "put
upon the head of the goat." The goat was then to be sent away into
the wilderness by the hand of a fit man, who was to let him go in the
wilderness. (Levit., xvi. 8-28.)
The meaning of the word Azazel is very doubtful. It seems to be
derived from a root (which still exists in Arabic) meaning to separate.
1. The common interpretation refers it to the goat itself as being sent
away. 2. Some take it to be the place to which the goat was sent, as
being either a proper name, or merely a general term for a separate
place or wilderness. 3. Spencer and most of the German critics con-
sider it to be the name of an evil spirit, who was supposed to inhabit
desert places; and they would translate Levit. xvi. 10, " to let him go
to Azazel (instead of, for a scapegoat) into the wilderness." 4. It is
maintained by Hengstenberg and others, that Satan is typified by the
goat, the separated one, and this view seems corroborated by the
passage in Zech. iii. Representing the sins of the people, which are
upon repentance to be forgiven, he is driven away into the desert. It
is also considered to be typical of Christ, so far as a vicarious atonement
is to be accepted under certain conditions for committed sins.
SCARFING, the mode of joining two pieces of timber end to end,
in such a manner that they may appear but one, and cannot be pulled
asunder by a force applied in the direction of their length, without
breaking off part of the wood at the joint.
Other modes of uniting two timbers into one continuous length are
sometimes practised; as for instance, the simple plan called fishing a
are added on each side, as shown in fig. 1; the whole being held
After which the Asar are to reassemble, to find fields that bear produce beam, in which the ends abut against each other, and pieces of wood
without sowing, whence everything evil has vanished; and
"There ride the mighty To the council (or judgment) of the gods;
The great above all, Who guides all things.
He decides disputes, Appeases quarrels,
And ordains for ever His institutions.”
Of this "great above all," the 'Hyndluliódh' (the song of Hyndlu)
says, after having given a genealogy of the Asar:-
"Then comes another, Mightier than he,
Yet him to name I do not venture.
Few would wish Further to look
Than when Odin The wolf attacks."
We shall not attempt to give any of the legends incorporated with
this system, nor with the esoteric meaning. On the whole it will be
seen that the deities are personifications of physical forces and of
human passions, fashioned by a northern imagination. J. Grimm, in
his Deutsche Mythologie,' endeavours to prove that the northern
deities are nearly identical with the Greek and Roman and the Hindu
deities. There are, necessarily, points of resemblance, but sufficient
differences to render the conceptions in each case original.
The Hawamal, or High Song, contains the ethics of the system;
there are many striking sayings in it, but we cannot do more than give
a specimen :-
"With his weapon No one should part
In the open field;
No one knows, How soon on the way
He may need his spear."
"Moderately wise Should a man be
But not too wise;
The heart of the wise Is seldom serene
If it becomes too wise."
፡
For a fuller investigation we may refer to Jacob Grimm's 'Deutsche
Mythologie,' 1854; Karl Simrock's Die Edda, die ältere und die
jüngere, 1855; and 'Das Mythologische Handbuch,' 1853; L. Uhland's
Sagenforschungen. Der Mythus von Thor,' 1836; Berger's Nordische
Mythologie,' 1834; Dr. J. C. Bauch's 'Nordische Mythologie,' 1847
Rask's 'Snorra Edda, ávamt Skalda ogtharmeth fylgjundi Ritgjorthum,'
Stockholm, 1818; various papers by Uhland, Dietrich, Müllenhoff,
* The form of the word is perhaps deserving of a notice, as giving the origin
of the Scottish word spae, to foretell; and spacwife, a fortune-teller.
;
Fig. 1.

together by iron bolts. The strain on the bolts may be reduced by
indenting the pieces added at the joint into the beam, as represented
in the lower part of the figure; or by transverse keys of hard wood
other in the supplementary pieces, in a similar manner to those shown
driven into grooves, of which one-half is cut in the beam, and the
in fig. 6.
preferred to any arrangement of this kind, because a beam united by
Where neatness is more essential than strength, scarfed joints are
them is of the same breadth and depth at the joints as at other parts.
Figs. 2 and 3 represent two of the simplest forms of scarfing, in both
Fig. 2.

Fig. 3.

of which the strain is borne wholly by the bolts. It is advisable to
add a plate of iron on the faces of the beam where the heads and nuts
of the bolts pass through, and the ends of these plates may be turned´
into the wood, as shown in the cuts. Of these two plans the first
appears rather preferable, because the screwing up of the bolts has no
tendency to alter the position of the parts; while in the second it has
a tendency to make the inclined faces slide upon each other, and
thereby to open the joint.
It is desirable to avoid depending solely upon bolts for the strength
|
829
930
SCÁRIFIER.
SCARLATINA.
of a scarf, owing to the effect of the shrinking of the timber, and the
liability of the bolts to be, in consequence of their small dimensions,
pressed into the wood. Fig. 4 is a scarf that may be used without
Fig. 4.
bolts, although the addition of them adds much to the security of the
joint. In this plan a key or wedge is driven gently into the square
space at a, to bring the parts into their places. Two other illustra-
tions will suffice to explain other varieties of scarfing. Fig. 5 is a
Fig. 5 is a
Fig. 5.
diagonal scarf, in which the parts are said to be tabled together; they
being so cut and fitted to each other that no force can separate them
longitudinally, without breaking, so long as the bolts hold them
together sideways. Fig. 6 shows a very simple and good plan of
Fig. 6.
scarfing, which is easily executed with accuracy, owing to the absence
of oblique faces. In this arrangement keys are used to resist any force
tending to separate the beam in the direction of its fibres, instead of
the parts being tabled together. The ends of the keys, which should
be of hard wood, and let into both pieces of the beam to an equal
depth, are shown by the dark tint in the cut.
"}
Varieties may be almost infinitely multiplied by increasing the
number of the faces, whether oblique or square, and uniting the parts
either by tabling, keying, or a combination of the two; but in most
cases the greatest simplicity should be aimed at, in order that the
parts may the more readily be made to fit each other with accuracy.
Very complicated scarfs have been used by some old carpenters,
respecting which Robison observes that "many seem to aim at making
the beam stronger than if it were of one piece; an absurdity too
manifest to need refutation. Where a scarfed beam is exposed to
transverse strains, the joint should be varied from the ordinary form;
but for these and some other contrivances to meet peculiar circum-
stances the reader is referred to the practical works of Tredgold,
Nicholson, &c. When a piece of timber subject to compression in the
direction of its length has to be scarfed, oblique faces should be
avoided, because of their tendency to slide upon each other. Though |
bolts are commonly used to secure scarfed joints, iron hoops or straps,
driven on tightly, have been recommended in their stead, and possess
the advantage of not weakening the timber. In joints that depend
wholly on bolts, Tredgold recommends that the sum of their areas
should never be less than two-tenths of the area of the section of the
beam. From the same authority we give the following rules for the
length of scarfs :-
In oak, ash, or elm, the whole length of the scarf should be six
times the depth or thickness of the beam, where there are no bolts.
In fir, without bolts, twelve times the depth.
i
The whole length of a scarf dependent wholly upon bolts should be
in oak, ash, or elm, about three, and in fir, six times the depth of the
beam.
When bolts and indents are used together, the length of the scarf
may be, in hard woods, twice, and in soft woods four times the depth.
SCARIFIER. [ARABLE LAND.]
SCARLATINA (originally written Scarlattina, from scarlatta, a
red-coloured cloth), Scarlet fever. This disease was not distinguished
by the ancients from any of the other eruptive fevers; they contented
themselves with classing together all these fevers as pestilential, and
they attributed the variety of eruptions that accompanied them to
different combinations of the humours. Small-pox, measles, and
scarlatina were described by the Arabians, but they looked upon them
merely as varieties of the same disease, and even to the close of the
18th century the two last-named maladies were confounded. Dr.
Withering, in a second edition of an essay which he published
on scarlet fever, in the year 1793, first pointed out its distinctive
characters.
Scarlatina, like small-pox and measles, may appear as an epidemic,
or it may be propagated by a specific contagion; as an epidemic, it
most usually appears at the latter end of the summer and the beginning
of autumn; sporadically, it is met with at all seasons; it further
resembles the diseases we have just named in rarely attacking twice
the same individual. Scarlatina varies much in severity, from the
mild febrile disturbance which has been pronounced by Sydenham to
be fatal only through the officiousness of the doctor, to that grave
form of the disease which has received the appellation of malignant.
This difference has given rise to its division into three species, the
Scarlatina simplex, S. anginosa, and S. maligna. Scarlatina is ushered
in by rigors, followed by increased heat of the body, thirst, loss of
appetite, and all the symptoms of inflammatory fever. On the second
day of this fever, or somewhat later in the severer forms of the disease,
patches of a scarlet-coloured efflorescence begin to appear on the face
and neck, which extend downwards, and, coalescing, soon spread over
the whole body. On the trunk, however, the rash is seldom uniform,
but is distributed into diffuse irregular patches, the scarlet hue being
most vivid about the flexures of the joints and on the loins; occa-
sionally minute vesicles are visible, and Sauvages has considered this
circumstance sufficient to constitute a distinct species, which he calls
S. variolodes. On the third and fourth days the eruption is at its
height; even the mouth and fauces are not free from it, the
papillæ of the tongue are unusually red and elongated, and the face is
generally more or less swollen. On the fifth day it begins to decline,
disappearing by interstices, so that the patches reappear as at the com-
mencement, and it is generally gone before the end of the seventh.
Between the eighth and twelfth days the cuticle comes off in the form
of a scurfy desquamation, and the fever has subsided. This is the
course of Scarlatina simplex. At those periods of the disease when
the eruption is in patches, scarlatina is apt to be mistaken for measles,
but it may readily be distinguished from the last-named disease by
the following signs:-In measles, the patches are of a rosy hue, of a
crescentic form, and elevated above the surrounding skin; in scarlatina
they resemble more the colour of boiled lobster, want the crescentic
shape, and the hand passed over them detects minute asperities, but
no elevated patches.. It is further distinguished from measles by the
greater heat of skin, the temperature being sometimes as high as 108°
or 112° of Fahr., by the absence of catarrhal symptoms, and by the
state of the papilla of the tongue.
Roseola is the name of an affection which is characterised by an
eruption bearing some resemblance to scarlatina; but it is of a more
crimson colour, pursues its course in a direction contrary to that of
scarlatina,-namely, from the extremities and trunk to the neck and
face, and is attended with less constitutional disturbance.
Scarlatina accompanied with sore throat-S. anginosa, or cynanchica,
as it is termed-is a much more frequent and severe form of the
disease than that which we have just described. Not only are the
precursory febrile symptoms more violent, but the whole course of the
malady is protracted; the eruption is seldom so universal as in
the simple variety, but is in scattered patches, which frequently vanish
and reappear; the interior of the mouth and fauces is of a high red
colour, tumefied and painful; superficial ulcerations not unfrequently
form on the tonsils, uvula, and soft palate; and the throat is much
clogged up with a tough viscid phlegm. In S. maligna the fever is of
a typhoid character; the pulse is small and feeble; the tongue and
lips dry, and encrusted with a brown fur; there is delirium alternating
with coma, and the rash is faint and continually coming and going;
the ulcers in the throat are covered with dark-coloured sloughs, and a
large quantity of viscid mucus clogs up the fauces and impedes respira-
tion and deglutition. These symptoms are often accompanied by
diarrhoea, and by petechiæ on the skin, with hemorrhage from the
nose, throat, bowels, or other parts, which generally lead to a fatal
termination: this may occur on the third or fourth day of the disease,
or the patient may linger to the second or third week; if recovery take
place, it is exceedingly tedious. It has been observed that during the
prevalence of scarlatina adults are not unfrequently affected with the
efflorescence in the mouth and throat, without the skin participating
in the affection. For this class of cases Dr. Tweedy has proposed the
name of S. faucium. All the varieties of scarlatina that we have
mentioned may be observed during the prevalence of the same epi-
demic, and even among members of the same family; but it is no less
true that each epidemic has generally a certain character or type,
which it is important to ascertain in order to regulate the treatment.
This circumstance renders it difficult to come to any just conclusion as
to the mortality from this disease.
The reports of the Registrar-General for 1858 and 1859 show the
mortality in London from scarlatina as compared with other forms of
zymotic disease :—



Diseases.
Scarlet fever
Small-pox
Measles
Hooping-cough
1858.
1859.
4118
4197
247
1156
2383
1305
2700
1741
Scarlet fever visits certain districts as an epidemic, and that whilst
in some years it falls down to a level with other diseases of the same
general nature, or even below them, it rises at others far above thom.
During the years 1857, 58, 59, and 60, scarlet fever has prevailed in
London as an epidemic, and has carried off little short of 12,000
persons. During these years it has been associated with the disease
called diphtheria, but they are distinct diseases and not in any manner
produced by the same causes. [DIPHTHERIA.]
•
Scarlatina is often followed by other forms of disease. One of the
most frequent of these is anasarca, which frequently terminates fatally.
!
t
991
SCARLATINA.
This disease arises from the morbid condition of the kidneys. In a
large number of cases of scarlatina the kidneys are primarily affected,
and the urine presents a low specific gravity, and contains albumen.
In the anasarca which comes on after the febrile symptoms have passed
away, there is invariably present albuminuria. This condition of the
system often terminates fatally by dropsical effusions occurring in the
pleura, the pericardium, or the membranes of the brain. It sometimes
happens that an attack of scarlet fever may not obviously produce the
usual skin and throat symptoms, but expend all its force on the
internal organs, especially the kidneys. Under these circumstances
anasarca may come on and lead to a fatal result.
Amongst other sequela or results of the action of the scarlatinal
poison is an extension of the inflammation of the throat into the
eustachian tube, and the internal ear. In this way the bones of the
ear are destroyed, and ulceration of the tympanum and its destruction
follow. Fœtid discharges take place, and the whole of the internal ear
not unfrequently becomes involved, producing, should the inflammation
not extend to the brain and destroy the patient, permanent deafness.
In other cases an affection of the joints, not unlike rheumatism,
comes on during the attack of scarlet fever. This affection of the
joints continues sometimes a long while after the active symptoms of
the fever have disappeared.
1
Scarlatina is an example of a contagious and infectious disease. In
the majority of cases the origin of the disease can be traced to exposure
to the poison arising from a previous case. The intensity of the poison
seems greater than even that of small pox or typhus. Dr. Watson
says, "it lurks about an apartment, or clings to furniture and clothes,
for a very long time, even after some care has been taken to purify
them. Of this I have known several remarkable examples. You will
be asked at what period the danger of imparting the disease on the
one hand, or of catching it on the other, is over; and I would recom-
mend you to answer that you do not know.
do not know. I am sure I do not."
I am sure I do not."
Many persons go through life without catching this disease, and it is
most desirable that all should. The only certain way of avoiding it
is the strictest quarantine. Any thing which has been near the
patient, or handled by persons attending upon the patient, may com-
municate the disease. The only certain prevention of its spread in
families is either the removal of the sick or those liable to take the
disease. The spread of the scarlatinal poison is not dependent on dirt
and squalor, and other circumstances injurious to health, although the
fatality of the disease is greatly increased by these circumstances. The
disease is generated and spread by the poison alone. It is on this
account that the greatest attention should be paid in nursing this
disease to prevent infected things from passing out of the patient's
bedroom. All linen or clothes worn by the patient should be imme-
diately after they are used placed in boiling water. All vessels used in
the bedroom should be immediately emptied after they are used,
chlorinated lime or soda, or the permanganate of soda, being added to
their contents. The vessels should also be washed and rinsed out with
solutions of these substances. After the patient has recovered, every
thing in the room that can be placed in boiling water should be
submitted to its action, and books, papers, and things which will not
bear water, should be placed in an oven. The room should be fumi-
gated-with chlorine, and the walls and ceiling whitewashed.
In the treatment of scarlatina it should be remembered that in the
milder cases little or no medicine is required. The patient passes
through all stages with little derangement of the system, and the only
thing required is to prevent exposure to cold, and to watch for the
accession of any of the symptoms of the sequelæ above mentioned.
When the symptoms are more severe an alkaline treatment may be
recommended. Dr. Watson especially recommends the chlorate of
potash with hydrochloric acid. When the throat symptoms are severe
in adults, leeches to the throat or cupping at the nape of the neck have
been strongly recommended. Some practitioners recommend, in
cases of a low type, small and often repeated doses of sulphate of
quinine. Where the pulse is rapid and the tongue becomes dark, the
administration of wine is indicated, and where wine fails to stimulate
sufficiently, brandy has been given with advantage. The sesquicarbo-
nate of ammonia, in cases with low symptoms, has been vaunted as a
specific it may be given with advantage in cases in which wine is
.indicated. Purgatives and saline diaphoretics may be administered as
the symptoms indicate. The throat demands especial attention: where
the tonsils are merely swollen a gargle of alum or powdered alum may
be applied. When it is ulcerated the ulcers may be touched with
nitrate of silver or a lotion applied. The chlorate of potash, with
nitrohydrochloric acid, may be used as a gargle. Where the ulcerations
are fœtid, syringing the throat with a lotion of chlorinated lime or
soda will greatly contribute to the comfort of the patient. There is no
one system of treatment that is adapted for all cases, and those writers
who advocate one system can have had but little experience of the great
variety of forms which the disease presents.
**
The treatment of the anasarca and other sequela will depend
on the symptoms present. When dropsical effusion comes on, the
patient will bear more active treatment than in the primary and
secondary stages of the disease. Cupping or leeches to the loins is of
service, and active purgatives. The chlorate of potash may be con-
tinued in this form of the disease, and when the more formidable
symptoms are subdued, the salts of iron may be administered.
SCENE PAINTING.
832
Children; Watson, Lectures on the Practice of Physic; Aitken, The
(Bennett, Principles of Medicine; Hood, On the Fatal Diseases of
Science and Art of Medicine.)
SCARLET DYE. [CALICO PRINTING; COCHINEAL; DYEING.]
SCARLET FEVER. [SCARLATINA.]
SCENE-PAINTING. With respect to the stage of the ancient
theatres very little is known, and even that is exceedingly indistinct,
being founded not upon description, but merely on incidental allusions.
But granting that they employed some kind of temporary stage
decoration suited to the subject of the piece, the presumption is that
it did not, at all resemble our modern scenery. The width of their
stages renders it difficult to understand how any scene painted upon a
single piece of canvas of sufficient size could have been let down, or
rather drawn up, as it is supposed the aulaa were, or otherwise changed
during the performance; and it is quite certain that, since the per-
formances took place in the open air and by daylight, however con-
trived or executed, any kind of scenery like that of our modern theatres
could not have produced the same degree of illusion.
With the rise and progress of scene-painting and stage-effect in
modern times we are not much better acquainted, since no specimens
of early scenery have been preserved, and only scanty, casual, and
fragmentary notices relative to it have come down to us. From what
is recorded of Baldassari Peruzzi's [PERUZZI, in BIOG. DIV.] works of
this class, and those of some other artists, it would seem that scene-
painting was very greatly improved, though it may not have been
brought all at once to perfection, about the time of Leo X. Consider-
able improvement appears also to have taken place in the general
economy of the stage and everything connected with scenic apparatus,
as well as in scene-painting. For much of his reputation with his
contemporaries Inigo Jones was indebted to the fancy and talent he
displayed not merely as a scene painter, but in getting up pageants
and masques, and planning the decorations and machinery for them.
But with respect to the nature of his scenic effects and contrivances,
we have little more than traditional report to depend upon, for there
exists no history of theatrical painting and of the various improve-
ments which have from time to time taken place in the decorations
and apparatus of the stage.
Of this last, and of the quantity of hidden machinery requisite for
expeditiously changing the scenes, as well as for effecting more com-
plex displays in pieces of spectacle, we shall not here speak, but confine
our remarks to the painted scenery alone. Beginning with what is
technically termed the drop-scene, as being the simplest of all, we have
merely to remark that it is no more than a picture or single painted
surface let down by way of blind or curtain between the acts, so as to
close up the opening of the proscenium. As it generally continues to
be used for an indefinite time-thirty or forty years in some instances
the drop is more carefully executed than back scenes, which, showy
as they may be in effect, are required only for a season, and are at a
much greater distance from the spectators. As far too as pictorial
effect and truth of perspective are concerned, a drop shows itself to far
greater advantage than other scenery, which is composed of dif-
ferent pieces constituting what is called a set of scenes. These consist
of the narrow upright pieces called side-scenes or wings, of the narrow
horizontal ones (hanging-scenes or soffits, painted to imitate a sky or
ceiling, but chiefly intended to screen the space over the stage), and of
the back-scene. Backs again are of two kinds, namely, rolling scenes
which are let down from above, and flats, which are formed of two
sliding scenes strained upon framing, like the wings, and meeting each
other and uniting in the centre. These are employed when what are
termed practicable scenes are required, that is, with doors, windows,
&c., which admit of being used as real doors, &c.; or else when there
is occasion that the "flat" should suddenly open and discover another
scene behind it. In addition to these, there are what are termed орег
flats, which are scenes cut out in places so that both the background is
seen and the actors can pass through them. They are commonly used
for the representation of groves or forests, but sometimes for interiors
with open arches. There are besides what are technically known as
pieces, narrow scenes placed obliquely on one side of the stage when it
is wanted to show a cottage or corner of a house, with a practicable
door in it. Lastly, there is set scenery, as it is termed, where, instead
of the usual wings ranged one behind the other, there is a single scene
on each side extending from front to back, so that the stage is com--
pletely enclosed. By this means a more perfect representation of a
room can be obtained than where wings are employed.
In fact side-scenes or wings can be regarded as little better than so
many detached screens absolutely necessary to shut out from view the
space on each side of the stage, since in themselves they rather detract
from than at all aid illusion and effect; more especially in interiors,
where what should represent a continuous wall or surface on either
side is broken into several pieces, which are besides placed parallel to
the back scene or flat, instead of being at right angles to it. If the
scenery be viewed exactly from the centre and from the true perspec-
tive distance, the defect thus occasioned is not very striking or offen-
sive; but if the spectator be near to the stage, or placed on one side
of the house, the whole becomes more or less distorted, and the wings
appear to be only so many disjointed fragments, so that all scenic
illusion is destroyed.
Scene-painting is executed in distemper, that is, with colours mixed
SCEPTICISM.
834
333
can atone for them.
SCEPTIC.-
Though looked upon as a very subordinate branch of the pictorial
art, many artists of superior ability have applied themselves to scene-
painting. To the name of Peruzzi we may add those of Bibiena, Ser-
vandoni, Loutherbourg, Lambert, Rooker, Gonzago, Quaglio, Sanqui-
rico, Stanfield, Roberts, Grieve, and Beverly.
SCEPTICISM (Σkévis), doubt, deliberation, circumspection. There
are two significations to this word: the one denoting doubt of an
explanation of phenomena; the other the more precise indication of a
certain class of philosophers who have continued sceptics, whose system
of thought in its fundamental points ever remained sceptical. To this
latter we alone direct ourselves.
??
up with size, the design being first made in a sketch, which is accu-
rately laid down to scale, and from which the perspective outlines are
transferred to the larger surface. Instead of beginning with dead
colouring and then gradually working up his picture, the artist puts in
all his effects at once, (as in fresco-painting)-the full tone of the lights
and shadows, finishing as he proceeds, and merely retouching or glazing
Socrates has been commonly called the founder of this sect by the
those parts afterwards which require additional depth or brilliancy.
In this kind of painting, bravura of execution and strikingness of enunciation of his famous tenet,—all he knew was that he knew
effect are indispensable, and nature must be rather exaggerated than nothing. But this was more a limitation of the confidence of the
the contrary; at the same time care must be taken lest mere gaudiness Dogmatists and Sophists, and a confession of the weakness of the human
be substituted for brilliancy and richness. Further, as much of the understanding, than any fundamental scepticism, such as was sub-
costume of the piece depends upon him, it is important that the scene sequently embraced by Pyrrho and others; for though Socrates, more
painter should not only be skilled in architectural delineation, but also occupied with pulling down than building up, advanced few speculative
well informed as to the styles of different countries and periods, so as opinions of his own, yet we agree with Schleiermacher in awarding to
him the merit of having first posited the true idea of science (as the in-
to avoid those errors and anachronisms which are frequently com-
mitted, and which are sometimes so glaring that no beauty of execution tercommunion of dialectics, physics, and ethics); and this one positive
principle in his philosophy is sufficient alone to demarcate him from
Much of the effect of scenery depends upon a skilful mode of light- the sceptics. As well might Bacon be accused of scepticism, his posi-
ing it; in which respect considerable improvements have taken place tion in the 'History of Philosophy? being very similar to that of
Socrates. How different this is from the scepticism of Pyrrho,
of late years, and the light is now occasionally thrown from above, as
whose whole philosophy consisted in a suspension of judgment, or
well as from the sides and the foot-lights, coloured glass and other con-
trivances being also occasionally employed. A variety of mechanical perpetual negation [PYRRHO, in BIOG. DIV.], may be seen by a com-
contrivances have indeed been brought to great perfection so as to parison with some definitions of scepticism by the philosophers them-
imitate particular effects in the most deceptive manner, such as those selves. Sextus Empiricus, the historian of the sect, defines it as "the
of moonlight, where the moon breaks through the clouds and gleams power (dúvaus) of opposing in all their contradiction the sensuous repre-
sentations and the conceptions of the mind (φαινόμενα τε καὶ νοούμενα),
upon water, &c., changes of the sky from clear to stormy, or the con-
(Sextus Emp.
trary, the sudden glare of fire, &c.; the most elaborate and costly and thus to induce perfect suspension of judgment
combinations of mechanical apparatus with carefully painted sceneryPyrrho. Hypot.,' i. 1, 4); and Carneades denied the possibility of real
are now exhibited in the "transformation scenes" of Christmas panto- knowledge of anything from the twofold relations of the representa
mimes and extravaganzas.
tion (image-idea, parraría) to the object (TÒ PAνTAOTÓV), and to the
mind (ó parтασιοúμeros), as the mind had no criterion of the truth: all
that could be affirmed was the mere probability (Tò Tilavóv). Ænesi-
demus defines it as the recollection of opinions from the testimony of
the senses or other evidence, by which means one dogma was opposed
to another, and upon comparison all found useless and confused.
(Brucker, Instit. Philos.,' ii., c. 14, § 7.) From the fallaciousness of
sense, the differences of sensuous perceptions in different organisations,
the weakness of understanding, and the i
the weakness of understanding, and the impossibility of diving beneath
the appearances to the real causes of things, the sceptics deduced a
system of indifference which became equally difficult to accept or
refute. They maintained that every proposition requires a prior pro-
position to support it, and so on ad infinitum; or else it assumes some
axiom which cannot be proved, and is to be taken for granted without
demonstration, and consequently may be denied with the same force
with which it is assumed. Further, that nothing can be known by
means of itself, nor by means of something else, whilst that other
remains unknown, and that other must either be unknown or known
by means of something else, and so on ad infinitum. (Sextus Emp., i.
15.) This last is extremely subtle, and in itself is irresistible; but as
Kant profoundly remarked, there is this fundamental flaw in absolute
scepticism, "that it gives out everything for appearance. It therefore
distinguishes appearance from truth, and of course must have a mark
of distinction; consequently presupposes a knowledge of the truth,
thus contradicting itself." The careful avoidance of any expression
savouring of certainty-the using of the term seems for is-which was
adopted by this sect, has been inimitably ridiculed with all his wit and
vivacity by Molière (Mariage Force,' act. i., sc. 8); and indeed a
system so unsatisfactory never could and never has taken much root
The abnega-
except in minds of a very peculiar and indolent nature.
tion of man's proudest faculty, reason, the perpetual indecision an
every point, so little accords with the fertile and prodigious activity
and creative power of the mind, that the real professors of scepticism
have been universally indolent, easy-natured, sensual men, with whom
the speculative doubting was stimulus enough. Morhoff (Polyhistor,'
ii., lib. i., c. 6, and 1. ii., c. ix.) gives an account of all the sceptical
writers in his dull laborious way; Brucker and Endfield ('Hist. of
Philos.,' i., b. ii. c. 16) give a more detailed account of their tenets.
[PYRRHO, in BIOG. DIV.]
SCEPTIC (EKETTIKÓS), one who doubts, who deliberates, who cir-
camspects. Such is the primary meaning of the word, but like most
words it has been wrested from its primary signification by ignorance
or prejudice, and is now, beyond its philosophical meaning, used to
express a dissenter from an established religion. In one sense it
denotes a philosopher; for doubt is the first step in science; it is the
refusal to take for granted any explanation of phenomena that may be
offered, and the circumspection of the grounds and truth of this expla-
nation. In common usage, Sceptic denotes, loosely enough, an atheist,
deist, pantheist, &c., or, more precisely, the holder of any heterodox
opinions. Common usage is here, as is usually the case, wrong. To
set the matter in its true light, we must remark that scepticism is
simply doubt, while heterodoxy is disbelief; something manifestly
distinct from doubt, which is a mere oscillation of the mind between |
opinions; the belief of this moment passing into the contrary belief of
the next; whereas disbelief is the belief in something contradictory.
Reid, and others of the Scotch school, class disbelief as an independent
power of the mind, equally with belief. We hold that the two are one
and the same-power exercised on contrary opinions. The mind must
believe a thing or disbelieve it (that is, believe something else which is
contradictory), or must oscillate--one moment believing this thing, and
the next believing another thing. If then this distinction be borne in
mind-if we have rightly demarcated doubt from disbelief-the
erroneous application of sceptic in common usage will be obvious.
An unbeliever and an infidel are convertible 'terms in ordinary lan-
guage; but nothing can be more erroneous. An unbeliever, in a
positive sense, is the believer in some other religion, and as dogmatic in
his belief as the most orthodox (and hence the early Christians were
called atheists by the Greeks, because they disbelieved in their gods),
and might turn round upon the orthodox believer with the charge of
unbelief in his religion. Thus a Mohammedan is an unbeliever to the
Christians, and vice versa. An Infidel, on the other hand, as the word
implies, is one with no belief, a doubter, a sceptic. The Infidel, when
truly such, does not dissent because he believes something else—not
because he has a contrary faith-but because he cannot believe for any
length of time either the one or the other; he oscillates between them
This last is the true sceptic; this he always remains; he doubts, he de-
liberates, he circumspects to the last day of his existence; as soon as he
ceases to doubt, deliberate, and circumspect, and takes up a distinct
faith his character as a sceptic vanishes; he becomes a believer. When
considering the great and awful subjects of religion or philosophy, the
weakness of the human mind must ever keep it in this state of
scepticism, when once it has renounced its faith in things higher than
its own logic :—when once reason is set up as the standard, measure,
and exponent of all things, the human being is lost in the shoreless sea
of scepticism.
In one sense, there are few who are not sceptics on certain points,
and on the other hand, few who can properly be designated as sceptics;
for to deserve this they must continue in the state of doubt which
admits of no affirmation. Most men begin, as was said of Descartes, in
doubting everything, and end in believing everything. The few who
have consistently preserved the character of sceptic have been among
the most celebrated in the history of philosophy. [SCEPTICISM.]

Of modern scepticism it is remarkable, that it differs little from the
ancient, and that whatever strides philosophy may have taken in other
departments, it has made little or none in that of doubt. The same
clenching subtle arguments occurred to a Theaetetus as to a Hume.
However we will proceed to give a brief historical account of the
attempts made to revive it.
Sanchez, a Portuguese physician, published in 1581 a treatise
entitled 'De multum nobili et prima universali Scientià quod nihil
scitur' (on the excellent and first universal science that nothing is
known), a rare and extraordinary work, containing the leading
arguments of the sceptics propounded in an extravagant manner; but
after many sweeping assertions on the impossibility of all science, he
at last admits the possibility of truth, and hints very plainly that he
himself has attained it. It is an evidence of the restless spirit of the
times and the growing servility to the authority of Aristotle and his
followers. But nothwithstanding his natural confidence in his own
exclusive perception of truth, Sanchez was a real sceptic. Jerom
Hernhaym, an abbot of Prague, on the other hand, who wrote a work
De Typho Generis Humani' (on the vain glory of human nature), in
which he endeavours to expose the falsehood, presumption, and
>
335
SCEPTRE.
uncertainty of human science, is to be distinguished from Sanchez and
the Pyrrhonists; he was a pseudo-sceptic, and his evident design was
to depreciate human learning as inimical to divine wisdom, and to lead
men wholly to rely upon religious faith.
Of a similar tendency is the celebrated work of Bishop Huet ('Essai
sur la Faiblesse de l'Esprit humain'), in which, after exhibiting the
principal points of the sceptic philosophy as given in Sextus Empiricus
to prove the insufficiency of human knowledge, he falls back upon the
consequent necessity of retiring within faith and being content with it.
So palpable is the pretence of his scepticism, that besides being a
devout and learned bishop, he was the author of 'Demonstratio
Evangelica.' Yet with singular inconsistency he addressed this
demonstration to the very understanding which he had so triumphantly
asserted could not attain truth.
Bayle is, as Cousin remarks, the ideal of sceptics. [BAYLE, in BIOG.
Div.]
Glanvill, whose Scepsis Scientifica, or Confest Ignorance the way to
Science,'" has hardly," says Hallam, "been seen by six living persons
(Hallam,' Lit. of Europe,' iv.), is the systematic sceptic of the 17th
century, and his work is altogether a curiosity from the rarity of its
notice, the extraordinary nature of its contents, and from its author
having been a clergyman and member of the Royal Society, and from
his having one year afterwards published a book in favour of witch-
craft. [GLANVILL, JOSEPH, in BIOG. DIV.]
Bishop Berkeley, so commonly classed with the philosophical
sceptics upon that misconception of the term we have before adverted
to, is to be regarded simply as a believer in another system of
philosophy from that usually accepted. He denied the existence of an
external world. [BERKELEY, in BIOG. DIV.]
Hume was the greatest and the legitimate sceptic of the 18th
century. His was genuine Pyrrhonism. He attacked the very
foundations of our knowledge by contrasting with them their self-
contradictions. "The truth is," observes Dugald Stewart, "that
whereas Berkeley was sincerely and bona fide an idealist, Hume's
leading object was plainly to inculcate universal scepticism." (Essays,'
ii., c. 1.) Hume accepted Berkeley's arguments in disproof of external
reality, but he went still farther; after denying a substantive world
(consciousness being concerned only with ideas or representations), he
denied on the same ground a substantive mind. For, he asks, as we
know but impressions and ideas, how can we know that there is any-
thing more than these? These are the substance and limit of our
knowledge. The mind itself has no distinct, energetic, substantive
existence-it is but a succession of ideas. This is the doctrine
expounded by Theatetus the Sophist, in Plato: “there can be nothing
true, nothing existent, distinct from the mind's own perceptions" (rà
paióμeva ékaσtų taûta kal elvai). In truth the assumption of an
external reality upon any grounds hitherto proposed is gratuitous and
questionable. In the fact of perception it is assumed that there is-
1, the consciousness; and, 2, the exciting external cause. But upon a
patient and rigid interrogation of consciousness, all we find in it, as a
fact, is a change in our state of being; beyond this no other element
is given, but assumed. Now the question can never be--whether we
are conscious of a change of being (since change is the condition of
consciousness, and the individual consciousness is proof of itself), but
whether, as the sceptic requires to know, we have or can have any
knowledge or consciousness of this external exciting cause in itself.
This we must give up. It being admitted that we are influenced by
externals mediately (that is, in representation), therefore our con-
sciousness is of the ideas, not of the objects themselves. All that we
really know is our own consciousness- our change of being-but we
remain ignorant whether that change proceed from an evolution of being
itself, or from the correlation of being and an external object. The
reasonings of Reid, Stewart, Brown, &c. against this doctrine are most
puerile. Stewart alone seems to have comprehended it in some of its
aspects, but he nowhere fairly exposes and refutes it. If Hume is to
If Hume is to
be refuted, it must be, as Kant plainly saw, by a reconsideration of the
very elements of perception, and an investigation of the received
doctrines which Hume, assuming as established, employed as first
principles. This was the work of Kant.
Comte, though he calls his system positivisme [COMTE, in BIOG. DIV.]
may be considered a sceptic in its modern sense. Nothing, according
to him, can be believed that cannot be proved; so he discards all
that is accepted as revealed as wholly unestablished, and nothing but
the positive facts of physical science are admitted. His own notions
of a new religion require a far greater amount of belief than the system
he attempts to discredit.
SCEPTRE, from the Greek skeptron (σкĥπтроv), a staff, or rod
carried by princes as the ensign of judicial and sovereign power:
whence in the Old Testament (Numbers xvii. 2), and in Homer the
most solemn oaths are sworn by it. In the Persepolitan sculptures
the sceptre figures as a long walking staff, and in the sculpture found
at Nineveh by Botta and Layard, the great king is sometimes repre-
sented carrying a similar long staff; but the sceptres borne by the
royal sceptre-bearers (and Xenophon mentions that Cyrus was always
attended by 300 sceptre-bearers), are shorter and more ornamented,
Among the Egyptians sceptres were also much ornamented; of their
appearance the following group will give a notion.
The reader who desires to know the different forms in which the
SCHOOLS.
336
sceptre is represented upon ancient coins, may consult Rasche's
'Lexicon Rei Nummarie,' v. 'Sceptrum.' Le Gendre tells us

(Nouvelle Histoire de France,' 8vo, Paris, 1719, tom. ii., p. 116) that
with the kings of France of the first race the sceptre was a golden rod
as tall as the king himself. The sceptre, as an ensign of royalty, is of
greater antiquity than the crown.
SCHEELE'S GREEN. [COPPER.]
SHILLING. [MONEY.]
SCHISM, SCHISMATICS. The Greek word schism (oxíoµa) is
used several times in the New Testament in its literal sense of a rent
or rupture in one and the same object (Matt., ix. 16; xxvii. 51; Mark,
i. 10; ii. 21; Luke, v. 36; xxiii. 45; John, xix. 24; xxi. 11); and
also in a figurative sense for a division of opinion among a number of
persons considered collectively as constituting a whole (John, vii. 43;
ix. 16; x. 19; Acts, xiv. 4; xxiii. 7). In reference to the Christian
church, schism, in the abstract sense, is never mentioned. Schisms are
spoken of twice only (1 Cor., i. 10; xi. 18); and in a third passage,
where the union of the members of the church is compared to that of
the parts of the human body, the object of this union is stated to be,
"that there should be no schism in the body." (1 Cor., xii. 24-26.)
From a comparison of these passages, it clearly appears that a schism,
in the New Testament sense, does not imply the open separation which
exists between Christians and unbelievers, nor that between the mem-
bers of different Christian communions, but it denotes something
existing within one and the same church; and further, it does not
appear to designate any difference of opinion respecting doctrines or
ceremonies or forms of government, but rather to refer to a state of
mind, to the absence of a spirit of united Christian love. (Dissent
not Schism,' a discourse by T. Binney.)
The common use of the word in ecclesiastical writers is different
from this. With them schism is nearly synonymous with separation;
but in its stricter use schism is a separation from the communion of a
church on the part of certain of its members who do not differ from
its other members on any point of religious doctrine. Heresy consists
in a dissent from the doctrines of a church; schism is a dissent from
its government. From this definition it clearly appears that any attempt
to enumerate the schisms of the Christian church would be fruitless,
since every community is considered schismatical by all the rest.
The event which ecclesiastical historians call the great Schism of the
West occurred in the 14th and 15th centuries. After the death of
Gregory XI. (A.D. 1378), the cardinals, being compelled by the clamour
of the people of Rome to elect an Italian to the popedom, chose
Urban VI.; but afterwards the leading members of the college retired
to Fondi in Naples, and elected Clement VII., who set up his court at
Avignon, while Urban remained at Rome. Clement was recognised as
pope by France, Spain, Scotland, Sicily, and Cyprus, and Urban by
the rest of Europe. This schism continued till the year 1417, when
it was healed by the Council of Constance, which elected Martin V. to
the papacy. (Mosheim's Ecclesiastical History,' cent. xiv., pt. ii., c. ii.,
sect. 15, &c.; Waddington's Church History, c. xxiii.)
The other great schism is that between the Greek and Latin churches.
[GREEK CHURCH.]
?
SCHISMA (from-oxioua, cleft, division), an interval, used only in
mathematico-musical calculations, equal to half a comma. [COMMA.]
SCHLIPPE'S SALT. The sulphantimoniate of sulphide of sodium.
[ANTIMONY. Pentasulphide of Antimony.]
SCHOLIUM, Exóλiov (Mathematics), a name given in the older
mathematical writers to the remarks which follow a proposition. A
scholium must be distinguished from a corollary, inasmuch as the
latter necessarily contains some deduction from the demonstration
which precedes, which is not the case with the former. A scholium is
an appendix containing general remarks upon the scope of a propo-
sition, its application, or its history: everything, in short, which is not
an absolute corollary. The word is used by Cicero ('Ep. ad. Att.,' xvi.
7) in its general sense of remark, commentary, or explanation.
SCHOOLS. The true Theory of Education can only be developed by
considering what the being is on whom it is designed to operate. Educa-
tion is, according to its etymology, the leading out or unfolding of the
human powers. It is obviously therefore a means for a certain purpose.
To learn what that purpose is we must refer to experience, and we must
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investigate the capacities of the human being. These being ascer-
tained, it follows that education is, in any particular case, an instru-
ment for developing them. Now we know that man has not only
physical and intellectual, but also moral and spiritual faculties, all of
which education ought to take under its care. That education is
incomplete which neglects any one of these faculties; and that
education discharges its functions imperfectly which does not cultivate
the faculties in such degree that their action may be well adjusted, and
their general working be harmonious. But if there appear to be any
one of the faculties apart from whose influence the rest work indiffer-
ently or produce baneful results, and which is found when in healthful
vigour to strengthen, refine, and control the whole nature, this power
ought to receive primary and chief attention. The work then of
education is to foster, strengthen, and raise the physical, intellectual,
moral, and spiritual capabilities of man. Some important deductions
flow from these principles. Education ought to be universal both in
relation to each individual and the community at large; for it ought
to be co-extensive with the capabilities on which it is intended to act.
It is contrary to the constitution of man and to the designs of God
for any one of our capacities to remain undeveloped. They err who
neglect to educate the body, and they also who neglect to educate the
mind. These errors represent two different classes of men.
tain school of philosophy at least makes light of religious education;
physical education has been lamentably neglected by the recognised
teachers of religion. The latter error is now disappearing, but the
former has been gaining ground; and this error is the more to be
deplored because its consequences must be serious and lasting. If any
one, certainly the religious faculty may be considered as the moving
power of the human being. Religion indeed rightly understood is the
central science, round which all other branches of knowledge and all
other pure influences are grouped, towards which they gravitate, and
from which they receive their light, their heat, and their highest
value. But for the peculiar political circumstances of England, any
system of popular education which omitted direct religious culture
would probably have been considered by thinking men as defective.
There is in truth no other way than that which is afforded by a
religious training for forming such a character as the trials and duties
of life require both among the rich and the poor. The mere com-
munication of knowledge, and even habits of reflection and inquiry,
can do very little towards real happiness. What the people want is
true wisdom and moral power, without which life is a scene of con-
flict and misery; but wisdom and moral power are the peculiar gifts
of religion.
A cer-
Morality therefore should be taught in the schools in connection
with the sanctions of religion. Apart from religious influence morality
may direct but cannot control. Morality may enlighten and it may
enjoin, but of itself it is powerless to govern; it is preceptive, not
impulsive, pointing out our path, but not urging us on to pursue it.
Now it is power rather than knowledge that man wants; and all
genuine power for moral purposes has its source in religion. It may
be well to remember that these distinctions of morality and religion
are factitious and arbitrary; they are not recognised in the records of
the Christian revelation; they find no authority in the human mind.
Religion includes morality, or rather, is morality as well as religion,
comprising in itself whatever is necessary for man to know, do, and be,
whether in this state or the next, in order to fulfil the divine will, to
perfect his character, and work out his highest good. Consequently,
he that is well trained in the knowledge and practice of the Christian
religion has received both a moral and a religious education, and is
fitly prepared for the duties of life.
|
The preceding remarks lead also to the conclusion that the culture
which ensues from education is in itself an end, if indeed it is not
the primary and great end of education. The husbandman sows the
seed in order to produce grain; the educator disciplines the faculties
that he may bring them into vigorous, healthful, and pleasurable
activity. In both cases there is an adequate end, a result in which
the agents may satisfactorily rest. Education can have no higher
object than the creation of happiness by means of the formation of
character. This is the great object of the Deity himself; and if even
the power which education gives is regarded as an instrument, as a
means to some outward result, still the pursuit of mental and moral
culture as a good in itself, can have no other than a beneficial result.
It is important therefore that the purposes for which education is
sought should be placed and kept in their proper rank. That which
is secondary must not, however good, be thrust into the first place ;
and above all that must not be altogether lost sight of, which in reality
is in itself a most important result, if not the great end of education.
The formation of character then, to make (so to speak) true men and
women, beings with their faculties complete, and, in consequence,
with all their internal sources of happiness, entire, full, and active-
this should be an object carefully studied and diligently pursued by
the educator. But here even superior minds halt behind the truth,
making the chief object of education some extrinsic result-such as,
in the case of males, fitness for the duties of their station in life; in
the case of females, such as may prepare them to be pleasing wives
and useful mothers-aims excellent in themselves, but scarcely
entitled to hold the first rank, if for no other reason than this,
that an outward accomplishment does not of necessity imply such
an inward culture as will ensure health and vigour of character,
and that durable and growing happiness which attends on genuine
personal excellence.
The real nature of education considered as an instrument may also
be gathered from these remarks. If the subject on which education
operates is mental and moral in its character, and the effects which it
labours to produce and the aims which it ought to pursue, also mental
and moral, the instrument must be of a similar kind. Setting aside
then so much of it as is designed for a physical result, education is a
mental and a moral influence; in other words, it is mind acting on
mind; it is a superior acting on an inferior character; it is human
thought and human sympathies brought to bear on kindred elements
in the bosoms of the young; it is the power of religion living and
breathing in one soul, going forth into another, and kindling within
that other corresponding vitality. Whence it is obvious that much of
what is called education does not deserve the name; that a mechanical
routine is not education, nor dexterity of hand, nor skill in shaping
certain forms, nor the utterance of articulate sounds. If so, then
reading, writing, and arithmetic, how well soever they may be taught,
ought not to be dignified with the name, though they may in favour-
able circumstances contribute something to education.
The tenor of these observations has determined another thing,
namely, what ought to be the prevailing spirit and what the discipline
of a school. School in reality holds the place of home; home is
God's school, but since present modes of life do not permit the parent
to give his child a suitable training, he transfers education to the
school. The school therefore should approximate as closely as possible
to the home. Now in theory the homes of this land are Christian
homes; the school in consequence should be a sort of Christian home.
Such a union of terms calls up in the mind ideas of gentleness, for-
bearance, and affection. These then are the moral qualities which
ought to prevail in the school. If so, severity and harshness must be
banished as incompatible with the objects for which schools are
Nor are they only incompatible, but they are actually
preventive and subversive of those objects.
The display of every
moral quality produces its like in those who habitually witness it;
and unless the aim in school-training is to produce a severe, harsh,
and unloving character, severity and harshness must be studiously
avoided.
From this it will be seen that the religious education here demanded
is not of a dogmatical, much less a sectarian kind; but such instruc-instituted.
tion as may enlighten the mind of the child and the adult as to their
capacities, their duties, and their hopes; and such a discipline as
may work the instruction into the character till it "leaven the
whole lump."
It is not a little curious that in regard to education we may
take a lesson from the ancient Persians,* who, according to Xenophon,
removing education from the hands of the parents into the hands of
the state, gave the same attention to the moral training of the young
as is now under the best circumstances given to their intellectual
instruction, and so brought them up under the influence of precept
and example, that the state was saved from the painful necessity of
inflicting punishment, in consequence of having taken such preventive
measures as relieved the youth from the desire of what is low and
unjust. Morals with them were a practical science, the principles of
which were first taught by word of mouth, and then by actual
examples and by daily practice.
The morals taught in primary schools should have a regard to per-
sonal, domestic, and social duties, or the obligations which an
individual owes to his family and to the state. The instruction should
consist not of a mere dry detail of precepts, but should appeal to the
reason and affections, that it may both develope them and gain such a
reception in the breast of the scholar as to become the living power
which governs his conduct.
•
So also the intellectual influence employed should be such as is
likely to call out and strengthen the mental powers. The chief good
of education is not to be looked for in outward results, nor even in
the amount of knowledge communicated, but rather in such habits of
mind,-power to fix the thoughts on any given object, to comprehend
many particulars at one view, to resolve a complex subject into its
component elements, to endure lengthened exertion, to carry deter-
minations into practice, to find resources for thinking and for happiness
within-as may fit a young person for discharging his duty under all
circumstances. Mere instruction therefore is not education, but
simply an instrument of education. The aim should be so to inform
the mind, as by the very act of informing to develope and strengthen
its powers.
The instruction then that deadens the appetite for know-
ledge and overloads the powers is not education, but something
foreign to its nature.
There are two modes, corresponding with two processes, by which
the mind carries on its own education, namely, synthesis and analysis,
which should be studied and employed by the educator as his great
instruments. By synthesis he will, both orally and by means of
* Not that we suppose Xenophon represents a real state of society; but the manuals, offer knowledge to the mind in a simple, attractive, yet
opinions are just as valuable as if he did.
systematic form, rising by degrees from the more to the less easy, and
ARTS AND SCI. DIV. VOL. VII.
2
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from the simple to the complex. By analysis he will lead the child to
decompose the matter of instruction which he has received, to trace
out the relations of the several portions to one or more elementary
principles, their connections with other branches of knowledge, and
the more obvious deductions which may be made from them. Thus
will he at once ascertain that he has succeeded in communicating his
lessons to the pupil, and in making those lessons themselves prolific in
additional information.
In the employment of these instruments the educator must be
careful to follow nature in her order of unfolding the faculties; he
must address those first which appear first, and he must carefully
abstain from anything calculated to force any natural power into
premature activity, or to overwork any faculty when it has come forth.
Now the sight, the hearing, and the touch are the gifts of nature
which are earliest developed. The power of reflection comes at a later
period, and only as a result of the operation and influence of the senses.
The mind of a child is an empty storehouse; the eye, the ear, and the
touch are the portals through which this storehouse is supplied with
matter, which, received and laid up, is afterwards operated upon by
the mind, pursuant to its own laws. If then the senses are the first of
our faculties which are fit for use, the senses should receive the earliest
attention of the educator. A child can immediately observe; therefore
the power of observation should be first cultivated. It is important
that all the senses should receive cultivation, not merely for the infor-
mation of which they may be made the vehicle, but also with a view
to that training which is first among the purposes of education; but
the eye may take some precedence, as the sense of sight comes first in
the order of natural sensibility. At a very early period the educator
should begin to teach his scholar how to use his eyes and other senses,
both by words and by examples; and as the other faculties are found
to expand themselves, so should they be from the first taken under his
fostering care, that by exercise he may bring them to act harmoniously
and efficiently.
It is, however, necessary that education should be also regarded as a
means to some outward result, and here at once the social distinctions
of life present themselves to our attention and modify our views. It
is obvious that a child should learn that which will best prepare him
for the labours, the trials, and the duties through which he will have
to pass. In other words, the children of the poor ought to be taught
what most concerns them to know, what they will have immediately
to do, and what, other things remaining the same, will prove the most
fruitful source of happiness. At the same time, the primary object of
education—the formation of character-should also be kept in view;
and the discipline through which a child ought to be conducted
and the subjects of knowledge to be placed before him, must be deter-
mined by a joint reference to his capacities and his probable future
station in life.
Now in treating of the mere external parts of education, health of
the body is the first thing that demands our attention. The body is
the instrument by which the mind executes its purposes, and by which
therefore much of the good which education does makes itself felt. It
would consequently seem to be of the first importance that this instru-
ment should be kept in the highest state of efficiency. But this is an
end which cannot be attained if men are brought up in total ignorance
of the structure of their bodies, and of the laws of health. From the
first, therefore, children should be habitually taught to know the con-
ditions on which health depends; such as relate to the state of their
dwellings, the condition of their persons as to cleanliness and other
matters of the like kind, of which not only the labouring classes but
many others are extremely ignorant. There is no peculiar difficulty
in communicating the requisite knowledge, and on the part of the
young the reception of it would be easy and pleasant. If we measure
If we measure
knowledge by its real usefulness, that is, its power to promote
happiness, what comparison is there between this information and a
knowledge of geography, history, or other things of the kind? A
man may be ignorant of all these matters, and yet live a virtuous,
happy, and long life, but he cannot with impunity remain ignorant of
the laws of health. The most absurd and the most injurious pre-
judices prevail on this point among the people; and in general they
imagine that sickness, disease, and death depend on causes altogether
beyond their reach, on luck or chance, and that they have no other
resource than passive submission.
It is also by means of the body that the children of the poor will
have to get their bread. They should be taught to know this as a fact, as
a simple piece of information, which involves neither merit nor demerit,
neither honour nor dishonour. For such exercises of the body as they
are likely to be called to, they ought from an early period to be pre-
pared while at school by an industrial training.
This remark comprises much more than a demand of bodily labour
from the young. It involves such a course of instruction as may best
prepare them for their future occupations. There is no pursuit in
life-not even that which is most mechanical-which does not depend
on, or is not connected with, certain principles; for all manual labour
is only the carrying out and realisation of results for which science has
prepared the way. It is equally certain that there is no labour which
inay not be lightened or relieved by knowledge. A good education
therefore would make the labourer acquainted with the facts and
principles on which his art is built; and thus enable him to enjoy the
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840
rational and sustaining pleasure of working understandingly, with a
view to a given result, and labouring therefore in a manner fitted
to improve his character as a man as well as his efficiency as a
workman.
But no improvement can be expected in popular education until a
better race of teachers is provided. Great as is the deficiency of
schools, yet if they were filled with competent instructors, the chief
evil would be remedied.
In the houses too of the working classes, particularly in the manu-
facturing districts, a change is most desirable. Whatever time may be
occupied in school duties, there are many hours which a child spends
during which the educator has no influence over him; and these are
the very times at which the young are most susceptible of impressions;
when the moral and intellectual capacities open to surrounding
influences, and receive them readily and retain the impression deeply.
In the actual state of things then, the real educators of the young are
their parents, their brothers and sisters, their playmates, their casual
companions-in one word, their home. No small part of these evils
results from the employment of females in mills and factories. In the
ordinary state of society all that should be peculiar in a female's
education would be left to her mother. But among a large part of
the manufacturing classes there are not mothers who could give any-
thing approaching to the requisite education. There is then no
other resource but the school. It is altogether impossible that the
labouring classes, at least of the manufacturing districts, can ever
be happy until a new and improved race of mothers appears. In
addition, therefore, to the educational requisites already mentioned,
it is necessary that there should be a sufficient number of girls'
schools in which the ordinary arts of domestic life-baking, cooking,
sewing, knitting, making and mending, should be taught. This matter
is of vital interest to the working man, and therefore to the country,
for it matters little what the labourer's earnings are, what his own
intelligence is, if he has not a thrifty, kind-hearted, sensible, and
industrious wife.
Among the changes desirable on the part of the parents is the
existence of a disposition to provide out of their own resources suit-
able means for the education of their children. That it is their duty
to make this provision when they have the power is unquestionable;
and although it is too much to expect at the present, yet something
may be done towards it, and the complete fulfilment of the claim may
be looked to as an ultimate end. There is nothing but their own exer-
tions which can bring to the labouring classes all the good which
education can convey.
education can convey. The charity of education, like charity of every
kind, tends to pauperise those whom it aims to benefit: and so long as
the education of the poor depends on the efforts of rival and conflict-
ing parties in religion or in politics, it is impossible that the power
thus gained should not be used in order to further the opinions and
interests of the several parties. In the meantime the people are
regarded and treated as instruments for a purpose, and their education
is shaped and varied not by a regard to what is absolutely best, but to
what is conducive to the ends of the party which directs it. It is
true that some good has resulted from the efforts of individuals and
societies by which such education as the poor have received has been
conducted during a century. It is equally true that these voluntary
exertions have in many cases sprung from pure and enlarged benevo-
lence. Still they could not under the circumstances fail to be ac-
companied by a large amount of sectarian and party feeling. At the
present hour this is peculiarly the case. The church is arrayed against
dissent, dissent is arrayed against the church, in competition for the
largest share in the education of the children of the poor; and the
rivalry is in greater or less activity through every city and village of
the kingdom.
The magnitude of the evil and of the interests which are at stake
seem to demand the intervention of the government by means of a
general catholic and truly national education. But the conflict of
parties gives little reason to expect this at present. Still the govern-
ment is doing something; but the remedial measures employed cannot
overtake the disorder. Perhaps after all, the end to be aimed at is,
that the people should seriously take the education of their children
into their own hands, or intrust it to proper persons of their own
choice. This end may be facilitated by that love of independence
which has hitherto been a marked feature in the character of English-
men, who do not like either a government or individuals to be obtru-
ding on their private concerns. Assuming, then, that the importance
of education for all classes is now generally admitted, we proceed to
notice our grammar and primary schools, and the laws which affect
them.
Endowed Schools. An endowed school in England is a school which
was established and is supported by funds given and appropriated to
the perpetual use of such school, either by the sovereign or by private
individuals. The endowment provides salaries for the master and
usher, if there be one, and gratuitous instruction to pupils, either
generally or the children of persons who live within certain defined
limits. Endowed schools may be divided, with respect to the objects
of the founder, into grammar-schools, and schools not grammar-schools.
A grammar-school is generally defined to be a school in which the
learned languages, the Latin and the Greek, are taught. Endowed
schools may also be divided, with respect to their constitution for the
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purposes of government, into schools incorporated and schools not
incorporated. Incorporated schools belong to the class of corporations
called eleemosynary, which comprehends colleges and halls, and char-
tered hospitals or alms-houses. [COLLEGE.]
Endowed schools are comprehended under the general legal name of
Charities, as that word is used in the act of the 43rd of Elizabeth,
chap. 4, which is entitled "An Act to redress the Misemployment of
Lands, Goods, and Stocks of Money heretofore given to Charitable
Uses." Incorporated schools have generally been founded by the
authority of letters patent from the crown, but in some cases by act of
parliament. The usual course of proceeding has been for the person
who intended to give property for the foundation of a school, to apply
to the crown for a licence. The licence is given in the form of letters
patent, which empower the person to found such a school, and to make,
or to empower others to make, rules and regulations for its govern-
ment, provided they are not at variance with the terms of the patent.
The patent also incorporates certain persons and their successors, who
are named or referred to in it, as the governors of the school. This
was the form of foundation in the case of Harrow School, which was
founded by John Lyon, in the 14th year of Elizabeth, pursuant to letters
patent from the queen. Sometimes the master and usher are made
members of the corporation, or the master only; and in the instance
of Berkhampstead School, which was founded by act of parliament (2 &
3 Edw. VI., reciting certain letters patent of Henry VIII.), the corpo-
ration consists of the master and usher only, of whom the master is
appointed by the crown, and the usher is appointed by the master.
Lands and other property of such a school are vested in the corpora-
tion, whose duty it is to apply them, pursuant to the terms of the
donation, in supporting the school. Many school endowments are of
a mixed nature, the funds being appropriated both to the support of a
free-school and for other charitable purposes. These other purposes
are very various; but among them the union or connection of a hospital
or almshouse with a free-school is one of the most common.
Where there is no charter of incorporation, which is the case in a
great number of school endowments, the lands and other property of
the school are vested in trustees, whose duties, as to the application of
the funds, are the same as in the case of an incorporated school. It is
necessary from time to time for the actual trustees to add to their
numbers by such legal modes of conveyance as shall vest the school
property in them and the new trustees jointly. These conveyances
sometimes cause a considerable expense; and when they have been
neglected, and the estates have consequently become vested in the
heir-at-law of the surviving trustee, some difficulty is occasionally
experienced in finding out the person in whom the school estates have
thus become vested. When the school property consists of money, the
same kind of difficulty arises; and money is also more liable to be lost
than land.
Every charity, and schools amongst the rest, seems to be subject to
visitation. We shall first speak of incorporated schools.
The founder may make the persons to whom he gives the school
property on trust also the governors of his foundation for all purposes;
and if he names no special visitor, it appears that such persons will be
visitors as well as trustees. If he names a person as visitor, such
person
is called a special visitor; and it is a general rule that if the
founder names no special visitor, and does not constitute the governors
of his foundation the visitors, the heir-at-law of the founder will be
visitor; and if there is no heir-at-law, the crown will visit by the lord
keeper of the great seal. The king is visitor of all schools founded by
himself or his ancestors. The duties of trustees and visitors are quite
distinct, whether the same persons are trustees and visitors, or the
trustees and visitors are different. It is the duty of trustees to pre-
serve the school property, and to apply it to the purposes intended by
the founder. In respect of their trust, trustees are subject to the
jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery, like all other trustees; and of
course they are answerable for all misapplication of the funds. It is
the visitor's duty to inquire into the behaviour of the master and
usher in their respective offices, and into the general conduct of the
school. He must judge according to the founder's rules, which he
cannot alter unless he is empowered by the terms of the donation to
do so. There seems to be no reason for supposing that the king, in
respect of royal foundations, has any further power than other per-
sons, and consequently he cannot alter the terms of the donation,
unless this power was originally reserved to the founder and his suc-
cessors; but on this matter there may be some difference of opinion.
The visitor, or those who have visitorial power, can alone remove a
master or usher of an endowed school. The Court of Chancery never
removes a master or usher, when they are part of the corporate body,
on the general principle that this court has no power to remove a
corporator of any kind; and when there is a visitor, or persons with
visitorial power, the court never attempts directly to remove a master
or usher, even if they are not members of the corporation. (17 Ves.,
Att.-Gen. v. the Earl of Clarendon.)
Trustees of endowed schools which are not incorporated are ac-
countable in a court of equity for the management of the school
property. But the internal management of the school still belongs
to the special visitor, if there is one; and if there is no special visitor
it belongs to the founder's heir. Trustees of endowed schools, simply
as such, are merely the guardians of the property, as already observed;
and it is their duty to take care of it, and to apply the income according
to the founder's intention. It has, however, happened that in schools
not incorporated the jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery and the
visitorial jurisdiction have not been kept quite distinct; and cases have
arisen in which it has been found difficult to determine what ought to
be the proper mode of proceeding.
A free grammar-school was an endowment for teaching the learned
languages, or Greek and Latin, and for no other purpose, unless the
founder has prescribed other things to be taught besides grammar.
This legal meaning of the term grammar-school has been fixed by
various judicial decisions, and it appears to be established that, if the
founder merely expresses his intention to found a grammar-school, the
school must be a school for teaching Latin and Greek only, at least, so
far as the teaching is gratuitous; other branches of instruction may
be introduced, but the scholars must pay for this extra instruction.
Grammar-schools have now for a long time been solely regulated
by the Court of Chancery, which, though affecting merely to deal
with them in respect of the trusts and the application of the
The court may be
trust-monies, has in fact gone much farther.
applied to for the purpose of establishing a school where funds
have been given for the purpose, but the object cannot be effected
without the aid of the court. It may also be applied to for
The court
the purpose of correcting a misapplication of the funds.
may also be applied to in order to sanction the application of the
school funds when they have increased beyond the amount required
for the purposes indicated by the founder. Such surplus funds are
often applied in establishing exhibitions or annual allowances to be
paid to meritorious boys who have been educated at the school, during
their residence at college. The master's scheme for the regulation of
Tunbridge school, in Kent, which was confirmed by the Court of
Chancery, established sixteen exhibitions of 100 each, which are
tenable at any college of Oxford or Cambridge, and payable out of the
founder's endowment. It also extended the benefits of the school
beyond the limits fixed by the founder, and made various other regu-
lations for the improvement of the school, having regard to the then
annual rents of the school estates.
The previous remarks on grammar-schools must be taken subject to
the provisions contained in a recent Act of Parliament, which is the
only attempt that has been made by the legislature to regulate schools
of this class. This act (3 & 4 Vict. c. 77) is entitled "An Act for
improving the Condition and extending the Benefits of Grammar-
Schools." The act recites, among other things, that the “ patrons,
visitors, and governors of such grammar-schools are generally unable of
their own authority to establish any other system of education than
is expressly provided for by the foundation, and her majesty's courts
of law and equity are frequently unable to give adequate relief, and in
no case but at considerable expense." The act then declares that the
courts of equity shall have power, as in the act provided, "to make
such decrees or orders as to the said courts shall seem expedient, as
well for extending the system of education to other useful branches of
literature and science, in addition to or (subject to the provisions
thereinafter contained) in lieu of the Greek and Latin languages, or
such other instruction as may be required by the terms of the founda-
tion or the then existing statutes, as also for extending or restricting
the freedom or the right of admission to such school, by determining
the number or the qualifications of boys who may thereafter be
admissible thereto as free scholars or otherwise, and for settling the
terms of admission to and continuance in the same, and to establish
such schemes for the application of the revenues of any such schools
as may in the opinion of the court be conducive to the rendering or
maintaining such schools in the greatest degree efficient and useful,
with due regard to the intentions of the respective founders and
benefactors, and to declare at what period, and upon what event, such
decrees or orders, or any directions contained therein, shall be brought
into operation; and that such decrees and orders shall have force
and effect, notwithstanding any provisions contained in the instruments
of foundation, endowment, or benefaction, or in the then existing
statutes;" but it is provided, that if there shall be any special visitor
appointed by the founder or other competent authority, he shall be
heard on the matters in question before the court makes any orders or
decrees.
This enactment extends the power of the court over grammar-
schools very considerably, as will appear from what has been said; not
so much however, if we view what the court has done, as if we take
the declarations of the most eminent equity judges as to what the
court can do. The power however of changing a grammar-school into
one not a grammar-school, which is given by this act, is a considerable
extension of authority; but the power is limited to cases (§ 3) where
the necessity of such a change arises from insufficiency of the revenues
of a grammar-school for the purpose of such school. But this provision
as it has properly been remarked, will be of very difficult applica-
tion; for in many successful grammar-schools the revenue is small,
and in some which are not successful it is large. Smallness of revenue,
therefore, will not of itself prove "insufficiency of revenues in the
sense intended by the act. The same section contains also a provision,
that except in this case of insufficient revenues, the court shall not by
this act be authorised to dispense with any statute or provision now
existing, so far as relates to the qualification of any schoolmaster or
,,
i
843
SCHOOLS.
under-master. The dispensing power then which the court has often
assumed, as shown in some instances above mentioned, remains as it
was; that is, it does not exist at all.
When a grammar-school shall have been made into another kind of
school under the provisions of this act, it is still to be considered a
grammar-school, and subject to the jurisdiction of the ordinary as
heretofore.
In case there shall be in any city, town, or place, any grammar-
school or grammar-schools with insufficient revenues, they may be
united, with the consent of the visitor, patron, and governor of every
school to be affected thereby. The legal meaning of city and town
(township) is sufficiently precise, but "place" has no legal meaning,
and the framers of the act have forgotten to give it one in their 25th
section, which treats of the construction of terms in that act.
The court is also empowered (§ 14) to enlarge the powers of those
who have "authority by way of visitation or otherwise in respect of
the disclipine of any grammar-school;" and where no authority by
way of visitation is vested in any known person, the bishop of the
diocese may apply to the Court of Chancery, stating the facts, and the
court may, if it so think fit, give the bishop liberty to visit and regu-
late the said school in respect of the discipline, but not otherwise.
This provision, for various reasons, will prove completely inoperative.
The act gives a summary remedy against masters who hold the
premises of any grammar-school after dismissal, or after ceasing to be
masters. Such masters are to be turned out in like manner as is pro-
vided in the case of other persons holding over, by the Act of the 1 &
2 Vict., entitled "An Act to facilitate the Recovery of Possession of
Tenements after due Determination of the Tenancy.'
All applications to the court under this act may be (not must) made
by petition only, and such petitions are to be presented, heard, and
determined according to the provisions of the 52 Geo. III. c. 101.
The act saves the rights of the ordinary. It is also declared not to
extend to the universities of Oxford or Cambridge, or to any college
or hall within the same, or to the university of London, or to any
colleges connected therewith, or to the university of Durham, or to the
colleges of St. David's or St. Bees, or the grammar-schools of West-
minster, Eton, Winchester, Harrow, Charter-House, Rugby, Merchant
Tailors', St. Paul's, Christ's Hospital, Birmingham, Manchester, or
Macclesfield, or Lowth, or such schools as form part of any cathedral
or collegiate church." But the exemption does not extend to the
grammar-schools of which the universities of Oxford or Cambridge, or
the colleges and halls within the same, are trustees, though these
schools were excepted from the Commissioners' inquiry by the 5 & 6
Wm. IV. c. 71.
It appears from the rules of many grammar-schools that religious
instruction according to the principles of the Church of England, as
established at the Reformation, is a part of the instruction which the
founder contemplated; and when nothing is said about religious
instruction, it is probable that it was always the practice to give such
instruction in grammar-schools. That it was part of the discipline of
such schools before the Reformation cannot be doubted, and there is
no reason why it should have ceased to be so after the Reformation, as
will presently appear. It is generally asserted that in every grammar-
school religious instruction ought to be given, and according to the
tenets of the Church of England; and that no person can undertake
the office of schoolmaster in a grammar-school without the licence of
the ordinary. This latter question was argued in the case of Rex v.
the Archbishop of York. (6 T. R.,' 490.) A mandamus was directed
to the archbishop directing him to license R. W. to teach in the
grammar-school at Skipton, in the county of York. The return of
the archbishop was that the licensing of schoolmasters belongs to the
archbishops and bishops of England; that R. W. had refused to be
examined; and he relied as well on the ancient canon law as upon the
canons confirmed in 1603 by James I. (The Constitutions and Canons
Ecclesiastical,'" Schoolmaster," 77, 78, 79.) The return was allowed;
and consequently it was determined that the ordinary has power to
license all schoolmasters, and not merely masters of grammar-schools.
As to schoolmasters generally, the practice is discontinued, and
probably it is not always observed in the case of masters of grammar-
schools.
From the terms of this licence it appears that the master of every
school who is licensed by the ordinary must be a member of the
Church of England, and must take the oath and make the subscriptions
and declarations which are recited in the licence.
It is a common notion that the master of a grammar-school must be
a graduate of Oxford or Cambridge, and in holy orders, and such is the
present practice; but it is by no means always the case that the rules
of endowed schools require the master to be in holy orders. The
founders seem generally to have considered this a matter of indif-
ference; but many of them provided that if the master was in orders,
or took orders, he should not at least encumber himself with the cure
of souls. The principle clearly was, that the master of a grammar-
school should devote himself solely to that work; and it was a good
principle. The Court of Chancery has in various cases ordered that
the master should be a clergyman, where the founder has not so
ordered. Dean Colet, the founder of St. Paul's School, London,
ordered by his statutes that neither of the masters of that school, if in
orders, nor the chaplain, shall have any benefice with cure or service
SCHOOLS.
844
which may hinder the business of the school. He appointed a chaplain
to the school, thereby appearing to intend that the religious instruction
should not be given by the masters of grammar, who would be fully
employed otherwise.
It has sometimes been doubted whether a master of a grammar-
school could hold ecclesiastical preferment with it. If the founder
has not forbidden this, there is no rule of law which prevents him. If
the holding of the two offices should cause him to neglect the duties
of either, the remedy is just the same as if he neglected either of his
offices for any other cause.
Many grammar-schools are only free to the children of a particular
parish, or of some particular parishes; but this privilege has occa-
sionally been extended to a greater surface, as in the case of Tunbridge
school. Some are free to all persons, which is the case with some of
King Edward VI.'s endowments. Sometimes the number of free boys
is limited, but the master is allowed to take pay scholars, either by
usage or by the founder's rules. At present the practice is for masters
of grammar-schools to take boarders if they choose, but in some cases
the number is limited. Abuses undoubtedly have arisen from the
practice of the master taking boarders, and the children of the parish
or township for which the school was intended have been neglected or
led to quit the school sometimes in consequence of the head master
being solely intent on having a profitable boarding school. But in
most cases the school has benefited by the master taking boarders;
and this has frequently been the only means by which the school has
been able to maintain itself as a grammar-school. When the situation
has been a good one, an able master has often been found willing to
take a grammar-school with a house, and a small salary attached to it,
in the hope of making up a competent income by boarders. As this
can only be effected by the master's care and diligence in teaching, a
small neighbourhood has thus frequently enjoyed the advantage of its
grammar-school, which otherwise would have been lost.
Endowments for education are probably nearly as old as endowments
for the support of the church. Before the Reformation there were
schools connected with many religious foundations, and there were
also many private endowments for education. Perhaps one of the
oldest schools of which anything is known is the school of Canterbury.
Theodore, who was consecrated archbishop of Canterbury in 668 (ac-
cording to some authorities), founded a school or college by licence
from the pope. This school certainly existed for a long time; and
there is a record of a suit before the Archbishop of Canterbury in
1321, between the rector of the grammar-schools of the city (supposed
to be Theodore's school or its representative) and the rector of St.
Martin's, who kept a school in right of the church. The object of the
suit was to limit the rector of St. Martin's in the number of his
scholars. This school probably existed till the Reformation, at least
this is the time when the present King's school at Canterbury was
established by Henry VIII., and probably on the ruins of the old
school. Before the Reformation schools were also connected with
chantries, and it was the duty of the priest to teach the children
grammar and singing. There are still various indications of this con-
nection between schools and religious foundations in the fact that some
schools are still, or were till lately, kept in the church, or in a building
which was part of it. There are many schools still in existence which
were founded before the Reformation, but a very great number were
founded immediately after that event, and one professed object of
king Edward VI. in dissolving the chantries and other religious founda-
tions then existing was for the purpose of establishing grammar-schools,
as appears from the recital of the act for that purpose (1 Ed. VI.
c. 14.) [CHANTRY.]
Though the act was much abused, the king did found a considerable
number of schools, now commonly called King Edward's Schools, out
of tithes that formerly belonged to religious houses or chantry lands;
and many of these schools, owing to the improved value of their pro-
perty, are now among the richest foundations of the kind in England.
In these, as in many other grammar-schools, a certain number of per-
sons were incorporated as trustees and governors, and provision was
made for a master and usher. At that time the endowments varied
in annual value from twenty to thirty and forty pounds per annum.
A large proportion of the grammar-schools were founded in the
reigns of Edward VI. and Elizabeth, and there is no doubt that the
desire to give complete ascendancy to the tenets of the Reformed
Church was a motive which weighed strongly with many of the
founders. Since the reign of Elizabeth we find grammar-schools occa-
sionally established, but less frequently, while endowments for schools
not grammar-schools have gradually increased so as to be much more
numerous than the old schools. Foundations of the latter kind are
still made by the bounty of individuals from time to time; and an
Act of Parliament (2 & 3 Wm. IV. c. 115) has made it lawful to give
money by will for the establishing of Roman Catholic schools. By the
23 Vict., c. 11, passed in 1860, the trustees of grammar-schools in
England and Wales are empowered (except those mentioned in the
3 & 4 Vict., c. 77, those in connection with the National Society, those
maintained by private subscription, and those where the endowment
does not expressly demand conformity to certain religious doctrines) to
frame orders for securing the admission of children whose parents are
not in communion with the denomination or sect of which the doc-
trines are taught in the school. The statute of the 9th Geo. II, c, 36,
345
848
SCHOOLS.
SCHOOLS.
commonly called the Mortmain Act, has placed certain restrictions on
gifts by will for charitable purposes, which restrictions consequently
extend to donations by will for the establishment or support of schools.
[MORTMAIN.]
The history of our grammar-schools before the Reformation would
be a large part of the history of education in England, for up to that
time there were probably no other schools. From the time of the
Reformation, and particularly till within the last half-century, the
grammar-schools of England were the chief places of early instruction
for all those who received a liberal training. From these often humble
and unpretending edifices has issued a series of names illustrious in
the annals of their country-a succession of men, often of obscure
parentage and stinted means, who have justified the wisdom of the
founders of grammar-schools in providing education for those who
would otherwise have been without it, and thus securing to the state
the services of the best of her children. Though circumstances are
now greatly changed, there is nothing in the present condition of the
country which renders it prudent to alter the foundation of these
schools to any great extent; and certainly there is every reason for
supporting them in all the integrity of their revenues, and for labour-
ing to make them as efficient as their means will allow.
The voluminous Reports of the Commissioners appointed in 1818
and 1837 to inquire into Charities, contain the most complete acces-
sible information on the several schools which were visited by the
commissioners. But this vast mass of materials is only useful for
those who wish to inquire into some particular endowment, or for the
few who have leisure to study the Reports and the knowledge neces-
sary to enable them to make a right use of them. The number of
grammar-schools reported on by the commissioners is 700; the number
of endowed schools not classical, 2150; and of charities for education
not attached to endowed schools, 3390. The income of grammar-
schools reported on was 152,0477. 14s. 1d.; of endowed schools (not
classical), 141,385l. 2s. 6d.; and of the other charities given for or
applied to education, 19,112l. 8s. 8d.
Primary Schobls. The education supplied by primary schools may
be considered as embracing not only that of young children, but that
of the children of the poor in general. The consideration of it involves
the whole matter of what is generally termed "popular education,"
comprising the Sunday-school, the Day-school, and the Infant-school.
The theory of the English church establishment supposes that the
youth of the country are directly or indirectly under the care of the
clergy for the purposes of education; and there was a period in which
none but the clergy were engaged in the business of instruction.
Various circumstances, however, added to the increase of population,
its growth in wealth, the rise of new commercial interests, together
with the spread of dissent, caused the people to outgrow the very
scanty provision made for their education, so that towards the end of
the last century an opinion became prevalent of the urgent necessity
both for the extension and the improvement of the means for the
education of poor children. The result was the commencement in
England of a series of efforts which have led both here and abroad to
the most beneficial results.
Raikes of Gloucester is generally considered the founder of Sunday-
schools, but other persons preceded him in the benevolent effort to
make the Sunday subservient to the education of neglected children.
The Rev. Theophilus Lindsey, shortly after he had taken possession of
his vicarage of Catterick in Yorkshire, in 1763, employed in this way a
portion of each Sunday. Mrs. Cappe, wife of the Rev. Newcome
Cappe of York, then Miss Harrison, "endeavoured," she observes in
her Life, "to imitate at Bedale the example which I so much admired
at Catterick." In the year 1769 a Sunday-school was commenced by
Miss Ball at High Wycombe, Bucks. She was a lady of great piety,
and very earnest in doing good. Her custom was to assemble as many
as thirty or forty children on Sunday morning, in order to hear them
read the Scriptures and repeat the Catechism and the Collect prepara-
tory to going to church.
The idea of Sunday instruction was communicated to Mr. Raikes by
the Rev. Mr. Stock, curate of St. John's, Gloucester. [RAIKES, in
BIOG. DIV.]
The "National Schools" took their rise from the impulse given by
the exertions of Dr. Andrew Bell. [BELL, DR. ANDREW, in BIOG.
Div.]
Joseph Lancaster, born in 1771, was a member of the Society of
Friends. [LANCASTER, JOSEPH, in BIOG. Div.] His efforts resulted in
the formation of the British and Foreign School Society.
Infant-schools are designed to prevent evil, and to train young
children in the practice of virtue and kind feeling, as well as to the
pursuit of knowledge, particularly in those cases in which the parents
from their occupation are unable, or from their dispositions are un-
willing, to take proper care of their offspring. At present having been
found of great service in the humbler ranks of society, they are slowly
extending themselves among the middle classes. If the whole of
English education were planned with similar foresight and care, and
conducted on similar principles, so as to make one connected series
from infancy to manhood, extending through all ranks, modified only
by the peculiar facilities and destination of each, the highest advantages
would follow. The infant-school system makes the school-room into a
nursery and a playground, in which virtue, intelligence, and love
preside, direct the movements, and regulate and foster the emotions,
The scholars are instructed while they play, and learn to associate
pleasurable feelings with their school pursuits.
The real founder of Infant-Schools appears to have been the Pastor
Oberlin [OBERLIN, in BIOG. DIV.]; but PESTALOZZI [BIOG. DIV.] also
aided. Mr. Owen was the first Englishman to establish an infant-
school on a large scale, and for definite purposes-and certainly the
school which he founded at New Lanark in Scotland at least ranks
among the earliest.
In the year 1819 Henry Brougham, the Marquis of Lansdowne,
Joseph Wilson, John Smith (who had seen the schools at New Lanark
five years previously), and other gentlemen, established, by subscription
among themselves, a school in Brewer's Green (now Vincent Square),
Tothill Fields, Westminster, on the plan of Mr. Owen's schools at New
Lanark; and James Buchanan, an experienced teacher in those schools,
came to London, with Mr. Owen's approbation, to superintend the new
school.
On the 24th of July, 1820, an infant school was opened in Quaker-
Street, Spitalfields, London. This school was established at the sole
expense of Joseph Wilson, above mentioned. Samuel Wilderspin and his
wife were engaged to manage the school, and their salaries were fixed
and paid by Mr. Wilson. Wilderspin had been previously a clerk
in a mercantile house in the city. He remained in this situation some
years, and published a small work On the Importance of educating
the Infant Poor from the age of eighteen months to seven years, con-
taining an account of the Spitalfields Infant School, and the new
System of Instruction there adopted. By S. Wilderspin, master of the
above school. 12mo, 2nd edition, with considerable additions, Lond.,
1824.' The first edition was probably published in 1823, but we have
no evidence. Mr. Wilderspin was afterwards employed in delivering
lectures on infant education, in assisting in the establishment of new
schools, and in otherwise promoting the cause of infant education in
all parts of Great Britain as well as in London. Mr. Buchanan was
master of the Westminster infant school about twenty years, and then
went to America.
Of a different class in many respects to either of those yet noticed
are the schools called Birkbeck Schools. They were established by a
private gentleman, Mr. William Ellis [ELLIS, WILLIAM, in BIOG. DIV.],
at his own expense, but are intended to be ultimately maintained by
the weekly payments of the children. As is more fully explained in
the article referred to (see also the 'Companion to the Almanac,' for
1860, p. 13, &c.), the distinctive feature of the schools is that instruction
in social science is made a matter of primary importance: it being the
opinion of the founder "that the habits of reflection and self-
examination, which its study calls forth, cannot fail to impart a useful
bias to the character and conduct in after life." Several of these
schools are in operation, the principal one, a large and flourishing
establishment in which several hundred children are under instruction,
is at Peckham.
Reformatory and Ragged Schools have been treated of under those
heads.
A "College of Preceptors" has been also established, which examines
and gives certificates of competence to persons intending to be teachers.
This has tended greatly to improve the teaching in private schools;
while the Oxford and Cambridge middle-class examinations of the
scholars of any school, as well as the throwing open, to a certain
extent, of government situations to public competition, have had con-
siderable influence in raising the character of the instruction given.
Training-schools have also been established in connection with the
National Society. Some of the Diocesan Boards of Education appro-
priate a part of their funds to the erection of school-houses; others
assist in increasing the salaries of teachers and improving the routine
of schools.
In giving a brief notice of what has been done for the improvement
of education in England, the efforts of government claim chief atten-
tion. Those efforts have proceeded on the principle of stimulating and
expanding the agencies which are already in existence, rather than of
supplying the means for establishing a general and uniform system of
education, under the control of the state. For several years grants of
20,000l. per annum were made by Parliament, and distributed chiefly
through the National and the British or Lancasterian schools, in
furtherance of education.
These schools increased, and with them the government grants.
Schools receiving grants are subject to the inspection of persons
appointed by government. In 1859 there was granted by Parliament
$36,920. for public education in Great Britain, and 249,4687. for
Ireland; and in England, in 1858, at the time of inspection there were
821,744 scholars present. In 1860 the grants were 798,1671. for Great
Britain and 270,7221. for Ireland; and in Ireland, on Dec. 31, 1859,
there were 519,175 children on the rolls, and an average of 269,203 in
daily attendance. Grants are allowed by the Council of Education to
all schools admitting of the inspection of the government inspectors.
There are 24 training colleges. In almost every Poor-Law Union
schools are established for the pauper children, at which, in July, 1859,
there were 65,656 children receiving instruction. In Ireland, agricul-
tural schools have been established in connection with the Poor-Law
Union, which have proved successful in their pecuniary results and
beneficial to the children,
317
SCHOOLS.
The efforts of the legislature have not been confined to grants of
money or to the poor. Without noticing the number of schemes pro-
posed, and the debates upon them, in which the adherents of the
voluntary principle, and those advocating a national superintendence
and support, have contrived to neutralise each other's efforts, we will
shortly notice what has been actually done. In 1842 an act was passed
for facilitating the acquisition of sites for school-houses, which was
repeated, amended, and extended in 1850, 1852, and 1853. In 1843
land and buildings occupied by societies for literary and scientific pur-
poses were exempted from the payment of county, borough, parochial,
and other local rates; and in 1854 further facilities for the institution
of such societies were afforded by another act. In 1844, in a Poor-Law
Amendment Act, the Poor-Law Commissioners were empowered to
combine parishes and unions into school districts, to form boards for
their governance, which boards, subject to the regulations of the com-
missioners, were to appoint, pay, and control its teachers and other
officers for the purpose of instructing the children of the poor; but no
child was to be compelled to attend any religious service contrary to
the principles of, or be instructed in, any religious creed contrary to
that professed by, the parents; and in 1848 the provisions of the act
were amended, by extending them to parishes not in unions, and
removing the limitation of expense, previously limited to one-fifth of
the aggregate of the poor-law expenditure. The 18 Vict. c. 34, 1855,
gives guardians of poor-law unions power to afford relief, so as to
enable poor children, between the ages of four and sixteen, to be sent
to schools. In 1847 the law regulating the attendance at school of
children employed in print-works was amended. In 1850 an act was
passed empowering town-councils to establish public libraries and
museums, by imposing a small rate, such libraries and museums to be
open to the public free of expense; extended in 1855 to places not
having councils and to parishes; and similar acts were passed for
Scotland and Ireland in 1853, 1854, and 1855.
In addition to this legislative action, the general public have not
been wanting in efforts to diffuse education. In most of the large
towns ragged schools have been formed and supported for the
instruction of the more destitute children; and, in conjunction with
mere school learning, it has been endeavoured to inculcate habits of
industry, by establishing shoe-black brigades and crossing sweepers, by
which boys during the day are enabled to earn money, a part being
devoted to their support, and the remainder placed to their account, to
form a fund for their future advancement, their evenings being spent
in school. The results, on the whole, have been very satisfactory.
Schools have also been established for teaching girls common things,
chiefly in domestic economy. The preparation of teachers has been
also more attended to, and few of the paid instructors, either male or
female, are now appointed to any of the schools without certificates of
capability from recognised examiners. For this purpose the National
Society, the British and Foreign School Society, the Congregational
Board of Education, and the Voluntary School Society, have established
normal and model schools, where instruction is afforded, capability
tested, and certificates granted. Inspectors are appointed to visit all
the schools by the Board of Education, and also by the above-named
societies to visit their own.
In 1845 an act was passed for endowing Maynooth College for the
better education of the Roman Catholic priesthood. In the same year
was also passed an act "enabling her Majesty to endow new Colleges,"
in consequence of which the Queen's Colleges of Belfast, Cork, and
Galway have been built and endowed. A sum of 100,000l. was
assigned out of the Consolidated Fund for purchasing the sites, and
erecting and furnishing the buildings of the three Colleges. Her
Majesty and her successors were made visitors, with power to appoint,
by sign manual, persons to execute the office. The appointment of
the presidents, vice-presidents, and professors, was entrusted to the
Crown, until parliament should otherwise determine. The Commis-
sioners of the Treasury were empowered to issue annually a sum not
exceeding 70007. for the payment of salaries and other expenses in
each college; it being moreover provided that reasonable fees should
be exigible from the students. Lecture-rooms were directed to be
assigned for religious instruction: and it was enacted that no student
should be allowed to attend any of the colleges unless he should reside
with his parent or guardian, or some near relation, or with a tutor or
master of a boarding-house licensed by the president, or in a hall
founded and endowed for the reception of students.
}
SCIENCE.
348
entire system of teaching and discipline is in the hands of members of
the Church established by law, and is regulated and administered in
all respects in conformity with the doctrines and ritual of that Church.
Notwithstanding considerable opposition the experiment has succeeded.
The colleges are attended by students of all religious creeds; but
while thus free to all, the morals and the peculiar faith of the student
are sedulously attended to.
Neither in England have the efforts to promote education been con-
fined to the poor. At Durham the bishop and dean and chapter
obtained an act of Parliament in 1832, authorising the institution and
endowment of a university, which was opened for students in October
1833. In 1837 a royal charter of incorporation was obtained by which
the style and title of "the Warden, Masters, and Scholars of the
University of Durham" was given to the institution. The charter
gave the power of conferring degrees, and confirmed the rights and
privileges assured to it by act of Parliament, usually enjoyed by
chartered universities. The bishop is appointed visitor; the dean of
Durham is constituted warden.
Durham is constituted warden. To the professorships of divinity and
ecclesiastical history and of Greek and classical literature, which are
both in the patronage of the bishop, canonries in the cathedral are
annexed. The professor of mathematics and astronomy, the readers
in law, Hebrew, history and polite literature, and natural philosophy,
the lecturer on chemistry and mineralogy, and other officers of the
university, are appointed by the dean and chapter. Of University
College the warden of the university is master. Bishop Hatfield's
Hall, instituted in 1846, is for divinity students. It has four tutors,
one of whom is principal, a censor, and a chaplain. The academical
year consists of three terms of not less than eight weeks each, which
are called Michaelmas, Epiphany, and Easter Terms.
The age of
admission to the academical course is from 16 to 21; and for the
divinity course, between 21 and 26; beyond this age students must be
admitted by special leave. Care has been taken that the necessary
expenses of students shall be as moderate as is consistent with
comfort, and any approach to extravagance is sedulously guarded
against.
In 1854 an act of Parliament extended the right enjoyed by the
graduates of Oxford and Cambridge to practise physic without farther
examination, to the graduates in medicine of the University of
London. In the same year by another act, a commission was
appointed to draw up regulations for the improvement of Oxford
University, and in 1857 a similar one was passed for Cambridge.
Under these commissions many valuable improvements have been
effected, and more may be confidently expected. Among those
effected are the breaking up of the close scholarships (especially those
of Winchester school), and throwing them open to general competi-
tion; the dispensation from the taking of a number of unnecessary
oaths; the establishment of private halls; and the abolishing of the
oath on matriculation and on taking the degree of B.A.; by which
last regulation Dissenters are admitted to the whole advantages of a
university education. In Scotland also an agitation is being made for
some improvement in the universities.
SCHOONER. [SHIP.]
SCHWEINFURTH GREEN. [COPPER.]
SCIATICA is a name often applied to all rheumatic affections about
the hip-joint and the back of the thigh, but which is more properly
adapted to a disease of the sciatic nerve, either inflammatory, or similar
in its nature to those which in other parts are designated Neuralgia,
or Tic doloureux. The pain in sciatica commonly follows, or is
situated in some part of, the course of the sciatic nerve, extending
from the inner portion of the buttock along the back of the thigh to
the ham, and is sometimes continued to the foot along the track of the
nerves of the leg. It occurs specially in adults and in old persons, and
more particularly in those that have been subject to rheumatism; the
pain is generally remittent, and seldom ceases altogether; but is
commonly aggravated in the evening. For the treatment and other
circumstances connected with sciatica, we must refer to the articles
NEURALGIA and RHEUMATISM.
A president and vice-president for each college were soon after
nominated, and the erection of the buildings was begun. The other
appointments were made in August 1849, and the three colleges were
opened in the end of October following. An additional sum of
12,000l. had shortly before been granted by Parliament for pronomy, and music. If theology, law, and medicine were called sciences,
viding them with libraries, philosophical instruments, and some other
requisites.
The peculiarity of and the need for such colleges arose from the
state of religious feeling in Ireland. The greatest proportion of the
people are Roman Catholics, and there is a large number of Presby-
terians; but in Trinity College, Dublin, there are no arrangements
which even recognise the existence of any form of religious belief but
that of the Established Church; not only is the student who may
hold any other creed (in so far as such dissenting students are admitted
at all) left without any spiritual superintendence whatever, but the
SCIENCE. The word scientia, in real Latin, simply means know-
ledge, and we must attribute the subsequent application of the word
to particular kinds of knowledge, to causes similar to those which have
influenced the use of the equally general term MATHEMATICS. It does
not appear that in the earlier parts of the middle ages science had any
distinct meaning as opposed either to literature or to art. Almost at
the earliest establishment of universities, the great preliminary branches
of knowledge were separated from the rest under the name of liberal
arts: that is to say, the Trivium, containing grammar, logic, and
rhetoric; and the Quadrivium, containing arithmetic, geometry, astro-
it was not in any distinctive sense, and we are inclined to think that
scientia must then have been rather a term subaltern to art, than
opposed to it. We find Roger Bacon ('Op. Maj.,' cap. xv.) speaking of
the nine mathematical sciences, and the six great natural sciences,
which contain under them many other sciences: and his contemporary
Robert of Lincoln (Tract. de Art. Lib.'), after laying it down that the
arts (not sciences), of which it is the office "operationes humanas
corrigendo ad perfectionem ducere," are seven in number, proceeds to
describe them without a single use of the word science. How the word
grew it is not our business to inquire closely; but by the middle of
849
350
SCIENCE AND ART, DEPARTMENT OF.
SCIENCE AND ART, DEPARTMENT OF.
the 16th century the word science had begun to appear as denoting
connected and demonstrated knowledge, in opposition to art, which
signified digested rules of operation not connected with each other by
deduction from common first principles. Thus Tartaglia, a writer on
algebra (which was then, and most properly, called only an art; ars
magna, or arte maggiore), styles Euclid, in the preface to his edition of
the Elements, "the sole guide to the mathematical sciences." By the
middle of the 17th century, the term science was freely used in the
sense which it has never since lost, namely, that in which it is opposed
to literature. But the old distinction of science as opposed to art has
still remained, though the two terms, in this sense, have been in great
measure superseded by theory and practice; but improperly, for the
distinction between science and art is one thing, and that between
theory and practice another. [THEORY.]
A science, as distinguished from an art, is a body of truths, the
common first principles of which are supposed to be known and sepa-
rated, so that the individual truths, even though some or all may be
clear in themselves, have a guarantee that they could have been dis-
covered and known, either with certainty or with such probability as
the subject admits of, by other means than their own evidence. It
is not necessary that these truths should have been discovered by a
scientific process; it is enough that they admit of such treatment
subsequently. The telescope, for instance, may have been discovered
accidentally; but it can now be demonstrated beforehand that such an
instrument must produce the effect which it is known to produce, and
the rules for its construction may be deduced from the simple funda-
mental properties of light. In the sense of the word above used,
the number of perfect sciences is not so great as is commonly sup-
posed; for many branches of knowledge which bear the name are not
perfect sciences, such as medicine, zoology, and geology; in all of
these, large classifications have been made, many principles have been
deduced which seem to be of universal application, and much has
been done to make these known principles point out the direction of
inquiry; but it would be idle to say that either of them is a science in
the sense in which astronomy is a science.
Science, as opposed to literature, means any branch of knowledge in
which the affections of mind or matter are to be made the subject of
reasoning, with a view to discover and apply first principles. The dis-
tinctions of mental and physical sciences, the subdivision of the former
into ethical and psychological, &c., whatever terms may be employed,
are real and useful. But as it is not the object here to classify human
knowledge, but only to give a slight account of the mode of using a
word, we may pass on to its common signification.
By science, in popular language, is meant simply mathematical,
physical, or natural science, not with reference to principles, but to
results. Calculation, collection of natural objects, construction of
models, use of philosophical instruments, any or either, is science, or
part of science; and a man of science (man of a science, or man of
the art which is built upon a science, would frequently be a correct
description) may be either a mathematician, mechanist, engineer,
medical practitioner, astronomer, geologist, electrician, zoologist, orni-
thologist, &c. To this sort of designation there can be no objection in
itself, and it is convenient as distinguishing followers of science, or of
a science, from those of literature. But it is not sufficiently precise
in itself to distinguish the followers of different sciences from one
another. When a literary man is named, his pursuit is generally
indicated; the historian, the antiquary, the poet, the novelist, the
politician, the scholar, and the linguist, are not confounded by means
of a general term: insomuch that "literary man," by itself, generally
implies one of information, but not of distinguished depth in any one
particular branch. But the inquirer into the sciences of electricity
and magnetism, for example, has no name to distinguish him from the
observer and classifier of insects; that is to say, the proper technical
technical
names are not familiar to the world at large. But this is the least
inconvenience. When the word science comes to be used in its high
and proper sense, indicative of truth discovered, error prevented,
inquiry organised, judicious habits formed, and mental energy
strengthened, it must be difficult for those who are used to the
common sense of the word to imagine the truth of many things which
are said about it. "All we require is, that he will hold his former
opinions and judgments without bigotry, retain till he shall see reason
to question them, be ready to resign them when fairly proved untena-
ble, and to doubt them when the weight of probability is shown to
lie against them. If he refuse this, he is incapable of science." Now
this, though the word of a good authority, and perfectly true, is never-
theless notoriously false in the common sense of the word science:
a man may be incapable of the preceding state of mind, and may
be a man of science. There is no remedy for this confusion of
terms, except that which every one must make for himself, by
attention to the different senses of the word, the higher and the
lower.
SCIENCE AND ART, DEPARTMENT OF. This department of
the Committee of Privy Council on Education owes its origin to the
suggestions contained in the Second Report of the Commissioners for
the Exhibition of 1851. After urging the necessity of the industrial
classes of this country receiving more systematic instruction in science
and art in order to enable them to maintain their pre-eminence in the
neutral markets of the world, the Commissioners impressed on the
|
government the advantages which would result from bringing the
various institutions connected with Science and Art that were supported
by the public funds, into close connection with each other, instead of
their remaining under different departments of the government. The
government took a favourable view of the suggestion; and, as a part
of the "comprehensive scheme for the advancement of the fine arts
and of practical science," announced from the throne at the opening of
the session of 1852-53, the Lords of the Treasury, in March, 1853, gave
their formal concurrence to the proposed arrangement of the Privy
Council to "unite in one department, under the Board of Trade, with
the Departments of Practical Art and Science, the kindred and analogous
institutions of the Government School of Mines and Science, the
Museum of Practical Geology, the Geological Survey, the Museum of
Irish Industry, and the Royal Dublin Society, all of which are in part
supported by parliamentary grants;" and, the Treasury minute proceeds,
my Lords have given directions that the estimates for all these insti-
tutions shall be brought together under the general head of Board of
Trade Department of Science and Art.'" The immediate purpose of
this amalgamation, it was declared, was to bring the whole of these
institutions under one common superintendence, to establish a Central
Metropolitan School of Practical Science as well as of Art, and to en-
courage and extend the formation of minor local institutions which
should be in connection with, and assisted by, the central institutions,
but as far as possible self-supporting and under the management of the
local authorities.
As was said above, the institutions thus brought together under one
department, were all in part supported by parliamentary grants. The
sumis voted for each in the year previous to the amalgamation were:
Government School of Mines and Science, 8001.; Museum of Practical
Geology, 52721.; Geological Survey, 55001.; Museum of Irish Industry,
3348.; Royal Dublin Society, 6340.; Department of Practical Art,
including the provincial Schools of Design, 17,9207.; in all, 39,1817. :
but the sum actually granted was 41,586.; additions having been
sanctioned of 150l. to the School of Mines, and 22551, to the Depart-
ment of Practical Art.
Of these institutions the character may be briefly indicated. The
Government School of Mines and of Science applied to the Arts was
founded in 1851, in consequence of memorials addressed to government
by the mining districts of the United Kingdom, in which it was shown
that the schools for the instruction of persons engaged in mining
pursuits by various Continental governments had much increased the
economy, efficiency, and safety of mining operations in the countries in
which they had been established, and that the want of similar schools
had long been felt in the mining districts of this kingdom. The
Government School of Mines was accordingly opened in connection
with the Museum of Practical Geology in 1851. It is now merged in
the Metropolitan School of Science applied to Mining and the Arts,
which forms one of the two great branches of the department which is
the subject of this article. The Museum of Practical Geology, which
will be noticed more fully presently, was in 1850 removed to the
building erected for its reception in Jermyn Street, St. James's. Ever
since the establishment of the Museum, the Geological Survey of the
United Kingdom has been carried on in connection with it. To these
institutions we may add the Royal College of Chemistry, founded in
1845, it having been, in 1853, transferred to the Department of Science
and Art.
The Department of Practical Art was a development, or rather
reconstitution, of the central Schools of Design, originally founded in
1837, in accordance with the recommendations of a committee of the
House of Commons. The Department of Practical Art was created
but a short time before its amalgamation with the other institutions
in the Department of Science and Art, and before it had come into full
operation as a separate institution.
The Royal Dublin Society for the improvement of husbandry, manu-
factures, and other useful arts and sciences, was founded in 1731, and
incorporated by royal charter in 1749. It possesses a valuable museum
of natural history; an agricultural museum; an excellent library; a
museum of sculpture, casts, &c. From its establishment, we believe,
it has had its schools of painting, sculpture, and the fine arts, from
which many of the best native artists have proceeded. It has also a
good chemical laboratory; and a convenient theatre for the delivery of
lectures. The Botanic Gardens at Glasnevin belong to the Society,
and the Zoological Gardens, Phoenix Park, are in connection with it.
Though amalgamated with the Department of Science and Art, the
Society is conducted wholly by its own council, the duties of the
department being confined to supervision and suggestion.
The Museum of Irish Industry was established by the government
in 1845, and placed under the direction of Sir Robert Kane, so honour-
ably distinguished for investigations in connection with the industrial
pursuits of Ireland. In object, the Museum of Irish Industry resembles
pretty closely the London Museum of Practical Geology, but takes a
somewhat wider and more diversified range. It has a staff of professors
who lecture in the theatre of the Royal Dublin Society; the professors,
since the union with the Department of Science and Art, being common
to the two institutions. The system of lectures, which has some pecu-
liarities, is an extension of that previously adopted by the Royal Dublin
Society. Short courses are given during the day, chiefly to the upper
classes; and other courses are given in the evenings, chiefly to the sons
851
SCIENCE AND ART, DEPARTMENT OF.
and assistants of persons engaged in trade, and to artisans. Exami-
nations take place at the end of every course, when prizes are awarded
to the more successful students, and a general competitive examination
is held at the end of every year. In addition to this, lecturers on
science are sent to the provincial towns, and local examinations take
place at stated periods in connection with their instruction.
The institutions which were united to form the Department of
Science and Art, it will have been noticed, all belonged to England and
Ireland. But in 1854 the necessary steps were taken for the formation
of an Industrial Museum for Scotland, similar to those of London and
Dublin. A site was purchased by the government near the University
of Edinburgh for the building; and the museum belonging to the
town-council, and the valuable collection of models, minerals, &c., of
the Highland Society were transferred to the Crown, and thus an excel-
lent basis was obtained for the proposed museum. The museum was
placed under the direction of Dr. George Wilson, through whose
zealous exertions singularly rapid progress was made in forming the
collections, which at his death, in November, 1859, already numbered
upwards of 10,300 specimens. A Museum of Natural History, Edin-
burgh, has also been formed in connection with the Department of
Science and Art. A building is now in course of erection which is
intended to contain both these museums.
Originally the Department of Science and Art was constituted a
section of the Board of Trade, but in February, 1856, it was, by an
order in council, transferred to the Committee of Privy Council on
Education. Of that committee it now forms a distinct division: its
functions having reference to the secondary instruction of all classes of
the community in those principles of art and science which conduce to
the industrial interests of the country, while the functions of the other
division of the Committee of Education refer to the primary instruction
of the young; the two divisions being kept entirely unconnected.
The Department itself consists of two sections-a School of Science,
with its connected museums and affiliated institutions, having its head-
quarters at Jermyn Street; and a School of Art, with its various col-
lections and associated schools, having its head-quarters at South
Kensington, where also are the offices of the Department. The sum
voted for the Department of Science and Art in 1860 was 94,951l.,
being an increase of 11,7097. over the previous year, and more than
double the sum voted for the several institutions prior to their con-
solidation.
SCIENCE AND ART, DEPARTMENT OF.
352
to the public during five days of the week. In 1859 it was visited by
25,309 persons.
The maps and sections of the geological survey, and a large collection
of plans and sections of mines, &c., belonging to the Mining Record
Office, are deposited in the building in Jermyn Street. The chemical
laboratories are those of the Royal College of Chemistry in Oxford
Street, which, as already mentioned, became in 1854 the property of
the Government.
In connection with the Metropolitan School of Science, special
schools of science, or classes for instruction in science, have been
established since 1853 in several of the large manufacturing, mining,
and pottery towns. These schools, in accordance with the principle
laid down by the government on the formation of the Department of
Science and Art, are in a great measure self-supporting, the Depart-
ment exercising a certain amount of control, and, in return, affording
a limited pecuniary aid to certified masters of the schools. Certificates
are also granted by the Science Inspectors to any teachers who pass a
satisfactory examination in-1, practical and descriptive geometry, with
mechanical and machine drawing; 2, physics, mechanical and experi-
mental; 3, chemistry; 4, geology; 5, natural history: and those who
are successful "receive certificate allowances of 201., 157., or 10l., in
each, while engaged in teaching."
Navigation Schools have also been established in connection with the
Department. They are intended to afford instruction to officers of the
mercantile marine on the subjects of their examination for certificates
of the Board of Trade, and similar instruction to youth about to enter
on a seafaring life. Besides three in London, Navigation Schools have
been opened in nine of the principal outports, and they seem on the
whole to have met with a fair amount of success.
In 1859 there were
2490 students in the Navigation Schools.
The Art Schools are of older date than the Schools of Science, and,
appealing to a wider circle, have almost necessarily made greater
numerical progress. The Art branch of the Department has, as we
have already said, its head-quarters at South Kensington, on the estate
purchased by the Commissioners of the Exhibition of 1851, and is a
development or reorganisation of the old Schools of Design. As at
present organised, the special objects of the Art section of the Depart-
ment are in the words of the official programme-"1. To train male
and female teachers to give instruction in Art, to certify them when
qualified, and to make them annual fixed payments, varying according
to their acquirements. 2. To aid and assist committees in the pro-
vinces desirous of establishing Schools of Art. 3. To hold public
inspections and examinations, and to award medals and prizes to the
most deserving candidates. 4. To collect together works of art,
pictures, &c., in the central Museum, and books and engravings in the
central Library. 5. To circulate among the Schools of Art objects from
the Museumn, and books and engravings from the Library."
The buildings at South Kensington include the offices of the Depart-
ment, the Training School for Masters and Mistresses, the Normal
Central School of Art, the Art Library, and the Museum.
It remains to notice shortly the present position of the two sections
of the Department. The Metropolitan School of Science, applied to
mining and the arts, has, in the words of the official prospectus, " for
its chief object and distinctive character (to which everything else is
subsidiary), to give a practical direction to the course of scientific
study." And the course of instruction which is imparted to the
student, while it does not profess to qualify him to undertake the
direction of mining or other technical operations, is intended in com-
bination with future training, to "render him in the highest degree
competent, not only to engage in any special branch of industry, but
to promote its further development." The institution is under the "The Training School has for its special object the education of
general supervision of a director, Sir R. I. Murchison, the eminent Art-teachers, male and female, but it also aids in supplying certificated
geologist, who succeeded the late Sir H. T. de la Beche, and the instruc- Art-masters or mistresses to teach drawing to schools in connection
tion is given by professors of chemistry, natural history, applied to with the Committee of Council on Education. The course of studies
geology, physical science, applied to mechanics and mechanical drawing, embraces, besides all the ordinary branches of Art-Education, instruc-
metallurgy, geology, and mining and mineralogy, each men of the tion in various direct applications of Art-power to mechanical and
highest standing in their respective departments. The mode of manufacturing industry. It comprehends the following subjects :—-
instruction is by lectures, by written and oral examinations, by practical Free-hand, architectural, and mechanical drawing; practical geometry
teaching in the laboratories and drawing office, and by field surveying and perspective; painting in oil, tempera, and water-colours; and
and geological and natural history excursions. The field of study is modelling, moulding, and casting. These classes include architectural
separated into-a general division, for those who desire a general and other ornaments, flowers, landscape, objects of still-life, &c., the
knowledge of science; a mining and metallurgical division; a technical figure from the antique and the life, and the study of anatomy as
division, for those who propose to engage in arts or manufactures applicable to Art; and some technical studies, such as enamel paint-
depending chiefly either on chemical or on mechanical principles. For ing, and drawing and engraving on wood. The students have full
each of these divisions the course of study extends over two years, of access to the Museum and Library, either for consultation or copying,
three terms in each. Students must be at least 16 years of age on as well as to all the public lectures of the Department. Special classes
admission. Several exhibitions have been founded, to be competed for are arranged in order to qualify schoolmasters and schoolmistresses of
by matriculated students. The lectures are open to occasional or non-parochial and other schools to teach elementary drawing as a part of
matriculated students, on payment of a somewhat higher fee; and general education."
special short courses of evening lectures, at an extremely low fee, are
given every session to working men only, and are attended always by
as large a number (600) of diligent students of that class as the theatre
will accommodate.
The Metropolitan School of Science enjoys rare advantages from the
ready access which the students have to the treasures accumulated in
the museum at Jermyn Street. These consist of the extensive and
admirably arranged collections formed during the progress of the
geological survey of the United Kingdom, "illustrative of the structure
of the British islands, and of the applications of geology to the useful
purposes of life," under the able directors and indefatigable staff of the
survey. To these have been added a numerous selection of models of
mines, mining tools, and working models of mining machinery; of
tools, and models, and specimens of machinery for general purposes;
of historical specimens of manufactures in glass, earthenware, and the
metals; and of foreign and colonial mineral productions. Many of the
specimens are of great rarity and beauty, but their main interest lies
in their technical or scientific value, and the whole are carefully
classified and conveniently arranged. The museum is open gratuitously
|
In connection with the Central School of Art there are nine Metropo-
litan District Schools, and one school for female students only. The
provincial Schools of Art have increased greatly in number since the
formation of the Department. These schools are, like the Schools of
Science, in the main self-supporting, but the Department assists in
paying the certified teachers, and in various ways aids in providing the
school materials, and in rendering assistance to the institution. They
are now in all eighty-six in number; and at the last return they were
the means of affording instruction in drawing and painting to above
84,000 students-but this number includes, besides students in the
art schools, pupils in training colleges, and children in various classes of
primary schools "under instruction in drawing," who can hardly in
fairness be ranked as Art-students. The Department, in fact, now,
besides the training which it affords in its central and metropolitan
schools, and the special Provincial Schools of Art in connection with
it, proffers the services of a certified teacher in drawing to any school
or schools, furnishing an aggregate of 500 children for instruction in
drawing; and it further offers the aid to such schools of examinations
and prizes, at stated periods.
353
854
SCILLA.
SCOLIA.
The Museum of the Department at South Kensington will be noticed
under SOUTH KENSINGTON MUSEUM.
4
SCILLA, or as Steinheil, who separates it and another species
(S. Pancration) from the old genus, terms it, Squilla Maritima, also
Urginea Scilla (Steinh.), or Sea-onion, is a plant common on the sandy
shores of the Mediterranean, Portugal, the Levant, and in North
Russia. It is imported into Britain from Malta and other parts of
the Mediterranean, and also from Petersburg and Copenhagen. The
officinal part is the bulb, of which there are two varieties: the one
large and whitish externally; the other smaller, of a brownish-red
colour. The former is preferred in England, the latter in Germany.
This appears to be the Squilla Pancration of Steinheil. The bulb part
partakes in its outer part of the nature of a tunicated, in its inner, of
the_nature of a scaly bulb. It abounds in an acrid, mucilaginous juice,
with an alliaceous odour, and a bitter, acrid, nauseous taste. It is
imported whole, or cut in slices and dried. The bulb is not of equal
potency in every part. The outer, dry, scarious integuments are
devoid of activity; the subsequent fleshy scales are the most powerful;
while the internal young ones are mucilaginous, nearly insipid, and
powerless. It is clear from this that the best mode of drying squill is
to decorticate it by removing the outer segments, and carefully sepa-
rating the intermediate large fleshy scales, to dry these quickly, and to
leave the central ones as inefficient. The drying should be conducted
quickly, but not by too high a temperature, lest some of the active
principles be driven off. Putting the thick scales on sieves or willow-
baskets in a moderately heated oven, or in a room fitted with a drying
apparatus, is the best plan. Stringing them on threads and drying
them slowly, by which they become paper-like and tasteless, is bad.
The common method however is to cut the bulb into transverse slices,
which, when dried, have a horny appearance, and are semi-translucent.
In this case the active and inactive portions are blended together.
After whatever means are used to dry them, it is necessary that the
squills be kept in well-stoppered bottles in a dry place, as, in common
with all bulbous plants, they quickly absorb moisture from the atmos-
phere. In the process of drying, four-fifths of the weight are lost.
The chief constituents of squill are-an acrid bitter principle
(Scillitin), sugar, mucilage, salts of citrate or tartrate of lime, also
phosphate of lime, tannin, and a volatile acrid principle, which in the
process of decorticating fresh squill causes a flow of tears from the
eyes, sneezing, &c., and severe itching, with burning pains of the hands
and arms, yet without obvious swelling or inflammation. A scale of
fresh squill applied to the skin rapidly excites rubefaction and vesica-
tion, like a sinapism. Squill in large dose is unquestionably poisonous,
but in many cases it fortunately acts as its own antidote, by causing
vomiting. But even in moderate doses it may still do much harm, by
its stimulating effect, if prematurely employed, as it often is, as a
popular or domestic medicine in the early stages of colds and coughs.
It is for the second stage alone of these that it is suited. It augments
the secretion from most mucous surfaces, and also stimulates the
kidneys, and sometimes the skin. For the reason above stated, it is
unsuited to inflammatory dropsies, but it is proper for the effusions
occurring in leucophlegmatic subjects, depending on debility, and for
general anasarca rather than local effusions. Its diuretic properties
are increased by the previous moderate use of mild mercurials, and by
uniting it with other diuretics, either vegetable or saline, and still
more by adding bisulphate of quinia or other tonics. Its expectorant
properties are greatly heightened by the addition of tonics, such as
exist in the Mistura Cascarilla Composita. Squill is a very improper
emetic for young children, as it seriously irritates the coat of the
stomach.
SCILLITIN, the bitter principle of squills (Scilla maritima). This
is obtained by first inspissating the juice of the root, then treating it
with alcohol, and after having evaporated the solution, dissolving the
residue in water; to the solution acetate of lead is to be added, which
gives a precipitate that is to be separated; afterwards sulphuretted
hydrogen is to be passed into the solution, and it is finally to be evapo-
rated. By this process scillitin is obtained, which has the following
properties: it is colourless, friable, of a bitter taste at first, and after-
wards nauseous and sweetish, and attracts moisture from the air.
It is soluble in alcohol and in ether; its solution is not precipitated
by acetate of lead. It is emetic and purgative, and may even occasion
death.
SCIOPTIC BALL is a globe of wood about 5 inches diameter, with
a cylindrical perforation 2 inches diameter passing centrally through
it, and having at one extremity of the perforation a glass lens. The
globe or ball is, by means of screws, fixed in a socket, which is made
in a board about 8 or 10 inches square, in such a manner that while it
cannot fall out, it is capable of being turned on its centre, to a small
extent, in any direction.
The board being screwed to a window-shutter, or to the vertical face
of a building in which an aperture has been made for the reception of
the globe, the rays of light from external objects, after being refracted
in the lens, form pleasing images of those objects on the opposite wall
of the apartment, or on a white screen placed in a vertical position to
receive the light; the apartment being darkened in order that the
images may
be distinct. The images on a vertical screen being in-
verted, two arms generally project from the board, within the room,
and carry a plane mirror which turns on an axis so as to allow the
ARTS AND SCI. DIV. VOL. VII.
rays of light, after passing through the lens, to fall on a screen placed
in a horizontal position: by this means the spectators are enabled to
see the images in erect positions. [CAMERA LUCIDA AND CAMERA
OBSCURA.]
When the construction of the building is such as to allow the ball
and lens to be fixed at an aperture in the roof, a plane mirror being
placed above it at an angle of 45 degrees with the horizon, so as to
reflect the rays from external objects down on the lens, the images
formed on a screen within the darkened apartment are more distinctly
formed and more conveniently seen. An apparatus of this nature was
formerly applied to the roof of a building connected with the astro-
nomical observatories at Greenwich, Edinburgh, and Glasgow, for the
amusement of visitors.
SCIRE FACIAS, is a writ used to enforce the execution of, or
It directs the sheriff to give
vacate, some already existing record.
notice ("Scire facias," whence the name) to the party against whom it
is obtained to appear and show cause why the purpose of it shall not be
effected.
effected. A summons to this effect should be served on the party,
whose duty then is to enter an appearance, after which a declaration
is delivered to him, to which he may plead, or demur, the subsequent
Scire
proceedings being analogous to those in an ordinary action.
facias may be resorted to,—
1. Where, the parties remaining the same, it is necessary to revive
or set in operation the record.
2. Where another party seeks to take the benefit of it, or becomes
chargeable, or is injured, by it.
Formerly, when a year and a day had elapsed since judgment was
signed, the law presumed that the judgment had been satisfied; and
execution could not issue against the defendant until he had an oppor-
tunity, by means of the notice given him under a scire facias, of
appearing and showing any cause which might exist why execution
should not issue against him. But a simpler, less expensive, and less
dilatory method of proceeding was provided by the Common Law Pro-
cedure Acts, 1852 and 1853, the former statute having at the same
time extended the period during which execution may issue, from a
year and a day to six years. In case of a change by death, marriage,
bankruptcy, or otherwise, in one of the parties to an action, the repre-
sentative of that party may now enter a suggestion of the fact, and
put himself in his place. The opposite party is also enabled to call
upon the representative to do so, and if he fails to stop the proceedings.
The proceeding by suggestion on the roll is adapted to the most simple
cases of change in the parties to a suit. If it be not adopted, a writ of
Revivor, as it is now called, may be issued, the object of which is the
same as that of a scire facias. It is, however, directed to the party and
not to the sheriff, as was the writ of sci. fa., and it may be served any-
where by the party, and not as formerly by the sheriff of the county
where the venue in the original action was laid. The subsequent pro-
ceedings in Revivor resemble those of an ordinary action.
The writ of scire facias is not itself abolished. In some cases it is
still the only method of proceeding; for instance, to enforce a judg
ment against the terre tenants of a deceased judgment debtor. So
when a plaintiff, having had execution by elegit, under which he
obtains possession of a moiety of the rents and profits of the defendant's
land, has had the debt satisfied by payment or from the profits of the
land, scire facias may be brought to recover the land.
A scire facias, again, is the only proceeding for the purpose of re-
pealing letters patent by which the crown has made a grant injurious
to some party, as where he has granted the same thing which he had
already granted to another person; or a new market or fair is granted
to the prejudice of an ancient one, &c. The sovereign may also have
a scire facias to repeal his own grant, and any subject who is injured
by it may petition the crown to use the royal name for its repeal.
A man may have a scire facias to recover the money from a sheriff
who has levied under a fieri facias and retains the proceeds.
SCIRRHUS. [CANCER.]
SCLEROTICUM. [ERGOT.]
SCO'LIA (from σкоλiós, crooked) were short drinking-songs, which
were invented and cultivated by the ancient Greeks. The origin of
the name "crooked songs" has been explained by the ancients them-
selves in a variety of ways, of which we shall mention only two. Some
supposed that these songs were called scolia because they were not
sung by the guests in succession, and in the order in which they lay
on their couches, but irregularly, and without any definite order;
others thought that the name referred to peculiarities in their metrical
forms, or, which is the most probable of all, to certain liberties which
the singer might take in delivering his song. The first of these two
opinions, though not a probable account of the origin of the name
scolion, yet contains the true account of the manner in which scolia
were sung. Artemon (Ap. Athen.,' xv.) and Plutarch (Sympos.')
distinguish three kinds of Scolia, namely, those which were sung in a
chorus by a whole company, those which were sung by all the guests in
succession, and those which were only sung by well skilled persons,
who, when they ceased, called upon another member of the company
to go on. But the name scolion seems, in the first two of these cases,
to be applied improperly, as they must rather be considered as a kind
of prelude to the real scolia, which is in fact implied in the description
given by Plutarch. These drinking songs were generally accompanied
by the lyre, which was handed by the last singer to his successor : in
▲ A
855
SCOPARIN,
SCOTLAND, CHURCH OF
$58
some cases, however, when persons were unable to play the lyre, a SCOT, from sceat, an Anglo-Saxon word originally signifying “a
laurel or myrtle branch was handed to them. Scolia were first sung part" or "portion." It appears also, at least in composition, to have
and composed by the Greeks of the Eolian race, and especially in meant any sum paid; thus, sawl-sceat, soul-scot, or soul-shot, was the
Lesbos; but the custom was thence transferred into Attica, where it name for the ecclesiastical due payable at the open grave for the
subsequently became a universal practice to sing scolia at repasts. The benefit of the soul of the deceased. Previous to the Reform Act,
contents of these short songs-which, in the specimens still extant, | 2 Wm. IV., c. 45, in many boroughs the payment of scot and lot con-
seldom exceed four lines-varied according to time and circumstances. stituted a qualification as a voter for a member of parliament of the
The metres in which scolia were written are of a lively and animated borough. Those who possessed such qualification at the time of
character, and, on the whole, resemble those used by the lyric poets of passing the Act had, under certain conditions, their rights reserved
the Æolian school. Terpander is said to have been the first who wrote
scolia, and he was followed by Alcæus, Sappho, Anacreon, Praxilla,
Simonides, Pindar, and many others. A collection of Greek scolia still
extant has been made by C. D. Ilgen, in his 'Ekоλά: id est Carmina
convivialia Græcorum, metris suis restituta et animadversionibus
illustrata,' Jena, 1798. The number of scolia in this collection is fifty,
but they are not all real scolia.
(Compare Müller, Hist. of Greek Lit., &c.; Bode, Geschichte der
Hellenischen Dichtkunst, vol. ii., part. 2.)
SCOPARIN. (C12H22O20?). This substance appears to be the
diuretic principle of the Spartium scoparium. The concentrated in-.
fusion of this plant solidifies on cooling to a brownish-green jelly,
which consists of scoparin, chlorophylle, and spartein. The chloro-
phylle is separated by water which dissolves the other two substances.
During the spontaneous evaporation of this aqueous solution the
scoparin separates in the form of small yellow crystals, which are
slightly soluble in cold water, but very soluble in boiling water or
boiling alcohol. Scoparin is inodorous and insipid, and without action
upon test papers. Nitric acid transforms it into picric acid.
¡¯SCOPAʼRIUS, CY'TISUS SCOPA'RIUS, or BROOM, a shrub ex-
tremely common on uncultivated ground, heaths, &c., of most parts of
Britain. The young tops or twigs when bruised, have an unpleasant
odour, and a disagreeable nauseous taste. The seeds are emetic, and
probably contain cytisine, an alkaloid found in the seeds of the Cytisus
Laburnum, which possesses emetic, and, in large doses, poisonous
properties. But Dr. Stenhouse thinks the broom has a volatile nar-
cotic principle, to which he gives the name of Spartiine. It also has an
inert principle which he calls Scoparine. An infusion made with cold
water is equally efficacious as the decoction, and much more palatable.
Broom tops boiled in water form a decoction which acts both on the
bowels and kidneys. It is unquestionably a valuable diuretic, and
many obstinate cases of dropsies have yielded to the use of this indi-
genous remedy which had resisted other means. Its diuretic properties
may be increased by the addition of juniper berries and dandelion, to
form the decoction, as now directed in the Pharmacopoeia, and by
adding to each dose, acetate, tartrate, or bitartrate of potash.
SCORDEIN. An aromatic non-azotised yellow substance found in
the Sencrium Scordium.
1
SCORE, in music, is a collection of all the vocal and instrumental
parts of a composition, arranged on staves, one above the other, and
bar for bar, presenting at once, to the eye of a skilful musician, the
effect of the whole band as the composition proceeds.
SCORPIUS, or SCORPIO (the Scorpion), a constellation of the
zodiac, lying between Libra and Sagittarius, and bounded north and
south by Ophiuchus and Lupus. It contains one star of the first mag-
nitude, which with Spica Virginis, and Arcturus, forms a conspicuous
triangle. As noticed in LIBRA, this constellation was formerly two
signs of the Greek zodiac, the claws occupying the place of Libra.
The story is that the chelæ or claws of the Scorpion were drawn back
by Roman astronomers, and the constellation Libra added in honour of
Julius Cæsar, at whose death a new star was said to have appeared in
that part of the heavens. This story is alluded to, not very distinctly, by
Virgil; Hyginus is totally silent about it, merely saying that his coun-
trymen call one part of this constellation Libra. Manilius uses both
Libra and Chela. Ptolemy does not mention Libra in his catalogue,
though he does elsewhere. Dupuis contends, from its presence in the
most ancient Indian and Persian zodiacs, that it is in reality as ancient
as the rest and indeed it is not unlikely that the Greeks may have
derived their zodiac from some nation in which the term for scales
was confounded with that for claws, either by a synonyme in the
language itself, or by mistranslation on their part.
The following are the principal stars :-
No. in Catalogue No. in Catalogue
of Flamsteed.
Magnitude.
of British
Character.
(Piazzi.)
Association.
P
5
5272
T
6
5289
δ
7
5303
B
8
5329
y
14
5382
a
21
5498
26
5632
34
5901
35
5915
3
(174)
5970
3
(189)
5638
3
м²
(193)
5640
4
77
(302)
5778
4
CARIERE
433241C4 CO CO CO Hi✡
to them.
The qualification consists in the payment of the rates which are
allotted to each person as the proportion to be contributed by him.
The criterion adopted for the purpose of ascertaining the scot and lot
voters of a borough, is the poor-rate of the respective parishes com-
prised in it.
(Rogers On Elections.)
<<
SCOTLAND, CHURCH OF. The constitution of this church is
considered under the heads of GENERAL ASSEMBLY; PRESBYTERIANS ;
and SESSION, KIRK. An important portion of its recent history is
narrated under the head FREE CHURCH. It remains only chrono-
logically to mention the chief events in the history of the church.
The main struggles of the Reformation in Scotland date at the middle
of the 16th century. On August 1st, 1560, a convention parliament
abolished the Romish hierarchy, and on 20th December of the same
year, the first general assembly was held in Edinburgh. The tercen-
tenary of this event was celebrated throughout Scotland and by
Presbyterians in England on December 20, 1860. In 1561 the First
Book of Discipline,' still an important part of the ecclesiastical code of
the established church and the various sects into which the Presby-
terians of Scotland are now divided, was compiled. The fundamental
principles of the reformed church were passed into an act of parliament
in 1567 (Act 1567, c. 3), with the title, 'The Confession of the Faith
and Doctrine believed and possessed by the Protestants of Scotland,
exhibited to the Estates of the same Parliament, and be their publick
Votis authorised, as a Doctrine grounded on the infallible Word of
God.' This constitution however had more reference to doctrine than
to church polity. It condemned some of the more prominent features
of the system of the abjured hierarchy, but did not contain any
announcement of the new system of church government. The early
constitution of the church as approved of by Knox and his friends,
admitted of a difference of grades, certain clergymen being called
'Superintendents' of Provinces, which actually or nearly corresponded
with the bounds of the old bishoprics.
with the bounds of the old bishoprics. The Presbyterian polity was
at length established by the act of 1592 (c. 114), called 'Ratification of
the Libertie of the trew Kirk of Generall and Synodall Assemblies :
of Presbyteries of Discipline.' In the mean time, those who had
been the zealous clerical supporters of the reformation expected that
the temporalities of the Roman Catholic church, or at least a con-
siderable portion of them, would be applied to ecclesiastical purposes
under the new system. They found however that the powerful
laymen who assisted in the demolition of the old system had very
different views. They spoke of this notion as a devout imagination,"
and kept by far the larger portion of the spoil to themselves. After
some hard struggles, in which the national feeling in favour of Pres-
byterianism was driven very nearly to an outbreak, Episcopacy was
re-established by the parliament of 1612. In 1637, the celebrated
Liturgy, concocted by Laud and West, on principles more nearly
approaching to the Roman Catholic forms than those of the English
Liturgy, created the convulsions which ended in the civil war and the
re-establishment of Presbytery. On this occasion, great part of the
assistance which the Covenanters received from the landed gentry was
owing to their dread of a plan for restoring church lands to the
hierarchy. On the restoration of Charles II., all the acts of the pre-
vious reign subsequent to the year 1623 were rescinded' or repealed,
and consequently the Episcopal form of church government was
restored. The persecutions that arose out of the attempt to enforce
this system on a people who abhorred it the more, the more stringently
it was enforced on them by penal laws, is well known in history.
These laws were relaxed, but not in a manner to satisfy the Presby-
terians, by the indulgences of James to all who differed from the
established Episcopal church. At the Revolution the Presbyterian
form was re-established. The followers of this system, who through
the times of the hottest persecution did not ask to be tolerated but to
be made an exclusive establishment, now thought that the hour was
come for the "extermination" of their opponents; but they were told
by King William that that was a word not in his vocabulary. In 1699
lay patronage was abolished by an act of the Scottish parliament. It
was re-established by an act of the British parliament in 1710. This
act created many disputes in the church; it occasioned the secession
of 1736, elsewhere mentioned [ERSKINE, EBENEZER, in BIOG. Div.],
and it was the cause of the great severance in 1843 [FREE CHURCH].
In the same year with that severance an act was passed for modifying
the right of patronage, called 'Lord Aberdeen's Act' (6 & 7 Vict. c. 61,
passed 17th August, 1843): a measure said to have been passed for
the purpose of satisfying the scruples of some clergymen who would
not remain in the church as it was, but, would be content with a less
comprehensive measure than the Veto Act. The difference between
these two systems was, in the first place, that the Veto Act was
(
857
358
SCREEN.
SCREW.
passed by authority of the church, its supporters denying that they
required the interposition of any lay legislation. By that measure, the
simple objection of a certain number of the male communicants
without any reason given, was a cause of disqualification to a pre-
sentee. By Lord Aberdeen's Act, any members of the congregation
may object to the presentee, stating their objections: and the church
courts, if they think them good, whether in their general tenor, or
with respect to the particular circumstances of the charge, may give
effect to them by rejecting the presentee.
SCREEN, in architecture, a partition dividing off some portion of an
interior or room from the rest, without similarly contracting or shut-
ting up the space over head; a screen being a partition carried up only
to a certain height, so as to admit a view beyond it. Screens are ex-
ceedingly beautiful internal features in the Pointed Gothic style, in
which they were employed for a variety of purposes, not in churches
alone, but in halls and other buildings.
In our larger churches the chancel was separated from the nave by
a screen on which was placed the rood. [RoOD LOFT.] From the use
to which it was subsequently applied this screen is, in our cathedrals,
commonly known as the organ screen; it differs from others in being a
double screen, so as to form a gallery above, and to admit of stairs
leading up to it, in the space between two partitions.
The altar screen serves as a back wall to the choir, separating that
division of the church from the presbytery or Lady-chapel behind it.
[RETABLE.] That erected by Bishop Fox in Winchester cathedral is
a splendid stone screen decorated with several tiers of canopied niches;
and strikingly similar to it in design is the one by Abbot Wheteham-
stede at St. Alban's. Though not so designated, the stalls, &c., form
lateral screens enclosing the lower part of the choir from the side
aisles. Chartres cathedral contains a no less remarkable than fine
example of such screen continued round the apsis of the choir, showing
itself as a wall carried up to some height above the stalls, and divided
into large compartments filled with sculpture. The fronts of chantries,
small chapels, &c., in churches, may also be described as screens, most
of which are pierced or open-work and tracery. The examples of this
class are so numerous, that to particularise any of them would be
almost superfluous; we may, however, mention that enclosing the
monumental chapel of Prince Arthur, son of Henry VIII., in Wor-
cester cathedral. The tomb of Henry VII., in his chapel at West-
minster, is a gorgeous piece of screen-work, executed entirely in metal,
and forming an insulated shrine on a very large scale. Westminster
Abbey itself contains many fine studies of screens in its chapels and
chantries. Of timber screens separating the chancel and altar end
from the body of the building, many specimens are to be met with in
country churches, and not a few of them are worthy of being studied
for the beauty of their design.
Screens of a different character were employed in the halls of
domestic and collegiate buildings, for the purpose of cutting off a
passage leading to the butteries and offices. Such screens were almost
invariably of oak or other wood, and the space over them and the
passage behind served as a music gallery. Open-work was rarely if
ever introduced into them, but they had generally two open arches, or
sometimes square-headed doorways. Several specimens of this class of
screens may be seen in Nash's Mansions of England in the Olden
Times,' some of them, as that in the Hall at Audley-end, profusely
adorned with carved panelling and other sculpture; and the one just
mentioned is further remarkable for the centre compartment being
carried up higher than the rest, though not quite to the ceiling.
Other instances occur where the screen is carried up two stories, so as
to form either a passage on the chamber floor, or a closed gallery with
glazed or latticed apertures. Of this kind are those in the halls at
Knowle and at Hatfield.
Screen is also employed to signify a colonnade or wall architecturally
decorated, enclosing a court-yard in front of a building, as that for
instance of the Admiralty, London. Screens of this kind are some-
times had recourse to in order to connect the advancing parts of a
plan together, and prevent a façade being cut up into gaps. It is by
this means that the buildings forming the river front of Somerset
House have been connected together into a continuous façade by
screens assuming the appearance of open Corinthian loggias above
spacious bridge-like arches. Eminently picturesque in themselves,
those features serve to relieve all the rest, and to prevent the monotony
that would otherwise take place in so extended a front.
SCREW. This mechanical power generally consists of two parts,
one of which is a solid cylinder of wood or metal, on whose convex
surface is formed a projecting rib or fillet, frequently called a thread,
which passes spirally round in such a manner as constantly to make
equal angles with lines parallel to the axis of the cylinder. The other
is a cylindrical perforation through a block of some material, the
surface of the perforation having on it a spiral groove correspond-
ing to the projecting rib or fillet on the solid cylinder. The first
of these parts is called a convex screw, and the other a concave screw,
also a male and female screw.
A just conception of the nature of the line of direction taken by the
rib or groove on the surface of the cylinder, may be obtained by
drawing on a rectangular paper, whose breadth A B is equal to the cir-
cumference of the cylinder, any number of lines A B, CD, EF, &c.,
equidistant from each other, and perpendicular to the sides of the
paper. Then joining the points a and D, C and F, &c., by right lines,
and bending the paper on the surface of the cylinder, the lines a D,
OF, EH, &c., will, by uniting at their extremities, become the con-
tinuous helic or spiral curve-line which the thread assumes. When
the two parts are in action, the convex screw, being turned round in
the other by a power applied at its surface, moves at the same time
rectilinearly in the direction of its axis: occasionally however the
convex screw is fixed, and then the other being turned about, it
acquires at the same time a like rectilinear motion. In either case,
the path described by a point on any thread during the time that the

L
I
G
E
C
A
Fig. 1.
Fig. 2.
|
N
M 22
m.
M
K
H
F
A A
B

screw turns once on its axis, on being developed, becomes equal to a D
or cr; and in the same time a point on the axis moves through a
space equal to B D or DF.
As a mechanical power, the screw possesses the properties of an
inclined plane; for w representing a weight or pressure at one end of
a convex screw, whose threads are thereby made to move in the
grooves of the concave screw, let that weight be supposed to act in a
direction parallel to the axis, and to be uniformly diffused among all
the projecting threads which are at one time in the grooves; also let p
be the part of the weight which presses in the direction mм on an
elementary portion мn of the side of a groove in the concave screw.
Then мn may be considered as a small inclined plane, making with ma
an angle equal to A D B: and if q be a force which applied at a in the
direction N M, touching a circle whose plane passes through the screw
perpendicularly to the axis, would prevent the convex screw from
turning round; the pressure on Mn and the counteracting force will
be in the same circumstances as the weight of any body on an inclined
plane and a sustaining power which acts in a direction parallel to the
base of a plane, and, by the resolution of forces, the ratio between the
pressure and the force will be as the base of the plane is to its height;
that is, as A B to BD. Now an equal force q will be in equilibrio with
the pressure p on every other elementary portion of the grooves in the
concave screw; therefore, there being as many forces=q as there are
pressures=p, the whole weight w on the screw will be to the whole
sustaining force, in the case of equilibrium as A B to BD; that is,
as the circumference of the convex screw is to the distance between
the threads when measured in a direction parallel to the axis.
But the screw, when applied as a mechanical power, is never used in
its simple state; a lever or wheel is always fixed perpendicularly to
the axis, and the moving or sustaining power is applied near the outer
extremity of the lever, or at the circumference of the wheel. In this
last case, the ratio between the moving-power and the resistance is as
the distance between the threads of the screw is to the length of that
circumference; and the velocity of a point on the axis is to that of a
point on the circumference in the same ratio. The friction of a screw
is however very great, and is frequently cqual to, at least, the weight
supported, for it will prevent that weight from descending when the
moving-power is taken away.
An endless screw consists of two or more spiral fillets or threads on a
rod which is capable of being turned on its axis by a power applied to
859
SCREW.
the handle of a winch, or to a string passing over the circumference of
a pulley attached to the rod. The threads work between teeth on the
circumference of a wheel, so that while the revolution of the rod con-
-tinues, the wheel turns on its own axis. If the radius of the winch
or of the pulley on the screw-rod be 6 inches, and the distance between
the threads of the screw be 1-10th inch, a power represented by unity
at the circumference of the pulley will be in equilibrio, omitting the
effects of friction, with a resistance expressed by 6 x 10 x 2π, that is,
by 376.99 (π being the half circumference of a circle whose radius is
unity) applied at the threads of the screw or at the circumference of
the wheel.
If the lines A F, CH, &c., were drawn on paper, and that paper were
bent on the surface of a convex or concave cylinder, one spiral thread
would be formed by the union of AF, E K, &c., at their extremities,
and another by the like union of C H, GM, &c. : this is called a double-
threaded screw, and it is evident that its mechanical power depends
upon the ratio of A B to B F, while that of the single-threaded screw
depends on the ratio of A B to B D; that is, with apparently an equal
distance between the threads on both screws, the power of the latter
is double that of the former.
From the high ratio which the resistance bears to the moving-power
in the screw, the use of this machine for moving or compressing bodies
is very great; it is also extensively employed in the construction of
philosophical instruments for measuring small angles or distances.
[MICROMETER.]
screw.
The ingenious screw-machine which was invented by Mr. Hunter,
and is described in the Phil. Trans.' vol. 17, consists of one convex
screw which works in the interior of another convex
The latter works in a concave screw which is fixed; and the
former is capable of moving in a rectilinear direction only, being pre-
vented from turning on its axis with the rotation of the exterior
screw. Also the number of threads in an inch on the convex surface
of this last is less by one than the number in an inch on the convex
surface of the other: suppose the first number to be 10 and the
other to be 11; then one revolution of the exterior screw would
cause the whole machine to move forward through a space equal to
inch, but in the same time the interior screw is carried backward
through inch. Therefore the forward motion of this last is equal
to, or inch; and to produce an equal effect in a simple screw,
lo
the latter should have 110 threads in an inch.
10
Mr. Barlow of Woolwich mentions a compound machine of this
kind in which the exterior screw had 100 threads in an inch, and the
interior screw 101 threads; therefore one turn of the machine caused
the latter to move through the very minute extent of inch, and
this space was further subdivided into hundredths by means of a
micrometer head applied to the exterior screw.
The endless screw is a component part of graduating machines,
counting machines, &c.; it is also employed in conjunction with a
wheel and axle to raise heavy weights.
Screw, or Spiral, of Archimedes. The inventor of the machine so
called is quite unknown, but both Diodorus Siculus and Athenæus
ascribe the origin of it to the philosopher of Syracuse. The former
relates ('Bibl. Hist.', lib. i., c. 34) that irrigation was facilitated in
·Egypt by a certain machine invented by Archimedes of Syracuse, and
called Cochlias (кoxías) from its form; and the latter states
(Deipnosophistae,' lib. v., p. 206, Casaub.) that Archimedes invented it
for the purpose of removing the water from the hold of the great ship
which was built by King Hiero of Syracuse. Vitruvius (De Archi-
tectura,' lib. x., c. 11) describes the machine under the name of
cochlea. He says that it consisted of four or eight laths bent spirally,
and fixed at one edge against the axle, so as to form as many winding
channels about it; and that the whole was covered by a cylindrical
case, formed of planks, nailed over the exterior edges of the laths.
The lower extremity was immersed in the water, which, rising along
the channels by the revolution of the machine on its axis, was dis-
charged at the upper extremity. Vitruvius adds that it was turned
by men walking on its outer circumference, probably on the conical
surface of a bevelled wheel fixed to the axle.
By the account which Vitruvius has given of its disposition, the
spiral laths were placed nearly at an angle of 45° with the axle, and
SCREW MANUFACTURE.
360
cause of the ascent of the water, and the limits of the inclination of
the axle to the horizon, will be seen from the following details which
refer to the modern form of Archimedes's spiral as it is also called. It
may consist of either a flexible tube open at both ends and wound
spirally on the exterior surface of a cylinder; or it may be a plate of
metal coiled about an axis, like the threads of a screw, and enclosed
within a hollow cylinder so as to be completely water-tight. The
machine is fixed in an inclined position, with its lower extremity
immersed in the water which is to be raised. While it is at rest the
water occupies the lower part between two of the threads or bends of
the spiral, at bottom; but, when turned on its axis, this part of the
machine being made to ascend, the water will by its gravity be caused
to descend into the lower part between the next bends of the spiral,
while in reality it rises, with respect to its former position, in con-
sequence of the rotation of the tube, or bends, within which it is
confined. Thus the water continually proceeds towards the upper part
of the machine, from whence it is discharged into a reservoir placed to
receive it.
It is shown, by writers on hydraulics, that this machine cannot
raise water when the angle which a line drawn centrally on the spiral
bends makes with planes parallel to the base of the cylinder is greater
than the angle which the latter makes with the horizon; and it is
recommended that, in practice, the angle which the axis of the cylinder
makes with the horizon should be between 40 and 60 degrees. Such a
machine is particularly useful when the water is mixed with gravel,
weeds, and the like, which would spoil the action of a common pump.
For computations concerning the force requisite to turn the machine,
and the quantity of water which it will raise in a given time, see
Gregory's 'Mechanics,' vol. ii.
A machine consisting of a pipe wound spirally about the surface of
a cylinder, or cone, which is made to revolve about its axis when the
latter is in a horizontal position, is called a spiral-pump. At one
extremity of the spiral, water and air in nearly equal quantities being
allowed to enter, the former will, in consequence of the revolution, be
forced up an ascending pipe which may be attached at the other
extremity.
The Archimedian screw has been occasionally employed in modern
times to raise water from docks, basins, &c.; and it might be used to
raise globular bodies, as cannon balls, from one level to a higher, as
from the hold of a ship to the top of a wharf. A similar machine,
having the spiral detached from and revolving within the cylinder
which is about it, is also used. It is said to raise more water than the
usual screw, but it cannot be elevated at a greater angle with the
horizon than 30°, and its action is more easily impeded by the sand or
gravel which is frequently mixed with the water.
For the application of the screw to navigation, we must refer to
STEAM NAVIGATION.
SCREW-JACK, a portable machine for raising great weights by the
agency of a screw. Portable jacks, which are sometimes worked by a
rack and pinion instead of a screw, are used for raising heavy carriages;
the head of the jack being placed under the carriage, and raised by
turning the screw with a lever. The "Universal Screw-Jack" is a
great improvement on the common machine, as it allows lateral as well
as vertical motion. In it the nut in which the vertical screw works
is fixed in a carriage resting on the framework that forms the base
of the machine, and capable of being moved upon it by means of
an horizontal screw turned by a ratchet lever. This kind of jack
is particularly useful on railways, where it affords a simple means of
lifting a carriage or engine that may have run off the rails, and then
moving it laterally until the wheels are in their proper position over
the rails.
SCREW MANUFACTURE. The blanks for ordinary screws are
sometimes made of round rolled iron, cut into the required lengths,
and pinched when red-hot between a pair of dies in the chaps of a vice;
while the heads are formed with a hammer, or the stamp of a fly-press.
Another plan is to form the blanks of iron wire, cut by a machine, and
have the heads struck up in a die without the application of heat.
After forming the head, the next process is filing or turning the necks
and heads in a lathe; after which the nick, or groove to receive the
The cutting of the
end of the screw-driver, is cut with a circular saw.
worm is sometimes performed in a lathe, the blank being fixed in a
chuck, and projected during its revolution between a pair of stationary
cutters; the longitudinal motion of the blank, and the inclination of
the thread, being determined by a regulating or pattern screw attached
to the mandril. Small screws are frequently wormed by a similar
apparatus turned by a winch-handle attached to the mandril; and
sometimes by means of a steel tap-plate. In another plan the worm is
formed by means of a pair of stationary cutting dies; between which
the blank is projected by an apparatus which gives it an alternating
rotatory motion. The dies themselves regulate the size of the thread,
without the use of a pattern screw, and they must therefore be changed
for every variety of screw. The best screws are made to taper slightly
from the head downwards.
Several attempts have been made to produce screws by casting. In
the ordinary method, the chief obstacle in the way of casting screws
consists in the difficulty of removing the pattern from the mould.
Mr. Maullin has devised a method of overcoming this difficulty by an

the latter was inclined to the horizon in an angle of 36° 52'. The apparatus for screwing the patterns (of which a great number might be
361
382
SCREW MANUFACTURE.
SCRIBES.
used together) out of the mould, so as to leave the impression of the
thread uninjured.
|
desirable to avoid the risk of error arising from irregularities in the
pattern screw, or in any part of the machinery used. The late Mr.
Holtzapffel was highly skilled in this art; but Mr. Whitworth has
recently carried it to a degree of refinement never before attained.
SCREW-PILE. [PILE ENGINE.]
SCREW-PRESS. This machine offers great facilities for the appli-
cation of power; as the force applied may be almost infinitely multi-
plied by increasing the length of the lever by which it is turned, and
diminishing the distance between the threads. It is also very convenient
in cases where a continued pressure is required; because, in ordinary
cases, the friction of the screw is too great to allow it to run back on
the removal of the power by which it is turned. In the common
screw-press the articles to be pressed are laid upon a stationary bed,
forming the base of a strong frame, in the upper cross-bar or head of
which a nut is firmly secured. The screw works up and down in this
nut, and to its lower end is attached the follower, or moving piece which
presses on the substance operated upon. The connection between the
screw and this piece is such that the follower rises and falls, but does
not turn round with the point of the screw; and the steady motion of
the follower is provided for by making it fit closely to the side-pieces
or cheeks of the press, which. therefore act as guides. At the lower
end of the screw there is usually a massive globular head, pierced with
two holes at right-angles with each other, which receive the end of a
long iron lever, by which the screw is turned. The best screw-presses
are made of iron.
Screw-bolts and other screws for working in metal are manufactured
in a similar manner to those for working in wood, when the number
required is sufficient to justify the expense of adjusting the machinery.
When this is not the case, they are, if small, often cut by hand, without
the aid of a lathe. The die, or instrument for cutting an external screw,
resembles a common nut, but is usually divided into two parts, which
are fitted into an iron stock or die-frame, with long handles. Notches
are cut in the die, across the direction of the threads, in order to pro-
duce cutting angles, and to afford room for the escape of the portions
of metal removed in cutting the worm. The die, which is formed of
steel, and well tempered, is inserted in the die-stock, with its two
halves a little distance apart, but capable of being brought together by
regulating screws fixed in the die-stock. The bolt to be made into a
screw is fastened in a vice, while its end is placed in the die. The
operator then proceeds to turn the die-stock, so as to worm the die on
to the bolt; not by a continuous motion in one direction, but by a
series of turns backwards and forwards. When the die has proceeded
as far as the worm is required to extend, it is taken off, screwed up a
off, screwed up a
little closer, and again applied in the same manner; the process is
repeated, closing the die a little after each operation, until the worm is
cut to the required depth. In working a similar apparatus by
machinery, the dies are sometimes made in four pieces, the die-frame is
stationary, and the bolt or screw-pin itself revolves. In this case the
rotation is continuous, but in other respects the operation resembles The great space required for turning a long lever is a serious incon-
that described. In cutting large screws, especially with a square venience in some cases, and has led to the contrivance of several
thread, a steel cutter is sometimes used with the die, whether turned methods for turning the screw with great power by a more compact
by hand or fixed in a lathe. Very small metal screws are cut by a apparatus. In a press invented and patented by Mr. Dunn, the screw
steel tap-plate, wormed and notched in a similar manner to the dies is turned by means of a short bent lever acting upon a ratchet-wheel
above described, but having several holes varying slightly in size; the fixed on the lower part of the screw. In another ingenious modification
worm being formed progressively, by using at each operation a smaller of the common screw-press, invented by Mr. Pouchée, a large cogged-
hole than at the preceding one.
wheel is fixed horizontally on the screw, just below the common head
Hollow or interior screws are commonly cut by means of a steel tap, for receiving the end of the lever. A small pinion, having a square
which is simply a screw of which great part of the worm is removed axis to receive a lever handle, is fixed on the platten or follower of the
by filing flat faces along its whole length, the angles left by this press, and works into the large cogged-wheel. This press is worked in
operation forming a series of obtuse cutters. The head of the tap is the ordinary way until the screw is turned as far as the lever will con-
squared, to fit into the middle of a long handle, by which it can be veniently move it. The bar is then removed, and the handle of the
turned with considerable purchase. The taps for cutting screws in pinion put on, and by turning it the screw may be further depressed.
wood are commonly fluted on the sides, to make them cut the more In one form of screw-press for hot-pressing, the plates do not, as in
readily, and to afford more room for the escape of the cuttings. The those of the usual construction, need to be removed for heating;
tap invented by Mr. Jones answers the purpose of a tapering tap for they being kept at the necessary temperature by hot air introduced
commencing the screw, and a cylindrical one for completing it the into four hollow columns, which serve the purpose of cheeks to the
lower part being tapered, while the upper is left cylindrical. The tap press.
is shown at c, more adapted for cutting than either a or b, which are
the more usual forms. In large taps of this kind a steel cutter may
be inserted, as shown in the section d, at the commencement of the
cylindrical portion of the tap; the cutter being made to project a little,
so that the tap follows it without difficulty. An ingenious kind of tap
for cutting a square-threaded screw consists of a hollow screw of steel,
having a hole drilled obliquely from the front end of the thread to the
hole in the centre of the tap. The edges of this oblique hole, being
made sharp, cut their way through the wood when the tap is turned
round: while the hole itself forms a channel by which the cuttings
escape into the cavity in the centre. For cutting internal screws in
wood, where great accuracy is not required, the tap invented by Mr.
Siebe, represented in the following cut, is useful. Though the wooden
part is cylindrical, the steel plate tapers towards the end that enters
the hole, in order that, by the first teeth projecting but little, the
instrument may cut gradually. A groove is cut on each side of the
tap, where the plate is inserted, to afford room for the escape of the
cuttings; and the upper end of the cylinder is made flat or square for
the purpose of fitting the lever by which it is turned.
The large iron screws used in vices, presses, waggon-jacks, &c., are
formed by means of dies, turned with immense power by very long
levers; the thread being made without cutting, by indenting and
squeezing up the metal. In the ordinary method of cutting screws in
a lathe, the size of the worm, or the distance between the threads, is
regulated by a pattern screw, and cannot be varied from it. An
ingenious machine is used in the Woolwich dock-yard for cutting a
great variety of different screws from one pattern.
In making screws for mathematical or astronomical instruments,
where the greatest accuracy is essentially necessary, it is especially
While the diminution of the size of the thread affords the means of
increasing the power of a screw-press, it is attended by the serious
disadvantage of diminishing its strength. This difficulty may be
avoided by the use of a double or differential screw.
The press may
be made of the usual form, excepting that the lower end of the screw
is cut with a finer thread than the upper part. This smaller screw is
received into a nut resting on the follower, and capable of turning on
it. The head for receiving the lever by which the screw is turned is
in this case placed above the head or top beam of the press. When in
use the nut is keyed fast to the screw, so that it turns with it; and
the action is exactly the same as that of the common press. When
the screw has been turned as far as it will go in this way, the key that
connected the nut with the screw is removed, and the nut is keyed
fast to the presser. The screw being again turned, the lower thread
enters the nut, so that the presser is depressed only through a space
equal to the difference between the width of the upper and lower
threads of the screw. By making the two parts of the screw very
nearly alike in fineness, the distance traversed by the platten may be
diminished, and the pressure increased almost to infinity.
Screw-presses are occasionally made with more than one screw. In
one arrangement of this kind the screws are stationary; and the nuts,
which are fitted into the follower, are turned by means of cogged
wheels driven by an endless screw laid horizontally on one side of the
follower, and terminating at each end in a winch-handle. Mr. Brindley's
press has several screws instead of one, each having a cogged wheel
working into another fixed on a plain central shaft, which is moved by
a winch and bevil gear.
SCREW PROPELLER. [PROPELLER.]
SCRIBES. In the article MOSES, in BIOG. Drv., this word has
been used as a translation of the Hebrew word, which in
the authorised version is translated "officers." The word which is
translated "scribe" in the English Bible is, or in the Chaldee
720, , meaning "a writer." It was applied to an officer of the king, or,
as we should say, a "secretary of state" (2 Sam. viii. 17; xx. 25;
2 Kings xxii. 3); also to a "secretary-at-war," who had the enrolment
of the soldiers under his care. (Jerem. lii. 25.) It was also used to
signify men learned in the Jewish Scriptures. (Ezra vii. 6, 11.) The
last was the meaning which the word came to have in the later ages of
the Jewish state, or rather, as the Jews regarded all learning as con-
tained in a knowledge of their sacred books, the word scribe was used
to designate all men of learning. In this sense we find it in the
Apocrypha and the New Testament, as the translation of the words
yрaμμaтeùs, voμirds, vopodidάokaλos, for the lawyers (as our version

369
SCRIPTURE.
generally translates the last two words) were evidently the same
persons as the Scribes. Their office was to administer the sacrifices
and to explain the law. They had seats in the Sanhedrim, and wore
generally Levites. They, at least occasionally, wore long clothing
(Mark xii. 38), which was effected by enlarging the border of their
garment with a fringe. In the time of Christ they appear to have
been for the most part Pharisees, but they did not form a sect.
(Winer's Biblisches Realwörterbuch, art. Schriftgelehrte.')
SCRIPTURE (ypapń, scriptura). This word means simply a writing,
but it has long been used to designate the sacred books of the Old and
New Testament. It is thus repeatedly used in the New Testament in
reference to the Old Testament, and in one passage Peter applies it
to the Epistles of Paul, and very probably he meant to include under
the word some of the other books of the New Testament which were
then written. (2 Peter iii. 16.) The different forms in which this
word occurs in the New Testament are "the Scripture," "the Scrip-
tures,"
""the Holy Scriptures," "inspired Scripture." (2 Tim. iii. 16;
compare Smith's 'Script. Test. to the Messiah,' chap. ii., note a.) The
term a Scripture is also used for a passage in the Scriptures. (APO-
CRYPHA; BIBLE; CANON; and the titles of the different books of the
Bible.)
SCROFULA, or SCROPHULA, the technical name for the disease
that is popularly called " the King's Evil:" the origin of the latter
term will be explained presently; that of the former is very obscure
and uncertain. We find the word scrofula, or rather scrofulce in the
plural, employed for the first time to signify the present disease, or
one supposed analogous to it in cattle, by Vegetius (De Re Veterin.',
lib. iii., cap. 23, ed. Schneider). It is generally admitted to be derived
from the Latin scrofa, or scropha, "a sow," although the reason of the
derivation is by no means clear. The same analogy, whatever it may
have been, influenced also the Greek and Arabic writers in naming the
disease, as the former call it xoipàs, or xoipádes; and the latter khanázir
(Avicenna, tom. i., p. 154; 1. 36, p. 194; 1. 30, vol. ii., p. 73, 1. 12, ed. Rom.,
1593, fol.; Albucasis, 'De Chirurg.,' lib. i., cap. 22, p. 50, ed. Oxon., 1778,
4to.), both of which words are intimately connected with swine. The
classical Latin term for the disease is 'struma' (Celsus, 'De Medic.,'
lib. v., cap. 28, §7; Pliny, 'Hist. Nat.', lib. viii., cap. 77), or 'struma'
in the plural (Celsus, lib. i., cap. 9; Pliny, lib. xxii., cap. 16), which is
also a word of which no satisfactory derivation has been given, as
probably few persons will agree with Dr. Good in deriving it from
σrpaμa, 'congestion,' or 'coacervation,' as of straw in a litter, feathers
in a bed, or tumours in the body."
The vulgar English name applied to it, namely, "the King's Evil,"
commemorates the virtues of the royal touch, to which, from the time
of Edward the Confessor till the reign of Queen Anne, multitudes of
persons afflicted with scrofula were subjected. A similar custom pre-
vailed in France; and miraculous powers for the cure of scrofula were
likewise claimed for different Romish saints, for the heads of certain
noble families, for the seventh son, and for many consecrated springs.
The royal touch requires some further notice. That the kings of
England for several centuries actually exercised their touch for the
cure of scrofulous complaints is proved by abundant historical
authority; and scarcely any of our old historians, who wrote during
a period of at least five hundred years, have omitted taking notice
of this strange and unaccountable fact. We have not room here
to give the evidence fully, and must refer those who wish to inquire
more deeply into the subject to 'A Free and Impartial Inquiry into
the Antiquity and Efficacy of Touching for the King's Evil, 1722, by
William Beckett, an eminent surgeon; Charisma, sive Donum Sana-
tionis seu Explicatio totius Quæstionis de Mirabilium Sanitatum
Gratiâ, in quâ præcipuè agitur de solenni et sacrâ cui Reges Angliæ,
ritè inaugurati, divinitus medicati sunt,' &c. &c., 1597, by William
Tooker, afterwards dean of Lichfield; Charisma Basilicon, or the
Royal Gift of Healing Strumas, &c.' 8vo., Lond., 1684, by J. Browne;
Several Chirurgical Treatises,' Lond., 1676, fol., and 1719, 8vo., 2 vols.,
by Richard Wiseman, principal surgeon in the army of Charles I., and
serjeant-surgeon to Charles II., whom Haller ('Biblioth. Medic. Pract.,'
tom. iv., p. 399) calls "insignis certe et peritissimus chirurgus." The
question is examined at some length by Bishop Douglas, in his Crite-
rion; or Miracles Examined,' &c. &c., p. 191, ed. 1754, who, while he
denies the alleged miraculous powers, fully admits the reality of the
See also Colquhoun's Isis Revelata: an Inquiry into the
Origin, Progress, and Present State of Animal Magnetism,' Edin., 1836,
2 vols. 8vo., who also allows (vol. i., p. 87)" the sanative efficacy of
the process," but connects it with the phenomena of animal magnetism.
Among the most curious parts of the subject, it may be mentioned
that the old Jacobites considered that this power did not descend to
Mary, William, or Anne, as they did not possess a full hereditary title,
or, in other words, did not reign by divine right. The kings of the
house of Brunswick have, we believe, never put this power to the proof;
and the office for the ceremony, which appears in our Liturgy as late as
1719, has been silently omitted. The exiled princes of the house of
Stuart were supposed to have inherited this virtue. Carte, in the well-
known note to the first volume of his History of England,' mentions
the case of one Christopher Lovel, who, in 1716, went to Avignon,
where the court was then held, and received a temporary cure; and
when Prince Charles Edward was at Holyrood House, in October, 1745,
he, although only claiming to be prince of Wales and regent, touched a
cures.
SCROFULA.
364
female child for the king's evil, who in twenty-one days is said to have
been perfectly cured.
The history of this delusion carries with it a great lesson. It is very
evident that the changed circumstances cither of body or mind in
which persons who submitted to the royal touch were placed produced
the favourable results which have been recorded. It has been the
same with popular systems of medical treatment up to the present
day. The beneficial action of some agent is assumed, quite independent
of any inquiry into the fact of its possessing any curative power at all,
and the other circumstances by which the cured person is surrounded,
which have really effected his cure, are entirely overlooked.
Scrofula is defined by Dr. Good (Study of Med.') to be, "indolent
glandular tumours, frequently in the neck, suppurating slowly and
imperfectly, and healing with difficulty; upper lip thickened; skin
smooth; countenance usually florid;" which agrees almost exactly
with the definition given by Cullen in his 'Nosology.'
Later writers have, however, given a more extended view to the
term scrofula, or scrofulous, and made it to include that general state
of the system of which the indolent glandular tumour is but one
symptom. The swellings and ulcerations which are so common in
scrofula are found to be connected with alterations in the nutrition of
the tissue of a similar kind to those which take place when tubercle of
the lungs is present. [PHTHISIS.] Hence some writers have described
a state of the whole system which they have called tuberculosis, in
which either scrofula or pulmonary consumption occurs. It seems
now agreed by the best pathologists that the same general state of the
system which produces tubercle in the lungs produces the various
forms of scrofula, including the indolent swellings of the definition of
Good and Cullen. On this subject Mr. Paget, in his 'Surgical Patho-
logy,' makes the following remarks :- "Scrofula,' or 'struma,' then,
is generally understood as a state of constitution distinguished in
some measure by peculiarities of appearance even during health, but
much more by peculiar liability to certain diseases, including pul-
monary phthisis. The chief of these 'scrofulous' diseases are various
swellings of lymphatic glands, arising from causes which would be
inadequate to produce them in ordinary healthy persons. The swell-
ings are due sometimes to mere enlargement, as from an increase of
natural structure, sometimes to chronic inflammation, sometimes to
more acute inflammation or abscess, sometimes to tuberculous disease
of the glands. But, besides these, it is usual to reckon as 'scrofulous'
affections certain chronic inflammations of the joints; slowly pro-
gressive 'carious' ulcerations of bones; chronic and frequent ulcers of
the cornea, ophthalmia attended with extreme intolerance of light, but
with little, if any, of the ordinary consequences of inflammation;
frequent chronic abscesses; pustulæ, cutaneous eruptions frequently
appearing upon slight affection of the health or local irritation; habitual
swelling and catarrh of the mucous membrane of the nose; habitual
swelling of the upper lip.
"Now these and many more diseases of the like kinds are amongst
us, both in medical and in general language, called scrofulous or
strumous; but though many of them are often coincident, yet it is
very difficult to say what all have in common, so as to justify their
common appellation. Certainly they are not all tuberculous diseases.
Little more can be said of them than that, as contrasted with other
diseases of the same forms and parts, the scrofulous diseases are
usually distinguished by mildness and tenacity of symptoms; they
arise from apparently trivial local causes, and produce, in proportion to
their duration, slight effects; they are frequent, but not active. The
general state on which they depend may be produced by defective
food, with ill ventilation, dampness, darkness, and other depressing
influences; and this general state of constitution, whether natural or
artificially generated, is fairly expressed by such terms as 'delicacy of
constitution,' 'general debility,' 'defective vital power,' 'irritability
without strength.' Such terms, however, do not explain the state
that they express; for they all assume that there are in human bodies
different degrees of vital power, independent of differences of material,
which is at least not proved.
"Such is the vagueness of 'scrofula' and of the terms derived from
it as commonly used in this country. They include some diseases
which are, and many which are not, distinguished by the production
of tuberculous matter. It has been proposed, but I doubt whether
it be practicable to make 'scrofulous and tuberculous' commensu-
rate terms; as at present generally employed the former has a much
larger import than the latter. The relation between the two is, that
the scrofulous constitution implies a peculiar liability to the tuber-
culous diseases and they often co-exist. These differences are evident
in that many instances of scrofula (in the ordinary meaning of the
word) exist with intense and long continued disease, but without
tuberculous deposit; that as many instances of tuberculous disease
may be found without any of the non-tuberculous affections of
scrofula; that as Mr. Simon has proved, while the diseases of 'defec-
tive power' may be experimentally produced in animals by insufficient
nutriment and other debilitating influences, the tuberculous diseases
are hardly artificially producible; that nearly all other diseases may
co-exist with the scrofulous, but some are nearly incompatible with the
tuberculous.
"Now whether we disuse or still use in its vagueness the term
'scrofula,' we may make a group of the tuberculous diseases, defined
385
300
SCROFULA.
SCROFULA.
by the peculiar morbid product of which I have described the chief
characters. Only at present we must be content, I believe, to be some-
times in doubt whether the substance found in lymphatic glands and
commonly known as scrofulous matter be truly tuberculous matter or
degenerate lymph or pus."
In the case of glands affected with what is called scrofulous inflam-
mation, the same peculiar exudation is observed as is found in the
lungs of those who are affected with phthisis.
the convalescence, the more frequently do symptoms of this disease.
ensue.
The treatment of scrofula divides itself naturally into the preventive
and curative. With regard to the former, it must be applied both to
those who have a scrofulous tendency and those in whom it has not
yet been developed. The progeny of scrofulous parents require the
greatest care and attention, if an outbreak of some form or other of
the disease is to be avoided. All writers on this subject recommend
that the children of scrofulous parents should not be suckled by a
scrofulous mother, and that a healthy wet-nurse should be secured.
Where this is not possible, it is perhaps better for the child to take
its mother's milk than to rear it by hand, attention being paid to the
health of the mother during the suckling of the child.
In the preven-
tive treatment of scrofula it should be recollected that cold, moisture,
bad or deficient food, and impure air, are the great factors of the tuber-
culous deposits. Children and adults should be warmly dressed, and
no exposure to cold should be allowed unless under circumstances
where the reaction of the system can be secured. Thus cold bathing
and exercise in the cold air are commendable as long as the natural
heat is kept up. A moist and cold atmosphere acts most unfavourably.
Climates that are dry, and gravelly and chalk soils, are preferable to
moist climates and clay soils. The food of those predisposed to
scrofula should be nutritious. It should especially abound in the
oleaginous element.
After oleaginous element. Children should not be allowed to reject fat, and
the taking butter, cream, and fatty food, where positive indigestion
does not interdict, should be encouraged. Exercise regular and
constant in the open air should be taken every day. This should be
sufficient to employ the muscles, to increase the capillary circulation,
to promote the function of the skin, and maintain healthy nutritionary
change. Of all the causes of scrofula that of impure air from over-
crowding and imperfect ventilation is the most constant and prevalent.
It presses most heavily on the poor, because they cannot prevent it,
but the more opulent suffer from it from their ignorance of its
existence. Close rooms, beds with curtains, rooms lighted with gas,
crowded assembly rooms, and places of worship, all contribute to bring
on a state of the body from which there is too often no escape when
once it comes on. In this respect the whole of the internal arrange.
ments of the majority of houses in our towns and cities require
reform. It is not till this subject is thoroughly understood by the
great mass of the community, that the devastations of scrofula
amongst our city populations will cease.
This exuded matter generally presents a yellowish or dirty-white
colour and varies in consistence from a substance resembling cheese to
that of cream.
It is sometimes soft in one place and hard in another.
It also presents itself in masses of various sizes, from a millet seed to a
hen's egg. It is friable on pressure and may break down into a pulpy
matter. If a small piece is squeezed between two pieces of glass and
placed under a microscope it presents a number of irregular-shaped
bodies, varying from theth to theth of an inch in diameter.
These bodies contain from one to seven granules, and are unaffected by
water, but rendered transparent by acetic acid. These have been
called tuberculous corpuscles. They are surrounded with minute
points or granules, which are more abundant in the softer tuberculous
matter. These corpuscles are often accompanied by deposits of
mineral matter, consisting of phosphate and carbonate of lime. They
occur, for the most part, in young persons, and may occur in any part of
the body; but they are most frequent in the lymphatic glands. After
these parts the fibrous textures are most frequently attacked, as the
lungs and serous surfaces. These exudations are very slow in their
progress, and are thus distinguished from the exudation of ordinary
inflammation. They exhibit little or no tendency to the production of
perfect cells or normal tissues, and the cells are slowly formed and
slowly break down. They have little tendency, when once formed,
to absorption; but show a great tendency to breaking up and
ulcerating.
Scrofula, though not a contagious disease, is unquestionably
hereditary; and hence very generally dependent upon a peculiar
diathesis. Yet, like many other hereditary diseases, it is also occa-
sionally generated as a primary affection, without any hereditary taint
that can be discovered. When it occurs as a primary or ingenerated
affection, it is by no means always limited to any particular tempera-
ment or habit of body. But where scrofula appears hereditary, and
especially where it does not show itself very early, it is often accom-
panied with a peculiar constitution. "The character of a scrofulous
child," says Sir Astley Cooper, "is as follows:-You will find the skin
thin, if you pinch it, which is quite different from the skin of children
who are not scrofulous; in them the skin is solid and dense, and the
fibres strong; but in scrofulous the skin is thin, and the vessels may
be seen meandering under it; and it is on this account that persons
with this disease frequently have a rosy colour, arising from the
thinness of the skin, which allows the vessels to be seen under it.
The hair is also light coloured. If you observe, in a family of five or
six children, one among them who has a delicate thin skin, with light
hair and complexion, you will find that if they are all exposed to the
same causes, they will escape from any scrofulous affection, with the
exception of the one stamped by nature, and that this, during its
growth, will be affected by the disease. The hair is also extremely
fine, the eyelashes long, the pupils dilated, and the fingers are what is
called clubbed, similar to the fingers in phthisical persons, that is, they
are extremely long and thin, but at the extremities are broad and flat.
The upper lip is of considerable thickness, and this is a mark of
debility."
In considering the causes of a disease so deeply rooted in the con-
stitution as scrofula is universally acknowledged to be, it is necessary
to direct our attention to circumstances very remote in the history of
those who are its subjects. The foundation of a scrofulous habit is
frequently laid during the factal state, by the transmission of that
peculiar organisation of the frame from parents who themselves possess
it. Scrofula is also observed to originate in the healthy offspring of
healthy parents, under certain circumstances, the principal of which
are habitual exposure to cold and damp, privation of free air and light,
and want of healthful exercise. A moist, cold, and variable climate,
like that of Great Britain or Holland, is particularly favourable to
the development of scrofula; in proof of which it is sufficient to
adduce the great prevalence of the malady in both of those countries.
A very cold or a hot climate, on the other hand, serves rather to
protect us against scrofula; the former, dry and bracing, invites to
exercise, and promotes digestion, and thus strengthens the system;
while the latter favours the excretions, particularly that of the skin,
and preserves the body from those sudden changes of temperature
which in our island so often lay the foundations of scrofulous affec-
tions. Among the causes which appear to give rise to scrofula in
children, are the practices of rearing them by the hand and suckling
them too long; two extremes, both of which often lead to the same
result, the imperfect nourishment of the child. Another cause of
this disease is confinement in ill-ventilated apartments; for the
deficiency of pure atmospheric air cannot be long endured, especially
during youth, without the most injurious consequences. Acute
diseases, especially those accompanied with cutaneous eruptions, as
small-pox, measles, and scarlet-fever, are often observed to have the
effect of producing the development of scroful; and the more tedious
The curative treatment of scrofula may be divided into constitutional
and local applications. With respect to the former, it would be im-
possible here to notice all the numerous remedies that have been
recommended for the cure of this disease; we must be content with
pointing out those that are most generally esteemed. Of all the
remedies employed in the treatment of scrofula, perhaps none have
enjoyed a greater reputation than mercurials; but it is only from their
purgative and alterative effects that they prove beneficial, and not
when they produce that powerful influence on the frame which so
rarely fails to ensue from their free exhibition. Tonics are amongst
the most valuable remedies; of these, cinchona is perhaps the most
efficacious, and from the concentrated form in which it can now be
exhibited (namely, the disulphate of quina), the most generally avail-
able. Other vegetable tonics and bitters have been administered with
advantage in scrofula, such as calumba, gentian, and hop. Of the
metallic tonics used in scrofula, iron is that which has been found the
most beneficial; and the best forms of exhibiting it are the Vinum
Ferri, the Tinctura Ferri Sesquichloridi, and the Ferri Sesquioxidum,
in powder. Iodine, as prescribed by Lugol, is at present in consider-
able repute. It is successfully employed both internally and locally,
in each of which modes it increases the action of the absorbents; and
in the latter it likewise often induces suppuration of strumous tumours,
and thus hastens their removal. Allusion has been made to the use
of fatty food as a preventive of scrofula, and cod-liver oil has been
found of no less value as a medicine. It may be combined with any
other medicines or system of treatment that may be thought necessary.
The evidence in favour of its use in most forms of scrofula is so decided,
that it never ought to be overlooked as part of any general system of
treatment. The use of baths in the treatment of strumous affections
is of great value, the kind of bath to be made choice of being deter-
mined by the existing state of the patient. Sudden immersion in cold
water, and especially sea-water, has long been an approved remedy in
scrofula; but when the strength of the patient is so reduced that no
kindly glow follows, and when there is decided feverishness, the cold
plunge-bath is not admissible. In most cases the warm-water bath,
and still more that of vapour, will be found highly soothing and
restorative.
In the
With respect to the local treatment, indolent scrofulous tumours,
when the health is little reduced, may be dispersed or made to suppu-
rate by continued pressure or by blistering, which can be employed
when the situation of the swelling will not admit of pressure.
treatment of scrofulous ulcers, the simplest and mildest dressings
answer best. Cold spring water is a favourite application with many
practitioners; and preparations of lead are, upon the whole, very con-
venient and useful applications, provided the solutions bo used in a
state of sufficient dilution to prevent irritation. Formerly, the extir-
pation of scrofulous tumours was advised, but this method is now
*༣
367
1
SCRUPLE.
considered as being for the most part injudicious and unnecessary,
with the exception of diseased joints and a few other parts which fre-
quently require being amputated for the sake of saving the patient's
life. Caustics have been employed for the same purposes, instead of
the knife; but as they effect the object in view less certainly, more
painfully and tediously, and cause extensive ulcers, they are disused
by all the best surgeons of the present day. Some authors advise
making issues, and keeping them open, in order to prevent any ill
effects from the healing of the scrofulous ulcers. Issues may perhaps
be unnecessary for any purpose of this kind; but they are eminently
useful as a part of the local treatment of scrofulous joints and abscesses.
When all hope of recovering a diseased portion of the body is at an
end, the question immediately presents itself whether such part ought
not to be removed by an operation. In considering the propriety of
amputation, it is necessary to determine how far the continuance of
the affections brings the patient's life into hazard, and whether he has
'still sufficient strength left to undergo the operation. When another
important joint, or a vital organ, as the lungs or bowels, is already the
seat of incurable disease, such operation is nugatory, and in such cases
unquestionably it should not be performed. Great caution however is
required in making our final decision; for every practitioner of ex-
perience has seen instances where the symptoms of visceral disease
appeared almost to preclude hope, and yet have yielded on the removal
of the local irritation, and a cure has been the happy result.
|_ (Cooper, Surg. Dict.; Cyclop. of Pract. Med.; Ancell, Treatise on
Tuberculosis ; Dr. Bennett, Principles and Practice of Medicine; Paget,
Surgical Pathology; Lugol on Scrofula, by Dr. Rankin; B. Phillips, On
Scrofula and its Treatment.)
SCRUPLE (scrupulum, diminutive of scrupus, a term for a sort of
pebble, probably used in counting) is now used only as the third
part of a dram, or the 24th part of an ounce, in the apothecaries'
division of the troy pound. It was used originally as the 24th part of
the Roman uncia; afterwards as the sixtieth part of an hour, or what
is now called the minute. The sixtieth part of a minute was called
scrupulum secundum, the sixtieth part of a scrupulum secundum was
scrupulum tertium, &c., whence our terms second, third, &c. applied to
the sexagesimal divisions of the minute. It is worth noting that the
ancient form of the word is also scripulum and scriptulum, which
might suggest a different derivation of the word as a weight or
measure. It may be worth while to add, that the scrupulum is
described by lexicographers as a small pebble, such as found its way
between the sandal and the foot, whence the use of the word to
denote a difficulty or objection.
!
SCUDO. [MONEY.]
""
""
SCULPTURE, in its strict sense, is the art of carving or cutting any
material into a proposed form or shape. In its more general accepta-
tion it is the art of representing objects by form; and is thus applied
to carving, modelling (or the plastic art), casting, whether in metal or
other materials, and to gem-engraving. Sculpture is practised in
various ways; namely, in forming entire or insulated figures, as statues
or groups, called in technical language, "the round; or in represent-
ing objects more or less raised without their being entirely detached
from a background. This latter is termed "relief," and the degrees of
relief are defined by modern writers and artists by the expressions
alto-rilievo, when the object is so salient as to be nearly "round
basso-rilicvo, when it is slightly raised from the background; and
mezzo-rilievo, when a medium is preserved between the extremely high
and the very flat "relief." There is another variety of this manner of
working "basso-rilievo," which is only or chiefly found in Egyptian
sculpture; the outline is sunk into the plane or ground, and the parts
are then formed and rounded on the principle of basso-rilievo. By
this mode of working there is usually no projection beyond the profile
or face of the original ground; to gain effect therefore in this kind of
relieved intaglio, the Egyptian artists frequently painted the sculpture.
It is not necessary to enter into a discussion of the various opinions
respecting the comparative antiquity of the arts of painting and
sculpture. Pliny's story ('Hist. Nat., xxxv. 12) of the daughter of
Dibutades having traced the outline of her lover's profile on the shadow
cast on the wall, and of this outline being afterwards filled in with
clay by her father, would give the priority to drawing; and it seems
obvious that drawing an outline must be antecedent to modelling, or
cutting in relief; but a little consideration will suffice to establish the
probability that insulated objects and figures were made in the very
earliest times. So many materials offered themselves upon which the
imaginative faculty could be exercised, that there can be little doubt
that rude attempts at forming clay, or any other plastic substance,
into a defined shape, were amongst the first exercises of human
ingenuity; and the easy task of thus repeating or copying the real
form of an object, compared with that of representing by lines (and on
a flat surface) its partial and perspective appearance, is quite sufficient
to lead to the inference that this was the earliest mode of imitation.
The ancients appear to have availed themselves of every known
material that was capable of being employed in sculpture. Pliny,
Pausanias, and other writers supply some curious information on this
subject, for, in describing works of art, they usually mention the
materials in which they were executed.
For modelling, clay, wax, and stucco, or plaster, appear to have been
universally adopted; and works of great antiquity formed of these
SCULPTURE.
368
substances, are still preserved. The clay model was usually baked, by
which it acquired a hardness scarcely inferior to stone. Moulds were
also made of clay, and being subjected to the above process, were safely
used as forms into which softer substances could be pressed, and thus
objects were multiplied without difficulty. The almost countless
number of figures, bassi-rilievi, lamps, tiles, architectural ornaments,
vases, domestic utensils, stamps, &c., which are found of this material
(called terra-cotta, baked earth), proves the extent of its employment in
the earlier ages of art. The objects usually composed of terra-cotta
are of small dimensions, but there are instances of its being used for
works of considerable size. In the Museo Borbonico at Naples are
two statues, of Jupiter and Juno, above six feet high, and two others,
one of an actor and the other an actress, above four feet high. They
were found at Pompeii. The larger figures are inferior in their forms
to the others, but whether the faults of proportion arise from the
shrinking or contraction of the clay in baking, or were errors in the
original modelling, it is not easy to determine. The specimens of
terra-cotta preserved in England are for the most part of small size;
but there are some very beautiful objects, both for execution and sub-
ject, in the Townley collection of the British Museum. It appears
highly probable that the ancients always, or almost always, painted
their terra-cotta works. In many instances the colour still remains,
and the draperies of figures, and portions of architectural ornament,
often exhibit well preserved designs of border patterns. The employ-
ment of wax for modelling and casting can be traced to a very remote
period. The Romans also employed it for making statues, or perhaps
only busts. It was a custom in some families to preserve portraits of
their ancestors made of wax. [PORTRAIT.]
A great proportion of the ornamental work, rilievi, &c., in the build-
ings of Pompeii is of stucco or plaster. Few collections of antiquities
are without specimens of figures and ornaments modelled in this
material. Some in the British Museum are examples of great delicacy
and sharpness of execution. Many of them are painted; red is the
prevailing colour.
The list of materials used for carved works comprises every sub-
stance, hard or soft, that could by possibility be employed for the pur-
pose, including porphyry, basalt, granite, marble, alabaster, ivory, bone,
and wood of all kinds. The three first named were used chiefly by the
Egyptians, who seem, in all their monuments of art, to have worked
with the view of securing the durability of their productions, employ-
ing, whenever they could do so, and especially for works of importance,
materials likely to resist the action of the atmosphere. When the
introduction of some of the superstitions of Egypt into Rome led to
the adoption of the Egyptian style of sculpture, it became the fashion
to execute works of art in the above materials; but this did not occur
till the reign of Hadrian, before and after which time they are seldom
met with.
The variety of marbles known and used by the ancients is almost
infinite. (Pliny, Hist. Nat.,' xxxvi. 7.) Those preferred for their
superior texture, colour, or applicability to sculpture, were, first, the
It is called also
Parian, which was found in the island of Paros.
Marpessian, from the mountain from which it was brought; and some-
times Lygdinum or Lychneum, perhaps from its bright sparkling
appearance. In the second rank was the Pentelic marble, which was
procured from Mount Pentelicus, in the neighbourhood of Athens. It
was highly esteemed by the sculptors of antiquity. Its colour, like
that of the Parian marble, is white; but it usually has a cold bluish
tone, arising from the grey, and sometimes greenish, streaks that run
through it; while the general hue of the marble of Paros is warm and
creamy. The Italians often called the Pentelic marble marmo salino,
from the salt-like appearance of its grain or crystals. The marble of
Mount Hymettus in Attica was also much esteemed; it resembled in
colour the Pentelic. After the conquest of Greece by the Romans,
this marble was imported in great quantities into Italy. Lucius Cras-
sus introduced it most extensively in the decoration of a palace which
he built on the Palatine; an instance of unusual luxury, which was
much reflected upon at the time. The marble of Thasos seems to
have been much used, especially for architectural purposes. It was
employed for covering and encasing edifices, and for lining reservoirs
and fish-ponds. The Italian marble was procured from Luna, in the
range of mountains near which are the modern towns of Massa and
Carrara. These quarries seem to have been unknown till about the time
of Julius Cæsar, when they were extensively worked. The grain of the
Carrara marble is finer than that of the Greek marbles above men-
tioned. Its colour is usually a rich white, and it bears a close
resemblance to fine lump sugar. It is seldom found quite pure; veins
and spots of black, grey, and red and yellow (oxides of iron) occur in
it. The Romans also worked quarries in Africa which produced lime-
stone and white marble with veins of pale grey. The quarries in
Greece are no longer worked, and the chief, or it may be said, the
only supply of statuary marble is at present from Italy. These
were the principal white marbles which were employed by the
sculptors of antiquity, and in which some of the finest remains of art
are executed.
Among the varieties of wood in which objects were carved, we find
oak, cedar, cypress, sycamore, pine, fig, box, and ebony. Cedar was
thought to be very durable, and on that account was used, Pliny says,
for images of the gods; the same author especially distinguishes
869
370
SCULPTURE.
SCULPTURE.
cypress, cedar, ebony, and box, for their capability of resisting the
injuries of time. (Plin., ' Hist. Nat.,' xvi. 40.) Pausanias saw several
statues of wood during his travels in Greece, and the following
instances will serve to show that this apparently humble material was
employed for representing the most elevated personages in the
ancient mythology. The statue of Apollo Archegetes was composed
of ebony, as was the statue of Diana Limnitis. At Lacedæmon the
statue of Venus was of cedar. A statue of Apollo made of box
adorned the treasury of the Sicyonians in the Altis. In the temple of
Castor and Pollux at Argos were their statues, those of their children,
and of their mothers, all made of ebony. All these works in wood
have perished, notwithstanding Pliny's observation, "Materiæ ipsæ
æternitas ('Hist. Nat.,' xiii. 5). A few however of smaller dimen-
sions have been found in tombs. They are chiefly figures of Egyptian
idols; and the wood of which they are made seems to be sycamore.
Gold, silver, iron, tin, copper, lead (and their compounds), wax, and
plaster, were all used for the purpose of casting. [BRONZE; FOUNDING.]
A mixture of gold and silver, in the proportion of one to five, formed
a composition termed Electrum. According to Homer, Helen presented
to the temple of Minerva at Lindus, in Rhodes, a cup made of
electrum, of the exact form and size of one of her own breasts. A
mixture of copper and tin, with sometimes, but not always, small
portions of other metals, formed what the Greeks called Chalcos
xáλkos); the Romans, Es; and modern artists (from the Italians),
Bronze.
There was a statue of Augustus of amber; and at the celebration of
funeral ceremonies, as those in honour of Sulla, statues were some-
times made of gum and aromatics, as well as of other materials of the
most combustible nature, as, for instance, of hay. Among the strange
conceits of artists there is mention of a statue of the goddess of Love
made of loadstone, which attracted a Mars of iron.
The union, or rather, combination of different marbles in the same
work was called polylithic sculpture. When painting or colouring was
resorted to, it was termed polychromic sculpture. These mixtures,
which modern taste disapproves, were resorted to by the most cele-
brated artists of antiquity, and during the most flourishing period of
sculpture and architecture in Greece. The various architectural
members of their temples were picked out in red and blue; and the
backgrounds, and frequently parts also of the sculpture itself, especi-
ally of rilievi, were coloured, to give further effect to the design.
There can be no doubt that the peculiar circumstances of the climate
must materially affect the appearance of this kind of decoration.
What in the dull atmosphere of northern countries would, at the best
of times, appear either dingy or tawdry, might easily be imagined to
have a very different effect when seen clearly defined and relieved
against a cloudless blue sky, and by the bright glare of a southern sun.
The combination, under such favourable circumstances, of white
marble, of which the temples were usually constructed, with simple
though brilliant colours to indicate the mouldings or smaller members of
the architecture and sculpture, sparkling with gold ornaments, certainly
offers to the fancy a spectacle of surpassing splendour. It is not quite
so easy to reconcile with our notions of propriety or good taste the
mixture of materials for sculpture within buildings, where space, and
sometimes light, if the temple were not open in the roof, would be
wanting to dissipate the heaviness of effect which it is conceived such
works would have. The introduction of foreign substances, either
metal, precious stones, paste or glass, for eyes in statues and busts (of
which examples occur in works even of the best period of art), is a
species of barbarism that is quite unaccountable, and which the most
zealous admiration of the genius of the Greeks cannot qualify or
excuse. Such instances may however be considered exceptions to the
rule of pure taste and simple feeling which is exhibited in the greater
number of works by the sculptors of Greece; and modern experience
will probably afford the best solution of what would otherwise seem
an anomaly, by suggesting that the artists, even of those times, were
occasionally dictated to, and their own better taste overruled by the
caprice of their employers. It seems difficult to account otherwise
for the strange circumstance of the lips as well as the eyes being inlaid.
There is more than one example of this among the fine bronzes pre-
served at Naples.
Inscriptions were sometimes inserted into bronze statues; the
letters being of a different metal from the figure. Cicero ( In Verr.,'
Orat. iv.) speaks of an Apollo inscribed with the name of Myron. In
the collection at Paris is a statue of a youth in bronze, on the left foot
of which are the remains of two Greek words, A☺ANAIA. AEKATAN,
in silver letters.
There was a very peculiar combination, rather referred to than
described by ancient authors, by which shades or tints of colour were
produced. Plutarch ('Symp.,' lib. v.) says that the sculptor Silanion
made a statue of Jocasta, the wife of Laius, king of Thebes, in which
she was represented dying. To increase the intensity of the expres-
sion of the countenance, the artist by an ingenious mixture of the
metals of which the statue was composed, had produced a pallid
appearance. This, he says, was effected by the addition of silver.
Callistratus admires a bronze statue of Cupid by Praxiteles, for its
elegant position, for the arrangement of the hair, its smile, the fire in
its eyes, and, he adds, there was in its countenance a vivid blush. He
observes the same thing, and with equal admiration and astonishment,
ARTS AND SCI. DIV. VOL, VII.
of a statue by Lysippus. After describing the work generally, he
says, the cheeks were coloured like the rose, and those who saw it
were struck with surprise at seeing the bronze imitate the appearance
of nature. The same remarkable effect is noticed in a bronze statue
of Bacchus by Praxiteles. To these may be added a statue of Athamas
at Delphi, mentioned by Pliny. He was represented sitting after the
murder of his son Learchus, whom he had precipitated from a rock.
This work, he says, was not entirely of iron; for the artist, Aristonidas,
wishing to express the effect of confusion and remorse in the counte-
nance of the king, used a mixture of iron and bronze, which should
imitate in some measure the blush of shame. (Plin., 'Hist. Nat.,'
xxxiv. 14.) Other notices might be quoted of this practice of the
ancients. The writers who refer to these effects describe them as the
result of study and intention on the part of the artists, and do not
allow us to suppose that the mere accident of oxidation and decom-
position produced them. The art seems to be quite distinct from that
called toreutic; the latter being the union of distinct materials, easily
removable, while the former is described as effecting an amalgama-
tion which produced shades or tints. The few writers who speak of
it are certainly general in their observations, and give no technical
details of the manner of effecting these combinations; but this hardly
justifies the entire rejection of their testimony as to what they saw.
It is most probable that they coloured the statues after they were cast,
as Pliny says was done in Egypt (xxxiii. 9). The different compart-
ments and objects in the shield of Achilles ( Iliad,' xviii.) are described
as exhibiting different colours. This however, whether the passage be
Homeric and genuine, or interpolated at a later though ancient period,
may have been a specimen of toreutic art. That the ancient sculptors
increased, or imagined they increased, the effect of their produc-
tions in marble by adding colour, not only tradition but existing
monuments testify. It is therefore not only possible but highly pro-
bable that they had some process with which we are unacquainted, by
which they were able to produce some similar effects in their metal
works.
Sculpture, as it was practised by the most ancient nations, must be
viewed in a very different light from that in which we consider its
employment in more modern times. With a comparatively uncivilised
and unlettered people sculpture and typical art were the only means
of representing ideas, and it had its origin almost in the wants of man.
With later nations (even of a remote antiquity) art became in a degree
a refinement; and then the various changes and improvements were
adopted that now occasion the difficulty in distinguishing between
original and engrafted styles.
The few notices that are scattered over the writings of the ancients
are quite inconclusive as to a common origin of art; although certain
received opinions upon the subject are occasionally met with. The
very late date of the oldest of these writers, compared with the
undoubted antiquity of the arts of design, accounts sufficiently for
the difficulties they laboured under in collecting any trustworthy
evidence on such points, and for the fables, exaggerations, and con-
tradictions that abound in their statements. The adventures and works
attributed to Dædalus, for instance, are a proof of the limited know-
ledge that existed of the first artist whose name occurs in the annals of
Greek sculpture. The inventions and improvements in various useful
arts due to a series of artists, and for which a single life would be
insufficient, are nevertheless all ascribed to this one individual, who,
after all, bore a name that in all probability was merely a general
appellation given in early times to any skilful workman or artificer.
In the same manner we find the introduction into Italy of the plastic
art (simple modelling) attributed by Pliny to a refugee from Corinth at
so late a date as about 600 B.C. The arrival in Etruria of Demaratus
may have introduced changes or improvements in the fabric and
decoration of vases. The names of the artists who are said to have
accompanied him, Eucheir and Eugrammus, sound like epithets
indicative of skill, rather than simple names of persons. Some writers
speak of images having fallen from heaven. These several instances
are referred to in order to show that even where tradition had supplied
scattered and undefined notices of works of art of a remote date, they
had become so subject to change and misrepresentation as succeeding
generations received and in their turn again recorded them, that it
would be vain to place any dependence upon them for a history of the
origin of art. The inquiry into the precise time, the country, the
circumstances when the first efforts in sculpture were made, must
therefore be attended with almost insuperable difficulties. Not so the
establishment, at a later period, of epochs marked by changes in style,
and what artists call treatment.
The desire to perpetuate the memory of extraordinary events, of
remarkable persons, or of their actions; to honour heroes and bene-
factors even during their lives, and to hand down to future ages the
fame of their exploits, has been universal, and has rendered the arts by
which such an end could be attained objects of universal interest.
The first works applied to this purpose were no doubt marked by the
greatest simplicity. The oldest and most authentic histories speak of
monuments erected to mark the scene of any remarkable incident;
and although, at the early periods referred to, these monuments were
only composed of rude blocks, or mere heaps of stones, still to such a
simple commencement may doubtless, in a great measure, be traced
the origin of sculpture. Jacob set up a heap of stones at Bethel to
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SCULPTURE.
mark the spot where he had had his dream or vision. (Gen. xxviii. 18.)
A similar simple memorial of a pillar and a heap of stones commemo-
rated the covenant entered into between Jacob and Laban. (Gen. xxxi.
44.) A similar monument was built over the grave of Rachel. (Gen.
xxxv. 20.) Joshua also set up a great stone under an oak, “to be a
witness." (Josh. xxiv. 27.) As late as the time of Pausanias, about
A.D. 170, certain of the Grecian divinities were worshipped under the
form of rude blocks or mere columns, or stones set upright (Paus. vii.
22); and even in the present day the custom exists in some countries
of setting up a heap of stones to mark the spot where any extraordinary
accident, such for example as a death from violence, has occurred.
These are frequent in Italy, where the passer-by usually adds another
stone to the heap, at the same time repeating a prayer for the repose
of the soul of the deceased.
It has been said that the history of sculpture is almost the history
of idolatry. Religious feeling doubtless had its share in forwarding
the progress of the arts; for man, even in his rudest state, always has
a belief that good and evil emanate from some superior power; and,
unable to comprehend a divine essence or spirit, has by degrees been
led to offer his addresses to some visible object as its representative. |
But it seems probable that the first images or statues were of men
rather than of gods: and thus that human idols preceded those of
divinities. This supposition is strengthened by the fact that the
heavenly bodies were the earliest objects of worship among the
heathen nations; and the symbols that were afterwards dedicated to
them were most likely merely pillars of a conical or pyramidal form,
and not imitations of the human figure; and when such works are
referred to and called "graven images" by Moses, it has ingeniously
been supposed to be in allusion to the signs or hieroglyphics inscribed
or cut on them. The sun was worshipped at Emesa under the form
of a black conical stone with marks to represent the sun. (Herodian,
v. 6; Gibbon, vol. i., c, vi.)
Traditional accounts of wonderful feats in arms, the real or fabled
history of a conqueror, or a lawgiver, or the founder of a nation, led in
all probability to the first attempts at making a portrait figure or
image, which a rude and uninformed people, always attracted by the
marvellous, associating with it actions of supernatural prowess, would
soon learn to contemplate with feelings both of admiration and of awe.
Extraordinary respect would lead to the payment of extraordinary
honours; and the elevation of heroes into divinities would be attended
with little difficulty when time had obscured the real existence of the
personages and weakened the remembrance of their actions. The
imagination would easily be worked upon while the eye contemplated
these first rude attempts at form; and thus men would be elevated
into gods.
The oldest idols of Egypt, no less than the monstrous images of the
Buddhists and Chinese, were probably, in the natural progress of
superstition, the fruits of a similar origin. The general forms once
admitted and consecrated, as symbolical of divine attributes, were
afterwards, in some instances, preserved from innovations by the
influence of the hierarchical institutions; and thus was a barrier raised
which for a long period was fatal to the progress of imitative art. We
are accustomed to look to the East as the nursery in which art and
science had their origin; and it is probable that much in the Egyptian
and even in the Grecian religious systems was derived from this source.
In the representations of the deities of the Hindus, the human form is
frequently combined with the brute,—the union of intelligence and
force; and, as we know was the case with the Egyptians, the Hindu
artists seem to have been subjected to some limitations and to a
prescribed type. In all statues and rilievi that remain, many of
which must have been executed at distant periods, there is the same
prevailing character of form, expression, and attributes; while out of
the immediate pale of their mythological or sacred system they appear
to have been less restricted; and some of the sculptures at Ellora and
Elephanta exhibit a feeling for composition, and a power of expressing
character, which make it surprising that their sculpture never attained
higher excellence.
In turning to the inspired writings, we find allusion made to imita-
tive art in the earliest period of history. The Israelites, after the
Exodus, are warned against the superstitions and corruptions that had
by degrees crept in and deformed their primitive simple forms of wor-
ship, and are exhorted to return to a pure devotion, as for instance in
the book of Joshua (xxiv. 2, 14, 15, 23).
Rachel, when she left her father's house with Jacob and Leah,
carried away "the images; " and Laban pursued them in order to
recover objects upon which he seems to have set a high value. This,
we believe, is the earliest notice in the holy writings of the existence
of such things, and even here we have no particulars by which any
idea can be formed of what they were like, or of what materials they
were made. That they were small is evident from the circumstance
of Rachel being able to carry them away unobserved, as well as from
the facility with which they were concealed when Laban "searched all
the tent, and found them not."
No remains of Hebrew sculpture are known; but as early as the
time of Moses they had attained to a considerable proficiency in some
of the most difficult processes of art. The setting up of the molten
calf, and the making of the brazen serpent, are evidence of this. The
earliest recorded names of sculptors are in the Old Testament; Beza-
SCULPTURE.
372
leel the son of Uri, of the tribe of Judah, and Aholiab the son of
Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan. (Exod., xxvi.) They were the artists
appointed to make the ornaments of the Tabernacle, and their date is
therefore about fifteen hundred years before the Christian æra.
From the peculiar position held by the Phoenicians, and their cha-
racter for enterprise and ingenuity, it is much to be regretted that we
possess no specimens of their design. The coins of Carthage, a colony
of Phoenicia, are of too late a date and of too insignificant a character
to throw any light upon the condition of sculpture among
the parent
people. The recent excavations and researches of Mr. Davis on the
site of Carthage, have not brought to light any productions of a kind
to elucidate what is doubtful with reference to the attainments of the
Phoenicians in the higher branches of sculpture and of the arts gene-
rally. We can therefore only estimate their proficiency in all ingenious
pursuits from the encomiums so generally passed upon them by ancient
writers. While the neighbouring people were in a state of primitive
simplicity or profound ignorance, the Phoenicians seem, by a native
industry and disposition to exertion, to have made themselves cele-
brated for their arts and manufactures. Their country was the great
mart and magazine of the known world. The prophet Ezekiel apostro-
phises Tyre as a "merchant of the people for many isles."
"The ships
of Tarshish," he says, "did sing of thee in thy market; and thou wast
replenished and made very glorious in the midst of the seas."
(Iliad,' xxiii. 743) calls them "the Sidonians, the skilful workers or
artificers" (Zidóves Toλudaídaλoi), when he speaks of them as having
made an elaborately worked silver cup. Solomon sent to Hiram, king
of Tyre, for workmen to build and decorate his magnificent temple;
and the king sent him a cunning" man, skilful to work in gold,
silver, brass, iron, stone, and timber. (2 Chron. ii. 13; and 1 Kings,
vii.) The building of Solomon's temple took place about one thousand
years before the Christian era.
Homer
With the exception of the Hindus, our remarks have thus far been
confined to those nations among whom sculpture is known to have
been practised, but of whose art no monuments remain. We are now
about to enter upon a more interesting field of inquiry. Sculpture
had in its first stage (when, as we believe, each people who employed
it originated it for themselves) fulfilled its purpose as a sign or a
record. Afterwards it acquired an increased dignity from being used
to represent objects claiming admiration or respect; and it was in this
stage probably that valuable materials were first used for sculpture.
The progress was easy to employing it for decoration, and the Baby-
lonians and Hebrews made great use of it for this purpose. But as
yet no practical knowledge has been gained with respect to its progress
as an art of design; of the changes from primitive rudeness to defined
form and character; nor of the innovations or varieties in feeling or
practice occasioned by the intercourse of hitherto strange and unknown
nations.
The style of sculpture and the condition of the art at different
periods among the Persians, the Egyptians, the Assyrians, the Etrurians,
the Greeks, and the Romans, can fortunately be illustrated by reference.
to existing remains. Each of these people had their peculiar manner,
which has given a character of school to their productions. In all of
them the practice of art was more or less influenced by the priests,
and by local and popular religious opinions; and it will be interesting
to trace how far these influences affected the progress of sculpture,
by restraining, as they did in some instances, its advancement towards
perfection even as an imitative art; or in urging it forward, as among
the Greeks, till it reached its highest excellence, by the union of
subject, form, and expression, as a means of gratifying sense, exciting
feeling, and elevating sentiment.
Sculpture was practised in Persia with very limited success.
The Persians,
Various circumstances conspired to retard its progress.
disapproved of statues for religious purposes; that is, as objects to
which worship should be offered. Not believing, as the Greeks did,
that the gods had the human form, they admitted no representation
of the deity, and allowed fire and water to be the only symbols or
emblems of the divine power. It is said that Xerxes destroyed the
temples of Greece at the instigation of the Magi, who exclaimed
against the impiety of those who presumed to enclose within walls the
gods to whom all things are open and free, and whose appropriate
temple is the whole universe. Wherever they appeared as conquerors,
the effects of this opinion were exhibited; and in Egypt, as well as in
Greece, they gave full indulgence to the iconoclastic fury. It is not
easy to determine the date of such sculptures as appear on Persian
buildings. Those which decorate the structures at Persepolis represent
religious processions chiefly, and sometimes combats both of men and
beasts. În none of them is there any approach to a representation of
the naked human figure. Their figures, enveloped in long heavy
draperies, are deficient in grace, variety of action, and character. At
a later period of their history some innovations seem to have been
permitted, but these were not of sufficient importance to raise their
art to any degree of excellence. The low measure of their attain-
ments in this respect, and the general want of taste in art, are strikingly
exhibited in the gold coins called Darics, which display as much
poverty of design as meanness and clumsiness of execution. It has
been thought that Persian art received some additions or modifica-
tions after the return of Cambyses from Egypt, when he probably was
accompanied by some of the artists of that comparatively cultivated.
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374
SCULPTURE.
SCULPTURE.
nation. There is however nothing in any of the monuments that
remain which is evidence of this influence. In the treatment of the
termination of the hair in small (round shell-like knobs, and in the
parallelism and uniformity of the long draperies, there is a strong
resemblance between the styles of the Persian and early Greek and
Etruscan monuments. If this is anything more than a general
characteristic of primitive art, it only proves that the Persians were
at one period not far inferior to their neighbours, but failed to make
that progress in design and execution which eventually led to the
perfection of art in Greece and Asia Minor.
In Egypt, on the other hand, distinct as is the quality of its art
from that of Greece, sculpture was practised on a scale and for
purposes that give it an irresistible claim to our interest. From all
we read in ancient authors, and from all that modern research has
brought to light, the Egyptians were learned, intelligent, industrious,
and wealthy. Neighbouring nations considered Egypt as the centre
and the source of all knowledge; and "the wisdom of the Egyptians
passed into a proverb. Of the power and the ingenuity of the
Egyptians, even in the most archaic times, some idea may be formed
from the magnitude and character of their remaining monuments of
architecture and sculpture, some of which, of a finished style of art,
are considered to be not only of a much earlier date than any known
works of other countries, but older than any historical record that we
possess. The date of the foundation of Thebes, the capital of Upper
Egypt, and of Memphis, the capital of Lower Egypt, is undetermined;
but it must be of a very high antiquity. At Karnak (a portion of
Thebes lying on the Arabian side of the Nile) there are remains of
sculpture which bear the name (Osirtasen) of a monarch supposed to
have been contemporary with Joseph: and many of the ruins are
attributed by archaeologists to a date long antecedent to that king.
These monuments are mentioned merely in proof of the great
antiquity of sculpture among the Egyptians, and as affording the
opportunity of comparing the peculiarities of the style of art at that
early time with that of works of later date.
Winckelman, Millin, and Fea have thought it possible to distin-
guish different periods, or epochs, in the history of Egyptian sculpture;
but they have not agreed in their classification. This is not to be
wondered at, when the general resemblance of style that pervades all
Egyptian design is considered. In the course of ages, and especially
under some of the more ambitious and enlightened of their kings, a
grander style of form and greater variety of composition were indulged
in. Still, the very slight variations that were made (for, considering
the space of time over which the history of Egypt, as a flourishing
nation, extends, they may truly be called slight) render any attempt
at a satisfactory classification, or reduction of changes to chronological
periods, almost hopeless. The only division of epochs of art in
Egypt which is not open to dispute is, first, that of an original and pre-
served standard which, with slight variations and modifications, existed
from the earliest date of art in the country down to the time of the
arrival of the Macedonian Greeks in Egypt, that is, till about 330 B. C.
The Greek dominion in Egypt constitutes the second period; and the
style of art may perhaps not inappropriately be called Græco-Egyptian,
as it certainly was influenced by the taste introduced by that people.
The next and last period may be termed the pseudo-Egyptian, or
imitative period; and dates from the time of Hadrian, or about A.D.
130, when the Romans adopted many of the superstitions of the
Egyptians, and added some of their divinities to their own extensive
mythological calendar. This love of novelty, or subserviency to the
caprices of their emperor, filled the cities and villas of Italy with
statues of Isis, Osiris, and other personages and objects of Egyptian
worship. No advantage, however, was gained by Egyptian art in con-
sequence of the springing up of this fashion in Rome. The great
endeavour was rather to give all design an Egyptian character, than to
elevate the character of Egyptian art by the introduction of a superior
taste either in form or composition. The most favourable specimen
of the mixed style is the fine statue of the Egyptian Antinous, as it is
called; but, founded on caprice and false principles, the Roman or
pseudo-Egyptian manner soon fell into disuse, and has never been
resumed. It will be remarked that in all the changes of circumstances
to which we have referred, and by which the political condition of
Egypt was materially affected, no sufficient alterations occurred to
destroy the peculiar and distinctive character of Egyptian art, which
exists in all its force, whether the works be of the most remote archaic
period and of the whole range of time to Alexander the Great, of the
time of the Ptolemies, or even the still more modern period of
Hadrian.
It is indeed matter of surprise that a nation so celebrated as the
Egyptians for superior intelligence, and of such long experience in the
practice of the arts, should have made so little progress in them; and
the phenomenon would be quite inexplicable if we were not acquainted
with the nature of their institutions, and the check which was thus
opposed to their advancement beyond a certain limit. The common
speculations that have been offered with the view of accounting for the
acknowledged inferiority of the Egyptians to the Greeks are altogether
unsatisfactory, even if the facts upon which they are founded could
be admitted. Some have supposed the absence of grace and the stiff
uniformity of action in Egyptian design to be owing to the want of
beauty in the natives of Egypt. Others have imagined that the artists'
want of knowledge of anatomy, and there being no public games in
which they could study the human figure, are sufficient to account for
this inferiority; attributing to physical causes alone that which was
effected by very different influences. The art of sculpture especially
seems to have been employed exclusively for religious purposes.
The priests, an hereditary body, systematically enforced the pre-
servation of ancient usages, and confirmed their hold upon the re-
spect, obedience, and veneration of the people by not suffering any
innovation upon old established forms. The whole population was
divided into castes, and a calling or profession was exercised from
generation to generation. The sons were all obliged to follow the
steps of the father. The order of these castes is variously stated by
different writers. The sacerdotal, of course, ranked first. Accord-
ing to Synesius, the profession of an artist was not exercised by
common or illiterate persons, lest they should attempt anything con-
trary to the laws and regulations regarding the figures of the gods;
and Plato, in his second book of Laws, says, they never suffered
any painters or statuaries to innovate anything in their art, or to
invent any new subjects or any new habits. Hence the art remains
the same; the rules of it the same." Here, then, we see the real
cause of the duration through a series of years of one unchanged style
of art. The origin of the form preserved through so many ages is
declared by its extreme simplicity. The earliest attempt at repre-
senting the human figure would be marked by the absence of action;
and this is the characteristic of all Egyptian statues. The figure is
upright, or kneeling, or sitting. The legs are close together, and the
arms are attached to the body. This, then, became the established
type; and though some slight movement was occasionally allowed, as
in advancing one foot before the other, it hardly can be said to relieve
the so improved figure from the stiffness of the more primitive stan-
dard. That there was a capability in the artists for mechanical excel-
lence is amply proved by the more elegant forms that sometimes are
met with even in Egyptian statues, but more especially in those works
where they could without impropriety indulge their fancy. The heads
of divine personages occasionally beam with majesty and grace; and in
the examples in the British Museum of Egyptian monuments, whether
in the head of the so-called Young Memnon, or in the Prudhoe Lions
and other representations of animals, or in some of the compositions
portraying scenes of active life, the student will perceive that some
other cause than want of feeling or skill must have operated to pre-
vent the sculptor of Egypt from arriving at the same eminence in art,
that was attained by the artists of Greece. The stiff and limited
action of Egyptian statues has already been noticed. To this must be
added, that the figures of men are usually naked, excepting that a sort
of apron is folded across the loins; while those of women are repre-
sented dressed in a long and simple garment fitted close to the body.
This covering has no folds in it, and can only be distinguished from
the figure by a slightly raised border at the neck and feet. The form
of the breasts is sometimes indicated on the dress by their natural pro-
jection being circumscribed by an indented line. One of the most
interesting specimens of Egyptian sculpture is now in this country.
It is generally known as the head of the Young Memnon, though it
has no claim to that title, which was given it from a mistake made by
Norden, the traveller, who visited Egypt in 1737. This bust is formed
of a single block of fine-grained granite, containing two strata of colour,
one portion being of a red, the other of a gray (or blue) cast. Though
it possesses all the characteristics which so eminently distinguish
Egyptian sculpture, the flat eyebrows, projecting eyeballs, the
rounded nose, thick lips, and the ears placed high up,-this head
claims admiration for beauty of outline and the peculiar sweetness of
its expression. It offers a remarkable exception to the general rule of
Egyptian design, and shows, what has before been hinted at, that there
was the power of representing beauty both of form and sentiment, if
room had been allowed for its exercise. In working basso-rilievo (and
pictures) the Egyptian artists decidedly ventured beyond the limita-
tions to which they seem to have been confined in representing insulated
figures. Almost all the temples and tombs that have been explored
are richly decorated with sculptures in the peculiar style of rilievo to
which allusion has been made in the introductory part of this article;
and although they do not materially differ in the general style and
character of art, they are sufficiently varied in the mode of treatment
to warrant this distinct notice of them. The most striking difference
from the insulated figures consists in the superiority, as well as extent,
of design and composition. This is particularly observable in the
Theban remains, to which attention has been directed by Wilkinson,
Rosellini, and others who have illustrated the history, arts, and cus-
toms of the ancient Egyptians. Wilkinson, speaking of Luxor and
Karnak, observes as to the decorations of the temple, "The principal
historical sculptures are on the exterior of the great hall.
upper compartment represents the king attacking a fortified town
situated on a rock, which is surrounded by a wood, and lies in the
immediate vicinity of the mountains.'
immediate vicinity of the mountains." In another compartment the
king is again the hero, and is represented slaying the chief of the
enemy with his sword, having first wounded him with his spear, and
entangled him with his bowstring. The author observes here that
the drawing of these figures is remarkably spirited. After other
series or compartments, in which the Egyptian monarch is seen
scattering death among his enemies, is a representation of his return,
a
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SCULPTURE.
370
and the presentation, by him, of captives and spoils to the deities of
Thebes.
milion, exceeding in dyed attire, all of them princes to look at,
described in the sacred scriptures.
-
All colossal works in Egypt are of basalt, porphyry, granite, or Etruscan Sculpture.-The Etruscan is the next school of sculpture
sandstone, though Herodotus (ii. 143) tells us that at Saïs and at that claims attention. The history of this nation is involved in great
Thebes there were statues, of large dimensions, of wood. We are not obscurity.
We are not obscurity. The appellations of Tuscan and Etruscan were foreign to
aware that any large statues have been found made of metal. The them, and Etruria was a Roman term. The more ancient name by
British Museum possesses three bronze figures which merit attention, which they were called was Rasena ('Paonval). Their later history is
as they exceed the usual dimensions of such Egyptian works, being chiefly known from their connection with other nations. [ETRURIA,
about three feet high, and gilt. The substance or thickness of the in GEOG. Div.] An examination of their sculpture, as founded on the
metal is not great, and the interior is filled up with stucco or numerous existing monuments, almost seems to connect them, in a
plaster. The gilding, some of which is well preserved, both in surface greater of less degree, with the Greeks. Whether the Etrurians at
and colour, seems to have been applied as a wash, the bronze having any time possessed a mythology and style of design on which Greek
first been entirely covered with a coat of plaster about as thick as a card. myths" and forms were subsequently engrafted, or whether each
The clean execution and exceedingly fine surface observable in the nation retained principles originally common to both, is not important
sculptures of Egypt have attracted the attention of practical judges, in this part of our inquiry. The supporters of the more remote anti-
and led to the conviction that the Egyptians must have had great know-quity and superior intelligence of the Etrurians have supposed it
ledge in the arts of hardening or tempering metal, to enable them to possible that this people, instead of being taught by them, were at one
execute such highly-finished works in the most obstinate and brittle time the instructors of the Greeks, amongst whom, in consequence of
materials. It is a remarkable fact that when the colossal head before their wars, internal divisions, and other disturbing causes, the arts
alluded to as the Young Memnon was placed in the British Museum, were neglected, and probably suffered to fall to decay, while Etruria
and it was necessary to cut some holes in it for the insertion of iron had enjoyed a state of comparative repose, favourable to the advance-
cramps to unite some of the broken fragments, the hardness of the ment of the arts. Among the great difficulties with which this part
granite was so great that six or eight blows rendered the mason's tools of the subject is embarrassed, is that of establishing with any certainty
(which were tempered more highly than usual) totally useless.
the dates of the settlement of Greeks in Etruria. It certainly is
remarkable that the cinerary urns found in sepulchral chambers often
have represented on them subjects whose meaning is unknown, and
which seem to have no affinity at least with the post-Homeric Greek
mythology; and so far the practice of art and a class of symbols seem
to have existed in Etruria, either essentially its own, or, if ever shared
with others, so ancient that all record of it was lost, excepting as it
appears on these older Etruscan monuments.
The facilities that are now afforded the student and public for
examining authentic monuments of Egyptian art in the extensive and
valuable collection in the British Museum, render it unnecessary to
dwell at greater length upon the peculiarities of that school of design.
That their works are wanting in the grace, the flow of lines, and the
beauty united with repose, that constitute the charm of the best
Grecian sculpture, must at once be admitted; but the simplicity and
clearness of intention in their more extensive compositions, and the
sublime grandeur, repose, and dignity of their colossal statues, so
appropriate to their mystic and religious purposes, will always ensure
their being considered amongst the most interesting monuments of
past ages.
Assyrian Sculpture.-Until so recently as 1843, nothing was known
of the arts of the ancient Assyrians beyond the references to the splen-
did palaces filled with statues and painted bassi-rilievi on the walls, of
vast size and admirable workmanship, in the Old Testament and in
ancient Greek authors. But in that and following years a surprising
number of the monuments themselves were brought to light by the
fortunate researches of MM. Botta and Layard, and their successors,
and transferred to the British Museum and the Louvre. The build-
ings in the buried ruins of which the Assyrian sculptures were found
have been described, and the sculptures themselves noticed, under
NINEVEH, ARCHITECTURE OF; here, therefore, it will only be necessary
to indicate briefly their character. All the sculpture yet found, with
the exception of a few bronzes, consists of slabs, often of colossal
dimensions, on which are carved figures in relief, and with which the
walls of the palaces were faced both inside and out. In date they are
believed to range from the reign of Sardanapalus, B.C. 930, to the
destruction of Nineveh, B.C. 625. As Nineveh was founded 1200 years
earlier, they do not therefore represent the archaic period of Assyrian
art. The existing examples appear to belong to three distinct periods.
The earliest are those brought by Mr. Layard from the great palace
and adjoining buildings in the north-west quarter of Nimroud, and
now in the British Museum; they belong to the age of Sardanapalus,
or about 930-902 B.C. They consist of colossal human-headed winged
lions and bulls, personages from the Assyrian mythology, and other
single figures; of representations of battles, sieges, the passage of
rivers, the chase, the great king sacrificing, &c., cuneiform inscriptions
being often carved quite across the slabs, without any regard to the
figures. As works of art, they do not take a very high rank: the
drawing of the human form is inaccurate, the muscles are exaggerated;
there is utter ignorance of perspective; and the artists were evidently
bound, like the Egyptian sculptors, to certain strict conventional rules.
Yet it is impossible not to be struck in these older works with a certain
largeness and severe grandeur of style and power of imitation. Here, as
indeed throughout, Assyrian art seems to hold a sort of middle place
between Egyptian and Grecian art. The slabs found at Khorsabad by
M. Botta, and deposited in the Louvre, belong to a middle period, that
of the 8th century B.0. Less severe and perhaps inferior in grandeur
to the older works, they exhibit more refinement of execution. The
Kouyunjik monuments in the British Museum are of the third period,
or between B.O. 721 and 625. The slabs contain historical records,
hunting scenes, &c., similar to those of earlier date, with some rather
different in character, representing Sennacherib superintending the
construction of some great architectural works, and directing the
removal of colossal human-headed bulls. The scenes represented in the
slabs of this third period are more varied in character, the execution
is more careful, the figures are more minute and more accurate in
the details, in the animals, especially, the minute accuracy and know-
The history of the known Etruscan school of sculpture is therefore
necessarily founded on the character of the majority of existing speci-
mens; and in these the recurrence of similar subjects and personages,
resemblance of costume, and the common form of many of the letters
of the Etruscan and Greek alphabets, distinctly establish the fact of
some communication between the two nations. Lanzi (Notizie sulla
Scultura degli Antichi') divides the art of Etruria into epochs or
periods, and considers the second to be that which was influenced by
colonies from Greece; and it is this influence which is so observable in
the monuments referred to.
In observing, however, that all or nearly all the specimens of Etru-
rian art that have reached our times indicate a connection or inter-
course at some period between that country and the Greeks, it may be
well to repeat a remark that has incidentally been made in a former
part of this history,-to caution the student from too hastily attri-
buting to different nations a common origin of design, from the mere
similarity of certain forms and corresponding particulars of execution
which may perchance be recognised or discovered in their primitive
attempts at art. It must always be borne in mind that this appearance
is often nothing more than the general characteristic of all art in its
infancy; the same, or nearly so, in Greece, in India, in Etruria, as in
all other countries. Lanzi observes, in speaking of the sculpture of
this school (Notizie sulla Scultura degli Antichi'), that a distinc-
tion must be made between works in the Etruscan style and works
simply executed by Etrurian artists. The "Etruscan style" was a
peculiar manner of treating art. It was designated by the Latins
"Tuscanicus ;" and all works executed in this manner were termed
opera" or "signa Tuscanica." That this distinctive character of school
existed, and was recognised as a peculiar feature in art, is confirmed
by a passage in Quintilian, in which that writer is particularizing the
style of some of the great sculptors of Greece, and showing the changes
or progress that distinguished the earlier from the later masters. He
says, "Callon and Egesias made their statues hard" (a technical term
meaning stiff and severe)" and nearly approximating to the Tuscan
figures. Calamis made his works less rigid." (Quintil., 'Orat.,' lib. xii.,
10.) The peculiar characteristics of the Etruscan style,-the signa
Tuscanica, are an affectation or exaggeration in the general actions
and attitudes, and meagreness of treatment in the details. In the heads,
whether of male or female figures, the hair is usually stringy; or
plaited, and falling in long tails or lengths. The hands are placed in
the least natural position for the purpose on which they are employed,
and the ends of the fingers are often turned up in the most unnatural
The draperies are cast without any
and therefore ungraceful manner.
regard to masses or agreeable forms, and always appear as if they had
been put on wet and starched, and had stiffened in drying; the edges
are very much shown, and in the falling or perpendicular views appear
in regular and corresponding zig-zag lines. Many points of resemblance
to the above works of the signa Tuscanica will be found in early Greek
art, especially that of the Eginetan school. With these, however, this
indication of primitive style passed away as the knowledge of art
advanced, while the Etruscan manner was retained, and even imitated
in many
ledge of animal nature are quite remarkable,—but the largeness and by artist orks of a much later period than the original Tuscan, and
grandeur of the older works are wanting. The slabs of each period
are chiefly of alabaster, but some of the latest date are of the harder
native limestone. All of them appear to have been painted with the
most brilliant colours; they were the figures pourtrayed with ver-
belonging to schools of a more perfected As a general
remark, it may be observed that productions in the Etruscan style are
very deficient in beauty. They neither exhibit the repose and sim-
plicity which, notwithstanding its other deficiencies, give dignity to
Egyptian, nor the fine forms and sentiment which ennoble Grecian
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sculpture; and whatever interest they excite is derived rather from
the value that attaches to them in an archæological point of view, than
from any merit that they possess as works of art.
It has been observed that some Etruscan works are found to differ
from these in the style of their execution. This is particularly ob-
servable in the recumbent figures that have been discovered in the
Volterran and other Etruscan tombs and hypogæa. Some of these are
small, but many are of large size, and usually decorate the lid of the
coffin or sarcophagus in which the ashes and sometimes the body of
the deceased were deposited; closely resembling in this respect the
style of monumental sculpture in Europe in the 15th and 16th centuries.
In these figures there is a totally different character, both in form and
expression, from the true Etruscan monuments. The heads frequently
possess great beauty; there is often a strong character of nature in
them, and it seems probable that they were intended to be portraits of
those whose tombs they surmount. Many of them show marks of
having been painted. The age of these works is undetermined. From
the locality in which they have been found, and from the inscriptions
which they bear, they would seem to belong to remote times of
Etruscan dominion. In other respects, as in the general heaviness of
the forms and clumsiness of drapery, they call to mind the style of art
of a low Roman period; to which time, indeed, some antiquaries have
at once assigned them. The question is not unattended with diffi-
culty. There is every reason to believe that the ancient tombs of
Etruria had been invaded, and in many instances opened and
plundered, long before they were rediscovered by our modern archæo-
logists and collectors. It is also probable that many of them have
been used as depositories of the dead by a people much more modern
than their original constructors. Objects have been found in them of
various ages, from which it would appear either that many of the
tombs and sarcophagi are really of a later date than usually has been
supposed, or that the ancient burying-places have been used for the
dead of a more modern race.
It is worthy of remark, as it may account in a great measure for
the distinctive quality of Etruscan art, that Etruria, like Egypt, was
ruled by a powerful hierarchy. Their chiefs, Lucumones, were priests
as well as temporal rulers, and they may, like their Egyptian brethren,
have exercised some influence in directing art, and in preserving from
innovation the forms once consecrated by religion. It is at the same
time probable that this influence was not so restrictive in Etruria as it
was in Egypt; for the varieties that are found in works of art prove
that the artists here took greater liberty than was permitted to those
of Egypt. This appears to be the most reasonable way of accounting
for the continuance of a distinctive style and limited progress of design
among a people who were eminently clever (piλotexvai) and ingenious.
Considered in this point of view, Etruscan sculpture holds a position
of great interest in the history of art. It is impossible not to recognise
in it the connecting link between two systems, namely, the practice of
art for hieratic or purely sacred purposes, and that more liberal and
general development of it which, under the later and more refined
Greeks, was directed to the illustration of the most poetical and sublime
conceptions through the medium of the most beautiful forms.
great extent of their practice in sculpture a sufficient proof is afforded
by the fact mentioned by historians that when after having sustained
long and expensive wars against the Romans, the Etrurians were
finally subdued by them, and became a Roman province (about
280 B.C.), two thousand statues were taken by the victors from Volsinii
alone. (Plin., 'Hist. Nat.,' xxxiv. 7.)
Of the
The Etrurians were famed for their skill in making vases, and
different towns became celebrated for peculiarities of manufacture.
(Plin., 'Hist. Nat.,' xxxv. 45.) There is however reason for believing
the greater number of painted terra-cotta vases, usually called Etruscan,
from being first discovered in Etruria, to be Greek. Their subjects,
their style of painting and design, evidently connect them with that
people; and it has been observed, that though the Etrurians inscribed
every other work of art with their own characters, there is scarcely an
instance of a painted vase with any other than a Greek inscription:
some of these may, however, be imitations of Greek vases. The Arezzo
(Arretium) vases are of a fine clay of a red colour, but the figures are
in relief: many of these are of a comparatively late period, and bear
Latin inscriptions. (Inghirami.) The arrival in Etruria of Demaratus
with artists from Corinth has been assigned as the date of the intro-
duction of the art of making vases, and of other processes in the
plastic art. It is, however, more probable that they only effected some
changes in the style of design that already prevailed; for modern
discoveries seem to establish the existence in Etruria of a manufacture
of cinerary urns and vases long anterior to the appearance of the
refugees from Corinth. (Lanzi, l. c.; Winckelman, 'Storia della
Storia della
Scultura;' Mrs. H. Gray, 'Tombs of Etruria.)
The Gallery of Antiquities at Florence contains several extremely
curious specimens of Etruscan sculpture, especially in some figures of
large size in bronze. Some of these have inscriptions on them. The
bronze she-wolf, preserved in the Capitol at Rome, is also a remarkable
example of ancient art in the Etruscan manner. The extensive dis-
coveries that have been made in different parts of Tuscany of late
years have likewise added greatly to our knowledge of the Etruscan
art and customs, and have enriched the museums of Rome, Naples,
Florence, and even England, with most interesting records of this
remarkable people.
remarkable people. The remains preserved in these and in privata
collections are well worthy of attention, but a detailed description
of them belongs rather to the general history of the country and its
antiquities.
The works in sculpture of the Etrurians are chiefly in terra-cotta,
stone, and bronze; and the most ancient tombs have supplied some
exquisitely worked ornaments in gold, as well as larger pieces of
armour of the same costly material.
Greek Sculpture. In the preceding pages we have had rather to
notice its existence than to trace the progress of sculpture; for, with
very limited exceptions, its practice was under circumstances so little
favourable for its improvement, that it is scarcely possible to connect
it, in any way, with the refined pursuit which it afterwards became in
the hands of the Greeks. In other countries it never advanced
beyond certain limits; mere representations of objects were produced
seldom elevated by sentiment or feeling; and if, sometimes, the rude-
ness of first attempts at form was overcome, the art still remair ed in
fetters. In Greece, on the other hand, sculpture soon rose superior to
all those prejudices that would have restricted its advancement. With
this gifted people it became something more than a merely mechanical
pursuit. It was here that the conceptions of sublime and glowing
fancies were embodied in the productions of what may truly be termed
a race of poet-artists. Writers have endeavoured to account in
various ways for this universally admitted superiority of the Greeks
over every other nation among whom the fine arts had been practised,
and usually have attributed their success to such physical causes as a
fine climate, or the prevalence of beautiful forms, or to the public
exercises so general in that country; or to the kind of government in
those communities in which the arts were most successfully cultivated.
Valuable as some of these conditions must be allowed to be towards
the perfection of art, they are by no means sufficient to account for an
excellence which, even amongst the Greeks, was both extremely partial
with respect to locality and extent, and limited as to its duration. Nor
were those particular states in which the arts of design most flourished
peculiarly favoured beyond others in the causes supposed to contri-
bute to that excellence. The climate of Attica, it is admitted, was
unequal; and though vegetation appeared in the greatest luxuriance
in some spots, in others the soil was barren and naked. With regard
to beauty, too, there is no reason to believe that the people who most
excelled in the fine arts (namely, the Athenians) were distinguished
beyond all other Grecians for this quality. Cicero, indeed, makes a
very remarkable observation which would go far to prove that the
contrary was the fact. He says, speaking of the crowd of young
men whom he saw at Athens, how few there were who were really
handsome. ('De Nat. Deor.,' lib. ii., c. 79.) And it is curious also
that of all the women whose celebrity for beauty has reached us, not
one appears to support in this respect the honour of Athens. Phryne
was a native of Thebes, Glycera of Thespia, Aspasia was born at
Miletus, and when Zeuxis, the painter, desired to procure the most
beautiful models for his Aphrodite, it is said he produced his master-
piece from the study of seven virgins of Crotona. It is not intended
to deny the existence of beautiful forms amongst the Athenians, but
simply to show that it is not to this exclusive possession that their
success in the imitative arts can justly be attributed. The admiration
of beauty amongst the Lacedæmonians is admitted (Elian, Var.
Hist.,' xiv. 27; and Athen.,' xii. 12); but the fine arts were not per-
mitted to be practised in Sparta. In other parts of Greece also
personal beauty conferred a title to distinction; the priests of the
young Zeus at Egium in Achæa, those of the Ismenian Apollo, and
the boys who walked in procession at the festivals in honour of
Hermes at Tanagra, were youths to whom a prize of beauty had been
awarded (Paus., vii. 24; ix. 10. 22); but no school of art arose out of
this which at any period equalled, or attempted to equal, that of
Athens. It is scarcely necessary to allude to the question of govern-
ment. The arts flourished where the most different forms existed.
Corinth held a secondary rank among the cities of art, while Athens
and Sicyon were in the first. Indeed, if wealth, pomp, and luxury had
been necessary, or alone favourable, for the success of art, it would
have been exhibited among the splendid communities of Asia, and not
been left to its comparatively tardy development in the small,
scattered, and often disturbed states of Greece. It was not to any of
these accidents, either singly or collectively, that the perfection of
Greek sculpture was owing. It was the principle upon which, among
that people, imitative art was founded (and upon which it was prac-
tised throughout all its stages), that led to its excellence. The whole
secret of the superiority of the best schools of Greece was in their
making nature, in her most perfect forms, their model, the only
means by which perfection in art can be attained. As soon as they
acted upon this knowledge, their sculpture became almost as divine as
their great examplar.
Judging from their poetry, and from their art, whether in their
sculpture or their painting, it would seem that the Greeks had an
intuitive sympathy with beauty. The artists seem to have been
careful never to lose sight of this principle, by expressing any passion
or feeling under forms at variance with the simple laws of beauty. All
extremes of expression are studiously avoided, and they appear to have
chosen only those subjects for representation which allowed them to
keep within these bounds. Pliny (Hist. Nat.,' xxx. 37) mentions an
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art of all ages which are preserved in the museums of this and other
countries. The four principal sections into which ancient Greek
sculpture may be divided are the Archaic, or most ancient period;
the Phidian; the Praxitelian, which includes the period of Lysippus;
and fourthly, the age of its decline.
artist who had an opprobrious nickname in consequence of painting
low and common-place subjects; and the Thebans had a law which
subjected artists to a fine if their works were inferior in beauty to the
objects which they professed to imitate. (Elian, Var.,' iv. 4; Junius,
'
'De Pict. Vet.,' ii. 4; Lessing, Laocoon,' ii. p. 12.) This natural
sensibility to the charm of beautiful forms was encouraged and assisted The First period embraces all the uncertain age, of which little is
by the habits of the people. The gymnasia, or schools, in which young known but what can be gleaned from the traditions preserved in
men were trained to take part in the public games, were frequented by ancient writers. It may be considered to extend to the commence-
all classes. Statesmen, philosophers, poets, and artists were in the ment of that great change in the style of art which had its consumma-
habit of attending them, and were thus accustomed to see the human tion in the school of which Phidias was the head. The Second division
form in all its varieties, whether draped or naked, or in repose or in includes the period during which sculpture was practised in the grand
action; and while the sculptor was filling his mind with. the beauty or sublime style, and during which the scholars of Phidias executed
and capabilities of the human figure, the spectator was acquiring the their works on the principles which he taught and illustrated. The
knowledge that enabled him to become a competent judge of imitative Third period is characterised by a more rich and flowing style of
The importance attached to distinction in these games rendered execution, as well as by the choice of softer and more delicate subjects
the education of the young men a subject of great care. Every means than had usually been selected for representation. In this the beau-
were resorted to in order to increase the elegance, the strength, the tiful was sought after, rather than the sublime. Praxiteles may be
suppleness, and the active powers of the body; and the sculptor especi- considered the first sculptor who introduced this more sensual, if it
ally benefited by having constantly before him the finest forms that may be so called, style of art; and Lysippus contributed to advance it
exact discipline and judicious training could produce. He was thus by the peculiar fulness, roundness, and harmonious general effect, by
taught to seek the causes of the superiority of the victor in the race which it appears that his works were characterised. The Fourth and
or the wrestling match; and by comparing or contrasting the different last period in this classification is that of the decline of sculpture;
properties most generally found to exist in the conquerors in the when, although the excellence of preceding schools was still admitted
various classes, to adopt those qualities in whatever characters he and often maintained, not only no advance was made, but artists were
might be called upon to represent. The deep and spacious chest and frequently led away by the love of novelty of design, or the desire to
broad shoulders of the brawny wrestler gave the type or distinguishing discover some new road to fame or profit, and neglected the means
character of Heracles, and the class in which physical strength was to which ages of progressive improvement had shown to be the best and
be exhibited the clean legs, small well-knit joints, and light propor- safest rules of practice. When this was the case, grandeur of style
tions of the victor in the foot-race, furnished the character of form of will be found to have given place to littleness, and the beauty and
the messenger of the gods; while the union of strength and agility in simplicity of general form and character were lost in individuality and
the athlete, taught the sculptor how to make those combinations which minute detail.
eventually resulted in what is termed ideal beauty,- the statues of
gods, demigods, and heroes. Having this access to the best models,
and exercising his art under the eyes of critics who, from habit and
observation, were as well acquainted as himself with his standard, it is
not surprising that the sculptor of Greece acquired a facility and a
power of representing every class of form unattained by any other
people, and which have rendered the terms Greek and perfection, with
reference to art, almost synonymous. The high purposes to which
sculpture especially was applied, and the general interest that was felt
in all works that were produced, account for the success with which
the art was practised. The mind of the sculptor was enlarged while he
reflected on the appropriation of his work and the great objects of his
labours. His was not the ambition of present praise or profit. He
felt, and truly felt, that his art, properly practised and rightly under-
stood, was capable of producing great moral effects upon those who
were to contemplate them; and consequently, in the best period of
Greek art, the appeal was always made to the higher feelings rather
than the mere senses. The artist did not produce his works to gratify
a patron, but to improve a people; and whether they were destined to
the temple, the grove, the portico, or the place in which the public
games were celebrated; whether, like the Zeus of Olympus, they were
intended to excite religious impressions of the majesty of the gods; or,
as in the icones (or portrait statues) in Altis, to stimulate the energy of
the youths of Greece to gain distinction in the public games the
sculptor felt, and he acquired power as he was impressed with the
ennobling idea, that he was contributing to a great end. This is the
principle of the success of the arts in Greece; and in the presence or
absence of this recognition of the public utility of art, may be discovered
the causes of its comparative success or failure in other nations and in
later times.
In Greece, as in other countries, the earliest attempts at imitative
art were extremely rude. Pausanias, who travelled in Greece about
A.D. 170, mentions that at Phara in Achæa thirty quadrangular blocks
of stone were worshipped, or at least honoured, as the symbols or
representations of certain divinities. At Thespia Hera was thus
recognised, and at Sicyon Artemis Patroa was represented by a column,
and Zeus Milichius by a pyramid. (Paus., vii. 22; ii. 9.) The ancient
statue, if it can be so called, of Aphrodite of Paphos, with others that
might be referred to, were mere columns or stones set upright. The
next step in art was in the attempt to characterise these shapeless symbols
by giving them a human form. The upper part was shaped into the
likeness of a head, and, by degrees, arms and legs were marked out;
but in these early imitations of the human figure the arms were
doubtless represented closely attached to the sides, and the legs, though
to a certain extent defined, were still connected or united in a common
pillar, as in the statues of the Egyptian school.
The history of Greek sculpture may be divided, generally, into four
periods, each of which is illustrated by existing works bearing
unequivocal marks of the progressive changes which attended the
practice of the art from its rise to its decline. These greater divisions
or periods might perhaps easily be subdivided into smaller parts; but,
as the present object is to give only a general and comprehensive view
of the history of Greek sculpture, it seems better to confine ourselves
to a few great divisions. The student who desires a more extensive
acquaintance with the subject will find ample information in the
numerous valuable works that have appeared of late years, as well as
in the opportunities that now exist of examining the remains of Greek
The remains of Greek sculpture of the Archaic period are interesting
to the antiquary, but they offer few attractions to the lover of the
beautiful. Rigid and stiff in action, and rude and inelegant in form,
the statues and rilievi of the infancy of Greek sculpture have very
little to distinguish them, in these respects, from the earlier attempts of
other nations. The first step towards a change was in the attempt to
give action; and this was soon attended by fresh peculiarities of shape
or figure in the parts. In this stage it will be observed that there is
great energy or violence in the general design, with a lumpy or knotty
character of form. The general proportions of the figures are thick in
comparison with the length of parts. The breasts and shoulders are
wide and broad, while the hips are narrow. The thighs and calves of
the legs are large and heavy for the knees and ankles, and the feet are
long and clumsily shaped. The treatment of the head is peculiar in
the sculpture of this early period. The eye is usually long and narrow;
and is slightly raised at the outer extremity. The mouth is open, and,
owing to a slight curve or elevation at the extremities, has the expres-
sion of smiling. On the most ancient coins the hair is wiry, the lines
being parallel and close together, in the apparent endeavour to give
the effect of the whole by imitating every hair. This was more suc-
cessfully attempted by executing the hair in masses; some very ancient
works exhibit examples of this, where the effect is partially produced
by small knobs or lumps. At a more advanced period the hair is
executed in a more minute and careful manner, and with a more pre-
cise arrangement, combining as it were the particular character of the
earliest treatment with the more general effect attmepted in the next
stage of art. In this the hair is brought in nearly straight lines over
the head, but it terminates in small round curls which are arranged
with great regularity, and sometimes in two or three rows over the
forehead, extending on each side to the temples and ears. Specimens
of these modes of treatment occur in the early tetradrachms of Athens;
in the heads of the figures in the statues found in the island of Ægina;
and in the sculptures found at Selinunte in Sicily, as well as in other
remains of small bronzes and early coins; and there are many examples
of it preserved in the collection of antiquities in the British Museum.
In male figures the beard, wherever it occurs, is wiry, and exhibits
elaborate execution. There is a curious specimen of this in the head
of a warrior in a group in the Selinuntine marbles above mentioned
(and of which there are casts in the British Museum), as well as in the
Æginetan marbles. The draperies in the sculpture of this early time
are extremely thin, lying close to the figure (or to the ground, if in
reliefs), excepting at the edges of the folds, which are sharp and
angular; these are arranged with the greatest precision, opposite folds
corresponding as nearly as possible with each other, with the edges
shown, and terminating in a sort of regular zigzag series of lines. All
these peculiarities are characteristic of the most ancient, or, as we have
called it, Archaic art: and whenever imitations of it have been made
in later times, these features of action, form, and treatment of drapery
have been observed. Sometimes portions only of the peculiarities
above pointed out will be remarked in genuine ancient works, but of
a later age than that under consideration. The sculptures alluded to
as Æginetan offer examples of this; the treatment of the heads being
characteristic of an earlier age of the art than the rest of the figures.
This is doubtless to be attributed to a feeling of veneration for the
older forms and received traditions of certain personages, such as
divinities and heroes; and in this respect obedience to prescription
marks the Greek as it did the Egyptian and other schools: with the
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former however it lasted for a limited period only; with the latter it
extended throughout their whole existence.
The first sculptors whose names are recorded are Dædalus, Smilis,
and Endoeus. The earliest person called Daedalus was descended,
according to the ancient traditions, from a royal stock, being grandson
of Erectheus, king of Athens. He is said to be the first sculptor who
ventured to separate the legs of his statues. He also was the inventor
of the saw, the axe, lever, &c. It is impossible to say how much fable
and exaggeration have been admitted into the accounts of this
remarkable discoverer; and it is equally vain to attempt to distinguish
the inventions of the earlier artificers who bore this name, from the
improvements introduced at subsequent times by others so called.
Daedalus was in all probability a general title, for some time, given to
any distinguished mechanist or figure-maker, as figures of a certain
style or character were denominated Dædala (Aaídaλa). Pausanias
(ix. 3, &c.) says "the ancients called wooden figures Dædala; " and he
adds, that he thinks it likely that the artist was called after the works,
rather than by his own name; thus making Dædalus a title or
surname. The same author was shown some wooden statues attributed
to Dædalus, which he admits were not beautiful, but he says there was
in them a certain air of grandeur (ii. 4). Smilis was a native of Ægina,
and the son of Euclides. He was said to be contemporary with
Dædalus, and he made a statue of Juno at Samos. Endoeus was an
Athenian, and a scholar of Dædalus, and, according to ancient writers,
executed various important works. Pausanias (vii. 5) speaks of a
colossal statue in wood of Minerva Polias, which was preserved in his
time in the temple of Erythræ in Ionia. It was a seated figure.
Other statues by this artist are also mentioned, executed in stone and
in ivory.
A mere list of the earlier Greek sculptors can throw little light upon
the state of the art; more especially when the existence of many of
those whose names are handed down to modern times may fairly be
questioned, at least as to the dates assigned to them; and of their
skill we certainly possess no authentic examples.
About 869 B.C., Phidon of Argos is said to have struck the first
money in Greece, in the island of Ægina. Some extremely rude and
simple coins of that island are extant; the device is a tortoise; and
from the very primitive style of execution, they are thought not to be
very remote from the period alluded to. It has been supposed that
the employment of metal for sculpture took place soon after the
striking of money under Phidon; and about this time we find mention
made of statues of brass or bronze,
Among the sculptors recorded in the annals of art is Gitiadas of
Sparta, of whom there were works remaining at Lacedæmon at the
time of Pausanias (lib. iii. 17). Gitiadas exercised the profession of
architecture as well as sculpture. Learchus also, a sculptor of
Rhegium, is placed about this date. Pausanias mentions a bronze
statue of Zeus at Lacedæmon, which was said to be by Learchus,
and he calls it the most ancient statue in that material known to exist.
The next names of importance that occur in the history of art are
Telecles, Rhocus, and Theodorus, to whom sculpture seems to have
been indebted for various and great improvements. Their reputation
for skill was so high, and their innovations in the practice of art so
important, that they were even called inventors of some branches of
it, which, however, it is obvious must have been known long before
they appeared. Such, for instance, was the case with modelling, or the
plastic art, which Pliny ('Hist. Nat.', xxxv. c. 12), recording without
examination all that he read, says was attributed to them; though he
himself declares that this discovery was claimed by or given to
Dibutades of Corinth. Rhocus and Theodorus were born at Samos.
('Paus.', viii. 14.) There appear to have been two sculptors of the
latter name; one the son of Rhocus, the other of Telecles. Rhocus,
architect as well as statuary, is said by Herodotus (iii. 60) to have
built the temple of Hera at Samos. He was also considered the author
of a statue, of a female, which the Ephesians called Night. Pausanias
says that he was unable to find any bronze work of Theodorus; but
Pliny alludes to several by an artist of that name. Theodorus, the
son of Telecles, was considered the inventor of an art which was rarely
exercised by the ancients, that of casting figures in iron. According
to Herodotus, Theodorus engraved the celebrated ring of Polycrates,
tyrant of Samos. He is also said to have made one of two magnificent
vases which were presented by Croesus, king of Lydia, to the temple at
Delphi. It has been argued from this circumstance that Theodorus
must have lived at a later date than that usually assigned to him.
But it is not stated that the vase was made expressly for Cræsus. It
is more probable that it was among the treasures of the king, and from
its age, the reputation of its maker, and its intrinsic value, might have
been thought worthy of dedication. Theodorus is noticed by Pliny
for a work of great delicacy and minuteness, a statue in brass of him-
self, holding in one hand a file, alluding probably to his profession;
in the other a quadriga, so small that a fly might cover it with his
wings. With respect to the dates of the above artists, Pliny says
they lived long prior to the expulsion of the Bacchiada from Corinth,
an event which occurred in the thirteenth Olympiad, about 659 B.C.
It is conjectured, therefore, that Rhocus, and the first and second
Theodorus, lived between 800 and 700 years B.C.
The introduction of casting in metal forms an interesting epoch in
the history of art, and it is to be regretted that our information with
|
respect both to time and place, that is, the part of the country in
which it was first practised by artists of Greece and Asia Minor, is so
limited. The fact of Learchus of Rhegium being recorded as one of
the earliest statuaries would lead to the inference that the art was
known in Italy before it was adopted in Greece.
Some antiquaries place Dipanus and Scyllis between 800 and 700
B.C., a date which Flaxman (Lect.', p. 75, 79) adopts in speaking of
these sculptors. Others supposed they lived as late as 540 B.C. They
have been called the first artists who employed marble for sculpture
(Plin., Hist. Nat.', xxxvi. 4), but it is more likely that the expression
upon which this opinion has been founded means that they were
eminently distinguished for their skill (which may have been extra-
ordinary at the time) in working in that beautiful material. They
were employed by the Sicyonians to make for them certain statues of
their gods; but we are told that having taken some offence, they
quitted Sicyon, leaving their work unfinished. The country was soon
after afflicted with famine; and, upon consulting the oracle, the
Sicyonians were told that it would cease when the statues of the gods
were completed. Diponus and Scyllis were persuaded to return, and
they finished the statues; they were of Apollo, Artemis, Heracles, and
Athene. Among their numerous scholars we find Learchus of
Rhegium, which will account for the earlier date that is assigned
them. They are also called the masters of Tectæus and Angelion,
Doryclidas, Dontas, Medon, and Theocles. (Paus.', ii. 32; iii. 17, &c.)
Dipoenus and Scyllis were considered the founders of the school of
Corinth.
From the earlier time of which mention has been made, down to
about 550 B.C., there probably was little change in the style of sculp-
ture, although great improvement in execution or mechanical power
doubtless extended the extensive practice which the growing admira-
tion of art occasioned. In a country in which all the efforts of genius
were justly appreciated, sculptors, who were called upon to represent
the most exalted objects, were likely to exert themselves to the utmost
to arrive at perfection; and the remains of art afford sufficient evidence
that from the time alluded to, that is, between the 6th and 7th cen-
turies before our era, when the first difficulties had been surmounted,
the advancement of sculpture was rapid and uninterrupted.
It is not necessary to give a mere list of names of the artists who are
supposed to have lived to this time. So much that is uncertain is
mixed up with the notices of them that are found in Pliny, Pausanias,
and others who refer to them, that the inquiry into their personal
history would rather impede than advance our present object.
Up to the period at which we are now arrived, sculpture seems to
have been practised most generally and successfully in the Greek
colonies of Asia; but the consequences of the revolt against Darius,
the son of Hystaspes, were utterly destructive to their further progress.
Many of the temples were burnt by the Persians, and the inhabitants
were carried to distant places, or were reduced to a state of slavery.
But as art fell in Asia, it acquired vigour in Europe, and the artists of
Egina, Sicyon, and Corinth diffused the principles of good taste and
the knowledge of art throughout neighbouring countries; a feeling for
a grand style of sculpture was soon exhibited wherever any opportunity
occurred for the practice of the art. It is interesting to be able to
refer, in illustration of the character of the art at this time, to some
undoubted remains of sculpture of a period certainly not very remote
from that under consideration. These consist of eleven statues which
decorated the western and five statues that stood in the eastern pedi-
ments of a temple in the island of Egina, where they were discovered,
in the year 1812, by some English and German travellers. An account
of them, with a detailed notice of their style of execution, is given
under EGINETAN ART.
The Selinuntine marbles, so called from their having been found at
Selinunte, on the site of the ancient Selinus, in Sicily, are very curious
examples of early art. They consist of fragments of marble alti-rilievi,
and seem to have formed part of the decoration of two temples, of which
traces still remain. There are some peculiarities about these sculptures
which are characteristic of two different styles of art. Those which
belonged to one (distinguished as the Eastern) temple, have many
points of close resemblance to the style of the Archaic (Eginetan)
school, while those of the western temple appear to have come either
from a more barbarous hand, or to be of a much earlier date than the
others. Without having the sculpture to refer to, it is difficult to
explain in what these peculiarities consist, but a comparison of what
remains of a head of Athene, and that of a dying or wounded warrior,
with some others of the collection, will suggest the inference we have
ventured to draw. The head of the dying figure closely resembles (in
character) that of the warriors in the marbles of Egina; in the other
figures there is a greater resemblance to the full overcharged forms
described as characteristic of the very earliest art, and approaching
indeed in some degree to the works of the Egyptians. At a later
period than that to which these sculptures may be referred, the artists
of Egina were invited by the tyrants of Sicily to execute works in
that country. It is highly probable, therefore, that in more remote
times, and when art was still less known or practised there, foreign
artists should have been employed in furnishing the decoration of the
temples of newly founded cities. These artists would be the most
esteemed of the time, and the rising school of Egina would doubtless
take a high rank amongst them. Joined with these, or probably
389
SCULPTURE.
-
working under them, the natives of the country might also have con-
tributed their ruder efforts towards the same important object, and
this would sufficiently account for the difference referred to with
respect to the style and treatment of the various works.
From about 500 B.C. the succession of the great sculptors of Greece,
and the changes that each master and his school effected in the style of
art, can be traced with tolerable accuracy. cyon and Egina were the
most celebrated schools of sculpture, and unrivalled for the high
quality of their bronzes. After Callo, or Callon, a sculptor whose
date is very uncertain, the ginetan artists of the greatest celebrity
seem to be Glaucias and Onatas. These artists were much employed
by Gelon, the tyrant of Syracuse, and his successors. Onatas, the
scholar of Tectæus and Angelion, enjoyed a high reputation, and,
judging from the numerous works which Pausanias (lib. vi., viii. ix.,
x.) attributes to him, must have had very extensive employment.
This writer speaks of a colossal statue in bronze of Apollo, which was
at Pergamus, the work of this sculptor; likewise a statue of Ceres,
which he made for the Phigalians. There were also several works of
Onatas at Olympia. One was a colossal bronze figure of Heracles,
placed there by the Thasians. For the people of Pheneos he executed
a statue of Hermes, dedicated also at Olympia. In this work he had
the assistance of Calliteles, who was his scholar, and probably his son.
(Paus., v. 27.) Onatas and Calamis worked together on a chariot and
accompaniments, which was dedicated at Olympia, after the death of
Hiero, king of Syracuse; and in another great work described by
Pausanias, we find Onatas associated with Calynthus, showing that it
was not unusual, nor considered derogatory to either, to secure the
talents of various artists in one work. According to the above-
mentioned writer, Onatas was a painter as well as statuary. His per-
formances spoken of in this branch of art were executed for the
Plateans: one of his pictures, with a work by Polygnotus, was pre-
served in the temple of Athene Aræa. (Paus., ix. 4, 5.) Sculpture was
now rapidly approaching towards the perfection which it attained under
Polycletus and Phidias; and an event occurred in the 5th century
before the Christian era, which tended to accelerate this progress.
This was the disastrous termination of the expedition of Xerxes
against Greece.
The failure of this vast undertaking showed the
Greeks their own strength, while it also exhibited to them the immense
wealth of the invaders, and placed in their hands the means of effect-
ing the most costly improvements and decoration. It was customary
in Greece to dedicate a tenth of all spoils gained in battle to the service
of the gods; and that proportion of what was obtained from the
Persians was, as a matter of course, appropriated to that purpose. Its
value was expended on the construction of magnificent temples, en-
riched with sculpture and painting, and ornamented with vases, tripods,
shields suspended as trophies, and every variety of decoration. The
Persians, in their invading march, had destroyed every temple that
they met with; but after their retreat and disgrace, they were all
restored with increased magnificence. The ample employment thus
afforded for their talents, and the high purposes to which their works
were destined, excited a noble spirit of emulation among the artists,
whose minds seemed to expand with the greatness of the objects
required of them.
The gradual improvement of style in art, from the Archaic period,
and through the early Eginetan and Athenian schools, is traced by
some of the ancient writers. "The works of Callon," Quinctilian says
Orat. Instit.,' xii. 10), "with those of Hegesias, are hard, and ap-
proached what was distinguished as the Etruscan manner. Calamis
was less rigid, and the style of Myron, who followed, was still more
softened." In Cicero we find a still more extended list, and a con-
firmation of the quality of improvement down to a contemporary, as in
the above instance, of Phidias, the great master of sculpture. He says
that statues of Canachus were more rigid and hard than was agreeable
to the truth of nature. Those of Calamis were also hard, but still they
were of a softer character than those of Canachus; nor were the works
of Myron close enough to nature, though there could be no doubt that
they were very beautiful; but the productions of Polycletus, he adds,
were still more beautiful, and were truly perfect. (Cic., De Clar.
'
Orat.,' c. 18.)
The history of the progress of sculpture in Greece has now been
carried through the earlier schools, into a period at which it may be
considered to have reached its perfection, as far, at least, as regards the
principles on which it was practised. The chief sculptors of this age
were Hegias, Pythagoras, Ageladas, Myron, Polycletus, Phidias, Alca-
menes, and others. Hegias, Egesias, or Hegesias, has been noticed
among the sculptors of an improving class, but whose works still gave
indication of belonging to the Archaic time.
Pliny distinguishes at least three statuaries of the name of Pytha-
goras, but although allusion is made in ancient writers to artists so
called of Samos, Rhegium, and Paros, it appears probable that there
were only two of very high reputation. The most celebrated was a
mative of Rhegiuin, and the scholar of, or, more correctly speaking, of
the school of Clearchus. (Paus., vi. 4.) He executed, among other
works, several statues of conquerors in the public games, and he
eminently contributed to advance the character of sculpture by his
success in giving expression to his statues. Till his time this quality,
so indispensable to excellence in art, seems to have been little thought
of. A work by him is particularly alluded to for its excellence in this
SCULPTURE.
384
respect: it was a figure of a lame or limping man, in which the expres-
sion of anguish was so admirably pourtrayed, that the spectators were
affected, and seemed to feel the pain he was suffering. Pythagoras is
also noticed as being the first who represented veins in his statues, and
as having bestowed greater care upon the treatment of the hair. From
these curious and interesting particulars it is easy to see in what
manner the dryness and almost prescriptive character of early art was
giving way to the bolder as well as more refined treatment of the
Phidian age. Pythagoras may be placed about 480 B.C. He had a
scholar called Sostratus. (Pliny, 'Hist. Nat.,' xxxiv. 8; Paus., vi., &c.)
Ageladas holds a distinguished rank among the sculptors of antiquity,
not only from the quality and number of his works, but also from the
circumstance of his having been the master of the three most eminent
artists of the brightest period of sculpture, namely, Myron, Polycletus,
and Phidias. He was a native of Argos. There is some reason to think
that there were two sculptors of this name. Pausanias (iv., vi., vii.,
and x.) alludes to various statues by Ageladas. He seems chiefly to
have worked in bronze.
Myron was a native of Eleuthera, according to Pliny ('Hist. Nat.,'
xxxiv. 8), or an Athenian, according to Pausanias (vi. 2, &c.). There is
no artist of antiquity who is mentioned more frequently or more
honourably than Myron, and it is scarcely possible to believe that
such universal praise would have been accorded if his works had not
fully deserved it. It is unfortunate that no known production from
the hand of this distinguished artist has reached our times. The only
work of which any judgment can be formed is his famous statue of
a Discobolus. Various copies of this figure are believed to exist.
The best is in the Palazzo Massimi in Rome. The Discobolus, in
marble, in the collection of sculpture in the British Museum (see the
article DISCUS), is also believed to be a copy from the same celebrated
original. A mere list of the works of this sculptor is unnecessary in
this place. The chief of them are noticed under MYRON, in the BIQG.
DIV. The peculiar characteristic of the sculpture of Myron seems to
have been expression. Petronius, in spite of Pliny's assertion, leads
us to believe that this was the great excellence of Myron; he says,
Myron qui pene hominum animos ferarumque ære expresserat."
With respect to his style, it seems probable, from some remarks of
Pliny, that his works still exhibited certain peculiarities of treat-
ment that belonged to a ruder age, though he gives him the high
praise of superiority, in some respects to Polycletus. He says he
introduced more variety into his figures, for this seems to be the true
"Primus Myron
interpretation of the expression of the above writer.
multiplicâsse varietatem videtur, numerosior in arte quàm Polycletus,"
(Hist. Nat., xxxiv. 8.) The works of Myron were chiefly
executed in bronze. He used that which was made at Delos, while his
rival Polycletus preferred that of Egina. Though chiefly celebrated
for his productions in this material, he worked also in marble, and a
statue is mentioned by him of Hecate, made of wood. (Paus., ii. 30.)
Myron had a son called Lycius, also a distinguished sculptor.
&c.
Polycletus of Sicyon was one of those who eminently contributed to
ennoble art, and to carry sculpture to perfection in what has been
called the sublime style. In one respect he is said to have been supe-
rior to Phidias himself; inasmuch as he was considered to have carried
to perfection the Toreutic art, which Phidias had only, as it were,
commenced. Polycletus was the author of that perfect rule of pro-
portion called, by way of distinction, the Canon of art. [POLYCLETUS,
in BIOG. DIV.]
The name of Phidias completes, or rather crowns, this list of the great
originators of the highest style of sculpture. [PHIDIAS, in BIOG. Div.]
The most splendid and the most perfect productions in the art were
executed by him, and as long as the principles which he taught were
retained, sculpture seems truly to have merited the epithet of sublime.
Phidias was called the sculptor of gods; and the majesty of his Olym-
pian Zeus was declared, in the forcible language of an ancient writer,
to have added something to the beauty or sublimity of religion. That
works of art are capable of exalting the mind, and rendering it sus-
ceptible of the most pure and elevated feelings, there can be no
question, and this doubtless was the effect produced by the awful
grandeur of this far-famed statue. Panegyric has almost been ex-
hausted in recording the merits of this sculptor; but there is no reason
to doubt the justness of the honour paid him. Many of his finest
productions were in existence when, even comparatively late writers
were living, so that the accounts that have come down to us are not
merely the repetitions of unsupported or unproved traditionary en-
comium. The statue of the Olympian Zeus was existing till the year
475 of our era. It was then destroyed by fire at Constantinople;
whither it had been transported by the emperor Theodosius the First.
Unfortunately no remains of the greater works of Phidias have reached
our times; but we have abundant opportunity of judging of his
excellence, from the sculptures which, under the title of the Elgin
Marbles, form a part of our national collection of antiquities. There
is no doubt that these are the productions of this great artist; many
of them probably from his own hand, and all executed under his
immediate direction. They formed part of the decoration of the Par
thenon at Athens, of the building and enrichment of which Phidias
had the entire direction. The architects Callicrates and Ictinus worked
under him. These sculptures consist of the statues and groups
which were placed in the pediments of the temple; of several metopes,
885
388
SCULPTURE.
SCULPTURE.
in alto-rilievo; and of a considerable portion of the frieze of the cella,
in basso-rilievo. [ELGIN MARBLES; ALTO-RILIEVO.]
The perfect acquaintance which the best sculptors of this time had
with the anatomy and character of animals is worthy of remark. The
skill of Myron has already been alluded to. The horses in the Elgin
Marbles are admitted by competent judges to be representations of
the finest shape and of the best blood. The commonest observer is
struck with their spirited and at the same time graceful action. In
short these works may be studied with advantage for every quality
that sculpture should possess; for truth, beauty, expression, and com-
position, united with the purest style and most masterly execution;
and they may justly be considered the finest specimens of ancient
sculpture that are known to exist.
It may be as well to offer in this stage of the history of the art some
observations upon the combination or mixture of materials in sculpture.
The custom of using a variety of materials for the different parts of
statues, as marble, or stone, or wood for the heads, hands, and feet,
and metal for the draperies and accessories, was very general throughout
Greece and Asia Minor from a very early period; and although it
militates against the received notions of a pure taste, the practice was
in full force during what has always been considered the best period of
art, namely, the age of Pericles and Phidias. Nor was this mixture of
materials the only interference with the simplicity which some have
supposed a principle and essential quality of Greek art. The hair of
marble statues appears in some instances to have been gilt, and even
colour was added to heighten effect. The background of works in
rilievo was frequently painted blue, remains of which may still be
traced on many ancient works. (Kugler, 'Polychromie,' &c.; Millin-
gen; Müller.)
The ancient writers do not furnish any particulars as to the mode of
executing these colossal works in materials which sometimes, as in the
case of ivory, could only have been supplied in comparatively small
pieces. Pausanias (v. 15) tells us that an edifice called the workshop of
Phidias, near to Altis, was pointed out to him. It was there, he says,
that the sculptor worked each of the parts of the Olympian Zeus. In
addition to the original cost of these productions, there seems to have
been great care necessary to preserve them. The Olympian Zeus was
surrounded by a groove or channel of black marble containing oil.
The object of this was, first to supply the necessary quantity of
moisture to preserve the ivory; and secondly, to secure the work from
damp, as the Altis was situated on marshy ground. Means were also
adopted at Athens for preventing injury to the ivory parts of the
Athene, from the too dry situation of the Acropolis. We are told that
the statue of the Olympian Zeus was out of repair very soon after its
completion; and the fact of the Phædruntæ being established to take care
of the work, is a proof of its liability to accident.
a remarkable circumstance connected with the persons appointed to
this duty. It had been entrusted to the descendants of Phidias, and
he says that it was in the same family in his time.
The scholars and followers of Phidias were Agoracritus of Paros,
Alcamenes of Athens, Colotes or Colotas, Paconius, and others. The
first two deserve notice for the celebrity of their names and works.
Agoracritus was the favourite scholar; Alcamenes, judging from the
accounts left of him, the most able artist. He was considered second
only to his great master; and one author, alluding to the progress made
in sculpture, even classes him with Phidias, saying, that what was
wanting in Polycletus was to be found in the works of Phidias and
Alcamenes. (Quinctilian, lib. xii., 10.)
Pausanias mentions
The sculptures of Phigalia, consisting of a series of alti-rilievi, repre-
Amazons, are of this age. The temple of which they formed part os
the interior decoration was built by Ictinus, the architect, unde
Phidias, of the Parthenon; and from the style which pervades then,
there is every reason to think these compositions proceeded from th
same source as the sculptured portions of that edifice. The inferiorit
of their execution may be easily accounted for by supposing the wor
ing out of the designs of the master to have been left to the schola
or inferior artists. These interesting remains have already been nie
particularly described. [PHIGALLAN MARBLES.] The original scul;
tures are preserved in the British Museum.
A t
The influence of Phidias continued to be felt for some tie.
had gradually been relieved from the dryness and hardness of the
Æginetan school, and Phidias produced out of it the grand charact
which marks his period; but it appears there was still remaining a
severity both in the forms and in the treatment, in the works of some
of the artists of this school, which it was left for a scuptor of a suc-
ceeding age to remove. This change, which stamped the character of a
new school of sculpture, was effected by Praxiteles.
The occasional practice of introducing eyes of silver, glass, or paste,
has already been alluded to in the introductory part of this essay, insenting the battle of the Lapitha and Centaurs, and of the Greeks and
speaking incidentally of Polychromic and Polylithic sculpture. The
injurious effect of this introduction of gaudy and sparkling foreign
substances upon the higher qualities of any work, such as its com-
position and expression, seems to be beyond dispute. It may be
judged of in wax figures, and in some of the richly dressed and elabo-
rately worked and ornamental images in Roman Catholic churches,
and in Hindu temples. No arguments, even when supported by the
authority of ancient practice, can render such works otherwise than
disagreeable as imitative art to any but vulgar minds. An artist of
superior power might possibly so treat his work that its expression,
the beauty and grandness of its forms, and the scale on which it is
executed, might take such entire possession of the spectator as to make
him overlook the incongruous mixture of materials; but it is incon-
ceivable that, with their refined taste, extreme sensibility to beauty,
and great knowledge of the essentials of art, the Greeks could ever
have preferred works of this kind to those of more simple composition.
The probability seems to be that the employment of ivory and gold
was owing as much as anything to the desire to use the most costly
materials, as all the important works so composed appear to have been
executed under peculiar circumstances, either as great national contri-
butions, votive offerings in honour of the gods, or as trophies. In the
case of tenths of spoils, when vast riches had fallen into the hands of
the Greeks, and were devoted to a particular purpose, it was essential to
find employment for them in exclusive furtherance of that object; and
as the architectural details of their temples were richly ornamented and
painted, and even golden shields were suspended over the architraves
and friezes, it was natural to expend a liberal portion of enrichment on
the statue of the presiding divinity. This opinion receives some sup-
port from the fact that the practice seems to have been almost if not
entirely discontinued as the taste for art for general purposes increased.
When we read of exquisite productions by Praxiteles, in marble, or
Lysippus in bronze, there is no mention of works executed at the same
period in richer materials.
Sculpture in gold and ivory has been called Chryselephantine, from
the Greek words xpvods, “gold,” and èλépas, “ivory." It was not first
introduced at the time to which our history has reached, as Pausanias
describes works so composed, of a much earlier date, existing in the
Heræum, or temple of Hera, at Olympia, as well as in other places;
but it was during this period that it was carried to its highest point of
excellence. The two most celebrated works recorded in these costly
materials are the masterpieces of Phidias. They were, the statues of
the Athene of the Parthenon, and that of the Olympian Zeus in his
temple at Elis. The exposed parts of the figures were made of ivory,
and the drapery and accessorial enrichments of gold. Of the enor-
mous value of this kind of work some idea may be formed from the
accounts of the ancients, that the figure of Athene was twenty-six
cubits high, and that the gold employed on it weighed forty talents.
(Plin., ‘Hist. Nat..' xxxvi. 5; Thucydides, ii. 13.) One writer says there
were fifty talents of gold on it. (Diod. Sic., xii. 40.)
Chryselephantine sculpture seems to have been a branch of what the
ancients called Toreutic. The exact meaning of this term has not been
satisfactorily explained. (See Le Jupiter Olympien,' par Quatremère
de Quincy, where several opinions are collected; also Archäologie der
Kunst,' by Muller; Millingen, 'Ancient Inedited Monuments,' &c.) It
was probably used to describe sculpture in which metal, which was
worked or chased, was combined with other materials. Pliny says
Polycletus brought the art to perfection. ('Hist. Nat.', xxxiv. 8.)
ARTS AND SCI. DIV. VOL. VII.
When the restrictions which originally confined sculpture to religious
purposes and prescribed forms had once been disregarded, and the art
was applied to represent objects of general beauty and interest, it
rapidly underwent changes; and the sculptors of the period which we
are now considering, that is, at about 350 8.c., succeeded in introducing
an entirely new quality of art. The grand, the sublime, and the
severe, gave way to the soft, the flowing, and the graceful. At the
head of these innovators was Praxiteles. He worked in brouze and in
marble; but his most beautiful and admired performances were pro-
bably in the latter material, in the working of which he exhibited the
greatest skill, and in which he is said to have introduced processes
unknown to his predecessors. [PRAXITELES, in BIOG. Div.] He is
supposed to be the first sculptor who ventured to make a statue of
Aphrodite entirely naked: all statues of female divinities were anciently
draped. (Millingen, Monuments,' x. p. 7.) Such an innovation was
considered extremely indecorous; but it was excused in this instance,
on account of the beauty of the performance. Subsequent artists,
desiring to reconcile a mode of representation so favourable to the pur-
poses of art, with the prejudices still existing in a degree in matters
pertaining to religious personages, seem to have adopted a middle
course, as is seen in the two statues of Venus called of Capua and of
Melos. (Museo Borbonico;' Galérie du Louvre.) In these the
forms are left entirely naked down to the middle, from whence
rich drapery falls to the ground, covering all the lower portion of the
figures.
The next name of importance, as the leader of a new school, is that
of Lysippus of Sicyon. The reputation of this artist is not inferior
to that of any sculptor who preceded him. He appears to have worked
exclusively in bronze; and, according to Pliny, executed as many as
six hundred and ten works. [LYSIPPUS, in Bro. Div.] A colossal
statue at Tarentum by him is much distinguisher. Lysippus was the
favourite sculptor of Alexander the Great, and had the exclusive privi-
lege of making statues of him. A long list of works by Lysippus is
furnished by Pliny, Pausanias, and other writers. He is said to have
paid great attention to the treatment of hair, and to have intro-
duced an improvement in proportion, making the heads of his figures
smaller than his predecessors had done. He doubtless observed that
his figures gained in elegance and effect by taking this liberty;
saying of his is recorded, "They (the older sculptors) made men as
0 0
for a
ف
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·
they were; he represented them as they appeared to be." This seems
to be a paradox; but it is not so, and its meaning and the value of the
principle are quite intelligible to artists. It shows that Lysippus con-
sidered that very minute detail and close mechanical copying should
be made subservient to general effect. Lysippus left several scholars,
three of whom, his sons Daippus or Laippus, Bedas, and Euthycrates,
are mentioned amongst the most eminent of his successors. The last is
said to have imitated the firmness, or the austerer parts, of his father's
practice, rather than his more elegant and pleasing qualities.
"There-
fore," says Pliny (Hist. Nat.,' xxxiv. 8), "he succeeded admirably in
a statue of Hercules at Delphi," &c. There is a fine bronze statue of
Hercules in the Townley Gallery in the British Museum, which has
every indication of being of this school.
The perfection of sculpture seems to have been attained under
Praxiteles and Lysippus. They were contemporary, and each effected in
his way what was before wanting to its completion. It is believed that
there are imitations of some of the works of Praxiteles in the various
modern collections of sculpture. Among these are the Sleeping Faun,
at Munich; the Cupid of the Vatican, at Rome; statues of Venus,
believed to be copies of the far-famed Venus of Cnidus; and the Apollo
Sauroctonus, at Rome.
The death of Alexander the Great (324 B.C.) was followed by the
dismemberment of his vast empire. The arts suffered in some measure
by these divisions and contentions; but it is difficult to assent to
Winckelman's opinion, that after the death of that prince there was
nothing left except a class of mere imitators. Each of the artists above
mentioned left numerous scholars, who still preserved the high cha-
racter of sculpture by their own successful practice. Among the most
distinguished of these sculptors are Cephisodotus and Eubulus, the
sons of Praxiteles; Pamphilus, his scholar; the before-mentioned Daip-
pus, Bedas, and Euthycrates, the sons, and Tisicrates, the scholar, of
Lysippus (the works of the latter are said to have been so excellent
that they were often mistaken for those of Lysippus himself); Xeno-
crates, who also wrote a treatise on his art; Chares, the Lyndian, the
author of the famous Colossus of Rhodes; Dameas, Eutychydes, and
Phoenix. Hermocles of Rhodes is mentioned as having been employed
by the earlier Seleucida. Isigonus, Pyromachus, and Stratonicus
illustrated by their art the victories of Attalus and Eumenes over the
Gauls; and the Ptolemies also for a time were protectors and patrons
of artists. To the above names many others might be added, sufficient
both in number and talent to warrant the belief that sculpture was not
only still encouraged and practised on the best principles, but that
there were artists living quite capable of aiding its progress by their
own genius. The assertion therefore of Pliny (xxxiv. 8), that frorn
the 120th to the 155th Olympiad the art was almost extinct, seems
utterly groundless. To this or about this period antiquaries have
attributed some of the most interesting remains of ancient sculpture
that have reached our times. Amongst these may be noticed the
well-known statue of the Hermaphrodite, at Paris; the fine fragment
called the Torso of the Belvedere, at Rome; the Hercules, called the
Farnese, at Naples; and the statue called the Fighting Gladiator. To
these some have added the group called the Toro Farnese, at Naples,
representing Dirce, Zethus, and Amphion with the bull, and even the
group of Laocoon and his sons.
The fatal blow to the existence of the arts in Greece was given by
the success of the Roman arms. Lucius Mummius had been sent by
the senate against the Achæans. He engaged the Greek army near
Corinth, the principal city of the famous Achacan League, and com-
pletely defeated it. The city was immediately devoted to destruction,
and sacked by the conquerors. The Romans carried away from this
celebrated seat of the arts, as well as from the other cities of Greece
which fell into their hands, the greater part of the fine productions
both in painting and sculpture, which had been accumulated for cen-
turies. These were forthwith. transported as spoil to Rome, which
became filled, for the first time, with the most splendid monuments of
Grecian taste and genius. This event occurred in the 158th Olympiad,
or 146 B.o. Athens, which may be considered as the great centre of
art, and the favourite asylum of the most distinguished artists of
Greece, had suffered a variety of fortune since the time of Pericles,
when her glory may be said to have Leen at its zenith. Her political
importance declined from about that period, but she still seems to have
maintained a character as the abode of literature and of art long after
her political influence was at an end. At length she was doomed to
share, in full, the calamities and humiliations to which other Grecian
cities had been subjected by the victories of the Romans. Having
vainly endeavoured to impede the progress of the Roman army into
Greece, Athens had to submit to what she might fairly consider a
barbarian conqueror.
In the year 86 B.C. she received as her master
the haughty and unrelenting Sulla. The history of ancient sculpture
in Greece may be said to close at this time. After the establishment
of the Roman empire, the Greeks no longer had either the higher
inducements or the means to carry on the exercise of the arts in what
may be considered their native country; and their professors were
driven to seek employment and an asylum among their conquerors.
The greatest influx of Greek artists into Italy occurred when
Augustus had obtained the sovereignty, though earlier than this
period there had been some efforts made by individual Romans to
introduce a taste for art among their countrymen. A slight general
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888
view of what had been effected in this respect, or rather, of the means
used to effect this end, will not be out of place here, as introductory
to the examination of what has been called Roman sculpture; but the
art never appears to have been naturalised among this people, and, as
will be seen, it was always rather an exotic in Rome, nursed and
tended by its own natural cultivators, Greek sculptors, than a growth
brought to any perfection by the people in whose stranger soil it had
accidentally, and almost forcibly, been planted.
Roman Sculpture.-It is not easy to determine when the Romans
began to pay attention to the arts of painting and sculpture. For a
long period they were too much occupied in insuring their safety and
strengthening and extending their state, to think of arts which they
could then only have looked upon as unworthy of a warlike people,
Their first public monuments were doubtless trophies. The trunk of
a tree. stripped of its branches, and bearing the arms of the vanquished,
proclaimed the achievement of the victor, and at the same time incited
the young Roman to exertion in his country's cause.
The sculpture
mentioned as existing in Rome at a very early date was, there can be
no doubt, of foreign growth, the production of their neighbours the
Etrurians; and the celebrated she-wolf still existing in the Capitol, one
of the most ancient and interesting monuments, whether considered
historically, or as an example of early bronze sculpture, may fairly be
attributed to that people.
It is recorded that after the victories of Camillus and Manius over
the Latins, equestrian statues were erected in Rome in their honour.
This was above 350 years before our era, or about 400 years after the
building of Rome. In the 3rd century B.C. one of the Fabii devoted
himself to the arts, and acquired, from his success, the surname of
Pictor. Pliny ('Hist. Nat.,' xxxv. 4) says that he decorated with his
paintings the temple of the goddess of Health at Rome, and that the
pictures existed in his time. A bronze statue of Apollo, made out of
spoils taken from the Samnites, is said to have been dedicated in the
Capitol about this period. After the conquest of Syracuse by Marcellus,
Rome became enriched with the spoils which fell into the hands of the
victors. The reply of Marcellus, when he was accused of rapacity for
stripping the conquered city of its works of art, is remarkable: he
declared he had done it in order that the public edifices of Rome
might be ornamented, and also to introduce among his countrymen a
taste for the arts and elegance for which the Greeks were so distin-
guished. The power and greatness of Rome were now being extended
in all directions; and, by some caprice of fancy, generated probably by
the facilities that were offered for its gratification, it became a rage to
collect specimens of sculpture. Notwithstanding the opportunities
thus offered for acquiring some knowledge of the beauties of art, from
the mere habit of having the most exquisite examples of sculpture
brought before them, it does not appear that any decided taste dis-
covered itself till about 86 years B.C. Sulla, in his victorious march
through Greece, destroyed several of the most magnificent temples and
monuments of that country; but he also collected a great quantity of
spoil, which he forwarded to Rome, and which consisted chiefly of the
fine works which were preserved in the temples or adorned the public
places. This enormous accumulation of such objects seems at length
to have aroused in the Romans some feeling of admiration favourable
to the existence, at least, of art in their own country. The fashion, or
rather passion, to form collections at any price increased. Verres is
handed down to posterity among the most zealous and at the same
time the most lawless of dilettanti; but the character of the works he
possessed, several of which are mentioned by Cicero in his celebrated
orations against the rapacious prætor of Sicily, gives him a claim to be
considered fully capable of appreciating excellence in art. The means
that he adopted for gratifying his taste merit the severest condemna-
tion; but he probably preserved from neglect and destruction many of
the most valuable monuments of sculpture.
In the last century before Christ various sculptors of distinguished
name were resident in Rome, or were practising their art in other parts
of Italy. Among these may particularly be mentioned Pasiteles,
Arcesilas or Arcesilaus, the author of a group of boys with a lioness;
Saurus and Batrachus, Strongylion, Olympiosthenes, and Evander.
Arcesilaus was much employed by Lucullus. Strongylion is honour-
ably mentioned for a fine statue of an Amazon, so beautifully formed
in the legs that it was called Eucnemos. He also made some statues
of Muses; and Pausanias, who alludes to them, adds he was most
skilful in his representations of animals. Olympiosthenes also executed
three Muses. Pliny speaks in the highest terms of the merit of
Pasiteles. He became a Roman citizen, and among his works is men-
tioned a statue of Jupiter, of ivory, which was placed in the temple
(de) of Metullus. It is to be regretted that a literary work of this
artist, mentioned by Pliny, no longer exists. He says, "Pasiteles wrote
five volumes containing descriptions of the most remarkable works in
the whole world." Such a record from an artist of the character of
Pasiteles would be a treasure.
Among other fine works in sculpture which are supposed to have
been produced in the earlier part of this period, may particularly be
mentioned the statue known as the Germanicus of the Louvre. It
doubtless is intended for a figure of a Roman: but it seems to be
agreed that it cannot be a portrait of the prince whose name it bears,
but is of an earlier date. On the pedestal, immediately under the
falling folds of the drapery, is a tortoise. As this animal was sacred
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to Mercury, the god of eloquence, Visconti conjectured that the
statue might represent some distinguished Roman orator. A Greek
inscription declares it to be the work of Cleomenes, the son of
Cleomenes the Athenian; a name distinguished among those who
illustrated Greece during the prosperous times of sculpture. The
names of Apollonius of Athens, and of Glycon, also an Athenian
(the sculptors, according to the inscriptions on the works, of the
celebrated Torso and of the (Farnese) Hercules), do not occur in
Pausanias; which has occasioned a doubt whether they had executed
many works remaining in Greece in the time of that writer. They
are thought to have lived in the century before our æra.
Julius Cæsar gratified his taste for the fine arts by collecting statues,
gems, and similar objects. His patronage extended itself even to
remote places, and he not only embellished Rome, but many cities of
Gaul, Spain, Greece, and Asia Minor participated in the advantages of
his good taste.
A great impulse was given to the encouragement of sculpture by
Augustus. He caused all the finest works that could be procured to
be collected, and he had them placed in the public places of Rome.
He is also said to have removed the statues of illustrious men from the
area of the Capitol to the Campus Martius. (Suet., 'Calig.,' 34.) The
example of Augustus was imitated by the wealthy Romans, and no
expense was spared in adding new and admired productions to the
different collections of statues and paintings. Among the most liberal
of the patrons of this period, Agrippa stands pre-eminent for the
munificence with which he devoted his fortune to the embellishment
of Rome. The Pantheon is a monument of the taste and princely
liberality of a Roman citizen. Agrippa employed an Athenian sculptor,
called Diogenes, to enrich this temple. Pliny particularly alludes to
some Caryatides by him, as well as to some figures in the pediment or
front (fastigio); but these Pliny ( Hist. Nat., xxxvi. 4) says produced
less effect, owing to the height at which they were placed. It is
recorded that Agrippa constructed some aqueducts, which he decorated
with three hundred statues in bronze and marble. During the age of
Augustus the names of many very distinguished artists occur. Among
them, Vitruvius, the architect, Posidonius, a native of Ephesus, and
the celebrated Dioscorides, the engraver of gems, may be particularly
mentioned.
The good effect of the example of Augustus seems to have been long
felt in Rome, though it does not appear that Tiberius contributed
much to preserve or nourish a taste for art. A circumstance however
is said to have occurred during this latter reign which shows that the
Romans were alive to the value of fine public works. Tiberius ad-
mired a statue representing an athlete anointing his limbs, by Lysippus,
which stood in the baths of Agrippa-a place, it seems, of public
resort. Desiring to have exclusive possession of this work, he had it
removed to his own palace; but the dissatisfaction of the people was
so great, and their indignation at the emperor's depriving them of what
they considered public property so violently expressed, that Tiberius,
fearing a revolt, ordered the favourite statue to be replaced in its
original situation.
Caligula had works of art brought to Rome from Greece, but it does
not appear that he had any admiration of them as objects of beauty or
as memorials of an enlightened people, but rather that he considered
them as means of gratifying his personal vanity. He ordered the heads
of the gods and of illustrious men to be struck off their statues, and
his own to be substituted. This paltry ambition, which could be
exercised at a cheap rate, accounts for the mutilation of many statues
that have reached our times, and in which a totally different character
will often be observed in the heads and other portions of the work.
Caligula is recorded as the first emperor who was guilty of this species
of sacrilege; but he appears to have been imitated by many of his
successors. It is a curious fact that, notwithstanding the efforts so
unworthily made by Caligula to make himself known to posterity,
portraits or busts of this emperor are extremely rare. The reigns of
Claudius and of Nero at first gave promise of encouragement to the
arts; the latter emperor required decoration for his Golden Palace,
which he constructed on the Palatine Hill; and although the vast
number of works that had already been procured from Greece would
scem to have robbed that country of all its treasures, he procured no
fewer than five hundred bronze statues from the temple of Apollo at
Delphi. Two of the best works of ancient sculpture, the Apollo
Belvedere and the so-called Fighting Gladiator, were found among the
ruins of a villa or palace of Nero at Antium. Zenodorus the sculptor
was employed by Nero to make a colossal statue of him, of bronze, a
hundred and ten or a hundred and twenty feet high. (Plin., Hist.
Nat.,' xxxiv. 18; Suet., Ner.,' 31.) Zenodorus was called to Rome
from Cisalpine Gaul, where he had executed a colossal statue of
Mercury, a work which had occupied him ten years. Menodorus, au
Athenian sculptor, lived at this time. His statues of athlete, and
subjects of that class, are mentioned in terms of commendation. It is
probable that there were two artists of this name.
·
This may be considered the period at which the introduction of
variously coloured marbles in statues became the fashion in Rome.
The Roman polylithic sculpture differed in some respects from that
practised by the Greeks. The Roman mode was to imitate the
different stuffe of which real draperies were composed, as well as the
ornamental dressings of the figures, with marbles (usually Orienta
alabasters, &c.) closely resembling them in colour. The Greeks
occasionally used different materials, not often marbles, for this
purpose; but not with the intention of imitating the particular colour
or texture of the object represented. The Romans carried this so far
as to express, in white and dark marble, the colours of the eyes in a
statue, in black marble, of an Ethiopian. More than one example of
this may be seen in the various collections of ancient statues. The
reigns of Otho, Galba, and Vitellius were too short and too disturbed
to give those emperors time or opportunity to encourage sculpture.
Otho ordered a large sum, ninety millions of sesterces, to be appro-
priated for the completion of the Golden Palace of Nero. Busts of
these emperors are extremely rare. There is one of Vitellius in the
Museum of the Louvre, of very high merit; but most of the portraits
of this prince have been considered modern.
Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian encouraged sculpture. Titus erected
two statues, one of gold, the other equestrian, of ivory, in honour of
Britannicus, the son of Claudius, who was poisoned by Nero. (Suet.,
Tit.,' 2.) Statues of Domitian are rare, in consequence of the order
issued by the senate, after the tyrant's death, that all statues of him
should be destroyed.
But little now occurs in the history of sculpture worthy of notice
till the time of Trajan. The taste and energy of this prince reani-
mated the arts both in Greece and Italy. Zeno of Aphrodisias was a
sculptor of this time. The column of Trajan is an interesting monu-
ment of the art in the latter part of the 1st century after Christ. The
reigns of Trajan, Hadrian, and the Antonines may justly be accounted
the golden age of sculpture in Rome; though even then it is probable
that the art was little practised by native artists. In Hadrian especially
the arts found a munificent protector. He restored many of the ancient
temples which were falling to decay; he erected others in a style
worthy of the best ages of the art; and, among other public-spirited
undertakings, completed the temple of the Olympian Zeus at Athens.
Among the enrichments bestowed upon it was a statue of Zeus in gold
and ivory, several other works placed there by Hadrian, and finally a
colossal statue of the emperor himself. The scale of magnificence in
which this prince indulged may be estimated from the remains of his
celebrated villa near Tivoli, about eighteen miles from Rome. It was
embellished with all the finest works that could be procured, whether
the productions of ancient Greek artists or of those of his own time.
Some of the most interesting and valuable remains of antiquity have
been discovered there; and even at the present day every fresh exca-
vation that is made among these ruins restores to the world some
object of interest. Some of the Egyptian superstitions having been
introduced into Italy about this time, they were mixed up with the
existing forms of worship, and the gods of the Nile were admitted
among those of the Romans. The example of the capital was soon
followed by the smaller communities; and, as the new worship was
extended over the whole empire, a great demand arose for statues, and
other symbols of Egyptian deities and ceremonies. The imitations of
Egyptian figures and subjects which are found in Italy, and which
particularly abounded among the ruins of Hadrian's villa, may be
assigned to this period.
The numerous specimens of sculpture of the time of Hadrian that
are preserved in modern collections are evidence of the high state of
the art. The statues and busts of himself, and of the emperors who
immediately preceded and followed him, as well as the portraits of
Antoninus and Lucius Verus, exhibit qualities that would do honour
to the best ages of Greek sculpture. There are two statues of Antinous
in the museum of the Capitol, one treated in the Greek style, entirely
naked, and the other with Egyptian attributes, which are particularly-
worthy of notice for the simplicity and beauty united with grandeur
that pervades them. They carry us back to the very finest period of
the practice of the art.
Sculpture declined after the death of Hadrian. The difference
observable, both in style and execution, in the two columns of Trajan
and Antoninus, exhibit a marked change in the condition of art, even
in the short period that elapsed between the execution of these works.
Antoninus Pius was not, however, neglectful of art; but the chief
employment of that time seems to have been in portraits and busts, a
sure indication of indifference towards the higher class of design.
Herodes Atticus claims a distinguished place in the list of promoters
of the fine arts. He employed his inmense wealth in embellishing
Athens and other cities of Greece. Chryselephantine sculpture was
still practised; for it is recorded that he caused a quadriga, with a
group of Neptune and Amphitrite, made of gold and ivory, to be
placed in a temple of Corinth. By the time of Septimius Severus
(about A.D. 200) the arts of design had rapidly declined. The sohools
for their cultivation, which had been established by Hadrian, were no
longer kept up, and the effect of the neglect of pure design is visible in
the monuments of this period. The sculpture on the arch of Sept.
Severus, in the Forum of Rome, as well as that called the Arch of the
Goldsmiths, also at Rome, offer undeniable evidence of the low con-
dition of taste, and the inferiority of practice in art. Considerable
care was shown in the littlenesses of execution; but everything that
indicated boldness of conception, breadth of treatment, and style, had
vanished. With the exception of busts, some of which must be
admitted to have great merit, the monuments which remain of the
time of Caracalla, Geta, Alexander Severus, and their successors, only
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confirm the rapid fall of sculpture. Alexander Severus endeavoured
to revive a taste for architecture, and even instituted schools for the
education of students; but the calamities that disturbed Italy during
the contentions for the empire, left men little leisure for elegant
pursuits. The degraded state of sculpture in the 3rd century of our
era is sufficiently declared by the quality of the bassi-rilievi on the
arch of Constantine in Rome; all that were not taken from the arch
erected in honour of Trajan's victory over the Dacians, exhibit the
utmost poverty of design, with feebleness of execution.
The dismemberment of the Roman empire by the establishment of a
seat of imperial government at Constantinople, was a fatal blow to the
grandeur and magnificence of Rome; and from this time may be dated
the downfall of the city. To Constantine himself some honour is how-
ever due for his endeavours to restore a feeling for the arts, by the
scale on which he proposed to decorate the new imperial residence.
Sensible of the want of artists capable of doing justice to his splendid
conceptions, he instituted schools, especially for architecture; and by
distributing rewards and giving privileges to students, he endeavoured
to induce young men to devote themselves to acquiring a knowledge of
the art. He so far succeeded that several considerable buildings were
erected, but they were indebted for their decoration to the sculptors of
a past age. By the emperor's commands, the cities of Greece and Asia
Minor were despoiled of what had been left them by preceding col-
lectors. Statues of gods, heroes, sages, and poets were brought together
from all parts, to contribute to the splendour of the new city, and
nothing, Cedrenus observes, seemed wanting, but the souls of the illus
trious individuals whom these admirable monuments were intended to
represent. Some attempts were made to restore sculpture by giving
employment to contemporary artists; and statues in metal were
erected in this reign and in the subsequent reigns of Constantius,
Theodosius, and Honorius; but the spirit of ancient art was lost, and
these works, of a totally distinct character from that of the finer Greek
schools, appear to have had so little merit, that the names of their
authors have not been recorded.
The state of Italy in the 5th and 6th centuries rendered the restora-
tion of the fine arts utterly hopeless. During this unhappy period of
her history she suffered from the inroads of the northern nations. In
the year 412, Alaric, king of the Goths, ravaged the country and gained
possession of Rome. At a later period the city was given up to pillage
by Odoacer; and Genseric and his Vandals subsequently added to the
destruction. In 515 Rome was attacked by the Goths under Totila;
they set fire to the city, which continued burning for several days. In
this siege, the Romans, driven to their last hold, defended themselves
from the Mausoleum of Hadrian (now the Castle of St. Angelo); and,
we are told, threw down upon their enemies the statues which deco-
rated that sumptuous edifice. To the losses occasioned by these and
similar means are to be added those consequent upon the anti-pagan
zeal of some of the early Christians. They used to drag down the
statues of the divinities of the Greek and Roman mythology, and
pound them to dust. The finest productions of the greatest masters
of sculpture were thus demolished; and so sweeping had been the
destruction, that when Arcadius and Honorius issued fresh edicts for
carrying on the work of demolition, it was said, "Si qua etiam nunc in
templis fanisque consistunt" (" If indeed there should be any still left
in the temples").
The greatest treasures of art were preserved at Constantinople, and
the palace of the Lausi boasted one of the finest collections of ancient
statues. An immense number of these fell a prey to the flames in 479.
In the year 661, Constans was driven from Constantinople by the infu-
riated people, and passed over into Italy. He visited Rome, where he
remained a few days, but in this time he despoiled it, as far as he
could, of whatever it still possessed of value in art. These works,
These works,
chiefly in bronze, were carried by his orders to Syracuse, where he
proposed to establish himself, and where he died.
The public attention both in the Eastern and Western empire was
now too fully occupied with intestine troubles and the attacks of
external enemies, to be able to think of the arts. The fury of the
Iconoclasts and the conquests of the barbarians forwarded the work of
destruction, and though Theodoric, and afterwards Charlemagne,
attempted to stop the ravages which were consequent upon the success
of their followers, and to afford some protection to the remains of
antiquity, their influence was quite inadequate to effect their object or
to save the monuments of genius from the violence of an uncivilised
and ill-disciplined soldiery. Theodoric (about 500 A.D.) laments, in a
letter to Symmachus, the ruin of works of genius, and observes that
Rome still possessed a population of statues. Charlemagne formed the
plan of renovating art, and most probably would have accomplished
his object, if the age had been worthy of the emperor. His great
purpose however was to obliterate the remembrance of the splendour
of paganism by the magnificence of Christian art; and the entirely new
feeling introduced occasioned a totally new style of design, which, as
it has little connection with our present subject, will be considered in
another place.
The Empire of the West and the glory of the Roman name had
passed away. The resuscitation of art and science belongs to another
period of our history.
In the 12th century Constantinople, after a series of distresses and
difficulties, was taken possession of by the victorious Latins and their
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392
allies under Boniface and Baldwin; and the city, which had already
been nearly destroyed by a succession of fires, was given over to
pillage. Nicetas Choniates has described some of the fine remains of
art that were there in his time, and which, during this reign of plunder,
were broken or melted down to be coined into money, or sold for the
value of the metal. Among them we find various bronze statues of
charioteers that stood in the Hippodrome; a group of Bellerophon and
Pegasus; Paris presenting the apple to Aphrodite; an exquisite statue
of Helen; a colossal Heracles, by Lysippus; and the celebrated
colossal statue of Hera, which had once adorned her temple at Samos.
The real history of ancient sculpture may be said to have ended
even before the period to which it has here been carried. It is both
unsatisfactory and painful to attempt to trace it farther, when each
step taken only shows ruin and devastation. The monuments of the
Romans are numerous, and have been useful in illustrating ancient
writings and in making us acquainted with the manners and customs
of that people; but Roman sculpture has not the same claim upon our
attention as that of the Greeks. Indeed in following the history of
the art in Italy it is obvious that the interest is chiefly kept up by con-
sidering sculpture in Rome as a continuation of that of Greece, and not
as an art which the Italians cultivated with any original feeling. The
best works produced were by Greek artists; and the attempts of the
Romans are characterised, if it can be called character, by poverty of
invention, meanness of design, and for the most part unskilful
execution. The art was seldom patronised but when it was required
to flatter the pride or please the vanity of individuals by portrait
statues or busts; and consequently it never rose to that excellence or
elevation which it attained in Greece, where it was made the means of
embodying the grand conceptions of genius by the union of expression
and sentiment with the most beautiful forms.
Revival of Sculpture.--After the subjugation of the Greek and the
division of the Roman empire, the fine arts gradually declined.
Occasionally efforts were made to revive them, but as these arose from
individual feeling, and were not supported by any general interest in
the subject, the attempt had little success. Charlemagne endeavoured
to restore them; but his edicts, unresponded to by the sympathy of
those about him, were unable to effect his object. Still the arts were
kept alive by the monks of the early Greek and Latin churches, who,
with pious diligence, illuminated manuscripts, and sometimes even
decorated the walls of their chapels and convents with rude paintings.
It has been usual to date the revival of art in Italy at about the
10th or 11th century. The beginning of modern art may however be
reckoned from an earlier time; rather, as Flaxman says, from the
reign of Constantine, seven centuries earlier, when Christianity became
the religion of the empire. Painting and sculpture then ceased to be
employed, as heretofore, on the pagan gods, but were engaged to
illustrate subjects connected with Christian worship. Even during
the reigns of those emperors by whom the Christians were most
persecuted, they ornamented their subterraneous retreats with sacred
portraits and subjects from Scripture. (Flaxman's 'Lectures on
Sculpture.') The artists to whom the chief merit of reviving art is
due, are supposed to have derived no small benefit from the study of
the remains of ancient sculpture which were still scattered about Italy,
and particularly in Pisa, the native city of the presumed founder of
the first school of modern sculpture. Without denying this very
probable effect of superior works upon minds just awakening to the
beauties of art, it may be disputed whether its influence was so great
as some have imagined. It scarcely can be traced where it might most
reasonably be supposed to exist, namely, in any peculiarities or finer
qualities of style or execution; and it surely must be conceded that
the mind and spirit that are observable in the paintings and sculptures
of the time of the revival are of an entirely original character and quite
independent of the ancient schools. This is remarkable in a class of
design which at first seems peculiarly calculated to tempt modern
artists to recur to the manner of the ancients, namely, that in which
symbols and allegorical figures are employed. In the examples that
exist by one of the earliest painters, Giotto di Bondone (chiefly in
the Capella dell' Annunziata and in the Salone at Padua), there cer-
tainly is no apparent imitation of any of the numerous and varied
modes of treating such subjects that were offered to him in the
monuments of antiquity. Without the most remote idea of under-
rating the excellence of fine ancient models, it seems only just to assert
a claim for the distinct and original character which divides modern
Christian art from that of the Greek schools. A depth of thought, an
intention pervades the Christian art, which show an entirely altered
feeling; and, after the first period of the rude and almost frightful
attempts at design (usually in single figures, gaunt and staring images
of the Apostles and saints), the revivers of art seem to have aimed at
appealing to the sympathies, rather than gratifying the eye and pleasing
the fancy only, by presenting to them beautiful forms. On this ground
the artists of this age were essentially men of genius; for, instead of
servilely copying, they drew from their own original sources; and the
art that proceeded from them eventually became, as was the case with
Greek art while master-spirits directed it, great and admirable.
Passing over the performances of the artists who were employed in
different parts of Italy in the century before his appearance, Niccolo
Pisano may be considered the father of modern sculpture. Many of
the artists alluded to united, as was usual in those days, the three pro-
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SCULPTURE.
SCULPTURE.
fessions of painting, sculpture, and architecture, and their works are
interesting monuments of their ingenuity; but sculpture only assumed
a distinct and appropriate character when the two Pisani, Niccolo and
his son Giovanni, devoted themselves to it, and by their talents diffused
2 love of art throughout Italy. The cathedrals of Pisa, Pistoja, Siena,
and Orvieto are rich in the productions of the Pisani. They consist of
magnificent marble pulpits enriched with bassi-rilievi and statues, and
are evidence of great power both in composition and in deep feeling.
An account of these artists and their principal works will be found under
NICCOLA DI PISA, in the BIOG DIV.
One of the most masterly compositions of any school of sculpture is
a semicircular basso-rilievo, in marble, of Niccolo Pisano, representing
the 'Taking down from the Cross,' which is placed over one of the side
doors in front of the Duomo of Lucca. Another remarkable work of
Niccolo Pisano is a basso-rilievo representing the Last Judgment and
Punishment of the Wicked, in the cathedral at Siena. His power
seems to have been in treating gentle, delicate, or touching representa-
tions; but the performance alluded to has great merit for the boldness
of the conception, the eager crowding or fearful shrinking of the figures,
and for the masterly composition. Niccolo Pisano commenced his pro-
fession early in 1200. He lived to an advanced age, and was succeeded
by his son Giovanni di Pisa, Arnolfo of Florence, and other scholars.
Giovanni executed some esteemed works, but in natural genius he was
inferior to his father, and he was satisfied rather to imitate what had
been done than desirous or able to advance the art. Sculpture did not
make that progress after the death of Niccolo that might have been
expected from the merit of his works and the fine opening he had made
for its improvement. Arnolfo was much employed both as an archi-
tect and sculptor.. Two of his works in the latter art, the monument
of Boniface and the Tabernacle in the church of St. Paul (fuorele
mura), are preserved in Rome. The date of their execution is about
1300, or rather later. Among the more successful imitators of Niccolo
Pisano may be noticed Margaritone d'Arezzo, Guido da Como, and
"Maestro" Buono.
In the year 1330, Andrea Pisano, the son of Ugolino, who was settled
in Florence, executed one of the bronze gates of the Baptistery in that
city. The sculpture illustrates the life of St. John. This work is
admirable for its beautiful sentiment and simplicity, though it must
be allowed to be deficient in the mechanical excellences of sculpture.
Andrea Orcagna, contemporary with Andrea Pisano, was an architect,
painter, sculptor, and poet. [ORCAGNA, in BIOG. DIV.] His works in
sculpture, notwithstanding a certain dry quality of execution that per-
vades them, have great merit. His most esteemed performances are
the sculptures on the altar in the chapel or oratory of Or San Michele,
in Florence. Orcagna showed great talent in the management of his
draperies, preserving considerable breadth in the forms and disposition
of the folds, and so composing them as not to conceal the action of the
limbs. There are some curious monuments of this early period at
Naples, where sculpture was practised by the followers and imitators
of Niccolo and Giovanni Pisani. The Neapolitans
The Neapolitans pretend, indeed, to
cite names of sculptors even earlier than the Pisani; and mention is
made of "Maestro" Fiorenza and Agnolo Cosentino of as early a date
as the 9th and 10th centuries. Approaching, however, nearer to the
time under consideration, we find the name of Pietro da Stefani men-
tioned as a respectable sculptor at Naples. His works are particularly
commended for expression, a quality of difficult attainment in what
may truly be considered the infancy of art. The two Masucci are also
recorded among the sculptors who were at that time decorating Naples
with their works. The chief occupation for the artists was in
"Depositi," or tombs, monumental sculptures, and occasionally enrich-
ments, in reliefs and small figures, on altars. The monuments were
often of a very elaborate kind, uniting sculpture with architecture.
Stories of figures in niches, or mixed up with Arabesque or Gothic
ornaments, rose one above the other, till, at a certain elevation, the
work took a pyramidal form, the apex of which was surmounted by a
statue either of the Madonna and Child, or of a patron saint, or some-
times by an equestrian figure of the deceased. There are some very
curious specimens of these compositions in many parts of Italy; one of
the most remarkable is at Naples, in the church of S. Giovanni dei
Carbonari.
The works of Luca della Robbia abound in Italy. They possess
merit not only as works of art, but as specimens of a manufacture, or
rather, a process, of which this sculptor is said to be the inventor and
exclusive possessor. This was the art of covering terra-cotta models
with a beautiful and peculiar coloured varnish, which renders them as
hard as stone. He is supposed never to have disclosed this secret;
but there is a tradition that he committed it to writing, and inclosed
the paper, or whatever it was inscribed on, in some one of his models,
before he sent it to be baked; so that it could only be known at the
price of destroying, or at least injuring, a number of his works, till the
document should appear. Among his productions are some of great
beauty. They consist chiefly of groups, in alto-rilievo, of the Madonna
and infant Saviour, or Christ and St. John as children, and similar
subjects. Luca della Robbia died in 1442.
In the Gallery of Sculpture at Florence are preserved some extremely
interesting specimens of art of this period, by Benedetto da Rovezzano
and others. These works merit a careful examination, as they offer not
merely valuable illustration of the progress that was being made in the
art at the time they were executed, but they possess qualities which
claim for them high praise as examples of rich composition and appro-
priate expression. Many of them are likewise worthy of attention for
ļ
an approach to great beauty of form, and for the skilful treatment of
the draperies.
|
The next distinguished names which occur in the annals of restored
sculpture are those of Lorenzo Ghiberti and Donato di Betto Bardi,
better known as Donatello.
better known as Donatello. Ghiberti has secured a lasting reputation
by his celebrated bronze gates of the Baptistery of Florence, the edifice
on which so many preceding sculptors had been employed. The first
gates mentioned by historians were executed by Buonano in 1180:
they were destroyed by fire. Andrea Pisano was the next artist
employed upon them, and his aud the later works at that edifice are
fortunately still preserved. The contribution of Lorenzo is in a series
of rilievi, ranged in compartments, illustrating subjects from the Old
Testament.
Testament. Michel Angelo is said to have admired them so highly
that he declared they were fit to be "the gates of Paradise." Lorenzo
brought to this work a great knowledge of composition, a superior
acquaintance with the more beautiful forms and movements of the
human figure, a refined feeling for expression, and considerable powers
of execution. They very far surpass the works of his predecessors in
the revival of sculpture, and, in many respects, have not often been
excelled. It is not pretended that these reliefs are free from faults.
Their chief imperfection arises out of the undefined notions which
then existed of the true principles that respectively govern, or should
govern, composition in painting and sculpture. It is obviously out of
the province of the latter art (which is confined to representing objects
by defined forms alone) to attempt perspective appearances and effects
which can only be truly and correctly given by aid of colour, or by the
skilful distribution of light and shadow. In the work under considera-
tion this principle is invaded. Objects are represented in various
planes, and those which should be subordinate are, in consequence of
the necessary relief given to them in order to define their forms, forced
upon the attention, or cast shadows to the injury of more important
features in the design.
features in the design. The number of small parts, and a too great
minuteness of detail, are also defects in this remarkable work, and
deprive it of that breadth of effect which is so adinirable a quality in
art. [GHIBERTI, LORENZO, in BIOG. DIV.]
Donatello was a scholar of Lorenzo de' Bicci, and was born in
The works of Donatello are numerous,
Florence in the year 1383.
and remarkable for their superior qualities. His conceptions were
bold, and his execution vigorous, and it is easy to see in his per-
formances the reason for the compliment paid to his statue of St.
Mark by one who could so well appreciate these qualities as Michel
Angelo: "Marco, perchè non mi parli?" This, and a statue of St.
George, also in marble, decorate the exterior of the church of Or San
Michele at Florence. The St. George is a fine example of grand and
simple expression. The figure, dressed in plate armour, stands firmly
on both legs, and he rests his hands on his shield, which is held before
him, its pointed base on the ground. There is a calm determination
and a quiet dignity in this work. It is probable that the somewhat
exaggerated treatment which is observable in this and other produc-
tions of Donatello, as well as of Ghiberti, arose from their desire to
avoid the dryness and poverty of form in the works of some of their
immediate predecessors. [DONATELLO, in BIOG. Div.] Donatello en-
joyed a great reputation, and there is scarcely a city of any consequence
in the north and middle of Italy that cannot boast some specimen of
his talent. He introduced a mode of working reliefs that has not often
been practised since his time. The sculptured portion is scarcely
raised above the plane of the background. It has the appearance of
the design having been drawn on the marble, and then engraved, as it
were, under a strong side-light. This kind of work hardly comes
legitimately under the name of sculpture, and can only be fitted for
certain situations, in which, at a little distance, it has more the effect
of a picture than of sculpture.
*
+
Brunelleschi, or, as he is called by the Italian historians, Filippo di
ser Brunellesco, was contemporary with Donatello. He was an archi-
tect as well as a sculptor, and was the originator of the bold idea,
which he so successfully carried out, of building the cupola of the
Duomo of Florence. [BRUNELLESCHI, in BIOG. Div.] Donatello died
full of years and honour. He left a brother, Simon, who was invited
to Rome by the pope, in 1431.
in 1431. While there he executed one of the
bronze gates of St. Peter's. Giovanni di Pisa was another of the
numerous scholars of Donatello. There is a large basso-rilievo in terra-
cotta by this sculptor over the altar in a chapel of the great church of
the Eremitani at Padua, which deserves notice for the simplicity and
breadth of the composition, and for the peculiar manner in which it is
executed. It represents the Madonna and Child, with three saints on
each side, and is remarkable for the flat style of the relief-a mode
of working that Donatello frequently adopted, and which, when
judiciously managed, has a very broad and fine effect,
Italy was at this time filled with artists, many of them of distlu
guished merit, who found ample employment in what may be called
church sculpture, and occasionally in executing statues of illustrious
persons. Florence perhaps boasted the highest names in the several
arts, but Bologna, Padua, Milan, Naples, Siena, Venice, Modena, and
even the smaller cities of Italy, all had their schools of artists. The
Majani and the two Pollajoli, Andrea Verrochio, Andrea Ferrucci, and
895
SCULPTURE.
Mino da Fiesole, are among those whose works claim attention among
the best productions of the 15th century.
Andrea Verrochio is chiefly celebrated as having been the master of
Lionardo da Vinci, and of Pietro Perugino, the master of Raffaelle. It
is said that Verrochio was at first a painter, but having desired Lio-
nardo da Vinci, then a mere lad, to paint an angel in an altar-piece on
which he was engaged, Verrochio found the performance of the scholar
so superior to his own portion of the work, that in a fit of jealousy he
resolved to paint no more, and he soon after devoted himself to the
sister art. A bronze equestrian statue of Colleoni, by Andrea Verro-
chio, may be seen at Venice in the Piazza di S. S. Giovanni Paolo; it is
interesting as a specimen of art of the time, but it is heavy in form, and
the action of the horse is not true to nature. Verrochio provided the
design and model for this group. It was cast in bronze by Alessandro
Leopardo. Several of the works of Andrea are preserved at Florence.
It is a reproach to the artists of the 14th and 15th centuries, that,
not satisfied with carrying out their own original ideas, and endeavour
ing to advance the practice of art within the limits of consistent
design, they suddenly had recourse to the incongruous mixture of
ancient mythology with the existing religion, an unfortunate innovation
which tended to check the steady progress of sculpture by engrafting a
totally foreign class of design or ideas upon their own original senti-
ment; they only misused or abused the one, and at the same time
materially injured the effect of the other.
Michel Angelo Buonarotti was born in 1474. At an early age he
became the scholar of Domenico Ghirlandajo, the most celebrated
painter of his time, and afterwards studied under Bertoldo, the director
of the academy established by Lorenzo de' Medici at Florence. The
genius of M. Angelo was remarked by Lorenzo, who received him into
his house, giving him apartments in the palace, and otherwise honouring
him with marks of peculiar favour. As he increased in years, his won-
derful powers as an artist were developed; and his powerful and
vigorous genius placed him at once in the distinguished station which
he still occupies. Till the time of Michel Angelo, the works of art
since the revival were all more or less meagre and dry in style, although
considerable feeling and talent were occasionally displayed in their con-
ception (or invention) and composition. Extraordinary efforts were
sometimes made, as by Ghiberti and Donatello, to infuse into them a
better and more elegant quality of form; but it was left to Michel
Angelo to effect that total revolution in style which has stamped not
only his own productions, but the art of his age, with a character pecu-
liarly its own. The most striking quality in the works of Michel
Angelo is an undefinable vastness and grandeur of effect that takes
entire possession of the mind. This power is strongly felt in the
presence of his colossal statue of Moses, in the monument of Pope
Julius II., and of his statues of Lorenzo de' Medici (not "il Magnifico")
and Giuliano de' Medici, in their monuments in the family chapel at
Florence. The Moses is a grand effort of genius. It is as original in
conception as it is masterly in execution. The characteristic feature
of this statue is its vast energy; but it is sufficiently tempered to pre-
serve the repose which is essential to true dignity. This work requires
to be studied with attention: its merits will then be found to com-
pensate for those minor faults which at first sight offend the fastidious
spectator, and which, it must be adınitted, the manner of Michel
Angelo threw more or less into most of the productions of his chisel
and pencil. As a whole, it illustrates the forcible expression applied to
the general character of this artist's works, "Di Michel Agnol' la terribile
via.' The statue of Lorenzo is also seated. He is represented absorbed
in thought. He rests his face upon his hand, which partially covers
the chin and mouth. The general action is one of perfect repose, and
the expression that of deep meditation. It is impossible to look at
this figure without being forcibly struck with the mind that pervades
it. For deep and intense feeling it is one of the finest works in exist-
ence. It has been well observed of this statue, that it has no resem-
blance to the antique, but it rivals the best excellences of the ancients
in expression combined with repose and dignity.
In the lower part of the two monuments of Giuliano and Lorenzo, in
the chapel of the Medici, are allegorical figures of Day and Night, and
the Dawn, or Morning and Evening. They bear the impress of the
master-mind and hand; but the violence of action and forced expression
of these statues are not in character, in the first place, with the repose
which is appropriate to monumental sculpture, and they do not harmo-
nise with the figures above them. The intimate knowledge of anatomy
possessed by Michel Angelo, and the evident mastery he had over all
difficulties of execution, appear sometimes to have tempted him, as in
these statues, to indulge in their display at the expense of propriety of
design.
In the Minerva Church at Rome is a much admired statue of Christ by
M. Angelo. It has less of violence of action than usually characterises his
works; but though it has qualities of a high order, and displays great
knowledge of form and skill in execution, it is by no means one of
his most successful efforts. The figure wants that calm dignity and
refinement which should pervade the representation of the divine
nature under a human form. Another work of Michel Angelo, which
is often referred to as a specimen of this master, is the statue of David,
in the Piazza del Gran Duca at Florence. The powerful hand of the
great sculptor is visible in it, and the grand air that is given to the
figure by the turn and expression of the head and throat justly claim
SCULPTURE.
998
our admiration; but it is not one of Michel Angelo's finest works.
It was executed under very unfavourable circumstances, Buonarotti
having been called upon to finish it when the block had already been
worked upon by an inferior artist, and considered to be spoiled. In the
gallery of Florence is a half-drunken Bacchus, also the work of this
sculptor. An ancient subject, it still has the merit of being filled with
Michel Angelo's own feeling for character and expression, but it falls
short of the manner in which the Greeks would have treated it. It
wants purity of taste, and the beautiful form, free from affectation or
display, which the ancients knew so well how to apply in all their con-
ceptions. Michel Angelo in this work attempted to represent what he
could not feel as a Greek sculptor would, and to this only is to be
attributed its inferiority. Among the best known groups by Michel
Angelo are the Madonna and Child, in the chapel of the Medici at
Florence-unfinished; a Pietà, in a small chapel at St. Peter's at
Rome; and a group of Nicodemus supporting the dead body of Christ,
with the Madonna and Mary Magdalen. These, as compositions, are
of the highest merit. They also abound in pathos, and are in many
respects finely executed. The Dead Christ, in the Pietà, is particularly
worthy of attention. The tranquillity and perfect repose of death are
most successfully shown throughout this figure, and with some slight
exception (in the face and in the articulations of the joints, in which
the usual exaggeration of Michel Angelo is perceptible), it must be
considered one of his finest productions. His works in relief are not
very numerous. We possess in this country one in marble, of very
great merit, consisting of three figures, representing the Virgin, the
infant Christ, and St. John. It is unfinished, but the master is
declared in the composition of the group, in the grand style of the
forms, and in the bold and vigorous character of the execution. It is
In the Royal Academy of Arts, having been bequeathed to that institu-
tion by the late Sir George Beaumont, who purchased it in Italy.
There is another work very similar to this, and like this also unfinished,
in the Gallery of Sculpture at Florence. In the Vatican is another of
a different class. It is an allegorical subject, and is a monument of the
perfect knowledge of the human figure possessed by Michel Angelo;
but it is more remarkable for this than for other qualities requisite in
sculpture, namely, simplicity and unity of design. The composition is
both crowded and complicated. In taking this rapid survey of some
of the principal works of this master, the object has been to bring
before the reader the most celebrated of his productions, in order that
the accompanying observations might be immediately applied to well-
known examples, and the characteristics of his school be more easily
understood. Notwithstanding our admiration of the originality of
invention, the vigour and mental energy, the knowledge of anatomy,
and mastery of execution that appear in his productions in this art, it
is generally admitted that the sculpture of Michel Angelo does not
give that high satisfaction which is felt in the contemplation of the
best works of ancient and some even of modern times. [BUONAROTTI,
MICHEL ANGELO, in BIOG. DIV.]
Michel Angelo has had many imitators who have had neither genius
nor originality to compensate for the imperfections which are over-
looked or forgotten in the mighty inventions of the mastor-mind, and
who for the most part have only been able to copy and increase the
faults of his style. Michel Angelo died in 1564, and was buried in the
church of Santa Croce in Florence, and a monument is over his grave
in which there is a basso-rilievo, by himself, of a Madonna and Child.
The design of this " deposito" consists of a bust of Michel Angelo over
a sarcophagus, in front, and ou each of which are statues supposed to
represent Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture. The bust and the
statue of Sculpture are the work of Lorenzo, one of his scholars; those
of Painting and Architecture are by Valerio Cioli and Giovanni dell'
Opera.
There is a group, in marble, in the Chigi Chapel, in the church of
Santa Maria del Popolo at Rome, representing Jonas with the sea-
monster, which is remarkable for the grand style of its composition,
as well as for the breadth and beauty of its forms. It is attributed to
a sculptor who lived in the 16th century, called Lorenzetto, but there
is a tradition that the design was furnished by Raffaelle, and that he
even made the model from which the sculptor executed the marble
figure. Michel Angelo had a very high opinion of the works of Beg-
garelli, a sculptor of Modena, and is said to have exclaimed, on being
shown some of his models, "If this clay could but become marble, woe
(guai) to the antique."
Jacopo Tatti, better known as Sansovino, is more deserving of
celebrity as an architect than as a sculptor. [SANSOVINO, in BIOG. DIv.]
His chief productions, in both arts, are at Venice. Some statues on
the Soala dei Giganti (the Staircase of the Giants), at the Palace of the
Doge at Venice, and some bassi-rilievi in other places, especially a
bronze gate at St. Mark's, are examples of his ignorance of or indiffer-
ence to the true principles of design in sculpture, though it would be
unjust to refuse them the merit of much elaborate execution. Many
of his scholars became distinguished artists. Among them may be
mentioned Nicolo Tribolo, Danese Cattaneo, some of whose works are
in the church of S. Antony in Padua, Bartolomeo Ammanati, Ales-
sandro Vittoria, a sculptor of great merit, and probably Tommaso
Lombardo. About this time a profusion of ornament began to be
associated with works in sculpture, and led artists to neglect the
simpler qualities of design for high finish and minutia of mouldings,
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flowers, scrolls, and other objects of minor importance. Among the
ornamented works of the cinque cento which are most worthy of notice,
are the splendid altar candelabra in some of the Italian churches.
There are some particularly fine specimens of this kind of work at
Venice. Baccio Bandinelli, born in 1487, is among the distinguished
contemporaries of Michel Ángelo, Sansovino, and the great sculptors
of that time. [BANDINELLI, in BIOG. DIV.] Although some exaggera-
tion in design and defects in execution may be visible in his works,
they possess qualities which claim for their author a distinguished
place among modern sculptors. There are some bassi-rilievi in marble,
by Bandinelli, round the screen of the high altar in the Duomo of
Florence, which are admirable for their breadth and the fine treatment
and disposition of their draperies. The fault of his composition gene-
rally, whether of one or several figures, is in its too picturesque
arrangement, and in his placing his figures in somewhat forced and
affected attitudes. The restoration of the right arm of the celebrated
group of the Laocoon was entrusted to Bandinelli. Some critics be-
lieve this arm should be turned back, and that the hand or some part
of the serpent should touch the head of the figure. [LAOCOON.] In
Bandinelli's restoration the arm is extended.
There is a work of considerable merit, and also of some interest
from the circumstances under which it was executed, in the church of
S. Petronio at Bologna. It represents the story of Joseph and the
wife of Potiphar, and is the production of Propertia de' Rossi, à lady
of great personal beauty, and highly accomplished in various branches
of the fine arts. It is said she became enamoured of a young artist
who did not return her love, and the disappointment threw her into a
languishing disorder which terminated in her death. Her last work
was the basso-rilievo above mentioned. In it she represented herself
as the wife of Potiphar, and the object of her affection as Joseph
escaping from her. She died in the flower of her age, in the year
1530.
*
Benvenuto Cellini, born in Florence, in 1500, was one of the most
distinguished sculptors, founders, and chasers in Italy. All his larger
works are in bronze, and are preserved in his native city; but numerous
specimens of his skill in smaller productions, as medals of gold and
silver, bucklers, dagger hilts, and tasteful ornaments, are in foreign
collections and afford ample evidence of the superior talents of their
author. The particulars of his life and the history of many of his
works are graphically told by himself, in one of the most entertaining
autobiographies extant. [CELLINI, BENVENUTO, in Broc. Div.]
The list of sculptors of this school, or rather of this division of time
(for each effected changes that tended to interrupt the existence or
continuance of schools), must close with Guglielmo della Porta, the
most skilful of all the artists of Lombardy. He was the scholar of
Pierino del Vaga. He was also a favourite of Michel Angelo, from
whom he received a very high compliment. Guglielmo had been
employed to restore the legs of the famous Hercules (now called the
Farnese) of Glycon, which he did so admirably, that when, after a
time, the original legs were found, Michel Angelo was unwilling to
remove Della Porta's for those which had so unexpectedly been re-
covered. Della Porta executed few works. The most remarkable, as
The most remarkable, as
au example of the influence of the style both of Michel Angelo and of
Raffaelle, is the monument of Paul III., in St. Peter's at Rome. Two
recumbent statues in this work, one a female of advanced years, repre-
senting Prudence, and the other, a young and beautiful woman, as
Justice, are particularly fine. The latter figure is deficient in the
expression and character proper to the subject, but it is a remarkable
performance for the roundness and richness of its execution, and for
the knowledge of form displayed in it. This statue was originally
naked; since Della Porta's time it has been partially covered with
bronze drapery. This artist effected some changes in the process of
casting in bronze. [BRONZE]
At the end of the 16th and the beginning of the 17th centuries, the
sculptors aimed chiefly at fine and curious execution. The works of
that time exhibit very high merit in many respects, but they are defi-
cient in repose and simplicity. Instead of grace, we find affectation,
and mechanical skill was held in higher estimation than what may not
improperly be called the moral qualities of art. The works of Gio-
vanni di Bologna, a native of Flanders, but established in Italy, offer
ample illustration of this meretricious and destructive taste in sculp-
ture. They are full of imagination, and are executed with a boldness
and ability that both surprise us and call forth our admiration, but
there is at the same time an exaggeration in the attitudes and an
endeavour after picturesque effect that disappoint us. One of the
most remarkable performances of this artist is his well-known group,
in marble, of the Rape of the Sabines. As a specimen of invention it
is wonderful for its expression and its energy of action; and it is
impossible not to admire the courage of the sculptor who ventured to
execute so daring a work in such a material; but it is open to criticism
for the extravagant corkscrew contortions of the composition. His
famous bronze statue of Mercury is conceived in the true spirit of
poetry, and is deservedly admired as one of the most elegant produc-
tions of modern art. The form is light, and the action graceful. He
had many imitators, who, like copiers in general, chiefly exaggerated
his faults. There are few works of Stefano Maderno, but there is a
simplicity of composition and a beauty in the sentiment of his statue
of St. Cecilia, that justly claim for him a place among the most worthy
of the sculptors of this age. This statue was executed when he was
very young. The supposed body of St. Cecilia was found in Rome, in
1599, during the pontificate of Clement VIII., and Stefano Maderno
was employed to make a careful copy of it before it was removed to
where it now lies, in the church of the convent dedicated to this saint
in Rome. This may account in a great measure for the superiority
of this work over others by the same artist. Limited by the circum-
stances, and by the pontiff's command to take nature as his model, he
had no opportunity to introduce any of the prevailing bad taste. The
result is a work of great beauty, one of the best of that age, and in
certain qualities not surpassed by later artists.
Bernini was born at Naples, in the year 1598. [BERNINI, in BIOG.
Div.] He possessed genius, imagination, ambition to excel, unceasing
industry, and great powers of execution; and still, with all these means
and dispositions, he was, beyond all others, instrumental in precipi-
tating the decline of sculpture; and the tendency, already exhibited,
to prefer minute execution to the higher qualities of design, was con-
firmed by the popularity it acquired in the hands of this artist.
It would be difficult to conceive two styles more opposed to each
other than that adopted by the sculptors of this age and that of the
great artists of antiquity. In one the pervading principle was sim-
plicity and expression, united with beautiful and appropriate form.
In the other, simplicity was of all things most studiously avoided; and
complicated arrangement in composition, forced action in the figures,
flying draperies, elaborate carving, and undercutting (in works in
marble), and other means of little more than mere mechanical display,
were resorted to, in order to create surprise or to please the eye.
Under Bernini all the distinctive bounds of the classes of art were
trampled down. Sculptors endeavoured to imitate the effects of the
pencil, and architects to introduce into their compositions the curved
line of beauty.
The faults and merits of Bernini as a sculptor will be best shown by
a reference to and criticism of a few of his best known works. His
group of Apollo and Daphine, in the Villa Borghese, is a production of
great merit for its invention and power of telling its story. The god
has just reached the object of his pursuit, and, at the moment when he
seizes her, Daphne's prayer is heard, and the beautiful form is being
metamorphosed into a tree. Instead of generalising this part of the
history, Bernini appears to have delighted in the opportunity of show-
ing his skill in execution. The hair and drapery of Apollo are floating
in the air, while the change that is to preserve Daphne from violence
is shown in detail, in her tresses, the toes and fingers becoming
elongated into roots and branches, the latter terminating in carefully-
worked laurel-leaves. St. Peter's at Rome contains various works of
this artist. The most remarkable of these are the splendid monuments
of Urban VIII. and Alexander VII., which may be said to exhibit all
his excellences and all his defects. The former stands opposite a
celebrated work of Guglielmo della Porta before mentioned (the monu-
inent of Pope Paul III.), and is a melancholy proof of the consequences
of losing sight of purer principles. Della Porta's was not a school of-
perfection; but the contrast between the grandeur of manner of his
time and the handicraft display of Bernini's period is distressing. The
composition of the second work alluded to, the monument of Alexander
VII., is as strange as the execution is wonderful. The sitting figure of
the pope occupies the centre of a large and deep niche. The whole of
the lower part or ground is filled up with curtain and cloud, in the
corners of which are plunged four allegorical groups or figures. Of
those at the back of the recess but little can be seen except the heads
and shoulders. In the front corners are Truth and Charity, the latter
a gigantic female, with fleshy infants pressed against her breast, to
whose weight the marble appears to yield with all the elasticity of a
soft pulpy substance. This work is a triumph of execution, but
debased by the worst taste. A group of the Extacy of St. Teresa in
the church Della Vittoria at Rome is another instance of the want of
simplicity. In this it is difficult, amidst the flutter of the drapery and
the ample convolution of clouds, to discover either the figure of the
saint or the subject of the composition. The Four Doctors of the
Church supporting the Chair of St. Peter, in the church of that
apostle at Rome, is a grand idea; but its effect in execution is injured
by the want of simple unaffected expression and attitudes. These
statnes are colossal. They are cast in bronze, and some parts of the
figures and draperies are richly gilt. This composition, taking it
altogether, has a magnificent effect. Fontana calculated, from the
archives kept in Rome, that this work must have cost a hundred and
seven thousand crowns. Bernini lived during nine poutificates; from
that of Clement VIII. to Innocent XI. No artist ever had greater
patronage, and few greater talents, which, unfortunately for sculpture,
were ill-directed, or at least ill-disciplined; the variety of his pursuits
and his inordinate love of picturesque effect ruined the progress of
the art, induced a false taste in patrons and artists, and, from the
injury effected by his bad example, it may safely be said that it would
have been better for sculpture if Bernini had never lived.
Alessandro Algardi, a native of Bologna, was contemporary with
Bernini, and executed many works of merit. Like other sculptors of
the time, he was tempted away from the more valuable qualities that
should characterise sculpture, by the endeavour to gain distinction by
the display of execution and the picturesque effect of his compositions.
The great work of Algardi is his alto-rilievo, preserved in St. Peter's,
:
399
SCULPTURE.
of the discomfiture of Attila by the miraculous appearance of St. Peter
and St. Paul. This work is in marble, in five pieces, and measures
about thirty feet in height by nearly eighteen in width. Algardi
studied the paintings of his contemporaries for the manner of treating
his subject; and the consequence is such as might be expected in an art in
which it is totally impossible to produce those effects of distance, clouds,
and perspective which only can be given by colour. There are merits in
parts of this great composition, which increase the regret that is felt at
the faults that are so apparent in other portions of it. In the un-
pleasing task of following the traces of this decay, it is refreshing occa-
sionally to find examples of a purer taste. Francesco di Quesnoy,
better known from his title of Il Fiammingo, was a native of Brussels.
His early works are said to partake very much of the character of
those of Bernini and Algardi; but it is recorded that he was led to
copy and study very young children (putti), from admiring the beauty
of those introduced into his pictures by Titian, and he ultimately
became the first sculptor in this class of representation. There are few,
whether they have travelled or not, who have not had an opportunity
of admiring some specimens of this artist's skill in the round, healthy,
playful character of his infants. No artist, except perhaps Raffaelle,
ever succeeded so entirely in portraying the peculiar charm of beautiful
childhood. He preserved just the right medium between tameness and
exaggeration. In the church of La Madonna di Loreto at Rome there
is a work by Fiammingo, which represents St. Susanna, and it may
fairly be considered one of the most successful efforts in sculpture
of the age. The expression of the head is especially worthy of atten-
tion. It has simplicity and intenseness combined with considerable
beauty of form. Francesco Mocchi obtained a high reputation in his
time. The work by which his merits may best be judged of is in the
Duomo of Orvieto. It represents the Annunciation, in two distinct
figures. The angel is supposed to be descending, and is supported on
a cloud; while the Virgin, in an attitude of shrinking modest fear, is
bowing her head as she receives his announcement. Its faults are the
faults of the age,-a want of simplicity and too much of the pic-
turesque in effect. As examples of elaborate execution, further illus-
trating the decay of pure taste and the fall of sculpture, the works of
San Martino and Corradino may be noticed. Some statues by these
artists are preserved at Naples, in the church of S. Severo. One re-
presents the dead body of our Saviour, covered with drapery, under
which may be traced all the forms of the figure: a piece of ingenuity
of no very difficult attainment, but which always surprises and delights
those who are ignorant of the mechanical processes of sculpture, and
who think that whatever has the appearance of being difficult in art
must be so, and measure out their admiration according to their
estimate of the ingenuity with which it is overcome. The other is a
figure of Modesty, veiled. There is also a third statue, of Deceit,
within a net-a very curious piece of execution. These works attest
the patience of their respective authors, and are monuments of their
bad taste,
The works of the contemporary and immediately succeeding sculptors
do no more than prove the rapid consummation of the fall of sculpture.
Occasionally an artist of better taste or higher feeling appeared; but he
was not seconded or supported by any refined feeling in patrons, nor
inciting sympathy in the public, and the enumeration of works by the
Rusconi, Bonazzi, Tagliapietra, Torretti, Morlaiter, Foggini, and others,
would assist but little in conveying any distinct impression of the slight
shades of difference in the generally fallen and decayed practice of
the art.
In the general survey of the rise, progress, and decline of sculpture
in modern Italy, may be seen, very nearly, the history and condition of
the art in other European countries. The artists of Italy spread them
selves over the Continent, and wherever works of design were required
they probably were called upon to execute them. The influence of the
taste of the schools of Lionardo da Vinci, Primaticcio, Benvenuto
Cellini, Rustici, and others, will be visible in the works of their different
times, in France and other countries; and even when it can be ascer-
tained that sculpture was produced by native artists, it generally will
be found that their knowledge of art was due to Italian models or
Italian masters.
The French historians attribute to native artists the tomb of Philip
le Hardi, which was executed in 1404, as well as that of Francis II.
The first sculptor who really was distinguished in that country was
Goujon. He executed various important works in the 16th century.
Among the most distinguished sculptors of succeeding times may be
honourably mentioned Pilon, Anguier, Puget, Girardon, Le Poutre, Le
Moine, and Coustou; but sculpture soon became decorative in France,
and flutter in composition and design, and minuteness in execution,
characterised their art almost from the 16th century to a very recent
period. The extreme of the worst style of French sculpture is seen in
the monument of Marshal Saxe by Pigal, which was erected about the
year 1775.
The earliest sculptors of Spain who are mentioned by their historians
of art are Aparicio and Rodolfo, who lived about the year 1033. The
next is Jayme or Jacques Castyls of Barcelona, who is said to have
executed various statues in the façade of a church at Taragona in
the year 1376. The name of Anrique occurs in 1380, and of F.
Gonzalez in 1399. It seems, however, that no great progress was
made in the arts in this country till the 16th century, when Spanish
SCULPTURE.
400
artists went to Italy to study, or Italian artists established themselves
in Spain.
The history of sculpture in Germany would lead us into a wide field
of inquiry. It is not necessary towards illustrating the general history
of the progress of the art, which may be traced with sufficient accuracy
through the different Italian schools; and the examination of the causes
of its rise and the changes of style it has undergone amongst the Ger-
mans would carry us into speculation, or at best into its merely national
or local history, rather than assist us in giving a general and compre-
hensive view of the art. Läffler, or Löffler, is said to have executed
the bronze statues which stand round the tomb of the Emperor Maxi-
milian at Inspruck: he died In 1565. Others attribute them to two
brothers of the name of Godi, who lived at the beginning of that
century. The latter name suggests the probability that artists from
Italy were then established in Germany, or were called upon to execute
works of this description.
The political disorders in which Italy was involved in the earlier
part of the 18th century, may account in some measure for the inac-
tivity in which the arts remained for some years. The wars of the
Succession in the kingdom of Naples, the change of dynasty in Florence
in the year 1737, and the unsettled state of other parts of the country,
diverted men's minds from such pursuits. Cicognara attributes much
also to the debased or degraded state of feeling among his countrymen.
But his condemnation is more general and severe than appears to be
warranted by facts, and it certainly seems unjust to attribute to the
moral degradation of Italians of the 18th century the decline of art
which had commenced so long before. It is admitted that, prior to
this time, taste in art had greatly deteriorated. The effect of the state
of feeling described as existing in this later time was to leave sculp-
ture in its fallen state, when a little energy might possibly have
restored it. From 1748 to 1796 Italy enjoyed an uninterrupted course
of peace; and it is true that during that period there scarcely was a
work in sculpture of any magnitude or comparative excellence
produced.
The first sovereign who contributed to revive the arts from this
state of torpor was Charles III. of Naples. He encouraged archi-
tecture on a grand and extensive scale. At Rome, Cardinal Albani
formed a collection of the finest remains of ancient sculpture that could
be procured; and by attaching to him all the most distinguished litte-
rati and the best artists of his day, made his palace the resort of all
who felt an interest in the pursuits to which he himself was so devoted.
Under the auspices of this "Hadrian of his age," as Cardinal Albani
has been justly called, Winckelman produced the first work in which
the history of the arts of design had been treated in a learned, philo-
sophical, and scholar-like manner; and it has been the model and
groundwork of all succeeding and improved works upon the same
subject. The popes Clement XII. and Benedict XIV., as well as
Clement XIII. and Clement XIV., contributed also to create a feeling
for the sculpture of the ancients by accumulating monuments of
various kinds in the pontifical palace. To Clement XIV. we are
indebted for the foundation of the Museo Clementino in the Vatican,
which received such noble additions by the liberality of his successor,
Pius VI., that the name of the latter pontiff was associated with that
of its founder in giving a title to the collection, and a considerable
portion of the gallery of ancient sculpture is still known as the Museo
Pio-Clementino. Till Pius VI. issued an order to prevent the removal
of works of art, the remains of antiquity discovered in Rome and its
neighbourhood could be sold and taken out of the country. The pope,
desiring to increase his collection, and preserve to Rome whatever
could be recovered by excavation, prohibited anything being removed
out of his dominions without a special permission. This order pro-
cured for his agents the first choice of whatever statues or other monu-
ments of sculpture were found; and the extensive purchases effected
by this means soon filled the Vatican with works of ancient sculpture,
which, with the additions made by succeeding popes, have made it the
most celebrated, as it is the most valuable, collection of its kind in the
world. The discovery of the long buried remains of art in Hercula-
neum and Pompeii led to the formation of a museum of the same
kind at Portici; and, in bronzes especially, the Neapolitan collection is
without a rival. Among the sovereigns of Italy who contributed to
the revival of design, Leopold, grand-duke of Tuscany, must likewise
be included. The sculptors of this period were Cavaceppi, Penna, and
a few others, in whose hands sculpture made some progress towards a
more healthy state. The immediate influence of the Bernini school
had ceased to be felt, and the opportunity was given, which these
artists in some degree availed themselves of, to introduce art upon
purer principles. It must be admitted that what they produced was
eminently deficient in original feeling, and their best works were littlo
more than somewhat tame copies or adaptations of ancient subjects
and models; but at least the practice of the art was continued, aud
when men of greater power and more vigorous minds appeared, they
had not to begin afresh from the infancy of sculpture, nor from the
miserably low point to which the Bernini manner had reduced it,
Before touching upon the most celebrated sculptors who reformed and
restored the taste for art in our age, we shall take a rapid survey of tho
history of sculpture in England.
The Britons had not the advantage of very skilful instructors in the
Roman soldiers by whom the country was so long held in subjection;
401
402
SCULPTURE.
SCULPTURE.
F
but during this foreign dominion the native inhabitants had learned
to adopt many of the arts. The making of arms and coining money
had also taught them some important processes in the more refined-
arts, and the knowledge thus acquired was not allowed to fall into entire
disuse; and it appears that, after the departure of the Romans, the
Britons continued to practise some branches of sculpture. Speed
(quoted by Flaxman, Lect.' I.) says that "King Cadwallo, being
buried in St. Martin's Church, near Ludgate, his image, great and
terrible, triumphantly riding on horseback, artificially cast in brass,
was placed on the western gate of the city," &c. The workmanship of
this "great and terrible" statue was doubtless very rude and barbarous,
but it is interesting to find the tradition of a work of art cast in brass
in this country at so early a date. The death of Cadwallo is placed at
A.D. 677.
The edifices erected in England after the final settlement of the
Saxons in this country, and down to the reign of Henry I., seem to
have been nearly in the same style, exhibiting plain fortress-like con-
struction, and repetitions of heavy columns and arches. Sculpture
was so little employed, that it is believed there is no sepulchral statue
in England of earlier date than towards the end of the 11th century,
though the French had begun to decorate their coffin-lids with figures,
&c., as early as the 9th. We may conclude, therefore, that this prac-
tice was first introduced into the country at the Norman invasion.
All the oldest monuments in which figures are thus represented are
of ecclesiastics. Two specimens of these sculptured effigies, carved in
very low relief on coffin-shaped slabs, may be seen in the cloisters of
Westminster Abbey. They are supposed to represent two abbots,
Vitalis, who died in 1087, and Crispinus, who died in 1117. Similar
monuments are preserved in Worcester cathedral, of St. Oswald and
Bishop Wulstan. These sculptures, of extremely rude design and
workmanship, have been much injured by time and violence, but they
are curious as the earliest examples of the kind in this country. It
has been thought probable that one reason for not decorating with
figures, or any distinguishing device, the stone coffins in which more
illustrious persons were enclosed, was to preserve them from the
chance of violence which might have been offered to them, in order to
gain possession of the ornaments that usually were deposited with
individuals of exalted rank. Several monuments of bishops and abbots
which have been opened have shown the deceased fully habited in his
episcopal robes, with his ring on his hand, and an enriched crozier
either lying by his side or across the body. The more sacred character
of the occupant of the tomb, and of the objects buried with him,
might prevent any indignity being offered to them; but kings and
princes would not be considered in the same view, and, as they would
no doubt be even more richly dressed than ecclesiastics, however high
their rank, their tombs would offer greater temptation to sacrilegious
avarice. The circumstance of the tomb of William Rufus in Win-
chester cathedral being entirely devoid of ornament may be thus
accounted for. That of Gundred, daughter of William the Conqueror,
at St. John's church, Southover, is inscribed, and embellished with
foliage, heads, and other decorations, but there is no figure of the
deceased on it.
When the Crusaders returned from the Holy Land, they endeavoured
to introduce into England a taste for the magnificence they had
witnessed in foreign countries, and imitations were attempted of the
rich foliage and other decorations employed in their architecture. In
the west door of Rochester cathedral are some figures so applied.
We believe the earliest specimen in England of figures in armour is
of the time of Richard I. Those in the Temple church, of Magnaville
or Mandeville, earl of Essex, and of two other knights similarly habited,
are probably of this date.
The first example that occurs in England of a monumental figure
in royal costume is that of king John, on his tomb in Worcester
cathedral. An interesting proof that the figures carved on the lids of
tombs were tolerably accurate representations of the persons whose
remains they contained, was afforded by the opening the coffin of king
John in the year 1797. The body, &c., was in a state of sufficient
preservation to show that it had been dressed in precisely the same
costume as that represented in the sculptured effigy.
many
Wells cathedral was built by Bishop Joceline, who died in 1242.
The west front of this church is richly studded with sculpture, con-
sisting of representations, in relief, of Scripture subjects, and of statues,
of them of colossal dimensions, of kings, queens, saints, bishops,
and other patrons or dignitaries of the church. This work must have
been in progress at the time that Niccolo Pisano, the restorer of
sculpture in Italy, was exercising his art in his own country. Flaxman
(Lectures on Sculpture') thinks that the greater part of the sculpture
was by English artists. Some of the statues exhibit much grace
and simplicity, and, allowing for the very rude state of art at the time
they were produced, they deserve the attention of the curious. The
sculpture of the succeeding reign was probably by Italian artists,
scholars, or imitators of Niccolo Pisano, who travelled about in search
of employment in those countries where ecclesiastical buildings were
being erected.
The richly decorated crosses that were raised to
distinguish the spots wherein the body of Queen Eleanor rested, were
probably by these artists, as well as the statues of Edward I. and
Eleanor in Westminster Abbey. The flat brasses with figures
sculptured, or rather engraved on them, and let into stone slabs, are
ARTS AND SCI. DIV. VOL. VII.
mostly of the 14th century, few being met with earlier than the reign
of Edward II.
These
Under Edward III. it appears that our own countrymen were capable
of exercising some branches of the arts of design. Many specimens of
that date remain to prove both the extent to which sculpture was
employed, and the merits of the artists by whom the several works
were executed. Some interesting examples of art of the 14th century
may be seen in three recumbent statues in memory of the sons of
Edward III.: one is of the Black Prince, in Canterbury Cathedral;
another of Prince William of Windsor, in Westminster Abbey; and
the third of Prince Willia:n of Hatfield, in York Minster.
works were executed between the years 1344 and 1378. There are
also three remarkable windows of this date at Dorchester Church near
Oxford: one of them is adorned with between twenty and thirty small
statues relating to the genealogy of our Saviour; the others contain
reliefs representing Scripture subjects. Various other equally interest-
ing works, exhibiting the progress of the art, belong to this date; and
the names of several English artists employed by Edward III. at West-
minster are recorded. (History of Westminster Palace,' by Smith;
Flaxman, &c.) The figure, in plate armour, of Beauchamp, Earl of
Warwick, on his tomb in the Warwick Chapel, with the numerous
smaller statues let into niches around it, is the work of William
Austin, an English sculptor and founder. It was executed in 1439.
The chapel of Henry VII. in Westminster Abbey is one of the most
beautiful specimens of rich architectural decoration that exists in this
or perhaps any country. The statues within and without it are said to
have amounted originally to 3000, but the number is probably exagge-
rated. An Italian artist, Torreggiano, assisted in the construction of
this magnificent tomb; but there is strong reason to believe he was
employed on the tomb only, and that the greater portion of the sculp-
tures in other parts of the chapel were executed before he arrived in
the country, and it is presumed they were the productions of native
artists. Some of these statues show a beautiful feeling for art, and are
well worthy of attention for the simplicity and grace of their action,
and for the tasteful arrangement and careful execution of the draperies.
From the reign of Henry VII. to Charles I. sculpture fell into
neglect. Indeed it frequently pened that, during the religious
animosities and the party violence that prevailed, works of art, and
more especially works of sculpture, were purposely destroyed. Charles
I. showed a strong disposition to encourage the arts. The celebrated
Cartoons of Raffaelle were purchased by order of the king, and, with
other fine works, were brought into this country. In this reign we
meet with the names of English sculptors. Christmas executed a
monument to Sir William Pitt and his lady, at Strathfieldsay in Hamp-
shire; and Stone is the author of a monument in Westminster Abbey,
in memory of Sir George Holles, which is not without merit. Gene-
rally speaking, however, the style and composition of these and other
works of the time are utterly worthless, but there is some boldness
occasionally in the conception, which may claim for them a passing
notice. The sculpture on the pedestal of the Monument of London,
representing Charles II., attended by allegorical groups, raising the
City of London (under the form of a prostrate female figure), is a
striking example of the pseudo-classical and false taste, in art, of the
17th century. After this time, the principal works in England were
by foreigners; and the names that most frequently occur are Cibber,
Steevens, De Vere, Bertocini, Scheemacker, and Roubiliac, as the
authors of monuments and whatever other productions were required
in sculpture. This variety of artists, as Flaxman observes, from
different countries, French, Flemings, and Italians, sometimes
brought the taste of Jean Goujon or Puget, sometimes a debased
imitation of Giovanni di Bologna and the Florentine school, and some-
times the taste of Bernini, but never a pure and sound principle.
In 1766 an English sculptor, Nathaniel Read, executed a monument,
which may be seen in Westminster Abbey, in memory of Admiral
Tyrrell. It would not be easy to convey by description any just
idea of the strange conceits and incongruous imagery that abound
in this work; and without the aid of the inscription it would be
impossible to comprehend the purpose and subject of the artist's
ingenious, and, it may truly be said, costly labours. Admiral Tyrrell
died at sea, and his body was committed to the deep. In the lower
part of the composition are three allegorical figures, life-size; one of
them represents Ireland, as the admiral, we are told, was descended
from an ancient family of that country, and above is the apotheosis
of the deceased. The Historical Description of Westminster Abbey,
after giving the explanatory inscription, notices the work in the
following words: "On a piece of rock-The sea shall give up
her dead, and every one shall be rewarded according to his works.'
The figures of History, Navigation, and Hibernia are well cut; they
are represented among the rocks, with the sea above their heads,
the admiral himself ascending amidst heavy clouds."
This fully
describes the style of the art during the greater part of the 19th
century. Allegorical pictures were executed in stone and marble, and
it was absolutely necessary to have explanations attached to the work
in order to enable the spectator to comprehend the meaning of the
sculpture. The monuments contain every variety of a most confined
idea; and Time, Fame, and Death, represented in the most absurd,
and often most objectionable forms, are made the accompanying illus-
tration to almost every work on which the sculptor was employed.
DD
!
»
403
SCULPTURE.
The works of Roubiliac, with all their defects, have merits which
releem them from this general and deserved condemnation [ROUBILIAC,
in BIOG. Div.]; but, with the qualified exception in his favour, the
productions of the artists who practised with him, and after his
death, can only be classed in the lowest grade of art; it is impossible
to imagine anything more false and poor than the style that prevailed.
Early in the present century, the first step was taken towards form-
ing in England a national collection of ancient works of art. The
Townley Marbles were purchased by a grant of parliament, and placed
in the British Museum in the year 1808. Since this period the collec-
tion has been enriched by the addition of the Athenian (or Elgin)
Marbles, the Phigalian Marbles, the Lycian and Xanthian Marbles, the
rilievi discovered by Layard and his successors, at Nineveh, and the
sculpture still more recently found on the site of the mausoleum at
Halicarnassus, together with various fine bronzes, and other valuable
specimens of ancient sculpture.
•
·
The honour of giving a new direction to taste, or rather, of leading
it back to a recognition of true principles, is eminently due to Flaxman
and Canova. "To Canova Italy owes her emancipation from those
false perceptions which had, from the influence of the Bernini school,
so long diverted the current of pure taste. To Flaxman the art
owes equal obligation. Banks had corrected the grosser impurities,
and had stemmed the torrent of bad taste." "No modern sculptor has
entered so deeply into the recesses of ancient art as Flaxman; his
style was founded upon their principles, combined with the simplicity
of the Pisani and others of the 14th century." The above short
extracts from the address of Sir R. Westmacott, who succceded Flax-
man as professor of sculpture in the Royal Academy, place the merits
of these two distinguished artists-the restorers of sculpture-in their
true light. In the Theseus of Canova, one of his best and earliest
works, we recognise the long-lost purity of form and a decided devotion
to the simplicity of the antique. In the designs of Flaxman simplicity,
grace, and expression resume their influence, in place of the affectation
and display of fanciful ingenuity that had so long prevailed. The
later works of Canova show a tendency in that great artist to a more
minute execution and attention to small parts than is quite consistent
with the best taste in sculpture; and it may be objected to Flaxman,
that, in his admiration of the beautiful and impressive in design, he
too often neglected the means of making his works effective in execu-
tion; but it is not expedient to enter here into a critical examination
of their respective merits and defects. Their works, the best evidence
of the superiority of these distinguished sculptors, are before the
world, and a comparison of their productions with those of the entire
series of artists from the time of Michel Angelo (and the best of his
immediate followers) down to our own age, will at once exhibit their
merit in its true point of view-in the influence they have had in
restoring a degraded and fallen art to its proper position.
Mechanical Process of Sculpture.-The technical or mechanical pro-
cesses of sculpture are for the most part extremely simple. The
sculptor, having conceived or invented his subject, usually begins by
making a slight sketch of it, either drawing it on paper, or at once
modelling it, in small, in clay or wax. This preliminary step enables
him to judge of the arrangement, and to correct and improve the
general composition of his figure or group. He next proceeds to build
up his statue of the desired size. The first thing necessary is to con-
struct a sort of nucleus, or skeleton, by which the clay may be sup-
ported. This is made of wood or iron, according to the strength
required, and the limbs are usually made movable, by attaching the.
skeleton parts to the main support, or trunk, by wire joints. The
figure is then built up in clay; and whether it is ultimately to be
draped or not, it should always be modelled naked, in order that the
true forms may be easily distinguished, and the drapery made to fall
naturally. In modelling in relief, a plane, or ground as it is called, is
prepared, upon which the sculptor carefully draws his design. The
clay is then laid and pressed upon this, the outline of the figures being
bounded by the lines of the drawing. The projection or fulness of the
forms must of course depend upon the fancy of the artist, or the
purpose or situation for which the work may be intended. The same
rule with respect to modelling the figures naked should be observed
here as in figures or groups in the "round." To preserve the models
from shrinking and cracking, it is necessary to sprinkle the clay occa-
sionally with water; and on leaving them, to cover them over with
damp cloths.
The next process is " casting." The model being completed, a
mixture is made of plaster of Paris and water, which is thrown over
the whole. When this is "set," or hardened, the clay within it is
picked out, and there remains an exact mould of the model. This is
washed, and the interior is brushed over with any greasy substance,
usually a composition of oil and soap, to prevent the fresh plaster, with
which it is next to be filled, from adhering too firmly to it. After the
mould is thoroughly filled in all its parts with this plaster, mixed to
about the consistency of cream, the latter is left to set. The mould is
then "knocked off" with chisels, and a "cast" of the model is pro-
duced entire. If it is intended to execute the work in bronzo, the
same general principle is observed in the moulding; but there are
particular processes to be attended to, in order to enable the mould to
bear the weight of the metal, and to ensure the soundness of the
"cast." [BRONZE]
SCURVY.
404
In copying a model in marble, the first step is to prepare two stones
of the same size, or at least with an exactly corresponding graduated
scale marked on the front of each, on which the block of marble and
the model are respectively to be placed. The fronts of the two scales
are so constructed or fitted up, that a "pointing" instrument can be
applied to them. This instrument is usually coinposed of a pole or
standard, to which a long brass or steel "needle "-capable of being
extended and withdrawn, loosened or fixed, and moved in every direc-
tion by means of ball-and-socket joints-is attached. This is made to
touch a particular part of the model. The whole instrument is then
removed to the scale-stone on which the rough block is placed, and the
marble is cut away till the needle reaches as far into the block as it
had been fixed at upon the model. A pencil mark is then made upon
the two corresponding parts of the model and block, and thus what is
technically called "a point" is taken. This process is repeated till
the numerous points at fixed depths corresponding throughout with
the surface of the model, aro attained, and a rough copy of the
sculptor's original work is thus mechanically made. These instruments
for pointing marble statues are not always constructed in precisely the
same manner. The practice of different sculptors has suggested
various changes in detail, by which either the movement of the whole
machine from one scale-stone to the other is facilitated, or a greater
rapidity and security in taking points is attained; but the principle on
which they act seems to be exactly similar in all. The statue being
rudely blocked out or pointed, the marble is in this state put into the
hands of a superior workman called a carver, who copies the minuter
portions of the work, by means of chisels of various sizes, rasps, and
files; the pencil marks or points showing him the limits beyond which
he is not to penetrate into the marble. When the carver has carried
the work as far as the sculptor desires, he proceeds himself to give it
the finishing stroke, by retouching and improving the details of form
and expression, by producing varieties of texture and surface, and by
giving that general quality or appearance to the whole which consti-
tutes what is termed harmony of effect.
SCURF is a material composed of minute portions of the dry
external scales of the cuticle. These are, in moderate quantity, con-
tinually separated by the friction to which the surface of the body is
subject, and are in due proportion replaced by others deposited on the
inner surface of the cuticle. Sometimes, however, they separate
in unnatural quantities, and this constitutes the disease called Pity-
riasis.
Pityriasis (from Títuрov, bran) is a disease of the skin in which irre-
gular patches of the cuticle appear covered with thin bran-like scales,
or with particles of a fine white powder, which, as fast as they fall off,
are succeeded by others. It may be regarded as a morbid excess of the
natural process of desquamation which is constantly going on, and by
which the old cuticle is removed from the surface of the body to be
replaced by that of more recent formation. The commonest form of
It affects
this disease is that called Pityriasis capitis, or dandriff
chiefly the scalp and eye-brows, and is most frequent in children, in
whom it originates either from generally disordered health or from
mere neglect of cleanliness. It occurs also on the face and sometimes
on other parts of the body in adults and old persons after exposure to
the sun or a cutting wind, and it usually accompanies the commence-
ment of baldness. The only local treatment which is necessary or
useful is frequent washing, and the application of some mild and
simple ointment.
In the other forms of pityriasis the discoloration of the cuticle is a
more prominent sign than its desquamation in fine scales. P. versicolor
occurs in the form of irregular yellow or light brown patches, which
are chiefly situated on the front of the chest and abdomen, and are
commonly called liver-spots or tan-spots. The extent and form which
such spots present are infinitely various; but though they sometimes
exist unaltered for several years, they rarely produce any inconvenience
beyond a slight itching. P. rubra is an aggravated form of the pre-
ceding; the spots are more or less brightly red, and are the seats of
considerable irritation. In P. nigra the essential part of the disease,
which is of very rare occurrence, is the production of a cuticle of nearly
a black colour.
..
SCURVY. This word, as well as its Latin synonym scorbutus, has
been used very vaguely, both by medical men and by the public at
large, to designate various diseases of the skin, often differing essen-
tially from each other. Its derivatives, scorbutic and antiscorbutic, of
which the former is employed to designate a supposed virus, the source
of these diseases, and the latter the remedies employed for their cure,
have been misapplied in a similar manner.
Scurvy, properly so called, is a malady of a peculiar nature, which
occurs either at sea or on land as the result of various moral and
physical causes of disease, especially of deficient nutriment and a
Its
scarcity or total deprivation of succulent vegetables or fruits.
origin is involved in obscurity, and it is a question still debated
whether it was known to the Greeks and Romans. Of its prevalence
in the middle ages we have abundant testimony, but the frequent
famines that resulted from the imperfect state of agriculture at that
day gave rise to so many diseases, which, though different, yet had
many points of resemblance, that we run considorable hazard of con-
founding them. Thus there is a great similarity between scurvy, the
disease which was then called St. Anthony's fire, ergotism (the pecu- 、
405
408
SCURVY.
SCYTHE.
liar disease produced by spurred rye or other grain), and some of the
pestilential fevers of the middle ages, both in their causes and
symptoms, and there can be no doubt that the chroniclers of those
times often mistook one for the other. It is customary to fix upon
the year 1260 as the date of the first authentic mention of the malady,
which then appeared in the Christian army during the campaign of
St. Louis in Egypt. In the north of Europe, however, it would seem
that scurvy has been known from the most remote antiquity, and
until within the last two centuries it prevailed there endemically.
With the improvements in gardening and agriculture, it gradually
became less frequent. As late as the middle of the last century it
was common not only among the peasants on the borders of the
Baltic, but it prevailed in Scotland and in some of the sea-port
towns of Devonshire and Cornwall, breaking out in winter, and dis-
appearing as vegetable food became more abundant with the return of
spring. Later the disease has occurred in camps, as in the French
army of the Alps at the close of the last century; and in besieged
towns whose inhabitants have been deprived of fresh vegetables. A
famous French physician, M. Foderé, mentions that isolated cases
occur every year in the more unhealthy quarters of Paris. Sorne
of its earlier symptoms may occasionally be observed in patients
admitted into the London hospitals; and our prison reports prove
it to be by no means uncommon in persons sentenced to long
periods of confinement. Diseases are still endemic in various parts
of Europe, which present a great analogy to scurvy both in their
causes and symptoms; such as the Radesyge in Norway, the Mal
de la Rosa in the province of Asturias in Spain, and the Pellagra in
Lombardy.
During the prevalence of the potato disease in Ireland, in 1845,
scurvy prevailed extensively. It was occasionally observed at the
same time in most of the large towns of England, and since, when
potatoes have been scarce, it has been known to break out. During
the Crimean war, it prevailed extensively, both among the French and
English troops.
But it is at sea that the ravages of scurvy have been most severely
fek, and any one at all familiar with the accounts of our early navi-
gators must remember many heart-rending tales of suffering which
they record. Even as recently as the time of Lord Anson scurvy was
so fatal that during the first two years of his voyage he lost more
than four-fifths of his original crew. The sagacity of Captain Cook
however, only thirty years afterwards, suggested to him such means
for the preservation of the health of his ship's company, that in a
voyage of more than three years only one sailor of the Resolution died.
The name of Captain Cook is now frequently mentioned in connection
with his successful voyages, but his claim to the gratitude of pos-
terity may be fairly grounded on the wonderful sanitary results of his
voyage round the world.
+
The improvements which, at the suggestion principally of the
late Sir G. Blane, were introduced into the victualling of the navy
at the end of the last century, and especially the free employment of
lemon-juice, have banished this disease from our navy, though it is
still by no means infrequent in the merchant service.
The use of salt provisions has been very generally regarded as one
of the most powerful exciting causes of scurvy. This notion, however,
is not altogether free from error, for scurvy occurs even among those
who never taste salted food. Such was the case with some of our
troops quartered in the province of Adelaide at the Cape of Good
Hope, among whom scurvy appeared in the year 1836. The men at
that time had no hard duty to perform, and were supplied with fresh
meat in abundance, but were deprived of vegetables. The annual
occurrence of scurvy among the inmates of the lunatic asylum at
Moorshedabad in India is an additional confirmation of the same fact,
We may with more propriety refer the disease to the absence of
vegetables than to any directly injurious effects produced by salt
provisions.
The greatest attention to ventilation was not found during Lord
Anson's voyage to diminish the severity of the disease; and this
circumstance, coupled with other facts, such as the non-occurrence of
scurvy in the ill-ventilated houses of the poor in London, warrants the
conclusion that impure air is not an exciting cause of scurvy.
Some facts have led to the supposition that cold and moisture tend
much to produce scurvy, but Dr. Budd, in his able treatise on scurvy,
in the Library of Practical Medicine,' states that the men admitted
with scurvy into the Dreadnought hospital-ship come almost exclu-
sively from the Mauritius, India, Ceylon, or China. The non-existence
of scurvy at Venice, and in other similar situations, proves that
moisture alone cannot produce the disease.
It has been asserted, but never satisfactorily proved, that scurvy is
propagated by contagion; an opinion which is now usually regarded as
erroneous.
From all investigations, we may conclude that there is one condition
which never fails to produce scurvy in persons, however various their
situations may be in other respects, namely, a prolonged abstinence
from succulent vegetables or fruits, or their preserved juices, as an
article of food. But we are hardly warranted in asserting, as some
men of eminence have done, that a deficiency of vegetable food is the
only cause capable of producing scurvy. A disease very similar to
scurvy, which used to attack the negroes in the West Indies, was
attributed to their living exclusively upon bananas, and its cure con-
sisted in changing their diet, and giving them fish and flesh to eat.
Bad nutriment, of whatever kind, will, according to M. Foderé, some-
times produce the disease, and Dr. Henderson, a naval surgeon,
recently stated in a medical periodical, that he has seen scurvy occur
in persons who were taking daily doses of lemon-juice as a prophy-
lactic against the disease.
From these facts Dr. Garrod was led to suppose that the real cause
of scurvy was some deficiency in the food which was supplied by
vegetable diet. Having examined the constituents of food that pro-
duced scurvy, he was led to conclude that such food was deficient in
potash. Having analysed those vegetable foods which prevent and
cure scurvy, as potatoes, water cresses, cabbages and lemon-juice, he
found in all these a considerable quantity of potash. It is difficult to
test this theory by withholding vegetable food and administering the
salts of potash to patients afflicted with scurvy. It has, however,
this characteristic of a true theory, that it explains the phenomena
of the cure of scurvy by the addition of fruits or vegetables to
the diet.
It was at one time supposed that the citric acid of the lemon-juice
was the active cause of cure in cases of scurvy, and when this acid was
separated it was substituted in the navy for the lemon-juice, but it
entirely failed to arrest the disease.
Previous debility appears to predispose to scurvy, as does also an
advanced age; the disease being rarest between twenty and thirty
years of age, though it occurs more frequently between the fifteenth
and twentieth year than in the succeeding ten years. The first
symptoms of the affection are a change of the natural healthy com-
plexion to a pale or sallow tint, accompanied with pains in the legs and
loins, great languor and despondency, and indisposition to exercise.
The gums soon become sore, apt to bleed on the slightest touch, livid
and spongy. As the disease progresses the debility becomes greater,
the slightest exertion inducing breathlessness and palpitation, and the
complexion assumes a brownish or dingy hue. The gums become
more livid, and swell more, so as sometimes to conceal the teeth, which
drop out without undergoing decay. Hæmorrhage takes place from
the lungs and from various internal organs, ecchymoses appear, and
blood is effused under the skin in various parts, especially on the
lower extremities and around the seat of any old injury. In the ham
this effusion of blood is sometimes so 'considerable as to cause con-
traction of the knee-joint. Any wounds or ulcers put on an unhealthy
appearance, and become covered with coagulated blood, and the
slightest scratches degenerate into troublesome sores. In high degrees
of scurvy, as in the case of Lord Anson's sailors, old wounds break out
afresh, and a broken bone will become disunited, although the fracture
may have been consolidated for some time. With these symptoms
there is not so much derangement of the general functions as might be
expected. The appetite usually continues good, though the patients
are unable, owing to the state of their gums, to masticate their
ordinary food; they sleep well, and the intellect is unaffected, though
the spirits are much depressed. Scorbutic persons swoon readily, and
not unfrequently die suddenly on making some more considerable
exertion than usual.
If the disease should prove fatal, discoloured spots are found in
many internal organs, while their tissue generally is of a paler colour
than natural. The blood contains a less quantity of red particles than
usual, but they are not dissolved in the serum, as some have supposed.
SCUTAGE. [ESCUAGE.]
SCUTELLARIN. A bitter matter of unknown composition found
in the Scutellaria lateriflora.
SCY TALE (σKUTáλn, a stick) is the name of a secret mode of
writing which was used by the ephors at Sparta in their communi-
cations with their kings or generals when abroad. The ephors cut the
material upon which they intended to write into one long stripe, like a
narrow riband, which they wound about a round staff so as to cover
the whole. The command or communication which they had to send
was then written upon it, and then the slip of writing material was
taken from the staff and sent to the king or general. The slip appeared
only covered with single letters, which none could read unless he wound
the slip around a staff of precisely the same size as that used by the
ephors. Kings and generals therefore, when they went abroad, were
provided by the ephors with a staff precisely like that which the ephors
themselves intended to use in their communications with them. (Plut.,
Lysand.,' 19.) This rude mode of sending a message must have originated
at a very early period, but no instance of it is recorded previous to the
time of Pausanias. (Corn. Nepos, Paus.,' 3.) After the Peloponnesian
war, we find the Spartans using the seytale also as a medium through
which they sent commands to their allied cities. (Xenoph., 'Hist. Gr.,'
v. 2, 37.)
SCYTHE. The common scythe is an instrument too well known
to require a minute description, but as much of its utility in agriculture
depends on a correct adjustment of its parts, we shall briefly advert to
them. The blade of the scythe, which is always curved, with the
cutting edge on the concave side, is fixed to the handle at an angle
both to the plane of the blade and to the tangent to the curve. It is
on the nice adjustment of these angles that the perfection of the
instrument depends. A scythe must cut the corn or grass, especially
the latter, as near to the ground as possible; and where the land lies
407
SEA.
flat and the stones have been removed from the surface, a good scythe,
in the hands of a skilful mower, will cut the grass so near to the
ground that little or no stubble is left. Every farmer knows well that
an inch of the grass near the ground adds more to the weight of the
hay than several inclus higher up, and that a skilful mower with a
good scythe can easily add much more to the value of the crop than
his earnings amount to, however liberally he may be paid, and that it
is of the greatest importance that noue but the best mowers be
entrusted with the work, and that attention be paid to the form of
their scythes and to their being frequently whetted.
It is the custom in England for the mowers to stoop much in
mowing, by which they imagine that they have a wider sweep. The
angle at which the handle is fixed is very acute to the plane of the
blade. In other countries the mowers stand more upright, and a
longer handle gives them a greater radius. Habit makes that position
easier to which we have been long accustomed; but it is probable that
a man can endure fatigue, and continue his exertion the longer, the
more nearly his position is erect. In some countries the handle of the
scythe is nearly straight, and the end of it passes over the upper part
of the left arm. The position of the mower is then nearly erect, and
his body turns as on a pivot, carrying the blade of the scythe parallel
to the ground, and cutting a portion of a considerable circle. The
position of the handle in this case must be such that when the scythe
is in the middle of its swing, and the blade parallel to the ground, it
rests naturally on the left arm above the elbow, while the mower is
nearly in an erect position. By turning his body to the right, and
stooping towards that side, he begins his cut, and by raising himself
up, the muscles of his back greatly assist in swinging the scythe
round.
The blades of the scythes on the Continent are mostly made of
natural steel, such as is found in parts of Germany, and they are so
soft that the edge can be hammered to sharpen it and keep it thin.
In England the scythes are forged thin and well tempered, and to
prevent their bending they have a rim of iron along the back to within
a few inches of the point. This saves much time in sharpening, and
they very seldom require the grindstone.
Most scythes have two projecting handles fixed to the principal
handle, by which they are held, and these are variously put on,
according to the fashion of the district. The real line of the handle is
that which passes through both the hands and ends at the head of the
blade. This may be a straight line or a crooked one, generally the
latter, and by moving these handles up or down the main handle, each
mower can place them so as best suits the natural size and position of
bis body. Hence it is that a man can seldom mow well with another
man's scythe.
In mowing corn when ripe, which is an economical mode of reaping,
the scythe need not have so great a sweep, nor is it necessary to cut
the straw so near to the ground. The great difficulty here is to lay
the cut corn evenly, so that the binders can readily collect it and tie it
into sheaves. This is most effectually done by adding to the bottom
of the handle a small hoop at right angles to the line of cutting, and
by mowing always towards the standing corn, which is easily done by
beginning at one end and going round toward the left in an irregular
spiral to the centre of the field. The straw is thus laid leaning against
the standing corn, and is readily collected with the arm by the binder,
who follows the mower. As the straw is not always upright, but fre-
quently bent to a side, this mode of mowing is not always practicable.
When the corn is only slightly bent down, a scythe with an addition
of a cradle, as it is called, collects the slanting straw more easily. The
cradle is a species of comb, with three or four long teeth parallel to
the back of the blade, and fixed in the handle. This inserts itself
behind the straw to be cut, raises it up, and by a peculiar twist of the
scythe after the stroke, it is left so as to be easily collected. Those
who are accustomed to use the cradle-scythe do the work rapidly
and well.
When the corn is much laid and entangled, it is impossible to use
the common scythe, even with a cradle. This has probably suggested
a scythe to be used with one hand, while a hook in the other gathers
the straggling corn. The most perfect of these scythes is called the
Hainault scythe, from a province of that name in Belgium, where it
was first noticed. It is commonly used in different parts of the Con-
tinent. The Hainault scythe is swung by the power of the wrist
principally. It does not cut the straw by so oblique a stroke as the
common scythe, but rather as a bill-hook or axe would do, meeting the
straw nearly at right angles. The hook collects a small bundle, which
is severed at a stroke, and the left foot assists in holding what is cut
and rolled together with the hook, in the hollow of the blade. It is
thus laid aside, and fit to be tied up. This instrument is a great
improvement on the English fagging-hook, which is used in the same
manner, the left arm of the reaper acting the part of the hook; but as
the handle is inserted in the plane of the blade, it causes the reaper to
stoop low, which is fatiguing to the loins, especially of elderly people,
who can more readily reap with the Hainault scythe.
The scythe is an instrument which should be more generally intro-
duced in harvest, and experience has proved that it had many advantages
over the sickle or reaping-hook. [HARVEST.]
SEA and OCEAN are terms by which the whole volume of water is
desiguated which cccupies the lower portion of the surface of our
SEA.
408
globe, and thus separates the solid and more elevated masses which
are called land, and which rise above the level of the sea.
Sea-water has a salt and somewhat bitter taste, and in its natural
state is unfit for drinking or for culinary purposes. Its specific gravity
is about 10277, rain-water being 10000. The water of closed seas
into which many rivers fall is lighter, as that of the Baltic, which is
only 1.0067, and that of the Black Seá. But the water of the Mediter-
ranean is more salt than that of the Atlantic Ocean. In those parts of
the ocean which approach the poles the water is of less specific gravity
than in those parts which lie towards the equator, which may be due
to the melting of the enormous masses of ice which are found in the
higher latitudes.
Sea-water has repeatedly been analysed; the latest results are stated
under SODIUM. That of the Baltic contains only 1.18 per cent. of
salt, but the water of the Medit nean contains 4.18 per cent.; the
former being considerably below the latter somewhat above the
average of the oceanic water. The sea is therefore a weak brine, from
which the salt may be extracted by the heat of the sun and dryness of
the climate.
Besides mineral substances, sea-water contains a slimy fetid matter,
which imparts to it a nauseous taste, and which is probably the pro-
duce of the decomposition of animal and vegetable substances, which
abound in the sea. It has been observed that the sea-water, when not
agitated for a long time, is very subject to pass into a certain state of
putrefaction, and in that state it exhales very unpleasant odours, which
are a real nuisance to the seaman. It is likewise known that some low
coasts between the tropics are subject to diseases, which are attributed
to the miasma arising from the sea after a long continuance of calm
weather.
It has often been maintained that sea-water has no colour, but it is
well known that the sea at a great distance from the land has an
exceedingly fine ultramarine tint, which cannot be considered due to
reflection from the atmosphere, as the colour of the sea is frequently
of a deeper hue than that of the sky, and does not change even when
the sky is covered with clouds. This colour undergoes some changes
in shoals, where it is modified by the colour of the matter which forms
the bottom. The greatest variety in the colour of the sea seems to
occur in the Greenland Sea, between 74° and 80° N. lat., where it
varies from ultramarine to olive green, and from the most perfect
transparency to deep opacity. The green colour is liable to changes in
its position, but still it is always renewed near certain situations fron
year to year. According to Scoresby, from whom we take this
account, it frequently constitutes long bands or streams, lying north
and south, or north-east and south-west, but of various dimensions,
sometimes extending two or three degrees of latitude in length, and
from a few miles to ten or fifteen leagues in breadth. This occurs
very generally about the meridian of London, and the whales chiefly
feed in this green-coloured water. When examined by Scoresby, it
was found to be replete with minute animals, principally Medusa, tʊ
which its colour was due.
The transparency of the sea-water seems to be connected with its
colour. It is much greater than that of river-water, which contains
much heterogeneous matter in suspension. It has been said that the
light penetrates to about the depth of 60 feet only, but this is a vague
estimate, requiring much qualification; some rays certainly penetrate
much deeper. This transparency of the sea-water increases with the
distance from the shores, and is generally greater in the higher than
in the lower latitudes, which may arise from the circumstance that
the number of organic substances in the sea is much greater in warm
climates. But there are many remarkable exceptions to the last-
mentioned fact. Some parts of the sea between the tropics are dis-
tinguished by the transparency of their waters, especially the Caribbean
Sca, where zoophytes and sea-plants, though growing on a bottom
twenty or thirty feet deep, appear to be near enough to the surface to
be plucked by a person in a boat; indeed some navigators affirm that
the bottom of the sea may be seen at the depth of 150 feet. In the
northern seas indeed it is asserted that the bottom may be seen at the
depth of from 400 to 500 feet.
One of the most remarkable properties of sea-water is a certain
luminous appearance, which has been observed in all seas, but appears
in its greatest splendour between the tropics. In calm weather, when
the water is moved by the motion of a vessel, the light assumes the
form of brilliant stars, or round masses of a greenish hue, frequently
eighteen inches in diameter. They float by the vessel in every part of
the water which her bottom has touched, as deep as the lowest part of
her keel, and form behind her a long and fiery train. At other times,
when the breeze is strong, and the billows break and foam, the light
appears like fields of flashing fire, through which the vessel is making.
her way. When the night is dark, the brilliancy of the water forms a
beautiful contrast with the black concave of the sky; but as soon as
daylight returns, the splendour disappears, and the sea exhibits only
its usual dingy colour. At night, the slight agitation of the water
occasioned by the action of a steady breeze upon the surface is
generally sufficient for producing it. We are entitled to believe, as
the result of modern scientific research, that this phosphorescence of the
ocean depends exclusively on the presence of myriads of marine
animals and animalcula, having the power of producing animal light
(as animals higher in the scale of organisation produce animal heat);
409
410
SEA.
SEA.
.
unless, indeed, the conjecture of Professor Schönbein, that it partly
arises from the oxidation of dead organic matter in the sea by means
of ozone, should hereafter be verified. The luminous animals belong
to every sub-kingdom of invertebrate animals: Protozoa; Radiata,
especially the Acalephæ; Crustacea, as a class of Annulosa; Mollusca;
and the osculent groups of the Annelida and Tunicata; some of the
compound forms of the latter, or compound Ascidians, being among the
most splendidly phosphorescent. In the Transactions of the Berlin
Academy of Sciences is a valuable paper by Ehrenberg on the luminous
animals of the sea, containing a copious list of the species observed to
possess this property. [LUMINOSITY OF ORGANIC BEINGS, in NAT.
HIST. DIV.]
From the well-known laws of gravitation, it is inferred that the
surface of the sea is always at the same distance from the centre of
the earth, and that consequently it forms a uniformly regular curve.
This surface of course maintains the same level, and it is consequently
the best basis from which to determine the relative elevations of the
different parts of the land. Some facts bearing on this subject, and on
the precautions requisite in the use of the sea-level as a datum line,
are stated near the end of this article, where the physical changes of
the sea are noticed. But though the surface of the sea is a regular
curve, minute investigation has shown that there are some irregu-
larities, and that some parts of the sea are more elevated than others.
This is particularly the case with closed seas, which are generally more
elevated than the ocean. The level of the closed seas is higher than
that of the ocean when the mass of water brought to them by the
rivers which discharge into their basin is greater than that which is
lost by evaporation, and the straits by which they are united to the
ocean are not wide enough to carry off the surplus waters quickly.
On the other hand, when the evaporation is greater than the supply of
water from rivers, the level of the closed sea sinks below that of the
ocean, and it must be supplied with water from the latter by the straits
which unite them.
The Baltic, though of no great extent, and though united to the
open sea by three straits, one of which is of considerable width,
receives so great a supply of river-water, that its level is higher than
that of the North Sea. Very exact measurement has shown that this
difference amounts to more than a foot between the level of the North
Sea near the mouth of the river Eider and that of the Baltic near the
town of Kiel. It is true that when the level of the North Sea has
been raised by a continuance of western and north-western winds, a
current sets from the Cattegat into the Baltic, but in calm weather it
is always found that the current sets northward through the three
straits. The difference of level between the Black Sea and the Mediter-
ranean is much greater. The large rivers which fall into the Black Sea
bring down an immense volume of water; and accordingly a very
strong southern current is constantly found to be setting southward
through the Strait of Constantinople into the Sea of Marmora. It
generally runs with a velocity of about three miles an hour, which
however at one place, called the "Devil's Current," is much greater,
and at times between five and six miles per hour. The velocity of
this current must vary with the seasons; for it is stated that the level
of the Black Sea in winter is between two and three fathoms higher
than in summer. The Sea of Marmora, which thus receives the
surplus of the waters of the Black Sea, must also be more elevated
than the Mediterranean; for the current which sets through the Strait
of the Dardanelles is likewise constant and rather quick, though not so
quick as that in the Strait of Constantinople.
The Mediterranean, on the other hand, receives a very scanty supply
of water by rivers; for with the exception of the Nile, no large stream
falls into its basin, which is of much greater extent than that of other
closed seas, and therefore it must lose a great volume of water by
evaporation. Halley showed that the Mediterranean, whose tempera-
ture is from 4° to 5° Fahr. higher than that of the Atlantic under
the same latitude, must lose by evaporation nearly three times as much
water as is brought into it by the rivers. The deficiency is supplied in
The deficiency is supplied in
two ways: by the current of the Dardanelles, which brings to it the
surplus waters of the Black Sea and of the Sea of Marmora; and by
that which sets through the Strait of Gibraltar from the Atlantic
Ocean. The Atlantic current runs somewhat more than one mile and
a half per hour. It has been supposed that, though this current con-
stantly sets into the Mediterranean, an under-current runs in an oppo-
site direction, carrying back a portion at least of the water to the
Atlantic; but the attempts which have been made to establish this
fact have failed, and it is probable that this supposed under-current
does not exist. Notwithstanding the large supply of water which the
Mediterranean receives at its two extremities, the level is below that
of the Atlantic. Corabœuf found that the difference of level on the
Mediterranean near Perpignan, and on the Bay of Biscay near Bayonne,
amounted to nearly six feet; and Délambre and Mechain found it to
be nearly three feet between the North Sea at Dunkerque and the
Mediterranean near Perpignan.
In these instances the difference of level is satisfactorily explained;
but the explanation is not so easy with respect to the great differ-
ence between the level of the Mediterranean and that of the Red
Sea. These two seas are separated by the Isthmus of Suez, which
extends about 70 miles from north to south. When the French
occupied Egypt, they executed an extensive levelling across this
isthmus; and the result was, that the Red Sea is above 32 feet
higher than the Mediterranean. No river of importance, not even a
perennial stream, falls into the Red Sea, which must also lose a con-
siderable volume of water by evaporation. This loss of water is
probably supplied by the current which sets into the Red Sea from
the Indian Ocean; and some persons are of opinion that the difference
of level between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean might be pro-
duced by this current.
duced by this current. But it seems improbable that such an effect
can be produced by this cause. According to Horsburgh and Wellsted
('Journ. of Lond. Geogr. Soc.,' vol. vi.), a current sets from the
Indian Sea into the Red Sea between October and May, and it often
runs with great rapidity. But between May and October the northern
winds prevail through the whole extent of the Red Sea; and these
winds, which frequently blow a gale, cause a continual current to set
through the straits into the Gulf of Aden. Under such circumstances,
it is evident that the sea must fall to its natural level, especially as
this state of things continues for more than three months. Wellsted
observes that in this season, from May to October, the reefs in the
northern part of the Red Sea have about 2 feet less water on them
than in the remaining months of the year. This therefore appears to
be the whole extent of the difference produced on the level of the
Red Sea by the current, which enters it through the Strait of Bab-el-
Mandeb from October to May; but the French, as already observed,
found the difference between the levels of the Red and Mediterranean
seas to be not less than 32 feet. It would therefore appear that the
Indian Ocean itself must be about 30 feet higher than the Mediter-
ranean, and probably also higher than the Atlantic near the Strait
of Gibraltar (see below) and that the difference of level in the different
parts of the ocean is much greater than is commonly supposed.
This is also proved by the difference of level between the Atlantic
and the Pacific on both sides of the Isthmus of Panama. Accord-
ing to Lloyd (Phil. Trans.,' 1830), the mean rise and fall of the
Pacific two days after full moon is 21-22 feet, and in the Caribbean
Sea 1.16 feet. The water at high-water mark in the Atlantic is 13:55
feet lower than in the Pacific. The mean between the high and low
water in the Pacific is 10.61 feet, and in the Atlantic 0.58. It would
therefore appear that the level of the Pacific is 3:52 feet higher than
that of the Caribbean Sea, as at low-water, two days after full-moon,
the Pacific sinks 6'51 feet below the level of the Atlantic; but it rises
at high-water 13:55 feet above it.
In this comparison of the level of the two oceans, the Caribbean Sea
is placed in opposition to the Pacific: but in reasoning from existing
data and our present knowledge, we must admit that the level of the
Caribbean Sea is much higher than that of the Atlantic near the
old Continent. The north-eastern and eastern trade-winds force a
great volume of water from the North Atlantic into the Caribbean
Sea, and this is increased by another large volume of water which
is brought to that sea by the Guiana current, and which enters it by
the straits between the islands of Martinique and Trinidad.
[ATLANTIC OCEAN, in GEOG. DIV.] Such volumes of water, being
arrested by the long isthmus which separates the Caribbean Sea and
the Gulf of Mexico from the Pacific, must produce a considerable
accumulation of water along the western shores of those seas, and
raise them above the common level of the Atlantic, and this fact is
confirmed by the rapid current called the Gulf stream. [ATLANTIC
OCEAN, in GEOG. Div.] Opinion varies considerably as to the differ-
ence of level between the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic. Poussin
found the level of the Gulf at the mouth of the river Suwanee
3.75 feet higher than that of the Atlantic at the mouth of St. John's
River in Florida: but when Darby, in his View of the United
States,' estimates the difference between the Gulf near the island of
Cuba and the entrance of Chesapeake Bay as at least 83 feet, we
must suppose that he has formed his opinion on erroneous data.
Also, we cannot accede to the opinion of Humboldt, who, in compar-
ing some barometrical observations made at Cumana, Cartagena, and
Vera Cruz, with others made at Acapulco and Callao, came to the con-
clusion that in these parts the Pacific was about 9-5 feet lower than
the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. Lloyd found the reverse
to be the case at the mouth of the Chagres and at Panama, as we have
mentioned above.
Mathematical investigation, founded on modern exact physical
research, has however led to the discovery at once of a cause of
difference of level in the sea, very different from any of the causes
considered above, and of an example of that difference of the most
interesting and instructive character. In the Philosophical Transac-
tions' for 1859, p. 779-796, is a paper by Archdeacon Pratt, On the
Influence of the Ocean on the Plumb-line in India,' which is a sequel
to two former communications on the effect of Mountain Attraction on
the Plumb-line in India. In this paper the author first describes the
remarkable nature of the geographical position of Hindustan, con-
sisting in this :-that the highest mountain-ground in the world lies
to the north of it, and an unbroken expanse of ocean extends from its
shores down to the neighbourhood of the South Pole. Now as water
is lighter than land, that is, the quantity of matter contained in a given
bulk of water is less than that contained in au equal bulk of land, the
attraction or attractive power of the ocean is smaller than that of the
land. A given bulk of land has a greater attractive power than an
equal bulk of sea. Therefore, the sea on the shores of Hindustan is
SEA.
SEA.
412
more attracted by the land than by the mass of the ocean beyond., there are not more than between 6 and 10 fathoms water: it consists
The tendency of this, therefore, is to draw up the water to a higher of corals and shells. The most southern extremity of the Nazareth
level on the northern shores of the peninsula than at its southern bank consists of the islands called Cargados, in 16° 47′ S. lat. and near
extremity at Cape Comorin. But besides this, the mountain mass of 60° E. long. From this point the bank extends in a north north-east
Thibet and the Himalaya [PLAINS] presents a great excess of matter direction to 14° S. lat. The surface is tolerably level, and the least
on the north, above that of the land of ordinary height, and conse- depth of water does not fall short of 14 fathoms.
quently has a more powerful attraction, which is added to that of the
land of Hindustan generally, in drawing up the sea to a greater height
at the northern extremity of the peninsula than at the southern.
Accordingly, it has been found by Archdeacon Pratt that the elevation
of the sea-level at Kurachee, on the north side of the Arabian Sea, is
515 feet above that at Cape Comorin, and it must be about the same
at the sandheads of Calcutta, at the north end of the bay of Bengal.
Now the sea is our only standard of measurement to which the form
of the earth can be referred. Regarding it as the general surface of
the globe, all elevations above or depressions below that surface are, as
we have seen, measured from it. But these 500 or 600 feet, fortunately,
are the greatest extent to which the sea-level can be affected, as there
is no part of the globe where the attraction on one side, and the
deficiency of attraction on the other, can be so great as in that
particular portion of the world where this difference exists.
The bottom of the sea is similar to the surface of the land as to the
irregular succession of elevations and depressions, and it is diversified
by mountains and valleys and plains of different elevation. The sum-
mits of the submarine mountains rise above the level of the sea in the
form of islands. In several parts large table-lands are found, whose
surface is not at a great depth below the level of the sea: when their
surface is covered with sand, they are named-sand-banks; and when it
consists of coral rocks, coral-banks. Near the edges of these banks the
depth of the sea is generally very great. Some of the summits are
barren, others are covered with vegetation, but all teem with life of
one order or other. The most extensive formation of the submarine
table-lands occurs in the North Atlantic. Its most north-eastern por-
tion is formed by the Outer Bank and the Great Bank of Newfound-
land. [NEWFOUNDLAND, in GEOG. DIV.] West of the Great Bank of
Newfoundland are Whale Bank, Green Bank, Banquereau, and Mizen
Bank. The three last-mentioned banks are situated in front of the
entrance of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Opposite the coasts of Nova |
Scotia are Sable Bank and Le Have Bank; and then follow, in the
same south-western direction, St. George's Bank, or the banks of Nan-
tucket, which approach the continent of North America in the vicinity
of New York. From this point the banks occur at a short distance
from the shores of the United States, and extend, almost without
interruption, to Cape Florida and Sable Point, the most southern
extremity of the peninsula of Florida. West of this peninsula is the
Tortuga Bank, the continuation of which skirts the shores of the
United States in the Gulf of Mexico as far west as the mouths of the
Mississippi. This series of banks occupies more than 1400 miles in
length; but there is always water enough on them for the largest
vessels, with the exception of the Virgin Rocks on the Great Bank of
Newfoundland, and the shoals of St. George's Bank. In all the other
parts the least depth is not less than ten fathoms, and in general forty
fathoms of water are found on them. The surface of these banks is
very level. Along the northern and north-western edge, which lies
opposite to the coast of America, the depth suddenly descends to 100
fathoms, and along the southern edge to 300 fathoms. The descent
from the edge of the bank to the deep sea is nearly perpendicular.
The banks, especially those north of 40° N. lat., are frequented by
immense shoals of fish, especially cod.
The Columbian banks, under which name are comprehended all the
banks which begin opposite the eastern shores of the peninsula of
Florida and extend in a south-eastern direction to the Mona Passage
between Haïti and Puerto Rico, are divided from the North American
banks by the Florida Gulf-stream. They consist of two larger banks,
called the Little and Great Bahama Bank, which occupy the north-
western portion of the group, and of five smaller banks, which occur
at great distances from one another in a south-eastern direction. These
banks have from 15 to 20 fathoms water on their edges, but they are
beset with rocks and numerous shoals, of which a few are dry at low-
water they are therefore shunned by vessels. The surface of the
banks consists of coral, covered with an accumulation of shells and
calcareous sand. On their eastern edges, along the Atlantic, are the
Bahama Islands.
:
Of the smaller banks which occur in the Atlantic we shall only
mention the Bank of Arguin, which lies near the western coast of
North Africa, beginning at Cape Blanco (21° N. lat.), and extending to
the neighbourhood of Portendik (about 18° N. lat.). It is dangerous
for navigators, as there are many parts in which the water is not deep
enough for large vessels, many of which have been lost on it. The
Abrolhos, near the coast of Brazil, between 16° and 18° S. lat., is not
extensive, but it is extremely dangerous on account of the soundings
being very irregular, varying between 36 and 4 fathoms. In two
successive casts of the hand-lead the soundings frequently vary from
30 to 10, and sometimes even to 4 fathoms.
There are several banks in the Indian Ocean: the most extensive
are the Saya de Malha and the Bank of Nazareth. The Saya de Malha
extends in length from north to south between S° 18′ and 11° 30', and
is cut by 61° 30′ E. long. The surface is uneven, and in many places
An extensive bank, called the Needle or Agulhas Bank, surrounds
the southern extremity of Africa. It extends towards the west
beyond the Cape of Good Hope, and towards the east beyond Cape
Padrone, east of Algoa Bay. As it is not divided, like the other banks,
from the continent by a tract of deeper water, it is not to be con-
sidered as a table-land, but as a submarine prolongation of the
continent. Between Cape Agulhas (10° E. long.) and Cape Vaccas
(22° E. long.), it extends to 37° S. lat., or to a distance exceeding 150
miles from the continent. The depth of water on this bank variés
between 30 and 90 fathoms. The surface is composed of coarse sand,
corals, shells, and small stones. Along its western edge it is skirted
by a mud-bank, which is covered by water from 50 to 120 fathoms
deep. The structure of the land is thus continued into the sea, beyond
the extremities of continents, in other parts of the world also; as in
the islands of Tierra del Fuego at the termination of South America.
In other cases, as on the coast of Norway, there is a rapid and com-
plete cessation of the high ground in the course of a very small distance
from the shore.
There are numerous banks in the Pacific, especially south of 20° N.
lat. All the larger banks are surrounded by coral reefs, on which
islands of small extent often occur. [REEFS.] Near banks, the sea
usually deepens to 200 and 300 fathoms, and even more.
The subject of the depth of the sea in general next claims our
attention. We are best acquainted with the depth of several close
seas, especially those which are much navigated. The depth of the
Baltic is inconsiderable; it usually varies between 30 and 40 fathoms,
and only in two or three places sinks below 100 fathoms. The North
Sea is somewhat deeper in its northern part. Between the Shetland
Islands and the coast of Norway the depth varies between 80 and
140 fathoms, but it gets gradually shallower towards the south. In
the Straits of Dover the deepest place is only 26 fathoms. The depth
of the English Channel increases as we proceed towards the west, but
very slowly. East of the Eddystone it does not exceed 50 fathoms.
The Irish Channel is in general deeper. Though there are some places
between Wales and Ireland in which it does not exceed 40 fathoms,
its general depth may be said to vary between 60 and 80 fathoms;
and in the strait between the county of Antrim and that of Wigton in
Scotland it attains 100 fathoms. The Mediterranean is much deeper
than the Baltic and North Sea, more especially along the southern
coast of Spain and about the island of Sardinia, where the depth
varies between 500 and 1000 fathoms; but the deepest parts appear to
be in the spaces devoid of islands to the west of Sardinia, and to the
east of Malta, where the depth is about 1760 fathoms, or two miles.
A shallow tract extends from Trapani in Sicily to Cape Bon in Tunis:
it is called by the Italian sailors scherchi, and is of inconsiderable
but very variable depth. That portion of the Mediterranean which
lies cast of this shallow tract is not so deep as the western part. The
Red Sea may be compared in depth with the eastern part of the
Mediterranean. [RED SEA, in GEOG. DIV.] The sea which surrounds
the islands of the western gulf of the Indian Archipelago seems
nowhere to sink much below 50 fathoms, and these islands, in fact,
belong to the continent of Asia; but on the coast of Northern
Borneo, in the Straits of Lombrok, and near the middle of the Strait
of Macassa, commences, southward and eastward, a very deep sea
hitherto unfathomed.
The main body of the sea has a much greater depth. In most parts
of the Atlantic, where the sea has been sounded, no bottom was found
with 300 fathoms. Between Europe and America the bottom seems
to offer great inequalities, being furrowed by deeper tracts, which run
north and south. In the North Atlantic are the greatest depths at
which the bottom of the sea has been reached; the places where it has
been fathomed, according to Maury, are not deeper than 25,000 feet, or
about four miles and three quarters. The deepest place in this ocean
is probably between the parallels of 35° and 40° N., and immediately
to the southward of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland. The smalt
general depth of this part of the Atlantic has given rise to the opinion
that the sea round the North Pole is not so deep as that which sur-
rounds the South Pole, but this opinion has no foundation. Phipps
and Scoresby sounded in several places between Spitzbergen and
Greenland with from 780 to 1200 fathoms, without finding a bottom;
and Ellis and Ross did the same in Hudson's Bay and Baffin's Bay.
In the Pacific Ocean the depth seems also to be very considerable, but
few soundings have been made there.
The depth of the sea near the land varies with the nature of the
shores. Where the country near the sea is elevated, and terminates in
high and rocky shores, the sea is generally of considerable depth, as in
the fiords of Norway. Such shores have generally good and safe
harbours. But when a low plain terminates on the sea with a flat
sandy bank, the sea is shallow and frequently continues to be so to a
great distance from the shore. In many places such shores are
inaccessible even to boats, and vessels must keep at a distance of many,
miles. Such shallows consist either of sand or of mud. These low
(413
414
SEA.
SEA.
{
4
:
shores are generally destitute of harbours, or at least they occur only
at great distances, and much expense is required to maintain them in
an efficient state: the harbours on rocky coasts are not subject to this
inconvenience.
It is a very remarkable phenomenon, which has not yet been satis-
factorily explained, that the temperature of the sea decreases as the
land is approached, and it also decreases on shoals and banks; and as
this decrease may be detected by the thermometer at a considerable
distance from land, this instrument is now used for the purpose of
ascertaining the approach to land or the presence of shoals. It must,
however, be observed, that though this decrease generally takes place,
it is not universal.
As late as the end of the last century it was a generally received
opinion that the whole mass of sea-water, from the surface to the
bottom, had the same temperature in the same latitude. But nume-
rous observations, which have been more recently made, have shown
the inaccuracy of this assumption. It has been found that the law
which is constant for the earth must be inverted for the sea. The
farther we descend into the interior of the earth, the higher is the tem-
perature; but the deeper we dip into the sea, the lower is the tempe-
rature of the water. But this does not take place in the same ratio in the
whole sea. Captain Ross found the temperature of the sea in Baffin's
Bay, 3900 feet below the surface, +25 52, while the surface itself was
+33·80°. Beechey, in 47° 18' N. lat., at a depth of 5124 feet, found
the water + 39-56°, and at the surface it was 46.22°. Sabine found
that the water in the Caribbean Sea, at a depth of 1000 fathoms, had
a temperature of 45:50°, whilst at the surface it was 83.30°. According
to an observation of Franklin, the water at a depth of 650 fathoms, in
57° 44′, was 40·5°; at 450 it was 41°; and at the surface, 45°. There
are a few instances in which a new increase of the temperature has
been observed at a very great depth. In the following observations
made by Beechey, in the Pacific, the temperature became stationary at
a great depth :
23° 28′ N. lat.
Temp. at the surface
63°
At a depth of 300 ft.
62°
At a depth of 900 ft.
50°
47.5
58° 18′ N. lat.
Temp. at the surface
At a depth of 600 ft.
At a depth of 1200 ft.
At a depth of 1962 ft.
At a depth of 2652 ft.
54°
45°
41°5
40°5
40.5
At a depth of 1260 ft.
At a depth of 1860 ft. 47-5
As a proof of the increase of the temperature of the sea at a great
depth, we copy the following observations, of which the first two were
made by Beechey, and the last by Prescott; the first in the Pacific,
and the last two in the Atlantic Ocean :-
14° 22′ N. lat.
91°
Temp. of the air
Of the sea at its surface 88°
At a depth of 600 ft. 57°
At a depth of 1200 ft. 55°
At a depth of 1800 ft.
At a depth of 2100 ft.
Temp. of the air
55° 58′ S. lat.
Temp. of the air
37°
Of the sea at its surface 43°5
At a depth of 600 ft. 42.5
42°•5 ·
40°·5
41°5
48°-5
49 5
At a depth of 1380 ft.
At a depth of 1980 ft.
At a depth of 2580 ft.
12° 22′ N. lat.
85°
At a depth of 540 ft. 57°
At a depth of 660 ft. 58°
At a depth of 720 ft. 58°
At a depth of 1320 ft. 60°
Of the sea at its surface 82°
At a depth of 180 ft.
At a depth of 360 ft.
71°
61°
C
The renewed increase at a great depth is a very difficult problem to
solve: it is possible that it may be owing to submarine currents of
different degrees of temperature, as some have supposed. Sir James
C. Ross ascertained, by seven different experiments, that between the
parallels of 55° and 58° 30' S., there is a belt encircling the earth,
where the mean temperature of the sea, that of the greatest density of
its water, or + 39.5°, prevails throughout its entire depth, forming a
neutral border between two great thermic basins of the ocean.
But there are facts on record which clearly show that in certain
parts of the ocean there must exist some agency by which the water
acquires a higher degree of temperature than might have been expected
from ordinary causes. Horner, in Krusenstern's Travels,' observes
that, in some places in the Gulf-stream, the hand-lead, when it had
descended to a depth of between 480 and 600 feet, was heated to such
a degree that it was impossible to take it into one's hand. A still more
remarkable anomaly is presented by the temperature of the sea between
Greenland and Spitzbergen. In nearly every trial, Scoresby found that
this sea, at a depth of from 100 to 200 fathoms, was from 6° to 7°
warmer than at the surface; and Franklin states that when he accom-
anied Captain Buchan in his expedition to the North Pole, the water
rought from any great depth was invariably found to be warmer than
hat of the surface. Some persons are of opinion that the melting of
he great masses of ice, by which that sea is surrounded and partly
overed even in summer, may have had the effect of cooling the surface.
But this is contrary to the well-established law that the colder water,
eing the denser, sinks to the bottom, and the warmer rises to the
urface; and further, it may be asked why-Ross and Parry, in navi-
ating Davis's Strait, Baffin's Bay, and Hudson's Bay, where the masses
f ice are neither less numerous nor less extensive, always found the
ontrary to take place.
The important subjects of the distribution of temperature in the
atmosphere over the sea, and of the mutual relations of the temperature
of the two elements, will be considered in the article TEMPERATURE,
TERRESTRIAL, DISTRIBUTION OF.
Masses of ice surround the two poles. The cause of this has been
thus generalised by Sir J. F. W. Herschel :- "Beyond the 56th
parallels of latitude, the temperature of the water is lower at the
surface, and rises as the thermometer descends, till the level of 39° [or
the temperature of greatest density] is reached. The sea, then, even
in deep water, becomes frozen at the surface in the winter months, or
rather through all that portion of the year which intervenes between
the beginning of September and the latter end of June; July and
August being, in high latitudes, the only open months.
There
can be very little doubt that, in the winter time, the surface of the
ocean at both poles is entirely frozen; but at the North Pole it is
probable, from many indications, that open water exists over a very
large area of the central polar basin during a considerable portion of
the wariner months." Some of these indications are then stated, but
a fuller view of them will be found in Sir John Richardson's Polar
Regions,' pp. 222-231.
It was formerly conjectured that the mass of ice inclosing the
North Pole extended to the vicinity of 81° N. lat., because all navi-
gators who had attained that latitude agreed in stating that the ice
there rose to a great height, and stood firm like a wall. This general
opinion gave rise to the attempt of Captain Parry to reach the pole by
travelling on this ice, which was supposed to be immovable. But
Parry was soon aware that he was travelling on ice which was in con-
tinuous motion, being carried by a current towards the south and
south-west, and this circumstance occasioned the failure of the under-
taking. When he had advanced, according to his calculation, several
miles to the northward in twenty-four hours, he found, on observing
the altitude of the sun, that the motion of the ice had carried him as
far southward, and that for several days he had advanced very little
nearer to his object. He was obliged to abandon the attempt, after
having reached 82° 40′ N. lat. Thus we have learned that the
exterior parts of the great mass of ice supposed to inclose the poles
consists of moving masses, which lie close together, and are only occa-
sionally divided from one another by narrow straits. The pieces of ice
which detach themselves from this great accumulation and enter the
open sea are called heavy drift-ice. The larger pieces of ice of this
description are a mile in length and breadth, and upwards of 30 feet in
thickness; but others are of less dimensions. The farther they advance
southward, the more their dimensions are reduced by the action of the
sun and of the water. But there are two other descriptions of ice-
masses in the sea, which appear to have a different origin-the ice-fields
and the icebergs. The term ice-field is applied to sheets of ice so
extensive that their limits cannot be discerned from the mast-head.
They often occur of the diameter of 20 or 30 miles, and, when they
are very closely united, they sometimes extend to the length of 50 or
100 miles. Their average thickness may be from 10 to 15 feet, and
their surface is mostly level, except where hummocks or low ice-hills
occur, and then the thickness is often 40 and even 50 feet. These
hummocks are produced by two fields coming into contact, when their
broken edges are raised by the violent concussion, and thrown upon
the fields themselves. These hummocks, therefore, are usually situated
near the edges of the field. In some fields the hummocks form ridges
or chains; in others they consist of isolated peaks. The smaller fields,
or those whose extent can be seen from the mast-head, are called floes.
The surface of these masses of ice, before July, is always covered with
a bed of snow from a foot to a fathom in depth; this snow dissolves in
the end of summer, and forms extensive pools and lakes of fresh water.
The great extent and the level surface of the fields show that they
cannot be portions of the ice over which Parry travelled. It is there-
fore supposed that they are generated in the sea which lies hetween
Greenland and Spitzbergen, and which, though navigable during the
summer, is covered with a continuous sheet of ice in the colder season.
The fields appear to be the parts of this great sheet, formed by its
breaking up at the approach of summer. When, on the further
advance of the season, the field-ice and floes of the general surface
break, the ice becomes heaped together in sheets confusedly piled on
each other, into what is called pack-ice, or an ice-pack. The pellicle of
ice formed over great areas of the polar seas, as the immediate effect of
a general depression of temperature below the freezing-point of sea-
water, is called pancake-ice. It is, in fact, the beginning of the pro-
duction of ice in the ocean; and the possibility of its existence, as
well as that of all continuous masses of ice, depends on the property of
regelation, to which Faraday has recently called attention [ICE;
WATER], and which Tyndall has applied with so much success to the
elucidation of the phenomena of glaciers, the parents-of icebergs, to
which we must now proceed. These are immense masses of ice rising
to a great height above the level of the sea; some of them attain a
height of 100 feet above the surface of the sea, and a few have been
found which seem to be more than twice that height. Their base near
the sea-level is not extensive, the larger masses generally being not
more than 4000 feet in circumference, though Middleton states that he
saw one which was from three to four miles in circuit. The most
common form of the iceberg is for one side to rise perpendicularly to
the very summit, the opposite side being very low, while the inter
:
415
ance.
SEA.
mediate surface forms a gradual slope. Some have regular flat sur-
faces, but frequently they present a great variety in form and appear-
Some of them resemble palaces, or churches, or old castles,
with spires, towers, windows, and arched gateways; while others
resemble pyramids and obelisks, and others are like ships, trees,
animals, and human beings. When a number of them are near one
another, which frequently happens, they present the appearance of a
mountainous country. When seen from a short distance, they look
like huge hills of marble; and when the sun shines on them, they
glitter like silver. Sometimes earth, gravel, and sand may be observed
in them. Their prevailing colour in the fresh fracture is greenish-
gray ap roaching to emerald-green. This colour resembles that of the
glaciers of Switzerland [GLACIERS, in NAT. HIST. DIV.], and the ice-
bergs are masses broken off from glaciers, or from barrier lines of
ice-cliff. They are rarely met with in the sea between Greenland and
Spitzbergen, because in these parts only a few glaciers approach near
the water's edge. But on both sides of Davis's Strait and Baffin's Bay,
and also on the eastern shores of Greenland as far north as 70° N. lat.,
glaciers cover the land, and in many places advance to the shores of
the sea.
In some places they terminate in a precipitous edge on the
coast. It is only in the sea which surrounds these coasts that the
icebergs are numerous. They seem to owe their origin to the circum-
stance of glaciers being in a continual state of progress. The glaciers
of Greenland, which are situated on the margin of the sea, protrude
their exterior parts over the ocean, and in summer, when the ice
becomes brittle, the force of cohesion is overcome by the weight of the
prodigious masses that overhang the sea, and they are detached from
the glacier with a dreadful crash. Thus an iceberg is formed. These
icebergs, as it seems, are most common along the eastern shores of
Greenland, and at the distance of 15 to 20 miles from the coast, where
they occur by hundreds and thousands, forming a sort of barrier outside
the drift-ice which is near the shore, and preventing its removal by an
off-shore wind. Captain Graah states that this barrier of icebergs
renders it impossible for vessels to approach these shores.
These masses of ice render navigation very dangerous; and the ice-
fields especially have caused the loss of many whaling-vessels. These
extensive masses are frequently put into a rotatory movement by a
cause which has never been discovered. When thus whirled about,
their outer edges acquire a velocity of several miles per hour. A field
thus in motion, coming in contact with another at rest, or with one
that has a contrary direction of movement, produces a dreadful shock.
The strongest ship is a mere atom between two such masses of matter
in motion, and many vessels have thus been destroyed. The ice-fields
are particularly dangerous in foggy weather, as their motions cannot
then be distinctly observed. Icebergs are much less dangerous, partly
on account of the small space which they occupy when compared with
ice-fields, and partly because they are easily distinguished at a distance
in the night by their natural brightness, and in foggy weather by a
peculiar blackness of the atmosphere. As, however, they occur far
from land and often in unexpected situations, sailors when crossing the
Atlantic between 50° and 60° N. lat., or even farther to the south,
must always be on the watch for them in the night time. Occasionally
the whale-fishers derive some advantage from them. As they sink
deep into the sea, they are very little affected by the wind, and they
furnish secure mooring to a ship in strong adverse winds, or when it is
required for other purposes. But mooring to lofty icebergs is attended
with considerable danger. Being sometimes very nicely balanced, they
are apt to lose their equilibrium; and vessels have often been staved
and sometimes wrecked by the fall of their icy mooring, while boats
have been overwhelmed even at a considerable distance by the swell
occasioned by such a catastrophe. Water is sometimes procured by
whaling-vessels from the deep pools of water that are formed in the
summer season on the depressions in icebergs, or from the streams
which run down their sides.
On approaching a field or any compact aggregation of ice, the ice-
blink is seen whenever the horizon is tolerably free from clouds, and
sometimes even under a thick sky. It consists of a stratum of lucid
whiteness, which appears over the ice in that part of the atmosphere
which joins the horizon. A clear sky presents a beautiful and perfect
map of the ice, 20 or 30 miles beyond the limit of direct vision, but
less distant in proportion as the atmosphere is more dense and obscure.
Each kind of ice has a different blink. Field-ice has the most lucid
blink, accompanied with a tinge of yellow; that of packed ice is more
purely white; and ice newly formed upon the sea has a grayish hue.
According to the experiments of Scoresby, the specific gravity of
the ice, when compared with that of sea-water occurring in the Green-
land Sea, at the temperature of 35° was ascertained to be from 0.894
to 0.900. That part of the ice, therefore, which is above the surface
appears to be, to that below the surface, in the proportion of 1 to
between 8 and 9. For every solid foot of ice which is seen in a mass
floating in the sea, there must be 8 or 9 feet below. Hence it some-
times happens that large icebergs, when they are carried into shallow
water, take ground, and remain stationary for one or two years, until
so much of their volume has been wasted by the action of the sun and
of the atmosphere, that they begin to float again.
It excited some surprise when it was discovered that the ice floating
about in the sea consisted of fresh water. It is true that it generally
contains a very small portion of salt, but it is probable that this small
SEA.
410
portion of salt is derived from the salt water contained in the pores
of the ice. If, says Scoresby, in confirmation of this opinion, the
newest and most porous ice be removed into the air, allowed to drain
for some time in a temperature of 32° and upwards, and then be
washed in fresh water, it will be found to be nearly quite free from
salt, and the water produced from it may be drunk. According to the
Russian explorer, Baron Wrangell, whenever the surface of the ice on
the north coast of Siberia is clear of snow, the salt may be found
deposited in crystals; and in the neighbourhood of the polynias, or
interior open seas of the Arctic regions already mentioned, the layer of
salt is often of considerable thickness. All this is in conformity with
the fact, first definitely ascertained by Dr. Faraday, that in the process
of freezing the foreign bodies contained in water are separated from
it; agreeably to a principle which appears to be manifested in the
crystallisation of most if not all fluids, of the separation of heteroge-
neous matter. On account of the salt contained in it, sea-water docs
not, like pure water, freeze at the temperature of 32°, but in the
Greenland Sea, where its specific gravity is 1.0263, it begins only to
freeze at 28°.
|
There is not any portion of the surface of the sea which is not
subjected to some kind of motion, and this circumstance must tend
greatly to preserve its purity. The water in some parts of the sea is
always propelled in the same direction by the currents. [ATLANTIC
OCEAN; PACIFIC OCEAN, in GEOG. DIV.] Nearly the whole sea is four
times in the day subject to a change in its level by the movements of
the tides. The motion produced by the winds, and known by the
name of waves, is much less regular. Each wave presents a gently
ascending surface to the windward, and a perpendicular descent lee-
ward. The elevation of the waves varies according to the strength of
the wind. A rather heavy gale raises them from six to eight feet
above the common sea-level; but in very strong gales they attain an
elevation of thirty feet. This motion of the surface of the sea is not
perceptible to a great depth. In the strongest gales it is supposed not
to extend beyond 72 feet below the surface, and at a depth of 90 feet
the sea is perfectly still. The form and even the size of the waves
vary according to the depth and the extent of the sea. In shallow
water, where the lower part of the waves approaches the bottom, and
meets with resistance, the waves are abrupt and irregular, and this is
also the case in confined seas; whilst on the open ocean they are wide
and long, and rise and fall with great regularity. When the waves
run to a low shore, the slope of the ground breaks their force, and they
terminate in a tranquil manner; but when they are impelled against
an elevated rocky coast, being repelled by the rock, they produce what
is called a surf. This violent rising of the sea on a rocky coast some-
times attains an elevation of 100 feet above the sea-level. The surf is
always dangerous to pass, except in boats of a peculiar construction.
The waves do not subside simultaneously with the wind. The momen-
tum of the water preserves the sea in its agitated state for many hours.
The air being little agitated, or not at all, is unable to depress the
undulations of the sea, and therefore the waves during a calm after a
gale rise higher, and their most elevated part forms a more acute
angle than during the gale. Such a state of the sea is called a hollow
sea. [WAVE.]
The term Ocean (a Greek word, Oceanus, réavos) is applied in a
general and somewhat indefinite manner to distinguish the greater
areas of sea. The word first occurs in Homer, who uses it to designate
the river or stream which, according to his ideas, surrounded the sur-
face of the earth like a circle. The Greek geographers, however, knew
that the ocean was a wide expanse of water, which surrounded the
land, and the term ocean was used by them in this sense. They
supposed that it penetrated deep into the mass of the continent by
four great bays or seas: these were, on the south the Arabian Sea and
the Persian Gulf; on the west the Mediterranean; and on the north
an imaginary strait which connected the Northern Ocean with the
Caspian Sea. (Strabo, p. 121; Pomp. Mela, i. 1.) [GEOGRAPHY.]
The actual surface of the globe may be reckoned at about
197,000,000 of square British statute miles; of which 145,000,000 are
covered by the waters of the ocean-now using this term in its widest
and most emphatic sense, as meaning the entire collection of seas-
while the area of the land is about 52,000,000 of miles; the proportion
of land to sea being thus as about 1 to 3, the land occupying one-
fourth, and the sea three-fourths of the entire surface of our planet.
The latter, however, is so unequally distributed that there is three
times more land in the northern than in the southern hemisphere.
The torrid zone is principally occupied by sea, and only one-twenty-
seventh part of the land on one side of the earth has land opposite to
it on the other. Sir John Herschel has recorded, that "one result of
maritime discovery on the great scale, is, so to speak, massive enough
to call for mention as an astronomical feature" of our planet.
"When
the continents and seas are laid down on a globe (and since the dis-
covery of Australia, and the recent addition to our Antarctic know-
ledge of Victoria Land by Sir J. C. Ross, we are sure that no very
extensive tracts of land remain unknown) we find that it is possible so
to divide the globe into two hemispheres, that one shall contain nearly
all the land; the other being almost entirely sea. It is a fact, not a
little interesting to Englishmen, and, combined with our insular
station in that great highway of nations, the Atlantic, not a little
explanatory of our commercial eminence, that London occupies nearly
SEA.
418
417
SEA.
the centre of the terrestrial hemisphere." He adds that "more
exactly Falmouth," the most westerly port of Great Britain, occupies
this centre. "The central point of the hemisphere which contains
the maximum of land," he continues, "falls very nearly indeed upon
this port. The land in the opposite hemisphere, with the exception of
the tapering extremity of South America and the slender peninsula of
Malacca, is wholly insular, and were it not for New Holland would be
quite insignificant in amouat." 'Outlines of Astronomy,' par. (284).
Another illustrative view of the distribution of land and water has
been given by Professor Ansted. In the space between the Equator
In the space between the Equator
and the Antarctic Circle (consisting of the southern half of the Torrid
Zone and the whole of the South Temperate Zone) which occupies
90,000,000 of square miles, nealy 77,000,000 (almost seven-eighths of
this space) are water, while in the North Temperate Zone the quantity
of land is nearly equal to that of water. As the great depressions on
the solid surface, occupied by the principal part of the water on the
globe, are connected together by comparatively narrow passages, and
are therefore really united, forming one wide and continuous expanse
of sea, the emphatic application of the term ocean, in the singular, is
as obviously correct in modern science, as it was in its original use by
the Greeks. But notwithstanding this unity, the different parts of the
ocean are known by distinct names, the most important being the
There are
Pacific, the Atlantic, Indian, Arctic, and Antarctic oceans.
also some internal seas of considerable extent, as the Mediterranean,
the Baltic, and others, which are almost entirely inclosed by land, and,
like the ocean, are filled with salt-water; besides the isolated Caspian
and Sea of Aral, and also the great gulfs and penetrating bays of North
America, together with others, better known, but far less extensive, in
Europe.
In considering the Physical Changes of the Ocean, we find that
the relations of sea and land in respect of area, height and depth,
interchange of moisture, aërial currents, and many other circumstances
which influence mechanical, chemical, and vital phenomena on our
globe, are so important, and, within the compass of the few hundreds
or thousands of years which belong to history or tradition, appear to
have suffered so little change, that nothing short of the complete proof
furnished by geology ought to satisfy our minds that every one of the
conditions which make up the now harmonious mutual dependence of
land and sea is variable, that the present aspect of the globe is but one
term of a long series of successive transformations, the law of which-
the great problem of geology-is perhaps not beyond the reach of
observation and induction. But as we proceed in this inquiry, we
learn the important lesson that the present history of any of the great
elements of terrestrial nature is imperfect, cannot in fact be ascer-
tained, without the light derived from its past history, of which it is
the continuous production. The sciences of Geology and Physical
Geography are thus found to be parts of each other, alternately,
according to the aspect in which they are viewed. Nearly all aqueous
geology, or the knowledge of the deposition of the fossiliferous strata,
consists in investigating the physical changes of the sea during past
ages of the earth's history, of which the changes it is now undergoing
are the ever-proceeding completion.
Are the relative areas of sea and land constant? To this geology
replies, that what is now land was formerly the sea; that in some of
the parts which are now covered by water land anciently existed, so as
to pour down rivers, conveying sediments of different sorts through
valleys and plains clothed with various vegetation. The land which
we behold is the bed of the ancient sea; or, to speak more precisely, it
is composed of the dried indurated sediments and the cooled volcanic
products which, during long intervals of time, were accumulated
beneath the ocean. Whether, during the process by which the ancient
sea-bed was raised to constitute our now dry land, a proportionate area
of what was formerly land was depressed to constitute the modern
sea-bed, is an unsettled question; but it is clearly proved that if any
proportion of areas between sea and land is a necessary condition of
our globe, all the parts of these areas are displaceable and have been
displaced.
Is the relative level of the land and sea constant? We cannot
affirm it. We cannot deny the existence of causes which may change
generally and continually this relation, any more than the operation of
agencies which locally and at intervals are known to derange it. If
there be a general change of temperature in the earth itself, or com-
municated from the planetary spaces around it, or occasioned by any
condition affecting the radiation of heat in the atmosphere above it;
the unequal influence of this change on the unequally expanding and
contracting liquid and solid masses will necessarily occasion variations
in the relative level of sea and land. Now, geology appears to have
established many facts regarding the fossil organic remains of plants
and animals, which admit of no clear general explanation except by
supposing extensive, perhaps general changes of climate.
nothing positively known which forbids the belief that such changes
may be still really, however slowly, in progress; there is abundant
proof of innumerable local derangements of the level of land and sea
in comparatively modern geological, historical, and even very recent
periods, and a slow upward movement of land is actually traceable and
measurable on the coast of Sweden and Norway.
There is
The
of land, would materially affect many secondary phenomena.
atmosphere would be affected in regard to its moisture, translucency,
rate of diminishing temperature, prevalent winds, and quantity of rain.
Its power of sustaining particular organic structures both on the land
and in the sea would be altered; and thus we see in the variable
nature of the relations which unite the land and the sea, elements of
continual change in the mechanical, chemical, and vital phenomena of
the globe.
The ocean is continually receiving the spoils of the land, by means
of the rivers and the action of the waves on the sea-coast; and from
that cause, theoretically, would be constantly decreasing in depth, and
as the quantity of water is always the same, its superficial extent
would increase and its level consequently rise. There are, however,
counteracting causes to check this tendency; the secular elevation, or
gradual elevation during the course of ages, over extensive tracts in
many parts of the world, is one of the most important of these.
Volcanos, coral-islands, as well as the coral structures called barrier-
reefs, show that great changes of level are constantly taking place in
the bed of the ocean itself. In addition to these, it has been con-
clusively evinced by Mr. Darwin, that symmetrical bands in which the
bed of the sea is subsiding below and being elevated above its level at
a given time, extend alternately over an area (in the Pacific and South
Atlantic oceans) equal to half that of the entire globe. From all these
facts it may be concluded that the balance is always maintained be-
tween the land and the sea, although the distribution of each, respec-
tively, may vary in the lapse of time. But independently of all these
counteractions, so immense is the proportion which the magnitude of
our planet bears to the power of the agencies which are at work upon
its surface, that, as has been shown by Mr. Alfred Tylor, in a com-
munication to the Geological Society, the action of the sea on the
shores, and of the rivers upon the land,-if the matter they all wear
from the land, and carry down in the form of sand and mud, together
with that, probably still greater in quantity, which they carry down
in chemical solution, to be decomposed in the sea, and in part precipi-
tated on its bed,-were uniformly distributed over the entire bed of
the ocean, the level of the water would not be raised more than three
inches in ten thousand years, which is an amount absolutely insignifi-
cant, and would not be measurable for many times that period, nor
otherwise sensible to man for many more.
What is the actual mean level of the sea? By the researches of
Captain Denham at Liverpool, by the careful measurements taken by
Mr. Bunt in the Bristol Channel, under the direction of Professor
Whewell, and by some experiments of Sir H. de la Beche on the coasts
of Pembrokeshire, it appears that the mean of high and low water is
nearly at the same point, whether spring or neap tides be measured.
This mean or half-tide level, which is often nearly coincident with the
middle point of time between high and low water, can be ascertained
by a few observations at any age of the moon in quiet weather, and
should always be employed as the datum or zero line in recording
elevations of mountains, heights of canals, summits, railway stations,
&c. Above all it should be taken for the term of comparison whenever
it is wished to determine the relative elevation of different parts of
the open sea, though there may be cases when landlocked waters and
tide rivers may require the use of another line of reference. The
horizontal line which bounds the land and sea, the outline of the coast,
is variable; it is annually displaced by the wasting of some tracts and
the augmentation of others. Since the Roman sway in Britain, a large
portion of the rich marsh-lands of Norfolk, Cambridge, Huntingdon, &c.,
have been recovered from the retiring sea; but in the same period tho
east coast of Yorkshire has lost many square miles of territory, and is
still losing at a fearful rate. (Sir C. Lyell has collected abundant
examples in his 'Principles of Geology.') This unequal action depends
partly on the slope with which the land and sea meet; partly on the
nature of the materials comprising the coast, partly on the set of the
tides and currents.
The modern ocean is the theatre of many operations similar in kind
to those by which the materials of dry land were formerly accumu-
lated beneath ancient seas. The bed of the Adriatic was found by
Donati to resemble the surfaces of sub-Apennine tertiary strata; the
shallow soundings of the English Channel and German Ocean show, in
the distribution of shells and fish-teeth, analogies with several of the
secondary rocks; while in the coral reefs of warm latitudes, on sandy
or pebbly shores generally, and at the mouths of great rivers, we see
the production of limestone, sandstone, and clay deposits, very similar
to those which abound in the stratified masses of land. Whoever will
compare with attention the ripple or current mark on the sea-shore
with the corresponding undulations on slates and sandstones of every
geological age, will be convinced of the identity of the causes of these
impressions; and when he beholds such surfaces in rocks covered by
other deposits thousands of feet thick, will not hesitate to admit in
such cases that great depressions happened along the margin of the
ancient sea during the formation of these strata, followed by still
greater elevations at a later period.
The distribution of life in the modern ocean is one of the circum-
stances most important to know. Until very recently it has been sup-
posed that below some moderate depth (moderate at least as compared
A change of a few degrees of temperature, a change of the relative with the thicknesses of the strata) life ceases in the ocean from
height of the land, a change even in the polar distance of the masses | deficient light and air, and augmented pressure,
ARTS AND SCI. DIV. VOL, VII.
EE
419
SEA DEFENCES.
Within these few years, however, reason has been seen to modify
these conclusions; and in the course of the past year (1860) the
researches of Dr. G. C. Wallich, on the bed of the North Atlantic, have
shown that animal life, in various forms of foraminifera and radiata, if
not of higher groups, exists at vast depths. It ought, indeed, to have
been seen long ago, that the uniform distribution of pressure effected
by the water, would necessarily preclude the destruction which it was
reasonable to infer that the partial accumulation of pressure would
have caused.
The proportion which exists between the sea and land has contri-
buted to maintain the productive powers of the earth. If that pro-
portion were materially changed, its productive powers would be
changed also. The sea, by means of the vapours continually rising
from its surface, supplies the atmosphere with sufficient moisture for
the support of organic life. Countries which do not partake of the
benefits derived from this source, and which are not refreshed by rain
or dew, are uninhabitable and destitute of all kinds of vegetation.
Those parts of the earth which are farthest from the sea are much less
fertile and populous than those which, owing to their greater vicinity
to it, receive a larger supply of moisture from this great source. The
sea contributes also considerably to the advancement of civilisation.
At the first view it seems to constitute an insuperable obstacle to the
communication between nations who inhabit countries widely apart
from one another; but the ingenuity of men has converted the ocean
into the most frequented high road on the globe. The easy commu-
nication which is thus established between nations at great distances
from one another, has perhaps more than any other circumstance con-
tributed to improve the condition of the human race. It is at least
certain, that all those nations which have acquired any considerable
degree of civilisation inhabit countries either contiguous to the sea or
at no great distance from it.
On the subjects of this article, four works may be particularised,
which, of course among many others, may be consulted with advan-
tage: Sir John F. W. Herschel's 'Physical Geography;' Admiral
Smyth's 'Mediterranean;' Sir John Richardson's 'Polar Regions;' and
The Physical Geography of the Sea, and its Meteorology,' by Captain
Maury, the American hydrographer. The last is an immense repository
of facts, relating chiefly, however, to the Atlantic and its marine depen-
dencies; and many views entertained by the author are not wholly
accepted by British hydrographers and meteorologists.
SEA DEFENCES. When the tidal action, or littoral currents
attack a sea-shore, it becomes necessary to protect the latter from
the gradual abrasion thus produced. The mode in which the defences
thus required are constructed, must depend not only on the peculiar
form of destructive action to be guarded against, but also on the
nature of the materials at hand; the various conditions to be observed
may, therefore, be the most conveniently noticed in the course of the
description of some of the most important works of the kind actually
executed.
On rocky shores of the granitic and crystalline formations, the sea
acts principally by its direct impact, or by the tidal currents, although,
no doubt, the effect of the constant humidity, and of the splashing of
the waves, must produce a destructive action on the constituent parts
of the rocks. In these cases, and especially when deep water comes
close in-shore, the most economical, and in all cases the most efficient
sea defence consists of a solid masonry wall, built of the largest and
hardest stones which can be obtained, and finished with a curvilinear
batter of about 1 in 40 from the sea. Colonel Emy, and the French,
Spanish, and German engineers sometimes make the upper parts of
their curvilinear defence walls continue beyond the axis of the curve,
so that at the top the curve again comes towards the sea; and they
"adopt this construction because they believe that, in consequence of the
projection of the top, the crown of the wave striking and running up
the face of the wall would be thrown outwards, instead of breaking
over the wall. It is to be suspected, however, that the repercussion
produced by the wave falling upon the toc of the wall is even more
injurious than the effect of the water falling at the back or inside;
and the best hydraulic engineers at the present day are in the habit of
erecting their sea-walls with continuous batters in the same direction,
and of protecting their in-shore faces by good paving on the top of the
backing, and by good drainage. It would be impossible to attach too
much importance to the necessity for providing against the effect
of any sudden interference with the translation of a deep sea wave,
especially when it has been driven for a short distance over an inclined
fore shore, and has been exposed to the action of winds or currents
able to increase the velocity of its motion. In some cases, the velocity
has even been observed to attain as much as 70 feet per second; and
from observations made at Cherbourg and Algiers, it would seem that
the power of waves to communicate horizontal motion sometimes
SEA DEFENCES
420
attains as much as 291 lbs. per foot superficial. The spray has at
times been dashed over the Bell Rock, a height of 117 feet; and Lord
Adair states, that he has measured on the coast of Ireland, rolling
breakers of 150 feet in height. The quantity of water a wave of this
description might carry over the crown of a wall would be enormous;
and though there may be few positions wherein they occur, even
smaller waves are capable of producing effects of a very serious nature,
if the water they furnish were not prevented from washing away the
backing of the structure on which they might break. On the shores
actually exposed to the shock of such waves as those described by Lord
Adair, it would be almost impossible for human skill to contend with
the forces of nature; but fortunately, these waves are only to be met
with on what are known as iron-bound coasts, where the character
of the rocks is such as to enable them to resist the action of the sea.
It may be gathered from the preceding remarks, that if it be thus
necessary to guard against the tendency of breaking waves to produce
lateral displacement, and to remove the backing of a defence wall, it
must be equally important to guard against the tendency to under-
mine the footings on the seaward face produced by the receding wave,
or the undertow as it is technically called. This object is usually
effected in the more moveable strata, by constructing an apron, or in
fact, a species of flat wall, presenting the same inclination as the
natural line of the fore shore; and built with every precaution to
ensure the stability of its face, by the introduction of longitudinal and
of transverse ties, and by protecting the edges by continuous piling.
At the Plymouth breakwater the sea slope was paved with large
blocks of marble, or of granite, dovetailed and cramped together at an
enormous cost; at Cherbourg, the sea slope was protected by huge
blocks of rubble masonry set in Portland cement; and on the Dutch
coast, where the angle of inclination of the shore is extremely flat, the
apron walls of sea defences are often made of brickwork set with trass
mortar in wooden frames. The choice of the system to be adopted in
any particular case must depend on the maximum violence of the
waves there observed; but it may be worth while here to mention
that in exposed situations on the shores of the ocean, blocks of nearly
500 cubic feet, of a material possessing a specific gravity of 2-2, are
susceptible of being displaced by the force of the waves.
These remarks with respect to defence-walls on the shores composed
of resisting rocks apply equally, or rather à fortiori, to the defences
required for formations of a softer nature. The action of the sea upon
them is, however, of a rather more complicated nature than that which
takes place on granitic, or crystalline shores; for it will in many cases
be found that at the feet of limestone, or clay cliffs, there are large
deposits of shingle composed of the detritus of harder rocks, carried
forward by the force of the currents, and of the tides, according to
peculiar laws. If this shingle should only advance slowly it may tend
to protect the surface of the shore, by forming as it were a matlass on
which the waves might break without affecting the subjacent rocks;
but if, on the other hand, the shingle should have any tendency to
lateral displacement, it will materially assist the abrading action of
the littoral currents by the friction it exercises at the base of the cliffs.
The outlines of a limestone, or of a clay, shore often bear traces of this
action; and they exhibit cliffs which are nearly vertical in their
upper portions, but hollowed out about the zone of tidal action;
at their feet there is usually a shingly beach, in which the stones
have been abandoned by the receding waves according to the specific
gravities of the stones themselves, or, in other words, the largest
pebbles are always at the top of the beach. The defence of shores
of this description may either be effected by walls with aprons, as
before-mentioned, or by the construction of stonework, or of timber,
groynes, placed at right angles to the advance of the shingle, in order
to fix the latter. Groynes are in fact dwarf-walls, projecting more or
less above the face of the beach, and continued to about the line of
low water; and they act by retaining the advancing shingle in the
re-entrant angle, until it has accumulated to such an extent as to be
carried round the point, or over the top of the groyne.
In great
storms the groynes are often laid bare, and there is danger of their
being then undermined; and, indeed, the actions to which they are
exposed are so violent, that it may fairly be laid down as a rule that
it is preferable to form them of cheap, temporary materials, than to
form them in a permanent manner.
The consolidation of shores of soft alluvial formations may be
effected in various manners, according to their outlines under the
action of the currents. If the natural inclination should happen to
form a very small angle with the horizon from the line of the low
water, it would generally be desirable to crown the top of the slope
by a vertical wall, of either masonry or of timber. In Holland the dykes
are executed of earth work, sometimes with rather an abrupt talus
towards the sea, which talus is protected by stone pitching; at others
the slope is made with a much flatter angle, and two or three parallel
rows of piles, standing up above the face of the slope, are inserted for
the purpose of breaking the force of the waves; and at others, the face
of the earthwork is protected by a species of wall composed of bundles
of reeds, fascines, &c. The hearts of these embankments are formed
with reeds and fascines, and especial care is taken to attach them firmly
to the subsoil, as well as to secure an efficient system of back drainage.
Many instances occur in which the banks of the more protected
polders of Holland and Flanders are constructed in the same manner
•

421
422
SEA LIGHTS.
SEAL.
as coffer-dams, that is to say, by means of puddle banks rammed
in between sheeting enclosures; and near Havre, in the bay of the
Seine, the fore-shore is defended by a regular timber stockade formed
of whole timber piles, whales and back ties, and of horizontal plank-
ing spiked to the outer faces of the piles; earthwork is carefully
rammed at the back of these planks.
It is necessary to guard against the destructive chemical action of
the sea-water upon the materials employed for any of these-systems of
shore defences; and when the soft limestones, or wood, are employed,
to take seriously into account the ravages which may be committed by
the various descriptions of boring conchiferæ, and worms. The pholas,
solen, and lithodomus attack the calcareous stones; the teredo navalis
and the lymexylon attack wood, in the temperate latitudes of Europe;
in tropical climates there are other species of animals of even a more
destructive nature still, which feed upon, or burrow in, both those
classes of materials.
It may be as well to add, that in the cases wherein the Dutch
engineers coutent themselves with sand dykes, faced with reeds, the
minimum dimensions they employ are about as indicated in the sketch;
36. ό.
0
34412 xin3
← 20.0.
"
40, 0.
1 in 4
"
56.0.
12.0.
$2
17.8
s. o”.
नै
but in very many
instances they make the sea-slope with an inclination
of even 1 in 20, when the natural profile of the foreshore presents a
very flat incline. With the very light materials dealt with in these
cases it is indeed preferable to conduct the waves up a long easy slope
on which they can exhaust their power, than to attempt to oppose an
abrupt resistance to their shock. When stiff clay is the material used
for the banks, and no protection is given, the slope is made equal to
in 10; when light sand is used, the slope is made 1 in 20, whatever
may be the profile of the foreshore. At the mouth of the Thames and
Medway the marshes are defended by slopes of 1 in 4, protected by a
concrete bed covered by stone pitching, laid between rows of stakes
driven firmly into the banks, and between rows of piles at the
top and bottom. (See Minard, 'Ouvrages Hydrauliques des Ports de
Mer, &c.')
SEA LIGHTS. [TRINITY HOUSE]
SEA SALT. [SODIUM. Chloride of Sodium.]
SEA WATER. [SODIUM.]
SEAL, an intaglio or relief impression on wax, clay, paper, or other
substance made from a die or matrix of metal or other material, by
which the impression is produced, derived from the French sceau,
scelle, or saiel, first used in the 11th century; the Latin sigillum. Seals,
called khatem, were in use at the earliest period in Egypt, the matrix
generally of square shape revolving in a large ring, or attached to a
chain; those of kings and high dignitaries of gold, silver, or precious
stones, while the inferior people used scarabæi, kheperu of porcelain,
or vitrified soapstone with the subject engraved in intaglio, set in rings
as signets. Impressions or seals from these were made in fine Nile
mud or clay, and attached by slips of papyri, linen or cord, to docu-
ments [PAPYRUS], while at a later period coloured wax and even lead
were employed. [MUMMY.] The engravings were deities, royal and
other names, emblems and mottoes. Impressions of seals with the
names of Sheshank, Nafaarut, Amasis, and other monarchs, exist in the
British Museum. Seals were extensively used by the Egyptians:
tombs were sealed with mortar, letters and other documents being
rolled in a cylindrical form and sealed outside, and the sacred
victims, bread, and other objects, were also sealed. The ancient Hebrews
appear to have worn their signet-rings or khitam as rings or bracelets
(Gen. xxxviii. 18); they were made of engraved onyx (Exod. xxxix. 6),
and documents were sealed with them. Ahab with his own hand;
Ahasuerus by his chancellor Haman, and Darius himself, impressed
the seals of their decrees. When Alexander the Great conquered
Persia he used the seal of Darius for his rescripts in that country.
The signets of the Assyrians consist of cones of chalcedony and other
stones pierced and engraved, which were set in rings or suspended to
chains or cords: the principal device is a rampant lion pierced by a
king, deities and other devices; they also used cylinders of green
felspar and onyx, with kings, animals, and other objects, and inscrip-
tions containing the names and titles of kings, those of Sennacherib
being found at Kouyunjik (Layard, Nineveh and Babylon, p. 154).
Impressions from similar signets in fine clay were discovered in the
ruins of Kouyunjik, and those of witnesses or contracting parties are
found on clay documents. The use of cylinders, for this purpose, of
hematite, steatite, chalcedony, and onyx was prevalent amongst the
Babylonians, such being engraved with, deities, zodiacal signs, and
inscriptions, and continued under the Persians, who used by preference
red cornelian, that of Darius or his viceroy having been found in
Egypt. The Phoenicians appear to have employed scarabaei of cornelian
or sardonyx for the same purpose, and the Etruscan signets were
scarabæi of the same or onyx, with devices of native deities, or the
principal heroic and mythic personages of Greece, with Etruscan
legends.
At the earliest epoch the Greeks used impressions of worm-eaten
pieces of wood. The use of signets and seals among the Greeks appears
to be as old as the 6th century B.C., the earliest example being the
celebrated emerald ring engraved by Theodorus for Polycrates, tyrant
of Samos. Such signets were called sphragides, semata, semcia, or
semanteres, and were worn on the fourth finger of the left hand.
Those of metal only were called apsephoi, the stone itself being psephos,
and the chaton sphendone, ecmageion, aposphragisma, ectyposna. The
impression of the seal was made on a fine clay, the ge semantris or
sealing earth, not wax. Seals were placed on doors, and on things in
The seal itself was
the house to prevent the pilfering of slaves.
protected by a shell or scale.
The use of signets amongst the Romans appears to have been
introduced by the Etruscans, whose gemmati annuli, or rings with
stones, were subsequently used by the Romans as old as Tarquin the
elder. Senators sent as ambassadors had a gold official signet given
them by the State, but used an iron ring in private: gold rings or
signets were limited to the senators and knights, and the jus annuli
aurei, or rights of the gold ring, had a certain legal status under the
Empire. But their use was extended by Tiberius to freedmen, by
Severus Alexander and Aurelian to the troops, and under Justinian it
had entirely disappeared. The signet of the Emperor was a state seal,
generally engraved with his own portrait or favourite device. The
chaton, or place which held the stone, was called pala. The various
gems were engraved by excellent artists, who sometimes placed their
names, or the name or initials of the possessor, on the stone; but glass
seals, called by the Greeks sphragides hyalinai, and vitrea gemme by
the Romans, were used by the poorer classes. These came first into
use about 416 B.C. The impressions were made in Lemnian and
sealing clay, crctula, sigillaris creta, stucco maltha, or still more fre-
quently wax. The Romans sealed bags of money, granaries, doors of
female apartments, and other objects, but principally writings or
letters; the papyrus or tablet was tied up with a cord and the seal,
signum, placed on it; wills particularly required seals, and under Nero
the law ordered them to be pierced at the margin with a cord, which
thrice passed round them, and the seal was then applied, and the
prætor required the seals of the seven witnesses to validate a will.
The devices of the seals of the emperors appear to have varied, and no
particular symbol was used for the state seal. Julius Cæsar used
Venus, Augustus a sphinx, which he changed for the head of
Alexander the Great, which continued till Nero; the following
emperors used various symbols. Private individuals used indifferently
all sorts of devices During the Empire leaden seals were used for
private purposes, and after the age of Constantine, flat circular metallic
seals called bulla, made of gold, silver, and lead, attached by silken or
woollen bands to the documents, came into use.
The Byzantine commence with Valentinian and Valens, A.D. 364,
and have on one side the figure of the Emperor, on the other that of
Christ or the Virgin; dignitaries and private persons of the epoch also
employed leaden seals, with Christ or the Virgin, or only their own
names and titles. The devices of the seals of the Christians at this
epoch were fishes, fishermen, lambs, and vines. After the fall of the
Western Empire the use of the leaden bulle was assumed by the Popes,
the oldest known being that of Deus dedit, A.D. 615-667, with a male
figure standing between a lion and a lamb and A.2. Small seals were
inscribed only with the names or monograms till Honorius II.,
1124-30; but at the 12th century, the bulle became larger, and the
name of the pope appeared in full, with the heads of St. Peter and
St. Paul, and a cross between them; the ordinal after the papal name
dates from the 11th century. Besides these the Popes used the
so-called seal of the Fisherman, or privy seal, on which was St. Peter
fishing: this was impressed on red wax en placard.
The use of
the bullæ in Western Europe continued till the 16th century, the
Emperors of Germany, princes of Calabria, the doges of Venice, dukes
of Lorraine, and counts of Toulouse, continuing to use them. In the
13th century no priest was allowed to travel without a permission
sealed with a leaden seal. The use of golden seals commenced about
the 10th century, having been first used by the Byzantine Emperors
and Charlemagne, Venetians and others, and occasionally for important
documents as late as the 16th century, Henry VIII. and Francis I.
having appended gold seals to their treaty at the Field of the Cloth of
Gold. Silver seals were sometimes used by the Byzantine Emperors,
the princes of Capua, and other Italian potentates. But all these were
gradually superseded by wax seals. On the fall of the Roman
Empire the art of seal engraving was lost in the West, but lingered at
Constantinople. The early kings of France from Carloman, A.D. 769,
to Louis VIII., 1176, used antique gems. Sealing en placard con-
tinued in France from Clovis I., A.D. 481, to Louis le Gros, 1108, in
whose reign seals were first appended, and in Germany till the close
of the 12th century.
The seals of the Merovingians represent busts with long hair, the
Carlovingians bearded profiles, but appear to be impressions of ancient
gems. The title of Dei gratia commences with Charlemagne; Hugh
Capet, 987, is first seen with a sceptre. Robert has an oval pointed seal
with a half-length figure. Henry I., 1031, was the first who used the seal
of Majesty as it is called, representing the king seated on the chair of

423
SEAL.
Dagobert. Louis VI., 1108, is the only one with an equestrian figure
on the reverse. Small counterseals on the reverse commence with
Philip II., 1185. Louis IX., 1252, first appears with a crown fleury.
John II., 1350, has two eagles' heads on his chair. Louis XII., 1500, a
double gryphon. The king seated on the throne continued to be
the type, with the exception of the great seal of Louis Philippe,
which has on one side his head in profile, and on the other his arms or
the two tables of the charter and law. The early seals of the German
empire are like the French. Henry II. introduced the seated figure,
which, after Frederick I., 1493, was abolished. Denmark used bronze
seals; the Swedish seals resemble the German; those of Spain date
from the 12th century; the doges of Venice, 1306, used gold bullæ.
The seal was placed after the name of the chancellor or his deputy
in white wax; an incision in form of a cross, or with saltire edges
turned back, having been made in the parchment and passed through,
so as to form a cake or mass on both sides. This mode of sealing
en placard being easily forged, the counter-seal was introduced by the
princes of Lombardy, A.D. 901. The custom of appending seals was
not introduced earlier than the 12th century; tails commenced in the
13th century, leather, hempen string, silk, parchment, were used for
the purpose, and the seals were placed at the bottom, top, sides, or
even all round the document. As many as 350 seals were appended to
one document presented to the Council of Constance. Owing to the
injuries to which seals were liable, it was not unusual from the 14th
to the 16th centuries to protect them by a little frame work or torse of
rush twisted round the seal; in the 14th century a wrapper of paper,
neat bands of the same, beech, bay, and oak leaves, were placed over
seals, and in France in the 15th century they were protected by tin
boxes.
The French regal seals differ from the English and German by the
use of the counterseal, which is not more than an inch in diameter;
while the great seal of England retained an impression of the same
magnitude on both sides. In France, during the 1st race, the seal was
held by the referendarius, under the 2nd, or Merovingian, by the
archichancelier; aprocrisaire, archinotaire, archichapelain, under the
3rd, or Capets, by the chancellor, who originally wore the seal round his
neck, but when the seal became of large size, it was deposited in a box,
and the chancellor always carried the keys about him in a purse, and
the box was carried in certain ceremonies on a caparisoned horse. In
this box were three others: 1st, for the great seal and counter-seal;
the 2nd, that of Dauphigny; the 3rd, that of the order of St. Louis,
besides which, the king had his private seal. Yellow wax was used for
the impressions, except for ordinances, edicts, and letters entitled "à
Tous presents et à venir," which were sealed with green wax, and the
same colour was used for those of Dauphiguy; other documents of
which were sealed in red. In 1789, the office of chancery disappeared,
but a new one was re-established in 1808, and superseded by a com-
mission in 1811, and in 1830 incorporated with the office of minister
of justice.
The earliest seals of the Anglo-Saxon monarchs, Offa, Ethelwolf, and
Edgar, are en placard; of Coenwulf, 755, there is a leaden bulla; of
Edward the Confessor, two wax seals pendent. Coke mentions seals of
Edwy, A.D. 956, of Offa, A.D. 755-94. The Normans introduced wax
seals, at first of moderate size, having on the obverse the king in
armour on a caparisoned horse galloping, and on the reverse, the king
seated on a throne, a type maintained to the present day. The expense
of engraving a new matrix being very considerable, the monarchs were
content to use those of their predecessors. Edward II. added to that
of Edward I., and Edward III. used the same with the addition of two
fleur-de-lis. Edward III. altered his seal eight times for political pur-
poses. Richard II. used his father's last matrix, merely inserting his
own name. Henry IV. and V., the same, by the same process.
Henry VI. a new matrix, like the French, with a counter-seal.
Edward IV. a new gold seal, like that of Bretigny; Edward V. his
father's, and Richard III. the same. Henry VII. a new matrix, like
that of Edward IV., and Henry VIII. one in the style of Francis I.
The matrix of the seal of Henry IV. was of gold, the chancellor used
a silver matrix, which was of 10 lbs. weight, and cost 137. 10s. for
material alone. The great seals of Scotland commence with Duncan
II., 1096, with equestrian and seated royal figures. Alexander I., 1107,
introduced the counter-seal. There were also great seals for Ireland,
commencing with Henry II., a leaden matrix of which is known. There
are, besides, the privy seals, having the royal arms only.
Next in importance to the royal seals are those of the eccclesiastical
bodies and dignitaries. At first the bishops only used a private or
peculiar seal, but at the close of the 9th century each prelate began to
use a particular form of seal, in which was impressed the name and
titles, and image, at first half length, then standing or seated, clad in
his pontifical dress, and holding a crozier in one hand while giving the
benediction, or holding the gospels in the other. During the 11th and
12th centuries the bishops were presented either standing or seated,
but in the 13th and 14th the seated attitude specially designated the
episcopal office. Sometimes the figures of the saints were substituted
for those of the bishops. During the 13th century mottoes were
introduced. In the 14th century the designs became more rich and
varied, and in Germany the bishops and other religious functionaries
placed their escutcheon on their seals beside their figure. In the 15th
century the escutcheon, used at first only for the counterseal, became
SEAL.
4.24
substituted for all other devices with few exceptions. Latterly the
devices of the episcopal seals in France have been an imitation of those
of the 13th century. The corporate seals of the abbeys, chapters, and
other ecclesiastical bodies often have a representation of the religious
edifices to which they belonged, or figures of the patron saints. The
abbots and priors and prioresses often impressed their own images; the
numerous minor functionaries were restricted to a device, or the figure
of the patron saint.
In
The corporate seals of the 12th century have the towers, castles,
gates, or city walls, the use of armorial bearings, which superseded
ultimately all other subjects, not being older than 1365. The mayors
and other municipal functionaries used a device or the city arms.
England the cinque ports have ships of war. The devices of the seals
for the passes or passports of labourers were prescribed by the statute
12 Richard II., 1388.
The use of seals, as a legal formality, was introduced into England by
the Normans during the 11th and 12th centuries. All persons of the
ranks of knights and above used a horseman armed at all points going
to the fight or chase; females had their effigies; but rude forins, birds,
eagles, hawks, lions, dragons, crescents, and stars, are the common
devices of the period. The legend surrounding the device, generally
in Latin, contained the name and titles of the bearer. Secular persons
used circular seals, ecclesiastics and women the pointed oval; counter-
seals, secreta, do not occur earlier than 1170: the wax used was white
bees'-wax, sometimes painted red, but green wax became common at
the close of the 12th century; during the 13th and 14th centuries
armorial bearings were introduced by the knights and others entitled
to wear them, while the middle casses adopted arbitrary devices-
fleur-de-lis, agnus dei, &c., grotesques, and emblems of their craft or
calling. From the reign of Henry III. the style and art much im-
proved; the shape of almost all the seals of this period is oval, the
wax generally green, and the counterseal from the year 1200 in common
After the year 1400, personal seals, not of an armorial character,
decline in size and importance; and merchants' marks composed of
monograms, introduced by the Flemings, are common devices of the
15th and 16th centuries. From the 12th to the 15th century antique
gems set in silver were often used.
use.
Personal seals have either the representation of the person to whom
they belong, armorial bearings or arbitrary devices; only the nobility
used personal effigies, as armed, on horseback, or holding their shields;
ladies stand holding a bird or fleur-de-lis. Equestrian seals are circular,
the others pointed. Armorial bearings begin in the 12th and continue
till the 13th century; at the end of the 15th the middle class assumed
coats of arms. Plain arms on pointed shields are the oldest; at the
15th century the shields are surrounded with drapery. They are
generally orbicular, elliptic, or in form of a shield, and the matrices
were flat, with a dorsal ridge and little ring; at the middle of the 14th,
helms with feathers, crests, and support appear, and Gothic letters,
which beconie common in the 15th century. Seals with grotesque
devices and mottoes, assumed at pleasure, were in general use during
the 14th and 15th centuries: love seals had two heads facing; and a
favourite device was a squirrel. But after the 15th, and in the
beginning of the 16th, a great change took place, the wax was covered
with white paper and impressed, and at a later period wafers placed
between paper were introduced, while sealing-wax was invented by
Rousseau in the 17th century, and the seal, originally the substitute for
the signature, at last degenerated into a legal formality and fiction.
The matrices of the early medieval wax seals were made of lead
for the middle and poorer classes, silver appears to have been used by
the nobility; and in the 13th century a mixed metal resembling brass,
long confined to Cologne, was used for the matrices; jet was used
occasionally, and the matrices worn as amulets.
The matrices are
generally flat disks, about inch thick, sometimes with a dorsal ridge
and a ring or loop for suspension. The double seals have projecting
rings at the sides, with pins for securing them when in the press.
The shape varied at different epochs: under the Merovingians they
were orbicular; under the Carlovingians, sinall oval. In the 14th and
15th century the sizes increased; but the ordinary forms are pointed
vesica, oval, and angular; although trefoil, horseshoe, lozenge, square,
octagonal, and other varieties occur. The matrices were sometimes
forged, dies of Pius II. for making false bulle baving been found in
London, and a false leaden matrix of Henry II. for Ireland still exist-
ing. The colour of the wax differed according to the period: white
was employed by the French kings of the first three races, the
emperors and prelates of Germany, till the 13th century; the kings of
England from the time of Charles I., and some orders of knighthood.
In France, Louis VII., A.D. 1137, first used red wax; William II., in
England; and Frederick Barbarossa, in Germany; and monastic
orders and territorial barons for judgments, quittances, and other
charters during the 14th and 15th centuries. Philip Augustus, A.D.
1180, first employed green wax, which was also used by the nobility
and ladies. Black was employed by the Teutonic order in the 13th
century. The form of the letters of the inscriptions changed from
time to time; Roman capitals were in use till the 12th century, when
Gothic letters commenced with the form SI, SIG, or SIGILLVM;
and in the 14th century the legend was preceded by a cross +,
and
later by a rosette or star. Latin was the language usually employed.
The name of the seal was sometimes on the legend, as sigillum com-
426
426
SEALING-WAX.
SEARCH, RIGHT OF.
mune, common seal; sigillum secretum, privy seal; contrasigillum,
counterseal. The early French seals have invocations, as Christe
protege Pippinum Regem, "God save king Pepin."
In England, the seals of conveying parties are now essential to all
legal instruments whereby real estate is conveyed. The law recognises
three royal seals, the great seal in custody of the chancellor, attached
to all letters patent, grants of inheritance, or chattels real, offices in fee
and writs at common law, the privy seal kept by the Lord Keeper,
valid for the issue of treasure, disposition of chattels, contracting or
discharging a debt; the signet, or privy signet in custody of the prin-
cipal secretaries of state, valid as authenticating the sign manual, and
for the writ ne exeat regno. The counter signature of a principal
secretary of state is required by a statute for the use of all the seals.
(Comyn, Digest,' Patent; Coke upon Littleton, by Hargrave and
Thomas, ii. 233.)
Among oriental nations seals have been employed as a stamp. The
Chinese great seal called se dates from the Tsin dynasty, B.C. 248,
under whom they were square; under the Hân dynasty they became
circular. Other seals yin are generally square and made of gold, silver,
copper, crystal, porcelain, steatite, wood, and other substances, of tall
rectangular shape, surmounted by figures of lions, apes, dragons, and
other animals. They generally have mottoes or sentences from
Chinese classical authors, and impressions in various coloured inks are
stamped in important places on commercial and public documents,
books, and papers. The Arabs and Indians, from the earliest times,
have used metal seals and gems to impress by means of black ink
impressions on their books and other documents; only wax has, how-
ever, been used in modern times.
-
The study of seals is one of the most important in archæology;
after the fall of the Roman Empire they replace the loss of gems
and show the state of the glyphic art; of architectural progress; of
Christian symbolism till the present day; at the same time throwing
great light on the history of states and families, their heraldic devices
and genealogy.
Mabillon, De re diplomatica, fo. Par. 1681; the Benedictins' Traité
de diplomatique, 4to Par., 1759; De Wailly, Elements de Palæographie,
4to, Paris, 1858, vol. ii.; Travaux de la Société Sphragistique de
Paris, 1852; Proceedings of the Archeological Institute, London,
1836-61.
SEALING-WAX. The best red sealing-wax is composed of shell-
lac, Venice turpentine, and cinnabar. The shell-lac by itself is rather
too brittle, and the turpentine is added to remedy that defect. The
proportions are about four parts of lac, one part of turpentine, and
three parts of cinnabar, by weight. When the lac and turpentine are
melted, the cinnabar is added in powder, and the whole is well mixed
by stirring it about. The round sticks of sealing-wax are made by
hand on a smooth slab of marble or plate of metal, which is kept at a
moderate temperature by a brazier placed beneath it. The liquid
sealing-wax having been partially cooled, a quantity sufficient to make
about six sticks is rolled out on the slab or plate into one long stick;
which, when of proper diameter, is cut into lengths, and transferred to
another workman, by whom the sticks are rolled on a cold slab
beneath a smooth piece of wood or metal. The sticks are now polished,
which is done by holding them successively between two contiguous
charcoal fires till the surface is fused, which produces the polish. One
end is then softened by being brought near the flame of a lamp, in
order to receive the impression of the maker's name. This manipu-
lating process is only applied to the round sticks; those which are
oval and ornamented are formed by pouring the liquid sealing-wax
into a mould; when partly cooled, the sticks are removed to another
mould made of steel, out of which they are taken polished and fit
for use.
For the best black sealing-wax, the finest ivory-black is substituted
for the cinnabar. For sealing-wax of inferior quality, not only the
darker-coloured shell-lac is used, but other resins of less value, com-
mon turpentines, and mixtures of cinnabar and red lead, or sometimes
red lead alone; and lamp-black is used instead of ivory-black. Other
colours are given to sealing-wax by mixing with it, for the most part,
different metallic oxides.
The softer wax, which was formerly in general use for sealing letters
and legal documents, and which is still occasionally used for the latter
purpose, consists of about four parts of bees'-wax, one part of Venice
turpentine, and as much cinnabar or other colouring material as is
required to give it the tint which is preferred.
SEAMEN. [SHIPS.]
SEARCH, RÌGHT OF. The general principles upon which that
part of the law of nations is constructed which respects the usages to
be observed towards neutral powers in time of war by the belligerent
powers, have been explained under the head of BLOCKADE. Here it is
only necessary further to remark that manifestly no other right
can be exercised by the belligerent over the ships of the neutral
without the right of visitation and search. The existence of that
right, accordingly, to use Lord Stowell's language in the well-known
case of the Maria (1 Robinson, 340), is acknowledged beyond all con-
troversy as attaching to the lawfully commissioned cruisers of the
belligerent nations, whose rights cannot legally be varied by the inter-
position, in any manner of mere force, of the authority of the sovereign
of the neutral country: a right that is as reasonable as it is necessary,
for, as his lordship says, "Till they are visited and searched, it does
not appear what the ships, or the cargoes, or the destinations are; and
it is for the purpose of ascertaining these points that the necessity of
this right of visitation and search exists."
In the exercise of the right of search upon a neutral vessel, which
must be conducted with as much regard to the rights and safety
of the vessel detained as is consistent with a thorough examination
of her character and voyage (the Anna Maria, 2 Wharton's (Amer.)
Rep. 332), the first and principal object of inquiry is generally
the ship's papers. These are, the passport from the neutral state
to the captain or master; the sea letter, or sea brief, specifying
the nature and quantity of the cargo; the proofs of property; the
muster-roll of the crew, containing the name, age, rank or quality,
place of residence, and place of birth of each of the ship's company;
the charter party; the bill of lading; the invoices; the log-book; and
the bill of health. (Abbott, ' On Shipping,' 9th edit., 288.) Upon the
subject of the ship's documents, it should be observed, that if she is
not properly documented, or if there has been a spoliation of papers,
and other signs of bad faith, these are grounds of unfavourable pre-
sumption, the effect of which is not to be avoided except by clear and
satisfactory evidence to the contrary. (M'Lachlan, Law of Merchant
Shipping,' p. 481.)
The penalty for the violent contravention of the right of visitation
and search, is the confiscation of the ship and cargo; and a rescue by
the crew after the captors are in actual possession is considered as the
same thing with a forcible prevention. In either case the resisting
ship may be seized in the same manner as if it belonged to the enemy,
and, being brought into port, will be condemned as prize.
Of course, any of the belligerent powers may agree with any of the
neutral states that the right of search shall only be exercised in certain
circumstances; and this is the first limitation that falls to be noticed.
"Two sovereigns," Lord Stowell has said in the same judgment, "may
unquestionably agree, if they think fit, as in some late instances they
have agreed, by special covenant, that the presence of one of their
armed ships along with their merchant-ships shall be mutually under-
stood to imply that nothing is to be found in that convoy of merchants'
ships inconsistent with amity or neutrality; and, if they consent to'
accept this pledge, no third party has a right to quarrel with it, any
more than with any other pledge which they may agree mutually to
accept. But surely no sovereign can legally compel the acceptance of
such a security by mere force. The only security known to the Law
of Nations upon this subject, independent of all special covenant, is
the right of personal visitation and search, to be exercised by those
who have the interest in making it." Lord Stowell here alludes to the
pretensions of the northern powers in their convention for the
establishment of what was called an armed neutrality in 1800, one of
the clauses of which was, "That the declaration of the officers who
shall command the ship of war, or ships of war, of the king or emperor,
which shall be convoying one or more merchant-ships, that the convoy
has no contraband goods on board shall be sufficient; and that no
search of his ship, or the other ships of the convoy, shall be permitted."
It is sometimes stated that this was also one of the principles of the
previous convention of the same kind formed by the northern powers
in 1780; and there may perhaps have been an understanding among
the contracting parties to that effect; but we do not find it distinctly
avowed in any of their published announcements. The position in
question, namely, that the presence of a ship of war should protect
from search the merchantmen under its convoy, never has been admitted
by Great Britain.
But it is now universally admitted that the right of visitation and
search cannot be exercised upon a ship of war, or public or national
vessel, itself; and this is the second limitation of the right. It is strange
that there should ever have been any doubt or dispute upon this point.
A ship of war has always been looked upon as in a manner part of the
national territory, and as such inviolable in any circumstances what-
ever; the act of entering it in search either of contraband goods or of
deserters must be considered as an act of the same character with that
of pursuing a smuggler or fugitive across the frontier of the state
without permission of the sovereign authority, a thing the right of
doing which has never been claimed. Accordingly, although it has
been a common thing for nations to declare by express stipulation in
their treaties with one another that the prize courts in each shall
exercise a jurisdiction according to the recognised principles of public
law in questions arising with regard to captures at sea, the language
used has always implied that the captures are to be merchant or
private vessels of the concession by one power to another of the right
of adjudicating upon its ships of war detained or brought into port not
a trace is to be found in any such treaty. Yet an opposite doctrine
has been both maintained in argument, and attempted to be carried
into effect. In 1653, when after the disasters of the war with
England that had broken out in the preceding year, the Dutch were
reduced to such a state as to make them anxious for peace upon almost
any terms, the English government demanded as one of the stipula-
tions of the proposed treaty that all Dutch vessels, both of war and
others, should submit to be visited, if thereto required. But, humbled
as the Dutch were, they peremptorily refused to agree to any such
stipulation; and the treaty was concluded in 1654 without it. From
this time, for more than a century and a half, the principle of the
427
SEARCH, RIGHT OF.
immunity of ships of war from visitation and search was acquiesced in
by the practice of our own and every other country, nor is it known to
have been contested even in speculation. But at length, in the course
of the controversy that arose respecting the rights of neutrals out of the
Berlin and Milan decrees of the French emperor and our own orders in
council, in 1806 and 1807 [BLOCKADE], while some extreme partisans
on the one side contended that even merchant ships were not liable to
search when under the convoy of a man-of-war, others on the opposite
side revived the old pretension of the English republican government
of 1653, and maintained our right of visiting and searching the ships
of war themselves of neutral states whenever we should think proper.
The practical application of the principle that was now especially called
for was the visitation of the ships of war of the United States of
America, for the purpose of recovering seamen alleged to be subjects
of this country and deserters from the British service. An actual
enforcement of the new doctrine occurred in an attack made, on the
23rd of June, 1807, by the British ship of war, Leopard, upon the
American frigate Chesapeake, lying off the Capes of Virginia. On the
refusal of the American captain to permit his ship to be visited, the
Leopard fired into the Chesapeake, which, being unprepared for action,
immediately struck her flag. Four men were carried off, and the
American ship was then left. The American minister in London was
directed to demand satisfaction of the British government. Nego-
ciations were continued for a long time without any result; the affair
of the Chesapeake soon became mixed and complicated with other
incidents, giving rise to new claims and counterclaims; at last the
American government took its stand on new ground, objecting to the
search not only of ships of war but even of merchant vessels for
deserters; it was not denied that the search of merchantmen was
sanctioned by the law of nations, but the exercise of the right was
denounced as necessarily irritating and fraught with danger, and it
was urged that it should on that account be dispensed with and
abolished. In the end war broke out between the two countries
in the summer of 1812; but even that did not settle any of the
questions that had arisen between them in connection with the right
of search. The treaty of peace signed at Ghent on the 24th of
December, 1814, contained no stipulation on that subject, which
was now supposed to have lost its practical importance. This question
was again incidentally raised between England and America in 1842.
In the discussion which then took place between Lord Ashburton and
Mr. Webster relative to the boundary line of the state of Maine, the
American minister intimated that the rule hereafter to be insisted
upon would be that every regularly documented American vessel
would be evidence that the seamen on board were American, and
would find their protection in the flag that was over them; and again
in 1854, when, after the issuing of the declaration by the Queen of
England (on the 28th March), it was supposed to be her Majesty's
intention to relax the right of search, the Attorney-General stated
in answer to a question in the House of Commons (30th March),
"That it never was intended to give up, nor did the declaration give
up, the right of searching neutral vessels. It was impossible to give
up that right, and this country still maintains its right to search
and seize vessels which carry enemy's despatches, or articles contra-
band of war. But whilst England thus reserved to itself this right,
she waived its exercise during the war, and on the termination of
hostilities, concurred with France, Austria, Russia, Prussia, Sardinia,
and Turkey, in establishing the principle that "free ships make free
goods."
SEASONS, CHANGE OF.
428
regulated, seems to afford the only means of ascertaining whether or
no a vessel has got slaves on board; but it is evident that any power
opposed, for whatever reason, to the exercise of that right may, even
while declaring the slave trade to be illegal, refuse to allow that ille
gality to be made an excuse for the visitation of suspected ships bear-
ing its flag. It is only by express stipulation that the free exercise of
the right can be established. England, which has all along been fore-
most in the attempt to suppress the slave trade, has never objected to
|
the exercise of the right of search for this, or indeed for any other
legitimate object; but other nations, jealous of our predominant
maritime power, have, not perhaps very unnaturally, been extremely
reluctant to concede it in this particular case. Probably the best
illustration of these remarks is afforded by the Ashburton Treaty, and
the attitude of American publicists with reference to it. By the Sth
article of that treaty, each party was to maintain a separate squadron
on the coast of Africa for five years, and the cruisers of the respectiv
nations were to detain all vessels under American colours equipped for
and engaged in, the slave trade; that if proved to be American pro-
perty they should be delivered to an American cruiser; and if proved
to be Spanish, Portuguese, Brazilian, or English property, to an
English cruiser. In the President's message (August 11, 1842), and in
the discussions in the American House of Representatives, it was
maintained, or attempted to be maintained, that the 8th article was a
substitute for visitation and search; but Sir R. Peel emphatically
declared that in acting upon the treaty England had not abandoned
her claim to the right of visitation; and Lord Aberdeen's despatch,
re-affirming the British doctrines on this subject, recorded the deter-
mination of England not to depart from the principles she had con-
stantly asserted. Upon this treaty, the debates in the British Houses
of Parliament, the expressed opinion of the British Government, and
the instructions to its cruisers, considerable discussions have been
raised, and attempts have been made by American writers (among
whom Mr. W. B. Laurence's recent treatise on Visitation and Search
deserves special notice) to show that the doctrines of England are
unwarranted by law, dangerous to the welfare of other countries, and
intended solely to promote the attainment of universal dominion under
the guise of humanity; that the time has come when such doctrines
must be energetically opposed, and that if they can be supported by an
appeal to the language of treaties, then it is the duty of the States of
the Union to insist upon the discontinuance of those treaties.
Some further remarks on this subject are briefly made under the
article SLAVE, SLAVERY.
SEASONS, CHANGE OF. The phenomena of the-seasons may be
divided into those which always recur every year and those which are
different in different years.
and again different in different years. We have in every year the same succes-
sion of longer and shorter days, with a summer and winter; while the
summer of one year is of a higher temperature, and accompanied by
finer days, than that of another. The unvarying
The unvarying phenomena can be
explained by what we know of the sun's (or earth's) motion; the vary-
ing phenomena belong to the science of meteorology, and depend upon
atmospheric and other circumstances, with which we have little or no
acquaintance. At any given moment, the light and heat received
from the sun, at any given place, depend upon the altitude of that
body in two ways. In the first place, the lower the sun is, the greater
the thickness of the portion of the atmosphere which its rays have to
traverse before reaching the spot; the greater then is the light and
heat which is lost in the passage. In the second place, the less the
altitude of the sun, the less the actual quantity of light and heat
which falls upon any given spot. If AB be the diameter of a circular
The maritime declaration appended to the Treaty of Paris comprises
among others the following points
1. The neutral flag covers enemy's goods, with the exception of con-
traband of war.
2. Neutral goods. except contraband of war, are not liable to capture
under the enemy's flag.
The United States, however, refused to concur in this declaration,
unless it was further conceded that enemy's goods on board enemy's mer-
chant ships should be allowed the same exemption as on board neutrals.
At present therefore it appears that the right of search, abolished so
far as relates to enemy's property on board neutral ships by the Treaty
of Paris, subsists as to the other points in respect of which it was
formerly exercised, namely, the carriage of troops, hostile despatches,
and contraband of war. (Arnold on 'Marine Insurance,' vol. i. p. 673.)
The right of visitation and search, however, is by no means neces-
sarily confined to a time of war. Its exercise has always been admitted
to be equally allowed by international law in time of peace, though it
may not commonly have then been so frequently thought to be called
The very question of the seizure by one country of its subjects
serving in the mercantile navy of another, which was one of the main
subjects of dispute between England and America before the breaking
out of actual hostilities in 1812, may arise in a time of peace as well as
in a time of war, though its importance no doubt is less in the former
than in the latter. The chief questions connected with the right of
search, the number of which is greatly reduced in a time of general
peace, are those relating to the trading rights of neutrals; but even of
these some remain. Of late years, however, the right of search has
become principally important in reference to the trade in slaves, which
has now been declared to be illegal by most of the great maritime
states. The right of visitation and search, however its exercise may be

for.
E
M
D
C
A·
N
T
portion of the earth's surface, and if the sun be seen in the direction
BM, the light which falls on that circle is a cylinder of rays with the
diameter CD; but if the sun be seen vertically, or in the direction BN,
the cylinder of rays has Er for its diameter, besides which, the rays of
the first cylinder are weaker than those of the second, as having passed
through more of the atmosphere. Neglecting this latter consideration,
the quantities of light and heat received when the sun is at two dif-
ferent altitudes are as the sines of those altitudes. Thus the sine of
30° being and that of 90° being 1, the quantity of light which falls
on a given spot when the sun is vertical is double of that which falls
when its altitude is 30°.
The earth's axis preserves its direction throughout the whole of the
yearly motion. The consequence is, that places which are distant from
the equator have very unequal days at different times of the year.
[SUN.] The accompanying figure, which is generally given in con-
nection with this subject, represents the earth in its four principal
positions; the sun being at s, and N being the north pole of the earth.
A is at the vernal equinox, the intersection of the equator and ecliptic
passes through the sun, and days and nights are equal all over the
لام
}
429
SEAT.
world. B is at the summer solstice, where the sun is most above the
equator on the northern side; the diurnal circles north of the equator
have more day than night, and have their longest days: and vice versa.
c is the autumnal equinox, the phenomena of A being repeated. D is
at the winter solstice, where the sun is farthest from the equator on
the southern side; the phenomena of B are now reversed, the days
being shortest on the north side of the equator. This figure very well
B
N
C
N
e
A
N
-
N
D
q
explains the variation of days and the main reason for the phenomena
of seasons in the extra-tropical parts of the earth. It is evident that,
It is evident that,
speaking of the northern hemisphere, the sun, being above the equator,
gives not only longer days, but greater altitudes; more powerful light
and heat, and more of it in duration.
The average temperature being nearly the same in different years,
the northern side of the earth must be receiving more than it parts
with during a portion of the year, and parting with more than it
receives during the remainder. The summer half of its year is that
half during which it gains, on the whole, more than it parts with; the
surplus being that which is lost during the winter half. The day in
which most heat is received is the longest day; but it is notorious
that the hottest weather is generally some time after the longest day.
This is easily explained, as follows:-The time of the greatest heat is
not that at which most heat is received, but that at which the quantity
of heat is the greatest, namely, just before the daily receipts of heat
begin to fall short of the daily expenditures. So long as the receipt
exceeds the expenditure, heat is daily added to the hemisphere, and the
weather becomes hotter. The same reason may be given for the
greatest cold generally following the shortest day, with a considerable
interval. All these circumstances, however, depend much on the at-
mospheric circumstances of the year.
The preceding explanation does not serve for the tropical climates,
the days and nights are here so nearly equal throughout the year, that
seasons are caused more by the effect of the winds (which are very
regular, and depend mainly on the sun's position) than by changes in
the direct action of the sun's light and heat. The seasons are not a
summer and a winter, so much as recurrences of wet and dry periods,
two in each year.
With regard to the quantity of heat received in a day, it might be
expressed, so far as it is not modified by the atmosphere, in a formula
depending on the latitude of the place and the sun's declination. It
will be enough to say that this formula shows that, the sun being in
the equator, the day's heat in different places is as the cosine of the
latitude; and that for all places at the equator, the day's heat for
different days is as the cosine of the sun's declination.
The different distances at which the earth is from the sun, at dif-
ferent times of the year, do not affect the heat received in a given
portion of the orbit. The sun is nearest to the earth in our mid-
winter, but for that reason the winter is shorter, since the earth moves
more rapidly when nearer to the sun. The compensation is exact, for
the quantity of heat received at any one moment, while the radius of
the earth's orbit moves through any small angle, is greater or less in
the inverse proportion of the square of that radius. But the time of
describing that angle is less or greater in the direct proportion of the
same square. Consequently the heat actually received by the earth în
the two halves of its orbit is the same in both,
SEAT (in a church). [PEW.]
SEAWORTHINESS. [SHIPS.]
SEBACIC ACID. [SEBACIC GROUP.]
SEBACIC GROUP. A small class of chemical compounds belong-
ing to the pelargonic series in Gerhardt's arrangement. The principal
member is sebacic acid.
18
Sebacic acid (CH100g, 2HO) or pyroleic acid is always obtained
when oleic acid or an oil containing oleic acid is distilled. It is most
advantageously prepared by the action of a hot and very strong solu-
tion of caustic potash upon castor oil. The ricinolic acid of the castor
oil is thus split up into sebacic acid, caprylic alcohol, and free hydrogen.
Sebacic acid is soluble in hot water, and crystallises out from a boiling
solution of the sebate of potash, produced as just indicated, on the
addition of hydrochloric acid. It forms white lamellar or acicular
crystals, of the appearance of benzoic acid; is very soluble in alcohol,
ether, or oils; reddens litmus paper; melts when heated to 260°
Fahr., and at a higher temperature sublimes. Nitric acid converts it
inte succinic acid.
SECONDARY.
430
Sebacic acid is bibasic, forming neutral sebates of the formula 2MO
C20H160; and acid salts containing MO,HO,CHO. The alkaline
salts are nearly all crystalline and soluble in water; from them the
other sebates are prepared by double decomposition. Sebate of methyl
or methyl sebacic ether contains C20H(CH)2O; by contact with
ammonia it gradually yields sebamide (C₂HNO,) in crystalline
grains, the mother liquor containing sebamic acid (CH,NO).
20-
Ipomic acid seems to be identical with sebacic acid. Jalap (ipomea
purga) resin yields rhodeoretic acid when acted on by bases, and
rhodeoretic acid furnishes ipomic acid on being oxidised by nitric acid.
The fusing point of ipomic acid is 40 degrees below that of sebacic acid,
but in every other respect it resembles the latter body.
SEBAMIC ACID. [SEBACIC GROUP.]
SEBAMIDE. [SEBACIC GROUP.]
SEBAT (in Hebrew, w), is the fifth month of the civil year of
the Jews. The name is mentioned in the 7th verse of the 1st chapter
of Zechariah, where it is called the eleventh month, reckoning from the
vernal equinox, at which season the Jews anciently began their year.
It is called Sabat in the Apocrypha, at 1 Macc. xvi. 14. The name is
found at Palmyra written as in Hebrew, and at Balbek it was written
Σοβαδ. Sebat has thirty days; its place in the year varies from
January to February, and in 1860 it began on the 25th of January
and ended on the 23rd of February. In 1861 it began on the 12th of
January and ended on the 10th of February. A fast is mentioned in
some calendars on the 4th day of Sebat, for the wickedness of Israel
after the death of Joshua, and another on the 23rd day, in memory
of the war between the tribe of Benjamin and the rest of the nation,
related in the 20th chapter of Judges; but these fasts are observed
very partially, if at all.
SEBIN. (CH0016). The sebate of glycerin. It is neutral and
crystalline, and is transformed by oxide of lead into sebacic acid and
glyceriu.
SECALE CORNUTUM. [ERGOT.]
SECANT, a line which cuts another; also a term in TRIGONOMETRY.
SECEDERS. The origin and history of the Seceders from the
Established Church of Scotland will be found briefly stated in the
article UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, that being the name adopted
by the religious fellowship which includes the greater number of
Seceders. The Synod of United Original Seceders, the only body which
retains the name Seceders in its official designation, professes the same
doctrine and discipline as the United Presbyterian Church, but main-
tains the principle of a national church, and also that of national
religious vowing or covenanting. The Original Seceders number about
30 congregations, forming 4 presbyteries. Since the disruption in
1843 [FREE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND], many of those known as Original
Seceders and Associate or Old Light Burghers, have joined the Free
Church, on the ground of its being, in their judgment, the true
National Reformed Church of Scotland.
SECOND, the sixtieth part of a minute, whether of time or of
angular measure. [ANGLE; TIME.] For the derivation of this word,
see SCRUPLE.
SECOND, an interval in music, a discord, the ratio of which is 9: 8.
Of seconds there are three kinds: the minor second, or semitone, as
EF; the major second, c D; and the extreme sharp second, CD;
Ex.
Ex.:-

SECOND-SIGHT, a power believed to be possessed by some persons
in the highlands and islands of Scotland, of foreseeing future events,
especially of a disastrous kind, by means of a spectral exhibition of the
persons whom these events respect, accompanied with such emblems
as denote their fate.
Jamieson says,
inhabitants of the highlands and islands of Scotland by the northern
Whether this power was communicated to the
nations, who so long had possession of the latter, I shall not pretend
to determine; but traces of the same wonderful faculty may be found
among the Scandinavians. Isl. ramskygn denotes one who is endowed
with the power of seeing spirits: qui tali visu præter naturam præ-
ditus est, ut spiritus et dæmones videat, opaca etiam visu penetret.'
Verel. Ind. The designation is formed from ramm-ur, viribus pollens,
and skygn, videns; q. e. powerful in vision."
Dr. Johnson, in his journey to the Western Islands of Scotland,
carefully examined the questions of the second-sight; but neither he
nor Dr. Beattie could find sufficient evidence of its reality.
In Sir John Sinclair's Statistical Account of Scotland,' vol. iii.,
8vo., Edinb., 1792, the minister of Applecross, in the county of Ross,
speaking of his parishioners, says, "with them the belief of the second-
sight is general.
In Mac Culloch's Western Islands of Scotland,' Svo., Lond., 1819,
vol. ii., the author
says,
without even mentioning the second-sight would be unpardonable.
"To have circumnavigated the Western Isles
No inhabitant of St. Kilda pretended to have been forewarned of our
arrival. In fact it has undergone the fate of witchcraft; ceasing to bo
believed, it has ceased to exist."
In the Erse the second-sight is called Taisch.
SECONDARY, a name given to any circle on the sphere with
431
SECONDARY COIL, CURRENTS, &c.
reference to another circle: if the latter be called primary, the former
is secondary when it passes through the poles of the primary.
[SPHERE.]
SECONDARY COIL, CURRENTS, &c. [MAGNETO-ELECTRICITY.]
SECRETARY (French, Secrétaire), one entrusted with the secrets
of his office or employer; one who writes for another. Its remote
origin is the Latin secretum. The phrase "notarius secretorum" is
notarius secretorum" is
applied by Vopiscus ( Div. Aurelianus') to one of the secretaries of
the emperor Aurelian.
This appellation was of very early use in
England: Archbishop Becket, in the reign of Henry II., had his
"secretarius;" although the person who conducted the king's corre-
spondence, till the middle of the 13th century, was called his clerk
only, probably from the office being held by an ecclesiastic. The first
The first
time the title of "secretarius noster" occurs is in the 37th Hen. III.,
1253.
SECRETARY OF STATE. The office of secretary of state is one
of very ancient date, and the person who fills it has been called.
variously "the king's chief secretary," "principal secretary," and, after
the Restoration, "principal secretary of state." He was in fact the
king's private secretary, and had custody of the king's signet. The
duties of the office were originally performed by a single person, who
had the aid of four clerks. The statute 27 Henry VIII., c. 11, regu-
lating the fees to be taken by "the king's clerks of his grace's signet
and privy seal," directs that all grants to be passed under any of his
majesty's seals shall, before they are so sealed, be brought and delivered
to the king's principal secretary or to one of the clerks of the signet.
The division of the office between two persons is said to have occurred
at the end of the reign of Henry VIII., but it is probable that the two
secretaries were not until long afterwards of equal rank. Thus we
find Sir Francis Walsingham, in the time of Queen Elizabeth, addressed
as her majesty's principal secretary of state, although Dr. Thomas
Wilson was his colleague in the office. Clarendon, when describing the
chief ministers at the beginning of the reign of Charles I., mentions
the two secretaries of state, who were not in those days officers of
that magnitude they have been since; being only to make despatches
upon the conclusions of councils, not to govern or preside in those
councils." Nevertheless the principal secretary of state must, by his
immediate and constant access to the king, have been always a person
of great influence in the state. The statute 31 Henry VIII., c. 10,
gives the king's chief secretary, if he is a baron or a bishop, place above
all peers of the same degree; and it enacts that if he is not a peer, he
shall have a seat reserved for him on the woolsack in parliament; and
in the Star Chamber and other conferences of the council, that he
shall be placed next to the ten great officers of state named in the
statute. He probably was always a member of the privy council.
Cardinal Wolsey in his disgrace earnestly implores Secretary Gardiner
(afterwards bishop of Winchester), whom he addresses as a privy coun-
cillor, to intercede for him with the king. (Ellis's 'Letters,' vol. ii.) Lord
Camden, in his judgment in the case of Entick v. Carrington (11 Har-
grave's 'State Trials,' p. 317), attributes the growth of the secretary
of state's importance to his intercourse with ambassadors and the
management of all the foreign correspondence of the state, after the
policy of having resident ministers in foreign courts was established
in Europe. Lord Camden indeed denies that he was anciently a privy
counsellor.
:
((
The number of secretaries of state seems to have varied from time
to time in the reign of George III. there were often only two; but
there are now five principal secretaries of state, whose duties are
divided into five departments, namely, for home affairs, foreign affairs,
for war, for the colonies, and a fifth, first appointed in 1858, for the
management of the affairs of India. They are always made members
of the privy council and the cabinet. They are appointed (without
patent) by mere delivery to them of the seals of office by the sovereigu.
Each is capable of performing the duties of all the departments, and
the offices are all so much counted to be one and the same, that if
removed from one secretaryship of state to another, a member of the
House of Commons does not vacate his seat.
SECTOR.
432
to the office of principal secretary of state-a power which, though
long exercised, has been often disputed. It is not necessary here to
give the arguments on both sides; they are discussed with great care
by Lord Camden in the case above cited (Entick v. Carrington), which
was one of the numerous judicial inquiries arising out of the dispute
between the Crown and John Wilkes at the beginning of the reign of
George III. The conclusions to which Lord Camden comes are-that
the secretary of state is not a magistrate known to the common law;
that the power of commitment for state offences, which he has for
many ages exercised, was used by him as an immediate delegation from
the person of the king, a fact which may be inferred, among other
things, from the debates in parliament in the time of Charles I., when
Secretary Cook claimed the power on that ground; that nevertheless
courts of justice must recognise this power, inasmuch as there has
been constant usage of it, supported by three judicial decisions in
favour of it since the Revolution, namely, by Lord Holt in 1695 (Rex
v. Kendal and Rowe); by Chief Justice Parker in 1711 (Queen v.
Derby); and by Lord Hardwicke in 1734 (Rex v. Earbury). In a
more recent case (King v. Despard, 1798), Lord Kenyon says, "I have
no difficulty in saying that the secretaries of state have the right to
commit," and he hints that Lord Camden felt too much doubt on the
subject.
There is also a chief secretary for Ireland, resident in Dublin (except
when parliament is sitting), and having always an under-secretary
there. He corresponds with the home department, and is under the
authority of the lord lieutenant. His office is called that of secretary
to the lord lieutenant; but it is analogous to the office of secretary of
state. He has sometimes, though very rarely, been a member of the
cabinet.
SECT (from the Latin Secta). Two accounts are given of the origin
of this word. By some persons it is represented as a derivative of
sequ-or (secu-tus), "to follow." By others it is derived from sec-o
(sec-tus)," to cut." It is in this case, as in many similiar instances,
not easy to decide between the pretensions of the two; and it is
far from being improbable that some persons may have used the
word as a derivative from one verb, and others as derived from
the other.
The sects of philosophers in ancient times seem rather to have been
persons who were followers of some distinguished teacher, than per-
sons cut off from any general mass. But when we come to the word
in its now more common and familiar use, namely, as denoting a par-
separa-
ticular community of Christians, the idea then predominates of
tion, cutting off, over that of following. Thus no one thinks of calling
the Roman Catholic church a sect and none, except it was designed
to disparage and dishonour it, would call the English Protestant
church a sect. But when we descend below it, we then see smaller
religious communities, who are cut off from a church, either by their
own act, or by some supposed or real act of usurpation and unchristian
tyranny on the part of the larger community. Thus the Quakers are
a sect, the Anabaptists are a sect, the Methodists are a sect, and the
Independents and English Presbyterians now are sects, though some
of these were for a time in existence without falling under the descrip-
tion of a sect, being still incorporated in the church, in which they
In other systems there are
sought to accomplish certain reforms.
smaller bodies of sectaries.
SECTION, the curve made by the intersection of two surfaces. In
the graphical afts it means generally a plane section, and most fre-
quently a vertical section, the horizontal section being called the plan.
In architectural designs, the longest vertical section is usually called
the elevation, the term section being restricted to vertical sections
which are perpendicular to the elevation.
SECTOR (Geometry), the figure made by two straight lines which
meet, and a curve which cuts them both. The most common is the
circular sector, made by two radii of a circle and the arc which they
" @
include. If be the radius in linear units, and the angle measured
in theoretical units [ANGLE], the area of the sector is 20 square units;
but according as the angle is expressed in degrees and fractions of a
degree, in minutes and fractions of a minute, or in seconds and fractions
of a second, the area is found by the first, second, or third of the
following formulæ :—
gro 0°
2-2·0"
2 × 57.29578 2 × 3437-747 2 × 206264·8
To the secretary of state for the home department belongs the
maintenance of the peace within the kingdom, and the administration
of justice so far as the royal prerogative is involved in it. All patents,
charters of incorporation, commissions of the peace and of inquiry, pass
through his office. He superintends the administration of affairs in
Ireland. The secretary for foreign affairs conducts the correspondence
with foreign states, and negotiates treaties with them, either through
British ministers resident there, or personally with foreign ministers at
this court. He recommends to the crown ambassadors, ministers, and
consuls to represent Great Britain abroad, and countersigns their
warrants. The secretary for the colonial department performs for the
colonies the same functions that the secretary for the home department
performs for Great Britain. The secretary for war has the manage-is opened. Only these converging scales properly belong to the sector;
ment of the army, in which he has the assistance of the commander-
in-chief. Each is assisted by two under-secretaries of state, nominated
by himself; the one being usually permanent, the other dependent
upon the administration then in power. The secretary for India has
one under-secretary, and the assistance of a council. There is likewise
in each department a large establishment of clerks appointed by the
principal secretary.
The power to commit persons on suspicion of treason is incidental
SECTOR (drawing instrument), an instrument invented by Gunter,
which has the appearance of a small carpenter's rule, marked with
scales in every part; the greater number of these scales not being laid
down parallel to the edges of the rule, but converging towards the
pivot on which the moving arm of the rule turns while the instrument
the others are merely laid down for convenience on such blank spaces
as are left by the converging or sectorial scales.
The sector is a large number of pairs of compasses packed up into
one, and most explanations of the instrument attempt to describe
them all in one. It will, however, be more convenient to separate one
Each piece
pair of compasses from the rest, and to describe its use.
of the ruler is marked with the same scales. Take one of these scales,
o A, and that which corresponds to it, o B; then A O B is a pair of com-
433
SECTOR.
SEDITION.
434
passes which can be opened or shut at pleasure. Suppose two scales,
say of chords, to be laid down on OA and OB, which are chords of 90°,
D
る
​Q
A
B
OP and o Q being radii, or chords of 60°. If op be four inches, we
have then before us two scales of chords with the radius of four inches
actually laid down, and any chords might be taken off them as from a
common scale: for instance, if the marks of 35° be at C and D, then
either o c or O D is the chord of 35° to a radius of four inches. But
suppose it required to find the chord of 35°, not to a radius of four
inches, but to one of 3.61 inches. We know that
4 3.61 ch. 35° (rad. 4) : ch. 35° (rad. 3·61);
and the fourth term of this proportion is to be found. Now this may
be done with sufficient accuracy, and without any drawing, as follows:-
Take a common pair of compasses, and open them to 3.61 on a sub-
divided scale of inches. Then open the sector until the points of the
compasses are made to fall on P and Q, which, if the sector open
rather easily, may be done very quickly. We have then PQ = 3.61
inches, and CD is the chord of 35° to that radius; for by similar
triangles
OP P Q : OC : CD;
:
or, 4: 361: ch. 35° (rad. 4): CD;
whence, C D = ch. 35° (rad. 3·61).
Take the compasses then, and fixing one point at c, make the other
fall on D; the distance CD may then be transferred with the compasses
to the paper, or to the scales of inches, according as construction or
arithmetical estimation is required.
The scales usually laid down upon the two sides of common sectors,
such as are constructed upon a foot ruler, are :—
-
1. A line of polygons, marked POL., showing the sides of polygons
inscribed in a circle. And since the side of the hexagon is the radius
of the circle, the radius of the scale is the distance from o to the
figure 6. Thus, to inscribe a polygon of ten sides in a circle of two
inches radius, open the sector until 6 and 6 on the counterpart poly-
gon scales are two inches apart: then the distance from 10 to 10 on the
same scales will be the side of the figure required.
2. A line of chords, as above described, the radius being the chord
of 60°. But it is to be noted that upon the common sector the whole
length o A of the scale is only the chord of 60°, so that angles above
60° do not appear. To construct an angle of more than 60°, first set
off 60° on the circle drawn by means of the radius, and take the chord
of the remainder from the sector. We think that the sector might
be usefully copied in this respect on the common scales: giving all the
length which the proposed scale will allow, to the chord of 60°, instead
of that of 90°.
3. A line of sines, the radius of which is the sine of 90°. Thus, to
find the upright side of a right-angled triangle having an hypothenuse
of 3.41 inches, and an angle of 32°, open the sector until 90° and
90° on the counterpart lines of sines are 3:41 inches apart; then
the distance from 32° to 32° on the same lines will be the side
required.
4. A line of secants, usually extending to about 75°, the radius of
course being the secant of 0°. This scale is blank from o to 0°.
5. A first line of tangents, from 0° to 45°, the radius being the tan-
gent of 45°, or the whole length of the rule.
6. A second line of tangents, on a smaller scale, beginning at 45°
and proceeding to about 75°, the radius being the tangent of 45°, or
the distance from o to the beginning of the scale.
7. A line of equal parts for operations answering to finding a fourth
proportional to three numbers. Thus to find a fourth proportional to
36, 47, and 53, make 36 and 36 on the counterpart scales fall as far
apart as from o to 47; then the distance from 53 to 53 on the same
scales, measured on the scale, will show the fourth proportional.
To write on the applications of the sector would be to make a
treatise on graphical trigonometry: one instance may suffice. It is
required to calculate the formula
sin. 59°
76 × sin. 38°
On the counterpart lines of sines make 38 and 38° (by opening the
sector) fall as far apart as from o to 59° on the same scale; then the
distance from 76 to 76 on the counterpart lines of equal parts will
show, on that line of equal parts, the numerical value of the result
required. Or make 38° and 38° on the counterpart lines of sines fall
as far apart as from o to 76 on the line of equal parts: then the dis-
ARTS AND SOI, DIV, VOL. VII.
tance from 59° to 59° on the counterpart lines of sines will show the
result required on the scale of equal parts.
The sector becomes an incorrect instrument, comparatively, when a
great opening is required, and also when the result is much greater
than the data from which it is produced. So much accuracy of con-
struction is necessary, that those to whom the instrument is often
really useful (not many, we suspect) should rather procure the larger
ones, which are manufactured by the best instrument-makers, than be
content with the six-inch lines which are found in the common cases
of instruments. The sector is an instrument which requires much
more care than the common scale, and in the use of which expertness
can be gained by nothing but practice. Each scale is a pair of parallel
lines with cross divisions; and it is important to note that the com-
passes must be applied to the inner of the parallel lines in every case.
Also when the compasses are in the hand, with one point laid on one
of the scales, the other scale being about to be moved to bring the
other point of the compass on the right division of the counterpart
scale, take care to hold the compasses only by that leg which is laid
down on the scale.
SECTOR, ZENITH. [ZENITH SECTOR.]
SECULAR, a name given to those variations in the planetary
motions which are of long duration, so that their periods are better
expressed in centuries than years.
SEDATIVES are agents which produce a direct depression of the
action of the vascular system, with little sensible evacuation. They
differ from narcotics, inasmuch as their depressing effects are not pre-
ceded by any obvious excitement or increased action of the heart and
arteries. Whether they act primarily on the heart itself, or secondarily
by a previous influence on the nervous system, is not clearly ascer-
tained. Some, such as the infusion of tobacco, and hydrocyanic acid,
appear to destroy completely the sensibility of the heart, so that it no
longer responds to the stimulus of the blood; but how this effect
results is altogether unknown. Oxalic acid, when the dose is large,
seems also to paralyse the heart; while in less quantities it operates
differently. [OXALIC ACID.] The peculiar mode of action of the
articles entitled to be considered as pure sedatives has been detailed
under the respective heads of DIGITALIS, HYDROCYANIC ACID, NICO-
TIANA, &c., and need not be repeated here. The medical employment
of these formidable agents should never be had recourse to without
competent authority and superintendence; but as many cases of
poisoning result from their accidental or criminal administration, it is
needful to observe that the greatest promptness is requisite in the
administration of appropriate remedies. Vital stimulants, such as
ammonia and brandy, are the best; and electricity or galvanism may
be resorted to after the others.

1.
Sulphuretted hydrogen, when breathed, injected into a vein of the
rectum, or even applied to the skin, acts as a sedative, and in a small
quantity can occasion death. It is largely disengaged from many
decomposing substances, such as exist in stagnant pools, ditches,
drains, and cesspools. Proximity to these produce effects more or less
serious according to the intensity of the gas. Even one of its com-
pounds, hydro-sulphuret of ammonia, is a potent sedative. Cold,
when extreme, likewise acts as a sedative, but its mode of action has
been already explained under BATHING. Chloroform and other anæs-
thetics may be considered sedatives of the nerves of sensation.
SEDILIA, in ecclesiastical architecture, the seats on the south side
of the chancel, near the high altar, in Roman Catholic churches, in
which the officiating priest and his attendant ministers sit during a
portion of the performance of high mass. In many of our old collegiate
and parish churches the sedilia still remain. The few that are extant
of Norman date belong to the middle or latter half of the 12th century.
In Pointed Gothic of every period they are frequent, and are almost
always made a very ornamental feature. Usually they are recessed in
the wall, like niches, and covered with canopies, which in some
instances are lofty and much ornamented, resembling tabernacle work:
but sometimes the sedilia are quite plain, little more in fact than stone
benches. Commonly the sedilia are three in number, divided from each
other by slender pillars, and gradated, that nearest the altar (intended
for the priest) being the highest; but they are met with of varying
numbers-from one to five--and all level, or with only the priest's seat
raised above the others.
SEDITION (from the Latin seditio). It is stated that in many
of the old English common law writers treason is sometimes expressed
by the term Sedition; and that when law proceedings were in Latin,
seditio was the technical word used in indictments for treason, till it
was superseded by the word proditio.
Sedition does not appear to be very exactly defined. It is stated to
comprehend contemptuous, indecent, or malicious observations upon
the crown or government, whether made in words only, or in writing,
or by tokens (which last term must comprehend pictures or drawings),
calculated to lower the sovereign in the opinion of the subjects or to
weaken his government. All these offences fall short of treason; but
they are considered crimes at common law, and punishable by fine and
imprisonment.
There are also statutes against particular acts of sedition, such as
seditious libels. [LAW, CRIMINAL.] There are also various acts against
societies established for seditious and treasonable purposes, and against
seditious meetings and assemblies.
FY
435
SEDUCTION.
The Roman sense of seditio (sed or se, and itio, a going apart, a sepa-
ration) is properly a disunion among the citizens, a riot, or turbulent
assemblage of people for the purpose of accomplishing some object by
violence or causing fear. It was included among other forbidden acts
in the Lex Julia de Majestate. ('Dig.,' 48, tit. 4.) It is often used in
connection with "tumultus" and "turba," and the three terms seem
to have the same signification.
(Rein, Römisches Criminalrecht, p. 522.)
SEDUCTION. [PARENT AND CHILD.]
SEGMENT (part cut off), a term which, in its general sense, needs
no explanation. It is, in mensuration, most frequently applied to the
part cut off from a circle by a chord, and the measurement of this
segment of a circle is the only point for which reference is likely to be
made to the word. Let A B be the segment of a circle, and o and D
the middle points of its arc and chord. The segment AOB is easily
A
E
C
D
B
expressed by the angle which the arc subtends at the centre: if this
angle (measured in the theoretical units [ANGLE]) be 0, and the radius
", the number of square units in the segment is
ງານ
2
(0—sin. 0).
But when a segment is actually to be measured in practice, it usually
happens that the radius is not given, and the circle is too large to
measure it conveniently. In that case the middle point c must be
found, and A B and A c must be measured, as also CD.
done, the length of the arc AB can be found with great exactness
This being
from the formula" one third of the excess of eight times A C over AB,
or (8 A C-A B).” This formula errs only about one foot out of 80
(always giving the arc a little too small) in a whole semicircle, and the
error diminishes nearly as the fourth power of the arc; thus at half
a semicircle the error is about one foot out of 24 x 80, or 1280 feet;
at one-third of a semicircle it is only about one foot out of 3' x 80, or
6480 feet, and so on. Another formula of the same sort, but so close
to the truth that no measurements could ever be taken in practice
sufficiently exact to make its inaccuracy appreciable, is the following:
find E the middle point of a C, and measure A E; then the arc is very
nearly (but a little less than)
A B + 256 A E—40 a c
45
The error here is less than one foot out of 390 on the whole circle,
and diminishes with the sixth power of the arc.
Taking the arc from one or other of these methods, the area of the
segment is then to be found as follows:-Determine R, the radius,
from A c²÷2 CD, and compute
R × Arc—a B (R— CD),
which gives the area required.
2
This formula may be reduced to
§ a c² (2 ▲ ¤‡ A D) — A D³.
C D
SEISMOLOGY.
438
actually entered into possession of them, and no person has usurped the
possession. When an estate of inheritance is divided into several estates,
as for instance an estate for life, and a remainder or reversion in fee, the
tenant in possession has the actual seisin of the lands; but the
persons in remainder or reversion have also seisin of their respective
estates.
In the conveyance of land by feoffment, which is now, however, almost
unknown, the delivery of the possession, or livery of seisin, as it is
termed, is the efficient part of the conveyance. [FEOFFMENT.]
Seisin in deed is obtained by actually entering into lands, and an
entry into part in the name of the whole is sufficient; by the receipt
of rents or profits; and by the actual entry of a lessee to whom the
lands are demised by a person who is entitled to but has not obtained
actual possession.
Seisin may also be acquired under the Statute of Uses, 27 Hen. VIII.,
which enacts that when any person shall be seised of any lands to the
use, &c., of another, by reason of any bargain, sale, feoffment, &c., the
person having the use, &c., shall thenceforth have the lawful seisin, &c.,
of the lands in the same quality, manner, and form as he had before
in the use.
A disseisin supposes a prior seisin in another, and a seisin by the
disseisor which terminates such prior seisin. To constitute a disseisin,
it was necessary that the disseisor should not have a right of entry;
the disseisee should not voluntarily give up his seisin; and that the
dişseisor should make himself the tenant of the land, or in other
words, should put himself, with respect to the lord, in the same
situation as the person disseised. "But," it is well remarked (Co. Litt.,
266 b, Butler's note), "how this substitution was effected, it is difficult,
feudal law, it does not appear how a disseisin could be effected with-
perhaps impossible, now to discover.
perhaps impossible, now to discover. From what we know of the
out the consent or connivance of the lord; yet we find that the
after the disseisin the lord might release the rent and services to the
relationship of lord and tenant remained after the disseisin. Thus
disseisee; might avow upon him; and if he died, his heir within age,
the lord was entitled to the wardship of the heir." But the doctrine
of disseisin is in many respects very obscure, and at present of very
little practical importance.
SEISMOLOGY, from σeloμos, an earthquake (that is, a movement like
the shaking of a sieve), and Aóyos, a discourse, the science of earthquakes;
of the mensuration of all the phenomena of earthquakes which can be
and SEISMOMETRY, from the same, and perpéw, to measure, the science
expressed in numbers, or by their relation to the co-ordinates of space.
The origin of these new departments of science has been stated in the
article EARTHQUAKES, in which the physical definition of an earthquake
was also given, agreeably to the researches of Mr. Robert Mallet. We
now proceed to state some of the elements of seismology, and the
formed by the adjectives seismal and seismic, both signifying what has
nomenclature applied to them, premising that the basis of this is
relation to an earthquake. An earthquake being the transit of a wave
this earthquake-wave, namely, the velocity of transit, the velocity of
of elastic compression through the earth, there are three elements of
the wave-particle (or wave itself [WAVE]), and the direction of motion
at each point of the seismic area, or tract on the earth's surface within
which the earthquake is felt. From the last element may be deter-
mined, 1st, the point upon the earth's surface vertically over the centre
of effort, or focal point, whence the earthquake impulse was delivered;
and 2nd, the depth below the surface (or rather sea-level) of the focal
point itself. The line passing through both these points is the seismic
vertical. The wave starts from the focal point with one normal and
Thus (to take an instance of Bonnycastle's) if A D=12, A C=13, two transversal vibrations, and may be imagined transferred outwards,
whence CD=5 (all feet), we have for the area of the segment
× 169 × 38–1728
5
82.533 square feet.
Another approximate rule is (giving somewhat too little)
CD (12 A D + 8 A c)
15
which is more exact than the preceding. The error is only one per
cent. when the segment is a semicircle, and it diminishes with the
seventh power of the subtended angle nearly.
It answers well enough for rough purposes, and particularly when
the segment is small, to consider the arc of the circle as being part of
a parabola, and to take two-thirds of the rectangle under A B and CD
for the area.
SEIGNORAGE. [CURRENCY.]
SEIGNORY. [TENURE.]
SEISIN is a term properly applied to estates of freehold only, so
that a man is said to be seised of an estate of inheritance or for life,
and to be possessed of a chattel interest, such as a term of years. This
distinction does not appear to have existed in the time of Bracton; at
least he uses the two words as identical in meaning ("possessio sive
seisina multiplex est,' lib. ii., fol. 38).
The seisin of the tenant of a freehold is the legal possession of the
land. It is actual seisin, called seisin in deed, when he has corporeal
possession of the land, or, as Bracton expresses it, "corporalis rei
detentio corporis et anima cum iuris adminiculo concurrente." It is
seisin in law when lands have descended to a person, but he has not yet
in all directions, in concentric spherical shells, whose volume at the
same phase of the wave is constant. The shock reaches the surface
directly above the focal point vertically; but, for all points around
that, it emerges with angles becoming more and more nearly horizontal
as the distance measured on the surface increases. The intersecting
circle of any one shell with the surface, which is that of simultaneous
shock, is the coseismal line, or crest of the earth-wave: circular
if in a homogeneous medium, more or less distorted if in a hetero-
geneous one (such as constitutes the various geological formations
of the earth's crust), but always a closed curve.
The meizoseismal area
is that in which the shock is experienced in the greatest degree, and
isoseismal areas are those in which it is felt at the same time. A seismic
region is a tract of the earth's surface, the earthquakes of which have
some community of origin, manifested by their simultaneous occurrence.
Seismic energy is the total amount of force exerted in earthquakes at a
given period, or in a given space, or with relation to any other element
of the subject. A chrono-seismic curve, laid down from the records of
earthquakes, the ordinate of which is that of epoch, and the abscissa that
of seismic intensity (in this case the force of a given earthquake),
expresses the progression of seismic energy in time.
Every object displaced by an earthquake shock is in fact a seismo-
meter, and in the selection and arrangement of suitable objects for such
displacement, so as to give the required evidence of the velocity and
directions of the motion, consists the practical science of seismometry.
For particulars of the construction and principles of complete self-
registering seismometers, we must refer to Mr. Mallet's Fourth Report to
the British Association; but we proceed to notice some extemporaneous
seismometers with which important observations may be made, under
487
433
SEISMOLOGY.
SELENE.
circumstances in which fixed instruments cannot be appealed to. The
elements necessary to be recorded, Mr. Mallet states, in his article ' On
Observation of Earthquake Phenomena,' in the third edition of the
'Admiralty Manual of Scientifis Inquiry,' are such as will enable us to
calculate, in order to obtain finally the actual elements of the wave
itself, as stated above-1, the direction in azimuth of the wave's motion
upon the earth's surface, and also its direction of emergence at the
points of observation. 2, Its velocity of transit upon the surface.
3, Its dimensions and form—that is, its amplitude and altitude.
If a common barometer be moved a few inches up and down by the
hand, the column of mercury will be found to oscillate up and down
in the tube in directions opposite to the motions of the instrument, the
range of the mercury depending upon the velocity and range of motion
of the whole instrument. A barometer fixed to the earth, therefore,
if we could unceasingly watch it, would give the means of measuring
the vertical element of the shock-wave; and if we could lay it down
horizontally, it would do the same for the amplitude, or horizontal
element. This we cannot do; but the same principle may be put into
use by having a few pounds of mercury and some glass tubes bent into
the form of the letter L-, sealed close at one end, and open at the
other; together with some common barometer tubes, having the open
end turned up like an inverted syphon. The instruments to be con-
structed of these are of the nature of fluid pendulums. They are
superior to common solid pendulums, where the dimensions of the
shocks are small; but where these are great and very violent, heavy
solid suspended pendulums will be found more applicable. The length
of the seconds pendulum for the latitude of Greenwich will always be
desirable.
Mr. Mallet thus describes a solid pendulum, of easy construction,
which will answer several important purposes of seismometry. "Fix
a heavy ball, such as a four-pound shot, at one end of an elastic stick,
whose direction passes through the centre of gravity of the ball: a
stout rattan will do. Fix the stick vertically in a socket in a heavy
block of wood or stone, and adjust the length above the block as near
as may be to that of the seconds pendulum for Greenwich. Prepare a
hoop of wood, or other convenient material, of about 8 inches
diameter; bore four smooth holes through the hoop in the plane of
its circle, and at points 90° distant from each other; adjust through
each of these a smooth round rod of wood (an uncut pencil will do
well), and make them, by greasing, &c., slide freely, but with slight
friction, through the holes. Secure the hoop horizontally at the level
of the centre of the ball by struts from the block, and the ball being
in the middle of the hoop, slide in the four rods through the hoop
until just in contact with the ball. It is now obvious that a shock,
. causing the ball to oscillate in any direction, will move one or more of
the rods through the holes in the hoop, and that they will remain to
mark the amount of oscillation.
"A similar apparatus, with the pendulum-rod secured horizontally
(wedged into the face of a stout low wall, for example), will give the
vertical element of the wave. Two of these should be arranged, one
north and south, the other east and west. One objection to this and
all apparatus upon the same principle is, that as the centre of elastic
effort of the pendulum-rod never can be insured perfectly in the plane
passing through the centre of gravity of the ball, for every possible
plane of vibration, so an impulse in a single plane produces a conical
vibration of the pendulum, and hence the ball deranges the position,
more or less, of the index rods which are out of the true direction of
shock. Moving the apparatus by hand, and a little practice in observa-
tion of its action, will, however, soon enable a pretty accurate con
clusion as to the true line of shock to be deduced from it."
The observer must record minutely the dimensions and other con-
ditions of such apparatus, to enable calculations as to the wave of
scientific value to be made from his observations of the range of either
fluid or solid pendulums. "A common bowl partly filled with a
viscid fluid, such as molasses, which, on being thrown by oscillation
up the side of the bowl, shall leave a trace of the outline of its surface,
has been often proposed as a seismometer. This method has many
objections; it can only give a rude approximation to the direction of
the horizontal element; but as it is easily used, should never be
neglected as a check on other instruments. A common cylindrical
A common cylindrical
wooden tub, with the sides rubbed with dry chalk and then carefully
half filled with water or dye stuff, would probably be the best
modification."
Such instruments and contrivances as those now described, suffice
to give the direction of transit of the earth-wave, and its dimensions.
Its rate of progress or transit over the shaken country remains to be
observed; and wherever it may be possible to connect three or more
such instruments, at moderately distant stations, say from fifteen to
thirty miles apart, by galvanic telegraph wires, so as to register at one
point the moment of time at which each instrument was affected, the
best and most complete ascertainment of transit rate may be expected.
On the entire subject of extemporaneous seismometry, we must again
refer the intending observer to Mr. Mallet's article in the 'Admiralty
Manual' before referred to.
Since the publication of the article EARTHQUAKES, Mr. Mallet has
applied the method of investigating their phenomena, announced in
his reports published in those of the British Association, to the earth-
quake of December 16, 1857, noticed in that article, the greatest that
has occurred in Italy since that of 1783; having personally examined
its effects. He has incorporated the results in an elaborate report read
to the Royal Society on the 24th of May, 1860, and of which an
abstract is given in vol. x. of the Society's Proceedings,' p. 486-494,
the report itself being reserved for the Philosophical Transactions.'
From that abstract the following particulars are derived, being
the result of the first exact investigation of the phenomena of a
great earthquake. It was felt over nearly the whole of the Italian
peninsula, south of Terracina in the States of the Church, near the
Neapolitan frontier, about 56 miles south-east from Rome, and of Gar-
gano, on the Adriatic. Its area of greatest destruction, or meizoseismal
area, within which nearly all the towns were wholly demolished, was
an oval, whose major axis was in a direction north-west and south-
east nearly, and about twenty-five geographical miles in length by ten
in width. The first isoseismal area beyond this, within which build-
ings were everywhere more or less prostrated and people killed, is
within an oval of about sixty geographical miles by thirty-five; the
second isoseismal is also an oval within which buildings were every-
where fissured, but few prostrated, and few or no lives lost. The
third isoseismal embraces a greatly enlarged area, within which the
earthquake was everywhere perceived by the unassisted senses, but did
not produce injury. A fourth isoseismal was partially traced, within
which the shock was capable of being perceived by instrumental
means, and which probably reached beyond Rome to the northward.
The seismic vertical, Mr. Mallet determined from the independent
and concurrent evidence of above seventy separate wave-paths, was
close to the village of Caggiano, near the eastern extremity of the
valley of the Sularis. The depth of the focal point below the sea-level,
that is, the mean focal depth was found to be about 5 geographical miles.
From all the information, observed and calculated, it was deduced that
the focal-cavity, within which the seismic energy originated, was a
curved lamellar cavity, or fissure, of about three geographical miles in
depth by nine in length, with an inclined vertical section, and a mean
focal depth (or depth of its central point of surface) of 5 miles below
the level of the sea, as just stated. The probable horizontal form of
the cavity, when laid down upon a map, co-ordinates with the existing
lines of dislocation of the country in a remarkable manner. Mr.
Mallet, it may here be remarked, assumes the force that acted within
this cavity to have been due to steam of high tension, either suddenly
developed or suddenly admitted into a fissure rapidly enlarged by
rending.
The most trustworthy of the observations of time correspond with
considerable exactness, and give a velocity of transit of the wave of
shock upon the surface, of between 700 and 800 feet per second.
Strictly speaking this is the velocity at which the wave-form was
propagated from point to point. The velocity of the wave itself, or of
the wave-particle, was in round numbers between 13 and 14 feet per
second in the direction of the wave-path. Mr. Mallet points out a
remarkable relation between this velocity and that recorded for the
earthquake of Riobamba, as the greatest whose effects have been ob-
served. The height due to the velocity of this wave is to the altitude
of Vesuvius as that due to the velocity recorded of the Riobamba wave
is to the mean height of the volcanic shafts of the Andes, and more
especially to the height of the volcanic vents nearest to Riobamba.
[VOLCANOS.] The wave of shock, of course, decays in relation to
superficial distance from the seismic vertical. The amplitude of the
wave slowly and slightly increases, and its velocity decreases. In the
case of the Italian earthquake under investigation, the lowest velocity
at nearly 30 miles from the seismic vertical was still about 11 feet per
second. The total modifying effects of this earthquake on the earth's
surface were insignificant. No great sea-wave accompanied it; nor
was such possible, the focal point being inland. Mr. Mallet examined
with care more than 150 miles of sea-coast, as well as river-courses, for
evidence of any permanent elevation of land having taken place con-
currently with the earthquake, but found none. This is an important
point, because geologists and travellers have often ascribed elevations
of the land to earthquakes, or to a succession of earthquake-shocks
directed upon the same spot; but "earthquakes," Mr. M. observes,
"cannot produce elevations, although the latter have been known to
have taken place about the same time as earthquakes, and in the sam
region."
"The functions of elevation and depression," of an
earthquake, "are limited solely to the sudden rise and as immediate
fall, of that limited portion of the surface through which the great
wave is actually passing momentarily."
·
The works and memoirs cited in this and in the article EARTH-
QUAKE, will make the student acquainted with the entire available
literature on the subject of earthquakes.
SELECT VESTRY. [VESTRY.]
SELENALDINE. [THIALDINE.]
SELENE (Σcλýrn), the Moon, was worshipped as a goddess by the
ancient Greeks. She is generally represented as the sister of Helios, or
the Sun; sometimes as his daughter, and occasionally as his wife, and
the mother of the four Seasons. She is also said to have had children
by Zeus and several others. The story of Endymion, whom she
caused to fall into a perpetual sleep that she might unseen gaze upon
his beauty and enjoy his embraces, is well known from the use made
of it by the poets. By him she is said to have been the mother of
fifty daughters. She was believed to drive her chariot through the
*
439
SELENETHYL.
heavens during the night. (Hom., 'Hymn.,' xxxii. 7.) Her chariot is
usually represented in ancient works of art drawn by two horses,
whereas that of Apollo was drawn by four. She is only distinguished
from Artemis by being more fully draped. She is frequently re-
presented in bas-reliefs on sarcophagi, hovering in the air over the
sleeping Endymion. In course of time the attributes of Selene were
given to Artemis, and the latter was represented as the goddess of the
moon; but these deities were originally distinct. [ARTEMIS.]
SELENETHYL. [SELENIUM.]
SELENIC ACID. [SELENIUM.]
SELENIOUS ACID. [SELENIUM.]
SELENITE. [CALCIUM. Sulphuric Acid and Lime.]
SELENIUM (Se) a nonmetallic, solid, elementary body, discovered
in 1818 by Berzelius in the iron pyrites of Fahlun; the sulphur pro-
cured from which was used at Gripsholm in the manufacture of sul-
phuric acid. In the latter a deposit was formed of a red colour, which,
on account of the peculiar odour that it emitted, was supposed, though
erroneously, to contain tellurium, the origin of which name suggested
that of selenium, from Zeλývn, the moon, for the new substance. The
discoverer considered it a metal, but it is now classed with the non-
metallic elements.
Selenium has been found hitherto only in small quantity; it occurs
in the pyrites of Anglesey, and probably in that of many other places:
sulphide of selenium has been detected among the volcanic products
of the Lipari Isles; and in the Harz it has been met with, combined
with lead, silver, and some other metals.
Magnus extracts selenium from the native sulphide by treating
it with binoxide of manganese, by the oxygen of which the sulphur
is converted into sulphurous acid, which escapes in the gaseous
form, while the selenium either sublimes in its pure state or as
selenious acid.
Selenium is a brown somewhat transclucent solid when in mass. It
is inodorous and insipid, moderately hard, may be readily scratched
with a knife, is brittle as glass, and easily reduced to powder. Its
fracture is conchoidal. Its sp. gr. varies from 4:30 to 4.8, on account
of the cavities which it frequently contains. It is a bad conductor of
heat, and a non-conductor of electricity. It softens at 212°, and may
be drawn out into fine threads, which are transparent, and of a red
colour by transmitted light. When heated rather higher, it becomes
fluid, and boils at 650°, emitting a vapour, which is inodorous, and of
a deep yellow colour; this in close vessels condenses in dark globules
of a metallic lustre, or of a cinnabar-red colour, according as the space
in which it collects is small or large. Water does not dissolve selenium;
it is however soluble in the fat oils and melted wax, but not in the
volatile oils. The equivalent of selenium is 39.75.
Oxygen and Selenium combine in three different proportions, form-
ing oxide of selenium, selenious acid, and selenic acid.
Oxide of Selenium (SeO) may be formed by heating the selenium in
a limited quantity of atmospheric air, and by washing the product to
separate the selenious acid formed with it. It emits a very strong
sinell resembling that of decayed horse-radish, so that 1-50th of a
grain of selenium is sufficient when burnt to scent a room of consider-
able size, and this is a characteristic property of selenium. Oxide
of selenium is gaseous, colourless, very slightly soluble in water, and
quite devoid of acid properties.
Selenious acid (SeO) may be prepared by passing a current of oxygen
gas over heated selenium; but it is more conveniently obtained by
digesting selenium in nitric acid or nitro-hydrochloric acid till dis-
solved, and then evaporating the solution to dryness.
This acid is colourless, and when strongly heated sublimes, and con-
denses unchanged in the form of acicular crystals, which possess
distinctly marked acid properties. It attracts moisture from the air
and is consequently very soluble in water; a hot saturated solution
yields crystals on cooling; it is also soluble in alcohol, and has when
heated an acrid odour. It forms salts with bases, which are called
Selenites.
Many substances which have strong affinity for oxygen decompose
selenious acid; this is the case with sulphurous acid and phosphorous
acid, and when the former is added to a solution of selenious acid, a red
powder is precipitated, which is pure selenium, and sulphuric acid is
at the same time formed. An alkaline sulphate produces a similar
effect; hydrosulphuric acid is also decomposed by and decomposes
selenious acid, and a yellow compound is formed and precipitated,
which is sulphide of selenium.
Selenic Acid (HO,SeO) may be prepared by fusing selenium, a sele-
nide, or selenite, with nitrate of soda. The seleniate of soda obtained
is to be decomposed by nitrate of lead, and the insoluble seleniate of
lead precipitated is to be decomposed by a current of hydrosulphuric
acid, which throws down the lead as a sulphide. The selenic acid
remains in solution, with some excess of hydrosulphuric acid, which is
to be expelled by ebullition.
Selenic acid is liquid, colourless, inodorous, of an oleaginous consist-
ence, and very acid; it attracts moisture from the air, and always
retains about 12.4 per cent. of water, which cannot be expelled with-
out decomposing the acid. It may be heated to 536° without decom-
position, but at 554° it is rapidly converted into oxygen and selenious
acid. When concentrated at a temperature of 329°, its sp. gr. is 2.524,
and it gradually increases up to the temperature of 545°, when it
;
SELF-REGISTERING INSTRUMENTS.
440
becomes 2.625. When mixed with water, much heat is evolved. Its
salts are called Seleniates. Zinc and iron are dissolved by this acid
with the evolution of hydrogen gas, and copper with the formation
of selenious acid.
Seleniate of soda (NaO, SeO, +10 aq.) occurs in large crystals like
those of Glauber's salt. Seleniates of lime (CaO, SeO3+2aq.) and of
nickel (NiO, SeO3+ 6aq.) resembles the corresponding sulphates.
Seleniate of Cadmium (CaO, SeO3+2aq) differs both in composition
and crystalline form from the sulphate of cadmium, the crystals also
lose an equivalent of water on being heated to 212° Fahr.
Hydrogen and Selenium (HSe) unite to form hydroselenic acid or
seleniuretted hydrogen. It is easily obtained by the action of diluted
sulphuric acid upon selenide of potassium, or of iron. This gas is
colourless, has a disagreeable odour, and so powerfully irritates the
membrane lining the nose as to excite symptoms of catarrh, and
destroy the sense of smelling for some hours. Water readily dissolves
this gas: the solution is at first colourless, but after a time it acquires
a reddish hue; it gives a brown stain to the skin, and reddens litmus
paper. When exposed to the atmosphere it is decomposed, its hydro-
gen being absorbed by oxygen, and the selenium is deposited. It
decomposes the solutions of many metallic salts, selenides of the
metals being precipitated.
Chlorine and Selenium combine when the gas is passed over the
selenium; heat is evolved, and a brown chloride is obtained, which
is liquid; it is heavier than water, not very volatile, and by the action
of water is eventually decomposed, and resolved into selenious and
hydrochloric acids and selenium.
This dichloride (Se,Cl) may be converted into a bichloride by exposure
to excess of chlorine. It is a white solid compound which is volati-
lised when heated, and condenses in small crystals. It is decom-
posed by water.
Sulphur and Selenium (S₂Se). A definite compound of these is
formed by passing hydrosulphuric acid gas into a solution of hydro-
selenic acid; the fluid assumes a yellow colour, becomes turbid, and a
precipitate is formed, though but slowly, unless a little hydrochloric
acid be added. When exposed to heat this disulphide of selenium
becomes red and viscid, and at high temperatures may be distilled
without decomposing.
Phosphorus and Selenium combine when the selenium is dropped
into melted phosphorus; the product is a red substance, but it does
not appear that any definite compound of these bodies is formed.
Selenethyl or selenium-ethyl. [ETHYL, selenide of ethyl.]
Selenium forms selenides with most of the metals, and the selenide
of lead is one of the most abundant of the native compounds which
occur in the Hartz. [LEAD, in NAT. HIST. Div.]
The characteristic properties of selenium are those of tinging the
flame of the blowpipe of a light blue colour, and emitting an acrid
vapour, when heated in the air, which has the peculiar smell of
decayed horse-radish.
SELENIURETTED HYDROGEN. [SELENIUM.]
SELF-REGISTERING INSTRUMENTS. In the determination
of scientific data, it is of the utmost importance that the instruments
of observation be as free from error as possible, or that the sources
and amount of error be accurately known.
It is further necessary
that the means of observation be irreproachable, and, if possible, con-
tinuous. Where an instrument requires to have its indications recorded
night and day, a large staff of observers is required, and they are liable
to error, even when carefully trained to their work. [EQUATION,
PERSONAL.] The magnetic instruments at the Greenwich Observatory
were formerly observed every two hours; but the results were of
course liable to error, and occasionally the magnetic variations were
too rapid and transient to be recorded. Hence attempts-and many
of them successful ones-have been made from time to time to make
instruments of observation record their own results. We have seen
under ANEMOMETER the contrivances for registering the direction and
pressure of the wind, together with the amount of rain; and under
BAROMETER some of the mechanical arrangements are stated for
making that instrument self-registering. The maximum and mini-
mum thermometers in ordinary use will be described under THERMO-
METER. Our object in this place is briefly to notice the vast improvement
that has taken place of late years in consequence of the application of
photography to the purposes of self-registration. A description of the
apparatus employed for the self-registration of the changes in position
of the declination magnet, of the
horizontal force magnet, and of the
vertical force magnet, will show the nature of the arrangements. A
prepared photographic paper is wrapped round a cylinder, the axis of
which is placed parallel to the direction of movement to be registered,
and the cylinder is turned round at a uniform rate by clockwork. The
light is supplied by a gas-lamp furnished with a copper chimney, in
which is a small slit capable of adjustment by a screw. It is on the
breadth of this slit that the breadth of the register-line depends. This
light falls upon a concave speculum, which rests in a stirrup connected
with the magnet to be observed, so as to partake of all its angular
movements. The pencil of light is reflected from the mirror to a plano-
convex lens, placed near to, and parallel with, the axis of the cylinder,
which lens condenses the line of light to a definite spot of light on the
paper. The source of light being fixed, it is evident that the move-
ments of the spot of light will correspond with those of the magnet, to
441
442
SELINUNTINE MARBLES.
SENATUS.
เ
the right and left in a horizontal plane in the case of the declination
magnet and horizontal force magnet, and up and down in a vertical
plane in registering the movements of the vertical force magnet. Hence,
as the cylinder is constantly being moved round by clockwork, there is
traced upon the paper a curve of which the abscissa, measured in the
direction of a line round the cylinder, is proportional to the time, while
the ordinate, measured in the direction of the axis of the cylinder, is
proportional to the movement of the magnet. A base-line, from which
to measure the ordinates, is traced upon the paper by the action of
a spot of light proceeding from another gas-lamp placed near the
cylinder and passing through a slit fixed to the carrier of the cylinder.
In the photographic registration of the barometer, the instrument is
arranged in the siphon form, and a float, resting on the surface of the
mercury in the shorter limb, hangs in a notch on the short arm of a
delicately poised lever. At the end of the long arm of this lever is an
opaque screen containing a small aperture, through which a pencil of
light passes. Now it is evident that, as this screen moves up and down
with the oscillations of the mercury, a line will be traced on the pho-
tographic paper by the pencil of light transmitted by the screen. There
is also an arrangement for tracing a base-line on the photographic
paper. The cylinder carrying the sensitive paper is mounted on a
turn-table, which is carried round by the hour-hand of a clock placed
concentrically beneath it. The paper is covered by a second cylinder
to prevent it from becoming dry, during the twenty-four hours that the
apparatus remains in action. The cylinders are also covered with a
blackened zinc case to prevent all light from falling on the paper,
except that from the pencils which describe the register and the
base-line.
<<
In the photographic registration of the thermometer and psychro-114) supposes, no right to speak in the senate, but merely voted by
meter, the bulbs of the instruments are freely exposed beneath a table
on which is a revolving cylinder covered with sensitive paper, while
the stems pass up through the table, and are placed between the cylin-
der and a source of light, which, by means of a cylindrical lens,
falls on the stem of the thermometer in a narrow vertical line, and,
passing through that part of the bore which is above the mercury,
blackens the sensitive paper. The boundary between the affected
and the unaffected parts of the paper indicates the position of the
mercury in the stem of the instrument. Fine wires are placed across
the slit through which the light passes, and coarser wires are attached
to every tenth degree, as well as to the points 32°, 54°, 76°, and 98°
Fahr. The shadows of these wires protect the portion of the paper on
which they fall from the action of the light, so that the darkened
surface of the paper is traversed by a series of parallel pale lines, and
the relative positions of the broad and narrow lines show the tempe-
rature indicated by the register. The whole of the apparatus is
protected by an outer wind- and water-tight zinc case.
SELINUNTINE MARBLES. [SCULPTURE.]
SEMAPHORE. [TELEGRAPH.]
SEMIBENZIDAM. Synonymous with Azophenylamine. [ORGANIC
SEMIBREVE, a character in music, sometimes nearly circular in
form, but more commonly elliptical. Ex.:
BASES.]
This is adopted as the measure-note in music; the other five cha-
racters that indicate duration, as minim, crotchet, &c., being considered
as proportional parts of it.
SEMICOLON. [PUNCTUATION.]
SEMINAPHTHALIDUM.
lamine.]
[NAPHTHALIO GROUP. Nitronaphthy-
SEMIQUAVER, a musical character, formed of a crotchet with
two hooks added at the extremity of the stem, and is in duration
a semibreve. Ex.:
of
SEMITIC LANGUAGES. [ARAMMAN, or ARAMAIC LANGUAGE;
HEBREW LANGUAGE; LANGUAGE.]
((
SEMITONE, an interval in music, whose ratio is 16: 15, as cc.
SENATUS, according to the etymological meaning of the word, is
an assembly of elders," and this is the sense which the Roman
writers attach to the earliest senate of Rome. The number of senators
in the Greek republics, as well as at Rome, always bore a certain
relation to the number of tribes of which the state was composed.
Hence, as long as Attica was divided into four tribes, the number of
senators was 400; and when Cleisthenes divided the country into ten
tribes, he increased the number of senators to 500. As long as Rome
only comprehended one tribe, the Latins of the city on the Palatine,
their senate consisted of only 100 members. After the accession of a
second tribe, the number of senators was raised to 200; and when a
third tribe was united with them, the number of senators was
increased to 300. Each of the three Roman tribes was divided into
ten curiæ, and each curia into ten gentes, and the same number of
decuries, containing, according to Göttling, parts of several gentes, and
made for purposes of representation. At the head of each gens there
was a deourio, who, according to Niebuhr, by virtue of this office was
a senator, or a representative of his gens in the senate. But Walter
(Gesch. des Röm. Rechts,') justly observes that the age of a decurio,
who was at the same time a military officer, and consequently must
always have been a young man and able to bear arms, does not appear
to be consistent with the age and duties of a senator. It is much more
probable that each decury elected from its own body one by whom it
was represented in the senate. Each curia was thus represented by
ten senators, who were called a "decuria senatorum" (Liv., i. 7). At
the head of this decuria senatorum was a curio, and the ten heads of
the decuries, when the senate consisted of only 100 members, or ten
decuries, were the "decem primi," from among whom the king chose
one as princeps senatus. It appears that when the Ramnes and Tities
became united, and the senate consisted of twenty decuries, the ten
decuries of the Ramnes with their decem primi still retained for a
time a kind of superiority over the Tities. (Dionys. Hal., ii.; Plut.,
Num.,' 3.) The senators representing the Ramnes gave their votes
first, and the princeps senatus was chosen from among them alone.
But the first two tribes must soon have been placed on a footing of
equality, so that some of the decem primi, as well as the princeps
senatus, might belong to either of the tribes. (Dionys., l. c.) After
the union of the third tribe, the senators representing the first two
are supposed by Niebuhr to be the "patres majorum gentium," and
those representing the third to be the "patres minorum gentium."
Göttling (Gesch. d. Röm. Staatsv.) on the other hand considers the
patres minorum gentium" to have been the noble plebeians whom
Tarquinius Priscus admitted into the three old tribes, and who, in con-
sequence of this, became eligible to the senate. (Cic., 'De Rep.,' ii.
20.) The patres minorum gentium had at first, as Niebuhr (ii., p.
going over to either party; and he therefore conceives that they were
the "senatores pedarii." (Gellius, iii. 18; Dionys., vii., p. 453.) This
name of senatores pedarii might in subsequent times, when all the
senators had equal rights, be applied to all senators indiscriminately,
as it was their general custom to vote by discessio, or a division. All
writers agree that Tarquinius Priscus raised the number of senators to
300, but the manner in which this was effected is stated differently.
Cicero (l. c.) says that the king doubled the existing number of
senators (which would accordingly have been 150), while others (Liv.,
i. 35; Dionys., iii., p. 199) state that he merely added 100 senators to
the existing number of 200. Niebuhr ingeniously reconciles these
two statements by the supposition that before the time of Tarquinius
Priscus some of the gentes of the first two tribes had become
extinct, though it does not follow that the number of the extinct
gentes amounted exactly to fifty. But if, as we have supposed, the
senators were not elected by each gens, but by a decuria, Niebuhr's
supposition must fall to the ground, as it cannot be conceived how
decuries could become extinct, as they might be formed in such a
manner that one large gens would comprehend several decuries, while
smaller ones united in forming one decury, and thus were always able
to make up a certain number of decuries. The statement of Cicero
appears to rest upon a misconception. (Göttling, p. 228.) Servius
Tullius did not introduce any change in the composition of the senate,
but in the reign of the last king, Tarquinius Superbus, the number of
senators is said to have become greatly diminished, as many of them
were put to death, and others were sent into exile. These vacancies
however were filled up immediately after the establishment of the
republic by electing into the senate the principal plebeians of the
equestrian order. Livy (ii. 1) ascribes this completion to L. Junius
Brutus; Dionysius (v., p. 287), Plutarch (Popl.,' 11), and Festus (s. v.
qui patres"), to Valerius Publicola. The number of these new ple-
beian senators is said to have been 164, but this is utterly incompatible
with the subsequent history of Rome. The new plebeian senators
were called Conscripti, in contradistinction to the patrician senators,
or patres; hence the mode of addressing the whole senate " patres
conscripti," that is, " patres et conscripti." The word patres, although
in later times used to designate senators in general, was originally
another name for patricians. (Liv., ii. 1; Fest., s. v.
"adlecti;"
Niebuhr, i., p. 327, &c.) The number of 300 senators henceforth
remained unaltered for several centuries. C. Gracchus was the first
who attempted an alteration. Livy ('Epit.,' lib. 60) says that he
wished to increase the senate by adding 600 equites, but this seems a
mistake, and the reading is probably corrupt. Plutarch ('C. Gracch.,'
5, &c.) says that he added 300 equites to the 300 senators, and trans-
ferred to this body the Judicia (publica). All the other writers who
mention these events (see the passages in Göttling, p. 237, note 3) do
not allude to an increase in the number of senators, but merely
state that he transferred the Judicia to the equites. A similar
attempt was made by the tribune Livius Drusus. (Appian, 'Civil.,'
i. 35.) Sulla added 300 equites to the senate, and thus increased
its number to 600. [SULLA, in BIOG. DIV.] Four hundred
senators were after this time present in a case when many were
absent. (Cic. ad Att.', i. 14.) Julius Cæsar increased the number of
senators to 900, and elected men of the lowest rank into the senate.
(Dion Cas., liii. 47.) This mode of filling up vacancies or increasing
the number of senators with freedmen and common soldiers was con-
tinued after the death of Caesar, and at one time there were more than
1000 senators. (Suet., Aug.,' 35.) Augustus again reduced the
number to 600. (Dion Cass., liv. 14.) Respecting the number of
443
SENATUS.
senators during the empire, we possess no direct information. During
the latter period of the empire the number of senators appears to have
become greatly diminished.
<
SENATUS.
-
444
law, they always elected such men as had held offices given by the
people, so that it was in fact the people who elected the members of
the senate, and the Roman senators themselves viewed their dignity as
The senators were from the earliest times elected for life. Their from the people. (Cic. pro Sext.,' 65; c. Verr.,' iv. 11; 'pro Cluent.,'
name indicates that originally they were men of advanced age, but the 56.) This also accounts for the fact that the members of the great
exact age at which a man might become a senator during the kingly colleges of priests, with the exception of the flamen dialis (Liv., xxvii.
period is not mentioned. During the latter centuries of the republic, 8), had no seats in the senate; and for the same reason it was a dis-
however, the age seems to have been fixed by some Lex Annalis, as the puted point whether the præfectus urbi should have a vote in the
ætas senatoria is frequently mentioned. But as a quæstor after the senate (Gellius, xiv. 8), for in the colleges of priests vacancies were
year of his office might be made a senator, and as the legitimate filled up by co-optatio of the members themselves, and the præfectus
age for the quæstorship was twenty-five years, we have reason to urbi was appointed by the consuls, and none of them derived their
believe that a person who had attained the age of twenty-six might be power from the people. In the time of Cicero, however, this appears
elected a senator. It might, however, be inferred from Polybius (vi. to have been altered, for we find that pontiffs might at the same time be
17) that this was not the case till a person had completed his twenty- senators. (Cic. ad. Att.,' iv. 2.) Notwithstanding all this, however,
seventh year. As regards the election of persons into the senate during the senate, down to the end of the republic, preserved in a great
the kingly period, Livy (i. 8) and Festus (s. v. Præteriti Senatores')
Præteriti Senatores') measure its original character; it remained an aristocratic body.
state that it was a privilege of the kings. Dionysius (ii., p. 85), though During the republic we do not hear that any property qualification
he involves himself in difficulties by supposing that the three tribes was required for a senator (Plin., 'Hist. Nat.,' xiv. 1), though the
were already united when the senate consisted of only 100 members, is senators must generally have belonged to the wealthiest classes. There
undoubtedly right in stating that the senators were not appointed by is indeed a passage in Livy (xxiv. 11) from which it has been inferred
the kings. (Niebuhr, i. p. 338.) The senators were elected by the that previous to the second Punic war a senatorial census was instituted
decuries, and thus were real representatives of the curies, or a select (Niebuhr, iii., p. 406); but the words of Livy are too vague to admit
body of the populus. The plebeians, who were afterwards admitted into of such an inference, and probably refer only to the fact that senators
the senate by Tarquinius Priscus, and after the banishment of the were among the wealthiest Romans, and were consequently able to
kings, must either have been incorporated with the patrician gentes, or
make greater sacrifices to the republic than other persons. Göttling
their number must have been very small, for the first instance of a (p. 346) concludes from Cicero ('ad Fam.,' xiii. 5) that Cæsar was the
plebeian senator at Rome is Sp. Maelius, in 439 B.C.; and a second is first who instituted a senatorial census, but the passage of Cicero is even
P. Licinius Calvus, in 400 B.C., although the latter may have held less conclusive than that of Livy. The first to whom the introduction of
the office of quæstor, and so have got admission into the senate. a senatorial census is expressly ascribed is Augustus. He first fixed it at
Niebuhr (i. p. 527, &c.) thinks that long before the institution of the 400,000 sesterces, but afterwards increased it to 800,000, and at last to
censorship there must have been a time when the senators were 1,200,000 sesterces. (Suet., 'Aug.,' 41; Dion Cass., liv. 17, 26, 30; lv.
chosen by the curies, and not by the subdivisions of the curies, and 13.) If a senator lost or spent so much of his property as to fall short
that each curia elected ten senators. He founds this supposition upon the of the senatorial census, he was obliged to withdraw from the senate,
Lex ovinia tribunicia mentioned by Festus (s. v. Præteriti Senatores'). unless the emperor connived, or supplied the deficiency. (Tacit.,
But as regards the time, Niebuhr is manifestly wrong, which he him-Anual.,' ii. 48; xii. 52; xv. 28; 'Hist.,' iv. 42; Suet., Aug.,' 41;
self seems to have felt afterwards (ii., p. 403, note 885); for the Lex Tiber.,' 47; Dion Cass., lx. 11.) The senatorial age was fixed by
Ovinia refers to the censors, whom it directed to elect into the senate Augustus at twenty-five years (Dion Cass., lii. 20), and the names of
optimum quemque curiatim." (Compare Göttling, p. 345, &c.; the senators were entered on a list called Album Senatorium.' (Tacit.,
Walter, Gesch. d. Röm. R,' p. 100, &c.) During the early period of 'Annal.', iv. 42; Dion Cass., liv. 13; lv. 3.) Augustus reduced, as we
the republic, the right of electing persons into the senate belonged to have seen, the number of senators to 600, and cleared their body from
the consuls, dictator, and military tribunes. But all the curule magis- the unworthy persons who had been admitted before his time. He
tracies, as well as the quæstorship, conferred upon those persons who also improved the senate by electing into it the most distinguished
had held them the right of being elected into the senate. (Liv., xxii. citizens of municipia and colonies, and even provincials. (Tacit.,
49, "unde in Senatum legi deberent.") The quæstorship conferred this 'Annal.' iii. 55; xi. 25; Suet., 'Vespas.,' 9.) Such senators of course
right probably from the earliest times, as it did in the time of Sulla resided at Rome, and, with the exception of those who belonged to
[QUESTOR], and this circumstance explains why the patricians opposed Sicily or Gallia Narbonnensis, they were not allowed to visit their
the eligibility of the plebeians to the quæstorship. After the esta- former homes without a special permission of the emperor. (Tacit.,
blishment of the censorship, the election of persons into the senate 'Annal.,' xii. 23; Dion Cass., lii. 42; lx. 25.) At a later period these
was wholly in the hands of the censors. All curule magistrates, that foreign senators were required to purchase a certain amount of landed
is, consuls, prætors, curule ædiles, and censors, had by virtue of their property in Italy. (Plin., 'Epist.,' vi. 19.) The emperors also
office a seat in the senate, and might speak on any subject. After assumed the right of convoking the regular as well as extraordinary
their office was over they retained this right, but without being meetings of the senate (Dion Cass. liii. 1; liv. 3), although the consuls,
real senators. Now vacancies in the senate were filled up at every prætors, and tribunes continued to enjoy the same privilege. (Tacit.
lustrum, and it was only on this occasion that the censors might Hist.,' iv. 39; Dion Cass., lvi. 47; lix. 24.)
elect those ex-magistrates into the senate whose conduct was un-
blemished. Hence we have to distinguish between two kinds of
senators, real senators (senatores), and such as were allowed "dicere
sententiam in senatu." (Fest. s. v. 'Senatores.') The old decem
primi senatus are no longer mentioned. The honour of princeps
senatus, which during the kingly period had been combined with the
office of custos urbis, and had been granted by the kings for life, was
afterwards united with the office of prætor urbanus, or with that of a
military tribune (Liv., vi. 6), and only lasted for one year. After the
establishment of the censorship, this honour was conferred by the
censors, and at first upon the eldest among the living ex-censors; but
afterwards upon any one whom the censors thought most worthy.
(Liv., xxvii. 11.) If the censors thought a person who had held a
curule office unworthy of being a senator, they passed over him ("præ-
teribant:" Fest., s. v. 'Præteriti'); but this seems to have seldom
occurred with persons who had held a curule office. (Liv., xxxiv. 44;
xxxviii. 28.) The plebeians as an order never obtained the right of
being eligible as senators; but as soon as the great offices of the re-
public became accessible to the plebeians, their claims to the dignity
of senator could not be disputed. As, therefore, the quaestorship, con-
sulship, censorship, and prætorship, were one after the other thrown
open to the plebeians, their numbers in the senate likewise continued to
increase.
At last (perhaps in the year 131 B.C.; Walter, p. 165, note
156), even the tribunes of the people, after having before acquired the
right to convoke the senate and to take part in its deliberations, gained
by the Plebiscitum Atinium the rights of real senators. (Gellius, xiv.
S.) On certain occasions a dictator was created for the purpose of
electing new members into the senate. (Liv., xxiii. 22, &c.) M. Fabius
Buteo, in 216 B.C., not only elected such men as had held curule
offices, but also such as had been plebeian ædiles, tribunes, quæstors,
and persons who had distinguished themselves as soldiers. The senate,
which at first had been the representative of the populus, thus
gradually became the real representative of the people; for although
the censors or a dictator were the electors, yet, either by custom or by
|
វ
LIV
Senators were never allowed to carry on any mercantile business.
About the commencement of the second Punic war, however, some
senators seem to have entered into mercantile speculations; and a
was passed, notwithstanding the opposition of the senate, that no
senator should be allowed to possess a ship of more than 300 amphora
in tonnage (Liv., xxi. 63), this being thought sufficiently large to con-
vey to Rome the produce of their possessions abroad (comp. Cic. c.
Verr.,' v. 18); from which passage it is clear that this law was not
always observed. No one moreover could be elected senator whose
parents were not free men by birth (ingenui). The first violation of
this custom was attempted by the censor Appius Claudius Cæcus, who
elected into the senate the sons of freedmen. (Liv., ix. 29 and 46;
Aurel. Vict., ' De Vir. Illustr.,' 34.) But this election was considered
illegal. Towards the close of the republic such proceedings appear to
have been rather common. (Dion Cass., xl. 63; iii. 47; Horat..
Sat.,' i. 6, 21.) If a senator was struck from the lists of senators by
the censors, he was not disqualified for any of the great state offices,
but he might still obtain them, and thus find his way back to the
senate. (Cic. pro Cluent., 46; Dion Cass., xxxviii., 30; xliii. 52;
comp. "Nota" in 'Dict. of Greek and Rom. Antiq.')
៩
The regular meetings of the senate (senatus legitimus) during the
republic were held on the calends, nones, and ides of every month..
(Cic. ad Quint. Frat.,' ii. 18.) Extraordinary meetings (senatus
indictus or edictus) might be convoked on any day, provided it was not
a dies comitialis, or a dies ater. Augustus decreed that a senatus
legitimus should only be held twice every month, on the calends and
on the ides; that during the months of September and October, only
a small number of senators, drawn by lot, should attend; and that
their attendance should be sufficient to enable the body to transact
business. (Suet., Aug.,' 35; Dion Cass., lv. 3.) What number of
senators was necessary in order to constitute a legal meeting is uncer-
tain: on some occasions, however, as see from the senatus
consultum de Bacchanalibus (Liv., xxxix. 18), a decree could not be
made unless there were one hundred senators present. Sometimes
we
445
440
SENATUS.
SENATUS.
!
✓
also it was found necessary to enforce the attendance by a multa, or a
pignoris captio. (Cic., Philip.,' i. 5.) Augustus increased the seve-
rity of the law in this respect. (Dion Cass., liv. 18; lv. 3; lx. 11.)
At first he required the presence of four hundred members to con-
stitute a full assembly; but he afterwards reduced this number; and
at a later period, the presence of seventy, or even fewer senators, was
sufficient. (Lamprid., ' Alex. Sev.,' 16.)
The places of meeting for the senate (curiæ or senacula) were always
templa, that is, places consecrated by the augurs; and there were
originally three of them: 1, the temple of Concordia, between the
Capitol and the Forum; 2, a place near the Porta Capena; and 3, a place
near the temple of Bellona, outside of the city. (Fest., s. v. 'Senacula.')
Subsequently, however, meetings of the senate were held in a great
many other places. The place near the temple of Bellona was princi-
pally used for the purpose of giving audience to generals who returned
from their campaigns, and were desirous to obtain a triumph; also to
receive foreign ambassadors, especially such as were sent by an enemy,
and were not allowed to enter the city. Towards the close of the
republic, it was decreed that during the whole month of February the
senate should give audience to foreign ambassadors on all days on
which a senate could be held, and that no other business should be
transacted in the senate until the affairs of the foreign ambassadors
were settled. (Cic. ad Quint. Frat.,' ii. 13; 'ad Fam.,' i. 4.)
In the earliest times of Rome, the right of convoking the senate
belonged to the kings or their vicegerents, and they also introduced
the subjects for discussion. The princeps senatus, or custos urbis, put
the question. The patres majorum gentium voted first, and the
patres minorum gentium last. (Cic., De Rep.,' ii. 20.) During the
republic the senate might be convoked by the consuls, the dictator,
the prætor, the tribunes of the people, the interrex, or the præfectus
urbi: the decemvirs, military tribunes, and the triumviri rei
publicæ constituendæ, likewise exercised this right; but the persons
who intended to convoke the senate generally offered sacrifices to the
gods and consulted the auspices. (Gellius, xiv. 7.) The assembled
senators appear to have sat in a regular and fixed order: first, the
Princeps senatus; then the Consulares, Censorii, Prætorii, Ædilicii,
Tribunicii; and lastly, the Quæstorii. In this succession they also
gave their votes, (Cio., Philip.', v. 17; xiii. 14; ' Ad. Att.', xii. 21.)
The majority always decided. This mode of voting remained the
same during the empire. (Plin., 'Epist.', viii. 14; ix. 13; Tacit,
Annal.', iii. 22; xi. 5.) The business was conducted as follows: the
magistrate who had convoked the senate was always the president, and
he laid before the assembly the subjects for discussion, opening the
business with the words, "Quod bonum, faustum, felix, fortunatum
sit; referimus ad vos, patres conscripti." After the subject of dis-
cussion was explained, the president asked the senators for their
opinion in the order in which they sat. (Liv., i. 32; ix. 8.) If the
consules designati were present, they had the precedence even of the
princeps senatus. (Sallust., Cat.', 50; Cic. Philip.', v. 13.) If any
of the members dissented from the measure proposed, he might express
his opinion freely, or propose an amendment to it. After the dis-
cussions were over, the president called upon the members to vote;
and the majority, which decided the question, was ascertained either
by numeratio or discessio. A sitting of the senate was, generally
speaking, not continued after sun-set; but in unexpected or very
urgent cases the business was carried on by candle-light, and even till
after midnight. Augustus introduced the custom that every senator,
before he took his seat, should offer incense and a libation to the god
in whose temple the meeting was held. (Suet., Aug.', 35.) During
the time of the empire one of the consuls seems always to have presided
in the senate, and the emperors only when they were consuls (Plin.,
'Epist.', ii. 11); but by virtue of their tribunician power, they might
at any session introduce any subject they pleased (Dion Cass., liii. 32),
and subsequently this privilege was granted to them by an especial
decree (jus relationis). (Vopisc., 'Prob.', 12; J. Capitol., ' Pertin.', 5;
M. Antonin.', 6; Lamprid., Alex. Sev.', 1.) The measures or pro-
positions made by an emperor were introduced in the form of
written orations (orationes principum), and read in the senate by one of
his quæstors. (Suet., 'Aug.', 65; Tit., 6, Tacit., ‘Annal.', xvi. 27.) The
manner of conducting the business was on the whole the same as in
the time of the republic. But when magistrates were elected in the
senate, the votes were given by ballot. (Plin., Epist.', iii. 20; xi. 5.)
Previous to the time of Cæsar the transactions of the senate were not
kept or preserved in any regular way. (Plut., Cat. Min.', 23.) Cæsar
was the first who ordained that all the transactions of the senate (acta
senatus) should be kept and made public. (Suet., ' Cæs.', 20.) These
transactions were written under the superintendence of one of the
senators (called "ab actis," or "à cura actorum"), by scribes appointed
for the purpose. (Tacit., Annal.', v. 4, &o.; Spart., Hadr.', 3.) In
'
case the business of the senate was carried on in secret, the senators
themselves officiated as clerks. (Jul. Capitol., 'Gord.', 12.)
Down to the end of the republic the senate of Rome partook more
or less of the character of a body representing the people: it was, as
Dionysius says (v., p. 331, vi. p. 408), the head and soul of the whole
republic, or the concentrated intelligence and wisdom of the whole nation.
It is chiefly to the consistency, wisdom, and energy with which the senate
acted during a long period that Rome was indebted for her greatness
and her success.
The
During the kingly period the kings acted according to the deter-
minations of the senate, and the kings had only the executive. The
subjects on which the senate decided before they came before the
people, comprehended the whole internal administration of the state,
legislation, finance, and war. On the death of a king the senate pro-
posed the new candidate to the comitia by means of the interrex.
(Liv., i. 17.) At the establishment of the republic no change appears
to have been made in the power and authority of the senate.
senate and the people had the sovereign power. At first all measures,
whether relating to the administration or legislation, originated with
and were prepared by the senate; but this power was afterwards con-
siderably diminished by the attacks of the tribunes of the people. In
many cases the original state of things became reversed, inasmuch as
laws might originate with the people, and only require the sanction of
the senate; or might have the power of law even without this
sanction. [TRIBUNUS.] A still more formidable blow was inflicted
upon the power of the senate when the tribunes obtained the right of
invalidating its acts by their intercessio. [TRIBUNUS.] The power
which the senate exercised during the republic, when the tribunes did
not intercede, may be comprised under the following heads :---
1. The senate had the control of the public treasury (ærarium)
('Polyb.', vi. 13); the accounts of all the revenues were laid before the
senate, and no part of the public money could be expended without
their consent. Hence no consul or magistrate could raise an army, or
keep it at the expense of the state, unless he was authorised by the
senate. [SCIPIO, in BIOG. DIV.]
2. Crimes committed in Italy, such as treason, conspiracies,
poisoning, and murder, belonged to the cognizance of the senate;
moreover, if any private individuals or any of the allied towns of
Italy had disputes among themselves, if they had done anything
deserving punishment, or if they required assistance or a garrison, all
this was within the power of the senate. (Polyb., vi. 11; comp. Liv.,
xxx. 26.) In cases, however, where a judicial sentence was required,
the senate appointed a person, but did not pronounce sentence itself.
(Cic., 'De Off.', i. 10; Val. Max., vii. 3, 4.)
3. All ambassadors sent from Rome, and all commissioners charged
with the regulation of the affairs of a newly conquered province, were
nominated by the senate, and the ambassadors themselves were in
many cases members of the senate. All foreign ambassadors com-
municated with the Roman senate. (Polyb., . c.; and Livy, in
numerous passages.) Treaties concluded with foreign nations by a
Roman general required the sanction of the senate.
4. The senate assigned to the consuls and prætors their respective
provinces [PROVINCIA], and the senate might at the end of a year
propose the prolongation of their imperium.
5. The senate decreed all public thanksgivings (supplicationes) for
victories obtained by the generals of the republic; and the senate alone
could confer on a victorious general the honour of a triumph or of an
ovatio. (Liv., v. 23; Cic., ' Philip.', xiv. 5.)
6. The senate in times of great danger could delegate unlimited
power to the consuls; and this was done by the formula, "videant
consules nequid respublica detrimenti capiat." The senate had also
the supreme superintendence in all matters of religion, and decided
whether the worship of new gods was to be adopted or not. [SERAPIS.]
During the empire the senate lost its former character, for the
emperors became the sovereign, and the senate was a subordinate
power, and little more than a high court of justice.
high court of justice. Respecting the
provinces of the senate, see PROVINCIA. The senators, however, were
always looked upon as persons of the highest rank. Vacancies were
filled by the emperor at discretion, chiefly with equites, whence the
equites are called seminarium senatus. (Lamprid.,Alex. Sev.', 19;
Joseph., Antiq. Jud.', xix. 1.) Constantine established a second
senate at Byzantium, and the emperor Julian conferred upon it the
privileges which were enjoyed by the senators of Rome. (Zosimus, iii.
11.) Both senates were still sometimes addressed by the emperors in
a imperial oration concerning matters of legislation, and each of the
senates still continued to be a high court of justice, to which the
emperors referred important criminal cases. The senatorial dignity
was now obtained either by descent, by the favour of the emperor, or
by virtue of having held some office at the imperial court. The
senators enjoyed many distinctions, but their burdens were exceedingly
heavy, for they had to pay a peculiar tax (follis) upon their landed
property, to give public games, and magnificent presents to the
emperors, aud, in times of need, large donations to the people. The
emperors, therefore, contrived to elect into the senate the wealthiest
persons from all parts of the empire. (Walter, 'Gesch. d. Röm.
Rechts.")
From the time of Diocletian the senate was only a shadow of its
former state, but it was still the highest object of the ambition of the
wealthy Romans.
It now remains to mention some of the external insignia and the
privileges of the Roman senators,
1. The latus clarus, or tunica laticlavia, or a tunica with a broad
purple stripe, which was not sewed to it, but woven in it.
2. A kind of short boots with the letter C on the top of the foot.
This C is generally interpreted to mean centum, and to refer to the
original number of a hundred (centum) senators.
3. A particular place (orchestra) in the theatres and amphitheatres.
447
SENECA INDIANS.
"
This was first assigned to the senate by Scipio Africanus Major, B.C.
194 (Liv. xxxiv. 54; comp. Cic. pro Cluent.', 47.) In the reign of
Claudius they obtained the same distinction at the games in the Circus.
(Suet., ' Claud.', 21; Dion Cass., lx. 7.)
4. On the day when sacrifices were offered to Jupiter, the senators
had a public feast on the Capitol, and this distinction, which no one
else had, was called jus publice epulandi. (Suet., Aug.', 35;
Gellius, xii. 8.)
5. The jus liberæ legationis, that is, senators, when allowed to
travel abroad, had a right to demand from the inhabitants of the
towns or countries through which they travelled, all that was
necessary for their support or accommodation. Towards the end of
the republic this right was much abused, wherefore Cicero obtained
the passing a law which limited the time during which a senator might
be absent and enjoy the jus liberæ legationis to one year: Cæsar,
however, extended it to five.
SENECA INDIANS. [NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS.]
SENEGUIN. [SAPONIN.]
SENESCHAL, a word rarely used except by persons who affect a
kind of refinement of style which they think is attained by using
words of exotic growth rather than words the natural growth of their
own soil, the meaning being precisely that which is represented by the
word "steward," and this when the word is applied to officers so desig-
nated of the greatest eminence; the lord high-steward of England or
of Scotland being the proper phrase for that great officer, and not lord-
high-seneschal. But the functions of the officer called steward in
Britain corresponding with those of the officer called seneschal abroad,
and especially in France, when the word appears in Latin, it is repre-
sented by senescallus, writs running "Senescallo
"Senescallo Hospitii Regis," &c.,
when addressed to the steward. In poetry and romance-writing it is
sometimes used for a principal officer in the household of distinguished
persons, when it is thought that the word steward would be too
familiar, and suggest an officer whose duties are of an inferior class to
those of the seneschal.
SENNA is prepared from several species of Cassia [CASSIA, in NAT.
HIST. DIV.], of which the acutifolia, grown in Egypt, Sennaar, and
Abyssinia, and shipped from Alexandria, is considered the best. The
leaflets, leaf stalks, and pods are frequently present in the senna used
in medicine. The pulp of C. Fistula, called also Cathartocarpus Fistula,
consists chiefly of sugar and gum, with some other principles, and is a
mild laxative. It accordingly enters into the composition of the con-
fection of cassia, and the confection of senna or lenitive electuary.
These are pleasant-tasted but rather bulky purgatives for children.
They are not much used, and the pulp of cassia is chiefly employed to
form what is termed essence of coffee. This, when prepared from pulp
which has not been kept too long, is mildly cathartic, and a very proper
article of diet for persons subject to habitual constipation.
Senna contains a peculiar principle called cathartine, with a fat oil,
and a little volatile oil, a colouring principle, mucilage, and malate and
tartrate of lime, chlorophylle, &c.
The active or purging principle is yielded to water, both cold and
warm, and to alcohol. If the infusion be made with cold water, it
never gripes: this method is now much employed to form the con-
centrated infusions supplied by wholesale chemists and druggists to
country practitioners. It requires that the water should stand twenty-
four hours on the leaves, which should be kept down with a heavy
weight, and the air excluded as thoroughly as possible. The tincture
is almost an unnecessary form, while the powder is objectionable from
its bulk and disagreeable taste. Various articles, especially aromatics,
are occasionally added to infusions to correct its griping tendencies, or
increase its purgative power. The confection is an example of such
combinations in a solid state. A carefully prepared extract keeps well,
retains the odour and virtue for years, and may be given in moderate-
.sized boluses or pills.
SENSIBILITY, an aptitude for receiving impressions of the senses.
This is its physiological meaning, as designating that faculty of the
senses whereby things external are made to act upon us. That peculiar
fineness of organisation which renders a man alive to the impressions of
physical objects, has, by a natural metaphor, become the expression of
that peculiarity of mental organisation which renders the mind alive
to impressions of moral objects, such as pity for the distress of others,
admiration of heroic courage or patient endurance, &c.; and thus a
person with a keen sense of grandeur, sublimity, nobility, beauty, or
pathos in nature or art, is said to possess great sensibility. It is this
moral aspect of sensibility which in all people creates the love of
poetry and fiction, and when possessed in a high degree creates the
poet himself.
A singular but suggestive theory of universal sensibility was pro-
pounded by Campanella in his work De Sensu Rerum;' but its
daring assumptions, however consonant to a poetical temperament,
require greater accuracy, larger data, and more logical deductions,
before this hypothesis can have any weight with exact thinkers; and
in fact it has gained few converts.
SENTENCE. [JUDGMENT; ORGanon.]
SENTINEL, or SENTRY (from sentire, to look or perceive), is a
term now applied to an infantry soldier when placed on guard before
the palace of a royal personage, or before some other public building;
also when guarding the ramparts of a fortress, or, on an army being
SEPARATE PROPERTY.
448
in the field, when he is stationed on the exterior of the line of outposts.
[PIQUET.]
SEPARATE PROPERTY. By the common law of England the
husband acquired by the marriage a freehold interest in, and a right to
dispose of, the rents and profits, during the joint lives of himself and
his wife, of all the estates of inheritance of which she was at that time
seised, or might become seised during the coverture, as well as a right to
an estate for his own life as tenant by the curtesy in the event of his
surviving his wife and there having been issue of the marriage. By
the common law, also, marriage was an absolute gift to the husband of
all the goods and personal chattels of which the wife was actually pos-
sessed at that time or might become possessed during the coverture,
and it gave him a right to dispose of her chattels real and of such of
her choses in action as he should have reduced into possession
during the same period. There was no mode by which the wife could
take or enjoy any estate or property absolutely independent of her
husband.
In process of time, however, limitations of both real and personal
property to the separate use of the wife were established in courts of
equity, and the validity of them has been recognised even in courts of
law. It was at first considered necessary that property which was to
be enjoyed by a married woman for her separate use should be vested
in trustees for her, but it has since been settled that where either real
or personal property is given to the separate use of a married woman,
without any appointment of trustees, the husband shall be considered
a trustee for her. This principle applies à fortiori when the property
is expressly given to the husband for the separate use of his wife. In
the same manner the agreement in writing between the husband and
wife before marriage, that his wife shall be entitled to any specific
property for her separate use, converts him into a trustee for her as to
that property; and if the subject of agreement be real estate, and be
such as to give the wife a power of disposition, the agreement will be
binding on her heir, and make him a trustee for her appointee. The
consideration of what is or is not a valid settlement of property by the
husband to the separate use of his wife as against creditors and pur-
chasers, belongs to the general doctrine of marriage settlements.
[SETTLEMENT.]
Many questions have arisen upon the construction of particular
instruments as to what words are necessary to raise a trust for the
separate use of the wife. The result of the cases upon this point may
be stated to be, that when, from the nature of the transaction and the
context of the instrument, the intention to limit the property to the
wife for her separate use is clear, whatever may be the particular
expressions used, that intention will be carried into effect; but that
the courts of equity will not interfere to deprive the husband of the
interest which he would otherwise take in his wife's property upon
doubtful inferences or ambiguous expressions. It has sometimes been
doubted whether property could be limited in trust for a woman,
whether married or sole at the time, so as to enure to her separate
use in the event of a second or future marriage; but the recent
decisions upon this point, in accordance with the general practice of
conveyancers, leave no room now to doubt their validity. The intention
to extend the limitation to future covertures must, however, be clearly
declared; for if the apparent object be to protect the fund against the
particular husband, a declaration that the trust shall continue during
the life of the woman will not extend it to a future marriage.
Separate estate may be acquired not only in lands and personalty,
but in the profits of trade carried on by the wife on her separate
account, in consequence either of express agreement between her and
her husband before marriage, or his subsequent permission. Upon
the general principles applicable to marriage settlements, the agreement
in the former case will be good against creditors; in the latter against
the husband only. In such cases the stock in trade and property
required for carrying on the business are usually vested in trustees
for the wife, who is considered at law as their agent, and should carry
on all business transactions in their names. But if no trustees should
have been appointed, the rule of equity before stated will apply, and
the husband will be bound by his agreement, that all his wife's
earnings in trade shall be her separate property and at her own
disposal.
When personal property, whether in possession or reversion, is
settled to the separate use of a married woman, she may dispose of
it and the produce of it as a feme sole to the full extent of her
interest, though no particular power be given by the instrument of
settlement. But a mere limitation of real estate in fee to the sole
and separate use of a married woman, though it enables the wife to
dispose of the rents and profits as a feme sole, gives her no power of
disposition over the estate beyond what she has by the common law.
The gift to the separate use may be accompanied by an express power
of appointment by deed or will. The rules of law relating to the
formal execution of such powers, and the cases in which defective
execution will be supplied, are the same as those which are applicable
to the execution of powers in general. [USES.]
It is not necessary in all cases of settlement of personal property to
the separate use of a married woman, accompanied with a power of
appointment, that she should appoint in terms of the power. Upon
this point the following distinctions are established:-1. When there
is an express limitation of an estate for life in the fund to the wife,
449
450
SEPARATE PROPERTY.
SEPOY.
with a power to appoint the principal after her death, the wife can
dispose of the capital only by an execution of the power, which may be
immediate, if the power authorise an appointment by deed; but if it
require the appointment to be made by will only, then it cannot take
effect till after her death. This is equally true whether the limitation
in default of appointment be to a stranger, to the next of kin, or to
the executors and administrators of the wife. 2. When the wife takes
the absolute interest in the property, although it should be limited to
her in the form of a power, she may dispose of it under her general
power, and without regard to the ceremonies prescribed by the instru-
ment. Under the second head are included all the cases in which
the trust for the wife appears to be of the principal and not of the
interest only, and the effect of such a limitation will not be controlled
by the introduction of any subsequent provisions as to the mode of
payment of the interest or otherwise.
The foregoing observations with respect to the powers of disposition
by a married woman of the capital of a fund given generally to her
separate use, are equally applicable to the cases where the interest or
rent of property only, or income of whatever kind, is the subject of
the settlement. If no particular power to dispose be given, she may
do so under that general power which, as before mentioned, a married
woman possesses over her separate personal estate, and even where a
particular mode of disposition is prescribed in the instrument of settle-
ment, she will not, it seems, be bound to follow it.
If the wife, having a general power of disposition of her separate
property, permit her husband during his life to receive and apply her
separate estate as his own, a gift from her will in general be presumed,
and she will not be allowed at his death to charge his estate with the
amount so received.
If the wife, having power to dispose absolutely of her separate pro-
perty, die without making any disposition of it, the quality of separate
property, it seems, ceases at her death, and the surviving husband is
entitled to the fund. If the property consist either of chattels real or
personal in possession, he will be entitled to them without administra-
tion; but if of choses in action, he must take out administration to her
estate.
In some cases where a married woman, having an absolute power of
appointment over a fund, has executed it, a bill has been filed, in order
that the consent in court of the wife to the disposition might be
taken; and this practice occasioned a doubt whether it was not
necessary that the wife's consent in court should be obtained, especially
in cases where the appointment was in favour of the husband. But
unquestionably the appointment is valid without any such consent,
and the presence of the wife in court, whether the appointment be to
her husband or to strangers, is entirely unnecessary.
It was at one time doubted whether the wife's general power of
alienation of her separate estate could be restrained by the expressed
intention of the settlor, such restraint being thought repugnant to the
interest which she had in the property; but the power of the settlor
to impose it is now established by undoubted authority. The intention
to impose this restraint will not however be inferred in the absence of
express words to that effect. If the gift be to a woman unmarried at
the time when it takes effect, a clause against anticipation, that is, a
clause which prohibits or limits the power of alienation, though
inserted expressly in contemplation of a future marriage, is inoperative,
as it would be in the case of a man, to prevent alienation while she
continues sole; and if the gift be to a woman married at the time, the
property becomes absolutely disposable by her upon the expiration of
the coverture. It has also been much questioned whether, in the
cases supposed, the property, if not alienated by the woman while
discovert, would be subject to the settlement to her separate use and to
the prohibition against anticipation during any future coverture or
covertures. The question has been decided in the affirmative, and is
now well settled. (Tuliet v. Armstrong, 4 M. & C., 390.)
It has been stated that if a married woman has property settled to
her separate use, without any restraint on alienation, she may dispose
of it as a feme sole, either with or without consideration; but it seems
to be now determined (though there are conflicting decisions on the
point among the older authorities), that, in order to affect her separate
estate, she must show an intention to charge it, and that it is not
liable to answer generally the demands of creditors. It is not very
clearly determined in what cases and from what circumstances the
intention to charge the separate estate will be presumed. It seems to
be established that the separate estate of a married woman is liable to
debts for which she has given a written security or acknowledgment,
such as a bond or promissory note. The extent to which a woman's
separate property may be subjected to the demands of creditors
claiming under parol agreements has not been determined. If the
separate property consists of land, it will of course not be liable;
because, by the Statute of Frauds (29 Car. II., § 3), no agreements can
affect lands unless they are in writing and signed by the party to be
charged; but if of personalty, it is probable that an express parol
agreement that her separate property should be charged with the pay-
ment of a debt, or even perhaps a tacit agreement to be implied from
the circumstances, as when the wife is living separate from her husband,
would be held binding on the property.
It has sometimes been considered that upon the principle of the
general liability of the separate property to debts, after the death of
ARTS AND SCI. DIV. VOL, VII,
the wife, in the administration of it among creditors, all ought to come
in pari passu, as in other cases of the administration of equitable
assets; but the later authorities seem to show that the separate pro-
perty of a feme covert is not subject at her death to any such general
liability, and from this it would appear to follow that the creditors
whose debts are charged upon it ought, as specific incumbrancers, to be
paid according to their priorities.
The wife, in equity, as at law, can incur no personal responsibility
by her engagements as to her separate property, and is liable only to
the extent of that property in the hands of her trustees; but in suits
respecting her separate estate she is treated in all respects as a feme
sole, and is personally answerable for contempt in not obeying the
orders of the court. In such suits, if she is a plaintiff, she must sue
by her next friend, and not with her husband, who however should be
made a defendant to the wife's bill and if she is a defendant, she
She must answer
must be served personally with process in the cause.
by her next friend separately from her husband, who ought however
to be made a party to the bill.
The savings and earnings of a wife may become her separate property
at law, and she may deal therewith as a feme sole, either where an
order has been made to that effect under the statute 20 & 21 Vict.
c. 85, or a judicial separation has been obtained by the wife.
(Bright, On Husband and Wife; and Lord St. Leonards, On Powers.)
ET
SEPARATION A MENSA ÉT THORO. [DIVORCE.]
SEPARATION, JUDICIAL. Until the statute 20 & 21 Vict. c. 85,
divorces a vinculo, which put an end to the marriage altogether, were
only obtainable by a special act of parliament, which the legislature
would not pass in favour of a husband until after a sentence of separa-
tion a mensa et thoro in the ecclesiastical court, and would not pass at
all if his conduct had not been free from reproach. [DIVORCE.]
Either of the spouses could always however obtain, on the ground of
adultery, cruelty, and certain other causes, a divorce a mensa et thoro.
The remedy now given in such cases by the Court for Divorce and
Matrimonial Causes is termed a judicial separation. This, like a
divorce a mensa et thoro, does not dissolve the marriage; it does not
har the wife of her dower, for instance; it effects only such a separa-
tion of the parties as leaves it open to them to come together again.
But it relieves the husband from all liability for his wife; and it
confers on the wife the right of having and disposing of her own
property and earnings, as freely as if she were a feme sole.
This kind of separation may be obtained on the ground of adultery
or cruelty, or desertion without cause for two years or upwards; but
unlike a decree for a divorce, which is absolute and irreversible, a
sentence of judicial separation may be reversed at any time after-
wards, if obtained in the absence of the defendant, on its appearing
that there was reasonable ground for the alleged desertion.
In cases either of divorce or judicial separation, the Court may, if it
shall think fit, order that the husban shall secure to the wife such
sum as it shall deem reasonable. The allowance which may thus be
made to a woman for her support out of the husband's estate, is to be
settled at the discretion of the court on consideration of all the
circumstances of the case, and to be proportioned to the rank of the
parties.
SEPIRINE. A resinous alkaloid, found along with bebirine in the
bark of the bebeern tree of British Guiana.
SEPOY, or SIPOY, the name of the native soldier in the East
Indies, probably from sipahi, the Persian word for soldier, though
Bishop Heber derives the word from "sip," the bow and arrow, which
were originally in almost universal use by the native soldiers of India
in offensive warfare. Those Bhiels and Kholees who are employed in
Guzerat in the service of the police and in protecting gentlemen's
houses and gardens are also called sepoys, and with more propriety,
as they still use the bow and arrow. The native soldiers in the pay
of the British government now form a large army, well trained in
European discipline. Though the men of some of the regiments com-
posed of men of the highest caste are said to have been of a greater
average size than the Europeans, the generality are somewhat smaller
than European soldiers, but brave, hardy, and active, capable of
undergoing much fatigue and of sustaining great privations. To the
attachment and bravery of this army, which was not doubted till
rudely shaken by the mutiny of the Bengal army in 1857, Great Britain
is chiefly indebted for the possession of her Indian empire, and the
security of her sovereignty over a territory vastly more extensive than
her own, and separated from her by the distance of nearly half the
globe.
Bombay was the first possession which the English obtained in India,
but the establishment on that island was for a long time on a very
limited scale, and required nothing more than its own garrison and a
few companies of native troops, who were peons, subject to little
control, to no fixed military law, and who used their native weapons in
preference to muskets. The French were the first to set the example of
employing natives regularly instructed in European discipline. Labour-
donnais, in the siege of Madras in 1746, had 400 sepoys well armed
and well trained, besides 400 disciplined negroes from Madagascar, in
addition to his European soldiers. A corps of 100 sepoys from Bombay
and 400 from Tellichery are mentioned as having joined the army of
Madras in 1747, but these were probably only peons and bands of un-
disciplined natives hired for the escasion. In 1748 a small corps of
G
451
SEPTEMBER.
natives was raised in the neighbourhood of Madras, and trained and
disciplined by Mr. Haliburton, a lieutenant. From 1748 to 1766 the
sepoys were in separate companies of 100 each, commanded by su-
badars, or native captains, though under the superintendence of Euro-
peans. In 1766 the companies were formed into battalions of 1000
men each, commanded by European officers, under whom the subadars
still retained their rank and influence. In 1796 two battalions were
made to constitute a regiment, which continued to be the form till
about 1820, since which time each regiment has been made to consist
of two battalions of 500 men each. This description of force was
adopted also in Bombay and Madras, and continued to increase. In
1856, just before the mutiny of the Bengal army, the native army
was composed of 240,120 men, forming,-
5 Troops of horse artillery.
18 Companies of artillery.
22 Regiments of regular cavalry.
155 Regiments of regular infantry.
23 Regiments of irregular cavalry.
30 Regiments of irregular infantry.
5 Contingent brigades of all arms.
1 Native legion.
The native army, which, with the whole of the Company's troops,
were in 1858 transferred with the government of India and placed
under the crown, having been in great part destroyed by the mutiny
of the Bengal army, is now greatly reduced, and is being reorganised
and placed on the footing of irregulars. In irregular regiments the
number of European officers is very small, the men receive high pay,
and provide their own horses, forage, &c.
SEPTEMBER, the ninth month, as the year is now divided by
European nations. It consists of 30 days. Etymologically the name
is improper, being a Latin term formed of septem, seven, and the ter-
mination ber; and the same impropriety belongs to October, November,
and December. The Roman year originally commenced in March; and
the English names of the months, which are all Latin terms, appear to
have been given to them by the lawyers, whose writings were formerly
n Latin, and who supposed the year to commence in March, on which
supposition the names are right, September being the seventh, October
the eighth, &c., when March is the first. The legal year in England
was not made to commence on the 1st of January till the alteration of
the style in 1752.
Other appellations were given to this month under some of the
Roman emperors. The Saxons called it Gerstmonath, or barley-month,
gerst being the original Saxon name for barley, which was the chief
grain cultivated by the Saxons, and commonly harvested in this
month.
SEPTUAGESIMA. [SEXAGESIMA.]
SEPTUAGINT, or THE ALEXANDRINE VERSION OF THE
OLD TESTAMENT, the most ancient translation of any part of the
Scriptures. It is in the Greek language. The account of its origin
is given in a letter ascribed to Aristeas, an officer at the court of
Ptolemy Philadelphus, and repeated by Josephus (' Antiq.,' xii., c. 2) and
Eusebius Præpar.', Evang. viii., c. 2-5. [ARISTEAS, in BIOG. DIV.]
Philo says that the Septuagint was translated from the Chaldaic, by
which he means the Hebrew Scriptures as they existed after the
Captivity. But from certain points of resemblance between the
Septuagint and the Samaritan Pentateuch, many eminent critics have
concluded that the former was translated from the latter, and not from
the Hebrew. It is, however, quite incredible that, if this had been
the case, the Septuagint should have been, as it was, universally
received by the Jews.
The character of the version varies greatly. By far the best part
is the version of the Pentateuch, which was evidently made by a man
well acquainted with both Hebrew and Greek. Next in value is the
book of Proverbs, which is for the most part very accurate, and dis-
plays much poetical taste. The translation of Ecclesiastes is too literal.
The books of Judges, Ruth, Samuel, and Kings appear to have been
translated by the same author, and do not contain so many Hebraisms
as other parts of the version. In the book of Job many interpolations
are made in the narrative, and there are considerable omissions in the
poetical parts. The book of Esther, and the Psalms and Prophets,
appear to have been translated between 180 and 170 B.C., but in a very
inferior manner: indeed a great part of the version of the Psalms is
quite unintelligible. Jeremiah is the best translated of the prophets;
next come Amos and Ezekiel. The version of Isaiah, which Lowth
places 100 years later than that of the Pentateuch, is the worst of all,
except that of Daniel, which differs so much from the Hebrew, that
the early Christians rejected it altogether, and substituted the version
by Theodotion in its place. The Septuagint contains also the apo-
cryphal books of the Old Testament. [APOCRYPHA.]
The Septuagint was used not only by the Hellenistic Jews, but by
all Jews who understood Greek; and even some of the Talmudists
mention it with praise. It is constantly quoted by Josephus, and very
frequently by the writers of the New Testament.
Soon after the Christian cra, however, we find the opinion of the
Jews respecting it very much altered, probably in consequence of the
use made of it against them by the Christians. They went so far as
-to institute a solemn feast on the 8th of the month Thebet (December)
SEQUESTRATION.
452
to execrate the memory of its having been made, and afterwards a
new version, that of Aquila, was made for the express purpose of super-
seding the use of the Septuagint in the synagogues.
BIOG. DIV.]
[AQUILA, in
The fathers of the Greek church always quote the
Septuagint. All the early versions, except the Syriac, were made from
it. And thus, through the Vulgate, it was used in the Latin as well
as in the Greek church. Its text having become corrupted by frequent
transcription, Origen undertook to revise it, and produced his cele--
brated 'Hexapla.' [ORIGENES, in BIOG. DIV.]
At the end of the 3rd and the beginning of the 4th centuries, three
recensions of the text of the Septuagint were produced. The first was
undertaken by Lucian, a presbyter of Antioch, who suffered martyrdom
A.D. 311. This edition was conformed to the Hebrew text, and was
received in the churches from Antioch to Constantinople. The second
was edited at the same time by Hesychius, an Egyptian bishop. It is
not known whether he followed the Hebrew text or ancient manuscripts
of the Septuagint; but his alterations appear to have been fewer than
those of Lucian. His edition was received by the churches of Egypt, and
is cited by Jerome as the Exemplar Alexandrinum.' The third was,
transcribed by Eusebius and Pamphilus from the text in the Hexapla,
with the whole of Origen's critical marks. In process of time these
marks became so altered by frequent transcription, that they were at
length altogether omitted, so that it is now impossible to distinguish
Origen's emendations from the original text. This edition was received
by the churches of Palestine, and had a place in all libraries. All
the subsequent editions of the Septuagint are founded upon these three
recensions.
There have been many modern editions of the Septuagint; the
earliest is the Complutensian in 1514-1517.
For an account of the other Greek versions of the Old Testament,
see AQUILA; SYMMACHUS; THEODOTION, in BIOG. Div. (The Intro-
ductions' of Horne and Jahn, and the authorities quoted by them.)
SEQUESTRATION. [BENEFICE.]
SEQUESTRATION is a process by which the revenues of an eccle-
siastical benefice are received and applied by persons other than the
incumbent of it. It issues immediately from the bishop in all cases,
but it may be founded upon proceedings commenced either in his own
court or in the temporal courts. It is a mandate, in the nature of a
warrant, addressed by the bishop to the parties who are to execute it.
These are called sequestrators, and in general are the churchwardens
of the parish. So far as regards their duties under the sequestration,
they are a kind of bailiffs. They collect the fruits of the benefice, and
apply them according to the directions they receive in each case.
The occasions on which a sequestration is founded on proceedings
in the court of the bishop are various. There may be a sequestration
where a living is vacant by death; in order to provide for the ex-
penses of supplying the cure, and to preserve the surplus for the
successor. Where the title to a living is in dispute, a,sequestration
may issue under which some third party collects the fruits, and, after
defraying the salary of the curate and other necessary expenses of the
benefice, retains the surplus for the party who may appear to be law-
fully entitled. There are many occasions also where the bishop acting
judicially may sequester a living, as where the parsonage-house is in
decay, and the incumbent, after due admonition, which may be made
by the archdeacon, fails for a period of two months to repair it. The
payment of a curate's salary may also be enforced by sequestration.
Sequestrations founded on proceedings in the temporal courts occur
under the following circumstances :-The sheriff, the ordinary minis-
terial officer of those courts, has no power to interfere with ecclesi-
astical revenues. When a judgment therefore has been obtained
against a beneficed clergyman, and execution has issued upon it, and
the clergyman has no lay property upon which the sheriff can levy, he
makes a return that the defendant is a beneficed clerk having no lay
fee within his bailiwick. The plaintiff may then sue out a writ ad-
dressed to the bishop, directing him to levy the amount upon the
clergyman's ecclesiastical goods. The bishop upon this issues a seques-
tration, directing the sequestrators to levy the debt upon the profits
of the benefice; or the plaintiff may sue out a sequestrari facias,
addressed to the bishop. The bishop, under these circumstances, is
said to be a kind of ecclesiastical sheriff; and the temporal courts, in
so far as relates to his duties as such ministerial officer, have the same
power over him as they have over the sheriff, and his duties are ana-
logous. [SHERIFF.] The sequestration ought to be forthwith pub-
lished by reading it in church during divine service, and afterwards
at the church-door. The party obtaining it may, on giving proper
security, name his own sequestrators. Under either of those writs
the plaintiff is entitled to the growing profits, until the whole summ
endorsed upon it is satisfied, even although this should not occur till
after the time at which the writ is returnable. The necessary expenses
of the sequestration, &c., are also leviable under the writ. The lands
are bound from the time of the delivery of it to the bishop.
Sequestration in chancery is a "writ issuing out of the court,
directed to four or more commissioners, empowering them to enter
into a defendant's real estates, and to sequester into their own hands not
only the rents thereof, but also all his goods, chattels, and personal
estate whatsoever, to keep the same until the defendant has fully
answered his contempt." It issues upon the occasion of their com-
mitting a contempt against the court, by keeping out of the way of
#
453
454-
SEQUESTRATION.
SERAPEUM.
the serjeant-at-arms, or escaping from custody, or disobeying an order
of the court to pay money.
Sequestration also may be issued from the Courts of Common
Law against a corporation, to compel obedience to a mandamus or
injunction.
SEQUESTRATION (Scotland). [Bankrupt Laws oF SCOTLAND.]
SEQUIN. [MONEY.]
SERA'GLIO, properly serat, the palace of the Sultan of Turkey;
in this sense the word is also applied to the houses of foreign
ambassadors resident at his court. The seraï of Constantinople stands
in a beautiful situation, on a head of land projecting into the sea,
formerly called Chrysoceras, or the Horn of Gold, now Seraglio Point.
The walls embrace a circuit of about three miles. Its outward appear-
ance is not imposing, though its extent is large. The principal
entrance, a large pavilion, which looks more like a guard-house than
the entrance to a palace, is always guarded by capidjis, officers of
the seraglio; but this is the Porte, from which the title of the Sublime
Porte has arisen. That part of the building which is occupied by the
women of the sultan has been improperly called seraglio, and hence
the word has become synonymous with harem, an Arabic word, mean-
ing "sacred spot," or that part of the house where the women and
daughters of the Mohammedans reside.
SERAI, a large building for the accommodation of travellers, com-
mon in Eastern countries. The word is Persian, and means in that
language, a palace, the king's court, a large edifice;" hence karáván-
serai, by corruption caravansarie, that is, place of rest for caravans.
In Turkey these buildings are generally called khans, from khán,
another Persian word, which has a similar meaning. In Tartary and
India they are simply called serais. The erection of these buildings is
considered highly meritorious by Hindus as well as Mohammedans,
who frequently endow them with rents for their support. [SERAGLIO.]
SERALBUMEN. [OVALBUMEN.]
SERAPEUM, the name given to two celebrated Egyptian temples,
one at Alexandria, the other at Memphis, dedicated to the god Serapis.
There was also a temple of the same name at Babylon, where the
friends of Alexander the Great wished to transport him during his last
illness (Arrian, 'Anab.,' vii. 56.) The temple of Serapis at Alexandria
was preceded by an older one dedicated at Rhacotis. (Jul. Valer., Alex.
Ort., I. xxxi.) All these temples derived their name from the god
Serapis, who was affirmed by Manetho to be Pluto, or the Jupiter of
Sinope. (Plutarch, 'Isid and Osirid,' xxxvii.) Of the many etymo-
logies proposed for the name of the god, that of St. Clement of
Alexandria is now recognised to be the correct one, Serapis being
composed of two words signifying the Osiris, or deceased Apis, from
the name of Osiris having been applied to all mortals after death,
and to the bull considered as a demigod. Recent discoveries at
Memphis have shown that the Serapeum was the cemetery of the Apis,
and close to the Apeum where the bull dwelt during his life. The
Apeum was established here after the time of the Psammetichi, where
it still existed in the days of Herodotus (ii. 21). But the Serapeum
or mortuary temple of the Apis was founded by Shaemgam, the son of
Rameses II., who removed thither the tomb of the sacred bull. This
temple was discovered by M. Mariette, at the west end of a dromos of
sphinxes lying to the north of the Pyramids of Sakkara. It seems to
have been enlarged and repaired till the days of Neththerhebi or
Nectanebes I., of the 30th dynasty. Another temple, lying on the east
end of the same dromos, seems to have been that erected in Ptolemaic
times, and continued to be used for the Apis and the worship of
Serapis till the days of the Emperor Julian, and even later. This
Serapeum at Memphis was called the Great, to distinguish it from
that of Alexandria, which was surnamed "the most illustrious." It
comprised, or was a portion of, a group of buildings, consisting of the
Astarteum, dedicated to Astarte; the Anubeum, to Anubis; the
Asclepeum, or Temple of Esculapius, in which libations were daily
offered; the dwellings of the hierarchy; and the apartments or hospital
of the sick who flocked to the temple for the sake of the cure of their
maladies, which was supposed to be effected through the dreams
accorded by the god during their sleep in the sacred edifice. One
hundred and forty-six papyri discovered in the adjacent ruins, and now
dispersed through the museums of Europe, relating to the quarrels
and litigations of the functionaries of the temple, have thrown great
light on its administration. They all date from the 18th to the 24th
year of Ptolemy Philometor, and describe the temple as connected by a
dromos of sphinxes with the city of Memphis, and which had not then,
as in the days of Strabo, been buried in the sand. (Strabo, xvii.
807, c.) The temple was under the direction of prefects, delegates,
vicars, subadministrators, and storekeepers, and two female priestesses
called Didymi, or "twins," whose office was to serve Esculapius and
Serapis, and a peculiar class of hierodules, who voluntarily dedicated
themselves to the service of the gods, and lived in celibacy and seclu-
sion within the precincts. These persons derived no support from the
revenues of the temple, and were either maintained by their families
or the alms of visitors to the sacred edifice. They had in their hands
the charge of affairs, but could not go beyond the precincts, and lived
to all intents a cloistered or monastic life. This institution is men-
tioned as late as Antoninus Pius, and is evidently that from which
monachism has been borrowed. (Peyron, B., Papiri Greci,' p. 14.)
There were also many officers attached to the worship of the Apis, who
had two shrines, into which he entered at pleasure, and from which
passage augury was taken by the priests. The sacred bull was attended
by a herdsman while living, and an entaphiastes or embalmer when
dead. (Peyron, B., 'Papiri Greci,' p. 8.) His mother also participated
in his honours, and had a shrine assigned her in the Apeum. Extra-
ordinary care and vast sums were expended both by native and Greek
monarchs in embellishing these shrines; and if the old capital of
Memphis was comparatively neglected during the sway of the great
Theban dynasties, this was amply compensated by the magnificent
donations of the later Saitic dynasty and the Ptolemies. Apis
is mentioned on monuments of the 4th dynasty, and his shrine
must have been established as early as the building of the oldest
Pyramids.
The remains of this edifice were discovered in the plains of Sakkara,
in 1850 by M. Mariette, then an employé of the Louvre, who had been
sent to Egypt to collect Coptic manuscripts for the French government,
where he first found the dromos of sphinxes connecting the temples.
This excavation was a work of great labour, the dromos having been
made through the ancient cemetery of Sakkara, and curved to avoid
injuring the tombs, and partly buried under a great depth of sand;
after excavating a length of 7000 feet and uncovering 141 sphinxes,
he discovered at the end of the avenue a semicircle ornamented with
statues of the sages, poets, and philosophers of ancient Greece, supposed
to have formed part of the library of the Serapeum. Between this
semicircle and the two last sphinxes he found a transverse avenue,
the right branch of which led to a temple erected to Apis by the
monarch Nectanebes, or Neththerhebi; the left branch, paved with large
stones, led to the Serapeum itself. The dromos was about 360 feet in
length, flanked on each side by a low wall, divided on the left side
about the middle by a small Greek building having before it a nos in
which was a statue of Apis, probably that described by Strabo. On
each side of the temple and on the wall, were allegorical figures of boys
riding on chimeras and animals, and at the end of the dromos were
the pylons or gateways of the Serapeum.
The wall, built in the reign of Neththerhebi, was covered with
sepulchral altars, and 428 small bronze votive figures of deities were
discovered in a niche. At this stage, owing to difficulties with the
Egyptian government, the excavations were stopped in 1851, and not
resumed till the spring of 1852. In November of 1851, the first tombs
of the Apis were discovered, 640 sepulchral tablets, five entrances, and
various small objects. This great subterraneous cemetery divided
itself into two parts, the first of which had its entrance at the south
end, and went in a northern direction forming a vaulted gallery like
a tunnel, having at its side about 20 chambers, the oldest of the
age of Rameses II., and the most recent of that of Psammetichus I.
During this period the remains of 24 Apis mummies showed that
this number of generations of cattle had lived and died during
that chronological period. The other part of the cemetery was a
souterrain divided into a considerable number of galleries, com-
menced in the 52nd year of Psammetichus I., and continued till the
commencement of the Roman Empire. The bull mummies of this
division were deposited in gigantic monolith sarcophagi of Syenitic
granite, transported from the quarries above the first cataract. These
sarcophagi ranged from 11 to 12 feet high, 14 to 15 feet long, and
weighed 6500 kilogrammes; or above 64 tons, 24 of them were found in
the 40 chambers of this tunnel. The tablets were not fixed to the inner
walls but to the lintels of the doors, and were chiefly inscribed in
demotic characters, and the most important one was placed in the
midst of the wall which closed the door of the chamber, containing
the dates of the birth, enthronement, death, and burial of the Apis.
Only four of these sarcophagi had inscriptions, one bore the date of
the 2nd year of Khabash, a Persian king, supposed to be later than
Darius; another that of the reign of Cambyses; a third in that of
Amasis II.; and the last that of Ptolemy. The result of these researches
showed that the bull, said to have been stabbed by Cambyses, sur-
vived till the reign of Darius. Among the mummies of the Apis were
found two others of men, evidently of the highest rank, who had been
buried with the sacred bulls. The bulls which died from the com-
mencement of the reign of Amenophis III. to the middle of that of
Rameses II., had a mortuary chapel with four columns erected above
the tomb, which was a chamber with a flat roof hollowed in the solid
rock below, and the votive tablets of the adorers of the deceased bull
were built into the stylobate of the mortuary chapel. The bull was
treated as a deceased human being, and the sarcophagi were accom-
panied by sepulchral vases, and the visitors to the tomb deposited the
usual sepulchral figures offered to the dead; but at the later period of
the age of Rameses the tombs consisted of chambers on each side of
the gallery, with the votive tablets placed in the gallery; and the
sepulchral figures, deposited in the cases, were strewn along the floor,
or inserted into niches in the wall. After the 53rd year of Psam-
metichus II., the chambers became more magnificent, being above
30 feet high, with vaulted roofs of white limestone, and the walls
faced with stone from the Tourah quarries; the sarcophagi were of the
finest red Syenite. At the period of the 30th dynasty the tablets
were not allowed to be placed inside the tomb, but were restricted to
the entrance, and the walls of the roads conducting to the tomb.
After the epoch of Darius, the tombs are far less magnificent. The
Apis of Cambyses is deposited in the vestibule of that which died in
455
SERAPHINE.
the 4th year of Darius. All the sacred bulls were not buried with the
same honours, those most carefully embalmed having their principal
bones placed in a wooden coffin inside t granite sarcophagus; others
were cast into a hollowed place in the 1ocky pavement, and covered
with a mere flagstone. The tablets found consisted chiefly of hiero-
glyphical inscriptions intermixed with demotic, commencing with the
15th year of Darius, and consisted of two classes: the sepulchral, or
tombstones of the bull, on which was inscribed the date of the death
of the sacred bull, that of his birth, and of his installation at Memphis,
and the age which he had reached; and votive tablets dedicated by
individuals to the departed Apis for the usual benefits supposed to be
accorded by the gods. About 1200 of these tablets were found, and
they have thrown great light upon the chronological period and suc-
cession of the monarchs of the 21st and 22nd dynasty. Altogether,
7000 objects were found, 3000 of which referred to the worship of
Apis, a number by no means remarkable when it is considered that
Ptolemy I. spent about 10,000l. on the funeral of an Apis. The
sepulchres were of bulls which died in the following reigns-Ame-
nophis III., Amenankhut, Horus, and Khuenaten, of the 18th dynasty;
of Sethos I. and Rameses II., three of which happened in the 16th,
26th, and 30th years of the last-named monarch, of the 19th dynasty;
of Rameses III., V., VIII., XIV., of the 20th dynasty; of Osorchon II.,
Takelothis I., Sheshonk III., IV., of the 22nd dynasty; of Bocchoris,
of the 24th dynasty; of Sabaco and Tirhaka, of the 25th dynasty; of
Psammetichus I., II., and Aahmes, of the 26th dynasty; of Cambyses,
Darius, and Khabash or Smerdis, of the 27th dynasty; of Nethther-
hebi, of the 30th dynasty. The tablets subsequent to this reign,
chiefly demotic, consist of votive inscriptions in honour of Apis, and
they gave the following dates for the appearance of the Apis: B.c. 253,
in the 32nd year of Ptolemy Philadelphus; B.C. 231, the 20th year of
Euergetes; B.C. 210, the 14th year of Ptolemy Philopator; B.c. 185
and 165, in the reign of Ptolemy Philometor; B.c. 142, the 13th
year of Ptolemy Euergetes II.; and B.c. 117, in the reign of Ptolemy
Euergetes 11. The temple of Esculapius was also partially uncovered
by M. Mariette, but tradition had assigned the spot to be the prison of
Joseph, and the work could not be carried on.
(Mariette, Aug. Choix de Monuments decouverts pendant le déplace-
ment du Serapeum de Memphis, 4to, Paris, 1856; Memoire sur la mère
d'Apis, 4to, Paris, 1856; L'Athenaum Français, 1855, 1856.)
SERAPHINE, a musical instrument of the keyed kind. It may be
described as a small organ, in which short, thin, and narrow steel bars,
or springs, put into vibratory motion by means of a bellows acted on
by the foot, are used instead of pipes. It was one of the predecessors
of the HARMONIUM, which now takes the place of such instruments as
are not portable. The portable forms are represented by the CON-
CERTINA. See also ACCORDION.
SERAPIS. [SERAPEUM.]
SERENADE, a word adopted from the French sérénade, which is
derived from the Italian and Spanish serenata, a term formed from the
Latin serenus, clear, serene. A serenade is properly music performed
in the open air on a serene night, but is generally restricted to a
musical performance given at night by a lover to his mistress under
her window. The giving of serenades is little practised except by the
Spanish and Italians, who generally on these occasions use the guitar
as an accompaniment to their songs.
SERIES. The mathematical meaning of the word series is, a set of
terms, finite or infinite in number, connected together by addition or
subtraction, and formed upon some distinct law. If it had been the
plan of this work to write treatises on the various branches of pure
mathematics, the present article would have been brief, and abounding
in references to the articles on algebra and the differential calculus,
the most important results of which are expressed in series; but in a
work which, without entering into such full details, professes to
furnish references to the most important detached doctrines of the
exact sciences, the present article must extend to some length.
•
Series may be either finite or infinite in the number of their terms.
As to finite series, such for instance as terms of 1+2+3+
the only question of importance which generally arises with respect to
them is, how to express the sum as a function of the indefinite
number of terms, c. On this point we refer to the articles INTE-
GRATION, FINITE, and SUMMATION: it is with the doctrine of infinite
series that the mathematician is more particularly concerned in the
present article. Again, as to the manner in which the differential
calculus is applied to the development of functions in series, we refer
to TAYLOR'S THEOREM.
•
•
A series of an infinite number of terms may be either purely nume-
rical, as 1+2+3+4+.... in which the symbol + .., or +, &c.,
means that the series is to be carried on for ever, the law of formation
of the written terms being continued through all the unwritten ones;
or it may contain literal expressions with an obvious law of formation,
as in 1+2x + 3x² +
A series of the latter class is reduced to one
of the former so soon as any definite value is given to the letters it
An infinite series may be either convergent or divergent, as
explained in the article Convergent. The various tests there ex-
plained will perhaps serve to settle this point as to the greater number
of series actually employed; but the following (Diff. Calc.,' 'Lib. of
Useful Knowl.,' pp. 236, 326; we shall refer to this work in the sequel
contains.
}
SERIES.
456
under the letters D. C.) will leave no doubtful case, though its appli-
cation may sometimes be tro: lesome.
• · • •
•
• •
Let yx be the ath term of a series 1+2+43 + (thus a-1
is the xth term of 1+a+a²+ ; ra≈-1 of 1+2a+3a²+ ),
and let Pxxx, x being the differential coefficient of x.
Let a be the limit of P, when x increases without limit; then if a be
greater than 1, the series is convergent; if a be less than 1 (negative
quantity included), divergent; if=1, doubtful.
1
In the doubtful case of the preceding, let P₁=log x (P-1), and
let a, be its limit when x increases without limit. Then if a, be >1,
the series is convergent; if <1, divergent; if=1, doubtful. In this
doubtful case examine P₂ log log x (P₁-1), of which let the limit be
a. Then if a > 1, the series is convergent; if <1, divergent; if =1,
doubtful; and so on. In brief, take the set of quantities
Po= Ꮳ
Vx
x' P₁=log x (P。-1), P₂=log log x (P¸−1),
1
P₁ = log log log x (P₂-1), &c. &c.;
P.
2
make infinite; then, according as the first of these which differs from
unity is greater than or less than unity, the series is convergent or
divergent. If it be more convenient to write 1: px, instead of yx for
the xth term of the series, then P, must be xp'x: px, instead of
xx:x. Nor need yx be the ath term; it may stand for the
(x+n)th term, n being constant.
By the symbol sox is here meant the series pr+p(x + 1) + ☀(x+2) +
value of x in the first term of the series.
but when a number is written beneath s, as in s.,, it indicates the
Thus sx stands for
4+ 5+ 6+
Some
Salog x stands for log a + log (a + 1) + .
such abbreviation is most wanted in an article of reference, in which
compression is desirable; but the student should write his series at
more length until he is well accustomed to them.
•
• •
Such is
quantity acquired by summing its terms may be made greater than
A divergent series is, arithmetically speaking, infinite; that is, the
any quantity agreed on at the beginning of the process.
evidently the case with 1+2+4+ or s.2*. Nevertheless, as
representatives of finite quantities. It was usual to admit such series
every algebraist knows, such series have been frequently used as the
without hesitation; but of late years many of the continental mathe-
maticians have declared against divergent series altogether, and have
asserted instances in which the use of them leads to false results.
Those of a contrary opinion have replied to the instances, and have
argued from general principles in favour of retaining divergent series.
Our own opinion is, that the instances have arisen from a misunder-
that divergent series should be very carefully handled; but that, on
standing or misuse of the series employed, though sufficient to show
the other hand, no perfectly general and indisputable right to the use
of these series has been established à priori. They appear always to
lead to true results when properly used, but no demonstration has
been given that they must always do so.
Before, however, we proceed to reason upon them, we must distinctly
understand what we mean by an infinite series. Some persons cannot
imagine an infinite series, except by means of successions of finite
terms: thus they have no other idea of 1+2 + 4 + 8+..., except as
something of which the conception is a pure result of the successive
further than this, that is, if at no stage of their contemplation can they
consideration of 1, 1+2, 1+2+4, 1+ 2+ 4 +8, &c. If they can get no
treat 1+2+4+... as anything more than carried to some enormous
number of terms, with a right to carry it further; we can then concede
to them the right to object, in the manner described, to the use of a
divergent series, though we think it possible that even in this case an
answer might be given to the objection. But if there be any who can
with us carry their notions further, and treat the series as absolutely
endless, in the same manner as we are obliged to conceive time and
space to be absolutely endless, looking upon the result not as to its
arithmetical value, but as to its algebraical form and capability of being
the object of algebraical operations-we then think that we have those
with whom the question of divergent series can be argued on something
more like a basis of demonstration. They may arrive at the final idea by
means of the successions which the first class of thinkers say must end
somewhere; but they answer, that this is no more true than that space
must end somewhere: if it be granted that we are capable of conceiving
straight line extended without limit, with equal parts set off throughout
its total infinite length, it must equally be granted that we might
suppose one term of a series written at each and every point of sub-
division. To this issue the question might be brought, namely, the
alternative of allowing the conception of the infinite series, or of
denying that of the infinite straight line. And it must be remarked
that the considerations by which we limited the use of the word
INFINITE in that article do not apply here, for we are not reasoning
upon any supposed* attainment of the other end of the straight line,
but upon ideas derived from a process of successions carried on during
such attempt as we can make in our thoughts towards that attainment.
This being premised, let us now consider the series 1+a+a² + a³ +...
a
* Indeed it is only a phraseological attainment of infinite magnitude which
is used in the article cited: when we say that ab if s be infinite, we mean
that a and b never cease to approach each other so long as the value of s
increases.
}
457
158
SERIES.
SERIES.
ad infinitum, the last words being used strictly in the above sense,
without reference to any particular value of a, and only as an object
of algebraical operation. To what finite function of a is this an
algebraical equivalent in all matters of operation? Let us consider first
merely results of operation, without any question as to whether the
series operated on have values or not, or whether expressions which
appear to be the same so far as operations are concerned, are to be the
same in value or not, when any difficulty arises as to the value of either.
We assume those five rules of operation and their consequences, on
which [OPERATION] the technical part of algebra is founded. If we
then call the preceding series P, we find that P and 1+a P are the same
series. If then P=1+a P, we find P=1: (1-a), a result which is
certainly not true in any arithmetical point of view, when a >1; for
in such a case the series is infinite, and the finite expression negative.
Leaving this, let us assume, for trial if the reader pleases, the equation
1: (1− a)=8。a; in this change a into 1: a, and add, which gives
α·
2 + s₁a² + 1 + $¸a¯*
1
1-a a-1
+
-
is in all cases the development of (1 − x)-¹, whether it be convergent
or divergent. Even those who reject divergent series altogether,
though they would call this series, when x>1, a false or inadmissible
development of (1-x)-1, would not, though they reject it, look upon
it as possible to arise from any other function. But the series
sin no
sin 20
+
2
8₁ (— 1) "+1
N
or sin e
sin 30
3
values of it represents one function,
When 0 is any multiple of # [ANGLE] it
π and + π, it is 40; when 0 falls
π, &c. ; in fact, it stands for 40- MÁ,
that 40
is discontinuous; for certain
and for other values another.
is = 0; when e falls between
between π and 3π, it is 0
where m is to be so taken
+. Again, the series
α
a" x
So (1+a” x) (1+ a²+¹∞)
-
ma shall fall between
1
or
(α − 1) (x + 1) (1 − a) (x + 1)
and
according as a > 1 or < 1: and when a = 1, it is infinite. Remember
that by calling a series infinite we do not merely mean that it is
or 1+s, (a* + a−s) = 0, a result which is again perfectly incongruous divergent, for a divergent series may be the development of a finite
in an arithmetical point of view. At full length it is
quantity; thus 1+ 2+ 4 + .... is a development of - 1 from the
form (1-2)-1. But we mean that the arithmetical value of the
function developed is infinite when we say that the series is infinite.
Discontinuity of form may be in many cases avoided by an extension
of the modes of algebraical expression. Thus if we write down the
expression
1
1+a+ + a² +
a²
+
=0.
1
α
To test this curious result, by operations merely, call it pa, and
multiply ▲ + Ba + ca² + .... by it: the result, by common rules, will
be found to be
фа
(A + B + C + . . . . .) pa (A + Bα + .) pa;
•
a result which agrees perfectly with pa = 0, and with no other sup-
position whatsoever.
A great many other instances might be given, in which the use of
pa=0 makes sense, so to speak, of results in the formation of which
pa has been used. And it is generally admitted that divergent series
are found to make sense, in the same manner, of almost every result in
the formation of which they are used; and also that when such results
happen themselves to be free of divergency, there is very rarely any
distinction, as to either truth or clearness, between them and the
results of ordinary algebra; insomuch that the objection of those who
would avoid them altogether, as usually stated, amounts, so far as
operations are concerned, to the assertion that they sometimes give false
results.
If we then compare the position in which we stand with respect to
divergent series, with that in which we stood a few years ago with
respect to impossible quantities, we shall find a perfect similarity.
The divergent series, that is, the equality between it and a finite
expression, is perfectly incomprehensible in an arithmetical point of
view; and so was the impossible quantity. The use of divergent
series has been admitted, by one on one explanation, and by another
on another, almost ever since the commencement of modern algebra;
and so it was with the impossible quantity. It became notorious that
such use generally led to true results, with now and then an apparent
exception, which most frequently ceased to be such on further
consideration; this is well known to have happened with impossible
quantities. In both cases these apparent exceptions led some to deny
the validity of the method which gave rise to them, while all were
obliged to place them both among those parts of mathematics (once
more extensive tlian now) in which the power of producing results had
outrun that of interpreting them.
explanation of the impossible quantity [ALGEBRA], showing that all the
difficulty bad arisen from too great limitation of definitions; and
almost about the same time arose that disposition among the con-
tinental writers, of which we have spoken above, namely, to wait no
longer for the explanation of the true meaning of a divergent series,
but to abandon it altogether. But why should the divergent series,
of all the results of algebra which demand interpretation, be the only
one to be thrown away without further inquiry, when in every other
case patience and research have brought light out of darkness.
1
α 1
1
x + 1
1
ak ï +
;}
and consider & as having a very great value, the second term will be
very small or very near to unity, according as a is > 1 or < 1. If we
as representing ∞ when a > 1, and 0 when
introduce the symbol a
a < 1, we have, on putting ∞ for k, the representation of both forms
We shall now proceed to point out
of the preceding series in one.
some of the principal modes of transforming series into others, or
deducing others from them, so far as this is done without interfering
with the developments in TAYLOR'S THEOREM.
then ab+a,b,x+
1. If ox can be developed into a + a₁x + α²x² +
α
ab₂ x² +
·
can be developed as follows (D. C., p. 239). Let the last
be yx, and from b, b₁, ba, &c. [DIFFERENCE] form Ab, Ab, &c.: then
Ab
▲ 3b
2
·
4x = box + Ab.xp'x + 2³p″x + 2.3 234x+...
where d'x, o'x, &c., are the successive differential coefficients of pr
If b, b,, &c. be values of a rational and integral function of n, denoted
by bn, the preceding is not an infinite series, but a finite expression.
We have not room for examples, and it is to be remembered that this
is an article of reference. Particular classes of instances are
b + b,x + ...
b + nb₁x + n
Ab.x
b
(1 − x) (1 − x)³
+
-
+
+
(1-x)3
+
n = 1 n = 2 b₂æ³ + . . . =
2
2 1
N
1
2
b₁x² + n
I
+ N
1 + x
33
2
3 2.3
+
•
(1 2)
+ x)* {b+nab
b + b, x + b 2 2 + b 2 - 3
A
(b+
3
სვი3
2
+ x
+
2
2
...}
...)
+
6 + Abx + A2%
But at last came the complete the preceding is a case of more general theorem (D. C., p. 565) from
which the following may also be deduced :
So far as the matter has yet gone, very little has been done towards
the interpretation of a divergent series independently of its invelop-
ment, or function from which it is developed. When this invelop-
ment is known, and the series deduced from it, there are means of
stopping the divergency, by arresting the development at any given
point, and turning the remainder, not into a further development, but
into a finite form. Thus if ox, a given function of x, should give a
all that part of the development
divergent series ▲ + A¸~ +
which follows A, " may be included in
х
p(n+1) (x — v) v²dv : 1.2.3…………. T.
This will be proved in TAYLOR'S THEOREM, and it is a result of great
importance, because it gives the means of removing all the doubtful
points of divergent series from the ordinary branches of mathematics.
Next to the question of convergency or divergency, comes that of
continuity or discontinuity. We are not here speaking of continuity
of value, but of form. A series is continuous when for all values of x
it represents the same function of x. Thus Soxª or 2º + x¹ + 2 +
•
V
+
+
+...
Vb.x2
vb.x
b + b₂x +
1 + mx (1 + mx)2 (1 + mx)s
bb, + mb, ▼¾b = b¸ + 2mb¸ + m²b, &c. By this theorem many
divergent series may be converted into convergent ones, or the con-
vergency of convergent series may be increased.
2
2. Let r = √ (1 — 2 cos 0.x + 2ª), tan o
x sin o
1
x cos 0
Ab.x
2.3
+
Then b + b, cos 0.x + b, cos 20.22 + b, cos 30.23 +...=
cos
b
ф
2
Ab.x
+ cos (0 + 20) + cos (20 + 3₫)
and b, sin x + b, sin 20. x + b, sin 30. 29 +
Ab.x
1
b
sin
p
+ sin (0 + 2p)
2'
Ab.22
+ sin (20 + 3p)
+
3. Let pr be a rational and integral function of x; then
px + p (x + 1) . a + p (x + 2). a² +
α
+
1
ФХ дво
φ
1 1
A3
a + a² p″x
8.0
ø'x +
+
(1 − a)³ (1 - a)3 2 (1 − a)¹ 2.3
▲, = a + 4a² + a³, à. = a + 11a² + 11a³ + aª
A¸ = a + 26a² + 66a³ + 26a¹ + a³, &c.
▲ = a + 57a² + 302 (a³ + a¹) + 57a³ + aº.
459
SERTES.
This must lead to a finite expression for the series, and is frequently
the shortest way of obtaining it.
4. Let z=e®√/1=cos + √ − 1. sin 0 and 4x=a+a¸¤+ª¿ï²+
2
p(zx) + $ (=)}
{$(2x)- ()}
1
{P(ZZ)
·α。+α, cose,x+.
1
2√−1 { $(2x) — p
=ɑ, sin 0.x +
the series resembling those in (2).
TAYLOR'S THEOREM.
•
Further varieties will appear in
5. If p(0)+p(1). x+¢(2). x² + be the development of a per-
fectly continuous function of x, and if pn be a function which never
becomes infinite for any real value of n, positive or negative; then the
same function may be also developed into p(-1), x-1-p(− 2). íç—2
—p(−3). x-³ — (D. C., p. 560).
3
•
6. If px=α+α₁x +α²x² + .... and if P1, Pes
Roots of unity, then (D. C., p. 319)
SERJEANT.
460
the following developments would come : (1+x)", e*, a*, log (1+x),
1 + x
log sin x, or cos x. Some terms are given, and ±
1-x'
omitted to save room.
tan x=x+
cot x =
sec x =
H18
100
2x5 17007 62x9 1382x11
3
+
15
+
+
315
73
2.5
+
2835
cc7
155925
2:09
8100
x.
3 45 945- 4725 93555
1+
cosec x=
-2
+
20180
+
216
+
هداية
5.x4
61x6 277xs
+
24 720
+
8064
70c3
3125
127x7
+
360
+
+
15120 604800
1 203
1.3 x
1.3.5 x7
sin-1x*=x+
• ·
Pn be the n nth
23
+
2.4 5
•
2.4.6 7
20-3
x7
tan-1x*
x = x-
ɑo+ɑnü” +A2n x²n +
$(P₁x) +
.. •
+(Pnx)
3 +
7
N
x
204
хо
x10
α₂X+an+1 x²+1+
P₁¹¢(px)+ ... + P₂-1 (px)
n-
p n
log sin x
+
+
+
6
180 2835 37800 467775
+
n
1
x1
206
17.cs
n-2
log
+
+
COS X
2
+
12 45 2520
+
31x10
14175
A²x²+an+2x²+2+
•
ՊՆ
tan x
751
! 62.6
log
32.2.10
+
C
3
+
+
90
2835 2700 467775
+
is
P₁n−²¢(p¸x) + ... + Pnn−24(Pnx)
2A-2
and so on. Also if we make p₁, P₂, &c., the nth roots of -1, and use
the same results, only altering the multipliers into p, 2n-1, &c., p₁ 2n−2¸
&c., we have the sums of the same series with the terms alternately
positive and negative.
-
7. One of the simplest modes of actually finding a finite expression
for a series, finite or infinite, the coefficients of which are values of a
rational and integral function, is the continual multiplication by 1-x,
which must at last produce a finite expression. It must be remem-
bered that multiplication by 1 –≈ may be performed by letting the
first coefficient remain, and diminishing every other coefficient by its
predecessor. Thus a + bx + cx² + ex³ + .. multiplied by 1-x gives
a + (b− a) x + (c—b) x² + (e—c) x³ + . And a finite series must be sup-
posed to be continued ad infinitum with vanishing coefficients. For
example, it is required to find a finite expression for 13 + 23x + 33.c²+...;
write this as in the first line, and make successive multiplications by
-x, as in the following lines :-
1
1+8x+27x²+64x³ +126+
1+7x+19x²+37x³+ 61+
1+6x+12x²+18x3 + 24x¹+
1+5x+6x³+ 6x²+
6x++
1+4x+
x² + 0x²² + 0x++
•
These logarithms are the Naperian logarithms, as is always the case
in analysis, unless the contrary be expressed (as it, is usual to say, but
it really never happens):
1 1
Х
+
х
2
x2
+
12 24
+
1
19.03 3.x4 863x5
log (1 + x)
720 160 60480
We must again remind the reader that the symbol +, &c., or
is throughout omitted to save room.
•
2
&c.,
There is one property of series which deserves particular notice.
(D. C., pp. 226 and 649) as creating a most remarkable distinction
between those which have all their terms positive, and those which
have them alternately positive and negative. The former, even if the
terms diminish without limit, are not necessarily convergent; thus
1+2−1 +3−¹ + is divergent. But if the terms be alternately
positive and negative, and diminishing without limit, the series is
always convergent, and the error made by stopping at any term is less.
than the first of the terms thrown away. And the most remarkable
part of the property is that this last is true, even if the series become
divergent, by having its terms increasing without limit, instead of
diminishing; so that if the terms diminish for a time, and then begin
to increase, the portion of the series during which the diminution
After four multiplications, then, by 1-x, the series becomes 1 + 4x takes place may be made use of in approximating to its arithmetical
+x²; whence its value is-
1+4x+x²
(1-x)4
Independently of the modes of deriving series obtained from
Taylor's Theorem, and of which we are to speak elsewhere, there are
two modes of forming them which deserve attention. The first
depends upon the numbers called the differences of nothing [NOTHING,
DIFFERENCES OF]; the second on those called NUMBERS OF BERNOULLI.
By the first of these any function of e* can be expanded in powers
of x.
··ƒ«² = ƒ1 +ƒ (1 + A) 0.≈ + ƒ (1 + A) 0º. 2²
A
2
+
Here (1+ A) On is a symbol of the calculus of operations [OPE-
RATION], which expanded is-
An On
f1.On + f'l. A on +
· ··· + f(n) 1
2.3 3...n
it being unnecessary to go further, because Am
mon
greater than n. (D. C., 307.)
O whenever m is
The numbers of Bernoulli occur first in the development of
(e* — 1)-1, a series the importance of which can only be estimated by
its use in SUMMATION. Taking the numbers from the article cited
above, or making
=
1
1
6
B3
30, BS
1
42,
1
&c.
30'
1
B₁x
B₁3 B₁5
+
+
1
2
[4] [6]
1
1 3B,C
15Bx³
63B5
€≈ + 1
+
2
2
[4]
[6]
+
1/2 8
-18 HIN
where [n] means 1.2.3....n−1.n.
We shall now give a number of series which are not of very
frequent use, but which may sometimes be sought in a work of refer-
Under the last predicament we can never suppose that any of
ence.
2
•
value. That is, if A, A, be all positive quantities, and if the infinite
series A₁₂+Az
A1
A3
be carried as far as A,, the error is less than
An+1, whatever the law of the terms may be, or however rapidly
they may afterwards increase. Let us take, for instance,-
1
218
+
2.3 2.3.4
XC3
+
2.3.4.5
X*
Let x be ever so great, the rapid increase of the numerators must still
make this series ultimately divergent. Nevertheless, if x be con-
siderable, the first terms diminish so rapidly that, with the aid of the
above theorem, a good approximation may be made to the arithmetical
value of the function from which the series was derived. Let x=100,
whence the series becomes-
1·02·0006 — ·000024 + 00000120
After the hundredth term the terms will begin to increase, and more
and more rapidly; but the theorem enables us, when z=100, to make
the following assertions; first, 1 is too great, but not by so much as
02; 1-'02, or 98, is too small, but not by so much as 0006;
'98 +0006, or '9806, is too great, but not by so much as '000024; ·9806
000024, or 980576, is too small, but not by so much as '00000120;
980576+00000120, or 9805772, is too great, but not by so much as
the next term; and so on.
SERJEANT, or SERGEANT (Serviens). This term, in its original
signification, has long become obsolete. It would however be difficult
to trace the connection between the different officers to whom the
term is now applied without going back to their common type.
The term serviens and servicium appear to have been applied at first
to all servants of the public, or of the crown, as the head of the state,
and to the service rendered by them as an acknowledgment or render
for the lands held by such service. Rent paid by a tenant to his land-
lord is still distinguished by the name of rent-service [RENT] from
other annual payments charged upon land, &c. The word "serjeant'
comes to us from "sergent," into which the French had modified the
Latin "serviens." The word serjeanty, in French "sergenterie,” was
* In these series the angle is less than a right angle, positive or negative,
461
482
SERJEANT.
SERJEANT.
"
formed from "sergent," but was always used with reference to a
particular species of service.
The complete development of the feudal system which followed the
Norman conquest, was greatly facilitated by those political struggles
which terminated in placing large portions of the lands of the kingdom
in succession at the disposition of the crown. The forfeited lands of
the revolted English were granted by the Conqueror to his followers
with few exceptions, subject to the performance of personal services
regulated by the quantity of the land granted and the rank and
qualification of the grantee. The services ordinarily reserved upon
grants by the crown, and upon those made by inferior grantors to
their military followers, were of a military character. Where the
grant was to hold by the service of a knight's fee, or of two, or half a
knight's fee, &c., without expressing the nature of the service to be
performed, the party was said to hold by knight's service, per servicium
militare [KNIGHT'S SERVICE]; but where some particular service was
to be performed by the tenant, or by some duly qualified person pro-
vided by him,-as, to be an earl or baron of the realm, to lead the
king's host, to assist in the defence of a certain castle, to wind a horn
upon an invasion, &c.—the tenure was called tenure by serjeanty (per
serjeantiam), and the grantee became a tenant by serjeanty, and would
be a serjeant (serviens). Whilst the two tenures were always dis-
tinguished by the two appellations of "serjeantia" and "servicium
militare," the term "serviens" or "serjeant" was applicable to a tenant
belonging to either class who had not taken upon himself the order of
knighthood.
As the tenant by serjeanty was commonly distinguished by some
title derived from the nature of his service-as earl, baron, constable,
marshal, treasurer, &c. the name "serjeant" was usually applied, not
to those who held in serjeanty, but to those who held per servicium
militare generally, and had not been knighted. Thus in 1348 the
four knights impanneled on a grand assize were told by the judge that
they should elect no serjeants whilst they could find suitable knights
(M. 22 Edw. III., fo. 18); and in 1352 the four knights, not being
able to elect twelve other knights, were allowed, by the assent of
parties, to elect of the most wealthy serjeants (H. 26 Edw. III., fo. 57,
pl. 12). (These two cases have been strangely misunderstood by
Dugdale and others, as if they related to an exemption of serjeants-at-
law from the burthen of serving upon a grand assize.) So an
ordinance was made in parliament in the reign of Edward III. (1362),
by which the return of lawyers to parliament, as knights for counties,
was prohibited, on the ground that they acted with a view rather to
the benefit of their clients than to that of the public, and the elections
were directed to be made of knights and of serjeants of the most value.
The term serjeant is also applied to those inferior military tenants, in
the grant of a subsidy in 1379, in which serjeants and franklins of the
county are assessed at 6s. 8d., or 3s. 4d., according to their estate,
whilst serjeants at law are assessed at a fixed sum of 40s., being twice
the amount of the assessment of barons of the realm. (3'Rot. Parl.,' 58.)
The serjeant holding per servicium militare, if possessed of sufficient
land, was however bound, when called upon, to take upon himself the
obligations attendant upon the order of knighthood. The tenant, or
expectant tenant of such an estate, who wished to qualify himself for
the creditable discharge of knightly duties, usually entered upon a
course of training in the capacity of esquire to some knight, into
whose service he was induced to enter by considerations arising from
family connection, tenure, or friendship, or from the opinion enter-
tained of his military fame. Although from the time of the Conquest
down to the latter end of the reign of Edward III. all military tenants
who had not been knighted are designated "serjeants," we find that
after the first years of the reign of Richard II. the term serjeant, as
applied to the unknighted tenant by knight's service, disappears, and
is succeeded by the "esquire," a term previously used not to designate
a class of persons occupying a certain rank, but an office actually per-
formed. Abb. Rot. Origin.,' 209, b.) The services of the serjeant of
the 14th century, and those of his successor, the esquire of the 15th,
were alike estimated as equal to one-half of the service of a knight-
bachelor, or one-fourth of the service of a knight-banneret.
A special service of a military character, to be performed by the
tenant or his sufficient deputy, was not less noble than the ordinary
knight's service, and was sometimes called chivalerian serjeanty, but
more commonly grand serjeanty. It is said, indeed, by Littleton
(s. 153) to be a greater and more worthy service than the other. But
any service, military or civil, which was to be performed by the tenant
or his deputy to the king himself, was, on account of the dignity of the
king's person, accounted a grand or chivalerian serjeanty. Thus, in the
Germanic body, the offices of arch-chancellor, arch-treasurer, arch-
butler, &c., of the empire, attached to particular electorates, were of
equal dignity with that of arch-marshal of the empire held by another
elector; and in England, the civil office of lord high treasurer, &c., the
military office of lord high constable, &c., and the mixed office of lord
high steward, &c., and that of earl or baron by tenure, are, or were, all
equally held by grand serjeanty.
Lands held by serjeanty, on account of the entire nature of the
service, could not lawfully be aliened or divided. This, however, was
by a species of connivance frequently done in fact. The course was
for the crown to issue a commission to fix a rent upon the alienated
serjeanty, or the divided portions. By this process, tenancies in
1
serjeanty gradually became nearly extinct before the abolition of
military tenures. Sometimes, upon the escheat or forfeiture of a
serjeanty, the lands were granted by the crown, to hold by knight's
service, whereby the special service of the serjeanty was lost.
Where the services reserved upon the tenure bore some relation to
war, but were required neither to be executed personally by the tenant
or his deputy, nor to be performed to the person of the king, as the
payment of rent in spurs, arrows, &c., the tenant was said to hold by
petit or petty serjeanty, which was a socage tenure, having the same
non-military incidents as a tenure upon which an annual rent in money,
corn, &c., was reserved, though considered to be of a somewhat more
dignified character.
The tenant in serjeanty was bound either to perform the special
service himself, or to provide a person competent to discharge it.
Sometimes, the land having descended to or been acquired by a citizen
or a burgess, the service was considered of too great dignity to be per-
formed by the tenant upon whom the duty of the serjeanty had thus
devolved, in which case he was required to appoint a competent sub-
stitute. It happened more frequently, however, that the service to be
performed was below the serjeant's rank, in which case it was permitted
and expected that the service should be performed by deputy. This
became so much a matter of course, that we find lands held in serjeanty
commonly described as held by the service of procuring (per servicium
inveniendi) persons to do the duty. This frequently happened with
regard to the inferior offices relating to the administration of the law,
as in the ordinary case of a tenure by the service of finding bailiffs
itinerant. With respect to this particular appointment and some few
others, the name itself was transferred from the appointer to the
appointee, and the designation of serjeant was given to the person by
whom the service of the serjeanty was actually performed. Hence our
serjeants-at-mace, and other similar officers in Normandy and in
England. In like manner, the sheriff being the ballivus of the county,
-that is, the person into whose custody or bailiwick the county is
bailed or delivered, the inferior officers whom he employs have
acquired the name of bailiffs. However humble the nature of the
service may have been, the tenant was bound to perform it in person,
in case no substitute could be obtained.
corona.
Among the civil services the performance of which was provided for
by the creation of serjeanties, one of the most important was the
administration of justice. Both in Normandy and in England nume-
rous grants of lands were made, to which grants the obligation to dis-
charge certain judicial or ministerial duties was annexed in lieu of the
ordinary knight's service. In both countries it would appear that all
counties, as well as the more important cities and boroughs, were
placed under an officer of the crown who held lands by the tenure of
administering justice in criminal matters. This local judge was in
England called the king's serjeant (serviens regis), or the serjeant of
the county, city, or borough; sometimes (stat. Westm. I., c. 30)
serjeant in fee; sometimes capitalis serviens of the county (Rot. Parl,'
236) or of the hundred (Testa de Nevil,' 409 d).
Lands held by this tenure are commonly described in ancient records
as lands held per serjeantiam tenendi (sometimes custodiendi) placita
It appears from Bracton, fol. 157, that this officer (the king's
serjeant) had a concurrent jurisdiction with the sheriff, and that their
records were equally incapable of being controverted. These serjeants
had officers under them, who, taking the denomination of serjeant
from the hereditary officer whose authority was in part delegated to
them, were in counties known by the name of serjeants of the sword,
sergens de l'espee, servientes ad spatam, and in cities and boroughs
by the name of serjeants-at-mace, servientes ad clavam. In the course
of time, as charters were obtained, the citizens and burgesses acquired
the right of choosing their own magistrates; and the king's officer, the
serjeant, was superseded by the municipal officers, the mayor and
aldermen. It is said that Norwich had no magistrate, except the
king's serjeant, until the 17th year of King Stephen. (Stow, 214;
Spelman, Gloss,') It sometimes happened that, after the incorpo-
ration of the city or town, the serjeant continued to be the judicial
officer de facto, sitting as assessor to the municipal magistrates. This
was the case at Oxford. (Harleian MSS.,' 298, fol. 56.) In London
the office appears to have been retained, but a charter of 12 Edw. II.
gave to the citizens the privilege of electing their common serjeant.
In counties, the king's serjeant, as a judicial officer, may be traced
to a much later period; and although the office is now become obso-
lete, and its principal functions have for centuries devolved upon the
justices of the peace, proclamation is still made upon the execution of
every commission of jail delivery, inviting all persons to inform this
officer of any treason, felonies, or misdemeanors committed by the
prisoner at the bar.
The
Where the criminal jurisdiction of a particular district was annexed
to a grant of land to a subject, the jurisdiction, though imposed as a
condition and a burden, was called a franchise [FRANCHISE], inasmuch
as it excluded the ordinary power of the officers of the crown.
grantee was said to hold in frank serjeanty, en franche sergenterie;
and in respect of the lands attached to the office, this serjeanty was in
Normandy sometimes called une sergenterie glèbée. For the actual
administration of justice, the tenant usually delegated his judicial
authority as serjeant to an officer of his own, who was therefore called
his serjeant, or the serjeant of the district (Mad, Exch..' 103; Testa
463
SERJEANT.
""
1
SERJEANT.
484
advocates was little needed; and upon that court being afterwards
divided into different sections or branches, no inconvenience appears to
have been felt, as all the different sections of the court equally followed
the person of the king. But when, in the reign of Edward I., the
regulation for holding common pleas, that is, all civil actions, in some
certain place to be appointed by the crown, was put in force, parties
who had business in the court of King's Bench, the jurisdiction of
which, except occasionally as a court of appeal, was then almost con-
fined to criminal matters, or in the court of Exchequer, the jurisdiction
of which related to matters of revenue, or in the court of Chancery,
were put to inconvenience for want of advocates, as often as the king,
whose progresses these courts still followed, happened to be distant
from the place (usually Westminster Hall, and seldom elsewhere,
after the reign of Edward III.) at which the court of Common Pleas
sat. To remedy this inconvenience, and at the same time to relieve
parties from the burdensome duty of appearing in person in the
court of Common Pleas, an ordinance was made in Parliament, in 1292,
by Edward I., by which the king directed the selection of a number
(fixed provisionally at 140) from the higher class of legal students to
act both as attorneys in the stationary court of Common Pleas, and as
advocates in the comparatively few cases which then required their
assistance in the ambulatory courts of the King's Bench, Chancery, and
Exchequer. No distinction is made in the ordinance between attor
(2´Rot. Parl.', 96) as attorneys and as advocates, as their services
happened to be required. Complaints were however still made in
Parliament (1364-5) of the prejudice arising to parties implicated in
proceedings in the two latter courts, from being unable to procure the
assistance of serjeants; and it was prayed, though unsuccessfully, that
on this ground these courts might also be made stationary.
de Nevil,' 389), or serjeant of the peace for the district. (Cowell,
Interpr.) Hence, the steward of a private leet, or of a manor to
which a leet is attached, to whom the lord always delegates his judicial
power, is sometimes designated as serviens sive senescallus. (4 Co.,
Rep.,' 21.) Latterly, indeed, it has been considered that a tenure by
serjeanty could only be created by, and held under, the crown. (Co.
Litt., 108 a.) This was not the case, however, in the time of Henry III.,
as appears by Bracton (35 b.).
The tenure, by which lands were held by a serjeant of the county,"
or "serjeant in fee," was a serjeanty belonging to that class which was
called grand serjeanty, as being connected with the administration of
justice. Edmund, earl of Lancaster, brother of Edward I., died seised
"de magna sergeantia totius comitatus de Derby." ('Calend. Inquis.
post. mortem,' 136, b.)
But the serjeants of counties were neither the only nor the most
numerous class of serjeants-at-law. The main branch of that body
remained in attendance upon the king. Their duty was to assist in
the proceedings of the Aula Regia, the great court of justice of the
realm, as assessors to the chief justiciar, and as advocates for the
suitors, who being generally unacquainted with the language in which
the proceedings of the court were carried on, were seldom able, and
were never permitted, to plead their own causes. (1 'Rot. Parl.,' 4a;
2 'Rot. ParÏ.,' 140.) Upon the breaking-up of the Aula Regia into the
several courts which now occupy Westminster Hall, the serjeants-at-neys and apprentices, and the 140 appear to have acted indiscriminately
law became the justices of the courts of King's Bench and Common
Pleas, and acted as advocates for the suitors, when not appointed to
those offices, and when removed from them. While not employed in
judicial stations, they were called serjeant-countors, servientes-narra-
tores, and banci narratores, countor (narrator) being a term derived
from the Norman "conteurs," persons whose office it was to conduct
the causes of litigants in court, the verb " conter being applied
indifferently to the pleadings on the part of the plaintiff and those on
the part of the defendant.
"}
It does not distinctly appear whether any grants of land were
annexed to the office of serjeant-countor; if not, it is probable that the
Conqueror, or some of his early successors, considered the fees
receivable by the serjeant-justices and the serjeant-countors as
equivalent to a grant of lands, and as constituting a serjeanty not
attached to a tenure of land, or a serjeanty in gross. However this
may be, the kings exercised the right of creating both serjeant-justices
and serjeant-countors. The appointment of serjeant-countor has, from
the earliest period, been effected by the royal mandate under the great
seal; by writ, where the party to whom it was addressed was required
to serve the king and his people in the Aula Regis, and afterwards in
the courts of Westminster Hall; by letters-patent, with respect to
serjeants in Ireland. Under this appointment, the serjeants were the
sole public pleaders. They were the only persons in the state entrusted
with the exercise of the ordinary judicial functions, and even now no
person can be appointed a justice of the Queen's Bench or Common
Pleas, who is not of the degree of the coif, that expression being
derived from the peculiar species of cap which was, and still is, the
distinguishing dress of serjeants-at-law. The barons of the Exchequer
who were formerly merely officers of revenue, are not required to be
taken from amongst the serjeants; but unless they were of the degree
of the coif, they were not qualified to act as justices of assize.
Although the serjeants on the circuit, and the queen's counsel, and
occasionally other barristers, are included in the commissions of oyer
and terminer, and jail delivery, and assist in the trying of prisoners
when the judges are pressed for time, or if it is thought desirable to
relieve the county from the expense arising from the detention of
prosecutors and witnesses, the name of no person who is not a
serjeant or queen's counsel, or possesses a patent of precedence, can be
inserted in the commission of assize. Formerly no one but a serjeant
was so qualified. (13 Edw. I. st. i., c 30; 13 & 14 Vict. c. 25.)
Much obscurity however still hangs over the origin of the con-
nection between the terms serjeant and countor. It has been suggested
that upon the introduction of the Norman conteurs in England, they
were formed into a lay brotherhood, somewhat analogous in form to
the religious communities by which they were surrounded; that the
members of this brotherhood were admitted by royal authority, and
employed in different capacities as judges and advocates about the
Aula Regia; and that they probably derived their adjunct title of
servientes from the nature of their employment, and from the circum-
stance of their appointment being conferred by the crown, and of its
being considered that the services which they rendered were of equal
dignity and importance with services reserved upon those tenures by
grand serjeanty to which administration of justice was attached, and
the tenants of which were in strict propriety denominated serjeants.
Upon the calling of every parliament, the judges and serjeants are
summoned by writ to give their attendance. Their principal duty
appears to have been to assist the lords in the trials of petitions.
(Rot. Parl.' passim.) The writ of summons issues to the judges, not
as judges, but as serjeants; and if a baron of the Exchequer be not a
serjeant, as was formerly often, and still may be, the case, he is not
summoned. No serjeants have been required to attend of late years,
except judges and queen's serjeants, but formerly other serjeants were
also summoned.
Whilst the Aula Regis constituted one court, a second class of
A petition of the Commons in 1343, that parties to suits in the Marshal-
sea might be allowed to plead their own causes in that court, in order
that they might not be delayed for want of serjeants, had met with a
more favourable reception, and the permission was granted by an act
of parliament (2 'Rot. Parl.,' 140), which act was not in print till the
parliament rolls were published at the commencement of the present
century. It was a punishable contempt of the court for a person to
interfere as advocate without possessing a legal title to the office.
(Abb. Placit. in Dom. Cap. Westm.,' 137.)
It is stated in the article BARRISTER, that serjeants and apprentices
at law were supposed by Dugdale to be the same persons. Dugdale
relies upon the circumstance that in the second year of Henry VI. an
apprentice was heard in the court of Common Pleas, where serjeants
alone practised. But Dugdale was mistaken in supposing that the
apprentice acted as an advocate in that court; for upon reference to
the Year-Book' (M. 2 H. 6, fol. 5, pl. 3), it will be seen that this
apprentice was merely sent by the Exchequer into the Common Pleas
to ask the opinion of the judges and serjeants in the latter court upon
a point of law then depending in the Exchequer; upon which the
judges of the Common Pleas consulted the serjeants, and the point was
debated by judges and serjeants indiscriminately. The apprentice
took no part in the discussion, but carried back the result to the
Exchequer, upon which that court acted. It has also been supposed
that Plowden and Carrel, who are spoken of as apprentices in 4 Eliz.,
(1562), were at that time serjeants. With respect to the former, the
mistake arose from the circumstance that a writ issued to Plowden
and eleven others, in October, 1558, calling upon them to be made
serjeants in Easter following. Mary dying in November, 1558, the
writs abated. In 1559 fresh writs were issued by Elizabeth to seven
of the eleven, but the names of Plowden and four others, as may be
seen in Dugdale, were omitted. Plowden therefore remained an
apprentice as before, and he is properly so designated in 4 Eliz. (1562).
With respect to Carrel also, we have no distinct proof that he ever took
the degree of serjeant, though it seems not improbable that he was
often commanded so to do. John Carrel received a writ requiring him
to take the degree of a serjeant in 1540, and again in 1552 and 1554.
In what manner he was excused on these occasions, and whether he
paid more attention to Mary's commands than he had done to those of
her father and brother, or whether indeed the Carrel apprentice in
1562 was the same person with John Carrel, the serjeant thrice elect,
does not appear.
The ordinance of Edward I. authorised only students who had
reached the rank of "apprentices at law" to practise as advocates in
those courts in which the assistance of serjeants could not constantly
be obtained; but as the practice of these courts increased, it was found
necessary, in the reign of Elizabeth, to allow persons of less standing
than apprentices to act both as advocates and as attorneys.
Students who, though not yet apprentices at law, had been admitted
to argue fictitious cases at the mootings in their respective inns of
court, were allowed to practise as advocates in the ambulatory courts
of common law and equity. Advocates of this third class were called
utter-barristers, because in arguing their moot cases by way of pre-
paration for real forensic debates they were placed at the outer or
uttermost end of the form on which they sat, and which was called the
"barr." (Stow; Waterhous; Dugdale; Herbert, Antiq. Inns of
Court,' 176.) The junior students, who sat in silence on the inside,
were called inner-barristers. But the latter term has long been
abandoned, and is sunk in the more general designation of student; in
465
468
SERJEANT.
SERJEANT.
consequence of which the term utter-barrister has also given place to
that of barrister, and the student who is admitted to that degree is
said to be "called to the bar." This call however consists merely
in the presiding bencher's saying, "I publish you a barrister of this
Society."
The mere students, formerly called inner-barristers, confine them-
selves to study, or, when they consider themselves qualified, practise
as conveyancers, special pleaders, or equity draftsmen, in which capacity
they are recognised by the legislature, being required to take out
annual certificates from the stamp-office. For nearly the last forty
years students practising as certificated special pleaders have been
allowed to practise as advocates before judges sitting in their private
chambers at Serjeants' Inn, for the summary despatch of matters of
pleading and practice, &c.
Shortly after the permission given to barristers to practice as advo-
cates, we lose sight of the order of apprentices. Though usual, it was
never perhaps absolutely necessary that a student should become an
apprentice in order to qualify him for being called to the degree of the
coif; and when it ceased to be required as a title to practise as an
advocate, there was no longer any motive for taking the degree of an
apprentice.
The result of these inquiries seems to be, that from the Conquest to
the 20 Edw. I. (1292), serjeant-countors were the only advocates; that
from 1292 to the latter end of the 16th century, apprentices were
allowed to practise in certain courts; that towards the close of the
16th century, the apprentices were supplanted by a more numerous
class of junior students called utter-barristers and afterwards barristers;
and that from the middle of the 18th century, mere students were at
any time after their admission, and immediately upon their admission,
allowed to practise as certificated conveyancers or certificated special
pleaders; and that such special pleaders have latterly been allowed to
practise as advocates before judges when administering justice in their
private chambers; which latter practice may be thus explained:-The
business to be disposed of by the courts at Westminster having far
outgrown the machinery provided for its despatch, many acts of par-
liament have directed that certain judicial acts shall be done by the
court"
or any judge thereof." The consequence of these provisions,
and of a practice existing before, of referring minor questions and cases
of a pressing nature to be disposed of by a single judge, has been that
a most important part of the judicial business of the country, instead
of being discussed as formerly in open court before a full bench, and
with the assistance or in the presence of an intelligent bar, is commonly
disposed of by a single judge in a private room, without any assistance
except that which he can derive from the attorney's clerks on each
side who attend the summons. It not unfrequently happens that a
most abstruse point of special pleading, involving the fate, and some-
times the real merits of the cause, and which in the reign of Edward VI.
would have been argued by learned serjeants and sad apprentices at
the bar, and afterwards debated publicly on the bench, is disposed of
in five minutes, and without appeal, at chambers by a judge who has
never practised this branch of the law, and who would when at the
bar have shrunk from the responsibility of expressing an opinion on
the most ordinary question connected with the science of special
pleading. It was therefore quite natural that judges should be glad to
avail themselves at chambers of the assistance of special pleaders; and
in order to prevent the abuse of the indiscriminate invitation given by
the legislature to all persons, though students only of a day's standing,
who are members of an inn of court, to take out licences to practise as
special pleaders, &c., the benchers or governing members of some of
the inns of court now require that upon the admission of a student,
he shall engage not to practise as a special pleader, &c., till he be of
sufficient standing to be called to the bar.
The serjeants remained however, till 9 & 10 Vict. c. 54, the only
advocates recognised in the court of Common Pleas. In that court
they retained their right of exclusive audience, which privilege extended
to trials at bar, but not to trials at nisi prius, either at the assizes or at
the sittings in London and Middlesex.
Attempts had been made previously to place the court of Common
Pleas upon the same footing in this respect as the other courts at
Westminster. A suggestion to that effect was made by Sir Matthew
Hale, in his Considerations touching the Amendments of the Law.'
In 1755 it was proposed by Sir John Willes, then chief-justice of the
Common Pleas, that the court should be opened to all barristers. The
judges met, and, after much discussion, expressed their opinion against
the plan, which was strongly opposed by Lord Hardwicke. It was
nearly a century before effect was given to the enlightened views of
Sir Matthew Hale and Sir John Willes.
In 1834, while the Central Criminal Court bill was in the House of
Lords, a clause was introduced for opening the court of Common Pleas.
This clause was withdrawn before the bill was sent to the Commons.
But on 24th April, in that year, a royal warrant issued, ordering and
directing that the right of practising, pleading, and audience in the
court of Common Pleas should cease to be exercised exclusively by the
serjeants-at-law, and that barristers-at-law should have and exercise
equal right and privilege with them of practising, &c., in that court.
The warrant professed to give to such of the serjeants then in practice
as were not king's serjeants, and had not patents of precedence, as an
especial mark of royal favour, precedence over any king's counsel who
ARTS AND SCI, DIV. VOL, VII,
might be thereafter appointed. This warrant was filed in the court of
Common Pleas on 25th April, from which time until January, 1840, it
was acted upon by the court. During this period no persons applied
for the coif, except those who had received an intimation that they
were to be made judges.
In 1837, a petition was addressed to her majesty by the queen's
serjeants and two other serjeants who had not availed themselves of
the clause of precedence contained in the warrant of April 24, 1834,
suggesting that the warrant was illegal, and praying that the legality
of that document and the expediency of the alteration might be duly
investigated. The illegality of the warrant was asserted chiefly upon
the prescriptive rights of the serjeants, coeval with the existence of
the courts themselves; but also on some merely technical grounds.
A memorial was at the same time presented to the chancellor, in which
it was submitted that such an alteration could only be made by act of
parliament.
The petition being referred to the privy council, the question was
argued on 10th January, 1839, and again on 2nd February. A strong
opinion was expressed as to the illegality of the warrant, but the court
separated without coming to any conclusion.
In November, 1839, a motion was made in the Common Pleas by
Wilde, as the senior practising serjeant, that the exclusive right of
audience of the serjeants-at-law, which had been suspended in obedience
to the warrant of 1834, should be restored; and at the close of Hilary
term, 1840, the right of being heard as counsel and of signing pleadings
in causes depending in the Common Pleas, was declared by the court
to belong exclusively to the serjeants-at-law. The legislature then took
up the question seriously, and the monopoly of the serjeants was
abolished by 9 & 10 Vict. c. 54.
Serjeants had formerly not only exclusive audience in the Common
Pleas, but had also in all other courts pre-audience over all other
advocates. They are still addressed by the judges as brothers, by
which title they speak to and of one another.
Though the king was represented in each of his courts at West-
minster by one or more persons as his attorney and solicitor general in
one or all of those courts, no one formerly pleaded as counsel for the
crown except serjeants. In the patent of a king's serjeant, he was
appointed by the king "Serviens Noster ad legem, et Narrator pro
Nobis in curiis Nostris, in quibuscunque negotiis Nos tangentibus."
Afterwards when the king's attorney, as it usually happened, was an
apprentice, he was allowed not only to appear as attorney, but to plead
as advocate for the crown in those courts in which apprentices were
permitted to practise, and when so employed he claimed and exercised,
for the benefit of the crown, a right of pre-audience over serjeants
pleading for ordinary clients in those courts. Afterwards the attorney-
general exercised a right of pre-audience even when not engaged for
the crown.
Other king's counsel appear to have obtained pre-audience over the
serjeants by a similar course of proceeding; but the queen's serjeants
still retain pre-audience over all other counsel except the attorney-
general and solicitor-general; and even over the attorney-general,
the senior of the king's serjeants, distinguished by the appellation
of" the king's ancient serjeant," retained his precedence until 1814,
when Sir Samuel Shepherd, the king's ancient serjeant, being
appointed solicitor-general, instead of vacating his office of serjeant, as
had always before been done in such cases, obtained a warrant from the
Prince-Regent giving to the attorney-general and solicitor-general per-
petual pre-audience of the whole bar. In the reigns of Mary, Elizabeth,
and James I., several persons were degraded, or discharged, from the
degree of serjeant-at-law in order to capacitate them for accepting the
office of solicitor-general, as it is not unusual now for barristers to
apply to be disbarred for the purpose of enabling them to practise as
solicitors or attorneys to private suitors.
The pre-audience acquired, in comparatively modern times, by the
attorney-general and solicitor-general and the other king's counsel over
the serjeants in the courts of Westminster Hall, has not otherwise
affected the rank or position of the latter. At the coronation of Queen
Elizabeth it appears to have been finally settled that in the royal pro-
cession (in which those of inferior rank walk first) "the attorney and
solicitor-general walk immediately before the barons of the Exchequer,
and immediately after the serjeants-at-law, who follow the knights-
bannerets, bachelor-knights, masters of the chancery, clerks of the
court, &c." (Egerton Papers,' 60.)
The serjeants formerly occupied three inns, or collegiate buildings,
for practice, and for occasional residence, situate in Chancery Lane,
Fleet Street, and Holborn. The last, called Scroop's Inn, has long been
abandoned, and since the burning down of Serjeants' Inn, Fleet Street,
in the middle of the last century, that site has also been deserted
by the serjeants, who have now no other building than Serjeants' Inn,
Chancery Lane. Here all the common-law judges have chambers, in
which they dispose in a summary way, and with closed doors, of such
matters as the legislature has expressly entrusted to a single judge,
and of all business which is not thought of sufficient magnitude to
be brought before more than one judge, or which is supposed to
be of a nature too urgent to admit of postponement.
The inn contains, besides accommodations for the judges, chambers
for fourteen serjeants, the junior serjeants while waiting for a vacancy
being dispersed in the different inns of courts.
H H
467
SERJEANT.
In Serjeants' Inn Hall the judges and serjeants, as members of the
Society of Serjeants' Inn, dine together during term-time.
Formerly very splendid and expensive entertainments were given by
the new serjeants upon their reception into the order. About a century
ago this custom was discontinued, and instead of festivities at their
joint expense, each serjeant paid 1007. to the Treasurer of the Society
of Serjeants' Inn upon his admission as a member of that Society,
into which the new serjeants are elected almost as a matter of course.
The payment is now raised to 3501. The practice of giving gold rings
to the queen and the great officers of state and others still continues,
though the number has been lately reduced. These rings, with the
robes and other expenses, raise the 350l. to something less than
500%. The peculiar dress of the serjeants-at-law, besides their dis-
tinctive coif, consists in four species of robes. In term time the gown
'of black cloth is worn on ordinary occasions. On holidays the serjeants
appear in court in purple (violet coloured) gowns. When they go in
state to St. Paul's, they wear scarlet gowns, as also when they attend
the House of Lords, if the sovereign be present, and when they dine at
Guildhall on lord mayor's day. At nisi prius they appear in black
silk gowns, which, as being at hand, they generally wear when called
upon to try causes or prisoners on the circuit, though for the latter
purpose the scarlet gown, always accompanied with a sentence cap, is
understood to be the appropriate costume.
•
The creation of serjeants was anciently attended with numerous
ceremonies, a description of which may be seen in the last chapter of
Herbert's History of Inns of Court.' Some practices belonging to an
age of greater simplicity than the present, are still retained in those
cases where the writ to the serjeant elect issues in term-time. But
by 6 Geo. IV., cap. 95, persons receiving writs, issued in vacation,
commanding them to appear in the Court of Chancery and to take
upon themselves the estate and dignity of a serjeant-at-law, are, upon
appearing before the lord chancellor and taking the oaths usually
administered to persons called to that degree and office, declared to be
serjeants-at-law sworn, without any further ceremony.
Another class of serjeants is that of serjeants-at-arms, whose number
is limited, by statute 13 Rich. II., cap. 6, to thirty. Their office is to
attend the person of the king, to arrest offenders, and to attend the
lord high steward when sitting in judgment upon a peer. Two of
these serjeants-at-arms by the king's permission attend the two houses
of parliament. In the House of Commons, the office of the serjeant-at-
arms (as he is emphatically called) is to keep the doors of the house,
and to execute such commands, especially touching the apprehension of
any offenders against the privileges of the Commons, as the house
through its Speaker may enjoin. From these serjeants-at-arms the
present regimental serjeants are probably derived.
In some offices about the royal person the principal officer of the
department is distinguished by the appellation of serjeant, as the
serjeant-surgeon, serjeant-painter, &c.
Many of the documents referred to in the present article are printed
at length in the Appendix to Manning's 'Serviens ad Legem,' which is
a report of the argument before the Privy Council in 1839.
Serjeants and other counsel are engaged to assist a party in a cause
either by the delivery of a brief in that cause or by giving a retainer or
retaining fee. A retainer, if for a particular cause, or for a particular
stage of that cause, is called a common retainer, and it now consists
in the payment of the sum of one guinea and the delivering of a paper
endorsed with the name of the cause and of the court, and the words
“Mr. Serjeant A (or 'Mr. B'), retainer for the plaintiff" (or for the
defendant). A general retainer is where a retaining fee of five guineas is
given to counsel to engage the assistance of that counsel in all causes in
which the party retaining may be concerned in the courts which the
counsel retained attends. A special retainer is where a large fee is
given to counsel to plead in a particular cause on a circuit on which
he does not usually practise. This fee is given and received partly
with a view to remunerate the counsel for the inconvenience of
leaving other engagements to come to a strange circuit, and partly for
the purpose of preventing any unnecessary interference with the
business of the regular practitioners of the particular court into which
he is brought, in cases which are not of great importance. Both the
common and the special retainer amount to an engagement on the part
of the counsel to accept the brief of the party retaining, and to refuse
any brief offered by the adverse party, and on the part of the client, to
deliver a brief to the counsel retained in case the cause is entered for
trial, whether a trial takes place or not. A general retainer merely
renders it imperative on the counsel retained to accept no brief or
retainer from the adversary of the party retaining, until he has first
ascertained that it is not the intention of the latter to require his
services in the particular cause. The general retainer continues in
force during the joint lives of the retaining client and the counsel
retained, unless the engagement be cancelled by the former, who is at
liberty at any time to renounce his title to the services of the counsel
retained. In the case of a common or a special retainer, the contract
can be put an end to only by the concurrent act of counsel and client.
In cases of importance, counsel are generally retained before the
action is actually commenced; and it often happens that for want of
sufficient information as to the form of the intended proceedings, or
from carelessness, the cause is not described in the retainer with suffi-
cient accuracy. When this is the case, the retainer is void, and the
SERMON.
468
counsel is bound to accept the retainer of the adverse party, if ten-
dered before the mistake has been corrected. The sufficiency of the
first retainer becomes frequently the subject of dispute between the
litigant parties, which dispute, if not arranged between themselves, is
generally settled not by the counsel to whom the retainer is given, but
by some other leading counsel.
"و
In former times it was usual, particularly for great persons and
public bodies, especially for religious corporations, to grant annuities
pro consilio impenso vel impendendo.
SERJEANT, or SERGEANT, is a non-commissioned officer in a
troop of cavalry or in a company of infantry. The duties of serjeants
are to drill or instruct in discipline the recruits of a regiment; to look
after the interior economy and discipline of the troop or company
under the captain and subalterns; whilst on parade they act as
markers or guides in the performance of the evolutions. The serjeants
of infantry are now armed with muskets like the rest of the troops.
In each company, when a battalion is in line, a covering serjeant is
always stationed behind the officer commanding the company; when
the ranks take open order, and that officer advances before the front
rank, the serjeant steps into his place; but upon the ranks being
closed, he falls again to the rear. Four or six serjeants are charged
with the duty of guarding the colours of the regiment: they constantly
attend the officers who carry them, and are called colour-serjeants.
One serjeant in each troop or company is appointed to pay the men;
also to keep the accounts relating to their allowances, the state of their
necessaries, &c. There are five serjeants, including the colour-serjeant,
to each company.
The name of sergens or servientes was, in the armies of France
during the reign of Philip Augustus, applied to gentlemen who served
on horseback, but were below the rank of knights; and also, as a
general term, to the infantry soldiers who were furnished by the
towns. There was, besides, à body of troops consisting of 150 or 200
men of rank, who were called sergens d'armes, and were instituted by
the prince just mentioned for his protection, when in the East, against
the subjects of the chief of the Assassins. (P. Daniel, 'Hist. de la
Milice Fr.,' liv. iii. ch. 7, and liv. ix. ch. 12.)
Corresponding to this corps was the body of serjeants-at-arms, which
was instituted in England by Richard I., and appointed to guard the
royal tent in complete armour. At first it consisted of twenty-four
men, but the number was afterwards increased. Being accused of
extortion and oppression, the parliament made several applications to
the king that their number might be diminished, and in the reign of
Edward IV. the desired reduction took place. (Grose, 'Mil. Antiq.,'
vol. i.
p. 199.)
In the reign of Philip and Mary the serjeant-major of the army was
an officer whose post corresponded to that of the modern major-
general; and the serjeant-major of a regiment was a field-officer, who
would now be designated the major. At present the serjeant-major is
an assistant to the adjutant, and keeps the roster for the duties of the
serjeants, corporals, and privates. The quartermaster-serjeant is one
who acts immediately under the quartermaster of a regiment in all the
details relating to the quarters of the officers and men, the supplies of
food, clothing, &c.
SÉRJEANT-AT-ARMS. [SERJEANT. (Law.)]
SERJEANT-AT-MACE. [SERJEANT. (Law.)]
SERJEANTY. [SERJEANT. (Law.)]
SERMON, a form of the Latin sermo, which denotes a discourse of
any kind, and even common talk or conversation. It is now however
applied only to a discourse of a particular kind, namely, one delivered
to an assembly of persons who are gathered together for purposes
of devotion, or in the character of a Christian and religious congrega-
tion. Nor is any address delivered on such occasions properly a sermon,
though the word is very loosely used, and addresses delivered on such
occasions, which can hardly be called sermons, are not unfrequently so
denominated; but it seems to be essential to a sermon that it shall be
a discourse grounded on some particular passage of holy Scripture
which more or less influences the preacher in the whole of his dis-
course. This passage is called the text, that is, it is the portion of
the text of Scripture, of which the sermon is the long paraphrase and
commentary, with suitable application and exhortation intermixed or
appended.
The sermons delivered in the English church before the Reformation
were very short, probably seldom requiring more than ten minutes for
the delivery of them. Many specimens remain in manuscript, but few
are generally accessible by having been printed. Perhaps the most
remarkable and the most easily consulted are the sermons at the
opening of each parliament, of which there are notices in the printed
rolls.
But with the Reformation a great change in this respect took place;
and in many cases the ministers of religion came to consider them-
selves rather as persons whose peculiar duty it was to exhort and
preach, than to conduct the devotions of a Christian assembly and to
minister the sacraments. The consequence of this was that the ser
mous ran out to a great length, and assemblies were gathered together
rather for the purpose of listening to them than of entering into the
devotions of the church; and the term-"preaching minister was
invented to designate those ministers who changed the nature of their
office, from one which was instituted for the administration of the
"}
!
469
470
SERPENS.
SERVANT.
Christian ordinance and the assisting the people in their devotions, to
one which was of teaching, if not exclusively, yet principally. It was
not very unusual in the 17th century for congregations to listen to
sermons which occupied one, two, or even three hours in the delivery.
Many of these sermons are in print, and may therefore be now read
and judged of.
There is a singular work by a minister of the French Reformed
church at Charenton, Monsieur Claude, entitled 'An Essay on the
Composition of a Sermon.' This was translated by Robert Robinson,
a Baptist minister at Cambridge, who has illustrated the rules by
numerous quotations from English sermon writers. This translation
is in two volumes, 8vo., 1779.-
SERPENS (the Serpent), a constellation which is astronomically
distinguished from OPпIUCHUS, but not mythologically, being the ser-
pent carried by the Serpent-bearer. The windings of the figure bring
it in contact with Aquila, Ophiuchus, Libra, and Hercules.
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SERPENT, a musical instrument, a long conical tube of wood
covered with leather, having a mouth-piece, ventages, and keys, and
bent in a serpentine form; hence its name. The compass of the
serpent is from B flat below the base staff, to a, the treble clef line,
including every tone and semitone between these extremes. Or-
D
·b-
#- &c.
The use of this is confined to military bands, though it might have
been rendered valuable in the orchestra. The ophecleide however, an
instrument applicable to the same purposes, but of far superior
utility, has already obtained a place in the concert-room, and will,
probably, supersede altogether its ancient and imperfect precursor.
[OPHECLEIDE.]
SERPENTARIN. Synonymous with ARISTOLOchin.
SERVANT, one who has contracted to serve another. The person
whom he has contracted to serve is styled master. Servants are of
various kinds;
; apprentices [APPRENTICE], menial or domestic servants
who reside within the house of the master, servants in husbandry,
workmen or artificers, and clerks, warehousemen, &c. From the
relation of master and servant a variety of rights and duties arise.
Some of these are founded on the common law, and some on special
statutory enactments.
A contract of hiring and service need not be in writing unless it be
for a period longer than a year, or for a year to commence at some
future time. If in writing, it is not liable to any stamp duty, unless
it apply to the superior classes of clerks, &c. To all such contracts
the law attaches an implied undertaking on the part of the servant
faithfully and carefully to serve the master, and to do his lawful and
reasonable commands within the scope of the employment contracted
for; on the part of the master, to protect and fairly remunerate the
servant. This implied undertaking to remunerate may be rebutted by
circumstances showing that it never was contemplated, as where it
appears that the servant merely came on trial, or where a party has
brought to England a person who was his slave abroad. In all hirings
where no time of duration is expressed, except those of menial servants,
it is a rule of law that the contract shall continue for a year. In the
case of menial servants it is determinable by a month's warning, or the
payment of a month's wages. Servants in husbandry can only be
discharged or quit the service upon a quarter's notice. This rule as to
time may of course also be rebutted by any circumstances in the con-
tract inconsistent with its existence. In the case of immorality, or
any kind of offence amounting to a misdemeanor committed during
the time of the service, or of continued neglect, or determined dis-
obedience, a servant may be immediately discharged; and the service
having been determined before the expiration of the time contracted
for, in consequence of the fault of the servant, he is not entitled to
claim wages for any portion of the time during which he has served.
The contract continues to exist, notwithstanding the disability of the
servant to perform his duties from illness, and he is in such a case
entitled to receive his wages. The master however is not bound to
pay the charges incurred by medicine or attendance upon his sick
Servant. In case the goods of the master are lost or broken by the
carelessness of the servant, the master is not entitled to deduct their
value from the wages of the servant, unless there has been a special
contract between them to that effect. His only remedy is by an
action.
action. Where a master becomes bankrupt, the commissioners are
authorised, on proof that they are due, to pay six months' wages to his
clerks and servants. If the wages for any longer period are due, they
must be proved for like other debts under the fiat. If a servant has
left his service for a considerable time without making any demand for
wages, it will be presumed that they are paid. A master may chastise
his apprentice for neglect or misconduct, but he will not be justified in
striking any other description of servant. Servants who steal or
embezzle their master's goods are subject to a greater degree of punish-
ment than others who commit those crimes. [LARCENY.] Masters
are not compellable to give a character to servants who leave their
employment. If they choose to do so, and they give one which is
false, they may be liable to an action at the suit of the servant; but in
order to recover in such an action, the servant must prove that the
character was maliciously given for the purpose of injuring him. If
the master, merely for the purpose of confidentially communicating,
bond fide state what he believes to be the truth respecting a servant,
he is not responsible for the consequences of his communication.
.
By a great variety of statutes, a special jurisdiction is given to
magistrates over servants in husbandry, and also in many classes of
manufactures and other employments. None of these rules of law
apply to menial servants. The object of them, as relates to servants in
husbandry, is to compel persons not having any ostensible means of
subsistence, to enter into service, to regulate the time and mode of
their service, to punish negligence and refusal to serve, to determine
disputes between masters and servants, to enable servants to recover
their wages, and to authorise magistrates under certain circumstances
to put an end to the service.
Those statutes which relate to servants in manufactures and other
employments prohibit the payment of wages in goods, and provide for
their payment in money, and for the regulation of disputes concerning
them. They also contain various enactments applicable to the cases of
workmen, &c., absconding, neglecting or mismanaging their work,
injuring or embezzling the materials, tools, &c., entrusted to them, and
fraudulently receiving those entrusted to others. With respect also to
this class of servants, magistrates have authority to put an end to the
contracts of hiring and service.
By reason of the relationship which exists between a master and a ser-
vant, and the protection which is thereby due from the former to the
latter, a master is not held to be guilty of the offence of maintenance
[MAINTENANCE], though he maintain and support his servant in an action
brought by him against a third party. When a servant is assaulted, his
master is justified in assisting his servant, and repelling the assault by
force, although he himself be not attacked; and under similar circum-
stances a servant may justify an assault committed in defence of his
master. A master is answerable, both civilly and criminally, for those acts
of his servant which are done within the scope of his employment. Thus
a master is indictable if a servant commit a nuisance by throwing dirt
on the highway; and a bookseller or newsvender is liable, criminally
as well as civilly, for libels which are sold by his servant in his shop.
This liability of the master does not release the servant from his own
liability to punishment for the same offence. The servant is also liable
when he commits a trespass by the command of his master. A master,
although liable civilly for any injuries arising from the negligence.or
unskilfulness of his servant, is not responsible for the consequences of
a wilful act of his servant done without the direction or assent of the
master in such case the servant alone is liable. Where a servant
makes a contract within the scope of his employment, what he does
will be binding on his master, just as if he had expressly authorised
the servant. But in all cases where there is no express evidence of the
delegation of the master's authority, there must be facts from which
such delegation can be inferred. Where a servant obtains goods for
his master, which the master uses, and he afterwards gives money to
the servant to pay for them, the master will be liable to pay for them,
even though the money should have been embezzled by the servant.
If a coachman go in his master's livery to hire horses, which his master
afterwards uses, the master will be liable to pay for them, though the
coachman has received a large salary for the express purpose of pro-
viding horses; unless, indeed, that fact were known to the party who
let out the horses. If a master is in the habit of paying ready money
for articles furnished to his family, and gives money to a servant, on a
particular occasion, for the purpose of paying for the articles which he
is sent to procure, the master will not be liable to the tradesman if the
servant should embezzle the money. Where articles furnished to a
certain amount have always been paid for in ready money, and a
tradesman allows other articles of the same character to be delivered
without payment, the master will not be liable, unless the tradesman
ascertains that the articles are for the master's own use.
tradesman, who had not before been employed by a master, was
directed by a servant to do some work, and afterwards did it without
any communication with the master, it was held that the master was
not liable, though the thing upon which the work was done was the
property of the master.
Where a
By the contract of hiring and service, the master obtains a right to
the service of the servant. Any one, therefore, who interferes with
471
SERVICE.
that right does him an injury for which he is responsible in an action
for damages. A master may be deprived of the services of a servant,
either by some hurt done to the servant, or by his being enticed out of
the service. An action, therefore, may be brought by a master where
a servant has received some personal injury disqualifying him from the
discharge of his duties as a servant, as where he has been disabled by
the overturn of a coach, the bite of a third person's dog, &c. The
action by a parent against the seducer of his daughter is of this class,
and purports to be brought to recover the damages incurred by the
parent for the loss of his daughter's services; and although in practice
the damages are never really measured by the injury occurring from
the mere loss of service, still, from the form of the action, the only
one which can be brought in such a case,-it is necessary to give evi-
dence of services performed. Any kind of assistance in domestic offices
is sufficient. [PARENT AND CHILD.]
In order to succeed in an action for enticing a servant out of his
service, the master must prove that the party enticing away the
servant knew of the previous engagement at the time when he enticed
him away, or that he has refused to restore the servant upon subse-
quent application. This action is maintainable where the servant is
hired to do work by the piece, as well as where the servant is hired
for a definite time. But no action lies for inducing a servant to quit
his service at the period when the definite time for which he was hired
expires, although the servant had no previous intention of quitting the
service at such period. Neither will an action lie against a party for
enticing away a servant if the servant has paid to the master the
penalty stipulated for by the agreement of hiring and service in case
of his quitting his master's service. Where a servant has been enticed
away from the service, an action lies against him for his breach of
contract, as well as against the party who has enticed him away.
It is not inconsistent with the duty of the servant of a tradesman to
solicit his master's customers to give him business after he shall have
left the service of his master. Where a workman discovers a new
invention during the time of his service, the invention is the property
of the servant, unless perhaps he were specially hired for the purpose
of making new inventions.
Penalties are imposed by the statute law upon parties who personate
masters and give false characters with servants; and also upon those
who, though they really have been masters, wilfully make false state-
ments in writing, as to the time and particulars of the service or the
character of the servant, and also upon those who personate servants
or falsely state that they have been in particular services, or deny that
they have been in such employments as they really have filled. A
person who wilfully gives a false character with a servant is also liable
to an action at the suit of the party who has been induced by the false
character to employ the servant, for any damages which he may suffer
in consequence of employing him. Thus, where one was induced by a
false character to employ a servant who afterwards robbed him to a
large amount, and was convicted of the robbery, the master was held to
be entitled to recover to the extent of his loss from the party who gave
the false character.
Formerly a settlement was gained by residence in a parish under a
contract of hiring and service for a year; but no settlement can now
be gained by such means.
SERVICE (Law). [SERVANT.]
SERVICE, the name given in English cathedral music to the Te
Deum and Jubilate, the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis, the Cantate
Domino and Deus Miseratur, collectively or separately; and sometimes
applied, very erroneously, in our concert books, to the whole or por-
tions of the mass.
SERVITES, or Servants of the Blessed Virgin, a religious order
first instituted in Tuscany, A.D. 1233, by seven Florentine merchants.
This order, though subjected to the rule of St. Augustine, was neverthe-
less erected in commemoration of the most holy widowhood of the
blessed Virgin, for which reason its monks wore a black habit, and
observed several rules not practised in other monasteries.
Toward the close of the 16th century it was found that the Servites
had fallen off from their early strictness; and in 1593 the order was
re-established in its original austerity in the hermitages of Monte-
Senario, where the reformed brothers took the title of Servites-
Eremites This order continues to exist in Italy.
Father Paul Sarpi, the well-known author of the History of the
Council of Trent,' was a Servite.
(Mosheim, Eccles. Hist., Cent. xiii. Part ii. s. 20; Hist. des Ordres
Religieux, par M. Henrion, 8vo. Brux., 1838.)
SERVITOR. [SIZAR.]
SERVITUDE, PENAL. [PENAL SERVITUDE.]
SERVITUDES (servitules). A servitus in the Roman law signifies
that the owner of some particular property is bound in respect to some
other person, simply as such person, or as being the owner of a par-
ticular property, either not to do certain acts to his property, or to
allow that other person to do some particular acts to the property.
Servitutes were thus either a right belonging to some particular
person, which ceased with his life (unless they were granted to him
and his heirs), and were called servitutes personarum or personales;
or they were attached to a piece of ground as the subject, and could be
exercised by any person who was in the possession of the ground, and
were called Jura, or servitutes prædiorum or rerum, and sometimes
SESSION, COURT OF.
472
Servitutes simply. Personal servitudes were comprehended under the
heads of Ususfructus, Usus, Habitatio (a lodging in another person's
house), and Opera Servorum et Animalium (the use of another person's
slaves or beasts).
Prædial Servitudes were either Servitutes Urbanæ or Rusticæ.
They were Urbane if the property which was entitled to the servi-
tude was a building; they were Rustica if it was a piece of ground.
There was no limit to the number or kind of servitudes of this class
which might be established. Those Servitutes Urbana which were of
ordinary occurrence were such as follow:-Servitutes oneris ferendi,
the right which a man has to let his building rest on the building, the
wall, or the pillar which belongs to another; Tigni immittendi, the
right of fixing a man's timbers in his neighbour's wall; Luminum, sive
luminis excipiendi, the right of a man's making windows or openings in
his neighbour's wall, or in a common wall, in order to get light for his
own building, or to make holes or windows in a man's own wall, which
holes or windows look into his neighbour's property, in such cases as
would be unlawful without the existence of the servitude; Ne lumini-
bus officiatur, the right to prevent a neighbour from obstructing the
light that comes to a man's buildings, by raising any obstacle in the
way; and others of a like kind. The Servitutes Rustice were rights
of road over another man's property, which were of various kinds
according to the kind of road, as Servitus itineris, actus, viæ; Pascendi
sive pascui, right of pasturing a man's animals on another man's
ground; and the various servitudes which have for their object the
use of water, as servitus aquæ ductus, aquæ haustus, and others of a
like kind.
Servitudes might be established by contract, by testamentary dispo-
sition, by prescription in the Roman sense, and in some other ways.
They might cease by the party entitled to them renouncing them by
express words or tacitly in the case of prædial servitude, by one
person becoming owner of the servient and dominant properties; and
in some other ways.
The prædial servitudes may be compared with some of the easements
and rights of the English system. The personal servitudes of the
Roman law do not correspond, except in some few cases, with anything
in the English law, except limited enjoyments of a thing, as, for instance,
an estate in lands for life.
The subject of the Roman servitudes would require a long exposition
to be treated fully. A good outline is contained in Thibaut, System
des. Pandekten Rechts,' i. § 296, &c., 9th ed.; and in Mackeldey,
Lehrbuch,' &c., ii. § 274, 12th ed.
SESQUIALTER, the name of a stop on the organ, containing three
ranks of pipes, thus giving three pipes to each organ key, which are
tuned in different but harmonic intervals. Sometimes the Mixture
stop is considered as part of the Sesquialter, in which case the
latter is said to contain five ranks of pipes, all tuned in harmonic
intervals. [ORGAN.]
SESSION, COURT OF, is the principal tribunal of civil jurisdiction
in Scotland. As at present constituted, it dates back to the year 1532,
but it was then reconstructed on the basis of institutions which had
existed at a much earlier period. The early records of the Scottish
Parliament show that the judicial authority, which in those times was
mixed with the legislative functions of that body, was often deputed
to committees. These were termed Domini Auditores, or Domini ad
Querelas, and received other like titles. We find these committees
and their functions placed on a more distinct position in 1503, when a
It
permanent body received the designation of "The Daily Council."
is worthy of observation that these incidents in the history of the
court explain the absence of jury trial as a fundamental feature in tho
Court of Session, while in early times it is known to have belonged to
the courts of the inferior judges. Parliament being the high jury of
the nation, it would be an anomaly that a committee of that body
should act through the aid of a jury. The number of the court as
finally established in 1532 was fifteen, the usual number of a Scottish
jury in former times, and still the number of a jury in a criminal
prosecution. There was then a lord chancellor of Scotland, whose
functions in some degree resembled those of the same official in
England. He presided over the Court of Session, and his judicial
functions gradually came to be absorbed in those of the court. At
the union with England it was deemed unnecessary to retain a separate
chancellor of Scotland, and the great seal to be appended to private
documents for that part of the country being committed to a keeper,
the court was presided over by the lord president, who previously pre-
sided in the absence of the chancellor. In 1808 the Court of Session
was divided into two divisions: the head of the court, the lord presi-
dent (who is also now lord justice-general or head of the supreme
criminal court) presides in the first division, and the lord justice clerk
in the second. In 1815 trial by jury in civil cases was introduced in
Scotland, a separate tribunal being established for these cases; but in
1830 the practice of jury trial was united with that of the Court of
Session. It is still only adopted in a limited number of cases, and is.
far from being popular or satisfactory. The Scottish mode of pleading
is ill adapted to it, and no means have been found, or indeed tried, of
carrying it through with the promptitude and precision which mark the
English practice. In 1830 two separate courts of limited jurisdiction
and small practice-the Admiralty and Commissionary Courts-were ab-
sorbed in the Court of Session, and the number of judges was at the same
473
474
SESSION, KIRK.
SESSIONS.
time reduced from fifteen to thirteen. Eight of these judges, formed
into two courts of four judges each, sit in the two divisions of the Inner
House, where each division forms a court of second instance. The
five other judges are called the Lords Ordinary, and each of them
holds a separate court, which, in reference to the court of further
resort, is called the " Outer House." The judgment of a lord ordinary
on a closed record is final in the Outer House, but it may, within a
limited time, be carried by a "reclaiming note" to which the record is
appended, to the Inner House, where it may be pleaded again on the
record as made up in the Outer House.
of lord.
The jurisdiction of the Court of Session embraces all questions of
civil right. It gives remedy when other courts whose function it is to
regulate the rights and duties of certain sections of the public as mem-
bers of a particular class-such as courts martial and ecclesiastical-
exceed their powers. The proceedings before the Court of Session in
relation to the church courts were the cause of the great secession
from the Scottish Church in 1843. As every description of civil question
between man and man in Scotland can be competently decided before
the Court of Session, it is usual in England to speak of it as a court
"both of law and equity;" but this is a distinction proceeding from
incidental circumstances in the character of the English courts, and is
no necessary or properly systematic division of the administration of
the law. The Court of Session has the authority enjoyed by the
equity courts in England, in the appointment of guardians, receivers,
&c., or otherwise seeing to the protection of property, or of persons
where discretional protection or direction are necessary, and there is
no person competent in ordinary course of law to act. It has also the
same authority as the Court of Exchequer in matters of revenue. By
an old practice in Scotland, each "Senator of the College of Justice,'
as the judges of the Court of Session are officially called, takes the title
SESSION, KIRK, is the lowest judicatory in the system of the
Church of Scotland, having jurisdiction only over a single parish.
There is, or ought to be, a kirk session in every parish, composed of
the minister, who is ex officio moderator or chairman, and of the lay
elders, who must be at the least two in number. The moderator has
only a casting vote. Meetings of the kirk session may be called at any
time by the minister; but they are commonly held at stated intervals,
and it is not unusual for the session to meet on the Sunday after
service. It would rather appear from the First Book of Discipline'
that the nomination or election of elders was originally in the congre-
gation; but the modern practice is for the session to supply vacancies
in, and to make additions to, its number by its own selection, only
submitting the names to the congregation, that any objections may be
made and inquired into by it; and in cases where there happens to be
no session in existence, one is appointed by the presbytery. In some
of the largest town parishes there are as many as fifty or sixty elders;
but in most cases the number does not exceed five or six. In country
parishes the elders, or at least those of them who do the duties of the
office, are commonly respectable tradesmen, shopkeepers, or mechanics,
although persons of higher station occasionally get themselves
appointed, principally with a view to qualifying themselves for seats in
the General Assembly or the other church courts. The law however
is, that an elder must be resident in the parish at least six weeks in
the year. He is elected for life, or so long as he remains qualified to
hold the office. Every kirk session is represented by an elder both in
the presbytery and the synod; the same member being deputed to
both courts, and holding his commission for six months. The elders
sent to the Assembly, like the other members of that supreme court
(except the representatives of the royal burghs and the universities),
are nominated by the presbytery. The kirk session may be regarded
as the council of the minister, who, strictly speaking, is scarcely
authorised to perform any act in the administration of the spiritual
affairs of the parish, beyond officiating in the services of the kirk,
without the concurrence of his elders. In practice, however, the
clergyman very rarely encounters any opposition in the kirk session.
The ordinary business of the session is to exercise spiritual discipline
within the parish, by inquiring into scandals, and punishing delin-
quencies, which is done by suspension from the benefit of church
ordinances, by public or private rebuke, and by pecuniary fines
(exacted of course, like submission to the other penalties, only as the
price of restoration to communion with the church, for the session has
no power to force any person even to appear on its summons). The
evidence in all cases that come before the session (at least after the
inquiry has fairly commenced) is taken upon oath, and is, or ought to
be, carefully recorded by the session-clerk, who is a paid officer, not
necessarily a member of the court. There is in most cases an appeal
from the judgment of the kirk session to the presbytery; and some
graver offences can only be tried by the presbytery even in the first
instance. The distribution of the ordinary collections made at the
church door for the support of the poor, is also in the hands of the
kirk session; and the management of all other funds and assessments
allotted to the same purpose is conjointly in that body and in the
heritors or landed proprietors of the parish. In the non-established
Presbyterian bodies the lay-members of the kirk-session are appointed
by the direct vote, or with the consent of the members of the congre-
gation. The duty of the session, of which the minister is moderator,
is to attend to the spiritual discipline of the body, and to care for the
poor. A body of managers is generally chosen at an annual business
meeting of the members of the congregation, whose duty is to transact
the secular business, such as collecting seat-rents, paying the minister's
stipend, &c. In the Free Church of Scotland, deacons are usually
appointed, who in conjunction with the elders, constitute the deacons'
court, for the management of the secular affairs of the congregation.
(Principal Hill's View of the Constitution of the Church of Scotland ;
Dr. Alexander Hill's Practice in the several Judicatories of the Church of
Scotland.)
SESSIONS. A session is the period during which any court of law
sits for the transaction of judicial business; but the term Sessions is
commonly used to denote the meeting of the justices of a county, or
other district which has a separate commission of the peace, for the
execution of the authorities conferred by the crown by that com-
mission and others created by act of parliament.
County Sessions.-The commission of the peace issued by the crown
for the purpose of creating county magistrates, consists of two branches.
The former, relating to the powers to be exercised by justices indi-
vidually and separately, has been already set forth. [JUSTICES.] The
second branch of the commission creates the powers of the justices
when assembled in sessions, and contains the quorum clause, so called
because when the commission was in Latin, the clause ran
“quorum
A.B. vel C.D. vel E. F., &c. unum esse volumus.”
The statute 1 Mary, sess. 2, c. 8, s. 2, prohibits sheriffs from
exercising the office of justice of the peace during the time that they
act as sheriffs. They might otherwise be called upon to act in the
same matter both as judges and officers,-to execute, as sheriffs,
precepts which they had issued as justices. It has been supposed that
where a justice is elected coroner, he is discharged of his authority of
justice. But if he be created a duke, archbishop, marquess, earl,
viscount, baron, bishop, knight, judge, or serjeant-at-law, his authority
as justice of the peace remains. (1 Edw. VI. c. 7.) By 5 Geo. II. c.
18, s. 2, attorneys, solicitors, and proctors are prohibited from acting
as justices of the peace for any county during the time that they
continue in practice.
A meeting of the justices held for the purpose of acting judicially
for the whole district comprised within their commission constitutes a
court of general session of the peace. By 12 Rich. II. c. 10, sessions
are required to be held in every quarter of the year, or oftener if need
be. The four sessions so held are styled courts of general quarter-
session of the peace, or, in common parlance, "quarter-sessions." By
different statutes the quarter-sessions are directed to be held at uniform
periods. The times at which they are directed to be held are, the first
week after the 11th of October, the first week after the 28th of
December, the first week after the 31st of March, the first week after
the 24th of June. Though the justices act irregularly in omitting to
convene the quarter-sessions at the prescribed periods (except the
April sessions, in respect of which power is expressly given to the
justices to alter the time to any day between the 7th of March and the
22nd of April), sessions held as quarter-sessions in other periods of the
quarter are legal quarter-sessions. When the business to be transacted
at a court of quarter-sessions is not completed before the time at which
it is thought desirable for the justices to separate, the court is usually
adjourned to a subsequent day; so where there is reason to expect
that new matters will arise which it will be desirable to dispose of
before the next quarter-sessions. Two justices, one of them being of
the quorum, may at any time convene a general session of the peace;
but at such additional session no business can be transacted which is
directed by any act of parliament to be transacted at quarter-sessions.
Both general sessions and general quarter-sessions are held by virtue
of a precept under the hands of two justices, requiring the sheriff to
return a grand jury before them and their fellow-justices at a day
certain, not less than fifteen days after the date of the precept, at a
certain place within the district to which the commission extends, and
to summon all coroners, keepers of jails and houses of correction, high
constables, and bailiffs of liberties [FRANCHISE] within the county.
Persons bound to attend at the sessions are, first, all justices of the
peace for the county or district; secondly, the custos rotulorum of the
county, who is bound to attend by himself or his deputy, with the rolls
of the sessions; thirdly, the sheriff by himself or his under-sheriff, to
return the precept and lists of persons liable to serve on the grand or
petty jury, to execute process, &c.; fourthly, the several coroners of
the county or district; fifthly, the constables of hundreds or high
constables; sixthly, all bailiffs of hundreds and liberties; seventhly,
the keepers of jails, to bring and receive prisoners; eighthly, the keeper
of the house of correction, to give in a calendar and account of persons
in his custody; ninthly, all persons returned by the sheriff as jurors;
tenthly, all persons who have entered into a recognisance to answer
charges to be made against them, or to prosecute or give evidence upon
charges against others.
Persons summoned on grand or petty juries ought to be males
between 21 and 60 years of age, who are possessed of 107. a year in
lands or rents, or 207. a year in leaseholds for an unexpired term or
terms of 21 years or more, or who are householders, rated to the poor
on a value of not less than 201. (in Middlesex 301.), or who occupy
houses containing not less than 15 windows, and who are not peers,
judges of the superior courts, clergymen, Roman Catholic priests,
dissenting ministers following no secular employment but that of
475
SESSIONS.
schoolmaster, serjeants or barristers-at-law, doctors or advocates of
civil law actually practising, officers of courts actually exercising the
duties of their respective offices, coroners, jailers or keepers of houses
of correction, members or licentiates of the College of Physicians
actually practising, members of the Royal Colleges of Surgeons in
London, Edinburgh, or Dublin, and actually practising, certificated
apothecaries actually practising, officers in the army or navy in full
pay, pilots licensed by the Trinity House, masters of vessels in the
Buoy and Light service, pilots licensed by the lord warden of the
Cinque Ports or under any act of parliament or charter, household
servants of the crown, officers of the customs or excise, sheriffs' officers,
high constables or parish clerks.
The justices in sessions have criminal jurisdiction, to be exercised
partly according to the rules of common law and partly in a course
prescribed by different acts of parliament; they have also jurisdiction
in certain civil matters created by different statutes; they have an
administrative power in certain county matters; and they have power
to fine and imprison for contempt.
|
SESSIONS.
476
statute 12 & 13 Vict. c. 45, the powers previously given to judges to
order payments by way of reward for the apprehension of certain
offenders was extended to these courts, the compensation to one person
in no case to exceed 51.
II. The quarter-sessions have an original jurisdiction in all matters
required to be done by two or more justices, except in cases in which
a power is given of appealing to the sessions.
III. Statutes which give summary jurisdiction to one or more
magistrates, in most cases allow their decision to be brought before the
sessions by way of appeal. Notice of appeal is generally required, and
the court is precluded from entertaining any objections not specified
in the notice. Subject to this restriction, the case is heard as if the
question were raised for the first time. Upon hearing of an appeal in
which several counsel are employed, the course of practice usually is
this :-the senior counsel for the respondent (the party resisting the
appeal) states his case in accordance with the decision appealed against.
The witnesses and documents in support of that case having been pro-
duced and examined, the senior counsel for the appellant addresses the
court, and then his witnesses are examined. Both counsel for the
appellant then address the court, and are followed by the counsel
for the respondent; if no evidence is produced on the part of the
appellant, the appellant's counsel sum up their case, and the re-
spondent's follow. The practice in this respect, however, varies at
different sessions. When the case is closed, the order, conviction, or
other matter appealed against is confirmed or discharged, according to
the view which the majority of the justices present at the moment of
the decision take of the case, they being the judges in cases of appeal,
both as to the law and the fact. Where, however, questions of diffi
culty in matter of law present themselves upon the hearing of an
appeal, the party against whom the sessions decide frequently applies
for leave to state a special case for the decision of the court of Queen's
Bench: the majority of the justices may either grant or reject the
application; and if no special case be stated, the judgment of the
quarter-sessions upon an appeal, or upon any other matter in which
they proceed in a course prescribed by statute, different from the
course of the common law, cannot be reviewed by any other court.
The stat. 12 & 13-Vict. c. 45, has amended the procedure in courts
of quarter-sessions, by prescribing uniformity of time for giving notices
of appeal; by conferring extensive powers of amendment; a large
discretion as to costs; and by enabling them to refer matters to
arbitration.
IV. The quarter-sessions have jurisdiction over the appropriation of
the county stock, an annual fund raised principally by county rates.
This part of the business of the court is usually disposed of before any
other, and in practice the first day of the sessions is generally ex-
clusively devoted to what is called "the county business."
I. The criminal jurisdiction of justices in sessions, according to the
course of common law, enabled them to try felonies and those misde-
meanors which are not directed by any statute to be tried in a sum-
mary way. It has been said that they had no jurisdiction in cases of
perjury and forgery; but this opinion seems to have arisen from the
circumstance that at common law these crimes were only misdemeanors,
and the authority of the justices extended only to such misdemeanors
as were specially mentioned in their commission, or which came within
the description of trespasses; and though most species of forgery have
since been made felony, the opinion that courts of quarter-sessions had
no jurisdiction in cases of forgery was commonly entertained.
The jurisdiction given by the commission of the peace, in respect of
felonies, is expressed in very general terms, and in former times
numerous executions for felony took place at the quarter-sessions.
The practice during the present and the greater part of the last century
was, however, not to try at the sessions persons charged with capital
crimes, but to leave them for trial by the judges at the assizes. All
questions of this description are, however, set at rest; for the criminal
jurisdiction of justices in general and quarter-sessions is now defined
by the 5 & 6 Vict. c. 38, which enacts "that after the passing of this
Act neither the justices of the peace acting in and for any county,
riding, division, or liberty, nor the recorder of any borough, shall at any
session of the peace nor the adjournment thereof try any person or per-
sons for any treason, murder, or capital felony, or for any felony which,
when committed by a person not previously convicted of felony, is
punishable by transportation beyond the seas for life," or for any of
the offences mentioned under the 18 heads contained in the first
section of the Act. The second section provides that any judge of the
supreme courts at Westminster, acting under a commission of oyer and V. In common with other courts of record, justices of the peace,
terminer and jail delivery for any county, may issue a writ or writs of whether assembled in sessions, or sitting as individual magistrates, may
certiorari or other process directed to the justices of the peace acting vindicate their authority by fining and imprisoning for contempt. No
in and for such county, &c., or to the recorder of any court within the superior court can inquire into the existence or non-existence of the
same county, commanding the said justices and recorder severally to fact which has been so treated as a contempt, or into the reasonable-
certify and return into such court of oyer and terminer, &c., all indict- ness of the fine imposed or imprisonment awarded. The court of
ments and presentments found or taken by such justices or recorder of quarter-sessions has, however, no power of punishing contempts or
offences which, after the passing of this Act, they will not have juris-other offences committed by one of their own body.
diction to try, and the several recognizances, examinations, and
A
The justices being assembled in sessions elect a chairman.
depositions relative to such indictments and presentments; and, if panel, or list of persons returned to serve on the grand-jury, being
necessary, by writ or writs of Habeas Corpus, may cause any person in called over, twenty-three, if so many appear, are sworn to inquire of
the custody of any jail or prison, charged with any such offence, to be the truth of the matters which will be brought before them, and not
removed into the custody of the common jail of the county, that such to disclose what is brought before them. If twenty-three do not
offences may be tried under the said commission.
appear, the court may proceed with a smaller number; but nothing
can be done by the grand-jury without the concurrence of twelve of
its members, and it is not usual to take less than thirteen, though
twelve may be sworn, if, after waiting a reasonable time, more do not
attend. Those persons in the panel who do not answer to their
names are liable to be fined; and where it is thought desirable to
ensure full attendance in future, the whole panel is called over for the
purpose of discovering and punishing all the defaulters. The grand-
jury being sworn, the royal proclamation against vice and immorality
is read by the clerk of the peace. The chairman delivers his charge to
the grand-jury, in which, as he is in possession of the depositions
taken when the prisoners were committed, he calls their attention to
such cases as appear to present any difficulty, and explains such points
of law as are necessary for their guidance. The grand-jury then
retire to their room to receive such bills of indictment as may be
brought before them.
Previous to the year 1836 it was in the discretion of the magistrate
before whom the depositions were taken, whether he would allow them
to be inspected; even the party accused had no right to demand a copy
of the depositions, though in cases of treason or felony he was entitled
to demand a list containing the names of the witnesses for the prose-
cution. But now all persons held to bail or committed to prison for
any offence, may at any time after the completion of the examinations,
and before the first day of the sessions (or assizes), require and have,
from the person who has the custody thereof, copies of the exami-
nations of the depositions on which they were held to bail or committed
to prison, on payment of a reasonable sum for the same, not exceeding
three-halfpence for each folio of ninety words. (See 11 & 12 Vict. c.
42, s. 27, substituted for the previous provisions of the 6 & 7 Wm. IV.
c. 114.)
A prisoner or defendant charged with a felony or a misdemeanor,
although entitled to defend himself by counsel, cannot have the assist-
ance of counsel to examine the witnesses, and reserve to himself the
right of addressing the jury. But if he conduct his defence himself,
and any point of law arises which he professes himself unable to argue,
the court will hear it argued by counsel on his behalf.
Where the quarter-sessions act as a court of criminal jurisdiction
under the powers given by the commission, and according to the course of
common law, a writ of error lies upon the judgment of the sessions to
the court of Queen's Bench, and from that court to the Exchequer
Chamber, and ultimately to the House of Lords. By the statute 11 &
12 Vict. c. 78, these courts, in common with the courts of Oyer and
Terminer and Gaol Delivery, are empowered to reserve questions of
law for the consideration of the court of Criminal Appeal; and by the
The bills
When the business of the sessions is such as to be likely to occupy a
considerable time, it is usual to appoint a second chairman to preside
in a separate court, under the authority of the 21 & 22 Vict. c. 73,
substituted for previous provisions for the same purpose.
of indictment on parchment, with the names of the witnesses indorsed
thereon, are taken to the grand-jury, who call in, swear, and examine
the witnesses in succession, no other person being present. The ex-
amination being concluded, if a majority consisting of not less than
twelve are of opinion that the charge is supported by the evidence, the
bill of indictment is indorsed "a true bill," or the indorsement may
state that the bill is true in such and such parts, and not true in others,
or the grand-jury may themselves strike out or alter any part of the
bill, and return it in its corrected form as a true bill generally. If a
محمد نهم
477
478
SESSIONS.
SESTERTIUS.
majority of the grand-jury think that the party is not guilty, or if the
number that think him guilty be less than twelve, they indorse "not a
true bill;" though in the latter case the old form of indorsement,
"ignoramus" (we do not know), seems to be more correct. It not
unfrequently happens that grand-jurors return " a true bill" where the
evidence which has been brought before them is such as merely to
raise in their minds a strong suspicion of the guilt of the party accused,
acting under an impression that it is not their duty to try the guilt of
the party, and that the inquiry which has taken place in the grand-jury
room is in the nature of a precognition little differing from the pre-
liminary examination which takes place before a magistrate, who is
bound to commit or to require bail if a probable cause of guilt be made
out. By the common law of England, a man is not liable to punish-
ment until the fact charged against him has been found to be true by
the oath of twelve men (whether grand-jurors, leet-jurors, or jurors
impanelled to try an issue in a civil cause involving a charge of crime),
nor until such finding has been afterwards confirmed by the verdict of
twelve others, forming the petty-jury, or by the confession of the party
by pleading guilty in open court. The judgment of the court ought
in strictness perhaps to be considered as founded upon the presentment
of the grand-jury, and the proceedings which take place before the
petty-jury may be said to be less a trial of the guilt or innocence of the
prisoner than a trial of the truth or falsehood of the indictment. The
grand-jury are sworn to inquire, not whether the accused ought to be put
upon his trial, but whether the matter in respect of which they are to
make their presentment, contained in the bill of indictment, which
directly and unequivocally asserts that a crime has been committed by
the party, is or is not true. To return a bill as true upon less evidence
than that which, if uncontradicted, would be satisfactory proof of guilt,
seems to be at variance with an oath to present the whole truth and
nothing but the truth. There appears to be no substantial distinction
between a finding by the grand-jury that the party has committed the
offence charged, and a verdict of "guilty" pronounced by a petty-jury.
The finding of a true bill where the evidence is not sufficient to con-
vict, is a wrong to the party accused. On the other hand, the justice
of the country is not unfrequently defeated by forcing on a criminal
charge to its final decision at a time when evidence sufficient to show
the real character of the transaction has not been obtained; and by
the inconsiderate haste of grand-juries in finding bills, the most atro-
cious crimes have not unfrequently obtained a total exemption from
punishment. (8 Howell, 'State Trials,' 821, 836, 838; Burn's 'Justice,'
"Indictment V.")
The bill, being indorsed, is brought into court by the grand-jury,
and delivered to the clerk of the peace, who reads the indorsement with
the name of the prisoner and the nature of the charge. By finding the
bill to be true, either generally or in part, the grand-jury are become
indictors, and the party charged the indictee; but these terms are
nearly obsolete. The indictee is brought to the bar by the jailer, if in
custody; or if out on bail, he comes of his own accord in discharge of
his bail. He is then arraigned, and the trial proceeds in the same
manner as at the assizes. [TRIAL.] If the prisoner be found not
guilty, he is immediately set at liberty, unless there be some other
matter before the court upon which he ought to be detained. If a
verdict of guilty be returned, the sentence is pronounced by the chair-
man; such sentence, where the amount of punishment attached to the
offence is not fixed, being first determined by the opinion of the majority
of the justices present.
The sessions cannot be held without the presence of two justices, at
least; nor can they be adjourned by one justice, though two or more
may previously have been present. Every act done as an act of
sessions before two justices have met, or after two have ceased to be
present, is void.
The crown may grant a commission of the peace not only for an
entire county, but also for a particular district within the county. In
order, however, to exclude the interference of the county justices in
the particular district, it is necessary either to introduce into the com-
mission of the peace for the particular district a clause excluding the
jurisdiction of the county magistrates, which is called a neintromittant
clause, or to grant a new commission to the county magistrates excluding
the particular district. If the former, which is the usual course, be
taken, the county magistrates may still hold their sessions within the
particular district, though they can exercise no jurisdiction in respect
of matters arising within the district.
Petty and Special Sessions.-A meeting held by justices for the trans-
action of magisterial business arising within a particular district
forming a subdivision of the county or district comprised in the
commission of the peace, is called a petty session; and if the meeting
be convened for some particular or special object, as the appointment
of overseers of the poor, of waywardens, of examiners of weights and
measures, &c., it is called a special session. A meeting of magistrates
cannot legally act as a special session unless all the magistrates of
the particular division are present, or have had reasonable notice to
attend.
The statute 12 & 18 Vict. c. 18 makes further provision for the
holding petty sessions in counties and boroughs, and declares that
every sitting and acting of justices, or of a stipendiary magistrate for a
aity or borough, having a separate commission of the peace, shall be
deemed a petty sessions. The fees of justices' clerks in petty sessions
are moreover provided for by the 11 & 12 Vict. c. 43, and 14 & 15 Vict.
c. 55. [JUVENILE OFFENDERS; JUSTICES OF THE PEACE.]
Borough Sessions.-The Municipal Corporation Act (5 & 6 Wm. IV.
c. 76) directs that the recorder of any city or borough to which a sepa-
rate court of quarter-sessions is granted under the provisions of that
Act, shall be the sole judge of such court [RECORDER], leaving the
ordinary duties of magistrates out of sessions to be performed by the
justices of the peace appointed by the crown for such city or borough.
The recorder is required to hold a court of quarter-sessions once in
every quarter of a year, or at such other and more frequent times as
he may think fit, or as the crown may direct. Borough quarter-sessions
are not, however, like county quarter-sessions, appointed to be held in
particular weeks. In case of sickness or unavoidable absence, the
recorder is authorised, with the consent of the town council, to appoint
a barrister of five years' standing to act as deputy recorder at the next
session, but no longer. In the absence of the recorder and of any
deputy recorder, the court may be opened and adjourned, and the
recognisances respited, by the mayor; but the mayor is not authorised
to do any other judicial act. Where it appears to the recorder that
the sessions are likely to last more than three days, he may appoint an
assistant-barrister" of five years' standing to hold a second court, for
the trial of such felonies and misdemeanors as shall be referred to him,
provided it has been certified to the recorder, by the mayor and two
aldermen, that the council have resolved that such a course is expedient,
and the name of the intended assistant-barrister has been approved of
by a secretary of state.
Every burgess of a borough (or citizen of a city) having a court of
quarter-sessions (unless exempt or disqualified otherwise than in respect
of property), is liable to serve on grand and petty juries. Members of
the town-council, and the justices of the peace, treasurer, and town-
clerk of the borough, are exempt and disqualified from serving on
juries within the borough; and they and all burgesses of boroughs
having separate quarter-sessions are exempt from liability to serve on
petty-juries at the county sessions.
Under the 105th section of the Municipal Corporation Act, the
recorder has jurisdiction in respect of all crimes cognisable by courts of
quarter-session in counties; but he is expressly restricted from making
or levying any rate in the nature of a county rate, or granting any
licence to keep an inn, &c., and from exercising any of the powers
vested in the town-council. Other matters required by statute to be
done at quarter-sessions, and not expressly transferred to the town-
council, devolve upon the recorder, as the appointment of inspectors of
weights and measures, &c. Persons imprisoned in a borough jail by
county magistrates, under 6 & 7 Will IV. c. 105, may be tried at the
borough sessions for offences committed out of the borough.
All criminal jurisdiction which, before the passing of the Municipal
Corporation Act, existed in any borough to which no court of quarter-
sessions has since been granted, is taken away by the 107th section of
that Act.
SESTERTIUS, a Roman coin, which originally consisted of 24
ases, as the name implies, sestertius being a contraction of semis
tertius, the third a-half, which is the Roman way of expressing two and
a-half. The sestertius belonged both to the brass and silver coinage;
and in both it was of the same value, namely, one-fourth of the
denarius. This value agreed with its value in ases so long as the
denarius consisted of 10 ases. But at an early period the as was
reduced in value, and 16 ases made equal to the denarius [As], and
then the sestertius, its value with reference to the denarius remaining
the same, became of course equal to 4 ases. On Mr. Hussey's compu-
tation the value of the denarius after the reduction was 8td., and
therefore the sestertius was worth 2d. After the time of Augustus
the denarius was reduced to the eighth of an ounce, and was worth
74d., and therefore the sestertius was worth 1d. The sestertius of the
brass coinage was made of the same metal as the as.
The Romans generally reckoned sums of money in sestertii, although
the coin used in making payments was commonly the denarius. Large
sums they reckoned by sestertia, that is, sums of a thousand sestertii.
It is very important to attend to the phrases used in such computa-
tions. The coin itself was called sestertius, or sestertius nummus, or
simply nummus. The sum of a thousand sestertii was expressed by
mile sestertii, or M. sestertium, or M. nummi, or M. nummum, or num-
morum, or M. sestertii nummi, or M. sestertium nummum.
The singular
sestertium is never used for a thousand sestertii, but the plural sestertia
is used for all multiples of a thousand sestertii, up to a thousand;
sometimes the word millia (thousands) is used instead of sestertia;
sometimes neither word is expressed; and sometimes nummum is added.
Thus 600,000 sestertii, or 600 sestertia, might be expressed by any of
the following phrases: sescenta sestertia, sescenta millia, sescenta alone,
or sescenta sestertia nummum. Sums of 1000 sestertia and upwards
were expressed by the numeral adverbs with the termination ies, which
implies that the number to which it is affixed is to be multiplied by
100. Thus decies, undecies, duodecies, vicies tricies, tricies quinquies,
stand respectively for 1000, 1100, 1200, 2000, 3000, 3500 sestertia.
These forins are, however, sometimes varied. Thus Cicero (in Verr.,
ii. 1, 39) uses quaterdecies for 1400, and decies et octingenta millia for
1800 sestertia. When two such adverbs come together, if the larger is
first, they must be added together; but if the smaller is first, they
must be multiplied. Thus we have in a passage of Suetonius (Aug.,
479
SET-OFF.
101), millies et quingenties for 150,000 sestertia, and immediately after-
wards quaterdecies millies for 1,400,000 sestertia. (In the latter case,
care must be taken not to reckon the termination ies twice over in
multiplying; it is not 1400 x 100,000, but 14 x 1000 x 100.)
SETTLEMENT.
480
Settlements in consideration of marriage include not only such as are
actually made and executed before marriage, but also such as are exe-
cuted after marriage in pursuance of articles in writing drawn up and
signed before marriage.
1. First, as to the specific performance of articles and agreements to
settle property :-
In Equity, no regard is paid to the form of marriage articles, and
the construction of them depends entirely upon the intentions and
objects of the parties.
When the intended husband and wife are both of full age at the
time of the marriage, they are of course competent to enter into any
agreement for the settlement of their respective estates, and all such
agreements will be enforced in Equity; but if the parties are one or
both of them minors at the time, the case is different.
The symbol HS or IIS is often used both for sestertii and for
sestertia. It stands for libra libra semis (two pounds and a-half).
When applied to sestertii its meaning is clear enough, since the as was
originally a pound (libra) of brass. When applied to sestertia it meant,
according to Gronovius (Pec. Vet.,' i. 4, 11), two pounds and a-half of
silver, which he calculates to have been originally equal to 1000
sestertii, and therefore to have represented that value ever after. It
is often difficult to determine whether the symbol HS stands for
sestertii or sestertia. When the numeral is written in cipher, and has a
line over it, it stands for the adverb in ies, and the HS means sestertia:
thus, HS.CCCC is quadringenties, or forty thousand sestertia. Some-real estate of the wife, the husband will be bound by the articles in
times the numeral is found with the singular of sestertium, as sestertii
decies, or sestertio decies. Gronovius explains these forms, and also the
use of sestertium with the adverb in ies (which he considers to be, in
this case, an accusative singular), by understanding with them the
word pondus, a pound (of silver), according to which sestertium in these
forms means two pounds and a-half of silver, or 1000 sestertii. Hence,
if these forms are used with a numeral in cipher, they mean the
number of sestertia represented by the adverb in ies of that numeral.
Thus sestertio X is decies or 1000 sestertia.
According to the value given above for the sestertius, the sestertium
was worth 8l. 17s. 1d.
The word sestertius is often used indefinitely for any very small sum.
(Hussey, On the Ancient Weights and Money,' c. x., § 1, 3, 6.)
SET-OFF, in law, is the amount of the debt due to a defendant
from a plaintiff, which the defendant is entitled to set off in answer
either to the whole or part, as the case may be, of the plaintiff's
demand. At common law, if the plaintiff was indebted to the
defendant in an ascertained sum in respect of the same transaction
concerning which the action was brought, the defendant was entitled
to deduct at the trial so much from the plaintiff's demand. But if
the debt due from the plaintiff accrued in respect of another transac-
tion, the defendant had no such power; and he was either compelled
to bring an action against the plaintiff for what was due to him, or, if |
he wished to avail himself of his cross-demand without bringing
another action, to apply after the action had been commenced against
him to a court of equity for the purpose of adjusting the claims of
himself and the plaintiff. To obviate the expense and inconvenience
of such a course, it was enacted by 2 Geo. II. c. 22, s. 13, that "where
there are mutual debts between the plaintiff and defendant, one debt
may be set against the other;" upon which statute, as explained by
8 Geo. II. c. 24, s. 4, is founded the whole law on the subject. A claim
for damages not ascertained cannot be set off, even although they relate
to the subject-matter of the action itself. For instance, in an action
for goods delivered, the defendant cannot set off the loss which he has
suffered by their non-delivery at the proper time, &c. There must
also be an entire mutuality between the debt sued for and the set-off.
Thus a debt due from the plaintiff together with other parties cannot
be set off against a debt due to the plaintiff alone; nor can a debt due
to the defendant personally be set off to a demand against him as
executor, &c. and the rule of law is the same for the converse of
these cases.
It is consistent with this rule that when an action is
brought by or against a trustee, a set-off may be made of money due
to or from the party for whom he is trustee.
A plea of set-off must describe the debt intended to be set off with
the same certainty and particularity as would be necessary in a decla
ration, which indeed such a plea in several respects much resembles.
If for instance a plea of set-off contains several parts stating distinct
debts, these are analogous to distinct counts in a declaration, and one
may be sustained although the others may not.
ŠETON. [ISSUE.]
SETTLEMENT. [POOR LAWS.]
SETTLEMENT. A settlement, in the most general sense of the
word, is a disposition of property of any kind made for certain pur-
poses by the owner, who, in relation to such disposition, is called the
settlor or grantor. A settlement in this case may be made either by
deed or by will; but the term is most commonly applied to such
settlements only as are made by a deed.
A consideration is not necessary for the validity of a deed at law.
Though a deed may in many cases be void as against strangers for
want of consideration, it is valid as between the parties. [DEED.]
Settlements by deed, therefore, may be either made upon valuable or
good consideration, or they may be purely voluntary.
The most important species of settlements-to which, indeed, in
strict legal language, the term is exclusively applied-are marriage
settlements; and these may be either such as are made previous to
and in consideration of marriage, or subsequent to it.
Settlements of property are frequently made by will, with reference
to an existing or future marriage. The forms and provisions contained
in such instruments are, of course, often very similar to those in deeds
made for like purposes. But dispositions of this kind are to be regarded
in all respects as wills, and are governed by the same rules as other
instruments of the like nature. [WILL.]
When the husband is adult and the wife a minor, if the subject be
respect of his marital interest in the lands; that is, for the estate
which he takes during the joint lives of himself and his wife, and as
tenant by the courtesy if he survive her and there have been issue of
the marriage: but the wife will not be bound by them; and, if she die
during infancy or after attaining majority, but without having con-
firmed the settlement in the mode prescribed by the law for disposition
of real estate by married women, her heir will take the property unfet-
tered by the articles. Again, if, in the case supposed, the property be
personalty of the wife (which, in the absence of a settlement, would
become the property of the husband), the articles will be valid as
respects both husband and wife, being, in effect, the settlement of the
husband. And this is true also as to chattels real and choses in action
which become reducible into possession during the coverture; but, as
to property already settled to the separate use of the wife, and choses
in action which do not, in event, become reducible into possession
during the coverture, the wife will not be bound by the articles.
If a male infant marry an adult female, he is bound by the articles
entered into by her for the settlement of her estate, and must execute
them when he comes of age, whatever be the nature of the property ;
but as to his own estate, he will not be bound by them.
When the husband and wife are both minors at the time of the
marriage, the articles are absolutely null as respects them, unless con-
firmed after the attainment of majority. In such a case a confirmation
of the articles by the wife must be express, and made in the same
manner as any other alienation of property by a married woman; but
confirmation on the part of the husband will often be implied from
circumstances, such as the acceptance by him of any property under
the articles.
It has sometimes been thought that the consent of parents or
guardians, and the sanction of the Court of Chancery, might give effect
to settlements of their property by infants, which would not have been
otherwise binding; but it may now be considered as settled that there
is no foundation for such a doctrine.
Marriage is regarded by the law as a valuable consideration, and will
support a covenant entered into by a third party to settle property
upon the husband and wife and their issue, whether the settlor be one
under a natural obligation to make a provision, as in the case of a
parent, or merely a stranger; and such a covenant will be enforced not
only against the settlor himself, but against his heir, devisee, or
personal representative.
Settlements made after marriage, when no valuable consideration
(that is to say, no consideration in money or property) is given for
them, are generally called, in contradistinction to those made upon
marriage, voluntary settlements, and the persons who take under them
are called volunteers; though, as such settlements may have good con-
siderations to support them, the application of the term is not always
strictly accurate. By a good consideration, as distinguished from a
valuable one, is here meant that love and affection which is naturally
supposed to subsist between near relations, such as parents, and
children, brothers and sisters, uncles and nephews or nieces.
ટી.
Specific performance of voluntary covenants to settle property will
be enforced in Equity only in favour of those persons for whom the
covenantor is under a natural and moral obligation to provide; that is
to say, in favour of his wife or children, but not in favour of any other
class of volunteers. If, however, any valuable consideration has really
been given, either by the person who, by himself or his representative,
claims execution of the articles, or by a third person, in favour of the object
of the limitation, specific performance will be decreed, and no objection
can be made on account of want of relationship between the parties;
and, for this purpose, it is sufficient if the fact of a consideration being
given can be inferred from the circumstances. Though a person whose
claim is not supported by a good or valuable consideration cannot him-
self compel the execution of articles in his favour, he may yet have the
benefit of a suit instituted by another; for in decreeing specific per-
formance, the court executes the entire articles, though they may
embrace limitations to persons in whose favour it would not have
originally interfered.
A
2. Next, as to the validity of marriage settlements against creditors
and purchasers.
Marriage being a valuable consideration, the circumstance of the
settlor being indebted, or even insolvent, at the time of the execution
of the settlement, can have no effect on its validity, even though the
:
481
452
SETTLEMENT.
SETTLEMENT.
persons who have the benefit of the settlement should have full notice
of such insolvency. A conveyance or assignment of property in con-
sideration of marriage stands on the same ground with a sale for money,
which is not affected by the insolvency of the vendor. If, however,
the settlor be a trader, and a fiat in bankruptcy be issued against him
prior to the execution of the settlement upon which he is afterwards
duly found a bankrupt, such settlement, like all other conveyances of
the bankrupt under the same circumstances, will be void; and it would
seem that a settlement must in all cases be void as respects the wife,
if she had notice of a prior act of bankruptcy, and a petition be filed
within twelve calendar months after such act of bankruptcy. (2 & 3
Vict. c. 11, s. 13.)
The marriage consideration does not extend or give the character of
purchasers to all persons in-whose favour limitations may have been
introduced into the settlement. In relation to any other persons than
the husband and wife and the issue, the settlement is, it seems, to be
considered as voluntary, and subject therefore to the rules applicable
to voluntary gifts and covenants.
Settlements made after marriage, it is obvious, can derive no support
from the consideration of marriage, and their validity or invalidity must
therefore depend upon other circumstances.
A postnuptial settlement by the husband, of any species of property
made in consequence of a valuable consideration moving either from
the wife herself, who gives up an interest that she possesses in property
over which she has a disposing power, or from her relations or friends,
is good against all persons whatsoever, if the consideration be not so
inadequate as to raise the presumption of fraud. And even in case of
inadequate consideration, the settlement, it seems, will be good to the
amount of the consideration. It is sufficient if the consideration,
though not paid, is properly secured. Contemporaneous settlements
will in general be presumed to have been made in consideration of each
other; and it seems that parole evidence of consideration is admissible,
though none appear upon the instrument itself.
The statute 13 Eliz. c. 5, enacts that "all conveyances, &c., of lands
and tenements, goods and chattels, made of malice, fraud, covin, col-
lusion, or guile, for the intent or purpose of delaying or defrauding
creditors and others of their just and lawful actions, suits, debts, &c.
shall be deemed and taken (only as against those persons, their heirs,
successors, executors, &c.) to be clearly and utterly void, frustrate, and
of none effect; any pretence, colour, feigned consideration, expressing
of use, or any other matter or thing to the contrary notwithstanding."
But the act is expressed not to extend to any interest or estate made,
conveyed, or assured, upon good consideration and bonâ fide, to any
person or persons "not having at the time of any such conveyance or
assurance to them made any manner of notice or knowledge of such
covin, fraud, or collusion as is aforesaid." Upon this statute it has
been determined, (1) That if the settlor be not indebted at the time,
the settlement, even though entirely voluntary, is good against subse-
quent creditors; (2) That the mere existence of debts at the date of
the settlement will not invalidate it if the settlor be solvent-that is,
if he be possessed of property sufficient for the payment of his debts
independent of the property so aliened; (3) That a settlement which
might have been invalidated in the hands of the donee will be good
against the creditors of the donor in the hands of a purchaser from the
donee for valuable consideration without notice.
Voluntary obligations not affecting particular property, such as
bonds, though the grantor should have been solvent at the time of
making them, will not, it seems, entitle the grantee to come in pari
passu with creditors for value, who will always be preferred; but the
cancellation or release of a voluntary obligation, if untainted by fraud,
may form a valuable consideration for the conveyance of property or
for a substituted engagement.
By the 27 Eliz. c. 4, all conveyances, &c., of lands, tenements, or
hereditaments are declared void when made with intent to defraud
subsequent purchasers for money or other good consideration; " any
pretence, colour, feigned consideration, or expressing of any use or
uses, to the contrary notwithstanding." There is a saving of all con-
veyances made upon good consideration and bond fide. It also makes
void, as against the same persons, all conveyances "with any clause,
provision, article, or condition of revocation, determination, or alteration
at (the grantor's) will or pleasure," whether such clause extend to the
whole interest conveyed, or only partially affect it; but then follows
a proviso "that no lawful mortgage made bona fide, and without fraud
or covin, upon good consideration, shall be impeached or impaired by
force of this act. This statute has been construed to extend to all
voluntary conveyances, though not in fact made with intent to defraud,
and though the purchaser had notice of the prior conveyance. The
consequence of this is, though probably not intended by the framers
of the Act, that it is impossible to make an irrevocable free gift of
}}
lands or tenements.
The statute 27 Eliz. c. 4, does not apply to personal estate. It
has been determined on this act, by analogy to the determination on
the last-mentioned act as to creditors, that a purchaser from a volun-
tary grantee will be preferred to a subsequent purchaser from the
grantor. The good consideration mentioned in this and the preceding
statute must be a valuable consideration (that is to say), either a pro-
perty or marriage consideration. The consideration of blood has no appli-
cation to either of these statutes, and therefore a conveyance made in con-
ARTS AND SCI. DIV. VOL. VII.
sideration of "natural love and affection," as in the case of a postnuptial
settlement upon a wife and children, is considered, for the purposes of
these statutes, as voluntary. It has been decided, however, that a hus-
band, having made a voluntary settlement on his wife and children, has
no equity to compel specific performance of his contract with a subse-
quent purchaser; but he can sell the property which he has so settled,
and the purchaser will have a good title, and can enforce performance
of the contract for sale, if the husband should refuse to convey the
property.
By stat. 21 Jac. I., c. 19, all voluntary settlements of traders were
invalidated by their bankruptcy, though they might have been solvent
at the time of making them; but the stat. 6 Geo. IV., c. 16, s. 73, and
12 & 13 Vict., c. 106, s. 126, placed the settlements of traders on the
same footing with voluntary alienations in general.
Property cannot be settled so that the interest taken by any person
under the settlement shall be unaffected by his bankruptcy; but it
may be given to a man until he shall become bankrupt, provided there
is a gift over of the property on that event. In the same manner the
property coming from the wife may be settled on the husband so as to
be devested on his bankruptcy.
be devested on his bankruptcy. But when the property is the hus-
band's own, it has been determined that, though the claims of the
husband's creditors might have been defeated by a trust of the whole
for the separate use of the wife, a limitation of the property to the
husband until his bankruptcy, with a gift over in that event to the
wife or any other person, is void. Upon the same principle, a bond or
other obligation given by the husband upon his marriage, conditional
for the payment of a sum of money to trustees for his wife and children
in the event of his bankruptcy, is void as against his creditors who
claim under the fiat or adjudication, if he has received no portion
with his wife; but if he has received a portion with her, the obliga-
tion, being considered so far as a settlement of the wife's property, will
be good against the creditors to the extent of it.
3. As to secret settlements and agreements in fraud of the marriage
contract.
Secret settlements of her property made by the wife pending the
treaty for marriage, without the privity of the husband, are void as
against him, if made in derogation of his marital rights; and this, it
seems, is equally true, whether the husband knew of the existence of
the property before the marriage or not. The rule applies to every
species of gratuitous incumbrance created by the wife upon her pro-
perty under such circumstances.
The courts of equity, upon the general principles on which they act
in cases of fraud, will set aside all secret covenants or agreements
entered into contrary to the good faith of the marriage treaty, and not
with the privity of all the parties to the settlement. Relief in such
cases will not be refused even to a person who was a party to the frau-
dulent transaction of which he complains.
Upon the same principle, if a creditor or holder of any security or
charge on the estate of one who is engaged in a treaty of marriage,
misrepresent the amount of his debt or incumbrance to any of the
parties to the contract, whether for the purpose of promoting the
marriage, or for any other purpose, he will be bound by such mis-
representation. Money which has been lent to a woman for the pur-
pose of being represented as her own, cannot, after the marriage, be
claimed as a debt from the husband.
4. Settlements of real property usually consist of limitations of an
estate or estates for life to one or more persons, that is (where the
settlement is made on marriage), to one or both parents and the sur-
vivor of them, with remainders over to their children. This is what
is called a limitation in strict settlement. By this method the estate
is rendered inalienable till the eldest son of the marriage attains the
age of twenty-one, when he can join with his father in barring his own
estate tail and all the remainders over, whereby a new estate in feo
simple is acquired, and the property may be settled again. [PRIMO-
GENITURE; REMAINDER.] This was formerly effected by means of a
common recovery [RECOVERY], but it is now effected by a deed exe-
cuted under the provisions of 3 & 4 Wm. IV., c. 74. By this act fines
and recoveries are abolished, and the objects of these old modes of
assurance are now obtained by a deed which must be enrolled in
Chancery within six months after its execution. As, before this act,
a tenant in tail expectant on a particular estate of freehold could only
have barred his own issue by a tine [FINE], unless he could obtain the
concurrence of the owner of the particular estato in suffering a
recovery, so, under the new act, his power is equally limited, unless
he can obtain the concurrence of the owner of the first existing estate
under the settlement (whether it be for life or lives, or any greater
estate, not being an estate for years) prior to the estate tail, who is
called the protector of the settlement. The act contains several pro-
visions for the purpose of ascertaining who shall be protector in the
cases of joint ownership, coverture, and the existence of estates for
years or in dower; and it provides for the cases where the protector
is a lunatic, or convicted of treason or felony. The act also gives the
settlor power to appoint by the deed a protector of the settlement, in
lieu of the person who would otherwise have been the protector. The
consent of the protector must be given either by the deed of assurance
or by a separate deed, which must be enrolled in the same manner as
the assurance itself. The same act repeals (except as to settlements
made before the 28th of August, 1833) the statute of 11 Hen. VII.,
I I
483
them.
SETTLEMENT.
c. 20, whereby women who were seised of estates tail of the gift
of their husbands (ex provisione viri) were prohibited from alienating
The estates limited in settlements of real property may be either
legal or equitable. [USES.]
When charges are intended to be created upon real estate, as for
jointures or portions for children, it is usual to limit terms of years
out of the estate to trustees for securing payment of the charges by
perception of the rents and profits, or by sale or mortgage of the
estate for the periods so limited. These terms are inserted at proper
places in the settlement, according to their objects, among the other
limitations; and such limitations as are subsequent to these terms of
years in the order of arrangement, are also made subject to them in
point of legal and equitable interest. It is usual to provide that the
terms shall cease when their objects are accomplished or become un-
necessary or incapable of taking effect.
Estates for lives and terms for years are incapable of being entailed;
but they, as well as personal property of any kind, may be settled in
trust as effectually, and so as to be inalienable for as long a time as
estates of inheritance. The property in such settlements is usually
assigned to trustees in trust for the husband, or for the husband and
wife for his or their life or lives and the life of the survivor; and then
in trust for the first and other sons severally, and the heirs of their
bodies. This limitation vests the absolute interest in the eldest son,
who will be entitled to dispose of the property upon his attaining the
age of twenty-one; but in order to provide for the event of the eldest
son dying under age and without issue, in which case his interest
would otherwise vest in his father, if alive, as his heir or next of kin,
it is usual to introduce a proviso that the property shall not vest
absolutely in any son dying under the age of twenty-one years and
without issue; and it has been determined, that, in construing settle-
ments of both real and personal property, when the real estates are
limited in strict settlement, and the personal property, according to a
form frequently adopted, upon and for the same trusts, estates, and
purposes as the freeholds, as far as the law will permit, a proviso of
the kind above-mentioned is to be understood.
There is no restriction as to the number of life estates which may
be limited in settlements to take effect in succession, provided the per-
sons be all in existence at the date of the settlement; for, in point
of fact, this amounts to no more than an estate for the life of the
survivor.
Thus it appears that real or personal property may be settled so as
to be inalienable for a life or any number of lives in being, and
twenty-one years after. To this must be added a period of nine
months, which is allowed for the birth of a posthumous child in cases
where gestation exists. As the period of twenty-one years was no
doubt adopted originally with reference to the term of minority,
which must elapse before an estate tail could be barred, it was formerly
thought that this period could not at all events be added to an
executory trust; but it is now settled otherwise. All restraints on
alienation beyond the above-mentioned limits are void, as tending to
what is called in law a perpetuity; and all the subsequent limitations,
if contingent, are also void. The same rules are applicable to execu-
tory devises, and springing and shifting uses [WILLS; USES]; but not
to remainders limited to take effect after estates tail, which are not
subject to any restriction; because, as such limitations may be
because, as such limitations may be
defeated at any time by barring the estates tail, they can have no ten-
dency to a perpetuity.
The forms of settlements may be varied according to the objects
and intentions of the parties, and the construction of the articles
upon which they are founded. The principle upon which a Court of
Equity acts in executing marriage articles, is to look rather to the
intentions of the parties as deducible from the circumstances, than
to the literal meaning of the words employed by them. Thus, when
the words used in articles concerning the settlement of real estate are
such as would give the father an estate tail, and thereby enable him
to defeat the settlement, the court will in general direct limitations in
strict settlement to be executed, under which the father will take a
life estate only. Upon the same principle, even though a deed of settle-
ment has actually been executed after marriage, if it appear to be in
any respects inconsistent with the letter or spirit of the ante-nuptial
articles, the court will rectify it.
Questions frequently arise as to what powers, covenants, and pro-
visos are to be introduced into marriage settlements made in pursuance
of executory trusts, whether created by articles, wills, or other instru-
ments. The determination of these depends entirely upon the rules
of construction as applied to each particular case.
Of the powers usually introduced into settlements of real estate,
the most important are-powers of jointuring and raising por-
tions; powers of leasing and management; and powers of sale and
exchange.
Where the wife, upon whose marriage the settlement is made, does
not take a life interest in the estate in the event of surviving her
husband, provision is usually made for her by way of jointure in bar
of dower. [JOINTURE; DOWER.] In addition to this, powers are
frequently introduced to enable the husband, in case of his surviving
his wife, and marrying again, and sometimes also the other tenants for
life under the settlement, to make provision for their widows, by way
SETTLEMENT.
481
of jointure, which the nature of their estate would not have other-
wise entitled them to do. Powers of jointuring, and powers for
charging the estate with portions for the benefit of the younger
children of the then existing or a future marriage, will not, it seems,
be inserted in settlements executed under the direction of a Court of
Equity, without clear authority for them in the articles; for without
such authority the court can have no data by which to regulate the
quantum of interest to be taken by the donees.
Powers of leasing for the usual term of twenty-one years are essen-
tial to the management of an estate, and will be considered as
authorised by the use of the most general expressions in the articles;
or perhaps introduced as a matter of course; but a power to grant
building leases will not, it seems, be implied without express
authority.
Powers of sale and exchange are also considered as usual powers in
a settlement, and will be authorised by the use of very slight expres-
sions in the articles.
In settlements of personalty, where the property is assigned to
trustees, they are empowered to invest and lay out the funds, and also
to vary the securities from time to time. After the declaration of
trusts for the husband and wife and children, such settlements usually
contain powers of providing for the maintenance, advancement, and
education of the children who are or may become entitled to shares in
the funds under the preceding trusts.*
Settlements both of real and personal estate usually conclude
with what are called trustee clauses, that is to say, clauses which
enable the trustees to give effectual receipts; to provide for the
appointment, when needful, of new trustees; for the indemnity of
the trustees against involuntary losses; and for the payment of their
expenses.
Marriage settlements sometimes contain covenants to settle par-
ticular lands; covenants to settle, or to purchase and settle lands
of a certain value, or future real estate; covenants to settle present
or future personalty; and covenants by parents, on the marriage of onc
of their children, to leave to that child an equal or some proportionate
share with the rest.
The covenant to settle particular lands of course binds heirs, devi-
sees, and all into whose possession the lands come, except a purchaser,
for valuable consideration without notice; and, in case of the lands
being so alienated, satisfaction may be claimed out of the general assets
of the covenantor.
Questions frequently arise upon covenants to settle, or to purchase
and settle lands of a particular value, as to what amounts to per-
formance. On this point the following positions appear to be esta-
blished: -1. Where the covenantor has no lands at the time, any
purchase he may afterwards make will be presumed to have been made
in pursuance of the covenant; 2. It seems, though there are conflicting
authorities upon the point, that if the covenant be to settle, and the
covenantor, having at the time lands adequate to the performance of
the covenant, die without making any purchase, the lands which he
had at the time will be bound to the extent of the covenant; 3. Where
the covenant is to purchase and settle, it seems that no lands of which
the covenantor is seised at the time will be affected, but all after-pur-
chased lands will be affected to the extent of the covenant.
Covenants to settle future real estate of which the husband shall
become seised during the marriage, or during his life, do not affect
lands of which the covenantor is then seised, but extend to all after-
acquired lands, even to such as come to the husband under the pro-
visions of the deed of settlement.
Covenants to settle present or future personalty are considered as
applying to capital only, not to income. If real estate should have
been purchased with the personalty subject to such a covenant, the
land is not bound in specie by the covenant, but is charged with the
money invested in the purchase.
Covenants to leave one child an equal or proportionate share with
the rest, attach only upon that portion of the settlor's property which
may remain at the time of his death. The parent may therefore make
an absolute gift of any part of his property in his lifetime to another
child without committing any breach of his covenant; but a gift
reserving any interest to himself is a breach of it. The benefit of
such a covenant is confined to children living at the death of the
parent.
5. Marriage is not an absolute gift to the husband of the wife's
personal estate, but only entitles him to so much of it as he may have
reduced into possession, assigned or released during his lifetime.
Accordingly, questions frequently arise upon settlements as to the title
of the husband, under them, to the whole of his wife's fortune.
Upon this point the following propositions appear to be established :—
1. The antenuptial settlement of property made by the husband upon
the wife, in consideration of her fortune, entitles him only to her then,
and not to the future personal property; 2. That if a part only of her
fortune appears to have been stipulated for, the residue of what she
then has, or what may afterwards accrue to her, will not belong to the
husband; 3. That when it appears from the settlement, either ex-
pressly or by implication, that the agreement was for the whole of the
*Similar clauses are contained in settlements of real estate, where there are
trusts for raising portions.
#
485
486
SEVENTH.
SEWERS.
}
wife's present and future personal estate, the husband, or his personal
representative (in case of his predeceasing his wife), will be entitled
to claim the whole under the contract.
When the husband has not entitled himself by contract to the choses
in action of the wife, there is no bar to his getting possession of such
of them as are recoverable at law; but if he require the assistance of a
Court of Equity for the recovery of them, and the wife does not con-
sent to his obtaining the whole, that court will not lend its aid, except
upon the terms of the husband's making a provision for the wife and
her children, by way of settlement, out of the fund. Most frequently
one half of the fund is directed to be settled, but the proportion given
in each case depends upon the circumstances, though it never amounts
to the whole. The rules of the Court of Equity in directing settlements
out of the wife's equitable choses in action are the same, whether the
application to it is made by the husband himself or by his creditors.
Settlements out of the wife's equitable choses in action, when made by
the husband, are no less valid against his creditors than when made
under the direction of the court; and even a settlement by him of the
entire fund, which the court would not have directed, has in some
cases been held valid against his creditors; though the decisions in
those cases seem hardly consistent with the law as laid down under
the 13 Eliz., c. 5. It should be added, that now by the stat. 20 & 21
Vict., c. 57, a married woman is empowered to release, with the concur-
rence of her husband, her equity to a settlement in property to which
she may-be entitled under any deed dated subsequently to December
31, 1857; also to dispose of reversionary interests under such settle-
ments. But these enactments do not interfere with the principles
above stated. (SEPARATE USE; Bright on Husband and Wife.)
SEVENTH, in music, a dissonant interval, of which there are three
kinds, the minor or ordinary seventh, from G to F; the diminished
seventh, from c sharp to B flat; and the major or sharp seventh, from
Ex.:
c to B.
*
For the chord of the seventh, its inversions and treatment, see
CHORD.
SEWERS. In its original acceptation, the word Sewers meant
simply the banks, or sea-weirs, erected for the purpose of protecting
the low lands by the sides of tidal rivers, from the effects of inunda-
tions or high tides; but, by extension, the word has been applied
firstly to all artificial channels which discharge the surface drainage
of lands on a comparatively speaking high level into a natural water
course, by outlets on its shores (whence the old synonyme for sewer,
shore); and of late year's the word has been so exclusively applied to
the subterranean artificial water-courses of towns destined to relieve
them of both the surface drainage, and the liquid refuse of the houses,
as to have caused the original meaning to be entirely lost sight of.
It is however so convenient to adopt a special name for town drains,
and the modern sense of the word sewer is so universally received, that
in the succeeding remarks, it will be exclusively so employed; or, in
other words, whenever sewer is used, it will be in the sense
of an
artificial channel for the removal of surface, subsoil, or house waters."
The earliest recorded instances of the use of sewers is in the palace
of Nimroud, and in the more celebrated Cloaca of ancient Rome; but
none of the drains of this description executed by the ancients were
used for the purposes to which they are applied in the more highly
civilised countries of modern times. The cloaca maxima itself was
formed for the purpose of draining the Campus Martius, and the low
swampy lands between the Seven Hills, in precisely the same manner
that the Egout de ceinture of Paris drains the valley of the Marais,
Menilmontant, and Montmartre of that city; and though no doubt the
house waters of the capital of the ancient world found their way
eventually into this huge drain, it is notorious that the Romans never
were acquainted with the modes of house sewerage we have lately
applied. One of the first legislative enactments of modern times on
the subject of sewers was an act, 9 Henry III. (about 1225), which
was followed by others, 6 Henry VI.; 8 Henry VI.; 4 Henry VII.;
6 Henry VIII.; and the whole of the legislation then prevailing was
carefully reviewed and condensed, by Sir Thomas More, in the
celebrated Bill of Sewers,' which became law in 25 Henry VIII. (or in
1531). In France attention had also been directed to the subject of
the drainage of the capital towards the close of the medieval period,
for in 1412 the grand Égout de ceinture (then called the ruisseau de
Menilmontant) was built; and in 1550, Philibert de l'Orme was
instructed to examine and improve the drainage of Paris. The govern-
ments of both England and France continued from these periods
actively to interfere with the regulation of these important works;
but, in accordance with the respective idiosyncracies of the two
nations, the courses adopted were essentially different. In the one
case, the power was handed over to local commissions; in the other, it
was retained exclusively in the hands of the central government; the
consequence being, as might have been expected, that in the former
case there was displayed much irregular energy and enterprise, in the
latter there was displayed a singular amount of scientific indifference,
Without dwelling on this political part of the questions connected
.
with the execution of public works, it is to be observed that ultimately,
about the year 1834, there were no less than eight separate com-
missions entrusted with the superintendence of the sewerage and
drainage of London; and so great were the evils then found to result
from the variety of practice tolerated by the different boards, and from
their discordant jurisdictions, that at last, after many efforts, the local
boards were suppressed, and in 1848 the "Metropolitan Commissioners
of Sewers" were appointed, with extensive powers over the whole of
the Metropolis. A few years later the management of the sewerage
of the Metropolis was transferred to the Metropolitan Board of
Works instituted by the Act of 18 & 19 Vict. c. 120 (passed
14th August, 1855). The sewerage of the provincial towns of
England is now either left under the control of the local paving
and draining commissions, or of the municipal corporations acting
under special acts of parliament; or it is carried on under a species
of government superintendence, under the powers of the Public
Health Act, 11 & 12 Vict. c. 63 (passed 31st August, 1848), which has
been limited by the passing of some subsequent acts, such as the Act
of 1854, and the local government act of 1858. In France the
administration of the laws regulating the Egouts remains under the
control of the Department of Public Works, and the Municipalities
have practically no power over the matter.
Until a very recent period, the subterranean channels of London
were exclusively used as drains for the removal of surface, subsoil, and
ordinary house waters; and the discharge "of any filth or soil into any
common, or public drain, or sewer" was even, by the Act 57 Geo. III.
c. 29, made punishable by a fine. Subsequently to that period, how-
ever, the universal application of the water closet system has forced
the various authorities connected with the sewers to tolerate in the
first place, and finally to regulate, the discharge of the excreta of the
inhabitants of towns into the sewers. To such an extent does this
now take place, that the modern use of those subterranean channels
has become of infinitely more importance than the original one, and
the word "sewerage," or sewage, has been invented for the purpose of
expressing the waters employed for the removal of house refuse of the
description alluded to. Unfortunately the legislature has hitherto
neglected to direct its attention to the evil produced by the new
system, by thus discharging, eventually, the whole of the town refuse
into the natural water courses of the country; and though no doubt
many of the details of the sewerage of our towns have of late years
been much improved, much still remains to be done, not only for the
purpose of securing the purity of the rivers and streams, but also for
the useful application of the fertilising matters now so sadly wasted.
One advantage appears to have resulted from the discussions
which have taken place with respect to the legislative, administra-
tive, and executive measures required to meet the case of the metro-
politan sewerage, namely, that at last many of the exclusive theories
propounded by the admirers of hydraulic engineering, as it is not
practised by eminent hydraulic engineers, have been set aside; whilst
all that was good in the technical modes of operation introduced by
this new school has been retained. At the present day the principles
most generally admitted as being applicable in designing a complete
system of town sewerage may be stated to have been elicited from the
discussions thus referred to, and to be as follows, in all normal cases at
least. It must, however, be understood that they are based upon the
supposition that the town in question is in a thriving condition, and
likely to double its population in fifty years; that its relief is such as
to afford tolerably favourable rates of inclination in the main sewers;
and that there is a good water supply to every house. The rain-flow
to be provided for from the paved and non-absorbent parts of the town,
may be taken at about inch in 24 hours if proper storm overflows
can be obtained; that from open gardens, cultivated lands, &c., may
vary according to the nature of the soil, from inch to an inch
per day Under-ground springs must be allowed for, if they should
exist in any serious quantities, as is frequently the case in towns
situated upon the outcrop of a geological stratum, or upon a bed of
permeable materials surrounded by high lands able to drain into
them. In some cases, the latter condition may even require that a
system of intercepting drains should be formed, so as to isolate the
area of the town from the hydrographical basin surrounding it, and to
confine the sewerage operations to that especial purpose.
These conditions premised, before settling the dimensions of the main
sewers, it is necessary to divide the town into sections corresponding
with the great physical divisions of the district, and to ascertain for
each of the latter: 1, the area to be relieved; 2, its actual and prospec-
tive population; 3, the amount of the house sewerage it would be
likely to furnish (this is usually at the rate of 5 or 7 cubic feet per
individual, and it is found that at least one-fourth of that quantity is
discharged between the hours of eleven and one, so that it is advisable to
calculate the house sewerage at nearly 1 cubic foot
4, the rain-flow; 5, the length of the sewer, and the inclination it would
per head per hour);
be possible to give to its invert, because the two last named conditions
will affect the dimensions of the cross section. As to the house sewers,
it is useless to attempt to proportion their area and fall to the quantity
of waters they may discharge, because it has been found practically that
the public in general is so careless in its manner of treating those sewers,
that anything less than a 6-inch pipe drain will infallibly be choked
within a very short time. So long as the pipe drains thus referred to
487
SEWERS.
run under the houses themselves, they should be jointed in cement,
and under all circumstances they should be without junctions at right
angles. The highest point of the sewer should be laid, if possible, at
2 feet at least below the lowest part of the basement story it is in-
tended to drain; and it would be desirable to make the longitudinal fall
about 1 in 65; the house sewers should be made perfectly impermeable,
and if any land springs should happen to occur in the surface occupied
by the house they should be carried off by a special system of drains.
In order to guard against the flooding of basements, by any accidental
accumulation of waters in the main sewers, it is desirable that the
connection between them and the house sewers should be effected at a
small height above the upper line of the invert of the main sewers;
but care must be taken to prevent the formation of any current, or of
any obstruction, able to produce a deposit near the point of junction.
Especial precautions must be taken to trap all communications with
the sewers which might otherwise admit the escape of gases into the
house; all rain-water pipes should discharge their waters into the
upper ends of the sewers, if possible; and under some circumstances the
rain-water pipes may be made to serve as ventilators to the sewers,
when their joints are remarkably well made, and the heads are fixed
above every opening of the house. One of the favourite theories of
the late General Board of Health was to the effect, that what was then
called "combined back drainage" (or the connection of a number of
small house sewers at the back of the blocks of houses, with other
small sewers of an area barely sufficient to discharge the united
amounts of sewerage), was the cheapest and best method of removing
those waters; but so many serious inconveniences have been found
practically to attach to this system, that at the present day it is
generally abandoned, and the house sewers are almost always carried
directly from each house into the main sewers in front of them.
In the execution of the street sewers (the sub-mains, in fact, of the
sewerage of a town), care must be taken that their dimensions should
be sufficient to carry off any occasional storms; that means should
be provided for the easy examination and repair of the works; and
that no obstacle should be presented of a nature to provoke a deposit
of the matters brought from the houses, or from the streets themselves.
The junctions of the house sewers should be made with curves of
considerable radius; the surface waters from roads and streets must
be received in trapped cesspools, so constructed as to intercept all
solid matters, and to collect the fine mud washed from those surfaces
in an available form, because it is often of commercial value as a
manure; the ventilation of the sewers must be effected in such
wise as not to inconvenience the dwellers in the neighbouring houses,
and for this purpose it is preferable to insert ventilating holes in
the middle of the roadway, whilst the side gullies should be care-
fully trapped; and side entrances with flushing gates, or other
machinery, must be provided according to the local peculiarities
of the sewer. The principles which regulate the size and the materials
of street sewers are, firstly, that the smallest possible frictional area
should be presented to the flowing current, and that the water should
flow without being under pressure; secondly that the actual channel
for the sewerage should be impermeable, but there are some cases in
which it is actually desirable that the sewer should give free passage
to the land waters at levels above the line of their own maximum
flow. Now of all forms of cross section, a semicircle is the one which
presents the smallest frictional area; and it may be laid down as a
law that, in most cases, the impermeable cylindrical stone-ware pipes
are the best materials which can be employed for street sewers, pro-
vided their dimensions are not required to exceed 2 feet in diameter;
beyond that diameter, however, it is difficult to obtain pipes of a
sound character, and they become more expensive than brick culverts
of the same area. There is another consideration which also requires
to be taken into account, in cases wherein the diameter of the water-
course exceeds 2 feet, namely, that it frequently becomes necessary to
cleanse them by hand labour. A man can crawl through an oval
channel 2 feet wide by 2 feet 6 inches high, so that those dimensions
may be taken as the minima ones for street sewers, in districts where
it would be difficult or objectionable to open the roadways; and
sewers of such forms are far more conveniently made iu brickwork,
than in stone-ware pipes. Brickwork sewers, moreover, present the
advantage of allowing lateral junctions to be made more easily than
would be the case with stone-ware pipes. The sizes of street sewers
usually adopted, when the requisite dimensions exceed an area equal
to that of a semicircle of 2 feet in diameter, are (the transverse section
being now made of an egg shape) either 3 feet 3 inches deep, by 2 feet
wide at the minor axis; 4 feet, by 2 feet 6 inches; 4 feet 9 inches, by
3 feet; 5 feet 6 inches, by 3 feet 3 inches. The dimensions of such
sewers as the Fleet sewer of course cannot be brought under any
normal law, for it drains an area of not less than 4400 acres, half of
which is covered by houses, and has been known to run with a stream
of not less than 106 feet superficial area. The best velocity of the
flow in street sewers is about 1 to 2 miles per hour, and the rate of
inclination of the bed should as far as possible be made equal to
1 in 240; below that inclination it becomes necessary to flush the
sewers from time to time, in order to keep them clear. The junctions
of street sewers with one another should be made with their centre
lines of invert on the same level; the junctions of these sewers
with the main sewers should, however, take place so that the centre
SEWERS.
408
line of the latter should be a few inches below those of the branch
sewers.
As frequent allusion has been made to the land waters it is often
requisite to remove by the means of sewers, it may be as well to
observe that unless drains should be laid down for the express purpose
of relieving the subsoil of those waters, or unless there should exist
some natural outlet for them, the main and sub-main sewers should be
made either with inlet holes or of partially permeable materials above
the level of the ordinary storm flow of the sewerage. Sufficient
attention is rarely paid to this condition of the soil of sandy or of
gravelly districts, and it frequently happens that, in towns wherein a
good system of house sewerage exists, the basements are flooded by the
land waters, because the latter cannot find their way into the imper-
meable main sewers. When the feeding grounds, so to speak, of the
springs are extensive, the best course certainly is to execute an inter-
cepting drain, so as to separate the inhabited area of the formation
from the open soil of the country. An instance of the evil thus
alluded to is to be found at Southampton, and another in the quartier
Montmartre in Paris; and in both of them the inundations of the
basements, after long-continued wet weather, are often productive of
serious evils. Perhaps it may be desirable to cite, as an additional
reason for preferring the construction of a special system of intercepting
or land drainage for the removal of the springs, that when they are
removed by the agency of the sewers there is a possibility that the
foul waters flowing in the latter may permeate the land around them
at certain seasons. As a general principle it would unquestionably be
preferable to confine the drains and sewers to their respective functions;
but in this, as in all cases connected with practical engineering, local
considerations may often render it prudent to modify absolute theoretical
laws. It is worthy, however, of especial remark that the formations
which are thus exposed to become charged with underground waters,
are characterised by the frequency and the violence of the typhoidal
fevers which prevail amongst the town populations located upon them.
As a sanitary measure, the drainage of such lands is nearly as important
as the sewerage of the houses and streets can be.
It
The main drains of a system of town sewerage are of course to be
calculated as to their dimensions upon the same principles as the sub-
mains; that is to say, they must be proportionate to the area, the rain
flow, and the amount of sewerage, to be dealt with. The waters
coming into the mains are usually animated by a velocity rather in
excess of the one which would be requisite to maintain the rate of
flow necessary to preserve a clear channel for the larger volume of
water in the united stream; and from the ordinary laws of hydro-
dynamics it follows that the inclinations of the main sewers may with-
out inconvenience be made less than those of the sub-main sewers.
is, however, desirable to keep the inclinations of the former at least
at the rate of 1 in 500, though occasionally when great facilities for
examination and repair may exist, that rate may be reduced, without
serious inconvenience, to 1 in 1000. Great precautions are required
in the construction of main sewers to secure an efficient ventilation;
and, wherever it is possible so to do, storm overflows should be pro-
vided. This latter precaution of course can only be adopted when the
discharge of the contents of the main sewer takes place by gravitation;
if the discharge should take place by artificial means, it will be found
necessary to construct the main sewers of dimensions able to contain
any occasional accumulation of storm waters.
The
Hitherto the final discharge of sewerage waters has been effected by
merely pouring them into any natural water-course, to the great injury
of the latter, and to the great disgrace of the authorities who pretend
to watch over the sanitary interests of the country. It is true that
some very earnest attempts have been made to apply the sewerage to
the purposes of agriculture, both in a solid and in a liquid form; and
it is equally true that hitherto those attempts have not been successful
in a commercial point of view. Nevertheless, the importance of the
subject, as proved by the gradual contamination of the Thames, for
instance, is so great that no mere money considerations ought to be
allowed to stand in the way of the compulsory application of some
efficient measure for the deodorisation and purification of town
sewerage before its discharge into any superficial water-course.
experiment tried at Leicester, of precipitating the solid matters from
the sewerage, has proved at least that the operation can be effected at
a moderate rate per head of the inhabitants of a town; the results of
the Rugby and Watford experiments, of pouring the sewerage in a
liquid form over agricultural lands, although far from successful up to
the present, have not been of a nature to discourage further attempts
to dispose of that fluid by irrigation, especially in agricultural districts.
In the case of Rugby the sewerage is distributed, over a mixed area of
arable and of pasture lands, by a system of cast-iron pipes and move-
able hose, which has necessarily increased the first cost of the distri-
buting apparatus and of the subsequent working; if, instead of these
costly follies, the sewerage had simply been pumped up to a high level,
and a surface irrigation by gravitation had been thence effected, the
results would in all probability have been very different from those
which were actually obtained.
Some idea of the importance of the sewerage works lately executed
in England may be formed from the facts that there is now hardly a
town wherein they do not exist in a more or less perfect form;
and that the average cost has latterly been at the rate of at least 17.
489
490
SEXAGESIMA.
SEXTANT.
per head of the population of the towns.
The average sewers-rates
of well-drained towns seem also to be about 23 per cent on the rental of
the houses.
It may be added that in the London sewerage there appears to be
present about 1 ton of solid matters to every 266 tons of water; but
in very unfavourable cases the proportions of solid to liquid may
increase to 1 in 96, or even to 1 in 36; the proportion of 1 in 66 is
considered to be the largest which is consistent with the safe working
of pipe sewers, in which the fluid can move with a velocity of 3 feet
per second.
(Consult Reports of Health of Towns Commission,' and the various
Blue Books on the London Sewers; Transactions of Civil Engineers;'
'Annales des Ponts et Chaussées,' &c.)
SEXAGESIMA, the second Sunday before Lent, or the next to
Shrove Tuesday; so named, as being, not exactly, but about the
sixtieth day before Easter. Brady, in his Clavis Calendaria,' vol. i.,
p. 175, says, The name of the first Sunday in Lent having been
distinguished by the appellation of Quadragesima, and the three weeks
preceding having been appropriated to the gradual introduction of the
Lent fast, it was consistent with propriety to call the three Sundays of
these weeks by names significant of their situation; and reckoning by
Decades, the Sunday preceding Quadragesima received its present title
of Quinquagesima, the second Sexagesima, and the third Septuagesima.
SEXAGESIMAL, a name given to the system of reckoning in which
each unit is the sixtieth part of the preceding, to which, in our day,
we are only accustomed by the method of measuring angles and time.
The Greeks, and Ptolemy in particular, brought this method into use in
astronomical matters, and their successors seem to have attempted to
make it a general mode of reckoning. There exist treatises of arithmetic
fashioned on this system; one, for instance by BARLAAM. [BIOG. DIV.]
In the sexagesimal arithmetic, 17 26′ 48" 53" giv stands for 17
units+ 26-sixtieths of a unit, or 26 minutes or scrupula prima
[SCRUPLE] + 48-sixtieths of a minute, or 48 seconds or scrupula
secunda +53-sixtieths of a second, or 53 thirds or scrupula tertia +
9-sixtieths of a third, or 9 fourths or scrupula quarta.
Addition and subtraction are easy enough in this system; multipli-
cation, division, and the extraction of roots are more complicated. If
we had, for example, to multiply 7 26' 43" 51"" by 11 47′ 18" 56",
each term of one factor must be multiplied by every term of the other,
and the denomination of each product must be as high as those of both
factors put together. Thus when we come to 43" x 56", the result
must be in fifths (2+3=5); and 43 x 56 being 2408, we have 2408',
or 40iv Sv. This process was aided by a large sexagesimal multiplication
table, which may be seen in Delambre, Astronomie Ancienne,' vol. ii.
There is also a large sexcentenary table, constructed by John Bernoulli
(III.), and published (or republished) by the British Board of Longi-
tude. There is little need to give any further account of sexagesimal
processes.
SEXTANS (the sextant), a constellation which Hevelius had the
singular bad taste to place on the back of the Hydra and at the feet of
the Lion. It comes directly between the bright stars a Leonis
(Regulus), and a (or Cor) Hydræ. There are no stars of conspicuous
magnitude in this constellation.
SEXTANT. The history of the sextant was involved in some doubt
until the late Professor Rigaud undertook to investigate the subject.
The result will be found in the 'Nautical Magazine,' vol. i., p. 351, and
No. xxi. The following account is a brief outline of his
inquiry.
The early modern navigators used the cross-staff; this was afterwards
exchanged for Davis's back-staff, called by the French quartier anglais.
Hooke proposed an instrument for the purpose of taking altitudes at
sea, which is very ingenious; the sun was seen reflected from a plane
glass, while the horizon was viewed directly. Hooke does not seem
to have esteemed his invention so highly as it deserved; for in a sub-
sequent lecture on astronomy and navigation, in 1694, he makes no
mention of this, but describes a quadrant of a different construction.
In 1699, Newton exhibited an instrument to the Royal Society, which
is described as "the old instrument mended of some faults;" and at
some later time he communicated to Dr. Halley a scheme for an instru-
ment which was probably never executed, but of which a drawing and
description were found among Dr. Halley's papers after his death in
1742. (Phil. Trans.,' vol. xlii., p. 155.)
The date of the invention of Hadley's quadrant was proved, on
examination by the Royal Society, to have been not later than the
summer of 1730. A notice of it was given at a meeting of the society,
May 13, 1731; and the instrument exhibited May 27. The memoir is
published, vol. xxxvii., p. 147.
At the meeting of the society, May 20, Dr. Halley expressed an
opinion that the principle of Hadley's new instrument had been dis-
covered and proposed by Newton, and a search was made into the
minutes of the society to ascertain the fact. The only notice which
could be found was that already mentioned,-namely, in 1699,-and
this was clearly an improvement of an old instrument, and not the
proposal of one new in principle. Halley, at a meeting on the 16th of
* This is described in Hooke's Posthumous Works,' p. 503, and was pro-
bably presented to the Royal Society in 1666. In practice, besides some other
objections, it would have been troublesome to ascertain the index error in this
construction.
the following December, expressed himself satisfied that Hadley's
instrument was much different from that formerly invented by Sir
Isaac Newton. It seems not unlikely that Halley's recollections were
of the instrument which Newton had proposed to him, and the
description of which was found among his papers, but that he had
forgotten the manner of the communication, and confounded the latter
instrument with that which Newton had exhibited to the Royal
Society. This is, we think, a very probable failure in the memory of
a man of seventy-six, and what many younger persons experience
daily. That Halley did not immediately see the advantages of
Newton's latter proposal may appear a little strange; but Halley's
forte clearly did not lie in mechanical construction or astronomical
observation.
A little after Hadley's invention,-namely, about October or Novem-
ber, 1730,-Thomas Godfrey of Philadelphia, a glazier by trade,
proposed and had executed an instrument which he called a bow, very
much resembling Hadley's earlier construction. This was described
in a letter to Dr. Halley from James Logan, Esq., dated 25th May,
1732. Mr. Logan had put off writing more than twelve months after
the instrument was placed in his hands, and this neglect threw some
doubt on the originality of the invention, which could only be satis-
factorily established by additional evidence. After examination, the
Royal Society came to the conclusion that Godfrey's discovery was also
original. We think it is clearly proved that the priority is due to
Hadley, and that there is no pretence for doubting Godfrey's originality.
Some hasty writers, adopting mere hearsay for their guide, have
attempted to give the subject a national and patriotic colour, which,
unphilosophical at all times, is a simple absurdity when the contending
We have thus tried
parties are, as in this instance, of the same race.
to give a hasty summary of Professor Rigaud's statements and con-
clusions, which we entirely adopt. The perusal of the original
memoirs will gratify the lover of exact and discriminating research.
Hadley's second construction, which is incomparably superior to his
first and to Godfrey's bow, scarcely differs from the present sextant.
The sextant is figured and described in almost every book of
navigation, and is so commonly to be met with that we shall be very
brief. A is a plane glass, called the index glass, silvered behind, and
perpendicular to the face of the instrument. It is fixed on a centre
perpendicular to the instrument, and moyes with the index bar AB,
the end of which, B, slides over the graduated arc. c is a plane glass,
the lower half of which, next the instrument, is silvered, and the
upper half left clear. It is called the horizon-glass, and should be
parallel to the index-glass when the index points to 0° at the beginning
of the arc. D is a telescope for viewing the objects observed. This

F
C
H
E
A
G
B
60
D
should be of good quality and with an inverting eye-piece. In the
common quadrants there is merely a plate with a small hole for
directing the sight. Suppose a ray of light to proceed from the eye, it
will proceed in the direction of the telescope; and if it falls on the
upper or unsilvered part of the horizon-glass, it will pass forward in a
continued straight line until it falls upen some exterior object. But if
the ray falls upon the silvered part of the horizon-glass it will be
reflected to the index-glass (the horizon-glass is so placed as to make
equal angles with lines from the eye and index-glass), and again
reflected from the index-glass, outwards (that is, from the observer),
until it meets some external object. Now instead of supposing the
rays to pass from the eye, suppose them to come from external objects
to the eye; then there will be two images presented at the same time,
one formed by the rays which pass through the unsilvered part of the
horizon-glass, and another forined by the rays which have been
viously reflected by the two glasses; and it is easily shown from the
elementary principles of optics, that when two objects are thus appa-
pre-
491
SEXTANT.
rently seen in coincidence, the angle which they subtend at the point
of meeting is exactly double the angle which is contained between the
planes of the index and horizon glasses, if these be supposed to be
prolonged until they meet. Hence, if the index be at zero when the
glasses are parallel, and if the arc be divided into half-degrees which
are numbered and subdivided as whole degrees, the arc actually read
off, after any such observation as is here described, will measure twice
the inclination between the glasses (for this inclination is evidently the
same as the angle between the parallel position of the index-glass and
its new position), and, in consequence of the optical principle above
mentioned, this will be the true measure of the angle between the
objects when they are so distant that the place of the eye and the
intersection of the rays may be considered to be the same. The
sextant, therefore, furnishes the means of measuring the angle between
any two well-defined objects, in whatever direction they may be placed
(so that the angle does not exceed 140°), and without requiring more
steadiness than is necessary for seeing the objects distinctly. E and r
are sets of dark glasses of varying intensity, which may be turned
before either the index- or horizon-glass when required; G, a tangent-
screw for giving slow motion to the index-bar; H, the reading micro-
scope and reflector. The handle below is visible in the drawing, and
there is a screw behind the collar of the telescope for giving an up-and-
down motion to the telescope, which alters its distance from the plane
of the instrument without affecting its parallelism thereto.
The adjustments of the sextant may be divided into those which
more properly concern the artist and those which are to be attended to
by the observer. It should be distinctly understood that no other
instrument requires so much care and skill in its construction and use
as the sextant. There are scarcely half a dozen makers in England, and
probably not double that number in all Europe, who are fit to turn out
a sextant; and though skilful sextant observers are somewhat more plen-
tiful, they are still exceedingly rare. The fabric of the sextant should
be strong and light. A blow which would not seriously damage a theo-
dolet or circle, where three or more readings correct pretty nearly
the errors which arise from such injury, would entirely ruin a
sextant; but while giving strength, the maker must be on his guard to
avoid weight. Troughton and Simms's double-frame sextants of 8
inches radius are a very good model, those of 10 inches are too large;
single-frame sextants may be had of 7, 6, or 5 inches radius. All
these sizes have or may have the same telescope, glasses, and shades.
Those which we have hitherto seen seem to admit of some improve-
ment in their scheme. Mr. Dollond casts his sextants in one piece of
hard metal, which is an improvement, and very beautiful instruments
they are. The limb of the instrument should be perfectly plane, and
the axis on which the index-glass turns exactly perpendicular to it.
If a purchaser is sufficiently confident in his own judgment to rely on
that, rather than on the reputation of the maker, he should release the
clamp, observe whether the index-bar moves easily and without shake
along the whole arc, and also whether the vernier seems to press
equally in every position. The telescope should be of the best quality,
with a large aperture and of as short a focal length as these conditions
permit. It should show the edge of the sun and moon quite sharp
and distinct with the highest. powers employed. The index-glass is
generally the most faulty member of a common sextant; the faces are
not parallel, and consequently when rays fall very obliquely upon it
(in which case those reflected from the front surface are nearly as
copious as those from the silvered back), there are two faint and sepa-
rated images seen instead of one bright one. The artist tries his index-
glasses by the following test: The sun is viewed with a high power
after very oblique reflection from the index-glass, and those glasses
only are retained in which the image is single and sharp. The rejected
glasses find their way to the second-rate makers. The horizon-glass,
which is smaller and on which the rays fall at a larger angle, does not,
if imperfect, affect the images so much, but it too should be examined.
The shades or dark glasses, which are either interposed between the
glasses or placed before the horizon-glass, are next to be examined.
The two images of the sun are brought into proper contact, after
applying the highest power to the telescope and putting the proper
dark glass on the eye end. One of the lightest shades is then inter-
posed between the index and horizon glasses, and if the contact is
slightly disturbed, this shows the form of the shade to be prismatic.
The shade is turned in its cell until the effect is perpendicular to the
plane of the sextant. The corresponding shade before the horizon-
glass is now interposed and tried as the former one, and turned round
exactly as before, until its effect is also perpendicular to the plane of
the instrument. Leaving this latter shade untouched, and substituting
the next dark shade in place of that first employed, the process is again
repeated, with this caution, that the error, if any, caused by the pris-
matic form of the last shade, is to be made exactly contrary to that of
the first shade, as well as perpendicular to the plane of the sextant.
In this way, changing when necessary the dark glass at the eye end of
the telescope, all the dark shades are carefully examined and set right,
and it need not be said that those which are very prismatic or which
affect the sharpness of the images, are to be rejected. The index-glass
is now to be set at right angles to the plane of the instrument. This
is done by looking very obliquely in the index-glass, when the edge of
the limb or the divided arc seen by reflection will form an uninter-
rupted continuation to tha seen directly, if the glass is perpendicular;
SEXTANT.
432
otherwise the arc will appear broken where the direct and reflected
images meet; by touching the screws seen in the figure, this error may
be corrected. Repeating the observation at different parts of the limb,
will show whether the axis has been set at right angles to the limb.
The horizon-glass is to be made parallel to the index-glass by bringing
the two images of the sun to coincide, when, if there is any lateral
overlapping, it may be remedied by turning a screw (shown in the
figure) which is in the mounting of the horizon-glass. The index error,
as it is called, is of no importance whatever, though many observers
are afraid that when large it vitiates the observation. This is an idle
prejudice, but one which the maker is compelled to respect. Having
ascertained the diameter of the sun by measuring it forwards and back-
wards, he sets the index to the proper angle and then files away a little
of one of the pins against which the index-glass is pressed, until he
brings the images nearly into contact. Contacts should now be formed,
first by turning the tangent-screw so as to separate the images, and
then by bringing them together. If the readings do not agree, the
centre moves too stiffly or the index-bar is too weak. Finally, the
telescope is to be set parallel with the plane of the instrument. There
are two parallel wires in the focus of the telescope, which are to be
placed parallel to the instrument, and then as large an angle as possible
is to be taken between two distinct objects, making the contact exactly
in the middle of the wires. The contact must now be examined when
the objects are first at one side and then at the other of the field of
view.
centre, the position of the telescope is correct; if not, there are
If they separate equally when at equal distances from the
adjusting screws in the collar which carries the telescope by which
this error may be corrected. For some of these latter adjustments
mechanical means may be and sometimes are applied. The instrument
should however comply with the foregoing tests, which any one can
try who understands the use of the instrument.
-
-
We will now suppose an observer equipped with such a sextant, who
wishes to make the best use of it. Before taking a series of observa-
tiqns, the index error should be ascertained. The telescope is fixed
and set to focus, and the parallel wires placed parallel with the plane
of the instrument. If the sun is visible, a dark glass for the eye-end
of the telescope is selected, which shows him clearly, but without
distressing the eye, and the direct and reflected images are made-
equally bright by moving the adjusting screw, which raises or depresses
the telescope. The contact is first made, bringing the reflected image
apparently below the image seen directly, and the angle is read off on
the supplemental or back arc: suppose this reading to be 33', which
consider positive or +. Then make the contact again with the
reflected image apparently above that seen directly (the reflected
image is that which moves on moving the index), and read off again :
suppose this is 32', which call It is evident that at the middle
position the two images coincide, and the index and horizon-glass are
parallel; that is, the reading on the back arc is 30" when the glasses
are parallel. Hence 30" must be added to every other reading to give
the true angle. If the algebraical signs are used, the rule is very
simple: Add the two readings together and halve the result; this with
its proper sign is the index correction to be applied to all observations.
If the sun is not visible, the moou may be used in the same way. If
neither is to be seen, then bring the two images of a bright star, or the
sea horizon, or any distant well-defined object into contact, and the
reading, if on the back arc, is to be added, if on the forward arc, is to
be subtracted from all other observations. The sun is always to be
preferred when visible, and the observation is to be repeated before or
after correction. If the images overlap laterally, that is, if the
horizon-glass is not parallel to the index-glass, this must be previously
adjusted. The next caution is with respect to dark glasses. When it
is possible (as in observing altitudes of the sun at land in a mercurial
horizon, &c.) to make the observation with a single dark glass on the
eye-end of the telescope, without using any shade, this should always
be done, for the error of this dark glass does not affect the contact at
all, and the distortion caused by it is not magnified, whereas any fault
in the dark shade between the index and horizon glasses produces
actual error in the, observation, and the distortion is magnified subse-
quently by the telescope. The images are to be brought to equal
brightness by the screw which raises or depresses the collar carrying
the telescope, and that with considerable nicety.
In observing
distances of the sun and moon, or altitudes of the sun at sea, dark
shades are necessary. The fainter object is to be observed directly, and
a proper shade interposed between the index and horizon glasses to
reduce the two objects to something like the same brightness. The
final equalisation is to be effected by the up-and-down motion of the
telescope. The accuracy of the observation depends a good deal upon
the nicety with which this equal toning of the two images is effected:
with a little experience this is readily learned. From the construction
of the sextant the faint object is easily viewed directly when the
brighter object is either above or on the right hand of the fainter, but
not so if the bright object is to the left of the fainter, when the
handle side of the instrument is uppermost. For these observations,
the instrument should have a second handle, which may be applied
when wanted; perhaps when the distance between the moon and a
bright star or planet is to be observed, there may be no difficulty in
viewing the moon directly, after placing a dark shade before the
horizon-glass, though the light which enters the eye without passing
493
494
SEXTANT.
SEXTANT
A
through the telescope must deaden the retina considerably.
blackened card screen slipped over the tube of the telescope would
probably be found useful in this case, and absolutely necessary if the
sun were observed directly. This latter observation cannot, we
conceive, be satisfactorily made in any case. When the sextant is
held in the hand, it should not be grasped tightly, as this causes
tremor. The handle should be fitted to the observer's hand. There
is scarcely ever hold enough given. When observing an altitude at
sea, there is a little difficulty in bringing down the object to the
point of the horizon immediately under it. But as the shortest
distance is the true distance, by running along the horizon and keeping
the object in the field, the direction in which the object should be
observed is easily found, and the contact made there. In observing
lunar distances the great art is to turn the instrument round the line
of sight exactly as if the telescope were an axis of rotation. The index
is set to the approximate distance, and the fainter object viewed
directly; when the plane of the instrument passes through both
objects, the brighter will come into the field, and the contact is to be
made by the tangent-screw, or nearly so. We think it is better in all
cases where the angle between the objects is increasing or decreasing,
to make the contact open or close, and then try to seize on the
moment when the contact is perfect, or the two moments when the
contact begins and when you conceive it to end. The mean will
probably be near the truth. All contacts must be made scrupulously
in the centre between the two parallel wires. When the angle is large,
inattention to this point will cause considerable error.
On shipboard, the observations, except those of lunar distance, are
necessarily rude and imperfect, the sea horizon is generally ill defined
and badly seen, the dip is somewhat uncertain, and as the single
altitude is observed, all the error committed tells upon the final angle.
The accuracy of observation is however equal to the wants of naviga-
tion in ordinary circumstances. (A dip sector might be useful where
more than usual accuracy is required.) On land, where the altitudes
are taken from a mercurial horizon, and the sextant fixed on a stand,
the observation is capable of great accuracy, and does not require much
skill or delicacy in mere handling. There is one peculiar advantage in
sextant observations, that when the mercury is quiet enough to reflect
a well-defined image, there is no need of any further steadiness or of a
second observer, one of which conditions is absolutely necessary in
every other instrument in common use which is adjusted by a plumb:
line or level. We think the capabilities of the sextant as a geogra-
phical instrument have not been generally appreciated by English
travellers; certain it is that few have used it with all the profit they
might have done.
1
The mercurial horizon is a shallow rectangular wooden or iron
trough, into which a small quantity of mercury is poured. If there is
any wind, the trough must be covered with a penthouse, the sloping
sides of which are glazed with plates of glass ground very flat and true.
Any object seen in the mercury appears to be just as much below the
horizontal plane as it is really above it; hence if the angle between
any heavenly body and its reflection be measured, this angle is just
twice the actual altitude of the body at that time above the horizon of
the place. Suppose the altitude of the sun is to be observed in order
to determine the time: The trough is placed with its largest dimen-
sion towards the sun, and the roof so that the sides cast no shadow,
the proper dark glass is affixed to the telescope, the images brought to
equal brightness, the index error ascertained, and the telescope is then
directed to the image of the sun in the mercury. Holding the plane
of the sextant vertical, and moving the index forward gradually, the
image of the sun reflected by the index-glass will appear to enter the
field from below. If the sun be rising, the index should be carried
forward until the two images, having crossed, are clear of each other,
and then the index is clamped. The two images will gradually close,
and the exact moment by the chronometer is to be noted when the
contact takes place. If the sun is rising with tolerable rapidity, the
contact of the upper limb, that is, the separation of the two images,
should be noted, exactly as before, without touching the clamp. The
index is then read off; it may then be put forwards, and the observa-
tion repeated. If the interval between the contacts of the lower and
upper limb is found to be in both cases nearly the same, the observer
may be satisfied that he has committed no great error in noting the
moments of contact. Where the greatest accuracy is required, it is
usual to set the index to a whole number of degrees for the first pair
of observations, and to put it forward 1° 30′ or 2° for the second pair,
and so on till the observer is satisfied or wearied; and then in the
afternoon to set to the highest reading for the first pair, and so on
backwards till you arrive at the first reading. Collecting the
corresponding pairs, you have an approximate time for apparent noon,
which, after being corrected by the equation to equal altitudes for the
change of the sun's declination, gives the time of apparent noon by the
chronometer; and this, when corrected a second time by the equation
of time taken and interpolated from the 'Nautical Almanac,' gives the
time of mean noon by the chronometer, and consequently the error of
the chronometer on mean time at the place. If the altitudes are very
low, and the barometer and thermometer have changed considerably
between the observations, a corresponding correction must be applied,
but in most cases this is not requisite. The time may in this way be
generally got as accurately as the chronometer will keep it during the
interval. When observations of the sun are made for the latitude, the
altitudes should be taken continuously for several minutes before and
after apparent noon, observing the upper and lower limb alternately,
or at least an equal number of each: thus getting rid of the sun's
semidiameter, besides bringing more divisions into play. It is not easy
to give a definite rule for the extent of these observations on each side
noon; but when the time is known, and the altitude of the sun not
great, we have never scrupled to go as far as the Tables of Reduction,
that is, a good half hour on each side of the meridian. It is of great
importance however, when the observations are pushed so far, that the
number of observations on each side, and the times at which they are
taken, should nearly correspond. If this precaution be observed, a
slight error in the actual time of noon does not matter. When time is
determined by absolute altitudes, the roof of the mercurial horizon
should be reversed after half the observations, and the same precaution
should be adopted when observations are made for the latitude.
For equal altitudes it is necessary to keep the same position of the
roof in both cases.
as accurate as that of the sun.
In the observations already described, and for lunar distances, a
stand for the sextant will indeed add greatly to the accuracy of the
observations, but is not absolutely necessary for a practised observer;
so far as our own experience has gone, good observations of the stars
can scarcely be made without a stand. By lying on the ground, and
resting the edge of the sextant on a book or some convenient support,
the observation may undoubtedly be made; but in most situations
and in many climates this would expose the observer to more incon-
venience and risk than he can prudently encounter. With a stand,
and a little experience in setting it up, the observation of a star is just
The time is noted when the images
form a figure like this **, parallel to the horizon; and stars of the
third magnitude, or even lower, are quite bright enough for the pur-
pose. We have observed Polaris very tolerably with a snuff-box sex-
tant when the instrument rested on a book; the telescope, though of
extra size for the instrument, was of much smaller aperture than those
attached to ordinary sextants. It is rather steadiness which is required
for these observations than light. Equal altitudes of the same star
give the moment of its meridian passage by the chronometer without
computation; and as this is the R.A. of the star, the error of the chro-
nometer, if it be sidereal, is obtained at once; if it should be a solar
chronometer, the computation is very easy, that is, merely computing
the mean solar time of the star's transit of that day from the R.A. of
the star and the longitude of the place. The computation of circum-
meridian altitudes of a star for the latitude is rendered more simple by
using a sidereal chronometer, for the hour angles observed with the
solar chronometer must be reduced to sidereal time before taking out
the corrections to the meridian from the Tables of Reduction.
There are certain faults either usual or inevitable in the sextant,
which are now to be pointed out, and the mode of eliminating their effect
from the final result. First, the determination of index correction is
always somewhat erroneous, and this error runs through all the abso-
lute observations, and affects the mean with its whole amount. Again,
if the telescope be not parallel to the plane of the instrument, or if
the contact be not made exactly midway between the wires, the angle
read off is too large, and exceeds the true angle, and there is no prin-
ciple of compensation; this class of errors has always the same signu.
Finally, as sextants are now divided, there is no certainty that the
axis of the index is exactly concentric with the divided arc. It is
difficult to say within what limits this error is confined, but we think
it amounts not unfrequently to 10", 15", or even 20" in the total arc.
This is not, however, proportional to the arc, though it is generally
smaller in the smaller arcs. Hence if this effect of excentricity lie the
same way as the other errors, as it easily may, the most careful ob-
server will make a considerable mistake in measuring a large angle.
If we further suppose the error of the lunar tables to be in the same
direction (the best meridian observations show that the moon is not un-
frequently from 10" to 15" out of her tabular place), it will be seen that
the longitude, determined as it generally is by distances between the
moon and sun, or the moon and a single star, may differ much more
from the truth than lunar observers usually think possible.+
*
Mere instrumental error is got rid of by combining those observa-
tions which they affect in contrary ways. Thus in equal altitudes, the
fixed errors, such as index error, excentricity, bad division, inclination
of the glasses or telescope, have contrary effects on the morning and
afternoon sights, and therefore no effect on the mean. Making the
contacts out of the middle of the wires is a casual error, and just as
likely to happen in the morning as in the evening observations; so
that as the angles are the same in both cases, errors of this kind will
have pretty much the same influence on the mean of several pairs.
*Mr. Simms is of opinion that with a dividing engine of a better construction,
this error of excentricity may be reduced to 2" or 3".
We think no prudent seaman would rely upon lunar distances at sea to a
smaller quantity than one-third of a degree. At land a good observer should
observations, corrected for the errors of the lunar tables, might perhaps come
seldom be out more than an eighth of a degree; and a large mass of careful
within the sixteenth or twentieth of a degree. This seems to us almost the
limit of what is to be expected from lunar distances, and it is inferior in accu-
racy to one favourable lunar transit, with a tolerable telescope, a well practised
observer, and a corresponding observation at a principal observatory.
1
1
495
SEXTANT.
Hence the great excellence of the method of equal altitudes for
determining the time, so far as instrumental error is concerned; it is
an additional advantage that an error in the supposed latitude is also
without sensible influence. Again, if time is deduced by absolute
altitudes of a star rising in the east, the result will be affected one
way by the errors above described; if a second star be observed
at nearly the same altitude setting in the west, the altitude will be
affected to the same amount; and if the stars have declinations which
do not widely differ, the result deduced from the second star will be
affected to the same extent, but in a contrary way from the first; a
mean of the two results will be nearly free from any error, except the
casual error of observation. A latitude by the sun or a star to the
south, which is erroneous from the above-mentioned causes, will be
balanced and corrected by a star of nearly the same altitude to the
north; or a star to the north may be balanced by two to the south,
one of higher and the other of lower altitude. It is scarcely credible
how nearly the time or latitude may be thus determined. We have a
series of such latitudes with an 8-inch sextant, observed by Mr. Lassell
at Liverpool, which scarcely differ more than 2" or 3" from each
other, though deduced from different groups of Greenwich stars.
When the longitude is to be obtained from lunar distances, a consider-
able number of observations should be taken from the objects east
and those west of the moon. If a pair can be selected on different
sides of the moon, and nearly at the same distance from her, the result
will be liable to the effect of casual error only, and to the error of the
lunar tables. This latter error cannot be got rid of at the time of
observation; but after the Greenwich, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Cape
of Good Hope, and Oxford observations for the year have been pub-
lished, it will generally be possible to find the error of the moon at the
time of observation with considerable accuracy. This must be done
whenever a sure longitude is to be deduced from lunar distances, and
lunar observations must be taken in great numbers, so as to destroy
casual error, to settle nice points in geography.
more and more.
When a few more fundamental points in longitude are fixed, it will
not be necessary to use lunar distances, except in long voyages, or in
the centre of large and uncivilised countries. The recent improve-
ments in chronometers, and the reduction in their price, have greatly
superseded this kind of observation already, and will continue to do so
When the arc of the instrument is limited to 90°, which is usually
the case in the common wooden instrument, it is called a quadrant
(and sometimes an octant, as being in form an eighth of a circle), and
a second horizon-glass and sight are sometimes appended for the back
observation. A sight-vane (a plate of brass pierced with a small hole)
is placed below the ordinary horizon-glass, and a second horizon-glass is
fixed near this vane, so that lines from the centre of the index-glass,
and from the latter vane, make equal angles with its plane. The plane
of this second horizon-glass should be at right angles with the index-
glass, when the index is at zero. This adjustment may be verified by
making the sea-horizon seen directly through the second vane and
unsilvered part of the second horizon-glass, coincide with the sea-
horizon at the back of the observer, which is seen by two reflections from
the index-glass and silvered part of the second horizon-glass. The angle
between the fore and back sea-horizons is evidently equal to 180° +
twice the dip of the horizon. The dip is known from the observer's
height above the sea-level. Suppose it to be 4', and that the reading
on the back arc is 5'; it should be twice the dip, or S': therefore the
zero position of the index for the back observation is at 3' on the
forward arc. This may be corrected by altering the second horizon-
glass, if there are the means of adjustment; that is, by making the
front and back sea-horizon coincide when the reading is S' on the back
arc. By moving the index forward, the reflected sun, which is behind
the observer, can be brought to touch the sea-horizon in front; and
the reading, when the index error has been corrected, is 180° the
sun's distance from the front horizon. Now this latter angle is evi-
Now this latter angle is evi-
dently 180° + 2 × dip-sun's altitude; hence it is clear the angle read
off is the sun's altitude above the horizon 2 x dip. Hence sun's
altitude dip (the altitude required) = angle read off + dip. If the
index error be not adjusted, the angle must be corrected for the index
error; in the preceding instance the 3′ must be added to the sun's
altitude. The back observation, however, though useful in certain
circumstances, is not much used at present, and many quadrants are
fitted up without the second vane and horizon-glass.
-
If a sextant be used in the manner we have attempted to describe,
the results will be found to be very satisfactory. The attentive reader
will see that the principle to be seized upon is that of always making
two observations at nearly the same time, in which the errors, except
the casual errors of making the contacts and of reading off, are the
same, but the effects of which on the final result are different. It is
not always convenient to afford the time which these balanced observa-
tions require; and, in fact, they are often impracticable. It will,
therefore, be well worth the careful observer's while to determine the
constant errors of his sextant, at different angles, where he has a good
opportunity, and to use this knowledge where circumstances do not
allow him to make a balanced set.
Very small sextants are sometimes fitted in a box, and are called
snuff-box sextants. These admit of considerable accuracy; but, except
in particular cases, they are not carefully adjusted, &c. The principle
SEXTANT.
496
is, of course, the same as in the larger sextants, and they have a small
telescope and dark glasses. It is desirable that the box should be wide
enough to admit a finger to wipe the glasses, especially when the snuff-
box sextant is used, as it frequently is, for maritime surveying. The
salt spray very soon clouds the glasses, and there is no light to spare.
For all sea-going purposes, except taking lunar distances, and for mili-
tary and maritime surveying, tlie snuff-box sextant will be found very
convenient and sufficiently accurate. If made with the utmost care,
and skilfully used, we think it capable of determining the latitude
within 1', and the time to 3s or 4; but an instrument-maker could
not be expected to take so much trouble, unless for a favourite
customer or for an expedition of some importance.
By
After the invention of Borda's repeating reflecting circle, Troughton,
who was averse to the principle, produced a non-repeating circle, which
he called the British circle; but it more commonly goes by his name.
This may be understood by conceiving the circle, of which the sextant
is a part, to be completed, and that while the telescope and glasses are
at the front of the instrument, the divisions and three equidistant
verniers attached to the index-glass are at the back. The observations
ought always to be made in pairs, and for this purpose there are two
handles, one to the front and another at the back. Thus, suppose it
were required to take the altitude of the sun; this is first observed
exactly as with the sextant, and the three verniers read off, the index-
glass being above the line which joins the telescope and horizon-glass.
Let the instrument be conceived to turn round this line through 180°,
then the index-glass is below, and with the face downwards.
moving the index backwards to zero, it will become parallel to the
horizon-glass, and continuing this motion until it is at the original
angle, but on the back arc, the sun will be brought down exactly as in
the former observation; when the contact is to be made with the
tangent-screw, and the indices again read off. By combining the
observations it is clear the index error is destroyed, and this is one
point of superiority to the sextant. Again, the three readings wholly
destroy any effect of excentricity, and very greatly diminish those
errors which may arise from accidental injury to the figure of the
circle, while the six readings greatly reduce the errors of division.
The errors caused by defects in the dark glasses and horizon-glass are
eliminated, and such as arise from a defect in the index-glass are
diminished, and this too by the principle of the instrument, using it
independently upon one object. These advantages are undoubtedly
very great; but the additional weight of the circle and trouble in
handling it, the trouble of reading three verniers for every observation,
the shortness of the radius, and consequent necessity of limiting the
subdivision to 20", seem to overbalance them in the opinion of most
seamen. We think that an intelligent observer will get results of
nearly equal value from the sextant or from Troughton's circle, but
that the sextant requires much care in selecting and balancing observa-
tions, which the circle does not. Whenever time or latitude is to be
deduced from observations of one object at one time, as where the
sun alone is used on geographical expeditions, or where lunar distances
are taken from the sun alone, or from one star, the sextant cannot
enter into comparison with the circle. A very excellent Spanish
observer, Don J. J. Ferrer, determined the obliquity of the ecliptic
with one of Troughton's circles more accurately than the Greenwich
quadrant could do, at a time when that quadrant was still the prin-
cipal declination instrument in the Royal Observatory. And if frequent
reading off is not too great an objection, Troughton's circle may be
recommended as the safer and more independent instrument, and as
demanding less thought and care from the observer.
We have already, in the article REPEATING CIRCLE, described the
original discovery of the principle by Tobias Mayer, and his first appli-
cation of it. After Mayer had greatly improved the lunar tables, he
proposed the following construction for measuring the angle between
the moon and any other object with the greatest exactness. (Tabulæ
motuum Solis et Lunæ, auctore Tobias Mayer,' London, 1770.)
The
instrument is an entire circle, on the centre of which the index-bar
turns, the index-glass being over the centre. The telescope and
horizon-glass are fixed on a second bar, which also turns, but excen-
trically, on the same centre. The two bars can be clamped indepen-
dently of each other, and each in any position, and there is an index or
fiducial line to each, by which the divisions of the circle may be read
off. Now, suppose a distance between the moon and suu to be required
(the dark shades, &c., may be understood from what has been said on
the sextant): First, having fixed the index-bar at zero, bring the
horizon-glass to be parallel to it by observing the sun (as in deter-
mining index correction); then move forward the index-bar, and
observe the distance between the moon and sun's nearest limbs, as
with the sextant. If the angle were now read off, we should have the
simple distance affected with the whole error of graduation, and obtain
no advantage over the sextant. By moving the horizon-bar, bring the
two glasses to be parallel exactly as before, and make the measure
between the limbs of the moon and sun also as before, by moving the
index-bar alone. The angle, if read off now, would be twice the angle
required, but the errors of division and reading off would be only those
which affect the first and last position of the index-bar. In this way
the angle may be repeated as often as you please, until the bars have
travelled ouce, twice, or even oftener round the circle; and it is evident
that the errors of division and reading off are those at the first and
SEXTANT.
498
497
SEXTANT.
last position of the index-bar, and those alone, which may be as inope-
rative on the measurement of the angle as the observer pleases or has
patience for. This would seem a great advantage; but when Bird was
ordered to make a circle on this model, the divisions were found to be
so good that repetition added little to the accuracy of which a single
observation was capable, and the fresh determination of a position of
parallelism after every observation was too much trouble to be taken
when not absolutely necessary. The reflecting circle of Mayer was not
adopted in England, but great pains were employed in constructing
and dividing the sextant, in which our artists were eminently suc-
cessful.
In France it is probable that the art of instrument-making was at
this time less advanced, and therefore the merit of Mayer's principle
was more readily appreciated. The celebrated Borda, who was a seaman
and navigator, first had an improved instrument on this construction
made about 1775,* aud published a full description of its form and use
in 1787 (Description et Usage du Cercle de Réflexion, par le Chevalier
de Borda,' Paris, 1787), to which we refer the reader as a standard
and classical work. The accompanying figure will explain Borda's
instrument, though it is not precisely similar to that which he
recommended.
Five-Inch Diameter.
Borda's Reflecting Circle, by Troughton and Simms.
The index-glass, with its bar, vernier, and tangent screw, and the
excentric bar which carries the telescope, horizon-glass, with its vernier
and tangent screw, require no explanation. The telescope has a
parallel-ruler motion to bring the images to equal brightness, which is,
we believe, Bird's construction. Borda holds his telescope by two cars,
each of which can be raised or depressed separately, and he has a
graduation for each, so as to move them equal quantities. Dollond, in
his very beautiful repeating circles, has an up-and-down piece above
the bar. The important and essential conditions of the repeating
circle are, that moving one index shall in no way affect the other; that
the clamps when fixed shall not be liable to move from looseness, bad
* Now suppose the instrument to
division and reading off can apply.
be returned to its original position, and, leaving the index-bar securely
clamped, move the horizon-bar, which carries the telescope and horizon-
glass, through the same angle and in the same direction as the index-
bar has travelled. If the original object be again viewed through the
telescope, and the contact between that and A perfected by the tangent
screw of the horizon-bar, it is clear that everything is exactly as at
starting, except that the index and horizon-bar have each moved over
the divided circle exactly twice the angle to be measured. Let the
operation which has been described be repeated, and everything will be
as at starting, except that the indices will have moved over four times
the angle, and it is evident that there is no limit to the number of
repetitions except the will of the observer. So that, theoretically at
least, the influence of bad division, bad centering, and bad reading off
upon the final angle may be reduced below any sensible quantity.
There is another very considerable advantage, namely, that there are
only two readings off of each vernier † for any number of repetitions.
On looking at the figure again it will be seen that the rays of light
which fall on the index-glass pass between the telescope and the horizon-
glass, and there is a particular angle at which they pass through the
horizon-glass before falling on the index-glass. This occasions some
inconvenience, as the reflected image in that case is scarcely ever quite
perfect, and if the sun be the reflected object, the interposed dark glass
increases the imperfection. When Borda's circle is used in the hand
for observing altitudes, the instrument is to be held alternately in the
left and right hand for the crossed observations, but in taking luuar
distances there is the same difficulty as in the sextant when the face
is downwards. A handle with curved tube may however be applied
pretty much as in Troughton's circle, and if it is fixed into a collar
which turns on the centre, it may be kept out of the way of the
telescope, &c. There is a part of this circle which, though not actually
necessary, will be found of great convenience, the graduated semicircular
are which is attached to the horizon-bar. The index-bar, either by its
edge or by a fiducial line, points out the reading on the semicircle, and
shows 0 on each side when the glasses are parallel. By the help of
this it is easy to set roughly to any angle on one side or the other, and
thus save the trouble which nice setting would require, or seeking for
an object, which is still more troublesome. In some circles two small
pieces which slide easily can be fixed on this semicircle, and the proper
opening is given by the touch alone, that is, when the index-bar just
feels the stop. But there is always a risk of forcing a clamp which is
supposed to be fixed, by the slightest touch, and therefore we prefer
setting by a coarse-reading. As the chronometer must be noted and
read off at every observation, there will generally be light enough for
this purpose. Borda's original circles were much too large, and very
weak and ugly. Six inches diameter seems to us quite sufficient for
an instrument of this construction, which is intended to be used
according to its principle. The telescope and glasses are nearly the
same for all sizes, and the repetition reduces the errors of division and
reading off so rapidly that we should prefer rather a coarse division,
to a one. A boldly cut division to 30" would
balancing, or bad centering when the position of the circle is changed; | probably be best for general purposes; the circle should be as light as

and that the axis the and the collar on
horizon-bar turns shall both be so true, and of such a length, that the
motions of each bar are parallel to the plane of the divided circle.
The same precautions must be taken as in the sextant in trying the
index and horizon glasses, in placing the prismatic edges of the dark
glasses up and down alternately, in setting the glasses perpendicular to
the plane of the circle, and the telescope parallel to it: and it is
scarcely necessary to add, that the directions given above for using
dark glasses, equalising brightness, &c., apply to one reflecting instru-
ment as well as another. The cells into which the dark glasses are
inserted, when wanted, are seen between the two glasses and also in
front of the horizon-glass.
On looking at Borda's circle as it is here represented, the opening of
the angle between the two glasses is towards the spectator; hence an
observer looking through the telescope would see an object directly in
the line of the telescope, and some other object, call it A, which lies
towards the spectator, by reflexion. Now suppose the index-bar to
be moved through the position of parallelism and until the glasses
make the same angle as before, but with the opening from the
spectator, it is clear, first, that the angle read off between the first and
second positions will be twice the original angle; and secondly, that
the observer, still looking at the same object as before seen directly,
will see by reflexion an object on his right hand (call it B), which
makes the same angle with the axis of the telescope as a did, but on
the other side. Now if we suppose the whole instrument to turn
half round upon the telescope as an axis, it is evident that a will be
seen exactly as at first, while the index-bar has been moved forwards
twice the angle between A and the axis of the telescope produced.
This is exactly the complete observation with Troughton's circle, and
thus while we have got double the angle by two observations, we have
got rid of index error, and have only two readings to which error of
Borda's alterations were apparently very simple: he drew the telescope
back until its object-glass fell short of the index-glass, while Mayer's projected
beyond it, and he carried the horizon-glass forward almost to the edge of the
circle, which Mayer planted close before his telescope. Yet these slight modi-
fications completely changed the instrument.
ARTS AND SCI. DIV. VOL. VII.,
is consistent with strength, but the main points to be looked to are
the independence of the index and horizon-bars, the truth and per-
pendicularity of the centerings, and the firmness of the clamps.
Whether the want of balance in both bars, and especially the horizon-
bar, is wholly innoxious, is a point of some doubt, otherwise there
would seem to be no theoretical objection to a well-made repeating
circle. Hitherto this instrument has not been much used in England.
By some it may have been thought more troublesome than the
sextant; it has generally been made too large and cumbersome, and
perhaps prejudice may be added as one of the causes why it has not
been properly valued. At the same time, though warm partisans of
the repeating principle, we conceive that the results with a repeating
circle will not be superior to those which may be attained by the sextant
or by Troughton's circle when in the best hands; but it is more inde-
pendent, requires less thought and care and skill than the sextant, and
is neither so troublesome nor so cumbrous as Troughton's circle.
An alteration was proposed in Troughton's construction by Mr.
Hasslar, director of the survey of the coast of the United States. The
circle turns freely round the centre, and is clamped at pleasure either
Some observers use the repeating circle as a sextant. They change the
readings from time to time by altering the position of the horizon-bar and
determining the zero position of the index-bar. This mode of observing will
undoubtedly tend to destroy errors of division and excentricity, but it is a com-
plete sacrifice of the best qualitics of a repeating circle. At any rate index
crror should be destroyed in the way we have pointed out, which would be some
Borda calls the pair
compensation for the reduced radius of the divided are.
observations croisées, or crossed observations.
The index-vernier is usually read off and the horizon vernier neglected.
Lieutenant Raper has pointed out the following use of the second vernier.
Place the glasses parallel and read off both verniers; then if you wish to
measure two angles rapidly, observe one by moving the index-bar, and the
other by moving the horizon-bar. In observing altitudes of two stars in
uncertain weather and in maritime surveying, this recommendation may be of
great service. Let the greater angle be first measured by moving the index-
bar, then the angle moved over by the index-bar is the greater angle, and the
difference between this angle and that moved over by the horizon-bar is the
less angle.
KK
L
¿
499
SEXTON.
to the frame which supports the horizon-glass and telescope, or to the
index-bar which carries the index-glass. The arrangement is exceedingly
ingenious, but we suspect that the clamping and unclamping must
affect each other, notwithstanding the beauty of the workmanship.
They are also made much too heavy for the hand, and, considering
the principle, unnecessarily so. Mr. Hasslar employed them, we
believe, in his survey, but we have not heard of their use elsewhere.
The idea of a moveable or flying circle was probably taken from De
Mendoza Rios, who proposed a flying vernier, as well as circle. (Phil.
Trans.' 1801, p. 362.) The complication of this construction, and the
practical objections to it, were, we presume, fatal to its adoption; for
we are not aware that it has ever been successfully used. In observing
altitudes at sea, it is presumed that the horizon is always visible, which
in hazy weather, or in dark nights, is frequently not the case. There
have been several proposals for overcoming the difficulty by adapting a
plumb-line or level to the sextant when required.
Several modifications, additions, and supposed improvements have
been made in this class of instruments, but none of sufficient import-
ance to require notice here. The sextant and circle, such as we have
described them, are sufficient for the cases which practically occur;
and without disputing the ingenuity and even utility of certain
modifications in peculiar and exceptional cases, we believe that there
is little to be gained by such alterations as have been hitherto
proposed.
For reducing observations made with reflecting instruments, we must
refer to the usual works on nautical astronomy. The tables of Thomp-
son, or Riddle, or Inman, or Raper, will afford sufficient information.
Borda's memoir, already mentioned, should be carefully studied by
every one who proposes to use a repeating circle; and Troughton's
article CIRCLE, in Brewster's Edinburgh Encyclopædia,' will be found
of great value, especially as a guide to the circle known by his name.
We have ventured very frequently to modify their opinions and
directions, and the intelligent reader may decide for himself.
<
SEXTON, an officer of the church, whose name is supposed to be a
contraction of sacristan, the name of the person who in ancient times
had the care of the sacred vessels and other things used in religious
services. The greater simplicity of Protestant ceremonies has rendered
this duty one of small importance, and it is now usually performed by
the parish clerk; so that the sexton has sunk into an officer whose
chief business it is to see to the preparation of graves and to assist in
depositing the corpses. To him also belongs the care of sweeping the
church, and other similar menial offices.
SEYCHELLE COCOA-NUT is a fruit of one of the palms
(Lodoicea Sechellarum), respecting which fabulous accounts were
formerly related. Many marvellous inedical virtues were ascribed to
these nuts by the physicians of the age, both Asiatic and European,
and they were consequently sold at a high price. At present they
form only objects of curiosity, and are well-known under the name
of double cocoa-nuts. To the inhabitants of the Seychelle Islands the
tree is useful for its timber, which is hard externally, and employed
in building their huts and for posts; the leaves and their footstalks are
used for the roof, walls, and partitions, and for many other domestic
purposes. The nuts weigh from 20 to 25 pounds each, and, when
fresh, contain a white, transparent, and jelly-like substance, which is
edible. The shells are employed in making vessels and dishes of
various kinds, and the entire nuts form articles, of commerce, as
they are esteemed in other countries both for their fabled virtues and
as curiosities.
SHADOWS, PROJECTION OF. [PERSPECTIVE.]
SHAGREEN. [LEATHER MANUFACTURE.]
SHAKE, in music, the alternate and rapid iteration of two sounds
which are not less than a semitone, or more than a whole tone, apart.
This grace-for as such it is considered-is generally introduced at a
pause, and should commence rather slowly, and inercase in rapidity as
it proceeds, always concluding with a turn. Ex. :—
tr.
The sign of the shake is a t and an r conjoined, the two first letters
of the Italian trillo, or the French trille, both signifying the same as
the English term.
SHAKERS, a religious sect which arose in Lancashire about the
year 1747. As the individuals of whom it at first consisted had pre-
viously been Quakers, they were sometimes called Shaking Quakers,
but more commonly Shakers, from the violent shaking of their bodies
in their religious exercises. In 1758 they were joined by Ann Lee, a
native of Manchester, whose reputation gradually increased, together
with the numbers of the sect, till, in 1770, she laid claim to divine
inspiration, and called herself Ann the Word. In 1774, in conse-
quence of the persecution to which they were subjected, she and some
of her followers set sail from Liverpool for New York, where they
arrived in safety. Ann Lee fixed her residence at Watervliet, on the
Hudson, not far from Albany, and died at Watervliet in 1784. Their
SHEATHING.
500
communities are called families. The property of each 'family' is
held in common; and as the members, who are both males and
females, are all single persons, celibacy being strictly enjoined, the
numbers can only be kept up by converts. They are generally dis-
tinguished for good conduct in the common business of life. They
agree with the Quakers in their abhorrence of war, their objection to
take oaths, and in the belief of the direct influence of the Holy Spirit.
Instead of the original violent shaking, they now move round their
hall of worship in a regular and uniform dance to the singing of a
hymn, clapping their hands in unison. There are some of the sect yet
in Great Britain. No statement of the numbers of Shakers i given
in the last census reports of either Great Britain or the United States;
but several years ago there were said to be 6000 Shakers in the
United States, comprised in fifteen 'families,'
SHAMOY. [LEATHER MANUFACTURE.]
SHARP, a character in music (#), used to raise, by the degree of a
semitone, any note in the natural scale. Before the character of the
natural was introduced, the sharp was also employed to contradict
the flat. When sharps are placed at the clef, they are always taken,
according to the number required, in the following order :-
•
1st. 2nd. 3rd. 4th. 5th. Cth. 7th.
F C G D A E B
The DOUBLE SHARP, the character for which is a cross ( x ), is used
in chromatic music, and raises a note two semitones above its natural
state. Thus c double sharp
pro-
is, practically-though not strictly so in theory-D natural. [FLAT.]
SHAWL MANUFACTURE. The Hindoos have been the instructors
of our manufacturers in the production of shawls. There are two
modes of working the pattern in an Indian shawl; the one by em-
broidering it upon the material, and the other by working it into the
web during the process of weaving. The first mode is a sort of needle-
work, and forms the less valuable kind of Indian shawl. In the
duction of the more costly kind, a number of skewers made of ivory
or wood, about the size of a common packing-needle, are used; they
arc sharpened at both ends, and covered with different coloured wools.
With these simple aids, the pattern is worked stitch by stitch into the
web. The backs of these shawls show the effect of this minute and
laborious handicraft, and present a totally different appearance from
the European shawls, the patterns of which are woven entirely on the
loom. These Indian shawls are mostly made from the inner hair of a
goat reared on the dry cold table-land of Tibet, obtained after the
long shaggy outer hair has been removed. No hair obtained from
goats reared elsewhere has ever equalled this. Each goat yields about
2 lbs. per year. The best hair sells for 1 rupee per pound in Tibet.
The wool is worked up into shawls in Cashmere, Lahore, and Delhi;
especially the first named. Sometimes a sum equal to 3007. English
will be given for a real Cashmere shawl.
Paisley excels all other towns in the United Kingdom in the manu-
facture of shawls, in quantity and (with one exception) in quality. The
common kinds are woven in the power loom; while the finer kinds
require the more detailed aid of the hand loom weaver. In the common
shawls cotton is mixed with the wool; but for the finer articles the
best wool of Germany, of Australia, and even of Cashmere, is employed.
Some of the finest of these shawls are equal to anything produced in
any other country, The Paisley weavers are mainly dependent on
French patterns, which they modify in details; but the School of
Design in that town is gradually training up a corps of designers whose
taste may influence in an important degree the shawl manufacture.
The printing of shawls has not been much attended to until within the
last few years; but now this art is carried to a very high pitch of excel-
lence. At first it was adopted only for the commoner kinds of Scotch
shawls. Red woollen shawls, printed in black designs for borders and
centres, were at one time much in vogue. Then came imitations of
them in cotton dyed Turkey red. Then chintz styles, upon white and
light-coloured grounds. Next came in a fashion of printing the
warp
threads before the weaving. At length the manufacturers succeeded
in producing blocks which would imitate the elaborate Cashmere
pattern; this gave a great impetus to the printed shawl trade. Many
establishments in Scotland now attend to this branch of manufacture,
and strive to obtain new and good designs. The principal shawl-
printing establishment in England is at Crayford in Kent, where as
inany as a hundred blocks, and sixteen hundred printings, or applica-
tions of the several blocks, have, in some instances, been necessary for
the production of a single pattern. What an amount of labour is here
involved, may be seen by referring to CALICO PRINTING.
SHEATHING. Owing to the great expense of copper sheathing,
which has the effect of limiting its use in mercantile shipping, many
attempts have been made to substitute for it either other metals, or
alloys in which it is mixed with cheaper metals, or with such as might
increase its durability.
increase its durability. Mr. Robert Mushet directs that 100 lbs. of
copper should be alloyed either with 2 oz. of zinc, 4 oz. of antimony,
8 oz. of arsenic, or 2 oz. of grain-tin; or instead of using one of these

501
E02
SHEERS.
SHEKEL.
separately, that the whole be used together in the proportion of half an
ounce each of the zinc and tin, 1 oz. of the antimony, and 2 oz. of
the arsenic, to 100 lbs. of copper. By these mixtures, Mr. Mushet
states that the copper is rendered much more cohesive and fibrous in
its texture, and that the corrosive effect of the sea-water is in a great
measure prevented. The metallic sheathing patented by Mr. Pope,
consists either of tin and zinc, or of tin, lead, and zinc. If the former
mixture be used, the zinc is first melted, an equal quantity of tin is
added to it, and the alloy, after being stirred while fluid, is cast into
cakes about three-quarters of an inch thick, which are hammered or
rolled out to the required degree of tenuity. In uniting tin, lead,
and zinc, the lead is first melted, double its quantity of tin is then
added, and the alloy is cast into small lumps. A quantity of zinc
equal to the tin and lead united is then separately melted, and the
alloy of tin and lead is added to it; the whole, when thoroughly
incorporated, being cast into cakes as before, for subsequent rolling out
into sheets.
Iron, protected by the galvanic action of zinc, has also been used for
sheathing. Mr. Pattison proposed to use sheets of iron similar in size
to the sheets of copper sheathing, each having at its lower extremity a
sheet of zinc from one-eighth to one fourth of an inch thick, attached
in such a way that in sheathing the vessel from the upper part down-
wards, each succeeding sheet of iron shall be in contact with, and
overlap, the zinc plate of the sheet immediately above it. Washers or
perforated discs of zinc are also applied under the heads of the spikes
or bolts used in fastening the sheathing; and the heads of the nails
employed are made hollow, and filled with melted zinc.
Sheathing of brown paper coated with tar, and of various other non-
metallic substances, has also been used. Perhaps the most important
of these is a kind of felt, into the composition of which a considerable
quantity of cow-hair enters. As this material itself felts very
imperfectly, the sheets are passed, in the process of manufacture,
through a boiler of pitch or tar, which increases the cohesion of the
fabric. This material, which is sometimes used in conjunction with
copper sheathing, being laid on immediately beneath it, has the
important qualities of being a perfect protection against the worm, and
of being at once impermeable to water, and so extensible as not to be
easily broken by the working which takes place among the timbers of
a crazy ship. A sheathing composed of a coarse fabric of fibrous
material, saturated with a solution of caoutchouc, together with
pitch and tar, has been recommended as a cheap and effectual substi-
tute for felt..
t
Copper sheathing is usually applied in sheets about four feet long
and fourteen inches wide, the thickness being such that a square foot
weighs from sixteen to thirty-two ounces,-most commonly from
twenty to twenty-eight ounces; and the mode of application does not
vary materially whether the copper be laid upon the bare planking or
upon an interposed layer of tarred paper, felt, or thin boarding. The
sheets are pierced with holes, not only round the edges, but also at
intervals of three or four inches over the whole surface; they are laid
so as to overlap each other about an inch, and are secured to the ship
with flat-headed copper-nails. Great regularity is observed in the
arrangement of the sheets, so that a certain symmetry of appearance,
as well as durability, is attained. After two voyages to the East
Indies, or an equivalent amount of voyaging elsewhere, the coppering
requires to be-renewed; and the old copper is found to have lost
three or four ounces of its weight in the square foot, by the action
of sea-water, friction, and other causes.
All the copper sheathing for the Royal Navy-that is, for the ships
built at the royal dockyards-is made at an establishment called the
metal mills, in Chatham Dockyard.
SHEERS, or SHEARS, a contrivance used for hoisting the masts of
a ship into or out of their place, and occasionally for loading and
unloading heavy goods. The sheers used in masting vessels consist of
two large poles, the lower ends of which rest upon thick planks laid
along the sides of the deck; while their upper ends are lashed
together so as to cross each other exactly over the hole in the deck
through which the mast is to be dropped; they being sustained in
this position by ropes radiating from the top to various parts of the
vessel. To this apparatus is attached the tackle necessary for lifting
the masts out of the water, when they have been floated to the side
of the ship, and lowering them gently into their places. This is the
apparatus commonly employed in masting merchant-ships; but the
like operation is sometimes performed by means of a sheer-hulk and
sometimes by a masting-house. The sheer-hulk is an old man-of-war
cut down to the lower deck, having a mast fixed in the hulk, and four
stout spars or sheers which project obliquely from its side. The tops
of these sheers reach to such a height and project to such a distance
from the side of the hulk, that the vessel to be masted can come
beneath them to be fitted with her lower masts. A masting-house is a
lofty building erected for the purpose of performing the operation
inore conveniently, by the aid of mechanism overhanging the water to
a considerable distance, beneath which ships may be floated.
SHEET-METAL. [COPPER; IRON; LEAD; TINNING AND TIN
PLATE.]
obscurity. The almost uniform testimony of ancient authors is that the
shekel was equal to the Attic tetradrachm, or to the stater, or half the
Roman ounce, that is to 4 denarii, which were reckoned at the period
equal to four Attic drachmæ. The Septuagint indeed commonly
renders the shekel by the didrachm current at Alexandria, which was
double of the Attic. Hesychius, in one passage, makes it equal to
four, and in others to two Attic drachmæ; and Suidas makes it five
drachmæ. But the testimony of Hesychius and Suidas is of no value
against that of St. Matthew, Josephus, Philo, and the other contempo-
rary authorities. The average weight of the shekels of Simon Macca-
bæus is about 218 English grains, or half the English avoirdupois
ounce, and only two grains more than the Roman ounce, or the
weight assigned to the shekel by ancient writers. But the full weight
of the Attic tetradrachm, to which the shekel is said to have been
equal, was not the full one of 266 grains of the time of Pericles or
Xenophon, but the reduced one under the Roman emperors, which was
always considered as equivalent to the four denarii.
With respect to the shekel of the time before the Captivity, we have
no certain information. The Rabbins say that after the Captivity all
weights were increased by one-fifth; but there are many circumstances
which prove this tradition to be of no value. In the absence of trust-
worthy information to the contrary, it is most probable that the
ancient and the modern shekel were of the same weight, namely,
about 218 grains.
The shekel formed the foundation of the Hebrew weights, of which
there were three principal denominations: the shekel () meaning
weight; the maneh (7), number, that is, a certain number of shekels
or weights; and the kikkar (790), a round number, or sum total, that
is, a certain collection of manehs, translated by the word "talent" in
the Septuagint, Vulgate, and modern versions. The shekel, maneh,
and kikkar corresponding respectively to the stater, mina, and talent.
The kikkar was equal to 3000 shekels. (Exod. xxxviii. 25.) There
is a difficulty about the maneh, since from 1 Kings x. 16, compared
with 2 Chron. ix. 16, it would seem to have contained 100 shekels,
while in Ezekiel xlv. 12, it is ordered to contain 60 shekels. There
are great difficulties in adopting the former value, and on the other
hand the meaning of the passage in Ezekiel is very doubtful. If the
latter value be adopted, the kikkar would contain 50 manehs. The
shekel was subdivided into the beka (272, half), or half-shekel, or
didrachm, the raba (27, quarter), or quarter-shekel, or drachm (the
zuz or zuza of the Talmudists), and the gerah (T), a kind of bean),
or the twentieth of the shekel, or obolos. The following table there-
fore represents the Hebrew weights :-
Value in
Shekels.
Value in English
Averdupois Weight.
Name
lbs. oz.
grs.
Gerah
0 0
10.94
Reba or Zuza
0
0 0
51.71
Beka
0
0
109.43
Shekel
1
0
03/
Manch
Kikkar or Talent
GO?
3000
1 14
93 12
There appear however to have been at least two standards of the
shekel, the shell of the sanctuary and the royal or profane shekel.
(Exod. xxx. 13; 2 Sam. xiv. 26.) The former was used in calculating
the offerings to the Temple, and all other sums connected with the
sacred law; the latter, for the tribute and civil payments. The tradi-
tion of the Rabbins is that the shekel of the sanctuary was double the
profane shekel. By comparing the passages in Kings and Ezekiel
quoted above, understanding the former of the profane shekel, and
the latter of the shekel of the sanctuary, the process gives 100: 60 or
5: 3 for the ratio of the shekel of the sanctuary to the profane
shekel.
The currency of the Jews from the earliest ages was silver, and this
word expressed money. It is, however, nowhere mentioned as coined,
but always as weighed out, till after the Captivity (Josh. vii. 21;
1 Kings xx. 39; Ezek. xlv. 15; Zechariah xi. 12), although some-
stamps appear to have been impressed on the ingots (Gen. xxiii. 16),
or they were made up in the shape of rings, or nezem (Job xlii. 11,
Septuagint). Gold money is first mentioned in David's time (1 Chron.-
xxi. 25; Isaiah xlvi. 6) under the name of J12778, adarkon, or
11271, darkemon, supposed to be gold daries, or drachms, neither
of which however were in existence at the period, although both were
probably current when the Chronicles were written or revised. The
earliest Hebrew coins are the silver shekels of Simon Maccabous, to
whom the right of striking money had been conceded by Demetrius II,
or Antiochus VII. (1 Maccab. xv. 6). These have on one side the
supposed pot of manna, or, rather, gold and gemmed sacred vessel given
by Simeon (1 Maccab. xiv. 15), with the legend pri, shekel
Ishra, "the shekel of Israel," and the initial letters of the year; and,
on the other, the supposed Aaron's rod which budded, or, rather,
the lilly of the valley of Israel (Isaiah xxxv. 1), and the legend
SHEKEL (7), the principal weight and coin of the Hebrews., Jerusalem haqodesha, "Jerusalem the holy."
The subject of Hebrew weights and money is involved in great added to the word shekel. The inscriptions are in the Samaritan,
•
The half shekels have the same types and legends, with khatzi, half,
$
503
SHELL.
and not in the square or Chaldee form, as it is called, of the Hebrew.
No shekels of this dynasty are known later than the fourth year,
after which the right of coining silver was suppressed, the Idumean line
only issuing small pieces of copper; but there are later shekels of
Barkozib or Barchochebas, who revolted under Hadrian, of broader and
flatter shape, having on one side the wheatsheaf, or, rather, lulav,
composed of palm, olive, and myrtle branches, with the legend
, Jerusalem, and on the reverse the beautiful gate of the
temple, with four Doric columns and a star, allusive to the star of
Jacob, with the legend
bab nna naw, shenat, akhat
legulat Ishracl,"
"the year one of the redemption of Israel," in a later
form of Samaritan: these weigh 2134 grains. The same Barkozib
also recoined Roman denarii, for rabas, or quarter shekels, with a
bunch of grapes on one side and the legend 7, Simeon, and on
SHERIFF.
504
paliotis has an iridescent surface which fits it for use as a substitute
for mother-of-pearl in inlaid work. The helmet shell supplies pieces
large enough for umbrella-handles; and thinner portions as ornaments
for workboxes and other trinkets. Smoked films from oyster-shells
are used for large coat-buttons. The clam shells, often of very large
size, are used in Roman Catholic countries as receptacles for holy-water;
while some, perfectly white, are cut up for arm-rings and other orna-
ments. The fibres with which many kinds of shell-fish attach them-
selves to rocks, such as those of the pinna, are fine and strong enough
to be worked up in the manner of silk. The chank shells of India are
cut up into bangles, armlets, bracelets, anklets, finger-rings, toe-rings,
&c., sometimes carved and gilt, or otherwise decorated. The fishery of
chank shells, off Ceylon, is a very valuable one; seeing that some of
the choice specimens are valued at their weight in gold. [CEYLON, in
GEOG. DIV.] Shell cameos are noticed under CAMEO.
Considered as a working material, all shell is placed in one or other
of two categories, porcelanous or nacreous. The porcelanous shells
contain much lime and little animal matter; they are brittle, translu-
cent, smooth, and not easily cut, and much resemble the enamel of
teeth. They can only be worked on the lapidary method, with small
grinding wheels. The nacreous shells, partaking of the nature of
mother-of-pearl, contain less lime and more animal matter; they are
tougher, softer, and iridescent; they may be easily sawn, scraped, and
filed; and can then be polished with sand or pumice and water.
[LAPIDARY WORK.]
לחרות ירושלם the other two trumpets crossed, or a lyre with
lekharut Ishrael," the liberty of Israel."
It is as well to mention here that all pretended shekels or half
shekels, with inscriptions in the square characters, are modern forgeries
of the last two centuries, made by Dutch and German Jews for the
purpose of deceiving the unwary collectors of ancient coins. According
to the Rabbi Raschi the shekel was the same as the Tyrian of 24 obols
or main, but St. Jerome (in Mica. proph. v. 14) makes the shekel equal
to 20 obols, or 4 rabas of 5 obols each: 20 gerahs, the supposed largest
bronze coins of the Hebrew series, went to the shekel; and the gerah
itself was subdivided into the khatzi or half, and raba or fourth, both
of which expressions are found on the copper coins. There is a sup-
posed third of a shekel, but it appears a nominal sum paid for the
capitation tax, Nehem. x. 32, after the captivity. There is some diffi-
culty in deciding upon what standard the shekel was adopted; the
ancient Egyptian kati or sati, of 140 grs., by no means corresponds,
and the Phoenician seems too heavy, although the weight is said
to correspond with the tetradrachms of Antiochus VII. struck in
Phoenicia.
If we assume that the standard was about the same as that of the
Roman money, namely, th of the weight alloy, the shekel of half an
avoirdupois ounce would be equivalent to 210.983 grains of pure silver,
of a shilling, that is, to 2s. 7d. 149 farthings. According
to this calculation, the following table represents the value of the
Hebrew money :-
or
210.9$3
80-7
Gerah
Reba
Beka
Shekel
Maneh.
•
Kikkar or Talent
£ s. d. farthings.
shekel
0 0 1
2.27
0 0 7
3.36
"
0 1 3
2.72
0
2 7
1.19
•8
60 shekels =
7 16 10
3000 shekels = 396 5 10
(Hussey, On Ancient Weights and Money; Winer, Biblisches Real-
wörterbuch, art. Sekel; Calmet's Dictionary; Jahn, Archäol. Bibl.;
Jennings's Jewish Antiquities; Cavedoni, Numismata Biblica, 8vo., Mo-
dena, 1850; De Sauley, Recherches sur la Numismatique Judaique, 4to.,
Paris, 1854.)
SHELL, a hollow globe of iron, containing gunpowder, which is
introduced at an orifice formed in the ball. In this orifice is driven
or screwed the fuse or tube containing the composition by which the
powder in the shell is ignited [FUZE]; and the shell, after being dis-
charged from a gun, howitzer, or mortar, is consequently made to
burst in pieces when it falls upon or near the object to be destroyed.
The diameters of shells for guns vary from 3 inches to 10 inches, and
the weight of a 10-inch shell is 70 lbs. The diameters of shells for
mortars and howitzers vary from 4 to 13 inches, and the weight of a
13-inch shell is 200 lbs. The diameters for carronades, which are now
never used, varied from 3 inches to 8 inches. [BOMB; CASE-SHOT;
SHRAPNEL-SHELL.] The shells for RIFLED ORDNANCE are described
under that head.
SHELL-LAC. [LAC.]
SHELLS, Economical uses of. Shells are applied to several useful
purposes, and to still more of an ornamental character. Some of them
furnish dyes and pigments. The purpurce contain an intense purple
dye, in a few drops of liquid enclosed within a vein or sac in the fish.
The murex yields various shades of purple and crimson. The cuttle-
Jish supplies the well-known sepia, of intense blackness. The beautiful
substance called mother-of-pearl is described under PEARL FISHERY.
The large proportion of lime in many shells renders them useful in
making cement, and also as a fertiliser in agriculture. Shell-sand, pro-
duced by the natural crumbling of shells on the sea-shore, gives
moderate fertility to many spots otherwise barren. Ground cockle and
mussel shells are sometimes used as a covering for gravel walks. Cowry
shells, inexhaustibly abundant on the shores of Asia and Africa, are
used in India for the purposes of money, at an average value of about
200 for an English penny. The same cowries may be converted into a
glaze for earthenware, and an enamel for clock-faces. A calcareous
spongy plate found in the cuttle-fish is used by workmen as a substitute
for emery-paper or sand-paper. The conch shell is in some countries
used as a horn or trumpet; as in the West Indies, where on some
plantations the negroes are summoned to work by a "conch-blow." The
|
is a beverage composed chiefly of water, lemon-juice, and sugar, with
SHERBET, as made in Persia, Turkey, and other eastern countries,
the addition of other ingredients to render it more pleasant to the taste;
such as the pulp of fruits, perfumed cakes, amber, rose-water, &c.
SHERIF, an Arabic word which means "noble, illustrious," and a
title given throughout Arabia, Egypt, and Barbary, to those who are
descended from the Mohammedan prophet. In Turkey they are called
amirs, that is, princes, and enjoy great privileges, such as not being
subject to the payment of taxes; not being obliged to appear before a
judge, unless he be one of their class; wearing a green turban and
slippers; occupying a superior place in the mosque, &c. As men and
women of this caste often contract marriage with persons who are not
members of the same, and the title of sherif is inherited from either
of the parents, the number of persons who enjoy this distinction has
become very considerable in Turkey, Syria, and Egypt, where they
may be found employed in the lowest offices. It is one of the privi-
leges of Mecca to be governed by a sherif of the posterity of Hasan,
soir of Ali Ibn Abi Talib, which family enjoys the sole right to the
throne. His dominions comprehend, besides the capital, Mecca,
Medina, Jambo, Tayif, Sadie, Ghunfude, Hali, and thirteen other
smaller districts, all situated in the Hejáz. His principal revenue
consists of a tax imposed upon every pilgrim, and the presents made
by Mohammedan princes.
SHERIFF, the Shire-Reve (scyr-gerefa), from the Saxon word
reafan, “to levy, to seize," whence also greve. The German word is
graf. The gerefa seems to have been a fiscal officer. In the Saxon
period he represented the lord of a district, whether township or
hundred, at the folkmote of the county; and within his district he
levied the lord's dues, and performed some of his judicial functions.
(Palgrave, Rise and Progr.,' i. 82.) He was usually not appointed by
the lord; but elected by the freeholders of the district; and (accom-
panied by four of them) was required to be present on its behalf, as
well as on the lord's, at the folkmote or county court. In like manner
the Saxon prince or king employed in the shires or larger districts his
gerefa or reve, who levied his dues, fines, and amerciaments; to whom
his writs were addressed; who exercised on his behalf regal rights in
the shire, for the preservation of the peace and the punishment of
offenders; presided over the courts-leet or views of frankpledge, and
(at least in the absence of the earl in ancient times, and since the
Conquest instead of the earl) presided over the hundred and county
courts. It is difficult to determine how far the functions of the
sheriff were concurrent with and how far derived from the ealderman
or earl of Saxon and Danish times; and the confusion between these
offices has been increased by the translation, in our ancient laws, of
the word sheriff in the Latin into vice comes, and in Norman French
into visconte or viscount (deputy of the earl); whereas certainly many
of the sheriff's powers even in Saxon times were derived from the
freeholders, or from the crown alone, and the word graf (gerefa) in
German was equivalent to our earl. That before and for a century
after the Conquest the sheriff had powers independent of the earl,
is obvious from the fact, that in the circuit (tourn) which he made
periodically (Spelman's G., Vice Comes') of his shire for the adminis
tration of justice (as the Saxon king made a circuit of his realm), he
was accompanied not only by the freeholders, but by the bishop, the
earl, and barons, until these noblemen were exempted from the duty
by statute 52 Henry III., c. 10, a.d. 1267.
Sometimes the shrievalty, by grant of the crown, was hereditary; it
was also often held for life, or for many years, and there were some-
times more sheriffs than one in a county, the persons chosen for the
office being, according to Spelman, "totius regni proceres" but the
sheriff was usually chosen by the freeholders of the shire.
statute 28 Edward I., c. 8, which says that "the king hath granted
unto his people that they shall have election of their sheriff in every
The
505
508
SHERIFF (SCOTLAND).
SHEW-BREAD.
=
shire (where the sheriff is not fixed in fee) if they list," is rather
declaratory of the people's right than a grant of a new privilege.
By the 14 Edward III., c. 7, it is enacted that no sheriff tarry in
his bailiwick more than a year, and then another, who hath land
sufficient in his bailiwick, shall be ordained on the morrow of
All Souls, 3rd November, by the chancellor, treasurer, and chief
baron of the exchequer, taking to them the chief justices of either
bench if they be present. This was the law also, till quite recently,
regarding under-sheriffs; but it has now been altered.
-
At present the crown in most cases appoints the sheriffs, and also
fills up any vacancy which is occasioned by the death of a sheriff
during his year of office. To some corporations of cities which are
counties of themselves charters have given the power to elect their
own sheriffs; the city of London has the right to elect the sheriff
of Middlesex. In the county of Durham the bishop was sheriff until
he was deprived of palatine powers in 1836; aud in Westmoreland
the office was hereditary in the family of the earl of Thanet as heir-
general of the Viponts, to whom the shrievalty was granted by king
John, until the death of the last earl, when it lapsed to and was sub-
sequently by statute vested in the Crown. The annual appointment
of sheriff's is now, in most counties, made thus:-On the morrow of
St. Martin (12th November), the lord chancellor, first lord of the
treasury, and chancellor of the exchequer, together with all the
judges of the three courts of common law, meet in the exchequer
chamber, the chancellor of the exchequer presiding. The judges
then report the names of three fit persons in each county, and of
these the first on the list is chosen, unless he assigns good reasons
for exemption. The list thus made is again considered at a meeting
of the Cabinet held on the morrow of the Purification (3rd February),
at the president of the council's, and attended by the clerks of the
council, when the excuses of the parties nominated are again
examined, and the names are finally determined on for the approval of
the queen, who, at a meeting of the privy council, pierces the parch-
ment with a punch opposite the name of the person selected for
each county; and hence has arisen the expression of "pricking the
sheriffs." The judges of assize annually add the requisite number of
names to their lists by inserting those of persons recommended by the
sheriff going out of office.
The sheriff derives his authority from two patents, one of which
commits to him the custody of the county, and the other commands
the inhabitants to aid him. He takes an oath of office, the greater
part of which relates to his collection of the crown revenue, and he
gives security to the crown that he will duly account. He then
appoints an under-sheriff, by whom in fact the duties of the office
are performed. These duties are various and important. Lord
Coke quaintly says that the sheriff has a triple custody-1st, of the
life of justice, because to him are addressed the writs commencing all
actions (all of which are now abolished), and he returns the juries for
the trial of men's lives, liberties, lands, and goods; 2udly, of the life
of the law, because he executes judgments of the courts; and 3rdly,
of the life of the republic, because he is in his county the principal con-
servator of the peace. By Magna Charta he is prohibited from hold-
ing pleas of the crown. He presides at all elections of members of
parliament and coroners, and hence he cannot during the year of his
office be elected a knight of the shire. He apprehends all wrong doers,
and for that purpose, in criminal cases, he is entitled to break open
outer doors to seize the offender; he defends the county against riot
and rebellion or invasion [LORD LIEUTENANT], and to this end may
require the assistance of all persons in it who are more than fifteen
years of age, and who, when thus assembled under the sheriff's com-
mand, are called the posse comitatus. [PossE COMITATUS.] To refuse
to the sheriff the aid which he requires is an offence punishable by
fine and imprisonment. The sheriff takes precedence of all persons
in the county. He seizes all lands which have fallen to the crown,
and levies all fines and forfeitures; but he is not permitted to act
as a justice of the peace. He executes many of the writs that issue
from the superior courts, and all writs of execution; he is likewise
responsible for the execution of criminals. He receives and entertains
the judges of assize, on whom he is constantly in attendance whilst
they remain in his shire.
To assist him in the performance of his duties, the sheriff employs
an under-sheriff and also a bailiff and jailers, from whom he takes
security for their good conduct. He is prohibited by very ancient
statutes from selling his office or the profits of any part of it.
The liability of the sheriff for breach or neglect of his duties is a
frequent sort of litigation. Few assizes occur without actions being
brought against bim for illegal arrests or levies, or for wrongfully
abstaining from executing the process addressed to him. Thus the
decisions affecting him are numerous and complicated, and there are
many treatises concerning the office.
SHERIFF (SCOTLAND). In Scotland the duties of the sheriff
are not, as in England, almost entirely executive. He exercises an
extensive judicial authority, and a large portion of the general litiga-
tion of the country proceeds before this class of local judges. In earlier
times his authority appears to have been merely of an executive cha-
racter, and, appointed by the crown, he was the person to whom the
royal writs, issuing from the supreme courts, were usually directed.
He was the ordinary conservator of the peace within the local limits of
his authority. He was an important fiscal officer, having in the general
case the duty of levying the feudal casualties, forfeitures, and other
items of revenue; and by statute he was vested with the power of
mustering the military force of the country to the weapon-showing.
In very early times, his tenure of office appears to have been limited
by the grant; at a period comparatively later, the office became, in the
general case, hereditary. The act for abolishing heritable jurisdictions
in Scotland (20 Geo. IL, c. 43), was passed for the purpose of abolish-
ing all those remnants of the feudal courts of Scotland which were
hereditary, or in any other shape of the nature of property; of bring-
ing all judicial offices within the appointment of the crown, and their
holders under responsibility to the public. By the same statute, the
sheriff is authorised to appoint one or more substitutes; and at the
present day there is a substitute in every county, and in the larger
Both the sheriff and his substitute
counties there are two or more.
are lawyers, but the latter is the local resident judge, the former
generally frequenting the courts in Edinburgh, where he hears appeals
from his substitute, and making occasional visits to his county. By
the Jurisdiction Act it was provided that each sheriff should reside
in his county during four months in each year; this provision fell
into desuetude, until by the 1 & 2 Vict. c. 119, it was enacted that
each sheriff should remain in attendance on the court of session, but
should hold eight courts in his county during the year. The sheriffs of
Edinburgh and Lanark are exempted from attendance on the court of
session, in the understanding that the business of their respective
courts is sufficient fully to occupy their time.
In civil questions an appeal lies from the sheriff-substitute to the
sheriff, but wherever the former is a sound lawyer and an indus-
trious man, the privilege is seldom used. From the state in which the
profession of the bar of Scotland has been for many years past, several
of its members have been induced to accept the office of sheriff-
substitute as vacancies have occurred. Formerly the office fell to
country practitioners, who, not quite contented with the emoluments,
eked them out by private practice; a state of matters seriously detri-
mental to the equal administration of justice. In some instances, even
retired officers in the army or unprofessional country gentlemen were
the best qualified persons who would undertake the office. No sheriff-
substitute can now act as a law-agent, conveyancer, or banker; he is
not removable, except with the consent of the lord president and lord
justice clerk of the court of session, and must not be absent from his
county more than six weeks in one year, or more than two weeks at a
time, unless he obtain the consent of the sheriff, who must then act
personally or appoint another substitute. In one or two instances, as
in that of Kirkcudbright, the person who exercises the function of
sheriff is called the Stewart, This designation owes its origin to
certain peculiarities of territorial tenure which cannot be briefly ex-
plained and are subject to doubt and dispute. After the Reformation,
the sheriffs were generally appointed commissaries of the local com-
missariat districts which most nearly conformed with their respective
jurisdictions, and in 1823 (4 Geo. IV. c. 97) the commissariat functions
were appointed to be merged in those of the sheriff.
The jurisdiction of the sheriff in civil matters does not extend to
questions regarding heritable or real property. He cannot judge in
actions which are declaratory of rights, or which are of a rescissory
nature-for the purpose of nullifying deeds or legal proceedings. In
other respects his jurisdiction extends to all actions on debt or obliga-
tion, without any limit as to the importance of the interests involved.
He has also the same bankruptcy jurisdiction as the Court of Session.
He does not act by a jury, though it appears that such an institution
was formerly connected with the civil jurisdiction of the sheriff. He has
that
authority by special statute summarily to decide small debt cases,
is, cases where the pecuniary value of the matter at issue does not exceed
12. By railway statutes and other acts of local administration special
functions are frequently conferred on him, and in the clauses for taking
lands he is usually appointed to act as presiding judge when a jury is
appointed to be empannelled. The decisions of the sheriff, when no
proceedings have been taken to enforce them, may be carried into the
Court of Session by advocation.
The authority of the sheriff in matters criminal is practically to a
great extent measured by the proceedings of the crown lawyers in
leaving prosecutions to proceed before his court, or removing them to
the Court of Justiciary. It is not very clearly to be traced how far,
in old practice, the sheriff's jurisdiction was inferior to that of the
Court of Justiciary: he had undoubtedly the power of punishing with
death, though it has been long disused. The power of transporting,
which is of comparatively late introduction, he never possessed, not
having any criminal authority beyond his county. By degrees it came
to be considered that the jurisdiction in the four pleas of the crown-
murder, rape, robbery and wilful fire-raising-was exclusively in the
higher court. Important criminal cases in the sheriff court are tried
by jury. In more trifling matters the sheriff performs the functions of
a police magistrate. In these cases the punishment must not exceed a
fine of 107. or sixty days' imprisonment (9 Geo. IV. c. 29).
SHEW-BREAD (➡`‡ ?), lechem-panim, “bread of faces,” or,
as it has been rendered, "presence bread," was the name given to the
twelve unleavened loaves of bread, one for each of the tribes of Israel,
which were constantly displayed on a golden table in the holy place of
1
507
.
SHIELD.
the Tabernacle and Temple. They were made of the finest wheat
flour, and laid on the table in two similar piles, with frankincense and
salt put over them. Every Sabbath they were renewed, and the old
loaves were eaten by the priests in the holy place. The frankincense
which was placed upon the shew-bread constituted it one of the
¿¿ offerings made by fire to the Lord." The golden table on which
they were placed was called the table of shew-bread. Wine was also
placed upon it, and it was furnished with gold dishes, bowls, and
spoons. None but the priests were permitted to eat of this bread; yet
David, when in great need, ate of it, and incurred no blame.
SHIELD was a part of the ancient armour designed to ward off the
strokes of the sword and all kinds of missiles. Shields were borne on
the left arm, and were of different forms and sizes, and they were
accordingly designated by different names. The large circular or oval
shield, the invention of which was ascribed to Protus and Acrisius of
Argos, was called in Latin clypeus, and in Greek aspis or sacos (donis or
σάκος). A smaller kind of round shield was called parma; and a
smaller kind of oval shield was called pelta. Scutum was properly
speaking a square or oblong shield. The ancient writers, however, do
not always accurately distinguish these different shields, but apply the
name which properly denotes a particular kind of shield to shields in
general. The shields in the earliest times were made of osiers twisted
together (yeppa), or of wood, and this framework was covered with the
skins of oxen, of which there were mostly several layers, one over
the other, whence Homer frequently calls the shield "seven-hided"
(ETTаßÓELOS). Xenophon (Anab.,' i. 8) describes the Egyptians, even
of his time, as using wooden shields. The whole rim was surrounded
with a metal edge. In the centre of the outer or convex side there
was a projection called the omphalos (oµpáλos), or umbo, in which some-
times a spike was placed, which served as a weapon of attack against an
enemy who approached too near. The object of the umbo, however,
was to make the missiles glance off from the shield. In the inner or
concave side there was a band of metal or leather, which went from
rim to rim as a diameter, and under which the arm of the soldier was
placed, so that the shield hung on the arm. Around the inner edge
there was a number of small thongs, by means of which the shield was
managed with the hand. The shields of distinguished persons, even as
early as the time of Homer, were covered with metal plates, and fre-
quently adorned with embossed figures. These figures were often of
exquisite workmanship, as may be inferred from the descriptions of
the magnificent shields of Achilles and Hercules in Homer and Hesiod.
The shields of horsemen were generally smaller than those of the foot
soldiers. The use of shields continued from ancient times throughout
the middle ages, until they were made useless by the introduction of
fire-arms.
The shields of individuals, as well as of whole divisions of an army,
had sometimes particular devices relating to mémorable events in their
history, and these are generally supposed to be the first traces of the
armorial bearings of more modern times. The numerous specimens of
shields show that the knights of the middle ages were no less fond of
adorning them with embossed figures, precious stones, &c., than the
ancients. [ARMOUR.]
SHIFTING USES. [USES.]
SHIITES is the name of a sect among the Mohammedans. The
word comes from shiah, "a faction, party, or set of men who separate
themselves from the rest of the community," and who entertain
religious opinions contrary to those of the Sunnites, or people who
belong to any of the four orthodox sects of Mohammedanism. The
name of Shiites is principally used to designate the sectaries or ad-
herents of Ali Ibn Abi Talib, who maintain him to be the lawful
khalif and imáin, and that supreme authority, both in spiritual and
temporal matters, belongs to his descendants.
The Shiites are divided into numerous sects, of which the principal
are: the Imámians, or those who believe that the office of imám, or
head of the church, is not dependent on the will of the people, and
that religion consists solely in knowing who is the true imam; the
Zeydians, so called from the name of their founder, Zeyd, son of Ali,
surnamed Zeynu-l-abadin (the ornament of the servants of God); the
Khattabians, or disciples of Abú-l-Khattab, who maintain that paradise
is no other thing than the pleasures of this world, which God grants to
those with whom he is pleased: hence their indulgence in wine, music,
and other things forbidden by the prophet. The Persians are Shiites,
and the Turks Sunnites: hence the cause of the schism still subsisting
between them, which has been maintained on both sides with ardent
zeal and implacable hatred. The chief points wherein they differ may
be reduced to three-1. The Shiites reject Abú Bekr, Omar, and
Othmán, the first three khalifs, as usurpers and intruders; whereas the
Sunnites respect them as rightful imams. 2. The Shiites prefer Ali
to Mohammed, or at least look upon him as his equal in every respect;
whilst the Sunnites admit neither Ali nor even any of the prophets to
be equal to Mohammed. 3. The Sunnites receive the Sunna, or body
of traditions concerning the prophet, as of canonical authority; the
Shiites reject it as apocryphal and unworthy of credit.
SHIP. The ships of war employed at first by the maritime nations
of modern Europe were galleys, moved either by wind or oars, and
were similar, probably, to those of the Greeks and Romans. In the
beginning of the 15th century, vessels of a like kind, but of greater
dimensions, constituted portions of the navies of France and Spain;
SHIP.
508
they were called Carraques, and it is said by a French author of that
age that the English ships scarcely dared to approach them. The term
Galeasse was afterwards applied to a kind of war-galley which was of
greater length in proportion to its breadth than those generally con-
structed; its rowers were covered by a narrow deck running along each
side of the vessel, and on this small cannon were mounted. Such were
the vessels used by the Venetians at the battle of Lepanto.
Before the reign of Henry VII. the naval force of this country con-
sisted only of the vessels furnished at short notices by the Cinque-
ports, besides such as were hired from English or foreign merchants;
and, according to Du Bellay, some of the ships were a sort of long
galleys called Ramberges, in the management of which the English
mariners are said to have been very expert. Henry VII. caused to be
constructed- the Great Harry, the first ship which can be ranked as
one belonging to the royal navy of England; and his successor, in
1515, in emulation of Francis I., who had built a ship called the
Caracon, carrying 100 guns, caused one of equal burden (about 1000
tons), and carrying 122 guns, to be constructed. This was called the
Henry Grace de Dieu. It appears to have been built rather for mag-
nificence than use; not more than 13 of the guns were 9-pounders
or upwards; and its construction must have been very defective, for
it is said to have steered badly and to have rolled incessantly. After
having made one voyage, it was disarmed at Bristol and suffered to
decay. The French ship was equally unfortunate, having been acci-
dentally destroyed by fire at Hâvre. Henry VIII. exerted himself,
however, to place the maritime force of the nation in a train for being
improved, for which purpose he organised the Admiralty and Navy
Boards, and formed dockyards at Deptford, Woolwich, and Ports-
mouth. [NAVY, BRITISH.]
ན་
During the reigns of Edward VI. and Elizabeth the royal navy
became very powerful, and at the death of the queen it consisted of
42 ships of war. In the time of James I. was built (1610) a ship
called the Prince, carrying 64 guns, and of 1400 tons burden, being the.
largest which had been till then constructed. And before the civil war
broke out, Charles I. caused to be built one called the Sovereign of the
Seas, which carried above 106 guns, small and great; her length was
128 feet, and her breadth 48 feet.
The ships of that age, foreign as well as English, were constructed
with hulls extravagantly high, while the lower guns were frequently
not more than three feet above the water; they were consequently
very liable to ship seas at the lower ports during an action, when the
waves ran high, or the ship heeled considerably. But the rivalry
between England and the United Provinces in the 17th century, and
the desire which Louis XIV. entertained to raise the navy of France to
an equality with those of his neighbours, led to the construction of
ships capable of carrying artillery of much greater calibre than had
before been used at sea. The French king actually caused to be built
at Toulon a ship called the Royal Louis, which carried 12-, 24-, and
48-pounders on its upper, middle, and lower decks respectively. In the
same age, and during the 18th century, naval architecture was zealously
studied in France; and the English constructors were so sensible of
their inferiority, that in most of the ships built in England at that
time the proportions were copied from those of ships which had been
taken in action from the rival nation. Thus the Leviathan was built
at Chatham nearly in conformity to the Courageux, a French 74-gun
ship; and several others according to the construction of the Invin-
cible, which had been taken by Lord Anson during the Seven Years'
War.
During the 17th century the custom continued of giving to the
sterns a great elevation above the surface of the water, and of loading
that part, as well as the bows, with ornaments. The sterns of ships of
war were, till about forty-five years since, made, at their junctions
with the sides, of an angular form, or, as they were called, square; and
before 1729 they had projecting galleries or balconies extending across
them, and to some distance along each after-quarter of the ship. The
galleries were afterwards much diminished in breadth; but it was not
till 1796 that, by the influence of Lord Spencer, who was then the first
lord of the Admiralty, these, as well as the great projecting heads,
were entirely omitted in the construction of ships. In 1816 Sir Robert
Seppings proposed to make the sterns curvilinear like the bows, but
more flat; and by the adoption of his plan there was gained consider-
able strength, such a form enabling the ship to resist with great effect
the force of a sea in striking the stern, and that of shot when fired
against it. With respect also to the means of defence at the stern and
quarters of a ship, it may be observed that the curvilinear stern has
greatly the advantage over those of an angular construction, there
being in the angular an interval opposite each quarter of the ship
towards which none of the after-guns can be brought to bear, while
such interval does not exist in the curvilinear. In a ship with a curvi
linear stern, the ports may be disposed so as to allow guns to fire in any
direction diverging from a centre within the ship; and at the same
time the after broadside guns may be trained so as to fire obliquely
towards the fore or after part of the ship. Thus there will be afforded
several intervals opposite the stern and quarters, within which the
lines of fire may cross each other; and consequently the defence will
be as powerful about the stern as at any other part of the ship. It
may be added that when the guns in a square stern are trained at
their greatest degree of obliquity to the sides of the ships, their
500
610 ·
SHIP.
SHIP.
muzzles will be considerably within the timbers; and consequently,
in firing, some danger may exist of blowing away part of the stern or
quarter. The curvilinear form is now, with slight modifications,
generally adopted for ships of war; and the only objection hitherto
made to it is that the interior accommodations are thereby rather
diminished.
In 1791 there was formed, in London, a Society for the Improvement
of Naval Architecture; and its first steps consisted in offering prizes
for the best papers which should be written on the subject of the
resistance of fluids, on designs for vessels, on the proportions of masts,
&c. The association threw much light on the art of constructing
ships; and both the theory and practice of that art have been advanced
by means of the school which was attached to the Naval College at
Portsmouth, under the superintendence of Dr. Inman. During the
year 1860, however, an Institute of Naval Architects, under the pre-
sidency of Sir John Pakington, was originated in London, and bids
fair to bring together the ablest members of the profession in England,
as also men eminent in mechanical science. The late principal of the
School of Naval Architecture, the Rev. Dr. Woolley, has already given
a useful paper on mathematical theory, while men like Maudslay, Scott
Russell, Grantham, Fairbairn, &c. have contributed valuable assistance.
('Transactions of the Institute of Naval Architects for 1860.')
In the present article it is intended to give some account of the
mathematical principles of naval architecture; the mechanical con-
struction of ships being reserved for the articles SHIP-BUILDING and
STEAM VESSEL.
The body of a ship about its middle has nearly the form of a portion
of a hollow cylinder, with its axis horizontal, and its convex surface
downwards. Above the surface of the water on which it floats the
sides are curved, so as at the head to have, in a horizontal direction,
the form of a Gothic arch more or less acute: The breadth diminishes
gradually towards the stern, which above water is either a plane surface
nearly perpendicular to the ship's length, or, agreeably to the con-
struction introduced by Sir Robert Seppings, curved so as to have, in
a horizontal section, nearly the form of a semi-ellipse. Below the
surface of the water the body of the ship is curved in a horizontal
direction towards the head and stern, so as to terminate at those places
in angles which diminish from that surface downwards; and thus a
vertical section, taken perpendicularly to the length of the ship, at
some distance from the middle towards either extremity, presents on
each side the form of a curve of contrary flexure.
Experiments have shown, that when the quantity of sail is the same,
the velocity of a ship is increased by increasing the ratio between its
length and breadth, and both English and French constructors have
gone on for many years augmenting that ratio; but this increase has
its limit. The advantage of diminished breadth is accompanied by a
diminution of stability, and a deficiency in this respect may produce
serious evils. It may prevent the use of the lower guns on the lee-
side from the fear that the ports may be under water, and the use of
the guns on the weather-side from inability to give them sufficient
depression; and by causing the keel to take an oblique position in the
direction of its depth, the lateral resistance of the water being
diminished, the leeway of the ship is increased. The power of the
rudder and sails to produce rotation about a vertical axis is greater in
a long than in a short ship, because the rudder and sails are at greater
distances from that axis, and because the impulse of the water on the
rudder is more direct: yet the resistance which the water opposes to
that rotation increases in a still higher ratio; and thus the difficulty of
working to windward is increased with the length of the ship. Lastly,
the quantity of artillery in a ship will indirectly affect the relation
between the length and breadth; for an increase of weight above
water produces a diminution of stability by causing the centre of
gravity of the ship to be more elevated, and this evil must be counter-
acted by increasing the breadth. In several English ships of war
carrying from 46 to 120 guns, it has been found by admeasurement
1
that the ratio of the breadth to the length varied from to
3.93
1 and that it had no dependence either upon the number of guns
3.61
J
or upon the tonnage of the ship. The greatest length which may be
given to ships of war is a point still undetermined; and the length
seems to have
In 1786 wasserto gone on increasing in the navies of all nations.
In 1786 was built the Victory, of 100 guns; this was then the greatest
three-decker in the British service, and its length was 186 feet. In
1793 the Ville de Paris, of 110 guns, and 190 feet long, was built at
Chatham; and in 1809 was built the Caledonia, of 120 guns, whose
length was 205 feet, while the Hood of 91 guns and 3232 tons,
launched, at Chatham, in 1859, is 238 feet long, and the Galatea frigate,
launched in 1859, having 26 guns, and being of the burden of 3202
tons, has a length of 280 feet.
In the Vernon, and other ships which were built according to the de-
signs of the late Sir William Symonds, the form of a transverse section
passing vertically through the hull differs from that which had been
before given to ships, in exhibiting an increase of breadth above the,j
plane of floatation (a horizontal plane passing through the ship when
she floats upright, and coinciding with the surface of the water). This
construction produces, without any diminution of velocity, an increase
of stability not only when the ship is afloat, but also when, on lying
aground, she is subject to the force of waves against her side. It may
however be said to be attended by the disadvantages of too great
stability; that is, it may cause the ship to be considerably strained,
and the masts to be carried away by a sudden impulse of the wind.
The lateral action of the wind against the sails, and of the waves of
the sea against the hull of a ship, are the causes that the plane passing
through its masts is made to decline from the vertical position which
it has when the ship is at rest; and the ship is then prevented from
being overturned only by the reaction of the water against the bottom
and sides. The momentum of this reaction is that which is called the
stability of the ship. The axis of the rotation has been placed by
different writers in different situations, but both Bouguer and Euler
have proved that, if the ship has not at the same time a pitching
motion, it should be considered as a horizontal line passing through the
centre of gravity of the ship. In order to find approximatively the
dependence of a ship's stability on its length and breadth, let it be
supposed that the ship is a homogeneous solid in the form of a prism
or segment of a cylinder having its axis in a horizontal position; and,
the vessel being supposed to float upright, let ABC (fig. 1) be a
transverse section through the immersed part in a vertical plane

Fig. 1.
Α'
P
D
B
N
G
K
B
A M
F
H
passing through G and g, which are respectively the centres of gravity
of the whole solid and of that part (A B) coinciding with the surface of
the water: let also A' D'c' be the position of the same section when the
vessel is inclined. Now, while the weight of the ship remains the
same, the volume of the immersed part is the same whether the ship
inclination on one side is equal to the volume depressed below it on the
be upright or inclined, and the volume raised above the water by the
and A'DM to B'D N. Next let p and q be the centres of gravity of the
other; therefore the area a O'N may be considered as equal to a CB,
trilateral spaces last mentioned; then, by mechanics, the centre of
gravity of MDB'C' will be at some point, as in pg produced, the
displacement of g by the inclination being supposed to be very small;
and the centre of gravity of MC'N (the section immersed when the
solid is inclined) will be at some point A in qr: also—
A'B'C': A'DM :: pr; gr, and
MON (=A'B'C'): B'DN (=A′DM) :: gr÷rH.
Therefore, pr and qr are cut proportionally in g and ¤; and §¤ is
parallel to pq. Consequently—
pr: gr :: pq : gu,
or ABC: A'DM:: pqgH;
of the ship is very small, g may be considered
Draw the vertical line HS, and GK parallel to AB;
and if the inclination
as parallel to AB.
then g=GK.
of the immersed part of the ship; and the area A'DM, the volume
The area ABC may represent the volume (v) of the displacement, or
This trilinear space being supposed to be very small, it may be con-
raised above or depressed below AD in consequence of the inclination.
sidered as a triangle right-angled at : and if the length and half-
AM.1.6 for the representation of the elevated or depressed volume.
breadth of the solid be represented by and b respectively, we have
But A'M varies with b; therefore, such volume varies with 1.2. Again,
by mechanics, the distance of the centre of gravity of each of those
volumes from a horizontal line passing through D, in a direction paral-
lel to the axis of the solid, is equal to ; therefore, the line pq=
or pq varies with b. Then substituting, in the last proportion above,
v for ABC, 1.63 for A'DM, and b for pq; also putting GK for gн, we find
7.63
that GK varies with ; or V.GK ∞ 1.3. Now the force of the water
to prevent the ship from being overturned taking place, by hydrosta-
tics, in the vertical line HS passing through H, and being represented
by v; also the ship being supposed to turn about a longitudinal axis
passing through e, we have v.ak for the momentum of the ship's
T
2
4
3
b,
r
1
511
SHIP.
SHIP.
612
stability; but the triangle GKS is similar to A'MD, all the sides of one supposed to be drawn at equal distances from one another perpen-
being perpendicular to those of the other: therefore
:
AM DM: GK GS.
:
Again, A'M varies with DM; therefore, GK varies with Gs and v.Gs
1.63 that is v.Gs expresses also the momentum of the ship's stabi-
lity. The point s is called the meta-centre, and it indicates the most
elevated position which the centre of gravity & can have consistently
with the stability; for when G coincides with s, it is evident that the
above expression vanishes.
Since the depth of the ship does not enter into the expression 7.63,
it may be inferred that when ships have equal lengths and breadths,
they will have equal stabilities, whatever be their depths. Again, when
they have equal breadths, their stabilities will vary with their lengths;
and when they have equal lengths, the stabilities vary with the cubes
of their breadths. It follows also that, in general, the stability of a
ship is directly proportional to its length and to the cube of its breadth,
whatever be its depth.
In the next place, in order to find approximatively the relations be-
tween the velocity of a ship and its dimensions, let the ship be
represented by an isosceles triangular prism having the greatest rect-
angular surface uppermost and parallel to the surface of the water, and
the triangular ends perpendicular to that surface, so that the fore and
after parts are rectangular planes inclined to the same surface; then
for the present purpose we may assume that the resistance experienced
in moving through the water is expressed by v.2 A sin³ 1. [HYDRODY-
NAMICS], where v is the velocity of the vessel, a the superficies of the
inclined front, and I its inclination to the surface of the water. But
the resistance of the water is directly proportional to the moving
power, that is, to the pressure of the wind on the sails, and this last
varies with the area of the sails, which may be represented by a :
се
therefore, v² a
Again, the momentum of the ship's sta-
A. sin. I
3
bility is directly proportional to the momentum of the wind on the
sails, and the latter is expressed by the product of the area of the sails
into the height of the centre of pressure (centre of gravity of the sails)
above the axis of rotation: now this height varies with the height of
the sails; that is, with the square root of their area, the sails in differ-
ent ships being supposed to be similar plane figures. Therefore, the
momentum of stability varies with a, or a cc (moment. of stability).
Let / be the half length of the vessel, b its breadth, and d its depth;
then the momentum of stability as above may be represented by 7.63,
A will be equal to b(l²+ d²) and sin³ 1 to
Hence, v ∞
I
d3
(1º + d²)³
7. ³ l (l² + d ²)
; and this being simplified, neglecting 13,
d3
considered as small when compared with 7³, we have v
GC
dicularly to that line till they meet the surface of the ship. The
lengths of these ordinates being known by actual admeasurement, or
by the scale of the drawing, and also the distance between them; and
the curve line in which the plane of the section meets the surface of
the ship being considered, between every three consecutive ordinates,
as an arc of the common parabola; by Sterling's rules, the area will be
found as follows: let the figure represent the half plan, divide it into
any number of equal parts, say cight.

Fig. 2.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
(A+4P+2Q)
Then area =
21/A
3
8
9
co
(+2+Q) in which
A sum of first and last ordinates,
P
= sum of even ordinates,
Q = sum of remaining ordinates,
" = common distance between the ordinates;
or, according to his second rule, the ordinates may be drawn so that
the equal intervals are made some multiple of the number 3, in which
(A + 2P+3Q) = 3¹(A
case the
Area
31
A
31/A
2
+ P+112) where
sum of first and last ordinates,
P = sum of 4th, 7th, 10th, &c., ordinates,
Q
2
Either rule may be
common parabola,
practical result.
sum of remaining ordinates,
common distance.
used, for whether the curve be considered as a
or as a cubic parabola, will scarcely affect the
By either of these rules the area of a vertical section through the
middle of the ship's breadth in a longitudinal direction, or through
any part of the ship's length in a transverse direction, and also the area
of a horizontal section coincident with or parallel to the surface of the
water, may be found. The same formula may be applied to determine
the volume of the whole hull, or of the displacement; for this purpose
vertical sections may be supposed to pass through the equidistant
ordinates drawn perpendicularly to the longitudinal axis of the ship,
and their areas to be computed as above. The formula may also be
which may be employed to determine the momentum of any part of the ship with
respect to some line about which it may be made to turn, or with
z 2
respect to a plane passing through such line.
1 4
This expression indicates that the velocity will be increased by
diminishing d, which may represent the ship's draught, or the depth
to which she is immersed. It is evident also that the like effect will
take place if the length or the breadth, or both, are increased (the
breadth of the sail being supposed to increase with that of the ship);
and since, in this case, the stability will at the same time be increased,
this will permit the ship to carry a greater quantity of sail; but the
number of the crew being supposed to vary with the area of the sail,
an increase of the latter is in general attended with a corresponding
increase of expense. The factors in the value of v being different
powers of b, 7, and d, it thence follows that ships having the same pro-
portions possess unequal sailing properties; it may be perceived
indeed that a small ship built according to the proportions of a large
one which is known to sail well will not possess the like good quality.
'On the other hand it may be inferred that a vessel having the same
proportions as a good one of smaller dimensions will be superior to the
latter. If two ships carry sails proportional to their stabilities, and if
the height of the lower tier of guns above water be the same in both
when the ships float upright; then, the inclinations of the planes of
their masts being also supposed to be equal, the lower guns of the
smaller ship will be farther from the water than those of the larger
ship, and, in action, the latter might be in danger when the other
would be safe. Consequently, if the greatest possible quantity of sail
be given to the smaller ship, a smaller quantity relatively to its
stability ought to be given to the larger.
The discovery of the elements on which depend the stability and
the sailing properties of ships will probably be made rather by study
ing the proportions of such as from experience have been found to
possess the desired qualities, than by purely scientific researches; and
as a step preparatory to this study it will be necessary to be acquainted
with the methods by which, in a body like a ship, which cannot be
considered as corresponding to any geometrical solid, the areas of
sections, the volume of the whole or of the part immersed in the
water, the position of the centre of gravity of the hull or the sails, &c.,
are found.
The method of equidistant ordinates is generally used for these
purposes; and in finding the area of a section, some line in it being
taken as an axis, an uneven number of lines as ordinates are drawn or
This
In order to find the centre of gravity of the displacement, that is, of
the immersed part of the ship (considered as a homogeneous solid)
when the ship floats upright; imagine that immersed part to be divided
by equidistant vertical planes perpendicular to the ship's length, and
also by equidistant horizontal planes; then the area of each horizontal
section between every two vertical planes being multiplied by the
vertical distance of that horizontal section below the surface of the
water, and all the products being added together by either of the above
formule, the sum will be the momentum of the immersed part with
respect to the horizontal plane at the surface of the water.
momentum being divided by the volume of the immersed part com-
puted as above, gives by mechanics the distance of the centre of gravity
below the surface of the water. In a similar manner may be found
the position of the centre of gravity with respect to a vertical plane
passing perpendicularly to the length of the ship, suppose at one of its
extremities; and thus its position may be completely determined.
From the symmetry of the ship's figure on each side of a plane passing
through its masts and keel, the centre of gravity of the whole ship will
always be in that plane; and that of the immersed part will be in the
same plane when the ship floats upright.
The position of a vertical line passing through the centre of gravity
of the whole ship may be found by determining that of a vertical line
passing through the centre of gravity of the displacement; for, by
hydrostatics, when the ship floats with its masts upright, these lines
are coincident. But the determination of the place of the centre of
gravity in this line is a problem of considerable difficulty on account of
the complexity of the subject, arising from the form of the hull, the
positions of the masts, rigging, guns, lading, &c. and it can only be
found mathematically by ascertaining the place of the centre of gravity
and the weight of every separate object constituting the mass of the
ship and its lading. The momenta of all these objects being computed
with respect to any one plane, as that of floatation (the horizontal
plane at the level of the water), the difference between the sums of the
momenta of the objects above and below that plane is, by the nature
of the centre of gravity, equal to the product of the weight of the
whole ship into the distance of the required centre of gravity from the
same plane. Hence the situation of this point might be found.
The most simple mechanical method of finding the centre of gravity
of a ship is probably that which was proposed by Mr. Major in the
'Annals of Philosophy,' June, 1826. It consists in making the ship
513
514
SHIP.
SHIP.
when afloat heel (the plane of its masts to incline) through equal
angles by means of weights applied successively to a mast, and made
to act horizontally at different distances above the deck; these weights
being reduced to directions perpendicular to the inclining mast (by
multiplying them into the cosine of the inclination), and then multi-
plied into their respective distances from the unknown centre of
gravity of the ship, will give two products which are equal to one
another; each of them being equal to the momentum of the resistance
by which the water tends to prevent heeling; hence by algebra the
distance of the centre of gravity from either of the points at which
the weights are applied may be found.
In the expression for the momentum arising from the pressure of
the wind against the sails, it is usual to consider the whole force of the
wind as acting at the centre of gravity of the sails; and this point may
be found by multiplying separately the area of each sail into the
distance of its centre of gravity above a horizontal axis passing through
the centre of gravity of the ship. The quotient arising from the sum
of these momenta divided by the sum of the areas of all the sails will
give the distance of the required centre of gravity above that axis;
and similarly the position of the centre of gravity of the sails with
respect to any vertical line as an axis may be obtained.
To find the centre of gravity of the displacement, or of the immersed
part of the ship supposed to be homogeneous, when the plane of a
ship's masts is made to incline by the lateral action of the wind, the
axis of rotation being supposed to be a horizontal line passing through
the centre of gravity of the whole ship, there must be first obtained by
trial the position of a horizontal line in which the plane of the surface
of the water will cut the body of the ship when in the upright and
inclined positions respectively, so that the volume of the part raised
above the water in consequence of the inclination may be equal to that
of the part depressed. Let a line passing through D, fig. 1, perpendicu-
larly to the paper, be that horizontal line; then the sum of the
momenta of the elevated and depressed volumes may be found by com-
puting the areas of the trilineal figures A' DM, B'DN, in all the vertical
sections taken at equal distances from one another in the direction of
the ship's length, multiplying them separately by the distances of their
centres of gravity from a vertical plane passing through the same
horizontal line, and then adding all the products together by one of
the formulæ above given. In the Quarterly Journal of Science,' April,
2
1830, the area of either triangle, as A'DM, is expressed by Y+"
sin, where y=DM, y"=DA', y'a line drawn from D to A'M,
bisecting the angle A'D M, or 0 (the angle of heeling). Also the momentum
of the same triangle with respect to the point D is expressed approxi-
matively, and supposing the angle of heeling to be 7° (the greatest at
which a ship of war can use her windward guns), by .0203yy”(y+y").
In order to find an expression for the stability of a ship, let & be its
centre of gravity, and when the ship floats upright let g be the centre
of gravity of the immersed part supposed to be homogeneous. Now
when the plane of the masts is inclined, g will be situated at F, and in
that case let н be the place of the centre of gravity last mentioned;
then by mechanics, r H will be equal to the quotient arising from the
division of the sum of the momenta of the elevated and depressed
volumes by the volume of the immersed part of the ship. But if 0 be
the angle of inclination, we shall have Fg-GF sin e; therefore g H or
GK may be found. This being multiplied by the weight of the ship
and its burden (= the force of the reaction of the water in the
direction HS), gives the expression for the stability.
The plane of a ship's masts is made to decline from a vertical posi-
tion not only by the action of the wind against the sails when the
direction of the wind does not coincide with that plane, but also by a
wave striking the ship in a direction oblique to the horizon and to the
plane of the masts; and in both cases the variations in the force by
which the inclination is produced and the re-action by which the water
tends to bring back the plane of the masts to a vertical position cause
the ship to roll about some longitudinal axis, which is supposed to pass
horizontally through the centre of gravity of the whole ship. Now, if
a horizontal plane coincident with the plane of floatation pass through
AB when the ship floats upright, and G, the centre of gravity of the
ship, be below that plane, as in fig. 1; in order to preserve the
equality of the immersed volume when the ship is inclined, the plane
which passed through AB must take such a position as A'B'. This
will cause & to ascend; that is, the ship will rise on the water. On
the other hand, if a had been above AB when the ship was upright,
the latter would descend on the water when it is made to take an
inclined position. Such rising or descending is a cause of the ship
being shook or strained in rolling; and this evil can be avoided only
by having the centre of gravity, G, coincident with the plane of floata-
tion. It is necessary to observe, on the other hand, that by keeping
that centre higher, or bringing it nearer to the meta-centre s, the
stability of the ship, which varies directly with the distance GS or GK,
is proportionally diminished. The pitching of a ship, that is, the
alternate elevation or depression of either extremity of the ship as the
latter passes over a wave, is attended by a corresponding rising or
descending of the whole ship; and the strain thus produced will evi-
dently be so much the less as the centre of gravity is nearer the level
of the plane of floatation and the middle of the ship's length. It
ARTS AND SCI. DIV. VOL. VII.
should be stated here that, since a ship in tacking is supposed to turn
horizontally about a vertical axis passing through its centre of gravity,
the resistance then experienced, which is proportional to the square of
the distances of its extremities from that axis, will be a minimum
when the centre of gravity is in the middle of the ship's length; but,
on the other hand, the power of the rudder depending on its distance
from the same axis of rotation, that power would be increased by
having the centre of gravity at some distance before the middle
point.
When a vessel which is partly immersed in a fluid moves through
that fluid, it always experiences a resistance in a direction contrary to
that of its motion, in consequence of the inertia of the water; but it
experiences also a resistance on account of the particles of water which
are immediately struck by the vessel, and those immediately beyond
them to a certain distance, being for a time compressed on all sides by
the vessel and the surrounding fluid, and thus compelled to rise above
the general level. The elevated fluid will be highest before the middle
point at the bows of the vessel; and the hydrostatical pressure arising
from the elevation, combined with the reaction of the neighbouring fluid,
will cause the particles to flow off laterally in the direction of some
curve-line whose convexity is towards the vessel, after which they will
mix with the fluid on each side. Now let ADB, fig. 3, be a horizontal
Fig. 3.
F
D
A
G
G
H

K
ㄕ​ˋ
L
section through the ship at the general level of the water, and let CED
be the space occupied by the confined water in front of the ship; then
if an artificial prow of that acute form were given to the ship, the
particles of water contiguous to the sides of such prow would create
very little resistance in addition to that which arises from the inertia
of the water, while the latter resistance will evidently be so much the
greater as the bows are more obtuse. Beyond D and E the particles
flowing along the side exert forces arising from friction, adhesion, and
the lateral pressure of the neighbouring water; and at certain points,
as F and G, they pass off in the directions of tangents at those points.
The force of friction and adhesion is very considerable, particularly if
the surface is rough and unequal; and if the vessel is moving with or
against a current, the pressure against its sides is equal to that which
would be experienced if the water were at rest, diminished or increased
on any given area by the weight of a column of the fluid whose base is
that area, and whose height is that which is due to the velocity of the
water.
water. It has been found moreover by experiment, that if both vessel
and fluid are in motion, with equal velocities in the same direction,
the buoyancy of the vessel is the same as if both were at rest; but
when the velocity of the vessel is less or greater than that of the fluid
in the same direction, the vessel either sinks or rises in the fluid by a
quantity equal to the height due to the difference of the velocities,
and this circumstance must in some measure modify the resistance of
the water against the vessel.
Besides the resistance arising from the friction of the water along
the sides of the vessel, there must be noticed the diminution of pres-
sure against the after part, in consequence of the water displaced by
the motion not falling in behind with sufficient velocity to bring the
surface there to the same level as in front. The particles of water
diverging from the sides of the vessel in oblique directions, as F H, are
by the lateral resistance of the neighbouring fluid deflected so as to
describe curve-lines which finally unite behind the stern in some point,
as L. But the force exerted to deflect the particles from the direction
FH causes a diminution of the pressure which the water would have
otherwise exerted against the after part of the vessel; and consequently
it is to be considered as an additional power opposing the forward
movement of the vessel. The force of deflection, and consequently
the retardation, will evidently be less in proportion as the tangent F H
is nearer to the side of the vessel, or as the point F is more distant
from the stern; and this circumstance indicates the advantage which
ships of considerable length have over others. It is easy to understand
however from the breaking and foaming of the water at the head and
stern of a vessel when moving with considerable velocity, that the
effects of the resistances will be greatly modified by the collisions of
the particles of water with each other, and with the surface of the
vessel, in consequence of the shocks produced by its motion, and by
the effort of the water to return to a state of equilibrium.
In order to obtain an expression for the resistance of the water
against a ship, the part of the immersed surface which is before the
greatest transverse vertical section is supposed to be divided by a
number of such transverse sections at equal distances from one another,
measured perpendicularly between them, and by a number of sections
parallel to the plane of floatation at equal distances from one another
vertically. Thus the surface of the immersed part in front of the
greatest transverse section is divided into trapezoidal figures; and a
like division of the immersed part of the ship's surface abaft of the
L L
515
SHIP.
greatest transverse section is made. Each trapezoid, in an orthogonal
projection of the fore and after part of the ship made on a plane
parallel to the greatest transverse section, is then divided into two
triangles by a diagonal line, and the area of each projected triangle
(found by admeasurement of its sides on the scale of the drawing) is
multiplied into the resolved force of the water upon it; that resolved
force being expressed by the absolute force multiplied into the square
of the sine of the inclination of the triangle on the ship's surface to
the direction of the motion. The sum of the products is taken for
the whole resistance of the water against the ship. In comparing the
resistance against one ship with the resistance against another, it is
evident that the absolute force of the water on each may be represented
by unity.
Experiments sufficiently prove that the resistance experienced by a
body in moving through a fluid is less when the greatest breadth of
the body is at some distance before the middle of its length, than when
it is precisely at that place, but the most advantageous situation of
what is called the midship section (the greatest vertical section taken
perpendicularly to the length of the ship) is far from having been as
yet determined.
In order to find its dependence upon the direct
resistance of the water, M. Chapman proceeds in the following manner:
He considers the ship to be represented by a solid in the form of
two isosceles wedges joined together at their heads and to move in
the water with the planes which are perpendicular to their edges
parallel to its surface. Now it is evident that when the solid is at
rest in still water, the opposite pressures of the water against the
faces in front, and against those which are behind the plane of junc-
tion, or of the greatest transverse section, will be equal to one another
in directions parallel to the length of the solid. Also that, when in
motion, the front faces will experience directly that resistance of
the water which is due to the velocity of the solid, and that the
after faces, by receding from the water in consequence of the advance
of the body, will lose a portion of the pressure which they would
have experienced had the body been at rest, and which would thus
have indirectly contributed to force the body forward. It must
moreover be observed that the water is driven forward in front of
the vessel with a velocity which may be represented by v'; and that
as the water in front becomes higher than that which is behind
the greatest transverse section, it will flow towards the stern with a
velocity which may be represented by v". Hence if a be the sum of
the areas of the two oblique surfaces in front of that greatest section,
and B that of the surfaces abaft of the same section; also if 0 and o
be the inclinations of those surfaces respectively to the line of motion,
and v be the velocity of the body, we shall have, supposing the resist-
ance to vary with the square of the velocity and the cube of the sine
of the inclination,
▲ (v — v′)² sin.³ 0 + B (v + v′)² sin.³0'
for the value of the whole resistance; or, for a sin. e and B sin. e
putting their equal c (the area of the transverse section) the expression
for the resistance becomes
C { (v—v′)² sin.² 0 + (v + v″)²sin.²0}.
This formula indicates that such a body will always meet with less
resistance when o is in front, than when it is abaft of the middle point
in the length; that is, when is greater than e': it indicates also that
the place of the greatest breadth when the resistance is a minimum
depends on the values of v-v' and of v+v", and that the greater v'
and v' are with respect to v, the farther should the greatest breadth
be in front of the middle point.
SHIP.
510
Having thus noticed the general mathematics involved in the
question of producing the best form of floating body for propulsion
along the surface of a fluid, and as adapted to the conveyance therein
of heavy weights from place to place; the forms under which such
bodies are usually constructed, either for purposes of war or commerce,
demand our notice. The consideration of the mode of construction
forms no part of the requisites of this article; we refer, therefore,
to the general question of naval architecture, as illustrated under the
words SHIPBUILDING and STEAM-VESSEL.
The most essential conditions in the construction of a ship are, that
it be capable of carrying its stores and its artillery or lading; that it be
moved by wind or steam with great velocity, and that it readily obey
the motion of the rudder; that it have the necessary stability, so as
not to be overturned when acted upon by the wind or waves; and,
finally, that its rolling or pitching be attended with as little strain as
possible on the timbers. These conditions are in some respects con-
trary to each other; and the degree of attainment for each will
depend in part on the purpose, whether of war or commerce, for
which the ship is built. The skill of the architect lies therefore in
adopting such a construction as shall allow the quality most required
to be obtained in the highest degree, without being attended by too
great a sacrifice of the others. The form indicated above has by
experience been found to afford the means of uniting the different
conditions, as far as they are consistent with each other; but that
form is capable of being varied within very distant limits.
subject of the resistance of fluids against bodies immersed in them is
also so imperfectly known, that the most proper proportions which
the several dimensions should have to each other, in order that such
resistance may be as little as possible, are yet to be determined; and
in the present state of science, those proportions can only be obtained
from the dimensions of ships of different classes which have been
observed to possess the best sailing properties.
The
In merchant ships an ample capacity is frequently of more import-
ance than a great velocity in sailing; and in this case the relations
between the length, breadth, and depth depend less upon hydrodyna-
mical principles than the corresponding relations in ships of war.
With respect to the latter, it is observed by Mr. Morgan, in his papers
on naval architecture, that the number and weight of the guns con-
stitute the basis of the design; for from these the weight of the
whole ship, or the volume of the water which it will displace, may be
estimated. The distance between the guns on the decks must be such
as by experience has been found sufficient for working them; and
hence the number of decks being given, the least length which the
ship should have becomes known. The breadth also must in part be
determined by the artillery; for on each side of the ship, between the
hatches or ladder-ways and the rear of the gun-carriages after the
recoil, there must be room for a free passage; but this element must
also be great enough to afford the necessary stability, that the
tendency of a lateral wind to turn the ship about a longitudinal axis
is immersed) may depend on the depth of water in the harbours and
may be resisted.
The draught of water (the depth to which the ship
roadsteads; but it should also be determined from experience, so that
the ship may be prevented as much as possible from making leeway;
upper tiers of guns are kept as low as possible, the height of the
and the height of the ship above water must be such that, while the
lowest tier above the water, when the ship floats upright, may be not
less than six feet, in order that the lower guns may be worked when
the ship has considerable inclination. Finally, the form of the body
must be that which is most favourable for velocity, by causing the
least possible resistance of the water at the bows and along the sides;
which allows the greatest lateral resistance; and which will permit the
rudder to act with most effect in causing the ship to be turned about
a vertical axis. And if, when in the design for a ship all these con-
which would fill the space occupied by the ship below the general
surface of the water in which she floats) is equal to the whole
weight of the ship, the several dimensions may be considered as nearly
correct.
Imagining a horizontal section through a ship at the surface of the
water to present the form of four portions of parabolas, the two in
front of the greatest transverse section being similar and equal onditions are fulfilled, the displacement (weight of the volume of water
opposite sides of the longitudinal axis; and likewise the two portions
abaft of that section being similar and equal to one another, but different
from the two former portions, Chapman finds, as approximations to the
place of that greatest section, that its distance in front of the middle
of the ship's length may be four, six, or eight times the horizontal
distance of the centre of gravity of the whole ship from that middle
point. And his observation is that the first distance might serve for
sharp vessels, as frigates, and the last for merchant ships, which are
much broader than the others in proportion to their lengths. Colonel
Beaufoy's experiments with solids of various forms indicate that, in
general, the distance of the midship section in front of the middle
point in the length should be one-tenth of the length.
It must be understood that the assumptions on which the formulæ
expressing the relations between the principal dimensions of ships, and
between the dimensions and velocity, have been investigated, are far
from being conformable to the circumstances of a ship when moving
through the water, and the same may be said of the above process for
finding the place of the greatest transverse section; consequently, the
formulæ afford but remote approximations to the rules which should
guide the naval architect in the formation of a design. A far more
perfect knowledge than we have at present of the action of the wind on
the sails, of the resistance of the water, and of the conditions of
stability in a ship, will be necessary before the results of analysis will
be capable of being applied directly to the details of construction.
With regard to ships of war, a reference to our word NAVY will
show that so great are the changes resulting from the adoption of the
screw as a means of auxiliary propulsion, that, together with a total
revolution commenced in the system of armament, the discussion
herein of embryo theories would be incompatible with our plan.
Under the words GUN-BOAT, CLIPPER, &c., the subject has been
already touched upon, but a few general remarks will be added under
the heading STEAM-VESSEL.
") <<
Ships intended for the merchant service may be divided into three
classes, as either"
and cargo vessels." Among the first may be found perhaps some of
cargo vessels," or " passenger
passenger carrying,"
the most beautiful models of steamers which the art of man, at this
period, can produce. It is necessary, however, to concede that notions
of beauty in a ship vary as our notions of their adaptation to certain
purposes; for if we take speed alone as our standard of reference,
slimness of form and lightness of rig appeal to the judgment, while
the nautical connoisseur will, like the jockey among horses, detect
at once among shipping the distinctive qualifications which stamp the
racer, the charger, or, so to speak, the horse of burden.
Unfortunately, however, this apparent facility of rough appreciation
517
518.
SHIP.
SHIPBUILDING.
forms one of the drawbacks to which naval architecture is liable. It
is nevertheless capable of demonstration, that as in the horse an
expectation of speed or otherwise is inferred by closer inspection, say
of the length and freedom of the femur, so may the nautical eye
scrutinise profitably various of the undermentioned qualifications of
the ship. That a ship whose hull has been constructed according to
the best rules of art does not always fulfil the conditions required, may
depend on several causes. If the burden is placed too low, the rolling
will be heavy, and the masts may be endangered; on the other hand,
if the burden is too high, there may not be sufficient stability. With
all the researches which have so lately been renewed, there seem to
remain a few well recognised and established laws as to form which
cannot be dispensed with in the construction of a perfect ship. It is
by means of these that the unscientific builders of the country some-
times produce wonderfully good models. The following are the prin-
cipal, namely:—
The bow should be sufficiently sharp to cleave the water with the least
possible resistance:
Of sufficient fulness above load-water line to prevent too great
plunging in bad weather:
Sufficiently free from unnecessary top-weight also to ease a ship in
a sea way!
A bow in which the floor extends as far as possible into the forefoot,
but blends easily into the general lines of the hull; serving as
another check on inconvenient vertical motion.
The hull should have bearings or powers of floatation, so distributed
as to sustain the internal weight without strain upon any particular
part of the general frame of the vessel:
Should be so capacious as to admit of ample stowage, while its dis-
placement at any depth presents a water-line free from too great
curvature.
The floor should have such an arrangement of draft lines as to admit
of both speed and stability, according to the work to be done by
the vessel; for speed is well known to be influenced greatly by the
fulness or otherwise of the midship section at the bilge, inasmucb
as the shape of this part contributes largely towards the delivery
or retardation of displaced water as it passes into the run of the
ship past the stern-post: great proportionate length in a ship
permits a fuller bilge line.
The stern should have the submerged part (called the run) as nearly
wedge-shaped as possible in its water-lines, as viewed from above:
the smaller the angle of the wedge the cleaner the run is said to be:
The lines of the run to spring from or blend with the lines of the
hull without sudden change in the curve:
While so clean as to cause no dead water, yet to have the bearings
above the light-water line so judiciously adjusted in the vertical
sections as, from the capacity and gradual displacement of water
at such times, to furnish an easy check to the violent motion of
rolling or pitching:
So well arranged in its upperworks as to prevent unnecessary top-
weight, while giving sufficient internal space for cabins and the
requisite deck operations:
A proportion of length and breadth so nicely determined as not to
give speed at the expense of stability, and vice versa :
A forefoot so deep as to give what are called weatherly qualities, or
to prevent the vessel, when close hauled, from being driven off the
wind by every wave which meets the weather bow-while not so
deep as to impede ready working in stays :
A heel so deep as to give sufficient power to the helm in its ample
hold of the water, without increasing unnecessarily the draught of
water.
It may well be imagined that the above requirements, so antagonistic
in themselves, generate a vast variety of forms of vessels; but not even
the absolute shape of the fabric itself can insure an accurate perform-
ance when under sail; for other important considerations arise even in
the fitting and masting of the ship, as for instance :-
The masts should be so distributed in her length as to incline a
little towards the stern (or should rake, as the phrase is); this has a
double advantage: 1st, it tends to steadiness of the hull in a sea way,
when moving upon her midship axis, in the action of pitching, inas-
much as the weight of the spars, sails, and rigging upon a raking mast
has to be raised by the motion of the ship before the mast can be
perpendicular; while in a perpendicular mast, such pitching motion is
facilitated by any vertical disturbance of the water-line, inasmuch as
in this case the weight of the whole mast tends towards a lower point.
2nd, In a heavy gale the wind has less power on a raking mast when
the ship is lying-to. And further: it has long been the practice to
place the foremast of a line-of-battle ship very far forward, so far
indeed as in some to plumb the forefoot. This has been supposed to
be necessary from the general form of the hull, as a counteraction of too
great an amount of weather helm when the ship heels, but it is
scarcely questionable whether the new form of bow will not show the
former disadvantage of placing the foremast, in some ships weighing
perhaps thirty tons (including spars, sails, and gear), so far from the
centre of gyration of the whole mass. It is no uncommon thing to
see these old liners, when riding for instance at anchor in the Downs,
pitching bows under, to the manifest danger of masts and everything.
Another great defect of rig is mostly apparent in foreign vessels,
wherein the lower masts are so long as to throw the centre of effort of
their top-sails and top-gallant sails higher than necessary above the
decks, and by thus increasing the leverage of the force of the wind,
throwing the hull out of the perpendicular and distorting the water-
line, as in the following diagram.


Water-line,
a
Water-line.
windward, and requires the helm to be so placed as to counteract this
When such is the case, the vessel has a constant tendency to fly up to
tendency, but it forms a complete drag upon her motion. (See a in
the above figure.)
Enough has been said on the general consideration of a ship as
a mere sailing body, as adapted to the propulsion of such bodies by
steam. The subject will admit of further remark under the word
of terms usually applied to the different descriptions of sailing vessels.
STEAM-VESSEL. A few outline diagrams are here added in illustration
Ship.
Barque.
Brig.
Brigantine.
Schooner.
Galliot.
Ketch.
Yawl.
Lugger.
Cutter.
Sloop.
SHIPBUILDING, as a science, has, under the term Naval Archi-
tecture, become so extensive a subject as to render it difficult to
condense within the limits of a concise statement, sufficient to illus-
trate even its main principles, without undue intrusion upon the
consistent limits of a Cyclopædia.
The precise form of a ship need not here be a main consideration;
under the word STEAM-VESSEL will be given such information here-
upon as illustrates the question of speed; which, although belonging
also to certain classes of sailing-vessels, is more immediately and more
generally connected with steamers whose powers are dependent on a
limited amount of their primary means of propulsion, namely, coal.
We here only consider, under this word, the hull or body of a ship as a
hollow shell, intended to accomplish a required displacement of water
under different specific amounts of immersion. Were it merely the
object to build such a fabric as is capable of floatation in a fluid at rest,
the elucidation of principles already given would suffice; but we have
to illustrate certain considerations which are conducive to strength :
and a difficulty arises of fairly estimating the amount of strength
demanded, not at any particular part in the frame of a ship, but
throughout the whole mass; for it becomes a most intricate question
to estimate in a ship even an approximate amount of relative strain,
and its importance in the economical distribution of material may be
said to comprise the most exacting demands on the skill of the accom-
plished mechanic and mathematician.
The subject here would evidently divide into two distinct branches;
for while there exists in vessels of the mercantile marine a series of
qualifications adapted to the general requirements of commerce, such
as the carrying of heavy burdens, or of passengers, another class of
519
SHIPBUILDING.
ships is demanded of the naval architect which shall fulfil all the
necessities of fighting ships; but those of the latter class will be
more conveniently treated of under STEAM-VESSEL.
When a ship is to be constructed, the first consideration is the
required amount of tonnage. This being once determined, a knowledge
of the purpose for which the ship is intended regulates the builder in
his fixing the amount of midship area, from which all the other dimen-
sions originate. In forming the area of the midship section, the good
qualities of the ship chiefly depend on the selection of the breadth (or
beam as it is called) for on this rests the important question of
stability or stiffness under sail. It is customary to consider the
primary form of the ship as a quadrangular prism of contents equal to
the required tonnage :-of course its midship section will be a rectan-
gular parallelogram. Suppose, for example, it were required to build
a ship of certain tonnage [TONNAGE], whose midship sectional area is
to be 805 square feet, and the beam 35 feet, then 805 23 feet the
depth. The primary body plan and whole breadth plan would be as
under :-
Fig. 1.
C
A
FE
B
'H
35
CGHD would be the midship area, CD the beam, ca the depth.
Now although this represents the amount of displacement for tonnage,
it requires the skill and taste of the naval architect to adapt the out-
line of such capacity to the requirements of the ship, having proper
regard to speed, carrying qualifications, rolling, stability, &c. &c. This
is to be done by an interchange of areas in the following manner:
Suppose a moderate amount of speed is to be blended with average
carrying qualities, the dotted curve would be so drawn as to let the
area E compensate for the abstracted area B; or if speed in particular
be desirable, then the area F would compensate the area a. It will
thus be manifest that a wide range of form is open to the shipbuilder,
while his chief aim is not to disturb the amount of area of the mid- |
SHIPBUILDING.
€20
ship section. And again taking the form of the ship at the load-water
line-the primary parallelogram would be A B C D, a horizontal section
of the primary quadrangular prism as under,—
areas,
A
a
α
Z
C
Fig. 2.
B

d
D
C
Now in order to shape the ends so as to give sailing qualities, it, as
in the former case, again taxes the skill of the builder to interchange
so as not to disturb the gross displacement:-in the above
figure we have supposed the area marked a to be taken from the
parallelogram and transferred to a';-that marked c to be transferred
to c':-b to b' and d to d. Hence the outline in plan and section is
determined, and drawings representing the necessary intermediate
elevations and sections, generally on a scale of a quarter of an inch
to a foot, are prepared, and copies of these, enlarged to the full size of
the objects which they represent in the intended ship, are traced with
chalk on the floor of an apartment called the "mould-loft." The
length of the loft is generally equal to half that of the greatest ship
which it may be proposed to build, and of the whole height of the hull
in addition; so that there may be traced upon it a horizontal plan of
half the ship in the direction of its length, and beyond one extremity
of the plan a representation, in the same plane, of a transverse section
of the ship in a vertical plane at the place of its greatest breadth.
Such plan and section being laid down, there are drawn with chalk,
from their proper places in the plan, representations of the timber ribs
or frames as they would appear in as many transverse sections of the
ship: pieces of plank about three-quarters of an inch thick are then
cut so as to correspond to the forms of the timbers; and these, which
are called the moulds, become the patterns by which the timbers are
to be cut from the tree or log of wood. But, as such a mould can only
give the form of the timber in the direction of its length, and as the
oblique positions in which the timbers stand in the ship may cause the
angle which the faces of each timber make with one another to be


Fig. 3.
E
d
C
e
b
a
A
acute or obtuse, and to vary in the same piece, certain marks on the
surfaces of the boards are used to indicate the directions in which the
sides of the timbers are to be cut. The operation of cutting the
timbers agreeably to the forms of the mould-boards is called "
verting."
con-
A row of blocks of oak are placed on the building-slip (ground cut
in an inclined plane descending towards the water) in the direction of
the length of the intended ship, so that their upper surfaces may be
in a plane making an angle of about three degrees with the horizon;
and on these blocks is laid the keel AB, fig. 3. This, which is the
lowest timber of the ship, extends from one end to the other, and upon
it is raised the whole fabric; it is of elm, and for a large ship it con-
sists of two or more pieces scarfed together at their extremities.
Timbers, called the "dead-wood," are then placed at o and D longi-
tudinally upon the keel from each extremity of the latter towards its
middle; the upper surface of this mass is cut in a curvilinear form b, b,
and with this line the bottom of the ship's body is to coincide. At a
and B, the extremities of the keel, the stern-post and stem-post are set
up: the latter is curved near the bottom; and if the stern is to be
what is called square, a particular frame, consisting of two transoms or
horizontal timbers, and two side-pieces, is fixed above the stern-post,
in order to determine the form which is to be given to this part of the
ship. The sides and upper surface of the keel and dead-wood are cut
to receive the floor-timbers (the lower portions, d e, fig. 4, of those
timbers which are to form the ribs of the hull): these are placed across
the keel perpendicularly to its length, and the other portions (called
futtocks), ef, fg, &c., of which each rib is formed, are placed succes-
sively above them, abutting end to end, or the head of a lower one
against the heel of that which is immediately above it. The ends of
the futtock-pieces in every rib are made to fall near the middle of the
length of those in the rib on each side of it; and they are united
together by cylindrical coaks, or plugs of wood, which enter about two
inches into those ends at the places of junction; c, c, c, &c., fig. 3,
e
B
represent sections of the ribs made by a plane passing longitudinally
through the middle of the keel, and the interior surfaces of parts of

p
Fig. 4.
N
d
t
h
k
m
mű
中
​2"
the ribs appear at d, d, &c. The ribs were formerly placed so that
their planes were perpendicular to the keel, but Dr. Inman has dis-
posed them so as to be in vertical positions when the ship floats
upright. Except near the two extremities of the ship, their planes are
perpendicular to a horizontal line drawn in the plane of floatation
through the whole length; but at the bows always, and at the stern if
the latter is to be curvilinear, the vertical planes with which the ribs
on each side coincide are oblique to the length of the ship, in order
521
522
SHIPBUILDING.
SHIPBUILDING.
that, on a horizontal plane, the proper curvature of the extremities
may be obtained. The rib-timbers above the surface of the water are
nearly rectilinear, but below that plane they are made with various
curvatures. About the middle of the ship they have at bottom nearly
the form of a semicircle, while towards the head and stern they form
curves of contrary flexure, uniting on the keel with their lower con-
cavities towards the exterior of the ship.
It may be observed that the keel of a ship is not horizontal, or
parallel to the plane of floatation when the ship is in still water, but is
made lower towards the stern than it is forwards, in order to allow
greater length to the rudder, and thus increase the power of the latter
in giving a direction to the ship's motion.
The keelson, e e, fig. 3, is placed longitudinally above the floor-
timbers, and immediately over the keel, and it is united to the latter
by bolts which go through both, and through the floor-timbers: its
transverse section is represented at s, fig. 4. In large ships two addi
tional keelsons, t, t, fig. 4, about thirty feet long, are bolted to the
floor-timbers sufficiently near one another that the step (foot) of the
mainmast may rest upon them; they serve to relieve the bottom of
the ship from the pressure of that mast, and strengthen it against the
upward action of the water. The timbers E and F, fig. 3, called the
sternson and stemson, are also attached interiorly to the stern-post and
stem-post, in order to increase the strength of the fabric.
The whole assemblage of rib-timbers is covered on the outside, and
either wholly or partly on the inside of the ship, with planks of oak
from three to six inches thick; and in order to make the latter bend
so as to lie close to the curve surface of the ribs, they are, previously
to being applied, moistened by steam: the exterior planking appears
in the section, fig. 4. The planks are fastened to the ribs both by
bolts and trenails (plugs of oak from one to two inches diameter),
which pass quite through the ship's side, and are tightened by wedges
driven into them at each extremity.
When the ribs do not join closely side by side, it is recommended
that, before the planking is applied, the intervals both on the exterior
and interior sides of the ship should be filled up with pieces of wood,
as long as the curvature of the ribs will permit; the lines of junc-
tion with the ribs being well caulked. Sir Robert Seppings, however,
proposed that for ships of war, where there are intervals between the
principal rib-timbers, there should be introduced in those intervals
other ribs extending from the keel up to the orlop or lower deck, since
by this construction the lower part of the ship will be one compact
mass of timber. He observed that the filling up of the spaces between
the ribs not only adds to the strength of the ship by causing its bottom
to have a solid thickness, but it tends to preserve the health of the
crew, since those openings become receptacles for dirt, by which the
air within the ship is vitiated. Channels, or water-courses, may be
cut down the ribs at their interior lines of junction, and covered by
planks or battens; by these channels the water is able to descend to
the limber passage along the keel, and pass to the pump-well. For
merchants' ships Sir Robert Seppings recommended strakes, or courses,
of thick planks to extend longitudinally through the ship along the in-
terior sides of all the ribs, and to cover the abuttings of the futtock-
pieces in each alternate rib: such strakes appear at n, o, p, in fig. 4.
He considered that no other interior planking would be required, but he
recommended that battens should be fastened over the junctions of the
ribs in the vertical planes.
A ship being a vast fabric consisting of comparatively short pieces
of timber connected together by scarfing, and the principal parts of
the frame-work, the ribs, the longitudinal timbers, and the planks
being nearly at right angles to one another, it must of necessity happen
that when the ship is not supported in its whole length and breadth,
it will bend by its own weight. This will take place not only in the
event of being lifted up by a wave under some place in its length, or
pressed unequally by the force of a wave acting obliquely upon one
bow or quarter, but even while floating in still water, from an excess
of the weight in one transverse section over that in another. In this
last case it has occurred, a horizontal line having been traced from
head to stern by means of a spirit-level while the ship was on the
stocks, that immediately upon the ship being launched the two ex-
tremities were observed to sink as much as three or four inches; the
ends of the planks separating in the upper part of the structure, while
the timbers below were in a state of compression, and the whole body
of the ship becoming curved in a vertical direction. M. Dupin has
shown (Phil. Trans.,' 1817) that the strain is greatest at that transverse
section of the ship which divides the whole length into two parts, in
each of which the weight of the displaced fluid is equal to that of the
corresponding part of the ship and its loading. To counteract the
tendency to arch or bend was the object of Sir Robert Seppings in the
application of diagonal braces to the interior side of a ship.
Trussing ships to prevent arching was used on the Continent as
early as 1759; and the Swedish architect Chapman, who describes the
manner of placing the trusses, speaks of the practice as being generally
followed. The method consisted in setting up three parallel rows of
fir-pillars from one end of the ship to the other; the middle row rested
on the keelson, and the others on parallel longitudinal timbers, fastened
by bolts to the ribs of the ship, one on each side of the keel; on the
heads of these pillars in each row, and under the lower deck of the
ship, was placed a longitudinal timber like an architrave; and diagonal
|
braces were placed from the head of one pillar to the foot of the next
in each of the three rows. It is evident that such a disposition of
braces, if well executed, would serve to prevent or diminish the arching
of the ship; but it is far inferior to the method now followed, because
of the interference with the loading, and the liability of the pillars to
be displaced in consequence of a violent movement of the ship.
In order to understand the construction of a ship and Sir R. Sep-
pings's application of the braces, let fig. 5 represent a part, near the
Fig. 5.

៩
D
Y
*
k
h
P
P
10
તે
I
V
10
P
X
y
VN
k
h
In
mainmast, of a longitudinal section through a large ship of war.
this figure e e is the top of the keelson; h h and hk are timbers ex-
tending through the whole length of the ship above the ribs, which
are supposed to be close together, and not covered by an interior
planking; m m, &c., are the principal timbers of the braces; n n, &c.,
are the trusses to those timbers; xx is a longitudinal shelf, on which
rest the beams of the orlop deck, and the section shows how it is sup-
ported on the braces m m, &c.; y y is a like shelf, on which rest the
beams of the lower gun-deck. The beams which support the upper
decks rest likewise upon longitudinal shelf-pieces, which appear at w w
and zz; and these lie upon chocks or upon pillars placed against the
sides of the ship at intervals between the decks: the same shelf-pieces
appear at x, y, w, z, in fig. 4. Through these and through the ribs pass
the bolts by which the iron knees rrr, fig. 4, are attached to the body
of the ship. In small vessels the beams are not always fastened by
iron knees, but are merely coaked and bolted to the shelf-pieces: two
or more iron knees are however usually placed under the beam near
the main and fore masts. The shelves just mentioned constitute as
many hoops connecting the ribs of the fabric together longitudinally;
they are fastened by trenails and bolts to the ribs and to the beams of
the decks: PP, &c., fig. 5, are the ports, and the dispositions of the
braces between them are shown at vv, &c.
The connection of the two sides of the ship with each other is
effected by means of the beams which extend under the decks from
side to side. The tops of the iron knees are fastened to these, near
their extremities, by bolts passing through them; and the lower parts
of the knees are joined to the ship's side by bolts passing quite through
the planking, the ribs, the chock-pieces, and the knees themselves.
The beams of the principal decks in large ships are usually made in
two pieces which abut end to end, and are connected together by
having a strong middle piece scarfed and bolted to them.
The planks
of the gun and upper decks are recommended to be laid obliquely
above the beams, and their outer extremities enter into a rebate
formed near the interior side of the ship in certain longitudinal pieces
which are channelled for the purpose of carrying off the water from the
decks: the diagonal position is given to the deck planks, in order that
they may increase the strength of the ship in a transverse direction.
The exterior planking of the ship is laid on the ribs in longitudinal
directions as nearly as possible parallel to the surface of the water
and at the extremities of the ship bolts pass obliquely through them
and through the stem-post, the stern-post, and the adjacent rib-
timbers.
;
The oblique timbers, or diagonal braces mm, &c. (figs. 4 and 5),
which are about six or seven feet asunder, cross the ribs at angles of
about 45°, and are placed in contrary directions from the middle of
each side towards each extremity of the ship. Their upper ends abut
against the horizontal shelf under the lower gun-deck, and their heels
or lower extremities against the keelson, or against the horizontal
timber on each side of it. These braces are attached to the timbers of
the ship by cylindrical coaks and bolts, and the lower ends are con-
nected with the keelson by iron straps. The timbers hh, kk, which
are of fir, are attached to the sides of the diagonal braces; and the
truss-timbers nn, &c., are placed diagonally across the rhomboidal space
formed between the principal braces and the longitudinal pieces, in
order to prevent the former from becoming bent by the compression
which they may suffer endways from any strain which the ship may
523
SHIPBUILDING.
experience. The diagonal frames, together with the oblique trussing
between the ports in the upper works, not only resist the tendency of
the ship to become arched, but the former resist also any pressure
which may take place externally against the bottom of the ship in the
event of grounding; at the same time the exterior planking, the
longitudinal timbers, and the oblique planking of the decks bind the
whole fabric in one firm body. A close contact of the several parts of
the diagonal frames is evidently of the utmost importance, as on it
depends the security of the ship against a change of figure.
The principle on which the diagonal braces act may be easily under-
stood from the following considerations :-Let A M, AN, fig. 6, be two
principal braces; F D and DC, GB and B C, the struts or trusses inserted
between them: then if c be the point of support, and if the parts
beyond N and M be those which have a tendency to sink by the weight
Fig. 6.
F
N
A
C
B
G
M
of the superstructure, it will follow from the 'elements of mechanics,
that in this case the braces AM and AN, and the longitudinal timber
FG, will be subject to the strain of extension in the direction of their
lengths, while the trusses G B and B C, FD and D C, as well as the longi-
tudinal timbers DB and MN, will be subject to the strain of com-
pression. The effect of braces disposed in the positions AM, AN, in
midships, and of others corresponding to them towards the head and
stern, will be that the strain arising from the weight of the extremities
of the ship, and by which arching is produced, is counteracted by the
power of the trusses, in positions corresponding to r c and ca, to resist
being compressed. A contrary effect would take place if the principal
braces were disposed in the directions CF and CG, c being the point
supported; for then the trusses between them, and the longitudinal
pieces DB, would become disengaged, and would fall out of their
places.
SHIPBUILDING.
52-1
principal of that school, and our present great authority in naval
mathematics, declared, in a paper read before the Institution of Naval
Architects in 1860, that the experiments therein referred to were most
carefully made, and entitled to rank among the most important
contributions towards the determination of the theory which have
ever appeared.
In 1851, Mr. Fincham, the master-shipwright at Portsmouth Dock-
yard, published a 'History of Naval Architecture,' which throws much
light on various branches of the science.
In 1852, Lord Robert Montagu endeavoured, in a small work pub-
lished by him on naval architecture, to influence the form of vessels
by the dissemination of a new theory affecting the question of the
molecular motion of water when disturbed by an advancing body.
Something similar was also published at New York by Mr. Griffiths.
But no permanent benefit to science seems to have been thereby pro-
duced; for, as already mentioned, the theory of resistances is still in a
very incomplete and unsatisfactory state. The nearest approach to
any theory founded on the disturbance of the particles of water is
that of the form assumed by the mass of water so displaced, and which
constitutes the theory announced to the scientific world in 1842 by
Mr. John Scott Russell. This, as a question of shipbuilding, is one of
paramount interest, intimately connected as it is with that of speed
and the various other dependent qualifications of a ship, as influencing
the ready defence of the country. Mr. Russell's theory has been
already alluded to under RUSSELL, JOHN SCOTT, in the BIOG. Div.
of this Cyclopædia; but an illustration under SHIPBUILDING may be
acceptable.
In devising the form of a ship, he proceeds, as already explained at
figs. 3 and 4; but instead of adopting merely arbitrary changes of area,
he arrives at his precise form of midship and load-water curves by the
use of a simple and elegant formula, producing thereby curves of con-
trary flexure, which are said to facilitate the passage of a solid through
a fluid.
His experiments have shown that although the straight bow
of wedge-like form presents actually the smallest surface to the friction
of the particles of water, yet that in this form such particles, impinging
upon the bow, rebound or are driven off at right angles to the water-
line, raising a perceptible wave; while Scott Russell's curve of easy
entrance allows the water to roll along the curve to the side of the
vessel without such opposition. To illustrate plainly his theory with
all possible brevity, let us suppose that, for instance, the area and
outline curve of the midship section have been determined: this would
represent the greatest beam, not at the centre of the fore and aft line
of the ship, but at a point at about two-thirds of the length from the
bow. Mr. Scott Russell divides his ship, upon the load-water line, into
two unequal and dissimilar portions. He considers that the length
of midship portion (which, according to his theory, may consist of
horizontal lines perfectly parallel to the keel) does not affect, or scarcely
affects, any other property than the displacement, the additional friction
of such added midship portion being comparatively trifling. Thus his
ship, in its abstract original, is merely a bow and a stern; but as the
curves which form these are, at their junction at the midship section,
tangential, and are parallel to the longitudinal axis, they admit of an
easy absorption into the general outline curve of the ship.

Sir Robert Seppings's diagonal braces were first introduced in 1810,
and his paper on the application of them is contained in the 'Philo-
sophical Transactions' for 1814. They were first applied to the
Tremendous; and the success was complete, for after three years'
service it was found, by means of lines of sights along the ship, that
the gun-deck had not arched in the least, and the upper deck only three
fourths of an inch.
The introduction of iron knees and braces in wooden ships has not
only strengthened them considerably, but is a great advantage in the
saving of space for stowage. The sheathing of ships at first consisted
of a second covering of planks applied, on the exterior of the first,
over the bottom and sides as far as they were under water. [SHEATHING.]
To save the first expense of copper, a mixed metal called Muntz's
Metal, or yellow metal, and composed of 6 parts copper to 4 parts
zinc, was in 1832 manufactured at Birmingham under patent, and its
use has considerably increased in the merchant service. It has been
found that there is a limit to the quantity of copper in this kind of
sheathing, as unless the quantity of copper be between 50 and 63 per
cent., and the zinc between 50 and 37 per cent., the compound will
not roll at a red heat-while too much copper renders the compound 5
difficult to work, and too much zinc renders it too hard when cold.
By this use of metal sheathing shells and sea-weeds are partially
prevented from adhering to the sides and bottoms; the friction of the
water against them is diminished, and the damage which would be
caused by worms is avoided.
As further details on the practice of wooden shipbuilding may be
obtained from such excellent works as that of Mr. James Peake, of
H.M. Dockyard, Woolwich, we only add some information on the
manner in which various subjects intimately affecting the whole
question of naval architecture have been treated.
In 1814, Mr. Walters, a civil architect, took out a patent for a
method of counteracting the arching of a ship by braces of iron, which
he proposed to apply on each side of the ship between the rib-frames
and the exterior planking. The braces were to extend obliquely both
ways from the upper-deck beam in midships, in the direction of the
line of shortest distance on the surface, towards the keel, where those
which were on opposite sides of the ship were to meet under the bows
and stern. By this disposition the extremities of the vessel could not
sink without putting all the timbers between the trusses in a state of
compression, and thus all their joints would be kept close together.
In the Mémoire de la Stabilité des Corps Flottants,' published in
1822 by the Baron Dupin, the stability of a ship as derived from differ-
ence of form was considered, and has proved useful to the shipbuilder.
In about 1827, some papers, chiefly contributed by the students of
the School of Naval Architecture at Portsmouth Dockyard, were pub
lished by Messrs. Morgan and Creuze, formerly pupils of that insti-
tution; and as these embodied several valuable translations from
4
A
0
Fig. 7.

Bisect
Let the line AB represent two-thirds of the whole length of the ship at
the load-water line, and be the bow or forward portion, a C representing
the half-breadth at her greatest or midship section: join C B.
AC, and from its centre, o, and with o c as radius, describe the semi-
circle on A o, and divide it into any number of equal parts-say six, for
example. Divide A B also into six equal parts, and draw the ordinates
a l′, b 2′, c 3′, &c., parallel to a C. Then draw 1.1', 2.2′, 3.3', &c.,
parallel to A B, meeting the first ordinates at the points 1', 2', 3', &c.;
then will these points, 1', 2', 3', &c., be points in the curve which Mr.
Scott Russell calls the wave principle, from some analogies which he
It will be found
considers to exist between it and the form of waves.
that the area of the portion o3'm will be equal to the area of the part
3'Bn, forming an interchange of area without disturbing the amount
of displacement or the tennage of the ship.
The following figure will also, by the same rule, show the shape of
Fig. 8.

foreign authors on the laws of the resistance of fluids, they may still the stern portion of the load-water line, the outline curve being drawn
be read with considerable benefit. The Rev. Dr. Woolley, the late in precisely the same manner.
525
€26
SHIPBUILDING.
SHIPS AND SHIPPING.
A
In the figure below we have placed the two ends together (at a
reduced scale), to show the whole load-water lines of the ship; and it
is remarkable that, in vessels built on the wave principle, the amount
of proportionate beam (within ordinary and reasonable limits) is said
to very little affect the question of speed.
sferni
Fig. 9.
low
Another feature in Mr. Scott Russell's ingenious theory deserves
mention. If we divide a ship vertically fore and aft into parallel
portions of equal thickness, or, which may be more intelligible to the
general reader, if we construct the model of such ship with boards of
coloured wood of equal thickness throughout, the lines along the
bottom of the ship, formed by the line of junction of such boards, and
which are called buttock-lines, are made purposely cycloidal at the
stern (the difference in the colour of the woods shows the lines more
strongly): such a form of construction is said to facilitate the delivery
of water as it passes along the hull.
Sir William Symonds, late surveyor of the navy, greatly altered the
form of ships in her majesty's service, although he had much opposi-
tion to contend with. We are certainly indebted to him for more
height between decks, faster sailing qualities, greater stability, but
there are still those who do not wholly admit his theory as fully
applicable to heavily armed ships. He gave greater beam, at the
expense of hold stowage, &c.—the details of his construction may be
seen in an interesting work bearing his name, published a few years
since. As a comparison with the prevailing mode of constructing the
midship form of section, the following figure will suffice.
Fig. 10.
If oa be the beam of a ship of war as usually constructed, he
would increase the beam to ob, and adopt a very rising floor; while
a mc would be the shape of the old form, bnc would be that of Sir
W. Symonds; but this extent of beam has its limits, for although the
displacement is taken from the bottom and placed at the load-water
line, where it exerts a power of buoyancy, in the ratio of the square of
its distance from the fore and aft midship line of the ship, it is said to
render the rolling of a ship, under certain circumstances, less easy. But
there is no question that shipbuilding received an impetus from Sir
W. Symonds, at a time when in England the whole science was in a
state of torpor.
Most elaborate investigations as to the mathematical principles
involved in the rolling motion of a ship have been recently made by
Dr. Woolley. Rolling is manifestly of two kinds, deep rolling and
uneasy rolling; the vessel's motion in the latter case is principally
affected by the raising of the centre of gravity and the suddenness of the
check to oscillation caused by the rapid immersion of the lee-side of
the ship, and is often sufficient to endanger masts, and is attendant
upon the adoption of very rising floors, for the nearer the midship
section approaches a semicircle, the deeper but easier will be the
rolling, but this brings us into another extreme, namely, the possibility
of danger from capsizing. Dr. Woolley has shown that the mathema-
tical expression for periods of rolling, or as it is called, the theory of
rotation, affords no correct indication of the actual condition of a
vessel at such times of oscillation.
He gives the following formula :---
Time of rotation=
Tk
where is the radius of gyration about a longitudinal axis per-
pendicular to the plane of rotation through the centre of gravity, and
Gu is the height of the metacentre above the centre of gravity. From
which he deduces the following inferences, namely, the smaller the
amount of Gμ, or the less the stability of the ship, the longer is the
time of oscillation, and consequently the greater the easiness of the
motion; while such ease, however, may, as already observed, be beyond
a certain point a source of evident danger. Uneasy rolling may, more-
over, be partially corrected by removing weights nearer to the side of
the ship, thus increasing the axis of rotation, or as some call it the
radius of gyration. The questions of rolling and stability are of great
moment to the shipbuilder, as what are called sea-going qualities pre-
eminently hinge on these. The well-known expression for comparison
of stabilities is as follows, namely:-
y³ dx
243
D
|
ordinates, da being the differential of the length of the elementary
prism, and D being the displacement. So that in fact the comparative
stabilities of ships may be said to be the comparative heights of their
metacentres above the centres of gravity.
The rudder serves to govern the ship's motion; for, on being turned
so that its plane is in a position oblique to the plane of the masts and
keel, the reaction of the water against it as the ship advances, being
resolved in a direction perpendicular to the last-mentioned plane,
becomes a force which causes the ship to turn upon a line passing
through its centre of gravity. Thus by giving the rudder more or less
inclination to the said plane, the ship may be made to move in any
required direction, or may be made to avoid an object by which its
safety might be endangered.
Certain highly interesting facts have been very lately under discus-
sion by the Institution of Naval Architects, aided by the opinions of
naval officers of the greatest experience: these will be properly noticed
under STEAM-VESSEL.
SHIPS AND SHIPPING. The law applicable to English merchant
ships consists of so much of the common law as relates to personalty,
the English maritime law to be found in statutes and decisions of her
majesty's courts, and the general law maritime recognised less or more
by all civilised nations, but peculiar to no one nation in particular.
The subject may be conveniently considered under the following
heads :-
1. The ownership of merchant vessels.
2. Their navigation.
3. The persons who navigate them.
4. The carriage of goods and passengers.
1. Ownership. Acquisition of Ship Property.-Ships, or shares in
them, are, in view of the law of England, personal property, which
upon the death of the owner passes to his personal representative, and
on marriage of a female owner to her husband. Ship property is legally
acquired by construction, by purchase, or by capture from an enemy.
Very often, perhaps most frequently, the keel of a new ship is not laid
down in the builder's yard before a contract has been concluded for
her construction between the builder and his customer. Usually,
however, all property in the uncompleted vessel continues meanwhile
to be vested in the builder, notwithstanding such contract, even
although payments be made in advance, and appear to be regulated
in accordance with the progress of the work. It is not till she is
completed and ready for delivery, and either delivered or approved of,
that the rights of ownership vest in the purchaser. Before that time,
any instrument executed on his part, with the intention to transfer a
title to the ship or any share of her, would be a mere nullity. It is,
however, allowed by the law of England to stipulate for a transfer of
the property in the uncompleted ship at any stage of her progress, in
return for payment of the price in advance by certain agreed instal-
ments; and this is sometimes done.
Purchase of ships already built presupposes in the buyer much skill
and no small degree of caution to be perfectly safe. The policy of law
in this country respecting bargains is to throw the buyer entirely on
his own resources in making the contract, by cutting off all hope of
subsequent help out of difficulties into which he never could have
fallen if he had used his reason at the time of the purchase. Moreover
the difficulties in the way of a purchaser's retrieving himself in case of
a bad bargain are increased by the recent statutes respecting the
transfer and registration of merchant ships (17 & 18 Vict. c. 104; 18 &
19 Vict. c. 91). A compulsory form of bill of sale is prescribed by the
statute, any deviation from which, by the introduction of other par-
ticulars, may deprive the buyer of the right of requiring the registration
of his title. Warranties, therefore, and representations in the nature
of warranties, cannot now be introduced into the only document of
contract that can be enforced in a court of law or equity. For any
contract, however formal and solemn, other than the authorised bill of
sale, although duly executed by both parties, and money paid upon it,
gives the buyer no legal or equitable title to the ship, no right to sue
in a court of equity for specific performance, or even any right to sue
for damages in a court of law on non-performance. This appears to be
thought indispensable to any system of effective registration of titles to
ship-property.
Registration.-All British ships are now required to be registered,
excepting only ships of fifteen tons burden and under, employed on
British rivers or coasts, and vessels of thirty tons, not having a whole
or fixed deck, and employed in fishing off the coasts of British North
America. A British ship is no longer necessarily a British-built ship,
or a British-manned ship, but simply a British-owned ship. The persons
who are capable in law of being owners of a British ship are (1),
natural born British subjects; (2), persons made denizens by letters of
denization, or naturalised by or pursuant to any act or ordinance of
the Imperial Legislature, or by or pursuant to any act or ordinance of
the proper legislative authority in any British possession, provided that
while they are such owners they are resident within her majesty's
dominions, or members of a British factory, or partners in a house
actually carrying on business in the United Kingdom or within the
British dominions, and have taken the oath of allegiance subsequently
to denization or naturalisation; and (3), bodies corporate established
under, subject to the laws of, and having their principal place of
whenſy³dx=the summation of the functions of the oubes of the business in, the United Kingdom or some British possession. For the

527
SHIPS AND SHIPPING.
purpose of registration, a declaration of ownership is required from the
applicant, whose qualification to be the owner of a British ship is
thereby ascertained; and any ship sailing under British colours after a
disqualified person has become one of her owners is liable to be forfeited
and seized into the possession of the crown. Any person making a
false declaration as to the qualification of the applicant, forfeits all right
which he, or such applicant if cognisant of the offence, possesses in the
ship.
A British ship is supposed in law to be divided into sixty-four shares.
No one can be registered as owner of a fraction of a share; and no
more than thirty-two persons can be separately registered as owners of
the ship at one time. Yet a corporate body, no matter how many
persons are members of it, is registered as one person: and any five
individuals may be registered jointly for the same share or shares, so
as to count for one person on the register and no more. If six indi-
viduals therefore were to purchase one share, no more than five could
appear on the register; the sixth would be a beneficial owner only,
and for the purposes of transfer must apply to the five in whom the
title is vested. Upon registration of a ship being completed, a certifi-
cate of registry is given, indorsed with the particulars on the register;
but instead of being, as it was before, the document of title to the
ship, it is now no more than is implied in the name, a certificate that
the vessel is British-owned and registered, and as such is to remain
in the keeping of the master for the purposes of the navigation of the
vessel.
The document of title is now the register; all who appear on that
book as owners continue to retain the title so declared to be in them
as long as they are suffered to remain there, with full power to convey
title to any other, and to give valid and effectual receipts for the price.
It is not therefore the execution of the authorised bill of sale that
secures the property to a purchaser; that bill of sale must be
registered, and the burden of that duty is imposed on the most willing
shoulders connected with the transaction, namely, those of the buyer
himself.
Mortgages of the ship, or any shares of it, are also allowed to be
registered, but not trusts or any notice of them. Now as this important
book is entirely local, and the necessities of trade might often require
the sale or mortgage of the vessel to be effected in a foreign country,
or at a distant port in her majesty's dominions, some contrivance was
necessary for placing the contents of the register in all their integrity
and legal effect before the eyes of the intending purchaser or lender
at a distance. This is effected by means of a certificate of sale, or a
certificate of mortgage, which is issued upon application by the
registrar, containing an exact copy of the details on the register as they
appear at the moment of issue. The purchaser or lender is thereby
informed of the exact state of the title which is offered, and how far
the property is already burdened, if burdened at all. By indorsement
on this certificate his title is secured to him, as effectually, and with
the same consequences, as if it had been placed on the register at
the time when the certificate was granted; and the mortgage takes
rank before all other mortgages effected after the issue of the certificate,
and not effected by means of it.
Title by Capture.-Title by capture is an acquisition that cannot be
made except during war; for capture is the exercise of a belligerent
right. But even when exercised during the existence of a war, no
more than an inchoate right of property in the captured ship is vested
until the capture is succeeded by condemnation in accordance with the
principles of the law of nations by a court of competent jurisdiction,
sitting by authority of the sovereign of the captors, either in the
country to which they belong or in that of an ally in the war. The
vessel at the time of condemnation must be lying in a port of that
sovereign, or of such ally; for condemnation of her whilst lying in the
port of a neutral country, except under very peculiar circumstances, is,
according to the English law, a nullity; but the law of the United
States appears to differ in that respect, and to have the support of
continental practice during the wars at least that followed the first
French revolution.
Forfeiture of Ship Property.-Any disqualified person improperly
obtaining and continuing to hold shares in a British registered ship,
forfeits his shares in consequence; and any ship owned wholly or in
part by a person who is disqualified under the law of this country,
which assumes the British flag, except for the mere purpose of escaping
capture by an enemy, is forfeited to the crown. If any master, for
the purposes of his ship, use a British certificate of registry which has
not been legally granted in respect of that vessel, he is himself guilty
of a misdemeanor, and the ship is thereby forfeited. If anything is
done or permitted by the master or owner of a British ship with intent
to conceal her British character from any person entitled by British
law to inquire into the same or with intent to assume a foreign cha-
racter--or with intent to deceive any person entitled to inquire into
her national character whilst making such inquiry, and in respect
thereof, the ship is thereby forfeited. These forfeitures are authorised
by the Merchant Shipping Act of 1854. By the Passengers Act of
1855 (18 & 19 Vict. c. 119) it is enacted that any vessel clearing out
to sea without the requisite bond being first executed by the master,
or without the requisite certificate of clearance being first obtained, is
forfeited to the crown in consequence.
Legal Rights of Part-owners.-If the ownership of a vessel acquired
SHIPS AND SHIPPING.
628
originally in one or other of these ways is not vested in a single person,
the several owners, considered as among themselves and not in relation
to the register, may hold the vessel in partnership. This, however, is
very seldom the case. Usually they are part-owners merely, and as
such have no authority by law, any one of them, to bind the rest by
his contracts on account of the ship. But if they agree to undertake a
trading adventure with the vessel, although they still remain as before,
mere part-owners in respect of the hull of the ship, they are partners
in the adventure. They are bound to contribute in that case to the
expense of the outfit, as being in the nature of capital for the enter-
prise; and they are entitled to an account at the end of the voyage
when the adventure is finished.
The majority in value of the owners of a vessel being authorised by
the English law to employ the ship "upon any probable design," are
only entitled to do so upon giving security to the minority in a sum
equal in value to the united shares of the latter. The mode of obtain-
ing this security is by procuring a warrant from the court of admiralty
for the arrest of the ship. After the security has been given, the
minority do not share either in the expenses or profits of the adven-
ture. If no application of this kind is made to the court, the minority
ought expressly to give notice of their dissent both to their co-owners
and all other parties engaged in the proceedings, and they will then be
relieved from the necessity of contributing in case of a loss. If they
take no steps of the kind, their co-owners, as in the case of any other
chattel possessed in common, will not be responsible to them for any
consequences short of an absolute destruction by their means of the
ship. The same proceedings are proper to be taken where the co-
owners are equally divided in opinion, or the minority have obtained
possession of the ship. The application for the arrest should be made
at the earliest stage of the proceedings, because otherwise the applicant
will be held liable to contribute to the previous expenses although he
will receive no part of the profits, or even have his application to the
court altogether refused.
Agents of the Owners.-For the purpose of managing the ship it is
very usual for the owners to concur in appointing an agent who is
known to the world thereafter as ship's husband. His powers are very
large, considered in the light of the duty for which he is appointed,
which is to attend to all matters connected with the outfit and freight-
ing of the ship. It is not, however, within the limits of his authority
to effect an insurance. If he make any advances, he can sue those
part-owners on whose behalf the advances are made for what is due to
him. In case of disagreement among the part-owners as to the settle-
ment of accounts concerning the expenses and earnings of a ship, the
ordinary remedy is by a suit in equity.
Another agent who is endowed with very extensive power under
certain circumstances to bind the owners by his contract, is the master
of the ship. He has power to bind the owners by entering into
engagements with third parties relative to the employment of the ship.
Such engagements are of two kinds :-1. A contract by which the
whole ship is let to hire during an entire voyage, which may be accom-
plished by a charter-party under seal, or by memorandum of charter-
party not under seal. 2. A contract with distinct persons to convey
the goods of each, in which case the ship is called a general ship. Such
contracts made by the master, being within the lawful scope of his
employment, are legally considered to be made by the owners who
employ him; and in either case they or the master are liable in respect
of these contracts. If the charter-party is made under seal and in the
name of the master only, it will not support a direct action upon it
against the owners. Still if the contract is duly made, that is, within
the usual employment of the master, and under such circumstances as
afford either direct proof of authority or evidence from which such
authority may be inferred, the owners may be made responsible either
by a special action on the case or by a suit in equity. But the master
cannot be assumed to have a power to annul an express contract
entered into by the owners themselves and to form a fresh contract
with other parties.
Besides this power which the master has to bind the owners by his
contracts relative to the lading of the ship, he has also authority to
render them liable for repairs done and provisions and other things
furnished for her use, or for the money which he has expended for
such purposes, if they were necessary. In this case also the remedy of
the creditor is against the master, unless by express contract he be
exempted, and also against the owners. If the contract is made by the
owners themselves, they alone are liable. The English law does not
follow the rule of the civil law, by which a party who had repaired or
furnished a ship had a claim on the ship itself in preference to all
other creditors. A party who has done repairs upon a ship has a
right to retain the possession of it until his demands are paid; but if
he gives up possession, he is on the same footing as other creditors.
Where repairs have been done, or necessaries supplied to a ship, the
legal owners, although there be proof of their title to the ship, are not
on that ground presumed to be liable. There is no presumption of
law upon the subject; the matter is altogether a question of evidence;
and the question to be decided, in order to determine the liability, is
upon whose credit the work was done or the necessaries supplied. If a
ship is let out for hire, the owners are no more liable for the work done
by order of the hirers, than a landlord of a house would be for work
done by order of his tenant. Analogous observations are applicable
629
530
SHIPS AND SHIPPING.
SHIPS AND SHIPPING.

with respect to the liability of mortgagees and charterers. Where there
is an actual letting of the whole ship, and the lessee has the entire
control and management of her, the master and mariners being subject
to his orders, the lessee becomes for the time invested with the cha-
racter of owner. But where by the terms of the contract the master
and mariners continue subject to the owner, and he through them
retains the control and management of the ship, the contract is merely
for carrying the lessee's goods.
When, however, the ship is abroad, and the necessary expenses can-
not otherwise be defrayed, the master has the same power which the
owners or part-owners to the extent of their shares under all circum-
stances have, to hypothecate the ship and freight as a security for debts
contracted on behalf of the ship. The contract of hypothecation is
called a contract of bottomry, by which the ship upon its arrival in
port is answerable for the money advanced, with such interest as may
have been agreed on. By the terms of the contract the repayment of
the money is made to depend upon the accomplishment of the voyage,
and, in consideration of the risk, the lender is permitted to charge a
high rate of interest. By such hypothecation the creditor acquires a
claim on the ship. [BOTTOMRY.] When the claim has been created by
the master abroad, it may be enforced by suit in the Admiralty Court;
but if the ship has been hypothecated by the owners at home, the
parties can only have recourse to the common law or equity courts.
The Admiralty and the equity courts will recognise the interest of the
assignee of a bottomry bond, though at common law he cannot sue in
his own name. In general the master has been held not to be authorised
to raise money on bottomry within any part of the same country where
the owners reside, on the ground that it is his duty to communicate with
them before entering into such a contract. But where by reason of
hostilities communication with the owners was almost impossible, and
immediate necessity existed for the money, which could not be pro-
cured otherwise than upon bottomry, a master was held to have
authority to raise it on those terms. When money is lent on bottomry,
the owners are not personally responsible. The credit is given to the
master and the ship, and the remedy is against them only. The
master cannot hypothecate the ship for a debt of his own, nor can he
give a bottomry bond for matters not within the scope of his authority.
If the sums secured by the bond are not repaid, an application must be
made to the Court of Admiralty, founded on the instrument of con-
tract and an affidavit of the facts, upon which a warrant issues to
arrest the ship, and the persons interested are cited to appear before
the court, which then decides what is to be done. If several bonds
have been given at different times, the latest in point of time is
entitled to be first satisfied, a rule derived from the civil law. (Dig.'
20, tit. 4, s. 5, 6.) If the necessary amount of money cannot be raised
by hypothecating the ship and freight, the master may also sell part of
the cargo or pledge it.
Under those circumstances of unavoidable necessity which would
authorise the hypothecation of the ship and freight, the master has
authority in case of need to hypothecate the cargo for the purposes of
the voyage.
He may always in these circumstances sell a part of the
cargo. He is never allowed to sell the whole for the professed pur-
poses of the adventure, as the adventure is by that very act put an end
to; but in case of damage to the cargo, which threatens the destruc-
tion of the whole of it before his arrival at the port of destination, he
may justify selling part or even the whole, as the only means of saving
something for the advantage of the proprietors. To hypothecate the
cargo for the purposes of the cargo and the advantage of the pro-
prietors, is within the extent of his powers under proper circumstances,
and such a bond executed by the master only is available to the holder
by the process of the English Court of Admiralty. To sell the ship is
the last conceivable act of a master in circumstances of extreme distress.
He will not be justified in doing so, nor can he give the purchaser a
good title, if she can be repaired and he has the means and oppor-
tunity of doing so, under circumstances in which a judicious man
would take that course. But to justify such an act, and make it a
binding transfer of property to another, the distress must be so
extreme, under circumstances so destitute of assistance, or so void of
all occasion for wishing assistance, that either a faithful man can find
no better remedy, or a judicious man can wish no other.
Limitation of Liability of Owners.-The liability of the owners under
certain circumstances is either limited or altogether taken away by the
law of this country.
No owner of any British sea-going ship, or share therein, is liable to
any extent whatsoever for loss or damage happening without his fault
or privity: 1, of or to any goods, merchandise, or other thing what-
soever taken in, or put on board any such ship, by reason of any fire
happening on board such ship; 2, of 'or to any gold, silver, diamonds,
watches, jewels, or precious stones, taken in, or put on board any such
ship, by reason of any robbery, embezzlement, making away with, or
secreting thereof, unless the owner or shipper thereof, has, at the time
of shipping the same, inserted in his bills of lading, or otherwise
declared in writing to the master or owner of such ship the true
nature and value of such articles.
Where all or any of the following events occur without his actual
fault or privity; namely, 1, where any loss of life or personal injury
is caused to any person being carried in such ship; 2, where any damage
or loss is caused to any goods, merchandise, or other things whatsoever
ARTS AND SCI. DIV. VOL. VII.
on board any such ship; 3, where any loss of life or personal injury is
by reason of the improper navigation of such sea-going ship caused to
any person carried in any other ship or boat; 4, where any loss or
damage is by reason of any such improper navigation of such sea-
going ship caused to any other ship or boat, or to any goods, mer-
chandise, or other things whatsoever, on board any other ship or boat;
no owner of any British sea-going ship or share therein, is answerable
in damages to an extent beyond the value of his ship and the freight
due, or to grow due, in respect of such ship during the voyage which
at the time of the happening of any such events is in prosecution
or contracted for, subject, however, to this proviso, namely, that in
no case where any such liability is incurred in respect of loss of life
or personal injury to any passenger is the value of any ship and the
freight thereof to be taken as less than 157. per registered ton. The
benefit of these provisions is not obtainable, even in our courts, by any
foreign ship, nor is it available for a British sea-going ship when sued
for injury done by her to a foreign vessel, unless at the time of the
accident both ships were in British waters.
2. The Navigation of Ships. Rules of the Sea. For the government
of ships in their course over the sea, convenience and necessity
early gave rise to certain accustomed practices which have ultimately
resulted in rules that are known as the rules of the sea.
Those rules,
which are still recognised by all maritime nations, were set forth in a
notice published by the Trinity House on the 30th October, 1840, in
the following terms: "The recognised rules for sailing-vessels is, that
those having the wind fair, shall give way to those on a wind; that
when both are going by the wind, the vessel on the starboard tack
shall keep her wind, and the one on the larboard tack bear up, thereby
passing each other on the larboard hand; that when both vessels have
the wind large or a-beam, and meet, they shall pass each other in the
same way on the larboard hand, to effect which two last mentioned
objects, the helm must be put to port." Steam-vessels, for the pur-
poses of these rules were regarded as vessels navigating with a fair
wind, and were to give way to sailing-vessels on a wind on either tack.
With regard to steamers passing each other, it was at that time the
rule that each should put her helm to port, and in narrow channels
that a steamer should always leave the vessel she is passing on the
larboard hand.
The rules already given are still in force on the high seas among
other nations, and consequently must be observed also by British
ships when passing a foreign ship. It seemed good, however, to the
British parliament to introduce new rules into the Merchant Shipping
Act of 1854, which are now compulsory on all British vessels when
passing each other. These rules are the following: 1. "Whenever
any ship, whether a steam or sailing ship, proceeding in one direction,
meets another ship, whether a steam or sailing ship, proceeding in
another direction, so that if both ships were to continue their respec-
tive courses, they would pass so near as to involve any risk of a
collision, the helms of both ships shall be put to port, so as to pass on
the port side of each other. This rule shall be obeyed by all steam-
ships and by all sailing-ships, whether on the port or starboard tack,
and whether close-hauled or not; unless the circumstances of the case
are such as to render a departure from the rule necessary in order to
avoid immediate danger; and subject also to the proviso, that due
regard shall be had to the dangers of navigation, and as regards sailing-
ships on the starboard tack close-hauled, to the keeping such ships
under command. 2. Every steam-ship, when navigating any narrow
channel, shall, whenever it is safe and practicable, keep to that side
of the fair-way or mid-channel, which lies on the starboard side of
such steam-ship."
A code of rules respecting the exhibition of lights on board, and the
use of fog signals, has been published by the Admiralty under the
authority of the statute. Steamers between sunset and sunrise are to
exhibit a bright white light at the foremast head; a green light on
the starboard side, and a red light on the port side, except that when
they are proceeding under sails only, the light on the mast is to be
dispensed with. Sailing-vessels are to exhibit the red and the green
side lights in accordance with the above rule, but no white light on
the mast. Pilot vessels are to carry only a white light at the mast-
head, and to exhibit a flare-up light every fifteen minutes. Sea-going
vessels at anchor in roadsteads or fair-ways, must exhibit, on a con-
spicuous part, not more than 20 feet from the hull, a white light in an
eight-inch globular lantern. As fog siguals, sailing-vessels when under
way, are in all cases of fog required to use, when on the starboard
tack, a fog-horn, and, when on the port tack, to ring a bell, sounding
the one or the other respectively, once at least every five minutes; and
steamers when under way and their steam up, are to use a steam-
whistle before the funnel, sounding it once at least every five minutes;
but when their steam is not up they are to use a fog-horn or bell, as in
the case of sailing-vessels.
Collisions. Notwithstanding these rules for the guidance and pro-
tection of ships in their progress at sea, and in the fair-ways of mari-
time traffic, collisions do occur, and questions of fact, difficult to
determine, arise as to the existence of negligence in either vessel or in
both. It would be quite impossible here to enter upon a detail of
cases illustrative of this part of the law. Those who are desirous of
considering the subject when exhibited in the occurrences of maritime
life must consult those works, the titles of some of which we have
MM
531
SHIPS AND SHIPPING.
appended to this article, in which every help is offered to a complete
comprehension of the principles of the law, and their application to
facts. The leading rules, however, of the law on this subject may here
be succinctly set down. Those of the general maritime law are these,
namely, 1, when the injury occasioned is the result of pure accident,
the loss lies where it fell; 2, if both parties are to blame, the loss is
divided between them; 3, if it happen through misconduct of the
suffering party only, he bears his own burden; 4, if it be entirely the
fault of the other vessel, the sufferer is entitled to complete com-
pensation for his loss.
By the Merchant Shipping Act of 1854, these rules underwent con-
siderable modification, and since then the British maritime law, which
had previously differed from the common law on the subject of negli-
gence, is now identical with it. At common law, a person cannot
recover for damage sustained from the negligence of another if his
own negligence contributed to the event, or if he might have avoided
it by the exercise of ordinary care and skill; but if the other who is
sued might, by ordinary care and skill, have avoided the accident, he
is liable, notwithstanding there be negligence in the plaintiff remotely
connected with the event.
In case of damage done to a ship by another vessel that is in fault,
the maritime law gives to the sufferer a lien on the ship that does the
wrong. In virtue of that lien, she may be arrested under process of
the Admiralty Court, condemned, and sold, and so much of the pro-
ceeds of sale applied as is necessary to compensate the owner of the
damaged ship; and in case the produce of the sale is not sufficient, the
lien extends to the freight being carried by the vessel at the time, and
that too may be ordered to be brought into the treasury of the court
for adjudication and distribution, pursuant to the law and facts of the
We have already seen that the liability of British owners is
limited, under the supposed circumstances, to the value of the ship
and the amount of the freight.
case.
Pilotage; Tonnage.-Immediately connected with the subject of
damage by collision is the law of the local pilot. The legislature has
made it compulsory on vessels passing over certain pilotage grounds to
take one of the local licensed pilots on board, and has at the same
time conferred upon the owner, who was thus deprived of his option,
an immunity from liability for any damage caused by the ship while
she is under the management of such pilot, provided the damage is in
no degree attributable to misconduct in the master and crew, or insuf-
ficiency of the ship's equipment. The institution of pilots in this
country dates from the time of Henry VIII.; and their government is
entrusted to the Trinity House, and to certain other pilotage autho-
rities throughout the United Kingdom. It is binding on a pilot to
take charge of a ship when required, and on a master to receive such
pilot on board when he offers within the pilotage ground, there being
at the time no licensed pilot on board. When the pilot takes charge
of the ship he is supreme, the master and crew being bound to obey him
in all reasonable orders and demands. If the ship is at the time in
tow, the tug also is under the orders of the same pilot; and it may be
presumed concerning the tug in tow, that if she obey exactly the
orders of the licensed pilot in the ship, the owners of the tug are not
liable for any damage resulting in consequence. Under these circum-
stances, it is the pilot who is liable, and his liability in the Trinity
House district is limited by Parliament to the amount of his bond,
namely, 100l. The duty of taking such pilot on board in these par-
ticular localities being compulsory on foreign as well as British ships,
they participate also in the immunity conferred on the others. [PILOT.]
3. The Persons who Navigate British Ships. Qualification of Officers.-
A very important change was introduced into the mercantile marine
of this country by the Merchant Shipping Act of 1854: the officers of
that service are now intrusted with command only upon satisfactory
evidence of their qualifications and fitness. Upon testimonials of
service, experience, and character, and upon personal examination of
the candidates in various departments of knowledge proper to their
calling, do the local marine boards distributed throughout the United
Kingdom, at all ports of any note, determine week by week upon
giving or refusing certificates of fitness to be masters, mates, or first or
second mates of foreign-going ships or home-trade passenger ships.
These are certificates of competency. Certificates of service as master
or mate in British foreign-going ships before the 1st of January, 1851,
or as master or mate of a home-trade passenger ship before the 1st of
January, 1854, entitle the holders still to serve in the like capacities. A
lieutenant, master, passed mate, or second master, or one of any higher
rank in her majesty's service, or that of the East India Company, is
entitled to serve as master of a British ship. A certificate proper to
the rank in which he serves must be held by and be in the possession
of the master and first and second or only mate of every foreign-going
British ship, and the master and first or only mate of every home-trade
passenger ship proceeding to sea from the United Kingdom, otherwise
she cannot clear out. And in every such vessel of 100 tons burden
and upwards there must be at least one officer besides the master who
possesses a legal valid certificate appropriate to the grade of first or
only mate of such vessel, or to a higher grade. A penalty of 501. is
laid on every one who goes to sea as officer without an appropriate
certificate, and on every person who employs anyone to go to sea in such
capacity without first ascertaining whether he is so qualified.
Masters' Duties, Powers, and Rights.-In the responsible situation
SHIPS AND SHIPPING.
532
of master of a British merchant ship, his duties are very numerous,
onerous, and important. The ship and her cargo are committed to his
care, and he is to see that neither take any damage, so far as provident
skill and vigilance can prevent or the use of vigorous means can
repel. But when prevention is already become impossible, he is then
to use all diligence and means in his power to repair the damage, as
any judicious man would do for his own property. He keeps his
owners constantly informed of his whereabouts, and of the events and
incidents of the voyage, enabling them on each occasion to take
measures for their own protection and benefit, as they might be
advised. He is to give his whole time to their service, and account to
them faithfully on his return. The ship's log and official log must be
kept under his supervision.
It is his duty to provide for the sustenance, comfort, and health of
all persons on board; and if injury accrue through negligence of his in
not providing stores, medicines, or proper accommodation, he is liable
to an action. His authority on board while at sea is supreme and
despotic; and if there be disobedience on the part of the crew, he
may correct them in a reasonable manner. On all occasions when
discipline is infringed, he will be careful to inquire and inform himself
of the true state of the facts before he visit any one with punishment,
unless the breach of duty or discipline is obvious to his eyes, and the
offence is of that mutinous character which must be checked on the
instant with force. He is responsible on his return for all his conduct
on board towards others, either on prosecution by public law or at the
suits of private persons who have suffered injury at his hands.
His conduct is also liable to be inquired into by the Board of Trade,
who have power, if there be occasion, to withdraw his certificate, or by
a naval court on the high seas or abroad, who may discharge him and
put another in his place.
For his wages, he now has the same lien on the ship and remedies as
a common seaman. His disbursements, however, form a mere personal
debt. His powers as agent of the owners have already been noticed
under the first division of this article.
The Seamen. Ship's Articles.-Apprentices are to be indentured;
seamen for foreign-going ships must-and seamen for home-trade ships
may-be engaged and discharged before a shipping-master. The
agreement of hiring is to be in writing, according to the form, and
containing at least all the stipulations, prescribed by the statute.
Other stipulations may be added by the consent of both parties; but
no seaman shall by any agreement forfeit his lien upon the ship, or
be deprived of any remedy for the recovery of his wages to which he
would otherwise have been entitled; and every stipulation in any
agreement inconsistent with any provision in this Act (17 & 18 Vict.,
c. 104), and every stipulation by which any seaman consents to abandon
his right to wages in the case of the loss of the ship, or to abandon any
right which he may have or obtain in the nature of salvage, shall be
wholly inoperative." Although this agreement is in writing, and
signed by the seaman, he may prove his case in a court of law without
producing or giving notice to produce it; and any erasure, inter-
lineation, or alteration in it, not proved to have been made with the
consent of all the persons interested in the change by the written
attestation, if made in her majesty's dominions, of some shipping-master,
justice, officer of customs, or other public functionary, or, if made out
of her majesty's dominions, of a British consular officer, or where there
is no such officer of two respectable British merchants, is wholly
inoperative. Allotment notes must be stipulated for if required, and
may only be granted in favour of the seaman's wife, father, mother,
grandfather, grandmother, child or grandchild, or sister or brother;
the statute expressly providing that these and these only shall have a
right of action on the note. The agreement must contain the following
particulars, namely (1), the nature and, as far as practicable, the
duration of the intended voyage or engagement; (2), the number and
description of the crew, specifying how many are engaged as sailors;
(3), the time at which such seaman is to be on board, or to begin
work; (4), the capacity in which each seaman is to serve; (5), the
amount of wages that each seaman is to receive; (6), a scale of the
provisions which are to be furnished to each seaman; (7), any regu-
Iations as to conduct on board, and as to fines, short allowances of
provisions, or other lawful punishments for misconduct, which have
been sanctioned by the Board of Trade as regulations proper to be
adopted, and which the parties agree to adopt. Any fresh stipulation
on the part of the seamen with the master in the course of the same
voyage for an advance in the rate of wages, or for any special gratuity,
cannot be enforced, unless the circumstances existing at the time be
such as to have cancelled the agreement already made.
Wages.-Wages are no longer dependent on the earning of freight.
They may not be attached; and payment of them to the seaman is
valid and effectual, notwithstanding any prior attachment, incumbrance,
or arrestment thereon, or assignment thereof.
The amount of wages due to the seaman if he fulfil his contract
is the full amount originally stipulated therein to be paid him. The
voyage, however, is liable to interruption by various casualties; the
service of the seaman is subject to discontinuance before the termi-
nation contemplated originally on both sides; and it is not a very
easy matter in general language to lay down the law which is appli-
cable to each case before it arises. It is not in the power of the
master, by wrongfully dismissing any of his crew in the course of the
533
SHIPS AND SHIPPING.
SHIPS AND SHIPPING.
voyage, to deprive them of all or any part of their wages; they may
recover the whole, subject to the deduction of such wages as they have
earned elsewhere during the period claimed for. But if the ship be
lost, or if the mariner quit the vessel for the purpose of taking service
in her majesty's navy, he is entitled to the wages due up to the inter-
ruption of his service. By desertion, however, or misconduct of a
flagrant and serious character, he may forfeit all right to wages. In
case death put a period to his service on board during the voyage, it
seems his representatives are entitled to be paid wages up to the day
of the death, unless the contract made with the owners be such that
no right accrues if the seaman do not navigate the ship to the port of
destination. The French code, more liberal than our own law, where
the hiring is for the voyage, directs payment of half the stipulated
amount if the seaman dies on the outward voyage, and the whole if
the death happens during the homeward passage.
In virtue of the maritime law the seamen have a lien on the ship for
the amount of their wages, which enables them by process from the
Court of Admiralty to arrest the vessel, and, unless the owners interpose
to pay their just demand, to sell her after sentence of condemnation.
The Merchant Shipping Act of 1854 confers the same advantage on the
master, who till then had no such remedy. The jurisdiction of the
Admiralty Court, however, in claims for wages, is restrained to the
case of a contract in the ordinary terms, and not under seal; for if
either it be made under seal, or be special in its stipulations, it cannot
be the subject of a suit in that court, at the peril of a writ of prohi-
bition issuing from the courts of common law. A further restriction
on that jurisdiction is placed by the statute, which prohibits any suit
for the recovery of wages, when the sum is under 50l., from being
instituted in any Court of Admiralty, Vice Admiralty, the Court of
Session in Scotland, or any of the superior courts within her majesty's
dominions, unless the owner of the ship is adjudged bankrupt or
declared insolvent; or unless the ship is under arrest, or is sold by the
authority of any such court; or unless any justices, acting under
authority of the statute, refer the case to the adjudication of such
court; or unless neither the owner nor master is or resides within
twenty miles of the place where the seaman or apprentice is discharged
or put ashore. In lieu of this, the seaman is now enabled to proceed
summarily before any two justices of the peace, or one stipendiary
magistrate acting in or near the place at which the service is termi-
nated, or at which the discharge takes place, or, in Scotland, before
any such justices or the sheriff of the county, for any sum not
exceeding 501. over and above the costs. When the engagement is to
terminate in the United Kingdom he is not entitled to sue for his
wages in any court abroad, unless he be discharged with the sanction
of the shipping master, chief officer of customs, British consular officer,
or two respectable merchants in or near the place, and with the written
consent of the master; or unless he prove such ill-usage on the part
of the master, or by his authority, as to warrant reasonable appre-
hension of danger to life. On his return, however, if he prove either
such ill-usage or other misconduct on the part of the owner or master
as would have entitled him but for the statutory prohibition to sue
for wages before the termination of the voyage, he is entitled, besides
his wages, to compensation not exceeding 207. in amount.
Discipline. Protective Lars.—We have already seen the authority
which is reposed by the law in the master for the maintenance of
discipline on board. His power necessarily enables him to inflict
punishment for smaller offences upon the instant. In case of the
greater offences his power goes no further than to put the seaman, if
need be, in confinement, in order to deliver him up on reaching land to
the proper authorities, for investigation of the charges made against
him, and the consequences which ought to follow thereon. The statute
has ascertained the amount of punishment to be inflicted in certain
particular cases by the magistrate. The Board of Trade, in certain
lesser offences, enables the owners and seamen to agree upon the
penalties which the Board have recommended as reasonable and proper
to be adopted, and have set out in a schedule published by them in
pursuance with their authority under the Act. But no conviction
under the Merchant Shipping Act may be made in any summary pro-
ceeding, unless such proceeding is commenced within six months after
the offence was committed, or within two months after both parties
arrive or are at one time within the United Kingdom, or within the
jurisdiction of any court capable of dealing with the case in a British
possession. Nor can any order for the payment of money be made in
a summary proceeding, unless such proceeding is within six months
after the cause of complaint arose, or after both parties arrive or are
within the United Kingdom, or within the jurisdiction of any court in
a British possession capable of dealing with the case. Any local
jurisdiction situate on the coast of any sea, or abutting on or projecting
into any bay, channel, lake, river, or other navigable water, is extended
by the Merchant Shipping Act to any ship or boat being in or lying or
passing off such coast, or being in or near such bay, channel, lake, river,
or navigable water, and to all persons on board or for the time being
belonging thereto, as if such ship, boat, or persons were within the
limits of the original jurisdiction. And every offence is to be deemed
to have been committed, and every cause of complaint to have arisen,
either in the place it was committed or arose, or where the offender or
person complained against may be.
The ship's stores, the water on board, and the medicine chest, are
subject to inspection by certain public officers. The seaman may com-
plain of the stores and have them inspected, at the peril however of
being mulcted in one week's wages in case his complaint be frivolous.
In case he is kept on short allowance, not in the way of punishment
nor through any fault of the master, but solely from those accidents
of the sea that may delay the best provisioned ship that sails, he is
entitled to a certain compensation per day while the deficiency lasts.
This is rather in the way of wages to him. If he were to be injured,
however, by deficiency or badness, either of the stores or medicines,
where there is negligence in the master, his right of action for damages
is clear. A seaman is not entitled to bring an action because the vessel
was unseaworthy and he suffered by it; yet, as the statute provides for
his being well and comfortably accommodated, any defect of the ship
that should form an encroachment upon such statutory right would be
a good ground of action to any seaman suffering injury thereby.
Medicines and medical assistance on board are supplied to the
seamen at the owner's expense; and so must they be, also, together
with subsistence, if the patient is removed from on board to prevent
infection, or otherwise for the ship's convenience, in case he sub-
sequently return to duty on board. If the sickness be the result of
injury received in the service of the ship he must be supplied by the
owner with medical advice and medicines, subsistence and attendance,
until he is cured, or dies, or is brought back to some port in the
United Kingdom, or in any British possession, according as he shipped
from one country or the other; and his conveyance thereto, or burial,
must also be at the owner's expense. It is only when he is absent,
however, from the United Kingdom, or the British possession from
which he shipped, that the seaman in case of injury suffered in the
ship's service is entitled to such assistance; for upon well-known
general principles, every servant is presumed to make his contract with
a full knowledge of all the risks of the service upon which he is
entering.
A most praiseworthy effort has been made to bring the British
seaman in every quarter of the globe completely within the protection
of the British laws. There is a system of lists of crews for foreign-
going ships upon every voyage, and for home-trade ships once every
six months, by which a complete register of British seamen is produced,
and a somewhat minute knowledge of each individual and his where-
abouts is attained. On every sea where her majesty's flag floats over a
vessel of war, on every coast where a British magistrate resides, or a
British consular officer officiates, there is opportunity for the injured
seaman to complaiu and obtain justice; and any attempt of the master
or other officer of his own ship to interfere with or prevent him com-
plaining is an offence punishable with fine and imprisonment.
It is a misdemeanor for a master to force on shore or wilfully leave
behind any seaman or apprentice in or out of her majesty's dominions.
It is a misdemeanor to discharge any seaman or apprentice at any
place out of her majesty's dominions, or in any British possession,
except that from which he may have originally shipped, without the
sanction in writing of the shipping master, chief officer of customs,
British consular officer, or of two respectable merchants resident at or
near the place. It is a misdemeanor to leave behind a seaman or
apprentice without at the same time obtaining a certificate from such
officer or merchants, stating the fact and the cause indorsed on the
ship's articles, unless that was impracticable, and the proof of that lies
on the master. In case such discharge however be sanctioned, the
wages of the seaman are to be paid on the spot by bill or money. And
wherever such discharge is rendered necessary by the transfer of the
ship at a place out of her majesty's dominions, unless the crew consent
to continue with the vessel, it is obligatory on the master to procure a
passage homeward for the seaman, or provide him with employment
in some other British ship bound for the shipping port in this country,
besides paying their wages, and giving them each a certificate of
discharge.
Discharges. The discharge of seamen at home from foreign-going
ships is to be before a shipping master. The wages are to be paid in
his presence, subject to his cognisance of the rights of both parties
under the agreement. No deductions can be made unless the book in
which they were entered at the time of forfeiture be produced to the
shipping master twenty-four hours before the time of payment. The
time of payment fixed by the statute in the case of home-trade ships,
is within two days after the termination of the agreement, or other-
wise at the time of discharge; and in all other cases, except those
where the seaman is remunerated by shares in the adventure, within
three days after delivery of the cargo, or within five days after the
seaman's discharge, whichever first happens. A mutual release is
given by the master and seaman, countersigned and attested by the
shipping master; it operates a mutual discharge of all demands in
respect of the voyage or engagement, and is the only evidence of the
release or satisfaction of any claim required to be thus settled.
Wills.-The wills of seamen have always hitherto been deemed good
and effectual although made without writing. No change in this re-
spect has been made that is imperative. But as the Board of Trade
are put in possession of the effects of all seamen dying abroad or at
sea, that Board may in virtue of the statute refuse to give effect to
any will which is not in writing, and signed or acknowledged by the
testator in the presence of the master, or first or only mate of the ship,
and attested by such master or mate; or if made on shore, unless
636
SHIPS AND SHIPPING.
signed or acknowledged by the testator in the presence of, and attested
by two witnesses, one of whom must be a shipping master, minister,
officiating minister, or curate of the place; or if there be no such
persons, a justice of the peace, British consular officer, or officer of
customs. Upon refusal to give effect to any will not so written and
executed, the goods and money of the deceased will be distributed
among the next of kin under the statutes of distribution.
As to BARRATRY by master or seamen, or both, see the article under
that head.
14. Of the Carriage of Goods and Passengers in Merchant Ships, the
Rights and Duties, &c. of Freighters and Passengers, of Owners and their
Servants. The Contract of Affreightment.—The contracts under which
goods are conveyed in a ship are, as has been already stated, of two
kinds, the contract by charter-party, and the contract for their con-
veyance by a general ship. The former is "a contract by which an
entire ship, or some principal part thereof, is let to a merchant for the
conveyance of goods on a determined voyage to one or more places."
A charter-party is a written instrument, not necessarily under seal,
which is executed by the owners or the master, or the owners and the
master of the one part, and by the merchant or his agent of the other part.
The word charter-party is derived from the two words charta partita,
"divided charter," because the duplicates of the agreement were
formerly written on one piece of paper or parchment and afterwards
divided by cutting through some word or figure so as to enable each
party to identify the agreement produced by the other. If the charter-
party is by deed, and executed by the master, and the owners are not
parties to it, they cannot bring a direct action upon the instrument;
indeed the owners can never bring an action upon it unless their names
appear as the parties executing it. But an action may in all cases be
brought against the owners for a breach of their duties generally as
ship-owners relating to matters not inconsistent with the terms of the
charter-party. The charter-party states the port or ports of destina-
tion and the freight to be paid, which may be either a gross sum or so
much per ton, or so much for each tub or cask of goods. If the
agreement is not to pay a certain sum for the entire ship, or a certain
portion of it, but to pay so much per ton, the merchant generally
covenants to load a fixed amount or a full cargo. The charter-party
generally also states the burden of the ship, but this statement, where
there is no fraud, is not binding on the parties. The merchant may
load with his own goods or those of others, or he may underlet the ship
altogether. The master or owner usually covenants "that the ship
shall be tight and staunch, furnished with all necessaries for the
intended voyage, ready by a day appointed to receive the cargo, and
wait a certain number of days to take it on board. That after lading
she shall sail with the first fair wind and opportunity to the destined
port (the dangers of the sea excepted), and there deliver the goods to
the merchant or his assigns in the same condition they were received
on board; and further that during the course of the voyage the ship
shall be kept tight and staunch, and furnished with sufficient men and
other necessaries to the best of the owner's endeavours." The
merchant usually covenants to load and unload the ship within a
specified time.
1
The charter-party dates from the day on which it is delivered or
signed. The terms generally used may of course be varied so as to
meet the intention of the parties. They cannot be altered or
suppressed, or others added by any verbal statements, but they may
be explained by evidence of the usage of trade in general, or of that
particular trade in reference to which the charter-party is made. The
charter-party also generally contains two covenants which seem to be
wholly inoperative: one, by which the merchant binds himself and the
cargo; the other, by which the owner binds the ship and freight in a
penal sum, for the performance of their respective covenants. In an
action on the charter-party the actual damages proved will determine
the amount to be recovered; and they will neither be limited nor
extended by the penal sum named; and although by the general
maritime law the ship and freight might be made directly available,
there are no means for accomplishing that object in this country. As
to the cargo, it is always subject to the general law of lien, unless the
parties by their contract expressly discharge it.
Under a contract of affreightment doubt often exists as to whether
the goods conveyed are in the possession of the party entitled to the
payment, and consequently there is doubt as to his having a lien on
the goods. The question to be decided is whether the owner has
parted with the possession of his ship. If he has entirely surrendered
all control over the ship to the merchant who has chartered her, the
merchant must be considered for the time as in possession of the ship.
The goods on board, therefore, will be in his possession, not in the
possession of the actual owner, who accordingly under such circum-
stances will have no lien on the goods for the payment of the freight.
But it must clearly appear from the language of the charter-party
taken altogether, and explained by the circumstances of the employ-
ment of the ship, that it was intended that such a complete demise of
the ship should be made, one of the rules of construction being to
interpret such instruments "agreeably to the nature of the contract
that a prudent shipowner would make." The right of lien always
exists where the freight is to be paid before or on the delivery at their
place of destination of the goods, or even, as Lord Tenterden himself
decided (2 Barn. and Ald., 603), where there is "nothing to show that
SHIPS AND SHIPPING.
536
the delivery of the goods was to precede the payment of that hire.”
All these difficulties may be avoided by inserting a clause in the
charter-party expressly stating whether it is meant that the owner
should have a lien upon the lading for his freight and expenses. The
owner does not lose his right of lien by depositing the lading in a public
warehouse, provided he gives notice that it is to be detained until his
claim for freight is satisfied.
If either party is not ready to perform the contract contained in the
charter-party by the time agreed on, he is liable to an action for non-
performance of his contract, and the other party may form fresh con-
tracts with third persons.
The charter-party generally contains a clause by virtue of which the
freighter is entitled to detain the ship a certain further number of
days for the purpose of loading and unloading her, on payment of a
fixed sum per day. This payment and the time during which it
occurs are both called demurrage: see that article [DEMURRAGE].
When a ship or a principal part of it is not let out by charter-party,
the owners contract with several merchants respectively for the con-
veyance of their goods. A ship so employed is called a general ship.
The terms of the contract appear from the instrument called a bill of
lading, two or three of which are signed by the master after the ship
has been loaded. If any notice or advertisement relative to the
destination of the ship has been issued, care should be taken that these
are accurate, otherwise the owners may be liable for the consequences
of the misstatement. The terms of the bill of lading must be made
out according to the direction of the shipper, or, in case a receipt has
been given on the delivery of the goods on board, of the holder of the
receipt. The form of a bill of lading is stated in a former article.
[BILL OF LADING.]
The master on signing the bill of lading should not deliver it except
in return for the receipt which he may have given for the goods. By
the Bills of Lading Act (18 & 19 Vict. c. 111), every bill of lading in
the hands of a consignee or indorsee for valuable consideration, repre-
senting goods to have been shipped on board a vessel, shall be con-
clusive evidence of such shipment as against the master or other
person signing the same, notwithstanding that such goods or some part
thereof may not have been so shipped, unless such holder of the bill
of lading shall have had actual notice at the time of receiving the
same, that the goods had not been in fact laden on board; provided
that the master or other person so signing may exonerate himself
in respect of such misrepresentation, by showing that it was caused
without any default on his part, and only by the fraud of the shipper
or of the holder, or some person under whom the holder claims. As
between the master or owners and the shippers, the bill of lading is in
the nature of a receipt, which is only evidence of the matters which it
states, and is subject to be contradicted by proof of the real facts. In
case of an action for any breach of their implied contract as carriers,
against the master or owners, the party who owns the goods.
mentioned in the bill of lading must be the plaintiff. This will be the
consignee of the goods, unless the peculiar circumstances of the case are
such as to deprive him of that character. If it is considered
necessary to make any provisions relative to demurrage, they are
generally inserted in the margin of the bill of lading.
A contract for the conveyance of goods may be rescinded by the act
of the parties or by circumstances over which they have no control.
If the contract is under seal, it ought, with a view to proceedings in
the courts of common law, to be discharged by an instrument of the
same nature; but if the facts show an intention in both parties to
rescind the contract, a court of equity will interfere in that behalf.
Where the goods have been laden and bills of lading signed, the
master ought to receive back all the bills of lading or be indemnified
against the consequences of having signed them, if the contract of
conveyance is to be put an end to: and he has a right, in the absence
of any fresh agreement to the contrary, to retain the goods till the
freight which he might earn upon them has been paid. If after the
contract for conveyance has been entered into, the fulfilment of it
becomes unlawful in consequence of some act of the government of
the country, such as a declaration of war, a suspension of commercial
intercourse, or a prohibition to export, the agreement is dissolved.
But nothing short of absolute unlawfulness can excuse the perform-
ance of the contract. A contract is not dissolved by the temporary
restraint of an embargo, nor, as it seems, of a blockade of the port of
departure. But a blockade of the port of destination dissolves the
contract, because to sail to a blockaded port with the premeditated
intention of breaking the blockade is an offence against the law of nations.
If a party has absolutely contracted to furnish a lading for a ship on
her arrival at a foreign port, and is prevented from doing so in con-
sequence of any law or regulation merely municipal of the foreign
country, this will not excuse the non-performance of his contract: as
where the export of the articles contracted to be laden is prohibited,
or where intercourse is forbidden in consequence of the prevalence of
an infectious disorder. In such cases, and where from any other cause
the correspondent of the merchant is unable to furnish a freight, and
gives information of that to the master, he cannot, by afterwards
remaining at the port the days prescribed, entitle the owners to
demurrage.
Passengers. In all matters that regard the ship, the master has
within the scope of his duty an unlimited authority over the pas-
657
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SHIPS AND SHIPPING.
SHIPS AND SHIPPING.
sengers as well as over the crew. A passenger may quit the ship, but
while he remains on board he is bound in case of necessity to do work
that is required for the service of the ship and to fight in her defence.
If he thwart the master in the exercise of his authority or otherwise
misconduct himself, he may lawfully be put under restraint or impri-
soned. If the conduct of a passenger be unbecoming, or if he threaten
the master with personal violence, he may be excluded from those
parts of the ship which are frequented by the superior passengers,
although he has paid such a fare as entitles him to be admitted there.
If a passenger feels himself aggrieved by the manner in which he has
been treated, he may bring an action against the master, and it will be
for the jury, under the direction of the judge, to say whether he has
any ground for complaint. In addition to this general right of action,
a general statute (18 & 19 Vict. c. 119) has been passed to regulate the
conveyance of passengers from places in the United Kingdom to
places out of Europe, and not within the Straits of Gibraltar. It
regulates the proportion of passengers carried to the tonnage of the
ship, provides security for the sea-worthiness, cleanliness, outfit, and
proper storing of the ship, for the presence of a surgeon and medicines,
for the delivery of a list of passengers to the collector of customs at
the port of departure, and attaches penalties to a violation of the
regulations which it contains. It also subjects the master to a penalty
in case of his improperly landing passengers at any place not con-
tracted for, or wilfully delaying to sail, and provides for the mainte-
nance of the steerage passengers for 48 hours after their arrival at the
destined port.
The agreement with the passengers must be in
writing, and have a scale of provisions attached. Prepayment of the
fare by a steerage passenger within the statute is imperative. If a
passenger fails to pay his fare, the master or owners have a lien on his
luggage for the amount. Nothing is due for the conveyance of an infant
born during the voyage. Where there is a contract for the convey-
ance of men or animals, freight is not due for those which die before
the completion of the voyage, unless there be in effect a stipulation
that freight is to be paid for the lading of them. The statute provides
for the forwarding of all passengers found at any place short of their
port of destination, and as this is done at the expense of the owners
of the ship that should have conveyed them, all who accept of this
kind of assistance forego their right of action against them.
Duties under Contract of Affreightment.-It is the duty of those who
have contracted to convey, to do everything and be provided with
everything necessary for the safe and expeditious accomplishment of
the voyage; and if, through their failure to perform these duties, any
damage results to the merchant, they will be answerable for it. At
the commencement of the voyage the ship must be sea-worthy, tight,
staunch, and sufficient, and properly equipped with all necessary
tackle. He who lets the ship is not excused by his ignorance of any
deficiency in these respects. The ship must also be provided with a
master and crew competent to command and work her, and to guard
the cargo on board, and also with a pilot when necessary either from
circumstances or from the law of the country.. [PILOT.]
It is the duty of the master, unless in case of any usage which
relieves him from such duty, to provide things necessary for the
lading of the vessel, and to stow away the goods so that they do not
injure each other or suffer from the motion or leakage of the ship.
The master must procure and keep all documents, papers, clearances,
&c. required by the authorities in respect of the ship and cargo; and
he must abstain from taking or keeping on board contraband goods or
false papers. He must wait during the time appointed for loading the
vessel, and, if required, also during that appointed for demurrage. He
must pay the charges and duties to which the ship is subject. The
statutes 16 & 17 Vict. c. 107; 23 Vict. c. 22; 23 & 24 Vict. c. 110,
contain the enactments relative to what is necessary to be done in
respect of the custom-house regulations by ships carrying goods from
the United Kingdom beyond seas. When all things are prepared, the
voyage must be commenced as soon as the weather is favourable. If
the ship is to sail under convoy, she must sail first to the rendezvous
assigned. Convoy means such ships of war as, in time of war, are
appointed by the proper authorities to take charge of trading ships
during their voyage to their respective destinations. Before sailing it
is the duty of the master to obtain all the sailing orders and other
necessary instructions which are issued by the commander of the
convoy; and during the voyage to obey these and any others which
may afterwards be issued, and to keep company with the convoy.
During the time of war it is often rendered imperative upon merchant
ships, by acts passed for that purpose, not to sail without the pro-
tection of convoy. After the commencement of the voyage, the master
is bound, without delays, deviations, or stoppages, to sail direct to the
port of destination. But stress of weather, the appearance of enemies
or pirates, or the presence of any urgent necessity, will justify him in
breaking through this rule; and he ought to do so for the purpose
of succouring another ship which he finds in imminent peril or
distress.
If the ship is lost or the goods injured during a deviation without
any of these grounds of justification, the owner and master will be
answerable for the loss to the merchant, even if it does not appear to
have been a necessary consequence of the deviation. If the ship during
the voyage is so damaged that she is unable to proceed without
repairs, the master may detain the cargo, if not of a perishable cha-
racter, till the repairs are made. If the cargo is of a perishable
kind, he ought to transship for the port of destination, or sell it where
she lies if there be no opportunity of transshipment, or that course
appear to be obviously injudicious. He may in all cases, where the
circumstances require it, exercise a discretion as to transshipping the
cargo; as, for instance, when the ship is wrecked or in imminent
danger.
Hypothecation of a cargo, like hypothecation of a ship, is " a pledge
without immediate change of possession." The party to whom the
goods are hypothecated immediately acquires a right to have possession
of them if the money advanced is not paid at the time agreed on. This
power of the master under circumstances of urgent necessity to sell
or hypothecate the goods must be exercised with great circum-
spection; and the exercise of it can only be justified when it is con-
sistent with what would have been the conduct of a discreet and
able man under the circumstances. During the voyage the master is
bound to take every possible care of the cargo, and to do all things
necessary for its preservation, and he and the owners will be answer-
able for all damage which might have been avoided by the exercise of
skill, attention, and forethought. When the voyage is completed, the
master must see that the ship is properly moored, and all things done
relative to her which are required by the law or usages of the country.
The statutes 16 & 17 Vict. c. 107; 23 Vict. c. 22; 23 & 24 Vict. c.
110, contain the regulations relative to customs to which it is necessary
to conform in this country. Upon payment of freight and the pro-
duction of bills of lading, the cargo must be without delay delivered
to the parties entitled to receive it. If the freight due on any goods
is not ready to be paid, the master may detain the goods or any part
of them.
When the master is compelled, by an act of parliament, to land the
goods at any particular wharf, he does not thereby part with the
possession of the goods, and consequently does not lose whatever right
he may have to detain them. If goods are sold by the custom-house
officers before the freight is paid, the master is entitled to receive the
first proceeds of the sale in discharge of the freight. In foreign
countries, where any accidents have occurred to frustrate or interfere
with the objects of the voyage, or any one of the parties to the con-
tract feels himself aggrieved by the conduct of any other, it is
customary to draw up a narrative of the circumstances before a public
notary. This narrative is called a protest, and in foreign courts is
admissible in evidence generally; but in our courts it is not admissible,
except as evidence against those who made it.
Non-performance. Certain circumstances operate as an excuse to the
master and owners for non-fulfilment of their contract.
"The act of
God" is understood to mean those accidents over which man has no
control, such as " lightning, earthquake, and tempest." The "perils of
the sea," interpreted strictly, apply only to the dangers caused merely
by the elements, but these words have received a wider application,
and in litigated cases the jury, after hearing evidence as to the usage
which prevails among merchants, will determine what interpretation
has been intended to be given to them. In the exercise of this dis-
cretion, juries have determined that the taking of ships by pirates is a
consequence of the perils of the sea; and the verdict has been the
same where the loss was caused by collision of two ships without any
fault being attributable to those who navigated either of them; and
also where the accident was caused wholly by the fault of those on
board another ship. But all cases in which the loss happens by
natural causes are not to be considered as arising from the perils of
the sea. If the ship is placed in a dangerous situation by the careless-
ness or unskilfulness of the master, and is in consequence lost, this is
not a loss from the perils of the sea, although the violence of the
elements may have been the immediate cause of it. If a ship is reason-
ably sufficient for the purposes of the voyage, the master will not be
liable for a loss arising from the perils of the sea, because a ship might
have been built strong enough to resist them. The "restraint of
princes and rulers" is understood to mean a really existing restraint,
not one which is anticipated, however reasonably or honestly.
The merchant must use the ship only for lawful purposes, and not
do anything for which it may be forfeited or detained, or the owners
made liable for penalties. In case of any violation of the agreement,
by employment of the ship for purposes other than those contem-
plated, or failure to perform the terms as to lading, &c., the amount
of compensation, in case of dispute, is determined, as the circumstances
of the case may require, by a jury. The words primage and average,
which appear in the bill of lading, mean, the first, a small sum paid to
the master; the second, as there used, certain charges, varying accord-
ing to the usage of different places, for towing, beaconage, &c.
Freight.-When an agreement for conveyance is expressed in the
general form, or when there is no actual agreement, but only one
implied by law from the circumstances of the case, there results from
it a duty upon the master and owners, first to deliver the goods at the
place of destination, whether the ship is hired by the voyage or by the
month. It is only by the entire performance of this duty that they
can entitle themselves to the payment of freight. The parties may,
however, so express the contract that the payment of all or part of
the freight may be due before or during the course of the voyage;
in such case the word freight is used in a sense which does not
properly belong to it; for in strict usage it means only money earned
559
SHIPS AND SHIPPING.
by the conveyance of goods and their delivery at the place of destina-
tion. Where a provision is made by the contract for payment of
freight at the place of shipment, the question has arisen whether the
meaning of the parties was that the sum should be paid at all events
on delivery of the goods on board, whatever might afterwards befall
them; or whether it was merely to point out the place of payment
in case the freight should become due by reason of the arrival of the
goods at the port of destination. In all such cases the intention of the
parties is a question of construction for the court subject to any usage
of the port where it was made, or of the trade with which it is con-
nected. The same observation will apply to cases where money has
been advanced by the merchant, and it is disputed whether the money
is to be considered as a loan or part payment of the freight.
If the master unnecessarily sell the goods, and so prevent both him-
self from earning the whole freight, and the merchant from accepting
the goods, the merchant is entitled to the entire produce of his goods
without any allowance for freight. If the ship has actually never com-
menced the voyage, the owners are not entitled to any payment what-
ever, although they may have incurred great expenses in lading her,
and though her failure to commence the voyage is not attributable to
any neglect or misconduct of theirs. Where the contract of hiring is
for a voyage out and home, at the rate of so much per month, &c.,
during the time the ship is employed, and the contract is entire, no
freight is due unless the ship returns home, even though she may have
delivered her cargo at the outport. But if the voyages out and home
are distinguished in the contract, freight will be earned on the delivery
of the cargo at the outport. See further under BILL OF LADING and
FREIGHT.
General Average.-If any part of the ship or furniture, or of the
goods, is sacrificed for the sake of saving the rest, all parties interested
must contribute towards the loss. This contribution is properly called
'Average.' It is sometimes called general average, in opposition to
special or particular average, which is the contribution towards any
kind of partial damage or loss, or gross average, in opposition to petty
average, which is the contribution mentioned in the bill of lading
towards the sums paid for beaconage, towage, &c. [AVERAGE.]
The principle of average is recognised in the maritime law of all
nations. It was introduced into the civil law from the law of Rhodes
(‘Dig.' 14, tit. 2, "Lex Rhodia de Jactu;" and the Commentary of
Peckius, "In tit. 'Dig. et Cod.,' 'Ad Rem Nauticam pertinentes."")
In order to constitute such a loss as is the subject of average, it must
be incurred by design: the masts must be cut away, or the goods
thrown overboard; and this must be done for the sake of saving the
rest, as in the case of throwing goods overboard to keep the vessel
from sinking or striking on a rock, or to lighten her that she may
escape from an enemy, or of cutting away a mast or a cable to escape
the perils of a storm. The necessary consequences of these acts are
also the subjects of average; as where, in order to throw some goods
overboard, others or some parts of the ship are damaged; or where it
becomes necessary, in order to avoid the danger or repair the injuries
caused by a storm or the enemy, to take goods out of the ship, and
they are in consequence lost. The expenses also incurred in these
operations are equally the subject of average. But the injuries incurred
by a ship during an engagement with the enemy, or from the elements
in consequence of measures taken to escape from an enemy, are not of
such a nature as to fall within the definition. If goods are laden on
deck, no average is recoverable in respect of the loss occasioned by
throwing them overboard, unless by the usage of trade such goods are
usually so laden. If a ship is voluntarily stranded for the purpose of
saving her and the goods, and afterwards gets off safely, the expenses
incurred by the stranding are the subject of general contribution; but
if the ship be wrecked in consequence of the voluntary stranding,
there is a difference of opinion whether the wrecking be voluntary, and
therefore such a loss as calls for a general contribution. If, in conse-
If, in conse-
quence of such an injury done to a ship as would be the subject of
average, she is compelled to go into port to repair, the necessary
expenses incurred in refitting her, so as to enable her to prosecute her
voyage, and the amount of wages, port dues, and provisions expended
to accomplish that object, are also the subject of average; and, if the
master is unable to obtain the money necessary by any other means
than by the sale of a part of the cargo, the loss caused to the merchant
upon such sale is also the subject of average. If, in consequence of
the sacrifice made, the ship escape the danger which immediately
threatens her, but is afterwards wrecked or captured, and the remain-
ing goods, or part of them, are saved or recaptured, these are bound to
contribute average towards the loss in the first instance incurred, in
proportion to their net value in the hands of the merchant after all
expenses of salvage, &c., have been paid.
The things upon which average is payable are, the ship, boats, furni-
ture, &c., but not provisions or ammunition; also all merchandise, to
whomsoever belonging, which is on board for the purposes of traffic,
but not the covering, apparel, jewels, &c., of parties on board for their
own private use. The freight due at the end of the voyage is also
subject to average. The goods are to be valued at the price for which
they would have sold at the place of destination. If the ship, by reason
of what happened when the average was incurred, return to her port of
lading, and the average is there settled, the goods are to be valued at
the invoice price. The losses incurred by the ship and furniture, &c.,
SHIPS AND SHIPPING.
510
are calculated at two-thirds of the price of the new articles rendered
necessary to be purchased. The usages of other countries as to all
matters connected with average differ in some respects both from those
of each other and those of this country. Where the average has been
adjusted according to the established law and usage of the country in
which the adjustment was made, it is binding upon all the parties to
it, unless there be some special contract between them which provides
otherwise.
Salvage.—Salvage is that reasonable compensation which persons
are entitled to receive who, in the absence of any obligation making it
their legal duty, voluntarily save a ship or her cargo from loss by peril
of the sea, which may be called civil salvage, or recover them after
capture, which may be called hostile salvage. By the law of England,
no fixed amount of salvage is laid down as applicable to all cases.
What is reasonable can only be determined by a reference to the cir-
cumstances. Sir J. Nichol (3 Hag., 'Ad. Rep.,' 117) defines the ingre-
dients in estimating a civil salvage service to be, "1st, enterprise in
the salvors in going out in tempestuous weather to assist a vessel in
distress, risking their own lives to save their fellow-creatures, and to
rescue the property of their fellow-subjects; 2nd, the degree of danger
and distress from which the property is rescued, whether it was in
imminent peril, and almost certainly lost if not at the time rescued
and preserved; 3rd, the degree of labour and skill which the salvors
incur and display, and the time occupied; lastly, the value."
Unless in cases where the services have been trifling, the salvage is
generally not less than a third and not more than one-half of the pro-
perty saved; at the same time there is no rule now of specific
proportions. If the parties cannot agree as to the amount, the salvors
may retain the property until compensation is made; or they may
bring an action, or commence a suit in the Admiralty Court, against
the proprietors for the amount. In case the property is retained, the
proprietors may, upon tender of what they think sufficient, demand it,
and, if it is refused, bring an action to recover it, in which action the
jury will determine as to the amount due. The costs of the action will be
paid by the salvor or the proprietors, according as the amount tendered
is or is not determined to be sufficient. The Court of Admiralty has
jurisdiction originally in those cases where the salvage has been
effected at sea, or within high and low water mark. A passenger
is not entitled to salvage for his assistance during the time he is unable
to quit the ship. But, if he remain voluntarily on board, he may
recover salvage for the assistance which he has given. On one occasion,
where a passenger under such circumstances, after the desertion of the
master and part of the seamen, assumed the command with the consent
of the mate and the remainder, and brought the ship safe into port, he
obtained a large sum as salvage. A distinct contract for assistance will
do away with any claims for salvage on behalf of the parties who
render it. Though a king's ship is bound to assist a merchant ship in
distress, it still has a claim for recompense, but cannot prosecute it
without the leave of the Board of Admiralty. In awarding salvage, no
claims are allowed which are founded on merely prerogative rights, as
those of the lord-high-admiral, flag-officers, magistrates, &c.: those
claims only are allowed which are made in respect of assistance
rendered. The saving of human life cannot of itself be the subject of
a claim for salvage, except upon the shore of any sea or tidal water of
the United Kingdom (17 & 18 Vict. c. 104); but if it is connected
with the preservation of property, that is a circumstance which may
affect the amount of salvage. If freight is in progress of being earned,
and afterwards does become due, salvage is payable in respect of
freight also. When proceedings for salvage have been commenced in
the Admiralty Court, the defendants may tender by act of the court
any sum which they consider sufficient, and the court will then enter
upon an inquiry, and determine what is right between the parties.
If the sum tendered has been sufficient, the court may hold the
salvors liable to the expenses of the proceeding. With regard to
wreck, ships in distress, and for salvage purposes, the Merchant
Shipping Act creates receivers of wreck to be appointed at different
places on the shores of the United Kingdom for the express purpose of
doing all things possible towards the saving of ships in distress, for the
recovery and preservation of wreck, and for facilitating the agreement
of salvage disputes when the amount is under 2001. The receiver
may distribute the amount and take receipts if the parties agree;
but if not, they may carry their differences before the nearest two
justices of the peace, whose decision is final on all sums not exceeding
50%. Above that amount, there is an appeal to the Court of Admiralty.
If the sum exceed 200%., they may institute the suit in that court in
the first instance. Great powers are reposed in the receiver of wreck
for collecting assistance, and impressing horses and carts into the
service for rendering aid to vessels in distress, for repelling all
attempts at violently boarding the ship with felonious purposes, and
for the recovery of concealed wreck. Provision is made for cases where
no owner of the property appears. Perishable goods may be sold. No-
lord of a manor claiming a title to wreck can appropriate it until an
account in writing of the property, and of the place where it was found
and it has been since deposited, has been sent to the nearest custom-
house, or if it exceed in value 207. to the secretary at Lloyd's, and a
year has elapsed after the delivery of the account. A variety of
analogous provisions are enacted relative to goods, parts of ship's fur-
niture, &c., which are found or recovered, whether they may have
511
612
SHIPWRECKS.
SHIPWRECKS.
belonged to ships in distress or not. The statute which relates to the
Cinque-Ports is 1 & 2 Geo. IV. c. 76.
In case of capture, by the ancient maritime law the ship and goods
became the absolute property of the captor. The old practice in this
country was, when ships were in pay of the king, to divide in certain
proportions, which varied at different times, the value of the capture
between the king, the owners, and the captors. Where the capture
was made by ships not in the king's pay, he received no share, but a
small proportion was paid to the admiral. In the reign of George II.
provision was for the first time made by various statutes for the resto-
ration of the recaptured ship and cargo to the owners, and the rates of
salvage were fixed, varying according to the length of time that had
elapsed since the capture. In the reign of George III. these rates
were done away with, and by various acts the rate of salvage was fixed
at one-eighth of the value in the case of king's ships, and one-sixth for
private ships; where the re-capture was effected by the joint operation
of king's and private ships, the Court of Admiralty were to order such
salvage as was reasonable. Convoying ships are entitled to salvage for
the recapture of ships which accompanied them. A ship, which has
once been used as a ship of war, is not subject to be restored if after-
wards recaptured. If a ship is deserted by the enemy after capture
and subsequently taken possession of, this is not a recapture, but those
who take possession are entitled to recompense as in an ordinary case
of salvage. If after the recapture the ship is again taken and con-
demned, the right of salvage is extinguished. Where the ship of a
power in alliance with Great Britain is taken by the common enemy
and afterwards recaptured by a British ship, the rule for restitution on
payment of salvage is the same as in the case of the capture of a
British ship; provided the allied power chooses to adopt that rule in
reciprocal cases. If it does not, the same rule which is acted upon in
the courts of the allied power is adopted in the British courts. If the
ship of a neutral nation be taken as prize by an enemy of Great
Britain and be retaken by British subjects, it is restored to the owners
without salvage, unless there is reason to suppose that under the cir-
cumstances the ship would have been condemned in the courts of the
capturing nation. Where it appears that such would have been the
case, the British subjects are entitled to salvage. Ships and merchan-
dise taken from pirates are subject, by 6 Geo. IV., c. 49, to a payment
of one-eighth of the value. [PRIZE.]
(Maclachlan, On the Law of Merchant Shipping; Abbott, On Shipping,
by Serj. Shee; Maude and Pollock, Compendium of the Law of Merchant
Ships.)
SHIPWRECKS. That wrecks are numerous, is a fact well-known
to a seafaring nation like ours; that they must necessarily be consider-
able in number, regard being had to the perils of the deep, will of
course be admitted; but that nothing can be done to lessen their
frequency, would be a hopeless theory of which we ought to be
ashamed. Supposing, for the sake of fixing the ideas, that some wrecks
are occasioned by a want of scientific knowledge of winds, waves, cur-
rents, whirlpools, shoals, reefs, and sunken rocks, on the part of
meteorologists and hydrographers; that others are caused by the in-
competency of captains and mates; that others again result from the
insubordination, carelessness, ignorance, or obstinate fatalism of sea-
men; that a fourth group are due to the deficiency of lighthouses,
beacons, and buoys; and that the remainder arise from want of ready
assistance to ships which, though placed in peril on shoals or near
rocks, might yet be saved if aid were at hand on the beach or the cliff
-who shall say that these evils are incurable? who can put a limit to
the improvements which might be wrought?
A dismal story, indeed, does the "Wreck-chart of the British
Islands" tell, as published annually by the Admiralty, and afterwards
in the Life-Boat Journal.' It may be designated a truly distressing
map. Every wreck on our coasts has its little black mark; and the
aggregate of such black marks reveals the number of wrecks in one
year. Knowing that a black spot indicates a vessel wrecked, and
that indicates a vessel so seriously damaged as to need to discharge
cargo, we look eagerly for the relative numbers of these little spots and
stars; and it is saddening to see how numerous are the fatal black
signs. At some places the wrecks are numerous because the coast is
dangerous; at others, because the congregating of ships is very great.
These charts refer only to our own coasts-the coasts of the most
busy maritime islands in the world; where, if there be liability of
disaster through the vast congregation of shipping, there ought, on
the other hand, to be a supply of invention and good sense sufficient
to check, in some degree, such disasters. In examining the details of
the chart, it will be seen that the line of coast between Dungeness and
the Pentland Frith is the most fatal, and that the mouth of the Tyne
takes the unenvied precedence of all other places, in the number of
black dots and stars opposite to its name; next come the mouth of
the Tees and the mouth of the Wear. These three rivers may be
taken as the representatives of the district whence three million tons
of coal are brought by sea to London yearly, employing the services of
several thousand collier ships, which sail to and fro, and add to the
otherwise busy commercial trade of the Northumbrian and Durham
ports. The mouth of the Humber, the Suffolk coast between Yar-
mouth and Southwold, the intricate sandy shoals off the mouth of the
Thames, the Goodwin Sands, the Scilly Islands, Barnstaple Bay, and
Liverpool, are the portions of the English coast which present, in the
next degree, the most numerous indications of ship-losses. The Welsh
coast is thickly strewn, especially Glamorgan, Pembroke, and Anglesea.
Scotland, except in and near the Frith of Forth, presents no large
numbers; the western coast is, indeed, remarkably free, due probably
to the less exposure to the winds which tend to drive ships ashore on
our eastern seaboard. Ireland presents a tolerably equable distribu-
tion along the east and south coasts: less on the northern and western.
Many inquiries into the causes of shipwreck have been instituted;
One of
and especially one by a committee of the House of Commons.
the results has been the construction of harbours of refuge, which
have not hitherto been very successful. One frequent cause of wreck
is collision, arising from bad look out or neglecting to show light.
Another cause was the occasional incompetence of the master in
merchant vessels. To remedy this, Mr. Cardwell, in 1854, brought in
and carried a bill "To Amend and Consolidate the Acts relating to
Merchant Shipping;" it constitutes the act 17 & 18 Vict. c. 104, and
received the royal assent August 10, 1854. The statute is of great
length, and relates to eleven different topics, bearing upon the well-
being of sailors and their ships :-the relation of the Board of Trade
to the commercial marine; the ownership, measurement, and register
of British merchant ships; the qualifications of masters and seamen;
the precautions for safety on ship-board; the arrangements concerning
pilots; the management and tolls of lighthouses; the constitution of
the Mercantile Marine Fund; the laws relating to wrecks, casualties,
and salvage; the liabilities of ship-owners; legal course of procedure
in the event of misdemeanor; and miscellaneous details. Inspectors
of merchant ships, and investigators in respect to wrecks and accidents,
are appointed by the Board of Trade; new examinations for masters
and mates are organised, separating foreign-going ships from home-
trade passenger ships; the Board is empowered to suspend certificates
to masters and mates, in case of misconduct or inefficiency; naval
courts are instituted abroad or on the high seas, in correspondence
with the Board, to inquire into cases of wreck or abandonment of
ships; the number and size of the boats to accompany all trading
ships are denoted; every ship carrying more than ten passengers
must be provided with a life-boat, or an ordinary boat rendered
buoyant, and with two life-buoys-the boat and buoys being always
kept ready for use; lights and fog-signals are to be used, such as may
be suggested by the Admiralty; iron steamers must have water-tight
compartments, and safety-valves beyond the control of the engineer;
sea-going ships must be provided with fire-engines and hose, signal-
guns, and ammunition for firing signals of distress.
Besides the provision for preventing wreck, the Act contains many
clauses, applying to cases in which wreck may unhappily have occurred.
As these arrangements are somewhat peculiar, it may be well to notice
them a little closely. All matters relating to wreck are placed under
the general superintendence of the Board of Trade, by whom "receivers
of wreck " are appointed. These receivers have the chief command
and authority over all persons present at any wreck, or similar
casualty, and power to issue such directions as may seem expedient
for the preservation of life and property, or for the prevention of
plunder and disorder. Whenever a ship is stranded, or otherwise
in distress on British shores, bystanders are encouraged to render
assistance, by having a pecuniary interest in the preservation of life or
property. If services so rendered shall be instrumental towards the
object in view, the persons shall have a claim on the owner of the ship
for a "reasonable amount of salvage." Numerous directions are given
for ascertaining what would be a reasonable amount" in each case;
for enforcing the claim of the salvor against the distrainor; for dis-
posing of an unclaimed wreck; and for adding to the salvor's reward
out of the Mercantile Marine Fund, in cases where life has been pre-
served, and where the wrecked ship is insufficient in value to pay
the salvage awarded. The Mercantile Marine Fund here adverted to is
made up in a curious way: it consists of certain fees received by the
Board of Trade for examinations and registries connected with mer-
chant-ships; lighthouse dues accruing by virtue of certain sections of
the Act; rates accruing from lastage and ballastage in the Thames;
and fees derived through the receivers of wreck. The fund, kept by
her Majesty's Paymaster-General, is employed in payment of the
salaries of examiners, surveyors, receivers, &c.; expenses in regard to
lighthouses, buoys, beacons, lastage, ballastage, life-boats, &c.; and
rewards to persons who assist in saving wrecked ships, or crews, or
passengers.
Wrecks, however, will still occur on our coasts, and the necessity
arises for affording assistance. By the efforts of the National Life-
Boat Institution, which has received the support of the government,
life-boats have been placed at most of the dangerous parts of our coast.
[LIFE-BOATS.] But there are times when other aid is needed; when
a ship is in distress so near the shore as to be within reach of a rope,
if means were at hand to throw it--while, perhaps, no boats are near
the spot fitted to render the required service. What are the crews
to do? Sailors, unfortunately for themselves, are in too few cases
swimmers; and even a swimmer has a poor chance for his life in such
weather and such a sea as usually accompany these strandings of
ships. The men generally cling to their vessel as long as her timbers
will hold together, rather than strike out and endeavour to swim to
shore. In such case their safety mainly depends on the establish-
ment of some communication with the shore. Such communi-
643
SHIRE.
cation was the object of Captain Manby's attention, and his name
is intimately associated with the history of this part of the sub-
ject. He had, in 1783, thrown a line, by means of a small mortar,
over Downham Church, in Norfolk; and it struck him that he
might, by the same means, throw a line over a stranded vessel.
During many subsequent years he made repeated experiments; his
main difficulty consisted in securing the shot to the rope; iron chains
were liable to break on the discharge; but at length he found that
stout strips of closely-plaited raw hide would answer the purpose.
The rocket apparatus is now thoroughly effective, and many thousand
lives have been saved by means of the ropes thrown out to stranded
ships, through the agency of mortar-rockets. There are upwards of
200 places on the shores of the United Kingdom, where such apparatus
is kept, mostly under the charge of the coast guard, who, from the
peculiar nature of their other duties, are well adapted for this kind
of service.
SHIRE, from the Saxon schyran, to divide (whence also to shear),
is the name of districts into which the whole of Great Britain is
divided. The word shire is in most cases equivalent to county, a name
often substituted for it in Great Britain, and always in Ireland. The
origin of this distribution of the country cannot probably now be
ascertained. It has been customary to attribute it to Alfred, upon the
authority of a passage in Ingulphus, the monk of Croyland, who wrote
about a century and a half after the reign of that king. Asser, how-
ever, the biographer of Alfred, does not mention this most important
fact, and the unsupported statement of Ingulphus is of little value.
In truth, shires were certainly known before Alfred's time. Sir Francis
Palgrave shows them to be identical, in many cases, with Saxon states;
thus Kent, Sussex, Essex, Norfolk, Suffolk, Middlesex, and Surrey,
were ancient kingdoms: Lincolnshire, under the name of Lindesse,
was an independent state, and Worcestershire (Huiccas) was the juris-
diction of the bishop of Worcester. Shires of another class were
formed out of larger divisions, either for the sake of more easy
management when the population of the particular district had
increased, or for the sake of giving territory to an earl. Yorkshire
was part of the kingdom of Deira, and Derbyshire of Mercia. Lanca-
shire was made a county subsequently to the Conquest. On the other
hand, some shires have merged in others; Winchelcombeshire is a
part of Gloucestershire; and in the Act for abolishing the palatine
jurisdiction of Durham (6 & 7 Will. IV., c. 19) no less than five
shires are mentioned, namely, Craikshire, Bedlingtonshire, Norham-
shire, Allertonshire, and Islandshire; which had long ceased to possess,
if indeed they ever enjoyed, separate jurisdictions.
The uses of the division into shires may be learnt by an enumera-
tion of the principal officers in each :-1, the lord lieutenant, to whom
is entrusted its military array [LORD LIEUTENANT]; 2, the custos
rotulorum. or keeper of the rolls or archives of the county; this
officer is appointed by letters-patent under the great seal, and is now
always identical with the lord-lieutenant, except in counties of cities,
where the high steward is usually custos rotulorum; 3, the sheriff, or,
as he is often called, the high sheriff [SHERIFF]; 4, the receiver-
general of taxes, who is appointed by the crown, and accounts to it
for the taxes levied within his district; 5, the coroner [CORONER]; 6,
the justices of the peace, whose commission extends only to their
own county, and who, assembled in sessions, have jurisdiction over
many offences, and control over the county funds [SESSIONS]; 7, the
under-sheriff, who is appointed by and performs nearly all the duties
of sheriff; and 8, the clerk of the peace, an officer (almost always an
attorney) appointed by the justices in quarter-sessions, whose duty it
is to file and produce recognisances, returning them, when forfeited,
to the sheriff to be levied [RECOGNISANCE]: he likewise prepares or
files indictments to be tried at the sessions or assizes, and in general
acts as the officer of the justices in quarter-sessions.
County-rates are assessments made by the justices in quarter-
sessions assembled, according to estimates laid before them. The
principal objects of these rates are: the building and repair of bridges,
jails, shire-halls, and courts of justice, and of late years lunatic
asylums; the repair of roads; the payment of the salaries of the
coroner, clerk of the peace, high and special constables, jailers, &c.;
the expense attending the apprehension, conveyance, and prosecution
of persons accused of crime; and under this head is included the
remuneration to witnesses for their loss of time and expenses; the
maintenance of prisoners, and their transportation.
levied by collectors, and enforced by the sheriff.
The rates are
The judicial tribunals in each county are the assize court [ASSIZES];
the old schyremote or county-court held for the election of knights of
the shire, and the hundred courts, and courts-leet. [COURTS.] These
hundred courts and courts-leet have long been almost entirely obso-
lete, and the county court statutes accordingly contain provisions for
their surrender to the crown.
The principal subdivision in a county is the hundred, a district
which in its origin bore relation rather to the population than to any
uniform geographical limits. Mr. Hallam considers it to have been a
district inhabited by 100 free families, and that a different system pre-
vailed in the northern from that of the southern counties; in proof
of which he contrasts Sussex, which contains 65 hundreds, and
Dorsetshire, which contains 43, with Yorkshire, which contains only 26,
and Lancashire, only 6. In the counties north of the Trent, this sub-
SHODDY MANUFACTURE.
"
644
ex
division is often called a wapentake. That the division into hundreds
was known among the Germans, even in the time of the Roman inva-
sion, is argued from two passages in Tacitus ('De Mor. Germ.,')
omni juventute delectos ante aciem locant-Definitur et numerus;
centeni ex singulis pagis sunt." And again, "Centeni singulis (princi-
pibus) adsunt ex plebe comites, consilium simul et auctoritas."
"Nihil nisi armati agunt;" and hence Spelman infers the identity of
the wapentách, or military array (taking of weapons) and the hundred
court. Sir Francis Palgrave says that the burgh was only the enclosed
and fortified resort, the stockade of the inhabitants of the hundred.
The subdivision of the hundred was the tithing, composed, as it is
alleged, of ten free families, and having for an officer the tithing-man,
a head constable.
Whether in the barbarous times to which it is attributed, so elabo-
rate a system as we have sketched could have prevailed, is at least
most doubtful; but the theory is that somewhere about the time of
Edgar (A.D. 950), the county was divided into tithings, of which 12
made a hundred-for the Saxon hundred meant 120, and hence per-
haps the frequent use of the number 12 in our legal processes. These
hundreds were presided over by their decanus, or headborough, or
hundred-man, and were represented in the shiremote; and this aggre-
gate body, the shire, presided over by its earl and bishop or sheriff,
conducted its own internal affairs.
There are three counties-palatine, the earl of which had within his
shire all the fiscal and judicial powers of the crown :--Chester, created
by William the Conqueror; the duchy of Lancaster, created by
Edward III.-these two have been long annexed to the crown; and
Durham, formerly governed by the bishop, but annexed to the crown
in 1836. In this year a part of the see of Ely, which had been a
royal franchise, was annexed to the crown, as Hexhamshire in
Northumberland had been in the reign of Elizabeth. [PALATINE
COUNTIES.]
SHODDY MANUFACTURE. This has recently become a large
and important branch of industry in the West Riding of Yorkshire.
Shoddy and mungo are the strange names given to two varieties of rag-
wool; the one being obtained from old blankets, carpets, flannel, and
worsted stockings; and the other from tailors' cuttings and worn-out
woollen garments.
garments. In both cases, the pieces are torn up fibre from
fibre, constituting a kind of dirty short-stapled wool. There is a third
variety called extract, obtained from "union or "mixed" goods, in
which cotton is woven up with wool; rags of this kind are exposed
to the action of strong chemical agents, which completely dissolve
away the cotton, and leave the wool behind.
""
So far back as half a century ago, cloth manufacturers began
to mix a little rag-wool with new wool in the making of cheap
cloth; but it is only in recent years that a large and distinct branch
of industry has resulted therefrom. At the present day, Batley
and Dewsbury are the centres of the trade, giving employment to
many thousand persons in several mills-in producing shoddy and
mungo from rags, in sorting and preparing rag-wool imported from
abroad, or in spinning the old with the new wool into yarn for weaving
into cloth. Besides the two towns here named, the manufacture is
distributed throughout the whole of the surrounding district-in
Ossett, Mirfield, Morley, Earlsheaton, Heckmondwike, Gomersal,
Elland, Stainland, and other places scarcely known even by name out
of Yorkshire, but gradually rising from mere villages to the dignity of
towns. The trade is a very dirty one. The rags have gone through a
long period of service, and are unavoidably soiled and stained in
various ways. There are sorters, whose business it is to classify the
rags into as many kinds and colours as possible, in order that manu-
facturers may be able to select the varieties which best suit their
purposes. There are also cutters, whose employment consists in cut-
ting off knots and seams, which would otherwise interfere with the
operations. The disentanglement of the rags into rag-wool is effected
chiefly by a machine called a swift. This consists of a revolving
cylinder, set with iron-toothed plates; the rags are fed in at one point,
and are torn into fibres by the action of the teeth. Some of these
machines contain 14,000 teeth, perform 700 revolutions per minute,
and are employed in grinding up good woollen rags into mungo; others,
with fewer teeth and a slower motion, tear up old worsted rags into
shoddy. Each machine produces on an average about 1000 lbs. of rag-
wool per day. In the township of Batley alone, it is estimated that
there are now from 12 to 14 million pounds produced annually; about
an equal amount in various places within four miles of that town; and
again an equal amount in places beyond that limit-in round numbers,
50 million pounds of woollen and worsted rags are disentangled into
40 million pounds of mungo and shoddy. Of the whole quantity,
about one-third is mungo, of an average worth of 6d. per pound; and
two-thirds shoddy, worth 4d. This amounts to the large sum of nearly
800,000l.—a value wholly superadded to that which relates to new
wool. A great portion of this is absolute saving to the community :
for woollen rags possess only a very small per-centage of this value,
when applied to other manufacturing uses.
Mungo and shoddy are not used alone in making woollen goods.
New wool is added to them, to give them the felting property and
strength of fibre. The very commonest goods may have eight or ten
times as much rag-wool as new wool; in medium goods the ratio may
be nearly equal; in a higher class of goods there may be eight or ten
545
546
SHOE TRADE.
SHRAPNEL SHELLS.
times as much new wool as rag-wool. It is all a matter of price. One
cause for the (apparent) cheapness of woollen goods within the last few
years is the large admixture of mungo and shoddy. None but a skilled
person can detect this admixture; and in some cloths, indeed, mungo
is combined so judiciously with new wool as to produce a really strong
material. Mungo made from the best woollen cuttings is, in fact,
better than new wool of low quality; and cheapness is here something
more than a name. The kinds of cloth chiefly produced, having
mungo or shoddy as part of their substance, are numerous, and
receive designations conveying very little information except to those
engaged in the trade; such as tweeds, flushings, paddings, duffels,
friezes, witneys, mohairs, pilots, petershams, strouds, savelists, rever-
sibles, linings, sealskins, doeskins, cheviots, &c. The most extensive
The most extensive
branch of the manufacture is that of pilots, a cloth employed in
making the heavy substantial "pilot coats" used by sea-faring men.
These, like the rest, may have much or little shoddy in them, according
to the price to be charged.
The processes need not be described here. They partake of the
same general character as those treated under WOOLLEN AND WORSTED
MANUFACTURE. (Jubb, 'History of the Shoddy Trade,' 1860.)
SHOE TRADE. Under BOOT AND SHOE MANUFACTURE, Some of
the mechanical features of this branch of industry were noticed. In
the present article we shall treat briefly of the relation between the
different kinds of workpeople, and of the changes recently effected
through the introduction, of sewing-machines.
A shoemaker, in the old statutes, is called a cordwainer, apparently
a corruption of the French cordonnier, which means a worker of
Cordova leather. The companies of shoemakers in our ancient towns
were incorporated under this name; and where some of these com-
panies still exist, they go by the same name. As a legal term cord-
wainer is still common. The law of England formerly took cognisance
not only of the quality of the leather which the shoemaker wrought
into his goods, but of the number of stitches that he furnished.
The trade, as now followed in London and other principal places, is
subdivided into about twenty branches. The following may be set
down as the chief: the shoeman, or maker of the sole part of the shoe,;
the bootman, or maker of the sole part of the boot; and the boot-closer,
or joiner together of the leg, vamp, &c. The labour of these is
especially directed to what is called the men's line; whilst others make
the ladies' shoe or boot. There are many women, too, who get a
livelihood by closing the shoe; while others again practise the various
sorts of binding. In the manufacture of a boot, the clicker or cutter
having designed and cut the leather of the vamps, legs, &c., to the
measure of the customer or the size wanted, the materials go to the
closer. Much of the boot-closer's art, as now perfected, is of a very
delicate nature, especially in the putting together or closing of all the
parts of the top-boot, and the fancy-wrought and coloured Wellington;
the common Wellington being the easier portion of his occupation.
The bootman does for the boot what the shoeman does for the shoe;
he makes or attaches the sole. The labour of this person, however, is
much better paid than that of the shoeman; because it has a higher
character, and considerably more time is required to complete the
article. The best shoemen usually at the first opportunity take to be
bootmen. The making of the woman's common or welted shoe re-
sembles that of the man's; and where it differs it is unnecessary here
to explain. The man's and woman's single-sole shoes or pumps are
also proceeded with in the same manner.
Formerly it was the general practice for the journeyman to work in
the shop with his employer; two, three, six, or more, all working
together. The journeymen then had sometimes, as now, so much per
pair; but he was also paid by the day or week, or was even engaged as
a quarterly or half-yearly servant. In every case he had his coals and
candles in winter, and in all seasons his finding or grindery free, that
is, his hemp, wax, paste, bristles, &c. Wages then were very low; but
the work was of an inferior description, and the habits of the time very
plain and simple. Towards the end of the last century, the shoemaker's
position improved. He gave up working in the shop of his master, or
in garrets with several other men. If married, he followed his
employment in his own home. If unmarried, he joined himself in a
sort of partnership with another workman in a like condition, and
taking a furnished lodging, felt more at ease than under the former
system of constraint. This still is the practice among the better-paid
classes of the trade.
65
In BOOT AND SHOE MANUFACTURE, the recent importations of boots,
shoes, goloshes, and boot-fronts from foreign countries are noticed.
The exports from the United Kingdom are not so easily determined,
seeing that boots and shoes are in this instance included under the
general designation of leather wrought and unwrought," exclusive
however of "saddlery." The return under this head for 1860 was
6,473,826 lbs., having a declared value of 1,407,5571. It is computed
that about two-thirds of the above quantities consist of boots and
shoes, which are exported chiefly to Australia and the other colonies.
Mr. M'Culloch, in the latest edition of his 'Commercial Dictionary,'
expresses an opinion that the boots and shoes now made annually in
the United Kingdom have an aggregate value of 10,000,000l.; of which
he sets down about one-half for wages, and the other half for materials
and profit.
In the article just cited, it was stated that, in 1859, a struggle had
ARTS AND SOI. DIV. VOL. VII.
In the
arisen between the masters and men concerning the employment of
sewing-machines. The masters have now (1861) gained their point, as
they are always likely to do where labour-saving contrivances are in
question. According to information given in an article by Mr. Charles
Knight, in the 'Companion to the Almanac' for 1861, the workmen
are gradually yielding, seeing that opposition is of no avail. It was
supposed in 1851 that no less than 30,000 persons were in various ways
employed by the Northampton boot and shoe-makers, alone; and since
that year the trade has extended greatly, both at Northampton and
Stafford, and in various villages surrounding those two towns.
large factories, the upper leathers are now to a considerable extent put
together by the aid of the sewing-machine; the machines belong to the
employers, and there are often fifty or sixty of them in one room. The
women employed at the machines earn much more than by hand-
sewing; but of course not so many of them are needed. Some of the
manufacturers are of opinion that the machines are not suited for
men's strong shoes, on account of a difficulty in using waxed thread;
but others believe that the machines will gradually impart a wholly
new aspect to the trade. The" Northamptonshire Boot and Shoemakers'
Mutual Protection Society" was unable to stem the current; and the
machines are now employed, not only in the large factories, but by the
"A dealer in the machines informed me,"
workpeople themselves.
says Mr. Knight, "that a few provident shoemakers were purchasing
the machine for the domestic employment of their families, by which
one female of their household would be able to earn more than was
formerly earned by the wife and two or three daughters. The ad-
vantage would not rest here. The wife would be at liberty, by working
a few hours a day at the machine, to have leisure for her domestic
duties; and would thus obviate the reproach attached to too many
shoemakers' wives, that the dirty home, the slatternly habits, and the
neglected children, drive the husband to the public-house. The
machines cost from 12l. to 25l. I saw one which the dealer in machines
was about to sell to a steady workman, upon his paying the cost by
instalments." The apparatus will be found briefly described under
EMBROIDERY AND SEWING MACHINES.
The Americans carry on the shoe-manufacture on a scale not equalled
by anything known in this country.
by anything known in this country. A large steam-factory for the
purpose has been established at Haverhill, in Massachusetts. In the
basement story are machines for cutting, rolling, and shaping the
leather for shoe-soles. In the next story the upper leathers are lasted,
and the outer soles tacked on. In another range of rooms are the
pegging machines; long strips of wood, of the required width, are
coiled up, and put into each machine; the machine uncoils the strip,
cuts it up bit by bit, makes holes in the shoe, and drives a bit as a peg
into each hole; this is effected at the rate of fourteen pegs per second.
In other rooms are stitching machines worked by steam.
SHOOTING STARS. [METEORS.]
SHORT-HAND. [STENOGRAPHY.]
SHORT-SIGHTEDNESS. [SIGHT, DEFECTS OF; SPECTACLES.]
SHOT are the balls (generally solid) of iron which are discharged
from guns, howitzers, or carronades. Those which are used for the
first of these kinds of artillery vary in diameter from 1955 inches,
which is that of a one-pound ball, to 7.95 inches, which is the diameter
of a 68-pound ball. Shot for howitzers vary in diameter with the
nature of that arm, from 4.476 inches, which is the diameter of a 12-
pounder howitzer, to 9-88 inches. Carronades, which are now never
used, discharged balls weighing from 6 lbs. to 68 lbs., which were of
course equal in diameter to those which belong to guns of equal
calibre. Hollow shot have latterly been introduced into the service,
principally for the navy. The guns for throwing hollow shot are 8-
and 10-inch, and are sometimes called Paixhans, from the inventor;
though not so light as the howitzers of those calibres, they are lighter
than solid-shot guns. They can be used for throwing both shells and
hollow shot with small charges. Hollow shot, or unloaded shell, as
they are in fact, have this advantage, that though their diameters are
large, their weights being small, a small charge gives a high initial
velocity, rendering them very effective for short or ordinary ranges,
while from their large size they are capable of producing most
destructive effects, more especially on shipping. The shot for RIFLED
ORDNANCE are described under that head.
SHOT MANUFACTURE. [LEAD.]
SHRAPNEL SHELLS, so called from the inventor, Major
Shrapnel, R. A., are a most destructive description of projectile; they
are principally used against skirmishers and scattered bodies of troops
beyond the range of common case, 300 yards, or of grape shot, about
600 yards.
A Shrapnel shell or spherical case shot, consists of a thin shell
of cast iron, containing a number of musket balls and a small charge
of powder just sufficient to burst it, and free the balls; a FUZE, by
which the charge is ignited and the shell burst at the proper instant,
is fixed in it, as in an ordinary shell.
The effect of the musket bullets in the Shrapnel is due to the
velocity imparted to them by the gun. and not by the bursting charge
which only frees them. A spherical case shot when loaded is about
the same specific gravity as a solid shot of the same diameter.
musket ball is effective when impelled with the same velocity as that
retained by a solid shot from a 6-pounder or 9-pounder at a range of
about 1200 yards. If therefore the spherical case shot be projected
'N N
A
547
SHROUDS.
by the ordinary service charge, and be made to burst at any distance
up to 1200 yards, the musket balls which it contains being freed, will,
spreading out like a fan, and covering some extent of ground, strike
effectively. For at the instant of the explosion they have the velocity
of the shell, and they will proceed forward, generally in the direc-
tion in which the shell was going, for the path of the common centre
of gravity after explosion will (disregarding the greater effect of
atmosphere) be the same as that of the shell before the explosion, and
the velocity with which the bullets strike will be the same as that of
shell, or at least sufficient to make them effective.
The common spherical case was attended with many inconveniences,
and in the larger descriptions of ordnance more especially, was very
liable to burst in the gun. This was supposed to be caused by the
shell, which was necessarily thin, not being strong enough to resist the
explosion of the full service charge; the charge was therefore reduced,
but the experiment, besides not being always successful, had the dis-
advantage of reducing the velocity so much that the bullets were not
effective. Captain Boxer, R. A., showed that the cause of the shells
bursting was the concussion caused by the different relative motions of
the external case and the bullets in the interior, when the former was
first put in motion by the charge-a concussion sufficient to ignite the
charge of powder. He therefore invented the diaphragm shell, in
which the bursting charge is kept separate from the bullets in a
chamber formed by a thin iron diaphragm fixed in the shell when it is
The form of the shell will be readily understood from the accom-
cast.
B
B
D
Section of Boxer's Diaphragm Shrapnel Shell.
▲, the fuze; B to B, the diaphragm; c, c, shell; D, the aperture for inserting
bullets, which is afterwards plugged; E, the bursting charge inserted at fuze
hole.
panying cut. It has been found perfectly efficient. The Shrapnel
from the Armstrong guns is described under RIFLED ORdnance.
SHROUDS. [SHIPBUILDING.]
SHROVE-TIDE, or SHROVE-TUESDAY (from the Anglo-Saxon
scrifan, to confess), signifies the time of confessing sins; for which
purpose this day was anciently set apart by the church of Rome as a
preparation for the austerities of Lent. This season was likewise
called Fasting-tide. Fastens, and Fast-mass, by all of which titles it is
yet designated in different parts of the North.
In the Reformed Church the ancient practice of shriving or con-
fessing at Shrove-tide is discontinued.
After the people had made the confession required at this season by
the discipline of the ancient church, they were permitted to indulge in
festive amusements, although not allowed to partake of anything
beyond the usual substitutes for flesh; and hence arose the custom
yet preserved of eating pancakes and fritters at Shrovetide, which has
given this day the vulgar appellation of Pancake Tuesday. The Mon-
day preceding was, by the vulgar, called Collop Monday, a name which
it even yet retains in some places from the primitive custom of eating
eggs on collops or slices of bread, which the less scrupulous and more
luxurious moderns have extended to collops of meat.
On these days of authorised indulgence all kinds of recreations were
tolerated. provided a due regard was paid to the abstinence com-
manded by the Church; and from this origin sprang the Carnival.
[CARNIVAL.]
To the pastimes of this early age are also to be traced the diversions
of football, cock-fighting, and cock-throwing, as well as the discon-
tinued customs of whipping-tops, roasting of herrings, Jack of Lent, &c.,
which three last-named sports were evidently meant as types of the
rigour of church discipline. The cock-fightings and cock-throwings in
England, which have gone into disuse, were once general throughout
the kingdom at this season.
(Brady's Clavis Calendaria, vol. i.; Brand's Popular Antiq., vol. i.)
SI, in music, the name given by the English, Italians, and French
to the seventh of the syllables used in solmisation; and, by the
two last, also to the note, or sound, called B by the Germans and
English. [SOLMISATION.]
SIALAGOGUES (from cíaλov, "saliva.” and άywyós, "that which
leads or brings "), agents which increase the flow of saliva and other
fluids from the parotid and other glands in the vicinity of the mouth.
SIBYL.
549
They operate in different ways, and are distinguished into local or
remote. Of the local, some are gaseous, others are solid; these last
are also termed masticatories. Of the gaseous, the most familiar is the
odour of savoury food, which produces an immediate secretion from
the salivary glands, being the primary step in the process of digestion,
for the perfect performance of which thorough insalivation of the food
is requisite. By the motion of the jaw in the act of mastication a
further flow of saliva is occasioned, and this result occurs however
insipid or insoluble the substance may be which is moved about in the
mouth. Hence even a pebble will cause it. But if the substance
possess an agreeable aroma, or a considerable degree of pungency or
acrimony, a greatly augmented secretion is the consequence. In hot
climates piquant articles are extensively used to stimulate the languid
action of the digestive organs. [AROMATICS; FOOD.] In local affections
of the mouth, nose, or even head, relief is often obtained by exciting
the salivary glands to increased secretion, and this is effected by chewing
pellitory root and other pungent articles, or holding in the mouth an
infusion or tincture of these. Remote sialagogues are first received
into the system by the stomach or other channels, and then exert a
peculiar influence on the salivary glands. Of these the most familiar
is mercury. This often proves highly remedial, especially in the fevers
of tropical countries, in which the occurrence of salivation is always
regarded as a forerunner of recovery. In persons whose systems cannot
sustain mercury, or to whom it is objectionable, a deficiency of saliva, a
frequent accompaniment of indigestion, is removed by the Virginian
snake-root, alone, or in combination with preparations of copper.
The excessive salivation which results from even a small dose of
mercury should cause the utmost caution to be observed in its use;
especially as it is extremely difficult to remove it when once established,
or even to mitigate its effects. [MERCURY.] But solution of chloride
of soda or infusion of cloves is useful.
SIBYL (BUAλλa) is the name by which several prophetic women
were designated, all of whom belong to the mythical ages of ancient
history. But Pausanias (x., c. 12), who gives an account of the sibyls,
applies incorrectly the same name to the female soothsayers of the
historical times. (Strabo, xiv., p. 645.) It was believed that the sibyls
were maidens who were directly inspired with a knowledge of the
future, and of the manner in which evils might be averted, and espe-
cially of the manner in which the wrath of the gods might be appeased,
and that they communicated their knowledge in inspired verses.
(Varro, ap Lactant.,' i. 6; Cic., 'De Div.,' i. 2; Plat., 'Phædr.,' p.
244.) The number of such prophetesses appears to have been very
great in ancient times, and we know of Egyptian, Hebrew, Persian,
Babylonian, Greek, and Italian sibyls. Varro enumerates ten sibyls,
while others only knew four. (Ælian., Var. Hist.,' xii. 35; comp.
Suidas, v. Zíßuλλa.) Varro, however, appears in some cases to make
Σίβυλλα.)
two sibyls out of two epithets belonging to the same person, while on
the other hand he does not mention the Hebrew sibyl, Sabbe. (Paus.,
x. 12, 5.) We shall in this article only mention the most celebrated
sibyls.
The most ancient sibyl was Herophile, a daughter of Zeus and Lamia
(Paus., x. 12, 1). The Erythraean sibyl was supposed to be a native
of Babylonia, but some thought that she was born at Erythrae. She
lived before the Trojan war, the cause and issue of which she was
believed to have predicted. (Varro; Paus., x. 12, 1.) The Samian
sibyl was supposed to have been a priestess in the temple of Apollo
Smintheus. She spent the greater part of her life in Samos, but, like
most other sibyls, she is described as travelling about and communi-
cating to men her inspired wisdom. Thus we find her at Claros, Delos,
and Delphi. She is said to have died in Troas, where a monument
was erected to her in a grove sacred to Apollo Smintheus. (Paus., x.
12, 3.) Cuma in Ionia was also celebrated for its sibyl; but the sibyl
of Cuma in Campania, called Demo, has acquired more celebrity than
any other. The ancient legend about her is related by Virgil ( Æn.,'
iii. 441, &c.). In the reign of Tarquinius Priscus, or, according to
others, in that of Tarquinius Superbus, there appeared before the king
a woman, either herself a sibyl or sent by a sibyl, who offered to the
king nine books for sale. The king refused to purchase them, where-
upon the woman burnt three of the books, and returning, asked for
the remaining books the same price as she had asked for the nine.
The king again declined purchasing; but when the woman, after
burning three books more, returned and asked for the three remaining
the same price which she had before asked for the nine, his curiosity
was excited, and he purchased the books; whereupon the strange
woman vanished. These three books were the Sibylline Books which
play such a prominent part in the history of Rome: they contained
the "fata urbis Roma." (Dionys., iv., p. 259; Varro, ap Lactant.,'
i. 6; Gellius, i. 19; Plin., 'Hist. Nat.,' xiii. 27.) Now who this sibyl
was, is differently stated. Some of the ancients represent her as the
Erythræan sibyl, others say that she had come from Cuma in Ionia,
and others that she was the sibyl of the Italian Cuma. Modern
writers are likewise divided in their opinions. The Sibylline Books,
which were henceforth in the possession of the Roman state, are said
to have been written on palm-leaves, partly in verse and partly in
symbolical hieroglyphics. The public were never allowed to inspect
them, but they were kept in the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, where
they were preserved in a stone chest in a subterraneous vault, and
under the care of especial officers (duumviri sacrorum, interpretes, or

649
650
SIDE.
SIEGE.
sacerdotes sibyllæ), who had been appointed by the Tarquinius who
purchased the books. These officers had to consult the Sibylline
Books (adire libros sibyllinos) on all occasions when the gods mani-
fested their wrath by inflicting calamities upon the Romans, and when
human help and human wisdom were not thought capable of averting
their anger. The answers which were derived from them were almost
invariably of a religious nature, as they either commanded the intro-
duction of some new worship, or the institution of new ceremonies
and festivals, or the repetition of old ones. But during the time of
the republic, they do not seem to have ever been used, like the Greek
oracles, as a means to ascertain the future, or what political measures
were to be adopted in order to attain a certain political object. The
manner of consulting them, as Niebuhr and others suppose, was pro-
bably the following:-they opened the volumes at random, and what
ever passage first met their eye was thought to contain the suggestions
adapted for the present case. The keepers of the Sibylline Books
were at first only two, with two attendants. After the banishment of
the kings, the two keepers of the Sibylline Books were appointed by
the people, probably in the comitia centuriata, for life. They were
exempt from all civil and military offices; and whenever they had to
consult the sacred books, they were authorised by a senatus consultum,
and they consulted them in the presence of their attendants. The
numbers of these priests was afterwards, perhaps in the year B.C. 368,
increased to ten, and half of them were to be plebeians: in the time
of Sulla their number was increased to fifteen.
In the year 83 B.C. the temple of Jupiter, on the Capitol, was burnt,
and the Sibylline Books were consumed by the flames. In order to
In order to
restore the books, the senate sent ambassadors to various towns of
Italy, Greece, and Asia Minor, to collect Sibylline oracles, both from
public and private sources. These ambassadors collected about one
thousand verses, which were again kept in the temple of Jupiter, after
it had been restored. (Dionys., iv., p. 260.) Augustus ordered that
Augustus ordered that
all pretended Sibylline books in the possession of private persons
should be delivered up to the prætor urbanus, and burnt. On this
occasion more than two thousand such books were delivered to the
flames; and those oracles which were in the keeping of the state, and
were considered to be genuine, were now deposited in two gilt chests
in the temple of Apollo, in the basis of his statue, and entrusted, as
before, to the quindecimviri. (Suet., ‘Aug.,' 31; Tacit., ' Annal.,' vi.
12.) Some years afterwards, Tiberius found it necessary to institute
a fresh examination of the Sibylline oracles, and to strike out many
which were considered to be spurious. (Dion Cass., lvii., p. 705,
Steph.) In the reign of Nero the Sibylline Books were burnt a second
time, but were again restored, and used as before. In the year 270
In the year 270
A.D. several members of the senate advised to consult them respecting
the issue of the war against the Marcomanni. (Fl. Vopisc., 'Aurel.,'
18.) About this time the Christians, in their zeal to convert the
heathens, began to refer to the Sibylline oracles as containing prophe-
cies respecting the Messiah. The collection which was in the keeping
of the state was burnt a third time in the reign of Julian (A.D. 363);
and a fourth time in the reign of Honorius, by Stilicho, A.D. 395.
(Rut., ' Itin.,' ii. 51.) But it was restored each time; and notwith-
standing all the forgeries which must have crept into it, the collection
continued to be held in great esteem, as it was a useful instrument in
the hands of the various parties, political as well as religious. Hence
we find the Sibylline Books consulted even as late as the middle of the
6th century of our era.
A complete collection of Sibylline verses was compiled and edited
by Gallæus, Amsterdam, 1689, 4to.; but it contains a great many
spurious verses, and such as were made by the early Christians who
pretended to be inspired. In 1817, A. Mai published a collection of
fragments from the Sibylline Books, which he discovered in a manu-
script of the library at Milan. Another collection of fragments was
published by C. L. Struve, under the title 'Sibyllinorum Librorum
Fragmenta,' Regiomont., 1818, 8vo.
SIDE. In modern mathematics this term means nothing but one
of the lines which bound a figure, extending from one angle or corner
to the next. The Latin word latus, of the same signification, is pre-
served in composition: thus a figure of three sides is trilateral; of
four, quadrilateral; of five, quinquilateral; and so on. At the intro-
duction of algebra, the same geometrical analogies by which a number
multiplied by itself was called a square, procured for the number itself
the name of side; thus 7 being the side, 49 was the square; and the
same of the cube, triangular polygonal, and pyramidal numbers.
[NUMBERS, APPELLATIONS OF.]
In common language the side is a vague term, implying only "part,
with a notion of relative position;" it is also differently used in and
out of composition. First we have the inside and outside; then, with
reference to either of these, we have sides before and behind, above
and below, right and left. The first pair is defined by reference to the
spectator, the second by the direction of gravitation; but the third,
with reference to which the term side is most frequently used, cannot
be defined by the mathematician. The anatomist will say, that in the
human body, the right side is that on which the heart is not, and the
left side that on which it is, and there is no other definition. In every
case in which the terms right and left are applied, there is a reference
to the position of the human body. Thus the right wing of an army
means that which is towards the right hands of those in the centre;
|
as soon as a retreat commences, the names of the right and left wings
are changed. The right bank of a river is by convention named on the
supposition that the person who names it is looking down the stream,
or seeing the water flow from him. Perhaps some may doubt whether
the superior and inferior parts, or the anterior and posterior, are in our
language properly called sides; these we must remind that the words
fore-side and back-side are very good English; and that in the phrase
upside-down we see the remains of the corresponding phrases up-side
and down-side.
SIDEREAL (sidus, a constellation; sideral would be more correct),
applied in astronomy to distinguish that which has reference to the
fixed stars, from that which relates to the sun, moon, planets, or comets.
See STAR as to general considerations, and TIME as to the distinction
between solar and sidereal time.
SIEGE is the process of advancing towards a fortress under the
cover of earth thrown up from trenches excavated in the ground;
silencing its fire by a superior fire of artillery and musketry; and
finally, by breaching the ramparts, either obliging the defenders to
surrender, or forcing an entrance into the place.
A fortress is invested previously to the commencement of the siege
by posting troops about it, so as suddenly to occupy all the avenues to
the place, and prevent the garrison from receiving succours. The
besieging army, on its arrival, establishes itself in the environs of the
place at such a distance as not to be annoyed by the fire of the artillery
of the defenders; protecting itself generally by redouts raised at
intervals, both on the side nearest to the fortress and on that which is
towards the country. [COUNTERVALLATION.]
The operations of a regular siege, when conducted against places
fortified according to any of the modern systems, are nearly the same
till the approaches (the oblique lines of trenches) arrive at the foot of
the glacis; and when, as in the first system of Vauban, the flanked, or
most advanced, angles of the bastions and ravelins are nearly at equal
distances from the centre of the place, those approaches may be
directed along the produced capitals (lines imagined to bisect the
angles) of a ravelin, and of the nearest bastion on each side of it; since
then, when the glacis before those works is crowned by batteries, the
rampart of the enceinte may be breached in two places at once. But
in systems which, like that of Cormontaingne, have very salient rave-
lins, the approaches should be directed along the produced capitals of
a bastion, and of the nearest ravelin on each side, because the glacis of
the bastion cannot be crowned till the two collateral ravelins are taken;
and if the lines of approach were directed as in the former case, it
would be necessary to take three ravelins before either bastion could
be breached. The lines of approach are carried on nearly in the
direction of the produced capitals of the bastions and ravelins,
because here the ground is less subject to the direct fires from the
fortress.
In commencing operations, the engineers, having ascertained on the
ground the prolongations of those capitals, trace, by means of pickets
driven in the ground and connected by tapes, the direction of the first
parallel trench, generally termed the First Parallel, AAA, which is
somewhere about 600 yards distant* from the advanced parts, GGG, of
the covered-way. This parallel usually extends along the fronts
attacked, and occasionally far enough beyond to embrace the prolonga-
tions of all the ramparts, a fire from which might be directed against
the works of the besiegers: it should terminate at each extremity, if
possible, in some natural obstacle, as a morass or a river; and if no
such obstacle exists, a redout may be raised there, in order, by its
fire, to oppose any attempt of the enemy to turn the parallel. The
trench is executed by numerous working-parties of men, who, being
provided with spades and pickaxes, are marched up to the ground after
sunset, and are disposed along the line at intervals of four or six feet
from each other. The earth obtained from the trench is thrown
towards the fortress, in order to form a breastwork; and in the morn-
ing the men are relieved by others, who complete the parallel where it
may have been left unfinished, and dig trenches obliquely towards the
rear, for the purpose of having secure communications to and from the
In the present article we have taken 600 yards as the distance at which
the first parallel is established, though it is very probable that in any sieges
now undertaken this distance would have to be greatly increased on account of
the increased range and power of the arms now in use. 600 yards was the
distance generally laid down in text-books as being about the limits at which
grape-shot was effective, while it would not be worth while for the garrison to
expend their ammunition in firing round shot at men in such extended order,
it would not be possible to expose men at that distance, for the fire of musketry
and especially at night. Now, howover, unless natural cover could be obtained,
(rifles) would be very destructive.
(rifles) would be very destructive. At the siege of Sebastopol the allies could
not break ground anywhere nearer than 1200 yards, and generally from about
that to 2000. The distance at which ground can be broken, however, depends
so much upon circumstances, such as being screened by houses, hedges, garden-
walls, &c., and the effect of the introduction of rifled arms on sieges is so
doubtful, that we have retained the ordinary distance given in treatises, as by
it the general principle of sieges can be easily understood; and it must be re-
membered that the explanation refers to a theoretic siege, in which the besiegers
circumstances, such as superior energy and courage on the part of the besieged,
are supposed to greatly outnumber the besieged, and in which no disturbing
the failure of stores, &c., are taken into consideration. The subject is treated
in the same manner that we treat abstract problems in mechanics,-disregarding
friction.
651
SIEGE.
depôts of materials. All the trenches are sunk three feet below the
surface of the ground; and the earth thrown out forming a mass about
three feet high, the troops in them are effectually covered from the
SIEGE.
652
view of the besieged. The general breadth is 10 or 12 feet, but
greater width is given in places at intervals from each other, where it
may be desirable to collect troops and material.

B
-------
S
m
m
h
h
d
B
α
C
α
B
A
The first operations of the working-parties take place during the
night, in order that some progress may be made before they are
discovered by the defenders; but should the latter suspect that ground
is being broken, they frequently discharge light-balls. by the light of
which they may discover the places where the men are at work. These
places being ascertained, it may be expected that the ground will be
cannonaded, or that troops will make a sortie from the fortress, for the
purpose of interrupting or driving off the workmen; and in order that
this intention may be frustrated, the parties are accompanied by a
guard of infantry, or covering party, which is placed at about 50 yards
in front of the tracing-line. These troops obtain cover if possible, or
lie down on the ground, that they may not be exposed to the
defenders' fire; and in the event of a sortie being made, they are
ready to repel it: squadrons of cavalry are also, if the ground permits
it, stationed near the extremity of the parallel, that by a rapid move-
ment they may take in flank and cut off the retreat of the sortie.
The general uses of the parallels are to connect the lines of approach
by a covered line of communication, to allow the trenches to be kept
clear of troops and free for the workmen, and, affording cover and pro-
tection to the guard of the trenches and a strong position for them
to remain in during the day, to serve as lines of countervallation in
confining the garrison of the place. As soon as the first parallel is
finished, the guard of the trenches is moved into it, for the purpose of
protecting the succeeding operations. While the approaches are being
pushed forward, or indeed while the first parallel is being completed,
the batteries c, c, c...., are formed either in or in advance of the first
parallel to keep down the fire of the place either by direct or enfilade
fire as shown by the dotted lines.
Since the trenches leading from the first parallel towards the place
ought not to be enfiladed from thence, it is evident that they must be
formed in zig-zag or oblique directions a a a, &c., crossing and recrossing
the produced capitals of the bastions or ravelins; and that the several
branches, if produced, should fall on the exterior of all the works of
the place. The first oblique boyeau (branch) of the trench may be
defended by the fire of the parallel; but the second may, if found
necessary, be protected by the fire of troops stationed in a small trench,
a b, called a parallel boyeau, at the angle between the first and second
branches; and a short branch for the like purpose is generally formed
at the angles of all the zig-zag trenches. If the directions of the several
oblique branches are not laid down on the ground, from a plan of the
intended operations previously made on paper, the engineer endea-
vours, during the daylight, to observe, in the direction of the most
advanced part of the glacis towards his right or left hand, some object
towards which the tracing-line may be stretched and the trench carried
on. These trenches are then executed by the working-parties, in the
same manner as the great parallel was formed.
parallel was formed. At the siege of
Badajos, in 1812, a French corporal, in the dusk of an evening,
dexterously displaced a tracing-line, which had been stretched by the
British engineers, and directed it so that the trench executed along it
might have been enfiladed by three guns on the ramparts of the castle.
If the derangement had not been discovered before darkness came on,
the labour of the whole night would have been lost, and casualties
might have occurred from the fire which the garrison might have
directed along the trench. The workmen are usually relieved after it
is dark, in order that the change may not be observed from the
fortress; but the officers should be relieved earlier, that those who
come on duty may have light enough to examine the actual state of
the works, and to take measures for directing the operations of the
men during the night.
One of
When the heads of the trenches have arrived within 300 yards of the
covered-way, which is usually about the fourth night from the time of
opening the trenches, a second parallel, BBB, is formed, in order to
facilitate the communication between the several lines of approach, and
to protect the working-parties, for it is evident that having got half
way between the first parallel and the place, as the boyeaux advance
the working-parties in them are nearer to the enemy than to their
supports. This trench may be extended along the particular points
attacked, and its extremities may be terminated by redouts, or con-
tinued till they fall into the first parallel. It is executed by flying sap
[SAP], that the men may be quickly protected from the fire of musketry
in the covered-way, which might now begin to take effect.*
the principal means of accelerating the surrender of the fortress is that
of enfilading the ramparts, in order to dismount the guns and drive the
defenders from the parapets. But in order to be effective, the range for
ricochet fire should be short; for this reason fresh batteries, d d d, &c.,
are raised in the directions of the produced faces of the works, in or
near the second parallel, which thus may form a secure communication
between them, and are armed with guns moved up from the first parallel.
[BATTERY; RICOCHET.] From the same batteries also an oblique fire
may sometimes be directed against the interior of the flanks and curtains,
and a plunging fire into the ditches, in order to impede the commu-
nication between the place and the outworks. All the different ricochet
batteries commence firing at the same time, that the attention of the
defenders may be divided, and that they may be prevented from con-
centrating all their fire upon one battery; the guns also should be fired
singly, and at intervals so regulated that there may be always some
shot or shells in the air, for thus the enemy will have little time to
repair the damage done to his artillery or to the parapets. The firing
should be commenced during daylight, in order that the artillerymen
may be able to determine by trial the charge of powder and the degree
of elevation for each piece, so that the shot may just clear the parapet
of the work to be enfiladed; this being obtained, the direction of the
piece may be preserved by means of timbers nailed to the platform,
and thus the fire may be kept up with equal accuracy by night and
by day.
After the fire from the ricochet batteries has partly silenced that of
the place, the trenches of communication are continued in zig-zag
directions as before, and with the like precautions against being
enfiladed from the fortress and its covered way. These and all the
succeeding trenches may be executed by full sap [SAP], while the fire
of the besieged continues in activity; but if that fire should become
at any time relaxed, the opportunity may be seized of carrying on
some part of the approaches in a more expeditious manner. When the
heads of the oblique trenches are about half-way between the second
parallel and the foot of the glacis, a demi-parallel, ee, &c., is carried
out on each side of the produced capitals of the works attacked, till it
meets the prolongation of the crest of the covered-way: its use is to
protect the works which are to be executed in its front by a fire of
It must be understood that this refers to smooth-bored fire-arms.
553
654
SIEGE.
SIEGE.
•
musketry, which, being nearer, is more effectual than that of the
second parallel. Howitzer batteries, ff, &c., are formed at the extre-
mities of these parallels for the purpose of enfilading the covered-way
with shells, and thus destroying the palisades and traverses. As soon
as the fires from the howitzers have produced some effect, the oblique
trenches may be continued till they arrive at the foot of the glacis, on
the capital of each of the works attacked, the branches being directed,
as before, towards the exterior of any part of the covered-way from
whence the enemy might enfilade them; and each being prolonged
towards the rear about 10 or 12 yards, in order to form places where
tools and materials may be deposited out of the line of passage along
the trenches. If the defenders should have established redans or
redouts at the foot of the glacis, or should have carried out counter-
approaches froin any of the collateral works, in order to enfilade the
trenches of attack, they must be assaulted and destroyed as soon as it
is found that the fire from thence impedes the operations of the
hesiegers.
A third parallel trench, cc, may now be executed to connect the
points of attack at the foot of the glacis; for this purpose the squads
of sappers turn to the right and left from the head of each line of
ap] roach, and meet each other, forming as they proceed a trench which
is either rectilinear or curved towards the re-entering parts of the
fortress, in order to enable the troops in it to fire less obliquely on the
branches of the covered-way. This parallel should be made broader
than the others, because considerable bodies of troops are occasionally
collected in it, and at intervals steps should be made in it long enough
to allow a company of men to mount in line over the parapet. For
the protection of the troops, the crest of its parapet should be
furnished with sand-bags disposed so as to leave between them small
intervals (loop-holes) to fire through; and in this parallel, batteries,
hh, &c., for small mortars may be formed, in order that shells may be
thrown from thence into the principal works. It is estimated that the
third parallel may be finished by about the tenth night from the time
of opening the trenches.
At this period, should any great necessity exist for hastening the
surrender of the place, should also the garrison be weak, and should
there be no retrenchments in the covered-way, it may be thought
proper by main force to assault the latter, and immediately crown the
glacis with batteries for breaching the works. In this case, the
defenders should be driven as much as possible from the covered-way
by a heavy fire from the mortar and howitzer batteries; then the
troops who are to make the assault, having been assembled in the
third parallel, mount, at a signal a little before sun-set, over its parapet,
and proceed rapidly up the glacis. A party of men then extend them-
selves along its crest, and by their fire keep down that of the defenders
on the parapets; in the meantime the sappers commence forming with
gabions a lodgment on the crest, and the rest of the storming party
endeavour to force au entrance through breaches made by artillery in
the palisades. When the defenders have thus been compelled to retire
behind the traverses in the covered-way, the assailants, who then
become exposed to the fire from the parapets of the bastions or ravelins,
retire into the lodgment which by this time may be finished on the
crest of the glacis; and during the night there may be executed
trenches of communication from the lodgments to the third parallel.
The lodgments thus formed may be afterwards connected together,
and extended to the right and left if necessary; and in these the
breaching batteries may be formed.
Should the fortress have small ravelins, like those of Vauban, the
assault may take place at once on the salients of a ravelin and of the
two collateral bastions; but if the ravelins advance far towards the
country, as in Cormontaingne's system, it can take place only at
the salients of the ravelin on each side of one bastion; since if it were
attempted to carry on the approaches between the two ravelins, the
troops and sappers would become exposed to fires on their flanks and
in rear as well as in front.
An assault [ATTACK] by main force is always attended with con-
siderable loss, and therefore, if time perinits, it is preferred to continue
carrying on the approaches by sap. For this purpose, supposing the
place to be fortified with large ravelins (as in the cut), a trench is
begun at about 30 yards on each side of the ridge between the two
faces of the glacis before the ravelins only, and carried in a curvilinear
direction till the two squads of sappers meet on the ridge about eight
or nine yards in advance of the third parallel. From hence the trench
is continued by double and direct sap along the ridge till it arrives at
between 30 and 40 yards from the crest at the angle of the glacis; and
at this spot, formerly, high breastworks, called trench cavaliers, kk,
&c., about the thirteenth night from the time of opening the trenches,
were raised on the prolongations of the branches of the covered-way,
in order to allow a plunging fire of musketry to be directed into those
branches. But as the fire of the defenders' artillery may prevent the
construction of such works, instead of them there are now formed
batteries armed with small mortars from which balls or stones may be
projected into the covered-way in order to compel the defenders to
retire from thence. (Mortars for throwing stones are called by the
French pierriers.)
After the fire from the cavaliers or mortar-batteries has obliged the
enemy to abandon the advanced parts of the covered-way, double saps
are carried on towards the salient angle of the glacis, and when they
have arrived at about 24 feet from that angle, the crowning of the
glacis commences. This is performed by extending the sap along the
crest on each side of the angle, and throwing up the earth towards the
place in order to form epaulements for batteries. That the crowning
trenches may be secured against the enfilading fires from the collateral
works of the besieged, traverses are formed across them at intervals in
situations where they may not interfere with the guns to be placed in
the batteries; and, on account of the fire which the enemy may still
keep up from the branches of the covered-way and the retrenchments in
the re-entering places of arms (see the figure in art. FORTIFICATION), a
portion of a fourth parallel, m m, should now be carried out in order
mm,
that troops placed there may protect the sappers during the formation
of the batteries, and the artillerymen during the operation of breaching
the ravelins. The crowning of the glacis is sometimes extended along
the faces of the re-entering places of arms; and in this case trenches
on those faces are connected with the fourth parallel by lines of com-
munication formed in serpentine directions.
The epaulements raised by the besiegers between the salient angle of
the glacis and the first traverses on each side are to serve as counter-
batteries, whose use is to ruin the parapet and dismount the guns in
the faces or flanks of the collateral works, in order as much as possible
to prevent the enemy from opposing by musketry or artillery the
passage which is to be effected across the ditch; and the epaulements
between the first traverses and the re-entering places of arms serve for
the breaching batteries. [BREACH.] The crowning batteries on the
glacis of two ravelins, rr, are supposed to be finished about the six-
teenth night from the time of opening the trenches.
While the breaches are being formed, the passages by which the
descents into the ditches of the ravelins are to take place are com-
menced. These are either open trenches or subterranean galleries cut
in inclined planes through or under the covered-way opposite the
breaches; each passage thus terminates at a perforation in the counter-
scarp about 3 feet above the bottom of the ditch if dry, or at the level
of the water if it contain any. The sappers throw fascines into the
ditch if dry, till the heap is sufficiently high and thick to secure them
from the fire of the defenders, and then getting in, they form by sap a
trench and parapet extending some way up the breach itself. Prepara-
tions are afterwards made for the assault.
For this purpose the interior of the batteries and the passages lead-
ing to the ditches are during the night filled with troops, in whose
rear are bodies of sappers with their materials; and early in the morn-
ing, after a heavy fire has been for some time kept up from the
batteries in order to drive off the defenders, the troops charge up, and
endeavour to keep the enemy engaged while the sappers execute
lodgments on the breaches by filling their gabions with the loose
earth; as soon as these are finished, the storming parties retire behind
them, and from thence keep up a fire upon the enemy. These lodg-
ments should if possible be on the tops of the breaches, but if the
interior of the ravelin is retrenched by a redout, as s s, whose fire com-
mands those spots, the lodgments must be formed on the ascent, that
they may not be immediately destroyed. It is estimated that the two
ravelins may be taken about the eighteenth night.
If the ditches contain water which cannot be made to flow off, there
may be formed acrous them solid causeways consisting of fascines
laden with stones to make them sink, or of casks or gabions having
their axes in horizontal positions; or floating-bridges of timber-logs,
casks or pontoons may be constructed; and by any of these means the
troops may pass over to the assault. From the lodgments just men-
tioned trenches are carried on by sap directly to the top of the breach,
and from thence turning to the right and left they are continued about
half-way down the faces of the ravelius: their extremities being made
to join the parapets of these works.
The redouts in the two ravelins are next to be taken; and to effect
this object, it being supposed that the faces of the ravelins are too
narrow to allow room for forming batteries on them, either a portion
of the ravelin must be blown up in order to allow the fire of the
breaching-batteries on the glacis to act against the redouts through
the apertures, or else the redouts must be breached by undermining
them. Should the latter method be preferred, a trench or gallery is
cut through the mass of each ravelin, and a sap is carried across the
ditch of the redout; the miner then, being secured against the effect
of the enemy's grenades by timbers placed in inclined positions leaning
against the scarp of the redout, cuts through that scarp and forms
chambers for the reception of gunpowder. This being fired, a part of
the rampart will be destroyed and a breach formed. An assault is
then made by troops, and the defenders being supposed to be driven
out of the works, a battery may be raised along the gorge of each
redout in order to compel them to quit the tenailles, tt, in the main
ditch. The redouts of the ravelins being taken (probably about the
twenty-first night), the defenders will also be obliged to retire from
the rear extremities of the latter works; and the besiegers occupying
those extremities, their fire from thence commanding the interiors of
the redouts in the re-entering places of arms, these last must also be
abandoned.
The approaches towards the bastions may now be recommenced, as
the fires from the ravelins are no longer to be apprehended; therefore
a double sap is carried on from the curved trench in the third parallel
directly along the ridge of the glacis, till it begins to be plunged into
555
SIGHT.
by the fire from the bastion; it then proceeds in a serpentine direction
till its head arrives between the portions of the fourth parallel already
formed. This parallel is then completed, and under the protection of
the fire from the troops stationed in it, the counter and breaching
batteries before the bastion are formed. By the former the fire from
the guns in the flanks of the collateral bastions is partly silenced, and
by the latter the breach in the faces of the opposite bastion is effected.
The passage through the counterscarp and a trench across the main
ditch are then executed, and an assault may be made up the breach of
be made up the breach of
the bastion, similar to those which had been made up breaches of the
ravelins; the defenders being repelled, a lodgment may be formed,
and unless the bastion is strongly retrenched, it may be expected that
the place will now be surrendered. It is estimated that the assault of
the bastion may take place about the twenty-sixth night from the time
of opening the trenches; but a good retrenchment [RETRENCHMENT]
in a bastion may enable the defenders to hold out ten or twelve days
longer.
A fortress is said to be countermined when subterranean galleries
are formed under the ramparts of the bastions and ravelins; under the
covered-way, and under the ground at the foot of the glacis, with
galleries of communication from one of these to another. And as the
defenders can form chambers and place powder in or near any con-
venient parts of these galleries to destroy the works of the besiegers
above-ground, the besiegers find themselves under the necessity of
sinking shafts and forming galleries for the purpose of finding out and
destroying those of the defenders, or of blowing up any of their ad-
vanced works. [MINES, MILITARY.];
A siege conducted according to the rules of art will be attended
with comparatively small loss to the besiegers or besieged, the troops
of both parties being but little exposed to each other's fire except at
the times when the assaults are made on the ravelins or bastions. And
if circumstances, such as the prospect of the place being relieved, did
not compel the besiegers to expedite the surrender, the assaults by
main force might be avoided; for after a breach has been formed, and
the parapets of the place have been in a great measure ruined by the
artillery of the besiegers, a sapper might be sent across the ditch by
night with instructions to commence a trench under cover of one ex-
tremity of the broken wall; then, if he succeed in getting cover for
himself, others may follow, and gradually there may be formed on the
breach a lodgment sufficiently large to contain troops, whose fire would
protect the succeeding operations: it being understood that a firing
party in the batteries on the glacis force the defenders to retire as
often as they endeavour to disturb the sappers while at work.
The want of time and means to carry on the approaches as far as
the covered-ways was the cause of the great losses sustained in getting
possession of the fortresses garrisoned by the French in Spain during
the Peninsular war. The breaches in the walls of Badajos (1812) were
made by guns in batteries at the distance of 500 yards; and when the
assailing troops had descended into the ditch, being ignorant of the
positions of the breaches, and confused by the darkness of the night,
which was relieved only by the appalling and destructive blaze of live
shells and other combustibles thrown upon them from the parapets,
they took a wrong direction, or remained patiently to be slaughtered
till the order was given to retire. The effort would have entirely
failed, but for the success of Major-General Picton in escalading the
walls of the castle, and of General Walker in escalading the bastion of
S. Vincente.
SIGHT (vision, the faculty of seeing). The structure and uses of
the several component parts which enter into the formation of the
organ of vision have been already described in the article EYE, in NAT.
HIST. DIV. We have now to inquire by what means the images of
objects which are depicted on the retina become converted into ideas
of the objects themselves; of their proximity and distance; of their
solidity and size. In other words, is the interpretation of the sensa-
tions of the retina a vital property of the structure itself, or is it in part
derived from other sources? The following case, which is recorded by
Cheselden, affords us important data on this head. A young man, who
was born blind, was suddenly restored to sight by the operation of
couching. "When he first saw," observes Cheselden, "he was so far
from making any judgment about distances, that he thought all objects
whatever touched his eye (as he expressed it), as what he felt touched
his skin. He knew not one thing from another, however different in
shape and magnitude; but upon being told what things were whose
form he before knew from feeling, he would carefully observe, that
he might know them again. Two months after being couched, his
attention seems to have been drawn to the effects of painting, which he
then first and at once comprehended; but even then he was no less
surprised, expecting the pictures would feel like the things they re-
presented, and was amazed when he found those parts which by their
light and shadow appeared round and uneven, felt only flat like the
rest, and asked which was the lying sense, feeling or seeing? Being
shown a small miniature of his father, and told what it was, he ac-
knowledged a likeness, but was vastly surprised, asking how it could be
that a large face could be expressed in so little room, saying it should
have seemed as impossible to him as to put a bushel into a pint. At
first he could bear but very little light, and the things he saw he
thought extremely large, but upon seeing things larger, those first seen
he conceived less, never being able to imagine any lines beyond the
❘
SIGHT.
556
bounds he saw. The room he was in, he said he knew to be but
part of the house, yet he could not conceive that the whole house
could look bigger." From the details of this interesting case, it would
appear that the sense of sight (so far as we can judge of it when per-
formed with one eye, for only one had been operated on when the
above phenomena were observed) originally gives us no information
respecting the solidity, the distance, or the real magnitude of objects;
but that they all seem as if painted on one surface. If this then is the
sum of the information which is conveyed to us by the retina; if it is
limited to the mere perceptions of the images of objects, and conveys
to us ideas relative to superficial extent only, it is clear that our
estimation of the true position, the magnitude, and solid forms of
bodies must be due to some other sense than that of sight, or rather,
to a comparison of some other sense with it; in short, to an act of our
comparing and reasoning faculties.
We have seen by the details of the above quoted case, that there is
no essential resemblance between the ideas which are derived from
vision and those communicated by touch; and it is no doubt partly
owing to this circumstance that we obtain a correct knowledge of
external objects through our visual organs.
through our visual organs. The lad couched by
Cheselden could not recognise by sight the things whose form he
before knew from feeling; but upon being told what they were, he
would carefully observe, that he might know them again. The infant,
in like manner, stretches out its little hands to grasp and examine each
object in succession which attracts its sight, and the greater part of
its waking hours is employed in thus comparing the sensations obtained
through these two different channels. That we do acquire important
information respecting the size and forms of bodies through the sense
of touch there can be no doubt; that the knowledge obtained through
our visual organs would be imperfect without it, and that it may in
some measure be a corrective of those optical illusions which are so
frequent when we attempt to judge of things by sight alone, is equally
probable; but in admitting this, we must not underrate the original
powers of the eye and the quantity of knowledge which we primarily
derive from it. From some facts we are about to notice, it would
appear that much of the information which we derive from our visual
organs only, has hitherto been attributed to extraneous sources. Phy-
siologists have been too much swayed by the opinion of Gassendus,
Haller, Gall, and others, that we see with only one eye at a time, and
those even who disputed this have been more anxious to explain why
objects are seen single with both eyes than to inquire into the uses of
our possessing two. These defects, which are more or less common
to all writers on optics, have been some years since remedied by some
very interesting observations of Professor Wheatstone on Binocular
Vision. He has shown that the simultaneous affection of the two
retinæ, provided the optic axes are not parallel, excites a different idea
in the mind from that consequent on either of the single impressions;
the latter giving rise to a representation on a plane surface, the former
to that of an object in relief. This is owing to a different perspective
projection of the object being seen by each eye; thus, if any figure of
three dimensions, an outline cube for example, is held at the distance
of about seven inches before the eyes, and viewed with each eye suc-
cessively while the head is kept perfectly steady, a will be the picture
presented to the right eye, and в that seen by the left. Now if
B
A
these two pictures are made to fall on corresponding parts of the
retiuæ, by placing them one in the direction of each optic axis at
equal distances before or behind their intersection, the mind will
perceive not merely a single representation of the object, but a body
projecting in relief, the exact counterpart of that from which the
drawings were made.
But a better method is to employ the stereoscope, an instrument
invented for the purpose by Mr. Wheatstone, the essential parts of
which are two plain mirrors inclined with their backs towards each
other at an angle of 90°. The two pictures A and B are placed in the
same horizontal line, and parallel to each other at the sides of these
mirrors, and at equal distances from them. The observer then placing
his eyes as near as possible to the two mirrors, their angle coinciding
with the middle line of his forehead and face, sees the solid body
represented by the perspective drawings standing forward in relief,
provided the two drawings are so situated that their images reflected
by the mirrors coincide with the lines of the convergent optic axes.
Instead of the original reflecting stereoscope of Mr. Wheatstone, an
instrument of the refracting form introduced by Sir David Brewster,
and now so common, may be used in the experiment. When similar
images, differing to a certain extent in magnitude, are presented, by
means of the stereoscope, to corresponding parts of the two retina, a
single object, intermediate in size between the two monocular pictures,
is seen, Were it not for this, objects would be seen single only when
557
558
SIGHT.
SIGHT.
the optic axes converge directly forwards; that is to say, when the
object is equally distant from the two eyes; for it is only then that
the images on the retinæ can be of equal size, the size of the image
being dependent on the angle under which the object is seen, and this
being less as the object is more distant. As our conviction then of the
solidity and projection in relief of bodies depends upon a different per-
spective image of them being presented to each retina, and as this can
only take place when the axes of the eyes are made to converge to
them, it follows that when objects are at such a distance that in
regarding them the optic axes are parallel, their images on the retina
will be exactly similar, and the idea conveyed to the mind will be
the same as if they were seen with one eye only. Hence, when two
perfectly similar pictures of an object are viewed in the stereoscope,
although they coalesce, they appear but as painted on a flat surface.
With a knowledge of these facts, it becomes easy to explain why the
artist is unable to give a faithful representation of any near solid
object, that is, to produce a painting which shall not be distinguished
in the mind from the object itself. When the painting and the object
are seen with both eyes, in the case of the painting two similar pictures
are projected on the retina; in the case of the solid object the pictures
are dissimilar; there is therefore an essential difference between the
impressions on the organ of sensation in the two cases, and consequently
between the perceptions formed in the mind; the painting therefore
cannot be confounded with the solid object. As our belief then in the
solidity of a near object is owing to our taking cognisance of the
impressions on both retina, it is interesting to inquire whether any
other kind of information is imparted to us by the possession of two
eyes, which we should not obtain by one only. It is well known that
if we close one eye, and attempt to judge of distances with the eye that
remains open, our conjectures are wide of the mark, and the rationale
of this has been explained by Le Cat, in his 'Traité des Sensations,'
in the following words :-" The concurrence of the optic axes, and the
length of the angle they form, are the fundamental principles for esti-
mating the distance of objects: hence it is that when we look with
one eye only, we are unable to distinguish distances, and cannot place
the end of the finger directly upon an object indicated to us, though it
be very near, for the finger hides the object, and appears to correspond
to it as exactly when it is at the distance of a foot, as if it were only
a line removed from it. But if our other eye be open, it will see the
finger and the object from the side, and will therefore discover a con-
siderable interval between them if they are a foot distant from each
other, but only a very small interval if they are very near; and
thus we are enabled to place our finger with certainty upon the
desired object."
The convergence of the optic axes which takes place when we regard
objects within a short distance of us, is supposed by many to assist us
in our judgment of the magnitude of bodies, and if this is admitted,
it is another proof of the variety and extent of information con-
veyed to the mind by the possession of two eyes, which a single eye
could only have afforded with the aid of the movements of the
head and of the sense of touch. The confusion of vision and the
indetermination of judgment which follow the loss of an eye, often
continue for many months, and strikingly illustrate the truth of the
foregoing remarks. Our estimation of the distance and size of remote
objects is purely a matter of experience; an object appears distant in
proportion to its indistinctness of colour and outline, to the number
of intermediate bodies seen between it and the observer, and to its
appearing relatively smaller than these. We judge of the magnitude
of objects by a calculation founded on their apparent size and pro-
bable distance: hence we are liable to continual mistakes on these
points. An Englishman in the clear atmosphere of Italy supposes
distant objects to be nearer to him than they are. A mountain which
we see at a distance for the first time appears generally much less than
it really is, and we think it near us when it is very far away. From
these remarks it is evident that the mind is constantly co-operating in
the acts of vision, so that it becomes difficult to say what belongs to
mere sensation, and what to the influence of the mind: that the latter
must take an active part in the conceptions of vision, is evident from
the great difference in the extent of the actual and the mental field of
vision. The one is dependent on the extent of the retina; the other
has no determinate limits: in one, all objects are of equal magnitude
that are seen under the same angle, and therefore produce an image of
the same size upon the retina; in the other, the images of these objects
though viewed under the same angle, are of various sizes and placed at
very different distances.
It is scarcely necessary to say much in reference to the movement of
bodies we judge of their motion partly from the movement of their
images over the surface of the retina, and partly from the movement
of our eyes following them. If the image upon the retina moves
while our eyes and body are at rest, we conclude that the object is
changing its relative position with regard to ourselves. In such a case
In such a case
the movement of the object may be apparent only, as when we are
fixed upon a body which is in motion, such as a ship. On the other
hand, the image may remain fixed on the same spot of the retina, while
our eyes follow the moving body; we then judge of its motion by the
sensations in the muscles which move the eyes. If the image moves
only in correspondence with the actions of the muscles, as in reading,
we infer that the object is stationary. The sensations of rotatory
The
movements of objects, produced by turning the body on its axis, are
quite independent of any impressions on the retina, and their con-
sideration is therefore foreign to the subject we are treating of.
apparent movement of objects after looking at those really moving,
may arise from the successive disappearance of spectra left by the
moving bodies. From the fact that artificial excitement of the retina,
either by pressure, electricity, or any other cause, gives rise to the
perception of colour as well as light, we infer that the retina is the seat
of these sensations. The colour of luminous bodies depends upon the
quality of the light they emit; the colour of bodies that are not
luminous is due to the light which falls upon them, and is reflected by
them towards our eyes. When a body absorbs all the rays of light
which fall upon it, its colour is black; when it reflects them all, it is
white; and when it absorbs some and reflects others, it is coloured.
[ABSORPTION.] The question has often been raised, why is it that
we see objects erect, while their images on the retina are inverted?
According to most physiologists, it is by virtue of a certain property
of the retina by which each point of an object is seen in the direction
of a line perpendicular to its surface; now since this surface is concave,
the rays proceeding from an object which fall on the lower part of its
concavity will incline upwards, while those which impinge on its upper
part will incline downwards; and thus the object presented to the
mind will be the reverse of that which is depicted on the retina. Many
physiologists reject this theory, on the ground that it involves an im-
possibility, since each point of the image is not formed by rays having
one determinate direction, but by an entire cone of rays; they affirm
moreover that vision can consist only in the perception of the state of
the retina itself, and not of anything lying in front of it in the external
world. They argue further, that no explanation of erect vision is
required, as long as all things equally, and not some objects only,
appeared to the eye inverted; for nothing can be inverted where
nothing is erect, each idea existing only in antithesis to the other. A
question not less agitated than the one we have just discussed, is that
of single vision with both eyes. We shall not inquire into the merits
of the various theories that have been invented in order to account for
this phenomenon; but shall merely advert to the principal conditions
which are essential to single vision, in order that we may explain under
what circumstances double vision results.
If two fingers are held up before the eyes, one in front of the other,
and vision is directed to the more distant, the nearer will appear double,
while if the nearer one is regarded more particularly, so as to appear
single, the more distant will be seen double, and one of the double
images in each case will be found to belong to one eye, and the other
to the other eye. This phenomenon has given rise to the hypothesis
that there are certain corresponding or identical points on the two
retinæ, and that when these are affected simultaneously, single vision
results; while if the image of an object falls on parts which are not
identical, it is seen double. A knowledge of these facts is obtained in
the following manner :-If in a dark room with our eyes closed we
make pressure with the finger upon any part of the ball of the eye, so
as to affect the retina, a luminous circle will be seen in the field of
vision at the opposite side to that on which the pressure is made. If
we press on both eyes simultaneously, one luminous ring is seen when
"identical" parts are pressed on, and two rings when "non-identical "
parts receive the pressure. By this means it has been ascertained that
the upper and lower portions of the two retina are identical with each
other, and that the outer lateral portion of one eye is identical with
A
a!
B
b'
the inner portion of the other, and so of the intermediate parts. Now
whenever the axes of our eyes converge to an object, its image falls on
corresponding portions of the two retina, and is seen single; when we
regard it without making our optic axes meet in it, as in the experiment
of holding up two fingers, non-identical parts of the retina are attected,
and it is seen double. To illustrate this, let a be a point towards
which the axes of the eyes are directed, and b an object more distant
from the eyes. An image of a will fall upon identical points of the
two retina, namely, upon the central points 5, 5; a will consequently
be seen single. The image of b will fall in the left eye at 6, and in the
right eye at 4. The points 4 and 6 of the two eyes being non-identical
(since the identical parts are marked with corresponding figures), 6 will
be seen double; and the distance between the two images of b, in pro-
portion to the extent of the whole field of vision, will be the same as
that between 4 and 6, in comparison with the distance between 1 and
10 in each retina. The centre of the retina furnishes the most distinct
vision, therefore double images, which generally fall on the lateral
parts, are indistinct. The position of double images depends upon
point at which the axes of the eyes decussate; if in front of the object,
the left hand image belongs to the left eye, and the right hand image
to the right eye; while if the axes converge to a point beyond it, the
converse of this is observed. That objects will not in general be seen
single, unless their images fall on corresponding portions of the two
retine, is further confirmed by the phenomena which are observed in
strabismus, and by the experiment of displacing the axis of one eye by
the
559
SIGHT.
pressing on it with the finger; but that exactly identical points of the
retinæ must be affected by similar points of the two images, is suffi-
3
6
b
α
в
10
9
1
2
3
10
9
6
5
8
ciently refuted by Mr. Wheatstone's discovery of different perspective
projections being presented to each eye. Mr. Wheatstone has also
shown that under some circumstances similar pictures falling on cor-
responding points of the retina may appear double and in different
places. If to one eye we present in the stereoscope a vertical line B, to
the other eye a line inclined some degrees from the perpendicular, we
A
B
shall see a line the extremities of which appear at different distances
before the eyes. If now we draw a faint vertical line, intersecting the
inclined line at its centre, as at A, and present the two drawings to the
eyes as before; the two strong lines will still coincide, and the resultant
perspective line will occupy the same place, while the faint line,
though it occupies the same part of the retina as the vertical line B,
appears in a different place, namely, at the intersection of the planes of
visual direction of the two eyes. In quadrupeds the relation between
the identical and non-identical parts of the retinæ cannot be the same
as in man, for the axes of their eyes generally diverge and cannot be
made to meet in one point of an object. Müller therefore supposes
that there are parts of their retina which are identical, and parts which
are not identical, which have no corresponding parts in the other eye,
and the relation of the two retina to each other in the field of vision
may be represented as below. Although the theory of corresponding
Ы
b
a
points is the most perfect that has yet been offered in explanation of
the phenomena of single and double vision, yet the facts which have
been advanced against it by Mr. Wheatstone are sufficient to show that
it cannot be adopted without some limitation. Were it even not liable
to these objections, it would still only express the conditions required
for single and double vision, and would leave unexplained the cause of
two impressions giving rise to one sensation.
There are several curious phenomena connected with the subject we
are treating of, some of which we will briefly allude to. If a piece of
white paper is viewed through two different coloured glasses, held one to
each eye (for instance, through a blue and a yellow glass), the paper is
not seen of a green colour, or rather of the whitish colour which would
result from the strict mixture of the two colours, but in part blue and
in part yellow. Sometimes one colour predominates, sometimes the
other; and if the experiment is long continued, the mingling of the
colours, to which there was at first no tendency, becomes more evident.
Similar phenomena are observed when two dissimilar pictures are
viewed in the stereoscope, and it does not appear to be in the power
of the will to determine the appearance of either picture or either
colour. These facts seem to show that the two eyes are not always
SIGHT, DEFECTS OF.
500
in action together; but that at one time the sensations of one eye pre-
dominate, and at another those of the other. If the eyes are closed
after being fixed for some time on an object, we still continue to see
its image, and the duration of this image, or "spectrum," as it is called,
is in a direct ratio with the impression which caused it.
Spectra left by the images of white or luminous objects are ordi-
narily white or luminous, and those left by dark objects dark; but if,
instead of closing the eyes, they are directed upon some white surface,
as a sheet of paper, the colours of the spectra are reversed, those which
were white when the eyes were closed becoming black when directed to
the white surface, and vice versa. These phenomena are easily ex-
plained. The part of the retina which has received the luminous image
remains for some time afterwards in an excited state, while that which
has received a dark image is in an unexcited and therefore much
more excitable condition. When the eye in this condition is directed
towards a white surface, the luminous rays from this surface produce
upon the excited parts of the retina a much more feeble impression
than upon the unexcited, and the latter consequently appear more
illuminated. Spectra are sometimes coloured, although the objects
which excited them are colourless; such is the case if the impressions
on the retina are very intense, as when produced by the sun's image.
But the most curious phenomena relative to ocular spectra arise from
the impression of coloured objects on the retina; the spectra con-
sequent on these, although coloured, are not of the same colour as the
object, but the opposite or complementary colour. Thus the spectrum
of a red object is green, that of a green object red, that of a violet
yellow, &c. There are two modes of explaining these phenomena, the
"The
least objectionable of which is the following, offered by Müller:
perception of any one of the three simple colours consists merely in the
in a state of excitement; if this condition be artificially excited in an
retina being in one of those conditions to which it has a tendency when
intense degree, the retina acquires an extreme tendency to that of the
complementary colour, which consequently is perceived as the ocular
spectrum."
The disappearance of images which fall on the retina at the entrance
of the optic nerve, the luminous circles seen on making pressure with
the finger on the globe of the eye, and the vascular network which,
under certain circumstances, we perceive in our own retina, have
already been alluded to and their causes explained in the article
EYE, in NAT. HIST. DIV.
SIGHT, DEFECTS OF. Under this head will be comprehended
short-sight, long-sight, double vision, and the defective perception of
colours, or colour blindness.
Myopia, or Near-sightedness (from μúw, "I shut," and wy," the eye,"
a short-sighted person being in the habit of winking, or half shutting
his eyelids when he endeavours to see objects distinctly).
When the images of surrounding objects are brought to a focus in
the eye before they reach the retina, such an eye is myopic; when, on
the contrary, their foci would fall behind the retina, it is presbyopic.
Individuals thus affected see all objects indistinctly that are viewed at
the ordinary distance of distinct vision; therefore, to remedy this
defect, they bring them within such a distance of the eye as will ensure
their images being brought to an exact focus upon the retina. The
point of distinct vision (that is, the distance from the eye at which
objects are perceived most clearly) of a perfect eye averages from 15
to 20 inches: an eye which cannot discern objects distinctly beyond
10 inches may be considered myopic; but persons affected with a high
degree of myopia have their point of distinct vision as near as two or
three inches, or even one inch, to the eye. To short-sighted persons
all objects appear magnified; they prefer to read a small type, and see
better through a pin-hole in a card than with the naked eye: on the
same principle, when they endeavour to see any distant object dis-
tinctly, they almost close their eyelids. The explanation of these
phenomena is to be sought for in the condition of the eyes themselves;
they are generally firmer than usual, their corneæ are preternaturally
convex, and their pupils large; hence by diminishing the aperture
through which the light is admitted, all but the more direct rays are
excluded, and the images on the retina will be more defined.
The cause of myopia is an over-refractive condition of the eye; either
the cornea or the crystalline lens is too convex, or the humours of the
eye generally are too dense or too abundant.
Treatment.-Although it is said that short-sightedness rarely comes
on before puberty, our own observations lead us to believe that it is
more frequently a congenital defect than is generally imagined. If,
however, an incipient case were brought under the notice of the prac-
titioner which could be shown to have followed too great an exercise
of the eyes upon minute objects, the cure would probably be found in
abstaining entirely for a time from such occupations, refraining also
from the use of convex glasses, and employing the eyes chiefly upon
But this defect is one that is so little
large and distant objects.
thought of, and is so easily remedied by the use of glasses, that a
medical man is seldom called upon to attempt its cure: the only
plausible means that have been recommended with this view are,
practising the eyes in reading at gradually increasing distances, and a
renunciation of such pursuits as require the concentration of vision
upon near objects. The manner in which concave glasses improve the
vision of near-sighted persons, is by causing a divergence of the rays of
light before they enter the eye, thus counteracting the over-refractive


561
562
SIGHT, DEFECTS OF.
SIGN.
condition of that organ. The glasses that are most commonly used
are double concaves, of equal concavity on each side; they are num-
bered 1, 2, 3, 4, &c., beginning with the longest focus or shallowest
concavity. Unfortunately there is no uniform standard adopted in the
manufacture of these glasses, so that what one optician calls No. 1,
another rates as No. 2, and so on; it is therefore advisable that those
who wish to fit themselves with spectacles should try a series of them
at an optician's shop, and they should be content with the lowest
number with which they can see objects clearly across the street; if
it diminishes them much, or gives them a dazzling appearance, or if
the eyes feel strained after looking through them for a short time,
they are too concave. Spectacles are always preferable to a single eye-
glass; and when the individual has met with a pair which suit him,
they should not be heedlessly changed for any of deeper concavity. It
is also advisable not to wear them constantly, but only on occasions
when their assistance is absolutely required.
Presbyopia, or Far-sightedness (from πpéσßus, "old," and y," eye;"
this being a state of vision to which old age is almost invariably
subject.).
Long-sightedness, as the name sufficiently indicates, is an affection
the reverse of the one just described, and depends upon opposite
causes. Either the refractive powers of the eye are too feeble, or its
axis is shorter than is natural; the result is an imperfectly formed
image on the retina. from the rays of light not converging sufficiently
soon to be brought to a focus. Hence the far-sighted person removes
the object he is exami: ing farther from him, or he makes use of
glasses whose effect is to increase the refraction of the rays of light
before they enter his eye. Far-sightedness is sometimes met with in
the young; but it is rare that an individual lives to be old without be- |
coming presbyopic: indeed the sinking of the eyeballs, the flattening
of the corneæ, and the smallness of the pupils, all which contribute to
this effect, are among the series of changes which every part of our
body undergoes as we advance in age. The time of life at which pres-
byopia first shows itself is generally about forty-five; but there are
great differences in this respect, some persons requiring the use of
convex glasses at thirty as much as others at fifty. Among the earliest
symptoms observed, are a difficulty of reading small print, in nibbing
a pen, or in examining small objects; the letters of a book appear
misty, and run one into another; and if the effort is long continued,
the eyes become fatigued and the head aches. Notwithstanding this
difficulty of distinguishing near objects, distant ones continue to be
seen as clearly as before.
Presbyopia, after it has once appeared, generally goes on increasing,
so that an individual thus affected requires to change his glasses from
time to time for those of a higher power: instances, however, are
recorded of old persons long accustomed to the use of convex glasses
recovering their former sight at the age of 80 or 90 years.
Treatment.-The same principles that we have laid down for the
treatment of myopia, and for the use of concave glasses, are applicable,
regard being had to the opposite condition of the eye, to the present
affection. Convex glasses should not be had recourse to too soon, nor
should too high a power be used, but the lowest that answers the
purpose is to be chosen. When presbyopia occurs suddenly, and in an
individual much below the age at which it ordinarily occurs, there is
some mischief to be suspected either in the eye or in the brain, which
will require an antiphlogistic treatment and a total suspension of the
use of the eyes in regarding near or small objects.
Double Vision, Visus duplicatus, or Diplopia, may arise either from
a want of correspondence in the movements or position of the two
eyes, the vision of each eye singly being perfect; or there may be
double vision with one eye only, while the harmony in the movements
of the two is not disturbed. The most common example of the first
The most common example of the first
form of the affection is afforded by cases of squinting; but as this
defect is treated of in a separate article, we merely allude to it in this
place. More serious and less common is the loss of harmony in the
movements of the eyes which results from paralysis of one or more of
the orbital muscles. If one muscle only is affected, the eye will move
in harmony with its fellow in every direction but the one towards
which its paralysed muscle should draw it, consequently in this direc-
tion objects will be seen double; but if several are affected, as is not
unfrequently the case, then the movements of the eye will be still more
restricted, and there will be single vision only when the axis of the
sound eye is parallel with that of the paralysed one. These affections
appear sometimes to arise from cold; at other times they are depen-
dent upon disease about the base of the brain, as some tumour pressing
on the motor oculi nerve, or there may be an inflammatory condition
of the brain and its membranes. or a sanguineous or serous effusion
Whichever of these
involving the origin of the third pair of nerves.
may be the cause, our treatment must be directed to remove it, while
the state of the eye will be an index of the success or failure of the
remedies we make use of.
Double vision with a single eye is a more rare affection than the one
just described, and depends upon some irregular refraction of the
cornea or lens.
M. Prévost, who published an account of his own case in the 'An-
nales de Chimie et de Physique,' 1832, thought it might arise from a
fracture, bruise, or partial flattening of the lens, or separation of its
laminæ. Professor Airy and Mr. Babbage are troubled with this
ARTS AND SCI, DIV. VOL. VII.
defect, the latter gentleman with both eyes, but he is able to remedy
it by looking through a small hole in a card, or through a concave lens.
Professor Airy finds that his eye refracts the rays to a nearer focus in
the vertical than in the horizontal plane. and he has ingeniously con-
trived to remedy it by the use of a double concave lens, one surface of
which is spherical and the other cylindrical. The spherical surface is
to correct the general defect of a too convex cornea; the cylindrical
is to converge or diverge those rays at right angles to the axis, while
the parallelism of those which impinge upon it in the plane of its axis
is unaffected. Thus the focus of the spherical surface will remain
unaltered in one plane, but in the other it will be changed to that of a
lens formed by it and a spherical surface of equal curvature with the
cylinder. With the aid of a glass of this description Professor Airy
could read the smallest print at a considerable distance equally well
He found that vision was
with the defective as with the sound eye.
most distinct when the glass was pretty close to the eye and the
"With these precautions," he
cylindrical surface turned from it.
observes, "I find that the eye which I once feared would become
quite useless, can be used in almost every respect as well as the
other."
Colour Blindness; Dichromism; Chromatopseudopsis; Defect of the
Sense of Colour; Daltonism.-There are some persons who, although
they can see the size and form of objects perfectly well, have neverthe-
less a deficient power of distinguishing colour. Many distinguished
individuals have been subject to this: such as Dugald Stewart, M.
The subject
Sismondi, and John Dalton, the celebrated chemist.
first excited general attention by the latter distinguished individual
having reported his own case, and the deficiency was hence called
Daltonism. This subject was investigated by the late Dr. George
Wilson, of Edinburgh, who has written a work on 'Colour Blindness'
(1855), which contains by far the fullest account of this defect which
exists. Dr. Wilson divides the colour-blind into three classes. 1,
Inability to discern any colour properly so-called, so that black and
white, that is, light and shade, are the only variations of tint perceived.
2. Inability to discriminate between the nicer shades of the more com-
posite colours, such as browns, grays, and neutral tints. 3. Inability
to distinguish between the primary colours-red, blue, and yellow; or
between those and the secondary colours, such as green, purple, orange,
In all these cases it
brown. The last variety is the most common.
would appear that the primary defect is the inability to distinguish the
red colour, and the influence it exerts on the other colours of the
spectrum. Dr. Wilson has narrated a large number of cases, and shown
that this derangement of vision is much more common than has
hitherto been supposed. He calculates from his own observations that
at least one person in fifty is thus affected. Dr. Wilson has shown
that it becomes very important to know where this defect exists, as it
incapacitates people for occupations where the appreciation of colour is
important. He has specially shown that, in cases of engine-drivers
on railways and sailors at sea, who are warned of danger by coloured
signals, this condition may lead to serious disasters.
The cause of this phenomenon has occasioned much discussion.
Dalton attributed it to the condition of the humours of the eye;
but a careful examination of his eyes after death, by Mr. Ransome,
revealed nothing to account for the defect. It has been supposed by
others that the defect is connected with the organisation of the brain.
Recently Professor Clark Maxwell, of Cambridge, who has written a
On the Compound Theory of Colours,' in the 'Philosophical
paper
Transactions' for 1860, explaining his views, has proposed another
theory, which has been generally accepted. He has shown that the
three primitive colours are not, as usually regarded, red, yellow, and
blue, but red, green, and blue, as pointed out by Young. He has also
adopted Young's theory that there is a distinct retinal structure for
the perception of each colour, and shown how the remarkable defect
of appreciation of the red rays occurs in the colour-blind. Professor
Maxwell has also suggested the only means of alleviating this defect
which has hitherto been recommended, and that is the wearing of
spectacles composed of red and green glass simultaneously. A spectacle
frame of the usual kind is constructed with one glass red, the other
green, so that the right eye, for example, of the wearer of the spectacles
looks always through red and the left always through green. Through
the red glass red objects appear brighter than green ones, through the
green glass green objects appear brighter than red ones, so that a colour-
blind person puzzled between red and green has only to determine
whether the doubtful colour appears brighter to the right or the left
eye, and to set it down as the colour of the glass which brightens it.
(See Maxwell' On Colour as perceived by the Eye, with remarks on
Colour-Blindness,' ' Trans. Roy. Soc. Edin.,' 1854-5, vol. xxi. part ii.)
SIGN (Astronomy), a constellation; but in modern times a con-
stellation of the ZODIAC only. For the distinction of the sidereal and
astronomical zodiac, see PRECESSION.
SIGN (Mathematics). Every symbol is a sign of something or other,
the original meaning of the word applying to any mark of distinction
or designation. The general consideration of the subject of signs
comes under the word SYMBOL; for this term, sign, is exclusively
applied in mathematical analysis to the signs of addition and sub-
traction (+ and −). A positive quantity, as +3, is said to have the
positive sign; a negative quantity, as 3, the negative sign.
The theory of these signs is the peculiar feature of ALGEBRA, 23
563
SIGN.
distinguished from arithmetic; and it is difficult to place it on any
satisfactory basis except that of distinct definitions not wholly derived
from arithmetic. On this point, however, it is not our present purpose
to enter further; the object of this article being the application of the
signs, and in particular those details of interpretation which are neces-
sary in the application of ordinary algebra to geometry. By ordinary
algebra we mean that system in which the positive and negative
quantities are fully capable of interpretation, but in which 1 is
considered as incapable of interpretation.
The relative meaning of + and - is direct opposition of properties;
and it is only where direct opposition is possible that complete inter-
pretation can exist. The symbol +7 means not only 7 units of its
kind, but 7 units directed to be considered in a specific one of two (the
only possible) lights, or used in a specific one of two (the only possible)
manners; the first generally implying the second. Thus let 7 inches
be measured from a given point; the superposition of + or – tells
nothing, for the measurement may be made in an infinite number of
different directions. Choose one of these directions, or rather one line
of direction, and the indeterminate character of the proposal (to
measure seven inches from the given point) is almost gone: there are
but two directions in which to do it; if one of them (no matter which)
be signified by +7, the other (no matter which, except with reference
to the first) must be denoted by -7.
SIGN.
561
tive, then the angle made by B with A (BˆA) is negative, and vice
versa

V
K
Y
L
P
K
W
+
X
Z
א
5. The positive direction of revolution is that in which a line moves
from the positive part of the axis of x to the positive part of the axis
of y (as marked by the arrows).
6. The sign of any line drawn through P is thus determined. If op
be positive, that direction is positive in which the point P must move
so as to revolve positively; thus, o P being positive, P K is positive and
PL negative. But if op be negative, the reverse is the case; but the
rules need only be remembered which suppose op positive.
7. When an angle amounts to more than four right angles, the four
right angles may be thrown away; and generally, four right angles,
or any multiple of them, may be added to or subtracted from any
angle.
8. In measuring the angles made by two lines passing through P (OP
being positive), the positive directions on those lines (found as in 6)
must be used and by A*B, the angular departure of a from B, is
understood the amount of positive revolution which will bring B into
the position a.
:
9. Hence it follows that A*B is either equal to A^X-B^X, or differs
from it by four right angles, x standing for the axis of x.
A problem may present different sets of oppositions of very different
kinds. Thus we might have a problem in which there are concerned
together-1, time before or time after a certain epoch; 2, height above
or height below a certain level; 3, the debtor or creditor side of certain
books. To give a more precise idea (it is hardly worth while to frame
a specific problem), a man might engage to build a wall on different
terms as to the foundation and what is above the ground; for which
he might have to borrow money and pay interest up to a certain time,
when by receiving the whole amount due to him he might repay and
invest besides; and the whole transaction might have to be properly
entered in his books. The young student might suppose that if + 1
and - 1 represent a foot of the wall above and a foot below the ground,
it will not necessarily follow that ÷ 1 and — 1 (undistinguishable from
the former) will do to represent one pound of interest due to and from
10. Hence also it follows that in every closed figure, whether such
the contractor; and still less that the same + 1 and — 1 will also do
as those admitted by Euclid or not, some of the angles are negative, if
to direct 17. to be carried to the debtor or creditor side of his books. every angle Aˆв be interpreted as A^X-BˆX. And in every such
But what he will learn from a properly established algebra (and until measurement, the sum of all the angles, with their proper signs, is
he has learnt it, he is not in possession of any part of the difference equal to nothing. But, measured as in (8), the sum of all the angles
between algebra and arithmetic) is this-that he would gain absolutely is nothing, or a multiple of four right angles positive or negative.
nothing by inventing such distinctive symbols as would remove his This ambiguity is wholly indifferent in trigonometrical operations.
doubt of their applicability. Let (+)1 and (-)1 represent feet of To prove the last, let us consider a four-sided figure, of which the
wall, [+]1 and [-]1 pounds sterling of interest, {+1 and {-} 1 sides are A, B, C, D.
} {—
The angles of the 'figure, taken in order, are ▲ˆB,
pounds sterling carried to one side or the other of the books; while BC, CD, DA, which, measured as in 9, are A^X-B^X, BX CX, ^C^X-
+ 1 and 1 represent simple addition or subtraction. Let the problem
Let the problem DX, D'X-AX, the sum of which is obviously nothing. But if any one
be fairly translated into algebraical language, and an equation formed of these angles should differ from the preceding, it can be only by a
in which all the distinctive symbols are seen: algebra teaches that the multiple of four right angles, whence the sum must be a multiple of
four right angles.
rules to be applied to that equation differ in no respect whatever from
those which would have been applicable if all the signs had come from
the same source of meaning. Perhaps it would be better if the student
were not allowed to come so easily by this result as he usually does,
but should be made to learn by his trouble how unnecessary the dis-
tinctions really are, as to operations, and allowed in due time to feel
the relief afforded by dropping them.
When a problem admits of but one opposition (say it simply refers
to time measured future or past from a given epoch), there is no diffi-
culty about the interpretation of any result. If this result be positive,
it must be such time as was called positive when the operation was put
into shape; and the contrary. But in the application to geometry, an
extension of the interpretation of signs enables us to remove some
difficulties in the proper expression of angles, which we proceed to
describe.
In the rectilinear figures considered by Euclid the sum of the
external angles is always equal to four right angles. In these figures
there are no re-entering angles. [SALIENT.] The proposition remains
true when there are re-entering angles, provided that the angles which
then take the place of what were called external angles be counted as
negative. In algebraic geometry it is usual to refer all points and lines
to two straight lines at right angles to one another. [ABSCISSA;
CO-ORDINATES.] The following conventions must now be employed:-
1. Let vx and wy be the axes of co-ordinates, meeting at 0, the
origin. Let ox and oy be positive directions: ov and ow, negative
directions.
o,
2. A line drawn from o to any point P is in itself (for the present)
neither positive nor negative; either sign may be given to OP, but the
contrary one must be given to o Q.
3. The line OP may, keeping its sign, revolve round o; nor, if nega-
tive, is it to be counted positive when it comes into momentary coin-
cidence with ox; nor, if positive, is it to be counted negative when in
coincidence with o v. And generally, a straight line revolving round
any point does not take the signs of lines which receive signs on
account of the fixed directions in which they are drawn.
4. The angle made by two lines A and B is to have a distinction of
sign drawn, according as it is called the angle made by a with B, or
the angle made by B with A (the angles made by a from B, and by B
from A, would be better). If the angle of a with B (say A^B) be posi-
estimating them first by each side with reference to the next, and then
We shall now take as an example, the three angles of a triangle,
by comparing each of the sides with the axis of x.
marked A, B, C; the angles of Euclid, without reference to sign, are
B
O
C
A
X
The sides are

a, B, y: and the positive and negative directions are marked. Four
right angles are denoted as usual by 27. Required AˆB+B^C+0ˆA.
right angles are denoted as usual by 2.
of B turns round into that of A is y+. Similarly for Bo, we have
In A'B, the amount of positive revolution by which the positive part
a+π, and for o^a, ß+~. The sum of these, a+B+y being π, is 4π, a
multiple of 2. Now let the angle Ax be 0. Then B'x will be seen
to be an angle in this figure greater than two right angles, and will be
found to be π+0-y, while c^x is greater than three right angles, and
is 2π-α+0-y. Hence we have
A^B=0~(π+0—7)=y—π
B^α=π+0——(2π—a +0 − y) = α-π
¤ˆA=(2π−a+0—z)—0 =B+π.
Only the third angle gives precisely the same in both; in the other
two, the second determination gives in each case four right angles less
than the first. The sum of the three angles is now 0.
The use of this system lies in enabling us to give in a general form
565
566
SIGN-MANUAL.
SILHOUETTE.
propositions which would otherwise require a large examination of
particular cases. This examination is not usually made in elementary
works; but instead of it, the true result, derived from the superior
knowledge of the writer, is made to the reader the consequence of a
particular case. In the consideration of curves, for instance, there are
to be considered, perhaps at the same time, the co-ordinates, the radius
vector, the tangent, the perpendicular on it, and the radius of curva-
ture. The varieties of figure which arise out of these lines are very
numerous, and nothing but generalised suppositions, competent to
assign definite angles in all cases, can legitimately bring out general
propositions. For instances, see TANGENT, SPIRAL; and for further
development, see Library of Useful Knowledge,' Differential Calcu-
lus, pp. 341-345.
SIGN-MANUAL means, in its widest sense, the signature or mark
made by a person upon any legal instrument to show his concurrence
in it. Before the art of writing was so universally practised as it now
is, the sign-manual or signature was usually a cross, attested either by
the seal of the party containing his armorial bearings, or by the
signature of another person declaring to whom the mark belonged.
The latter indeed is still the practice with persons who cannot write.
Sign-manual now however is used to denote the signature of a
reigning prince. It is usually in this country the prince's name, or its
initial letter, with the initial of his style or title in Latin. Thus the
sign-manual of George IV., when prince regent, was George P. R., or
G. P. R.; that of the present queen is Victoria R., or. V. R.
The royal sign-manual is usually placed at the top left-hand corner
of the instrument, together with the privy seal; and it is requisite in
all cases where the privy seal and afterwards the great seal are used.
The sign-manual must be countersigned by a principal secretary of
state, or by the lords of the treasury, when attached to a grant or
warrant, it being then the principal act, and it must also be accompanied
by the signet or privy seal. But where the sign-manual only directs
that another act shall be done, as for letters-patent to be made, it must
be countersigned by some person, though not necessarily by these great
officers of state. The authenticity of the sign-manual is admitted in
courts of law upon production of the instrument to which it is attached.
(Comyn's Digest.')
SIGNATURE, in Music, is the term by which the clefs and sharps
or flats placed at the beginning of each staff are, collectively, known,
and by which the key is partly shown. See KEY, where the Signature
in every key is given.
SIGNATURE, in Printing, is the name given to the letters or
figures which are placed at the bottom of certain pages in each sheet of
a book, to facilitate the gathering, folding, collating, and binding of it.
The French printers generally use figures, but English printers for the
most part use small capital letters. The bookbinders' alphabet, as it is
called, contains only 23 letters (j, v, and w being omitted); and as the
title-sheet, which contains the dedication, preface, &c., is generally
printed last, the signatures of the work itself commence with B,
leaving a for the title-sheet. If there be other introductory matter
besides the title-sheet, small letters, as a, b, &c., are used till the work
itself is reached. If the work contain more than 23 sheets, the second
set of signatures are AA, BB, or more commonly 2A, 2B, &c.; and the
third set 3 A, 3 B, and so on. If the work is in folio it requires only
one signature; if in 4to or 8vo, it requires two, as, for instance, B on
the first page and B 2 on the third; if in 12mo, it requires three, as B
on the first page, B 2 on the third page, and B 3 on the ninth page; and
so on for printed works of other forms.
SIGNET, SEAL. The law recognises three royal seals:-1, The great
seal, which is in the custody of the lord chancellor : this is appended
to all letters-patent, and contains two impressions, the one being usually
the sovereign on horseback, the other the sovereign seated, supported
by emblematical figures, and with the coat of arins somewhere in the
field. The great seal is essential to all royal grants of inheritances or
chattels real, to grants of an office in fee, and to all writs at common
law. Where the king's seal is mentioned, it is understood to be the
great seal. 2, The privy seal, which is in the custody of the lord
keeper of the privy seal. This seal is valid for the issuing of the royal
treasure, or for disposing of chattels, or the contracting or discharging |
of a debt. It is used as a warrant for letters-patent before they pass
the great seal. The privy seal consists of the arms of the sovereign.
3, The signet, or privy signet, which is in the custody of the principal
secretaries of state. Except that it authenticates the sign manual, this
seal seems to have no validity, although it is alleged to be sufficient to
give validity to the writ ne exeat regno, whereby a subject is prohibited
from going out of the realm. For the use of all the seals the counter-
signature of a principal secretary of state is required by statute.
[SEAL.]
SILE'NUS (Zeiλnyós), a Greek deity. The traditions of his birth
are various he is said to be the son of Pan and of a nymph; of Gæa;
and to have sprung from the blood of Uranus. He was the instructor
and constant associate of Dionysos; was a lawgiver and prophet, some-
times confounded with Dionysos himself; of the family of Satyrs,
whom he resembled very much in appearance and habits. He is repre-
sented as an old unwieldy man, bald, with a beard, and depressed nose,
sometimes with a tail; at times holding the infant Bacchus in his arms;
sitting astride a wine-skin, or carrying one on his shoulders. He has a
conspicuous place in the Dionysian processions, and occurs in various
combination with fauns and nymphs; sometimes he rides on an ass
reeling and supported by a satyr; and sometimes he is carried by youth-
ful satyrs. Though endowed with supernatural wisdom, he is of a
jovial disposition; his whole character is a mixture of jest and earnest;
he is harmless, sportive, fond of children; addicted to wine; is said to
have conducted Dionysos from Thrace to Phrygia; and to have been
ensnared by Midas in a garden, and compelled to exert his marvellous
power of speech. His discourse, always ironical, was of the second
world, of the land of Meropis, and of its strange men, beasts, and
plants, of the origin of things and birth of the gods, and he showed
the miserable condition of this present life. The ass by which he is
accompanied has given rise to many conjectures; the Dionysian myths
and those of Apollo speak of this animal as sacred to both deities. It
may therefore be considered as the link uniting the two worships; and
we find accordingly Apollo called the son of Silenus. (Porphyry, 'Vit.
Pythag.,' p. 10, ed. Rome, 1630.) Attempts have been made by Bochart
and others to connect Silenus with the name Shiloh in Scripture, and
his ass with that of Balaam. Other imaginary resemblances are noticed
by Creuzer (Symbolik '), founded on the theory that the ass is the
symbol of prophecy in the East.
C
The distinction between Sileni and Satyrs appears to be that the
Sileni are the older of the two. The terms were certainly not co-
extensive; that of Satyr may be considered as the genus; but they are
represented much in the same manner. See, for representations of
Silenus, Creuzer's 'Symbolik,' Grüber's Wörterbuch der Mythologie,'
and Müller's 'Denkmäler der Alten Kunst' (Nos. 494-522); Millin's
'Galérie Mythologique,' and the various works on gems, sculpture,
vases, and other monuments of classical antiquity.
SILEX. [SILICON.]
SILHOUETTE, a name applied to the black profile portraits, com-
monly known simply as profiles or shades. The latter name indicates
the origin of this simple class of pictorial representations, they having
been probably suggested by the shadow thrown upon a wall. The
name silhouette has been said to be derived from Etienne de Silhouette,
French minister of finance in 1759. It appears that several parsi-
monious fashions introduced during his administration, in order, by
severe economy, to remedy the evils of a war that had just terminated,
were called, after this minister, à la Silhouette, and that the name has
continued to be applied to one of them-the use of profiles in shade.
Silhouettes are executed in various ways. One of the simplest is
that of tracing the outlines of a shadow thrown on a sheet of paper, and
then reducing them to the required size, either by the eye or by means
of a pantograph. [PANTOGRAPH.] The camera-obscura and camera-
lucida are also occasionally used for the purpose. A more certain
mode of obtaining an accurate outline is by the use of the machine
invented for the purpose by Mr. Schmalcalder, and patented by him
in 1806. The principle of this machine is very simple, and may be
readily understood by the aid of the annexed diagram.
a b is
an inflexible rod, usually about nine or ten feet long, supported by a
ball-and-socket joint at c, in such a manner as to leave the ends free to

FRAQUA
move in any direction. At the end a, a tracer, which is tapered off to
a fine point, is attached to the rod, so as to form a continuation of it;
while at the opposite end, b, a steel point is similarly fixed. The per-
son whose profile is required is seated, in the position indicated in the |
cut, in a chair having a rest for the back of the head, in order that he
may sit perfectly still, while the operator gently passes the side of the
tracer, a, over his features. By the intervention of the universal joint
(or of a double-swivel joint) at c, a perfectly similar motion is commu-
nicated to the steel point at b, although, owing to the pivot being
placed nearer to it than to the other end of the rod, it moves in a path
smaller than that of the tracer a. The pivot c being stationary, the
steel point at b moves in the arc of a circle of which it (the pivot) is
the centre, as indicated by the dotted line in the diagram; and there-
fore, in order to keep the paper always in contact with it, it is fixed on
a swinging board, pivoted at d, and constantly pressed against the steel
point by means of a weight or spring, with a sufficient degree of force
B&
1
1
E67
SILICA.
to make it act efficiently. The steel point does not come into imme-
diate contact with the white paper, but with a piece of blacked paper
placed over it, the pressure of the point transferring a sufficient quan-
tity of the colour to form a distinct line. This part of the operation
resembles that of a manifold writer; and, as in that instrument, several
copies may be produced simultaneously, by using a number of pieces
of white and blacked paper, laid alternately upon the swinging board.
The size of the reduced outline drawn on the paper may be regulated
by varying the relative proportions of ac and cb; this and several other
adjustinents being effected by apparatus which it is unnecessary here
to detail. By means of a cord, eee, held in the hand of the operator,
the swinging board d may be drawn back from the steel point when it
is required to move the rod without making a mark upon the paper.
Greater accuracy may be attained by substituting for the tracer a thin
wire, tightly stretched in a bow, and adjusted so as to coincide per-
fectly with the axis of the rod. In some cases a kind of knife is
substituted for the steel point at b, and the profile is thus cut out of a
piece of thin black paper placed on the swinging board. Some profilists
display considerable talent in cutting silhouettes by hand, with a pair
of scissors, out of pieces of black paper, without the assistance of an
outline.
SILICA. [SILICON.]
SILICIC ACID. [SILICON.]
SILICIUM. [SILICON.]
SILICOFLUORIC ACID. [SILICON.]
SILICON (Si). Silicium. With the exception of oxygen, silicon is
the most abundant constituent of our earth's crust. Its name is
derived from silex, Latin for " flint," of which the essential component
is silicon. The element silicon has great affinities for other elements,
and hence does not exist, in nature, in the free state. Its common,
and apparently sole, native form of combination is an oxide known as
silex or silica. Rock crystal and white quartz are nearly pure varieties
of silica; while calcedony, agate, opal, flint, and sand are chiefly silica.
The natural compounds of silica with oxides are almost innumerable.
The individuality of siliceous minerals was recognised at a very early
period, but their constitution was not demonstrated till the commence-
ment of the present century.
Silicon itself was first isolated only so lately as 1823. It may be
prepared by reducing an alkaline silico-fluoride with potassium, in a
glass or iron tube, at a high temperature. It may also be obtained by
passing chloride of silicon vapour over potassium heated in a bulbed
glass tube.
Silicon, like CARBON and BORON, exists in three distinct modifica
tions. As above prepared, it is a dull-brown powder; insoluble in.
and heavier than, water; is a non-conductor of electricity, is soluble
in bydrofluoric acid, and in a warm solution of potash; burns readily
and brilliantly when heated in the air; and is moreover amorphous
(Siy). If the amorphous silicon be strongly heated it becomes semi-
crystalline or graphitoidal (Siß); is denser and darker in colour; does
not burn in oxygen is not soluble in hydrofluoric acid; and is a con-
ductor of electricity. Crystalline silicon (Sia) occurs in the form of |
six-sided prisms or pyramids, whenever the process for its prepara-
tion has included the application of the most intense heat of a wind
furnace.
The equivalent of silicon has, in turn, been represented as 7, 14, 21,
and 23; but since the experiments of Marignac, who proved that the
fluo-stannates and fluo-silicates are isomorphous, it has been usual to
consider the number 14 as the true equivalent of silicon.
Silicon and oxygen form two compounds :-
1. Hydrated protoxide of silicon
2. Silicic acid
2HO, 3SiO
SiO 2
1. Hydrated protoxide of silicon (2HO, 3SiO). When dry hydro-
3SiO).—When
chloric acid gas is passed over crystallised silicon, heated to incipient
redness, hydrochlorate of protochloride of silicon (2HCl, 3SiCl) is pro-
duced, and may be condensed to the liquid state in a U-tube cooled by
ice; hydrogen passes off carrying vapour of protochloride with it; the
gas being allowed to bubble through water the chloride is decom-
posed, and a voluminous white precipitate of the oxide under con-
sideration is formed:-
2HCl, 3SiCl -|- 5H0 = 2HO, 3SiO + 5HCI.
Hydrated protoxide of silicon sinks in water but floats on ether;
the caustic alkalies and their carbonates dissolve it with evolution of
hydrogen and formation of silicate; it may be heated to 570° Fahr.,
without undergoing alteration, but at a higher temperature burns; and
in contact with water undergoes oxidation, hydrogen being evolved, at
any temperature above 32° Fahr.
2. Silicic acid (SiO.,), Silex, Silica, Binoxide of silicon.-The physical
and chemical properties of the many different forms of silica that
occur in nature, as well as a list of the minerals in which silica is a
characteristic constituent, have already been treated of in the NATURAL
HISTORY DIVISION of this Cyclopædia, article SILICA.
Silicic acid is largely used in the manufacture of glass, chinaware,
and porcelain. For these purposes it is obtained in a fine state of
division by igniting flints or colourless quartz to redness, and then
plunging in cold water. The compact silica is thus split up into a
SILICON.
563
friable inass, easily reducible to powder by grinding. Perfectly pure
silicic acid may be obtained by igniting hydrated silica.
Hydrates of silicic acid (xHO, SiO).-Finely powdered silica is
soluble in strong alkaline solutions if heated with them under pressure;
from the resulting solutions hydrated silica is precipitated in a very
gelatinous state on neutralising by hydrochloric acid. The alkaline
silicate may also be formed by fusing powdered flint, &c., with the
carbonates of potash or soda; if excess of the latter be used, the
silicate is soluble in water, and the solution furnishes hydrated silicic
acid on the addition of hydrochloric acid. Perfectly pure hydrated
silica is formed in a very beautiful manner on passing gaseous fluoride
of silicon into water, each bubble of gas forming a little balloon of
silica; hydrofluosilicic acid (HF, SiF) is also formed at the same time,
and remains dissolved in the water :
3SiF2 + 4HO =
Fluoride of Water.
silicon.
2HO, SiO, + 2(HF, SiF₂)
Hydrated
silicic acid..
Hydrofluosilicic
acid.
Isomeric conditions of silica.-Professor Rose has recently directed
attention to the two different states in which silica exists. Crystallised
silica--including rock-crystal, quartz, calcedony, flint, sandstone, and
quartzose sand-has a specific gravity, of about 2.9, and is only
attacked with difficulty by potash, or hydrofluoric acid. Amorphous
silica, on the other hand,-including gelatinous silica, the pulverulent
variety that results from the decomposition of certain minerals, or of
fluoride of silicon by water, opals, melted quartz, and silica from the
carapaces of infusoria—is very readily soluble in alkaline solutions, is
rapidly acted upon by hydrofluoric acid, and has a specific gravity
of 2.2.
Silicates, as a general rule, are insoluble in water. Alkaline silicates
are however, soluble in that liquid, and their solutions have lately
been used as a varnish for the stonework of buildings with the view
of preventing decay. When thus exposed to the atmosphere, the
silica, being but a weak acid, is replaced by carbonic acid; the alkaline
carbonate is removed by rain, and silicic acid filling up the pores of
the stone is supposed to prevent ingress of moisture or other disinte-
grating matter. The fact is, however, that the decomposition alluded
to, being but a slow one, a large portion of the silicate is washed away
by the rain, and this process is consequently of but little value. A
modification of the method, known as "Ransome's patent," consists in
supplementing the application of the alkaline silicate by a wash of
chloride of calcium; silicate of lime is hereby at once produced, and
performs the office of a permanent varnish or cement, in a far more
efficient manner than the mere silica before alluded to. Clay, talc,
felspar, serpentine, mica, zeolites, hornblende, and many other minerals,
consist of, or contain, silicates of lime, or magnesia, or alumina, or a
mixture of those silicates. They are either sesquisilicates like meer-
schaum (2MgO, 3SiO, +2HO), or neutral silicates, like Wollastonite
(CaO, SiO2); or dibasic silicates, like olivine (2(Mg, Fe)O, SiO2); or
bisilicates (MO. 2SiO2). [SILICA, in NAT. HIST. DIV.]
Silicon and hydrogen form a hydride of silicon. Berzelius first showed
that the hydrogen which is evolved when crude silicon is washed with
water, contains a hydride of silicon. This gas has not yet been pro-
cured in a pure state, but, according to Wöhler and Buff, it is colourless
and spontaneously inflammable. It occurs in the latter condition when
a solution of a chloride is electrotised by a weak voltaic battery of which
the positive pole is aluminium contaminated with silicon.
Nitride of silicon is a bluish, fibrous-looking body, formed when
silicon is heated in nitrogen gas.
Sulphide of silicon (Si).-Silicon burns in sulphur vapour, gene-
rating bisulphide. The same body may be formed on passing bisulphide
It is a white,
of carbon over a heated mixture of carbon and silica.
earthy-looking powder.
Bromide of silicon may be obtained, but iodide does not seem to
exist.
Silicon and chlorine form two compounds corresponding to the two
oxides.
1. Hydrochlorate of protochloride of silicon (2HCl, 3SiCl).—The
method of preparing this body has already been described in con-
nection with protoxide of silicon. It is a colourless liquid, refracting
light powerfully; emits suffocating fumes on exposure to air; is
inflammable, burning with a pale green flame; and is decomposed at a
red heat.
2. Chloride of silicon (SiCl), or rather, bichloride of silicon.-
Finely powdered silica is made into a dough-like mass with lamp-
black and oil, and heated to redness in a covered crucible; a porcelain
tube filled with fragments of the resulting mass is strongly ignited and
a current of dry chlorine passed through it; the following decom-
position occurs :-
SiO2 + Cl2 + C₂
Silica. Chlorine, Carbon,
ނ
2(CO) SICI
Carbonic Bichloride of
oxide. silicon.
The chloride of silicon vapour must be condensed by the aid of a
freezing mixture, for it is very volatile. It is a transparent, colourless
liquid; fumes in the air, and has an irritating odour.
569
570
SILK MANUFACTURE.
SILK MANUFACTURE.
Chlorosulphides of silicon (SiS,, 2SiCl,) and (2SiS,, SiCl,) may be
formed by the reaction of chloride of silicon vapour and dry hydro-
sulphuric acid gas at a red heat.
Fluoride of silicon (SiF) or fluosilicic acid, and silicofluoric or
hydrofluosilicic acid (HF, SiF,) have been described under FLUORINE.
Detection of silicon. The presence of this element in such a
substance as glass, or any transparent mineral, is readily demonstrated
by the etching action of hydrofluoric acid. From solution it is
precipitated as gelatinous silica on the addition of hydrochloric acid.
Silica may also be individualised from its property of being after
ignition insoluble in all acids, except hydrofluoric, but soluble in fused
caustic alkali.
Estimation of silicon.-This is always performed in the state of
recently dried and anhydrous silica, which contains 467 per cent of
silicon, and 53.3 of oxygen.
SILK MANUFACTURE. This subject naturally divides itself
into four parts :—The rearing of the insect which yields the silk; the
extrication of the filament in a state fitted for the manufacturer;
the spinning and weaving into textile fabrics; and the commercial
arrangements arising out of the manufacture. Such portions of the
subject will be treated here as have not yet been noticed in the
Cyclopædia; for the rest, cross-references will suffice.
៩
Rearing silk-worms.-Silk is produced by a small insect, in the manner
described in BOMBYCIDE, NAT. HIST. DIV. China was undoubtedly the
country in which men first availed themselves of the labours of the
silk-worm. Serica (the country of the Seres) was a name by which the
Macedonian Greeks designated the country which produced the silk that
came overland from the north of China. The author of the Periplus
of the Erythræan Sea' speaks of silk in Malabar as an article imported
from countries farther to the east; from which it may be inferred that
the culture of the silk-worm and the manufacture of silk had not been
introduced even into India four hundred years after silk was known in
Europe. In speaking of the country of the Thinæ, the same author
observes that both the raw material and manufactured article were
obtained there. The "Median robes," spoken of by the Greek writers
of the period of the Persian empire, and extolled for their lustrous
beauty and brilliancy, were no doubt silken vestments; as Procopius
long afterwards, when silk had been introduced into Europe, states
that "the robes which were formerly called Median by the Greeks are
now called silken." Aristotle is the first Greek author who mentions
the silk-worm (Nat. Hist.,' v. 19). He states that silk was first spun
in the island of Cos, but that the raw material was still an oriental
product; and Pliny (xi. 22), in commenting on this passage, states that
the silk came from Assyria, and was worked up by the Greek women.
It may be remarked that Assyria was, like Media, frequently used in
an indefinite sense by ancient writers. The probability is that silk
was used in Western Asia before it was known to the Greeks; and
that it was in use among the Greeks long before they knew whence
the substance came or how it was produced.
Pausanias is perhaps the first who gives precise information respect
ing the substance from which the Seres formed their cloths. They
have," he says, a spinning insect, which is kept in buildings, and
produces a fine-spun thread, which is wrapped about its feet" (vi. 26).
It was not until the sixth century that the obscurity which enveloped
this subject was cleared up. At this time silk was an article of
general use among the Romans, and was manufactured for them by
the inhabitants of Tyre and Berytus in Phoenicia. The Persians
monopolised the supply of the raw material, and guarded their trade
with so much jealousy, both by land and sea, that, travellers from or to
China were not allowed to traverse the Persian dominions; and in the
time of Justinian, in consequence of some interference with the trade,
they had entirely stopped the importation of silk. The trade in silk
was in this unsatisfactory state, when two Nestorian monks of Persia,
who had travelled to China, acquainted Justinian with the mode of
producing silk, and undertook to return and bring back with them
some of the eggs of the silk-worm. They were perfectly successful
in their expedition; for a quantity of eggs, secured in a hollow cane,
were brought in safety to Constantinople, hatched by the heat of a
dunghill, and fed with mulberry-leaves. The monks also taught the
subjects of Justinian the art of manufacturing silk.
The breeding of silk-worms in Europe was for six centuries con-
fined to the Greeks of the Lower Empire. In the 12th century the art
was transferred to Sicily; in the 13th century the rearing of silk-worms
and the manufacture of silk were introduced into Italy, and from
thence successively introduced into Spain and France.
James I. was solicitous to promote the breeding and rearing of silk-
worms in England; and in 1608 issued circular letters, which were
addressed to persons of influence throughout the country, recommend-
ing the subject to them; but the experiment was unsuccessful.
Most of the old mulberry trees found in the neighbourhood of ancient
mansions in England at the present day were planted at this period.
The experiment has also failed, though several times attempted, in
North America.
The production of raw silk is fast extending in British India, and the
quality has been for some years gradually improving. In Graham's
India,' it is said that in the Deccan the mulberry-trees may be
deprived of their leaves six times a year, and that six crops of worms
may be obtained with ease in the same period. The Chinese method
of rearing silk-worms, and their mode of treating the mulberry-tree
(described in Davis's 'China,' p. 280), were introduced at St. Helena,
under the auspices of the East India Company; but on the expiration
of their charter the establishment was given up. Some of the silk
produced in France is believed to be better than that of any other
country in the world. The Italian silk is also highly esteemed.
There has recently been a very earnest attempt made to disseminate
the silk-worm culture in various parts of Europe. In 1854 some silk-
worm eggs, reared at Assam, were brought from Calcutta to Malta,
through the aid of Mr. Piddington. They were not the usual kind,
but a variety called the Bombyx cynthia, which feeds on the castor-oil
plaut. Sir William Reid, Governor of Malta, caused these eggs to be
carefully tended; 500 of them were hatched, and fed on the castor-oil
plant. After some time, portions of the store were sent to Piedmont,
France, Algiers, and the West Indies, in order that fair trials might be
made in different climates. It is known that the castor-oil plant
suffices to give the worms the silk-producing power; for the Assamese
make shawls, dhoties, coverlets, coats, turbans, and women's dresses,
with silk thus obtained. Early in 1855 it was found that the worms
at Malta declined and died off, from some cause not clearly traceable;
and the attempt failed, so far as that island was concerned.
In 1856,
however, some of the eggs reached Prussia; and great endeavours are
now being made to foster the culture in Germany, Sweden, and Russia.
The silk produced by this kind of worm is not so fine as the mulberry-
silk; but is believed to be more easily worked, if the insect can only
be made to thrive. As to England, silk-worm rearing has been to the
present day, and still is, nothing more than an amusement, or an
experiment having no commercial value.
This may be the proper place to say a few words concerning other
filaments of the nature of silk. The web of many kinds of caterpillars
has been found nearly equal to silk, and gloves and stockings have
been made of it; but Reaumur found that 50.000 of the insects were
needed to yield 1 lb. of silk, and, moreover, that the caterpillars
showed a very unprofitable tendency to kill and eat each other. Some
fabrics exquisitely light, others moderately strong, have been made
from caterpillar filament, but hitherto without commercial success.
The pinna, a gigantic kind of mussel found in the Mediterranean and
the Indian Ocean, fastens itself to rocks with a kind of cord made of
beautiful silky filaments; these filaments may be worked up in the
manner of silk; but the supply is too small to render the matter
other than a curiosity. Very recently there was landed at Liverpool
a small quantity of pulu or vegetable silk, obtained from the lower
part of the stalk of a fern growing in Sumatra; the stalk is covered
with a kind of sparkling golden-brown hair, which can be detached
and worked up as silk. About 3 ounces can be obtained from each
plant. The substance has not yet attracted much attention in England,
but is beginning to be worked in America.
The Cocoons and Silk Reelinj.-The cocoons [BOMBYCIDE, in NAT.
HIST. DIV.] average in weight about 3 grains each; the average length
of silk upon each, when reeled off, is about 300 yards; and 12 Ïbs.
of cocoons are required to yield 1 lb. of reeled silk-so many are the
impurities to be got rid of. About 1 ounce of silk-worm eggs will
produce 100 lbs. of cocoons; 16 lbs. of mulberry leaves will afford food
sufficient for the production of 1 lb. of cocoons; and each mulberry
tree will yield about 100 lbs. of leaves.
tree will yield about 100 lbs. of leaves. These figures will afford easy
means of calculating the number of insects, eggs, trees, leaves, &c.,
necessary for the production of 6,000,000 or 8,000,000 lbs. of silk-
about the annual consumption of the United Kingdom. Reclin, or
the drawing off of the silken filament from the cocoon, is usually done
only in the countries where the worm is reared. To effect this, the
Fig. 1.-Reeling Apparatus (plan).
O
Fig. 2.-Reeling Apparatus (section).
worm is not allowed to die a natural death; the cocoon is exposed to
the heat of the sun or of an oven until the insect is stifled. An
external soft envelope is removed, constituting floss silk; the real silk
is wound closely around the cocoon, in an agglutinated mass.
The
*


571
SILK MANUFACTURE.
cocoons are steeped in hot water until the gum is dissolved. The
reeler (a woman or girl), with a kind of whisk or brush, detaches the
ends of ten or twenty filaments from as many cocoons, winds them
two or three together on a reel, then two or three of these groups
together, and so on until all form one thread, very much thicker than
the original filament, but still exceedingly fine. New cocoons are
thrown into the vessel of hot water as fast as the old ones are ex-
hausted, so that the thread is made continuous; and the temperature
of the water is such as will enable the cocoons to give off the filaments
just as fast as the reeler can wind them. In some districts the reeling
is done in a quicker and better way, by aid of the apparatus shown in
fig. 1 (plan), and fig. 2 (section). From the reel the silk is made up
into hanks, which present different appearances, according to the
countries whence they are obtained. Broussa and China hanks are
whiter than the others; Bengal hanks are small; Italian are larger;
and Persian are the largest and coarsest of all.
·
Such is the simple operation of reeling. It has been a conventional
opinion that this can only be done in the silk rearing countries;
because the cocoons cannot be conveyed long distances safely, and
because a clear and warm climate is necessary. The correctness of this
opinion is now disputed. Mr. Dickins, a silk dyer at Middleton, and
Mr. Chadwick, a silk manufacturer at Manchester, have invented and
set to work a system of apparatus for reeling silk in England, and
throwing or twisting the silk so reeled. The cocoons are placed for a
few minutes in hot soap and water; and then ladled to a trough of clean
warm water. The principal end of the silk of each cocoon is drawn
out by the fingers; several cocoons, thus treated, are placed in a basin,
with the ends of the filaments hanging over the edge; and they are
thus taken to the reeling frame when wanted. The machine consists
of an iron framework, 12 feet long, 4 feet wide, and 4 feet high. At
each side is a row of 30 bobbins, each with a flyer, and with a separate
rotary motion.
Over the 60 bobbins are 60 copper basins, containing
water at 120° Fahr. Into each basin are put 6 cocoons, the filaments
from which are wound off by the motion of the bobbins, to which their
ends are attached. About 12 inches above each basin is a piece of wire,
covered with some soft substance; the filaments pass over these wires
on their way from the basins to the bobbins, to cleanse and partially
dry them. By this arrangement the winding into hanks, as performed
by the silk growers abroad, the winding of bobbins from the hanks,
and the usual cleansing process as performed by the throwster, are
entirely dispensed with a twisted thread of silk being furnished at
one operation. Threads of different thicknesses may thus be produced,
simply by increasing the number of cocoons in each basin. One girl
can attend to the cocoons in 30 basins. Whenever a cocoon breaks
or comes to an end, a new fastening is instantly made. By an adjust-
ment of the bobbins and flyers, any amount of twist can be imparted
to the thread, according to the purpose for which it is intended. The
regularity of the movements leads to the production of a thread more
free from knots than the ordinary reeled silk. There is no reeling, no
hank; the silk is spun at once from the cocoons. The bobbins rotate
3000 times per minute. The principle of the cotton-spindle and flyer
being adopted, there is a power of adapting the apparatus to the pro-
duction of many different kinds of thread; it can either be stopped
at the tram stage, or advanced to that of organzine-terms that will be
explained presently. There is said to be a more complete extraction
of the silk from the cocoons, a greater regularity in the thread, a
thorough extraction of lumps and knots, an avoidance of waste, and a
saving in wages. These machines are gradually coming into use in
Lancashire and on the continent; but there has not yet been organised
an extensive importation of cocoons into England-without which, of
course, the machines cannot work.
SILK MANUFACTURE.
572
When silk is required to be made very thick, strong, and densely
twisted, it is sometimes twisted in the manner of rope, in a long alley

Silk Throwing and Weaving.-Except under the system just de-
scribed, silk is imported in hanks, not in the cocoons. The silk in the
hanks has simply been reeled, without regular twisting. In China
and India the silk is reeled very unequally; there may be as few as
five, or as many as fifteen filaments in each thread, without any regard
to uniformity. Italian silk is better reeled. In the throwing mills,
situated chiefly in Lancashire and Derbyshire, the silk is doubled,
twisted, and hardened. John and Thomas Lambe introduced the art
from Italy early in the last century. The silk is made into dumb
singles, for weaving into gauze and other light fabrics; into thrown
singles, which, when wound, cleaned, and thrown, is used for weaving
into ribbons and common silks; into tram, which is doubled as well as
thrown, and is used for the weft of the best kinds of goods; into
organzine, used for the warp; and into sewing silk, which is the thickest
and best of all. These kinds are produced by the processes of winding,
cleaning, doubling, and twisting, carried to a greater or less extent. The
winding is the transference of the silk to bobbins. The hanks are
opened, and put upon light frames called swifts; and while these are
rotating, a series of rotating bobbins draw off the silk from the swifts.
Fig. 3 shows one form of apparatus for effecting this transfer. The
cleaning is effected by passing the filament through a cleft in a piece of
steel, whereby impurities and irregularities are removed. The doubling
and twisting are processes in which two or more threads are twisted
round each other; the machinery for effecting this is very varied; but
a reference to COTTON MANUFACTURE will afford means for judging of
the general principle, although the details are different. Fig. 4 will
illustrate the action of one form of twisting or throwing machine.
Fig. 3.-Silk Engine or Swift.

I
Fig. 4. Twisting or Throwing Machine.
I
or avenue (fig. 5). Silk spinning is comparatively a modern process.
It is a mode of using up floss silk, and any waste that may result from
the other processes. However unfitted silk may be to be thrown and
twisted in the usual way, it may be spun into a continuous thread by
carding, drawing, roving, and spinning, almost in the same manner as
cotton. The thread produced is of inferior character, and is used for
the cheaper kinds of goods.
Of the subsequent processes in the silk manufacture, little need be
said here. A reference to the articles CRAPE, DYEING, EMBROIDERY,
GAUZE, JACQUARD APPARATUS, RIBBON, and WEAVING, will supply the
requisite details. Brocade and damask, the most sumptuous articles
of silk manufacture a century ago, are now comparatively unknown.
Persian, sarsnet, gros-de-Naples, ducapes, satin, and levantines, are the
names given to plain silks, which vary from one another only in
texture, quality, or softness. Satin derives its lustre from the great pro-
portion of the threads of the warp being left visible, and the piece being
afterwards passed over heated cylinders. Other varieties of silk goods
are produced by mechanical arrangements in the loom, such as using
673
673
SILK MANUFACTURE.
SILVER.
different shuttles with threads of various quality, &c. The pile
which constitutes the peculiarity of velvet is produced by the insertion
of short pieces of silk thread, which cover the surface so entirely as to
conceal the interlacing of the warp and woof. The process of weaving
►
velvet is slow, and it is paid for at several times the rate of plain silks.
There are several sorts of goods in which silk is employed with
woollen materials, such as poplins and bombazines. The Chinese make
a species of washing silk, called at Canton ponge, which becomes

Fig 5.-Silk Spinning by hand.
more soft as it is longer used. Their crapes have never yet been
perfectly imitated; and they particularly excel in the production of
damasks and flowered satins.
abroad.
unnecessary.
Silk Trade. The making of ribbons and small articles in silk long
preceded in England that of broad silk. The trade was principally in
the hands of women; and, like a sickly plant of foreign growth, it
appears to have constantly demanded props and support. Repeated
statutes and orders were made, discouraging the use of silk goods from
An act passed in the reign of Edward IV. contained a sort
of apology, which, if good for anything, made the prohibition
The act states that not only were the artificers, men
and women "greatly impoverished, hindered of their worldly increase
and daily living. by these wares and chaffres being brought in fully
wrought and ready for sale by strangers, the king's enemies and other,"
but that "the greatest part in substance was deceitful, and nothing
worth in regard of any man's occupation and profit." The law against
the importation of ribbons, &c. was renewed at successive intervals
until the 19 Henry VII., when it was made perpetual. Foreign
ribbons notwithstanding still made their way over. The silk-throwsters
were incorporated by a charter obtained 5 Charles I., about ten years
after the establishment of the broad-silk manufacture in the reign of
James I.: the silk-weavers were already included in the great
company of weavers. Towards the end of the reign of Charles II., the
silk manufacture, which had hitherto been almost confined to London,
was carried into several other large towns of the kingdom by the
French Protestants, who took refuge in this country, to the number,
it is said, of 70,000, after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in
1685; and amongst the rest to Coventry. The ribbon trade, of which
Coventry has since become the chief seat in England, was introduced
early in the last century by Mr. Bird, assisted probably by some of the
French emigrants: the number of French terms still used in the
manufacture proves that its origin was, in part at least, foreign.
After the treaty of Utrecht, in 1713, French and Italian manufactured
silks were admitted under considerable duties; but in 1765 the ribbon
and other silk manufacturers procured the re-establishment of the
prohibitory system, which was thenceforward maintained for sixty
years, enforced by heavy penalties. With the increase of population
and the greater demand for luxuries, the home market increased; but
an export trade, principally to America, gradually decayed, in con-
sequence perhaps of the heavy duties on raw and thrown silk. During
the period of restriction, ribbon-weaving seems to have degenerated in
this country as regards the superior branches. In 1824 the govern-
nient determined to try the effect of an approach to free trade upon
the silk manufacture. As a preliminary step, the duties on raw silk
were reduced from 4d. per lb. to 3d., and afterwards to 1d.; and on
thrown, from 14s. Sd. to 7s. 6d., and afterwards to 3s. 6d., 2s., and
1s. 6d., according to quality; with a drawback to the amount of the
duty allowed on any manufactures of silk exported, whether they were
or were not made of the foreign thrown silk which had paid the duty.
Two years were allowed after the lowering of these duties to prepare
for the admission of foreign manufactured silk at a duty of 30 per cent.
But this step was strongly opposed by the ribbon manufacturers of
Coventry, who were unanimous in demanding a total prohibition of
foreign ribbons; they succeeded in procuring, in 1832, the appoint-
ment of a committee of the House of Commons to inquire into the
state of the silk trade. Nothing short of this (they said) could enable
them to make ribbons at all. This inquiry led to no alteration in the
system which the government had adopted; and subsequent remon-
strances made by the same parties had a similar result.
Without tracing in detail the progress of the trade and the altera-
tions in the duties, it will suffice to give a few figures relating to the
last few years. Sir Robert Peel wholly removed the import duty on
raw silk in 1845; and since that year every part of the trade has
extended. The raw silk imported between 1844 and 1860, varied from
4,133,000 lbs. (in 1844) to 12,078,000 lbs. (in 1857). But the last-named
year was an exceptional one, in regard to the largeness of the import;
the import for the last seven years has averaged about 8,000,000 lbs.
per annum. The above is raw silk, in the hank. The thrown silk,
ready for the weaver, is imported in much smaller quantity, varying
from 300,000 lbs. to 1,000,000 lbs. per annum. Manufactured silk goods
imported are entered by the lb. or by the piece, according to their
character-that is, European goods by the lb., and India goods by
the piece. About 300,000 lbs. of broad silks and 400,000 lbs. of
ribbons, from the continent, together with half a million pieces of
India goods (Bandanas, Corahs, Choppas, Tussire cloths, Romals, and
Taffetas)-have been about the average quantities within the last few
years. Omitting all years but 1859, we will give the exact figures for
that date:-
Raw silk, from China
19
"
·
India and Egypt
other countries
•
Waste, knubs, and husks
Thrown silk, from France
other countries
European blond, silk, and satin
gauze, crape, and velvet.
ribbons
"
plush for hats
India piece goods
•
3,192,632
5,805,4879,920,891 lbs.
922,772
20,808 cwt.
155,872
327,462 lbs.
171,590
•
305,523
41,918
987,080 lbs.
479,106
160,533
343,034 pieces.
The exports of course do not comprise any raw silk. Of thrown silk,
in the various forms of thread and yarn, the quantity exported from
1844 to 1860, varied from about 200,000 lbs. (in 1848) to 1,400,000 lbs.
(in 1856). Of woven silk goods the quantity varied from 600,000 lbs.
(in 1848) to 3,000,000 lbs. (in 1856). Taking one particular year (1858)
as a fair average for seven recent years, we find that the computed
real value of all the silk and silks imported was about 8,000,000%. ; and that
the declared value of the silk and silks exported was about 2,000,000%.
Raw silk is imported duty free; manufactured goods pay an import
duty, which in 1858 amounted to about 900,000. By the new
commercial treaty with France, England has given up about 300,000%.
a year, that having been the produce of duties laid on French silk and
silk goods.
Without going into details, it may suffice to state that the quantity
of silk imported in 1860, whether raw, waste, or thrown, was less than
in 1859; but greater in reference to manufactured silk. The export
of silk goods woven in England was smaller in 1860 than in 1859; but
of silk-thread and yarn, it was higher.
Mr. Winkworth, a Spitalfields manufacturer, estimated in 1857 that
50 millions sterling are sunk in the United Kingdom in the silk
manufacture, and that 1,000,000 persons are supported by it. For
the number of mills, see FACTORIES.
SILVER (Ag., from the Latin argentum). This metal has been
known from the earliest times, frequent mention being made of it in
the writings of Moses. Occurring naturally in the metallic state,
though not so frequently as to render it common, and being easily
worked, it must, no doubt, have been one of the first discovered metals.
The alchemists and astrologers supposed it to have some mysterious
connection with the moon, gave it the sign )), and called it Diana or
Luna. They also seem to have been acquainted with chloride of
silver (horn-silver) and nitrate of silver (lunar caustic).
Next to the free metal itself, the sulphide is the most important ore
of silver. It is usually associated with sulphide of lead; indeed galena
lead-ore nearly always contains silver, which is separated as described
under LEAD, MANUFACTURE OF. The ore is roasted to expel sulphur,
smelted with charcoal, and the argentiferous lead submitted to
cupellation [ASSAYING], by which the lead, becoming oxidised, is partly
volatilised, partly raked off the surface, and partly sinks into the cupel,
leaving pure silver in the liquid state.
Another process for the extraction of silver from its ores is termed
amalgamation, from the fact that the metal, after the ore has been
roasted and the silver reduced by scrap iron, is dissolved out by mer-
cury; the separated amalgam is afterwards submitted to distillation,
when the mercury volatilises and the silver is left behind. [AMALGAM.]
The processes, of which the final step is amalgamation, are many; the
575
SILVER.
ores at different places, being associated with various matters, require
different modifications of treatment. One metallurgist, Augustin, dis-
penses with the use of mercury altogether. Ziervogel at once obtains
sulphate of silver by roasting the ore at a particular temperature, and
precipitates the metal therefrom by copper.
100000
Silver is almost pure white, having only the faintest tinge of red.
In the native state it sometimes occurs crystallised in cubes or octo-
hedra. It is moderately hard, elastic, and very ductile and malleable;
one grain may be drawn into 400 feet of wire, and the thinnest silver-
foil, or leaf-silver, has a thickness of only 10 of an inch. Silver
melts at a bright red heat, and by repeated fusions becomes quite
brittle. It volatilises in the luminous arc of a powerful electric
current, yielding a beautiful green-coloured vapour. Of all metals,
silver is, perhaps, the best conductor of heat and electricity. It does
not oxidise at ordinary temperatures, but when melted has the pro-
perty of absorbing many times its bulk of oxygen, which, however, is
given out again at the moment of solidification. Though silver does
not rust in the air, it rapidly tarnishes, owing to the formation of a
thin film of sulphide of silver: this occurs more quickly in urban than
in rural districts, sulphur in the form of sulphuretted hydrogen being
far more abundant in the atmosphere of the former than in that of
the latter localities.
Silver is not readily acted upon by alkalies, hence it is of peculiar
value in the manufacture of vessels in which alkaline fusions have to
be made. Common salt, especially in the melted state, is slowly
decomposed by silver, soda being formed, from absorption of oxygen,
while liberated chlorine attacks the metal. Boiling sulphuric acid oxi-
dis silver; hydrochloric acid acts but slightly upon it; aqua regia
attacks it readily; but its best solvent is nitric acid.
Perfectly pure silver may be obtained by dissolving the commercial
metal in nitric acid, precipitating with hydrochloric acid, and then
fusing the well-washed chloride with half its weight of dried carbonate
of soda. In the place of carbonate of soda, carbonate of lime and char-
coal are sometimes employed. Chloride of silver may also be reduced
by placing it in contact with zinc and dilute sulphuric acid.
The equivalent of silver is 108.
Silver and oxygen form three compounds :-
1. Suboxide of silver
2. Protoxide of silver
3. Peroxide of silver
•
•
Ag₂0
AgO
Ago 2
1. Suboxide of silver (Ag₂0). Citrate of silver is heated to 212° in a
current of hydrogen; on dissolving the resulting mass in water, and
adding an alkali, the suboxide is precipitated as a black powder. When
dry, it acquires metallic lustre under the burnisher.
Molybdate of suboxide of silver (Ag₂O, 2M003). Wöhler forms this
salt by passing hydrogen gas through an ammoniacal solution of molyb-
date of silver at 90°. It is a heavy brilliant black powder. in which
occur regular octohedra. The tungstate of the suboxide is made in the
same manner as, and much resembles, the molybdate. Chromate of
suboxide of silver is black and amorphous.
2. Protoride of silver (AgO). A brown hydrated oxide of silver is
thrown down when solution of potash, soda, baryta, or lime is added
to solution of nitrate of silver. It becomes anhydrous when heated to
140° Fahr., and is reduced to the metallic state by increased heat, by
light, hydrogen, or almost any deoxidising agent. It is a powerful
base, forming salts, the chief of which are presently described.
3. Peroxide of silver (AgO₂) occurs in dark gray acicular crystals
when a solution of nitrate of silver is electrolysed. It accumulates on
the positive pole, is a conductor of the electric current, but is very
unstable.
Sulphide of silver. (AgS). The elements sulphur and silver have a
great affinity for each other; the compound produced by their union
occurs native in large quantities. [SILVER, in NAT. HIST. DIV.]
Sulphide of silver may be formed artificially by passing a stream of
sulphuretted hydrogen gas through a solution containing silver, or on
adding a soluble sulphide to the silver solution, or, still more simply,
by heating together sulphur and silver in their equivalent proportions.
Sulphide of silver readily fuses and cools to a dark-gray, crystalline
mass, that is somewhat soft and malleable. It is decomposed and
dissolved when heated with concentrated sulphuric or nitric acids, and
is also readily attacked by strong hydrochloric acid. Potash, soda,
iron, copper, or lead reduce it, by the aid of heat, to the metallic state.
Chlorine and silver form two compounds, namely :-
1. Subchloride of silver
2. Protochloride of silver
•
Ag, Cl
AgCl
1. Subchloride of Silver (Ag,Cl). When silver leaf is digested in
solution of chloride of copper, or of perchloride of iron, black scales of
subchloride of silver are produced. Nitric acid does not affect them,
but ammonia resolves them into chloride of silver and metallic silver.
2. Protochloride of Silver (AgCl), Chloride of Silver, or, Horn Silver,
is found native. [SILVER, in NAT. HIST. Div.] It falls as a white,
curd-like precipitate when hydrochloric acid or any soluble chloride is
added to an aqueous solution of silver salt.
Chloride of silver is insoluble in water or dilute acids, and is only
very slightly acted on by strong nitric or hydrochloric acids. It is
somewhat more soluble in solutions of chlorides of alkalies or of
SILVER.
676
alkaline earths, and is freely dissolved in solution of ammonia. It
fuses when heated to about 500° Fahr., and on cooling forms a semi-
transparent horn-like mass. It is partially reduced to the state of
sub-chloride on exposure to light. A current of hydrogen removes the
whole of the chlorine from heated chloride of silver; zinc, iron, and
some other metals also reduce it to the metallic state. Chloride of
silver forms double salts with alkaline cyanides, sulphites, and hypo-.
sulphites; the solutions of the last-named have a most intensely sweet
taste, exceeding even that of sugar.
Bromide of Silver (AgBr) occurs native. It may be prepared
artificially by precipitating nitrate of silver by bromide of potassium,
It much resembles chloride of silver, but is less soluble in ammonia,
and has moreover a yellow colour.
Iodide of Silver (AgI). This compound occurs native also. It falls
as a yellow precipitate when an alkaline iodide is added to solution of
nitrate of silver. It is insoluble in acids and nearly so in ammonia,
but is very soluble in solution of iodide of potassium or hyposulphite
of soda.
Sulphate of Silver (AgOSO3). When silver is boiled in strong
sulphuric acid, sulphate of silver is formed according to the following
equation:-
AgO, SO, + $0₂
$O2 + 2HO
Ag + 2(HO, SO3)
Sulphuric acid.
Silver.
Sulphate of Sulphurous Water.
silver.
acid.
It is soluble in excess of the acid, but requires ninety parts of water
to dissolve it.
Nitrate of Silver (AgO, NO,). This salt, now so largely used in
photography, and, when fused and cast into cylinders as an escharotic,
under the name of lunar caustic, by surgeons, is formed on dis-
solving silver in strong nitric acid. By evaporation of the solution,
colourless, transparent right rhombic crystals are deposited. It has an
unpleasant bitter metallic taste, is soluble in water or alcohol, and is
not decomposed by exposure to light unless in contact with organic
matter. Solution of ammonio-nitrate of silver is formed by adding
ammonia to nitrate of silver until the resulting precipitate is nearly all
redissolved.
The following are the principal remaining salts of silver that are of
interest. They are produced by the ordinary process of double decom-
position.
The triphosphate (3AgO, PO,) is of yellow colour, alterable by the
action of light, readily soluble in excess of nitric acid or of ammonia.
The pyrophosphate (2AgO, PO,) is white and easily fusible.
The metaphosphate (AgO, PO,) occurs as a gelatinous mass, soluble
in excess of nitrate of silver. The carbonate (AgO, CO) is at first
white, afterwards pale yellow. The borate (AgO, BO₁) forms white
flakes which turn violet on exposure to light. The iodate (AgO, IO)
is white, and crystallises from ammonia in brilliant little rectangular
prisms. The chlorate is soluble in water, and crystallises in white,
opaque, four-sided prisms. The monochromate (AgO, CrO3) is of a
greenish-brown colour by reflected light and deep red by transmitted
light. The bichromate (AgO, 2CrO,) is a purple-red crystalline preci-
pitate. The arseniate (3AgO, As05) is a dark brick-red precipitate,
soluble in ammonia and in carbonate of ammonia.
For the salts which silver forms with organic acids, see the articles
on those acids.
Tests for Silver. The production of the white curdy chloride on the
addition of hydrochloric acid, the precipitate being insoluble in hot
nitric acid but readily soluble in ammonia, forms the characteristic
test for silver salts. Reduction on charcoal in the blow-pipe flame, a
black precipitate by sulphuretted hydrogen, and a yellow one on the
addition of an alkaline iodide, are confirmatory tests.
Estimation of Silver. This is accomplished as described under
ASSAYING, or in the state of well-washed and fused chloride, 100 parts
of which contain 75.27. of metal.
SILVER, Medical Properties of. In a purely metallic state silver
has no action on the animal frame, and the only salt much used is the
nitrate, termed also lunar caustic. This is always fused in proper
moulds, from which it is turned out in the form of cylinders, about
three inches long, and the eighth of an inch in diameter. They are at
first white, but quickly become of a dark gray or black colour, from
combining with organic matter in the air. To prevent this the cylin-
When nitrate of silver
ders are generally wrapped up in blue paper.
is brought in contact with any part of the human frame, it causes first
a white mark, which gradually changes to blue, purple, and at last to
black. This occurs more rapidly if moisture be present; and is owing
to a chemical combination of the metal with the albumen and fibrin
of the animal tissues. If the part be wetted, and the caustic applied
several times at short intervals, vesication results. Nitrate of silver
When taken inter-
acts therefore locally as an irritant and corrosive.
nally in small doses for a considerable time, such as six or twelve
months, it is absorbed and deposited in various parts of the body, and
when it is deposited in the rete mucosum of the skin it causes dis-
colorations, which in most cases prove permanent. It has been some-
times employed with success in the treatment of epilepsy, chorea, and
some forms of angina pectoris, as well as morbid sensibility of the
stomach. Larger doses can be borne when it is administered in the
577
673
SILVER WORKING.
SILVERING.
form of pill than in solution. The pills should be made with mucilage
and sugar,
but not with bread-crumb, as the common salt, or chloride
of sodium, decomposes the nitrate and renders it inert. In cases of
poisoning by nitrate of silver, common salt is a ready and effectual
remedy also milk. The liability of nitrate of silver to produce
discolorations of the skin in persons taking it internally constitutes a
serious objection to its employment, and there appears little necessity
for giving it, since any case of epilepsy likely to be benefited by it will
generally receive equal good from the use of oxide of zinc, without the
risk of stains or other inconvenience.
The external employment of this agent is not liable to any objection
when used cautiously, while its advantages are very great. It is the
most powerful direct antiphlogistic agent known. All subacute inflam-
mations in any part to which it can be immediately applied will
subside under its influence. In inflammations not merely of the
skin, but of mucous membranes when they occur in parts which are
accessible, its influence is great and speedily manifested. Many of the
cases of croup which in an advanced stage are unmanageable, begin in
the back part of the throat (fauces), and if these parts are freely
touched with a pencil dipped in a strong solution of nitrate of silver,
the farther downward progress of the inflammation may be arrested.
Similar benefit attends its use in diphtheria : for this a very strong solu-
tion in nitric ether is best. The same treatment is applicable to the
erythematous inflammation which frequently begins either externally,
and spreads through the mouth or nose to the fauces, and thence down
the oesophagus, or originates in the fauces, leading to very serious
results. Erysipelatous inflammation occurring in any part of the body
may be effectually limited by nitrate of silver. For this purpose a
complete circle should be formed round the inflamed part, but on the
sound skin. For this case the solid cylinder, moistened at the end, is
best. The circle must be perfect, or the morbid action may extend,
escaping at the smallest breach. Chronic inflammation, and even
ulceration, of the eyes, may be removed by nitrate of silver applied in
different forms. Old indolent ulcers are stimulated to a healthy action
by its use; and many cutaneous diseases removed by it. Recent burus
have the severe pain often very much mitigated by it; but it must
not in any of these cases be applied to too large a surface at once, as ill
effects have followed such a practice. To specify all the uses of
nitrate of silver would be impossible here, but one more deserves to be
extensively known. It is the best application to chilblains, especially
at first; but even after they break, it disposes them to heal.
When a solution of nitrate of silver is made, distilled water should
invariably be used. The neglect of this rule causes many of the solu-
tions applied to the eye to be not only useless, but hurtful. Oxide of
silver has been strongly recommended as an antispasmodic, and not
liable to the objections which attach to the nitrate. In preparing
medicines with oxide of silver, care must be taken not to combine it
with articles such as ammonia, lest an explosive compound should
result.
SILVER WORKING. Silver-ores are found chiefly in veins which
traverse the primary and the older of the secondary stratified rocks,
but especially the former; and also the unstratified rocks, such as
granite and porphyry, which are associated with the above. Some of
the richest mines in South America are situated in primary strata;
also in limestone and in grauwacke, and still more in secondary strata.
In some of the mines of Peru, and in those of Kongsberg in Norway
and Freiburg in Saxony, silver has been discovered in masses weighing
from 100 to 800 lbs. In the mines of Europe the veins are numerous
and slender; in some of the mines in the Harz Mountains and in the
Hungarian mines the veins occur in a small number of spots, and are
of considerable dimensions. In three of the richest districts of Mexico
there is only one principal vein, which is worked in different places.
One of these veins, in the district of Guanaxuato, is from 130 to
148 feet wide, and it has been traced and worked to an extent of nearly
eight miles.
The average richness of all the ores in Mexico is from 3 to 4 ounces
per quintal of 102 lbs. In one of the Mexican mines a working of
100 feet in length yielded in six months 432,274 lbs. troy of silver,
equal in value to upwards of 1,000,000. In Chili some of the mines
yield only 8 oz. in 5000 lbs. of ore; but in the rich mine of Copiapo,
discovered in 1832, the ore frequently contains 60 or 70 per cent. of
silver. The average produce of the mines in Saxony is from 3 to
4 ounces in the quintal. The lead mines of Craven in Yorkshire
contained 230 ounces of silver per ton; and those of Cardiganshire,
worked in the reign of Charles I., yielded 80 ounces. The average
proportion of the lead-mines of the north of England is 12 ounces per
ton; but even when the proportion of silver is much less than this, it
has been found profitable to separate it. The pure metal is separated |
from the ore by various processes; by mechanical division, roastings
to separate the sulphur and other volatile matter, and melting at
different stages of purification, with the addition of fluxes of various
sorts. Refining is performed by amalgamation with quicksilver, the
two metals being afterwards separated by distilling off the quicksilver.
[AMALGAM; LEAD MANUFACTURE, col. 149.]
When silver is issued for coin, it is always alloyed with copper; the
maximum of hardness is produced by one-fifth of copper. One lb.
of standard silver of the English coinage contains 11 oz. 2 dwts. of
pure silver and 18 dwts. alloy, or 925 parts of pure silver in 1000 parts
ARTS AND SCI. DIV. VOL. VII.
of standard silver. [MONEY.] For purposes connected with the
manufacture of various articles of use and ornament the alloy is
greater. At Birmingham rolled sheets are made which do not contain
more than 3 or 4 dwts. of silver to each lb. of the inferior metal.
Silver forms by far the largest proportion of the value of domestic
utensils in which either of the two precious metals is used.
also been suggested that electro-plating with silver might be applied to
the interior of leaden pipes, when used for domestic purposes.
It has
The rolling of silver in contact with the inferior metals is performed
by powerful flatting-mills. A bar of copper is made quite smooth and
clean on one of its surfaces, it is then sprinkled over with glass of
borax; a plate of fine silver is laid upon it, and the two are carefully
bound together by wire. The mass is then exposed to a full red heat,
which melts the borax and causes the silver to adhere to the copper.
The ingot is now passed through a rolling-press and formed into a
plate, both the silver and copper extending uniformly during the whole
process, at the conclusion of which they are inseparably joined.
Mr. M'Culloch, on the authority of Mr. Birkmyre, gives an estimate
of the quantity of silver produced in the two years next before, and
the two years next after, the discovery of gold in California. According
to this authority, in the year 1846 there was procured in America
silver to the value of 5,261,619., and in the other parts of the world
1,254,306.; while in 1850 these values were raised to 7,259,8241. and
1,528,5921., respectively. It is interesting to note that, in 1857, more
than 1,300,000 ounces of silver were obtained by refining lead in the
lead-smelting works of the United Kingdom, of which about half a
million ounces were from British lead.
It may suffice here to refer to several foregoing articles, for further
information concerning the working of silver; such as BULLION;
GOLD LACE MANUFACTURE; MINT; MONEY; PLATE AND PLATING.
SILVER, GERMAN. [COPPER; TUTENAG.].
SILVERING, as a handicraft, is not always an example of silver-
working, as the name would seem to imply; for in silvering looking-
glass, no silver whatever is used, in the ordinary methods.
One mode of silvering, first adopted at Sheffield, is that of rubbing
an amalgam of silver and mercury on the surface of any article of
copper; by the application of heat the mercury is driven off; the sil-
ver, remaining behind, adheres firmly to the copper, and is susceptible
of receiving a high polish. This is, chemically, analogous to the process
of metal-gilding, or so-called "water-gilding," described under GILDING.
The details, in the same article, concerning the application of leaf-gold,
will nearly apply also to that of leaf silver in the silvering of articles
made of wood.
In an ordinary looking-glass, the reflection is derived from a film of
mercury or quicksilver, in contact with the hinder surface of the glass,
and fixed by amalgamating with a sheet of tin-foil. Silvering is here
not a correct term, for there is no silver employed. The process is
nevertheless a highly curious one. In the first place, a large sheet of
tin-foil is unrolled, and laid down on a perfectly flat and very smooth
stone table. Liquid mercury is poured on the foil, from the iron
bottles in which it is imported, and made to float over the entire sur-
face. The glass, made perfectly clean, is laid upon the mercury with
a peculiar sliding movement, which suffices to remove the slight film
of oxide which soon forms upon the surface, and also any air bubbles.
The glass is then entirely covered with heavy leaden weights, which
could not be done with safety unless the glass and the stone were
perfectly flat. After remaining a day or two in this state, with the
stone slightly inclined, it is found that all the superfluous mercury
has been pressed out from between the glass and the foil; and, more-
over, that the mercury has chemically combined with the foil, in such
a way that both adhere firmly to the back of the glass.
In Mr. Drayton's process, nitrate of silver is combined with spirit
and certain liquids, and is poured on the clean surface of the glass: a
border of putty or some other substance being laid round the glass to
retain the liquid. After remaining thus a few hours, the liquid is
poured off, and a sediment of silver is found to be left adhering to the
glass. This sediment or film is secured in its place by a varnish of
bees' wax and tallow.
In Kidd's embroidered glass, the peculiarity of the process is that
the patterns have the appearance of being in relief, or embossed on the
exterior surface, and illuminated in frosted and burnished silver, whereas
the whole of the processes are effected on the under surface.
Dr. Thomson's silvered vessels display great brilliancy and beauty.
Glass vessels of any shape, and made of glass of any colour, are silvered
within in such a way as to yield a reflection of great lustre. Some of
the specimens, in which green and ruby glass are thus silvered, produce
an effect which can hardly be paralleled in any other manufacture.
The surface is often richly cut and diversified, and the silvering may
be made to appear at any spots selected by the workman. The silvering
agent is one of the salts or compounds of silver, as in Drayton's pro-
cess; but arrangements of an intricate kind are requisite to the due
production of the required effects.
Dr. Faraday has described at the Royal Institution a mode of
silvering introduced by M. Petitjean. A solution of oxide of silver,
ammonia, nitric acid, and muriatic acid is employed. A cast-iron
table-box is provided, with water within and gas underneath. The
sheet of glass to be silvered is laid upon the iron plate and heated to
140° Fahr, by gas flames acting through or on the water. The solution,
PP
579
SIMARUBA BARK.
is poured on the glass, together with a little polishing-powder. When
well floated, the solution is rolled with an india-rubber roller to expel
all air-bubbles. Then more solution is poured on, and more heat
applied, until a precipitate of pure silver is deposited on the glass,
which takes place in about a quarter of an hour. The surplus liquid
being poured off, and the silver washed, it is found to present a beauti-
ful reflecting surface. No mercury being here employed, the process
is less harmful than that usually adopted.
SIMARUBA BARK is obtained from the root of the Simaruba
amara, Aublet.
S. officinalis, Dec. It is a native of Guyana, and also
of Jamaica (unless this latter be a distinct species), and the more
southern of the United States.
It is intensely bitter, and yields an infusion more bitter than the
decoction. The infusion made with cold water is best. It may be
used as an emetic or tonic, in fever and dysentery; also, against
worms. If the wood be used in cooking, the viands acquire an intense
bitterness. The Simarouba versicolor (Aug. St. Hilaire), a native of
Brazil, has similar properties, but its internal use causes stupor and
other narcotic symptoms. This effect might be avoided by making the
infusion with cold water, as in the case of quassia. [QUASSIA.]
SIMILAR, SIMILAR FIGURES (Geometry). Similarity, resem-
blance, or likeness, means sameness in some, if not in all, particulars.
In geometry, the word refers to a sameness of one particular kind.
The two most important notions which the view of a figure will give
are those of size and shape, ideas which have no connection whatsoever
with each other. Figures of different sizes may have the same shape,
and figures of different shapes may have the same size. In the latter
case they are called by Euclid equal, in the former similar (similar
figures, duoia σxhuara). The first term [EQUAL; RELATION], in Euclid's
first use of it, includes united sameness both of size and shape; but he
soon drops the former notion, and, reserving equal to signify sameness
of size only, introduces the word similar to denote sameness of form:
so that the equality of the fundamental definition is the subsequent
combined equality and similarity of the sixth book.
Similarity of form, or, as we shall now technically say, similarity, is
a conception which is better defined by things than by words; being
in fact one of our fundamental ideas of figure. A drawing, a map, a
model, severally appeal to a known idea of similarity, derived from, it
may be, or at least nourished by, the constant occurrence in nature
and art of objects which have a general, though not a perfectly mathe-
matical, similarity. The rudest nations understand a picture or a map
almost instantly. It is not necessary to do more in the way of defini-
tion, and we must proceed to point out the mathematical tests of
similarity. We may observe indeed that errors or monstrosities of
size are always more bearable than those of form, so much more do
our conceptions of objects depend upon form than upon size. A
painter may be obliged to diminish the size of the minor parts of his
picture a little, to give room for the more important objects: but no
one ever thought of making a change of form, however slight, in one
object, for the sake of its effect on any other. The giant of Rabelais,
with whole nations carrying on the business of life inside his mouth, is
not so monstrous as it would have been to take the ground on which a
nation might dwell, England, France, or Spain, invest it with the
intellect and habits of a human being, and make it move, talk, and
reason: the more tasteful fiction of Swift is not only bearable and
conceivable, but has actually made many a simple person think it was
meant to be taken as a true history.
Granting then a perfect notion of similarity, we now ask in what
way it is to be ascertained whether two figures are similar or not. To
simplify the question, let them be plane figures, say two maps of
England of different sizes, but made on the same projection. It is
obvious, in the first place, that the lines of one figure must not only
be related to one another in length in the same manner as in the
other, but also in position. Let us drop for the present all the curved
lines of the coast, &c., and consider only the dots which represent the
towns. Join every such pair of dots by straight lines: then it is plain
that similarity of form requires that any two lines in the first should
not only be in the same proportion, as to length, with the two corre-
sponding lines in the second, but that the first pair should incline at
the same angle to each other as the second. Thus, if Ly be the line
LY
which joins London and York, and rc that which joins Falmouth and
Chester, it is requisite that LY should be to r c in the same proportion
in the one map that it is in the other; and if ro produced meet LY
produced in O, the angle oo Y in one map must be the same as in the
other. Hence, if there should be 100 towns, which are therefore
joined two and two by 4950 straight lines, giving about 12 millions
and a quarter of pairs of lines, it is clear that we must have the means
of verifying 124 millions of proportions, and as many angular agree-
ments. But if it be only assumed that similarity is a possible thing,
it is easily shown that this large number is reducible to twice 98.
Let it be granted that ly on the smaller map is to represent L Y on
the larger. Lay down ƒ and c in their proper places on the smaller
map, each with reference to land y, by comparison with the larger
map then fand c are in their proper places with reference to each
other. For if not, one of them at least must be altered, which would
disturb the correctness of it with respect to l and y. Either then there
is no such thing as perfect similarity, or else it may be entirely ob-
tained by comparison with 7 and y only.
SIMILAR, SIMILAR FIGURES.
580
We have hitherto supposed that both circumstances must be looked
to; proper lengths and proper angles; truth of linear proportion and
truth of relative direction. But it is one of the first things which the
student of geometry learns (in reference to this subject), that the
attainment of correctness in either secures that of the other. If the
smaller map be made true in all its relative lengths, it must be true
in all its directions; if it be made true in all its directions, it must be
true in all its relative lengths. The foundation of this simplifying
theorem rests on three propositions of the sixth book of Euclid, as
follows:-
1. The angles of a triangle (any two, of course) alone are enough to
determine its form: or, as Euclid would express it, two triangles which
have two angles of the one equal to two angles of the other, each to
each, have the third angles equal, and all the sides of one in the same
proportion to the corresponding sides of the other.
2. The proportions of the sides of a triangle (those of two of them
to the third) are alone enough to determine its form, or if two
triangles have the ratios of two sides to the third in one the same as
the corresponding ratios in the other, the angles of the one are seve-
rally the same as those of the other.
3. One angle and the proportion of the containing sides are sufficient
to determine the form of a triangle: or, if two triangles have one angle
of the first equal to one of the second, and the sides about those angles
proportional, the remaining angles are equal, each to each, and the
sides about equal angles are proportional.
From these propositions it is easy to show the truth of all that has
been asserted about the conditions of similarity, and the result is, that
any number of points are placed similarly with any other number of
points, when, any two being taken in the first, and the corresponding
two in the second, say A, B, and a, b, any third point c of the first
gives a triangle ABC, which is related to the corresponding_triangle
abc of the second, in the manner described in either of the three pre-
ceding propositions. For instance, let there be five points in each figure :
B
A
E
D
a
C
с
d
In the triangles BAE and bae, let the angles AEB and EBA be seve-
rally equal to a eb and eba. In the triangles ADB and adb let DA:
AB::da: ab, and DB: BA:: db: ba. In the triangles ACB and
a cb let the angles A B C and abc be equal, and AB: BC:ab: bc.
These conditions being fulfilled, it can be shown that the figures are
similar in form. There is no angle in one but is equal to its corre-
sponding angle in the other: no proportion of any two lines in one but
is the same as that of the corresponding lines in the other. Every con-
ception necessary to the complete notion of similarity is formed, and
the one figure, in common language, is the same as the other in figure,
but perhaps on a different scale.
The number of ways in which the conditions of similarity can be
expressed might be varied almost without limit; if there ben points,
they are twice (n-2) in number. It would be most natural to take
either a sufficient number of ratios, or else of angles: perhaps the
latter would be best. Euclid confines himself to neither, in which he
is guided by the following consideration :-He uses only salient or
convex figures, and his lengths, or sides, are only those lines which
form the external contour. The internal lines or diagonals he rarely
considers, except in the four-sided figure. He lays it down as the
definition of similarity, that all the angles of the one figure (meaning
only angles made by the sides of the contour) are equal to those of
the other, each to each, and that the sides about those angles are pro-
portional. This gives 2n conditions in an n-sided figure, and con-
sequently four redundancies, two of which are easily detected. In the
above pentagons, for instance, if the angles at A, E, D, C, be severally
equal to these at a, e, d, c, there is no occasion to say that that at B
must be equal to that at b, for it is a necessary consequence: also, if
BAAE: ba: ae, and so on up to DC: OB::dc: cb, there is no
occasion to lay it down as a condition that CB: BA:: cbba, for it is
again a consequence. These points being noted, the definition of
Euclid is admirably adapted for his object, which is, in this as in every
other case, to proceed straight to the establishment of his propositions,
without casting one thought upon the connection of his preliminaries
with natural geometry.
Let us now suppose two similar curvilinear figures, and to simplify
the question, take two arcs A B and ab. Having already detected the
test of similarity of position with reference to any number of points, it
A
P
B a
p
will be easy to settle the conditions under which the arc AB is
altogether similar to ab. By hypothesis, A and B are the points corre-
sponding to a and b. Join A, B, and a, b; and in the arc à в take any
€81
532
SIMILE.
SINAPIS.
*
point P. Make the angle bap equal to BAP, and abp equal to ABP;
and let ap and bp meet in p. Then, if the curves be similar, p must
be on the arc ab; for every point on AB is to have a corresponding
point on ab. Hence the definition of similarity is as follows:-Two
curves are similar when for every polygon which can be inscribed in the
first, a similar polygon can be inscribed in the second.
It is easily shown that if on two lines, ▲ and a, be described a first
pair of polygons, P and p, and a second pair, Q and q, the proportion of
the first and second pairs is the same, or P:p :: Q: q. The simplest
similar polygons are squares; consequently, any similar polygons
described on A and a are to one another in the proportion of the
squares on A and a.
This is also true if for the polygons we sub-
stitute similar curves; and it must be proved by the method of ex-
haustions [GEOMETRY], or by the theory of limits applied to the
proposition, that any curve may be approached in magnitude by a
polygon within any degree of nearness.
(or contracted) to pay the plaintiff the sum due. Simple contract
debts are the last which are payable out of a deceased person's estate,
when the assets are insufficient.
SIN. One of the few passages of Scripture in which we have some-
thing which approaches to the character of a definition relates to this
word: "Sin is the transgression of the law." (1 John iii. 4.) Within
this definition would be comprehended all actual sins, when the word
law is interpreted to mean the Christian law, the rule by which the
minds of all who profess Christianity are bound; not merely open
palpable offences against the law, such as murder, theft, lying, and the
like, but sinful omissions of duty, and those sins which are only those
of contemplation and thought: since the Christian rule commands us
not to neglect the performance of our duties, and to keep a watch over
the thoughts as well as over the actions and words.
It was this comprehensive and most excellent law which was in the
mind of the Apostle when he said that "sin was transgression of the
The theory of similar solids resembles that of similar polygons, but law," or at least that other divine law which bound the conscience of
it is necessary to commence with three points instead of two. Let the Jews. But the expression may be taken to express more generally
A, B, C, and a, b, c, be two sets of three points each, and let the any law which a person holds in his conscience to be binding upon
triangles A B C and abc be similar: let them also be placed so that the him, whether it be a law of nature only, or a law in which the natural
sides of one are parallel to those of the other. If then any number of perception of right and wrong is modified by and mixed with what is
similar pyramids be described on ABC and abc, the vertices of these received as the will of God concerning us by direct revelation from
pyramids will be the corners of similar solids. If P and p be the him.
vertices of one pair, then the pyramids P A B C and pabc are similar if When the word sin is applied to any act, it is always, among correct
the vertices P and p be on the same side of A B C and abc [SYMMETRY], writers or speakers, used with reference to religious obligation, and to
and one of the triangles, say PA B, be similar to its corresponding the responsibility in which we stand to God, and the liability in which
triangle p ab, and so placed that the angle of the planes PAB and CAB is we are to future punishment. "To do wrong" would express the
the same as that of the planes pab and cab. The simplest similar solids same act as to commit sin;" but we use the former phrase without
are cubes; and any similar solids described on two straight lines are thinking of the offence which is done against God in any act of the
in the same proportion as the cubes on those lines. Similar curve kind; not so when we use the other phrase.
surfaces are those which are such that every solid which can be
inscribed in one has another similar to it, capable of being inscribed in
the other.
It is worthy of notice that the great contested element of geometry
[PARALLELS] would lose that character if it were agreed that the
notion of form being independent of size is as necessary as that of two
straight lines being incapable of enclosing a space; so that whatever
form can exist of any one size, a similar form must exist of every
other. There can be no question that this universal idea of similarity
involves as much as this, and no more; that in the passage from one
size to another, all lines alter their lengths in the same proportion, and
all angles remain the same. It is the subsequent mathematical treat-
ment of these conditions which first points out that either of them
follows from the other. If the whole of this notion be admissible, so
in any thing less; that is, the admission implies it to be granted that
whatever figure may be described upon any one line, another figure
having the same angles may be described upon any other line. If then
we take a triangle A B C, and any other line ab, there can be drawn
upon ab a triangle having angles equal to those of AB C. This can only
be done by drawing two lines from a and b, making angles with ab
equal to BAC and ABC. These two lines must then meet in some
point c, and the angle acb will be equal to A C B. If then two triangles
have two angles of one equal to two angles of the other, each to each,
the third angle of the one must be equal to the third angle of the
other; and this much being established, it is well known that the
ordinary theory of parallels follows. The preceding assumption is not
without resemblance to that required in the methods of Legendre.
[PARALLELS.]
SIMILE is defined by Johnson to be "a comparison by which any
thing is illustrated or aggrandised," a definition which has been often
neglected by poets. A metaphor differs from a simile in expression,
inasmuch as a metaphor is a comparison without the words indicating
the resemblance, and a simile is a comparison where the objects com-
pared are kept as distinct in expression as in thought. The metaphor
is only a bolder and more elliptical simile. When we speak of the
rudeness of a man, and say, "Mr. Jones is as rude as a bear," we use
a simile, for the rudeness of the two are kept distinct but likened;
when we say
"that bear Mr. Jones," we use a metaphor, the points of
resemblance being confounded in the identification of rudeness with
a bear. So, "brave as a lion" is a simile-the "lion Achilles" a meta-
phor. Where the resemblance is obvious, it may be more forcibly
and as intelligibly expressed by a simple metaphor; but when the
resemblance is not so obvious, it requires fuller elucidation, and then
it must be expressed by a simile. Similes therefore, from their ten-
dency to detail, are usually misplaced in passionate poetry, but meta-
phors constitute the very language of passion; for the mind, when
moved, catches at every slight association to express itself, but never
dwells on them with the deliberateness of a comparison.
SIMILOR. A kind of gold-coloured brass. [BRass.]
SIMONY. BENEFICE.]
SIMOOM. [SAMIELI.]
SIMPLE BODIES. [ATOMIC THEORY.]
SIMPLE CONTRACT debts are those which are contracted with-
out any engagement under the seal of the debtor or of his ancestor
[DEED], and which are not of record by any judgment of a court.
Money due for goods bought by the debtor is the most usual of
simple contract debts; and the declaration against a defendant, in an
action for goods sold, usually alleges that the defendant undertook
Under this definition it is evident that there may be degrees in sin :
and we mention this to remove what we deem an erroneous opinion on
this subject, which goes the length of saying that there is really no
difference between the slightest violation of any moral obligation and
the more heinous transgressions. The error on this point arises out of
one of the commonest mistakes in respect of language-confounding
words in their abstract with words in their concrete state. It is true
that sin in the abstract is one and indivisible, and there are no degrees
in it; it expresses that which is most offensive in the sight of a pure,
holy, and judging God. But when we say a sin," we refer to some
particular act; and common sense tells us that in all acts in which
the law is trangressed there is not the same amount of moral turpitude,
not the same amount of defiance to the Divine Power, nor the same
injury to society or to our neighbour, and consequently not the same
amount of offence in the sight of God. But a watchful guard should
be kept; for nothing is more certain in the philosophy of mind, than
that small offences lead imperceptibly to the toleration of greater, so
that the man who thinks little of small offences may become, before he
is aware, guilty of those of the most heinous nature.
There is also what divines call Original Sin; a phrase which is
differently interpreted by different persons. By some it is considered
as being the act of sin committed by our first parents when they trans-
gressed the law which had bound them not to eat of the fruit of a
certain tree; and this act of sin is regarded as partaken in by all the
posterity of Adam, fixing upon them all the guilt of his sin, and
exposing them to punishment which would be inflicted for this par-
ticular sin, to say nothing of their own sin, but for the great redemp-
tion. There are many modifications of this notion and many shades of
opinion; and some classes of professing Christians do not use the
phrase original sin, though they admit the proneness of man to sin;
attributing it to his ignorance and imperfection, to the violence of his
appetites and passions, and in general referring it to that state of pro-
bation in which it seems to them to have been the intention of the
Creator to place us.
SINAMINE. [THEISINAMINE.]
22 10
SINAPIC ACID (2HO, CH100).-A product of the action of
caustic potash on SINAPINE. The sinapate of potash (2KO, CH₁00)
thus produced is decomposed by hydrochloric acid, and the preci-
pitated sinapic acid crystallised from hot diluted alcohol. Sinapic acid
forms small prisms which are insoluble in ether and only slightly
soluble in water. Both itself and its salts are somewhat unstable.
It fuses above 300° Fahr.
SINAPINE. (C„HNO₁). The hydrosulpho-cyanate of sinapine
occurs in white mustard. After the mustard flour has been suc-
cessively treated with ether and with absolute alcohol to remove
fatty and colouring matter, it is boiled in alcohol of sp. gr. 0·825, and
the filtered liquid concentrated till, on cooling, it deposits crystals.
Sinapine reduces the salts of copper, silver and gold. Its solutions
are very liable to decompose into SINAPIC ACID and SINKALINE; a
change that is rapidly effected by ebullition with solution of potash :-
C32 H23NO10 + 2(KO,HO) = 2KO, О23H100, + С₁₁3NO3 + 2010
Siuapine.
Sinapate of potash.
22
9
Sinkaline.
Sinapine was formerly called sulphosinapisine,
SINA'PIS. Two species of this genus are used in this country to
yield the mustard of commerce, S. alba and S. nigra, or white mustard
F83
SINAPOLINE.
and black mustard. Both are annuals, the latter extensively cultivated
in Yorkshire and Durham. Of the former the seeds are large, smooth,
not veined or reticulated, and when bruised and mixed with water, do
not evolve a pungent odour. The integument or skin is also thin, and
the quantity of fixed oil obtained from it is less than from that of the
black mustard. White mustard is of a light colour externally (but one
variety is blackish), and when reduced to powder, is of a light yellow
colour.
SINE AND COSINE.
531
line o N, and in the direction of the arrow, the angle N O P has an infinite
number of sincs and cosines. With reference to the radius O P, PN is
珊
​
The seeds of black mustard are about the size of the head of a
common pin, ovato-globose, of a reddish-brown, beautifully veined,
internally yellow, oily, and yielding a yellowish-green powder. The
chemical constitution of the two is essentially different, as it is only
the black mustard which evolves, when bruised and mixed with water,
the pungent principle which irritates the eyes, nostrils, and skin. The the sine and ON the cosine of NOP; but with reference to the radius
white mustard possesses a non-volatile acrid principle, which is
developed by the addition of water; also a peculiar principle, sulpho-09, QR is the sine and OR the cosine. The fundamental relation
sinapisin. It is the young plants from this species which are eaten
(sine 0)2 + (cosine 0) = (radius)?
with cress as a salad.
may
The fixed oil is perfectly bland, like that of olive or rape, which last
it greatly resembles. It exists to the extent of 20 per cent in white,
and about 28 per cent. in black mustard-seed. To obtain it the seeds
are crushed in a mill or between rollers, and the skins should be
subjected to pressure as well as the farina or flour. The cake
then be sifted and reduced to a fine powder, as it retains all the
pungent properties. In France the oil is generally left in the seeds,
which renders them very difficult to powder, and makes it expensive.
It is also less potent than English mustard in equivalent quantity.
The marc or cake is sometimes used as manure, but this is a waste.
It has been supposed to be anthelmintic as well as purgative, but its
medicinal properties are insignificant.
Pure flour of mustard ought alone to be used for medical purposes,
but it is seldom to be met with; the mustard of the shops is a mixture
of the flour of both black and white mustard with wheat flour and
capsicum.
Flour of mustard, mixed with water, forms the well-known condi-
ment so much used with all the more indigestible articles of food, the
solution of which it seems to favour by rousing the powers of the
stomach. A tea or table-spoonful of mustard in a tumbler of water
forms a ready and useful emetic in many cases of poisoning, especially
when narcotic poisons have been taken; also in cholera. Added to foot-
baths, mustard has a revulsive action, which is often serviceable in the
commencement of colds, and when gout has seized the stomach or
brain; also when cutaneous diseases have suddenly receded. (RUBE-
FACIENTS.)
Sinapisms are generally directed to be made with vinegar, but
water of the temperature of about 100° Fahr. is preferable, and less
expensive. French mustard for the table is often prepared with
vinegar.
S. nigra differs from the white mustard in the flowers being much
smaller, and in the seeds being black. The great purpose for which
the black mustard is grown is for the seeds. "To raise the seed for
flour of mustard and other officinal occasions, sow either in March
or April in an open compartment, or large sowings in fields, where
designed for public supply. Sow moderately thick, either in drills
six or twelve inches asunder, or broad-cast, after the ground has
been properly ploughed and harrowed, and rake or harrow in the
seed. When the plants are two or three inches high, hoe or thin them
moderately where too thick, and clear them from weeds. They will
soon run up to stalks, and in July, August, or September return a crop
of seed ripe for gathering; being tied up in sheaves and left three or
four days on the stubble." (Don's Miller.) Rain damages the crop very
much. Black mustard exhausts the soil rapidly. When once grown
it is difficult to extirpate on account of the great vitality of the seeds,
which, if buried at almost any depth and for any length of time, will
germinate when brought to the surface. In preparing the flour of
mustard in this country, the black husk of the seed is separated by
delicate sifting. This process, which is not gone through on the
Continent, makes the British mustard so much lighter and more
agreeable in colour.
SINAPOLINE. [MUSTARD, OIL OF.]
SINDOC, or SINTOC (a word not to be confounded with Sind-
hooka, or Sinduya, the Indian name of the Vitex Negundo), is the bark
of a species of cinnamomum (C. sintoc, Blume), a native of the forests
of Java. It greatly resembles the bark of Cinnamomum culilawan,
Blume, and partakes of the qualities of Ceylon cinnamon in a very
inferior degree. The bark is in thick flat pieces, not in thin quill-like
pipes. Its oil is like that of cassia. The bark is used as a spice; the
oil as a medicine and perfume by the natives. It is seldom brought to
Europe in any shape.
SINE and COSINE. We separate from the article TRIGONOMETRY
the mere description and properties of these fundamental terms, which,
though originally derived from simple trigonometry, are now among
the most useful foundations of mathematical expression. For what we
have to say on their history, we refer to the article just cited.
According to the ancient system of trigonometry, the sine and
cosine are only names given to the abscissa and ordinate of a point, not
with reference to the position of that point in space, but to the radius
vector of that point and its angle. Thus, measuring angles from the
on
is obvious enough.
The student always began trigonometry with this multiplicity of
definitions, and with the idea of some particular radius being necessary
to the complete definition of the sine and cosine. But as he proceeded,
he was always taught to suppose the radius a unit; that is, always to
adopt that line as a radius which was agreed upon to be represented
by 1. Hence he gradually learned to forget his first definition; and,
passing from geometry to arithmetic, to use the following: PO being
unity, the sine of NOP is PN, which is therefore in arithmetic the
fraction which PN is of PO; and the cosine is the fraction which oN is
of Po.
If Qo had been used as a unit, the result would have been the
same; for by similar triangles, R Q is the same fraction of Qo which
NP is of Po.
In the most modern trigonometry, and for cogent reasons, the student
is never for a moment allowed to imagine that the sine and cosine are
in any manner representatives of lines. In a practical point of view,
the final definition of the old trigonometry coincides exactly with that
of the new; but the latter has this advantage, that all subsequent
geometrical formulæ are seen to be homogeneous in a much more
The definition is this: The sine of N O P is not NP,
distinct manner.
nor any number to represent NP; it is the fraction which N P is of PO,
considered as an abstract number. Thus if ON, NP, PO, be in the pro-
45
告
​portion of 3, 4, and 5, PN is of OP: this is the sine of NO P, not
of any line, nor any line considered as of a unit; but simply, four-
fifths of an abstract unit. Similarly the cosine is the fraction which
ON is of o P. In just the same manner the abstract number T, or
is not styled (as it used to be) the circumference of a
314159...,
circle whose diameter is a unit, but the proportion of the circumference
to the diameter, the number of times which any circumference contains
its diameter. We cannot too strongly recommend the universal
adoption of this change of style, a slight matter with reference to mere
calculation of results, but one of considerable importance to a correct
understanding of the meaning of formulæ.
The line or being considered as positive [SIGN], the signs of PN and
NO determine those of the sine and cosine; and the manner in which
the values of these functions are determined when the angle is nothing,
or one, two, or three right angles, is easy enough. The following short
table embraces all the results of sign:
0 I II III IV
Sine 0 + 1 + 0 1 0
1
Cosine 1 + 0
0 + 1.
Read this as follows:-When the angle =0, the sine = 0; from
thence to a right angle the sine is positive: at the right angle the sine
is +1; from thence to two right angles the sine is positive, &c.
The fundamental theorems of the sine and cosine, from which all
their properties may be derived, are,
Se
sin (a + b) = sin a cos b + cos a sin b
sin (a - b) = sin a cos b cos a sin b
cos (a + b) = cos a cos b sin a sin b
cos (a - b) = cos a cos b + sin a sin b
all which theorems are in fact contained in any one of them, so soon
as that one is shown to be universally true. It frequently happens
however that the student is allowed to assume the universal truth of

T
P
()
X
these theorems upon too slight a foundation of previous proof: draw.
ing a figure for instance in which both angles are less than a right
t85
593
SINE AND COSINE.
SINE-CURE.
angle. We give, as an instance, the proof of the first formula when
both angles are greater than two right angles. Let X OP-a, Poq=b,
both angles being measured in the direction of revolution indicated by
the arrow.
The sum is four right angles + x o Q, which has the same
sine and cosine as x o Q. From any point Q in o Q draw perpendiculars
on o X and OP, and complete the figure as shown. Then sin (a+b) is
positive, and is the fraction which QM is of QO, or QM: Q0; QM and
Qo being expressed in numbers. But
condition. Hence, making cos 1-1. sin 1e, we have coз 1-
-1. sin 1e-1, and the two equations give
COS =
ete
2
sin x=
е e¹-e-z
2-1
(4)
which will be found to satisfy all the conditions used in defining them,
namely,
Q M
૨૦
Q S
+
NR
QO
Q S QN
QN QO
NR NO
+
NO QO
OT Q N
PT NO
=
+
PO QO
PO QO
By similar triangles
Now, remembering the magnitudes of a and b, and the rule of sigus
established, we have
sin α =
PT
РО
от
cos α =
sin b
Q N
QO
و
cos b
NO
૨૦
and substitution immediately gives the first formula. We shall not
here dwell on the minor consequences of these formule, but shall
refer to the collection in TRIGONOMETRY.
The connection of the sine and angle depends in great part upon
the following theorem :-if x may be made as small as we please,
sin x may be made as near to unity as we please. Observe that
this theorem supposes the angle x to be measured by the theoretical
unit [ANGLE], or the angle 1 to be the angle of which the arc and
radius are equal. The proof depends upon the assumption that in the
adjoining obvious figure the arc A B is less than its containing contour
A B=7x.
BC
M A
A C+C B. If the radius o в be r, we see that x must be arc AB: 7, or
Also BM=r sin x, BC=AM=r-r cos x, by definition.
Now the arc AB is greater than B M, and less than BM+MA, or a lies
between r sin ≈ and r sin x+r−r cos x, or a lies between sin a and
sin +1-cos x;
or between sin x and sin x +
whence
æ
sin x
sin x
1+ cos x
sin x
e² + + e +-
2
e* + e~*
2
eye y
2
**
e-* ey ·e-y
2v-1
2√-1
ez+y-e-x-y
2√-1
e*
ey +e-y
e* +e-²
ey-e-y
+
2√-1
2
2
2 √-1
1
2
2√-1
e* e-
e*
(+) + (~~)-1
To determine what algebraical formula e must be, take the universal
formula
** =1+ log e . x + (log e)²
whence we easily get from (4)
داية
23
2
+ (log e)³ +
2.3
sin :=
log e
V-1
x+
(log e)3
√-1 2.3
+
1 + (log e)²
+ (log e)+
(log e)5 2-5
V-1 2.3.4.5
X¹
2.3.4
+..
+
cos a=
Now e, as far as our definitions have yet extended, is wholly unde-
Let us add to our
termined, every value of e being applicable.
conditions that sin : shall approach to unity as is diminished
without limit: but sin a approaches to log e: √-1; therefore
log e = √−1, or e=√¹
The preceding is purely symbolical; we merely ask how are pre-
vious symbols, used under certain laws, to be put together so as to
represent certain new symbols which are to have certain properties.
Let us now take the real geometrical meaning of sin x and cos x, and
the complete system of algebra, in which 、/-1 is explained. In that
system, if a line equal to the unit-line be inclined to it at an angle r,
it is obviously represented by cus + √-1. sin x, and any power of
it, whole or fractional, can be obtained by changing a into me, so that
cos m.x+ √/− 1. sin mx=(cos x + √−1. sin x)
ก
is an immediate consequence of definition; and making a=1, the
equation
cos m+ √-1. sin m=(cos 1 +/−1. sin 1)™
follows at once. To prove that €1 and cos 1-1 sin 1 are
identical, in the most logical manner, requires a previous definition of
an exponential quantity, in a sense so general, that exponents of the
form a+b-1 shall be included: without this the new algebra just
Ε
lies between 1 and 1 + 1+ cos x
Hence, x diminishing without limit, the difference between 1 and 2:
sin x diminishes without limit, and therefore that between 1 and sin a
which was to be proved. From hence it follows that 1 COS X
and 4 approach to a ratio of equality, as may be readily proved from referred to is not free from the results of INTERPRETATION.
the equation
2
2
1- cos x=
22
2
(sin m )² + 1 + cos x
•
However we may proceed, the series above given for the sine and
cosine of a become
2-3
sin x=x-
+
2-5
2.3 2.3.1.5
x
2.3.4.5.6.7
+
cos a=1-
+
2
2.3.4
2.3.4.5.6
+
in which the second and third factors have unity for their limit.
Hence then, when is very small, and 1-1 are very near
representatives of the sine and cosine; and the goodness of the
representation may be increased to any extent by diminishing x.
The complete theory of the sine and cosine, from and after the two
theorems just established, depends upon the introduction of the
square root of the negative quantity. If we take ordinary algebra
only, in which the impossible quantity is unexplained, we have the
most common mode of proceeding. The explanations afterwards given
would make this theory the most simple imaginable, to a student who
had learned ALGEBRA from the beginning in the manner pointed
out. To take the middle course, let us assume the rules of algebra
[OPERATION] independently of the meanings of the symbols. Let sin a
and cos x be defined as "such functions of x that sin (x+y) gives
sin x. cos y + cos x. sin y, and cos (x+y)= cos x. cos y-sin æ. sin
=cos x. cos y-sin z. sin y." |
Observe that we do not in thus defining say there are such functions;
we only say, if there be such, let them have these names. Then, as in
ALGEBRA cited above, we see that if pa=cos x + √-1. sin x, the
relation p(x+y)=px × py follows; whence [BINOMIAL THEOREM] p.c
can be nothing but K, where K is independent of x. Let x=1,
whence (1)=K, or we have
x+
cos x + √−1.sin x=(cos 1 + √√/−1. sin 1) *... (1)
and similarly it is shown that
cos x −√—1. sin x=(cos 1—√ −1.sin 1)* ... (2).
From these we get, by multiplication,
cos² x+sin² x=(cos 1 + sin³ 1) *: (3)
if it be possible, let cos² 1 + sin² 1=1, then cos² + sin² a is always=1,
or at least [Roor] we may always take one pair of forms satisfying this
and these series are always convergent. Their present form depends
entirely on the unit chosen; if however by we mean aº, a', or ", we
must write
a
sin z=ax-
a³ç³
2.3
+
a5x-5
2.3.4.5
cos x=1-
a² as
2
+
a¹xt
2.3.4
...!
....
where [ANGLE] a is 01745,32925...., 00029,08882, •00000,48481,
according as x means a number of degrees, of minutes, or of
seconds.
terms, and on their connection with algebra. Some applications will
The preceding is enough on the fundamental meanings of these
be seen in TRIGONOMETRY.
--
SINE and COSINE, CURVES OF. By the curve of sines is
meant that which has the equation y sin x, and by the curve of
cosines, that which has the equation y = cos a; it being understood
that stands for as many angular units as there are linear units in the
abscissa. The undulatory forms of these curves are easily established;
and if the ordinate of a curve consist of several of them, as in
y = a sin x + b cos x + c sin 2.r, the several parts of the compound.
ordinate may be put together in the same manner as that in which
the simple undulations are compounded in Acoustics. Except as
expressing the most simple form of undulating curves, these equations
are of no particular use in geometry.
SINE-CURE. Sine-cures are ecclesiastical benefices without care
of souls, and are of three sorts:-1. Where the benefice is a donative
€87
SINETHYLAMINE.
[BENEFICE], and is committed to the incumbent by the patron expressly
without cure of souls, the cure either not existing or being entrusted
to a vicar; this is the strictest sine-cure. 2. Certain cathedral offices,
namely, the canonries and prebends, and, according to some authori-
ties, the deanery. 3. Where a parish is destitute, by some accident,
of parishioners; this last kind has been called depopulations, rather
than sine-cures.
Rectors of a parish in which vicars were likewise established with
cure of souls have often by degrees exempted themselves from their
ecclesiastical functions, and so have obtained sine-cures; but this is
rather by abuse than legitimately. Sine-cures are exempt from the
statute of pluralities.
SINETHYLAMINE. [THEISINAMINE.]
SINKALINE. (C10H13NO)-This alkaloid is a derivative of SINA-
PINE. It is best obtained by heating hydro-sulphocyanate of sinapine
with baryta water until precipitation of sinapate of baryta ceases; then
taking out hydrosulphocyanic acid by the sulphate of copper and iron;
again adding excess of baryta water, and lastly separating baryta by a
current of carbonic acid. From the solution of carbonate of sinkaline,
thus obtained, the other salts may be formed by double decomposition.
The alkaloid itself is produced by the action of oxide of silver on
hydrochlorate of sinkaline.
Solution of sinkaline is very unstable. Evaporated in vacuo, a
crystalline mass of the alkaloid is obtained, soon becoming brown in
contact with air. Chloroplatinate of sinkaline contains (C10H13NO,
HCl, PtCl).
SINKING FUND. [NATIONAL DEBT, col. 878.]
SIOUX INDIANS. [NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS.]
SIPHON (σipwv), a tube or pipe by which a liquid can be decanted
from one vessel to another without inverting or disturbing the vessel
from which the liquid is withdrawn. This machine was probably
invented in the second century B.C., by Hero of Alexandria, who, in the
'Spiritalia,' or 'Pneumatics,' mentions its employment for the purpose
of conveying water from one valley to another over the intervening
ground.
The siphon is a bent tube the arms of which are of unequal length:
one of the arms being immersed in the liquid which is to be drawn
from a vessel or reservoir, and the air being removed by suction, or by
means of a syringe, or by previously filling the siphon, the liquid in
the vessel immediately rises in the immersed arm, in consequence of
the pressure of the atmosphere on that which surrounds the tube;
then passing over the bend, it flows from the open orifice at the lower
extremity of the other arm. When the fluid to be raised is water, the
vertical height of the bend in the tube, above the surface of the water
in the vessel, must not exceed about 33 feet, because a column of
water of that height would be in equilibrium with the pressure of the
atmosphere, and could not by the latter be forced over the bend. If
mercury were to be raised, the height of the bend in the siphon must,
for a similar reason, be less than 30 inches. The external arm of the
siphon must be longer than that which is immersed in the fluid, or its
orifice must be on a lower level than the surface of that fluid, in order
that the weight of the column of fluid in the former may exceed that
in the latter, and thus a continual stream be produced.
The siphon is sometimes furnished with a suction or exhausting pipe
at the side, by means of which the air can be conveniently removed
and the liquid be made to rise over the bend into the longer limb.
In the Wurtemberg siphon the two ends are turned up, so that when
once filled it will always remain so, and act at once when one end is
immersed into a liquid.
A siphon may be made to discharge water at the upper extremity by
means of an air-vessel at that place. Thus, while the tube is filled
with water, if the communication between the descending branch and
the lower part of the air-vessel be closed by the shutting of a valve,
the water, which would have otherwise descended, rises in the vessel,
where it condenses the air; and, from the reaction of the latter, it is
made to escape, as in a forcing-pump, through an open pipe whose
lower extremity is under the surface of the water in the vessel. This
was the invention of M. Hachette, and is denominated the ram siphon.
In order that a fluid may issue from that branch of a siphon which is
on the exterior surface of the vessel containing it, it is necessary, as has
been stated above, that the extremity of the branch should be below the
level of the surface of the fluid in the vessel; but it may be observed
that there is an exception to the rule when the interior diameter of
that branch is very small; for example, when it is less than 1-10th of
an inch, the interior diameter of the branch in the vessel being con-
siderably greater. For if such a fluid as water or wine be introduced
into a bent tube having one branch only very small, and the open ends
be uppermost, the top of the fluid in the more slender branch will, by
the effect of capillary attraction, stand higher than the top of that in
the other branch. It would follow therefore, that if the bent tube
were inverted, and the orifice of its larger branch were placed under
the surface of the fluid in a vessel, the fluid would begin to issue from
the other branch, though the orifice of the latter were a little above
the level of that surface.
The effect of a siphon may be produced by capillary attraction
alone; for if a piece of cotton cloth have one of its extremities in a
vessel of water, and part of it be made to hang over the edge of the
vessel, the water will be attracted along the threads of the cloth, and
|
SIRIUS AND PROCYON.
598
will descend from thence in drops, provided the extremity of the
part thus hanging over be below the surface of the water in the vessel.
The phenomena presented by springs of water are explained by
supposing that the rain which is absorbed in the earth occasionally
finds its way by small channels to some interior cavity, and from thence
by other channels, which may be considered as natural sipl:ons, to an
orifice on a lower level at the surface of the ground. At this orifice it
issues in a stream of water, which continues to flow till the surface of
the water in the cavity has descended below the tops of the vertical
bends in the channels: the water then ceases to flow till the rains
again raise the water in the cavity above those bends. But it some-
times happens that a spring, without ceasing to flow, discharges
periodically greater and smaller quantities of water in given times;
and this is accounted for by supposing the existence of two cavities
either unconnected or communicating with one another by small
channels. The channels leading from one of these cavities to the point
of efflux are supposed to be below the level of the water in both
cavities, so that the water flows through them continually; but if the
channels from the other have vertical bends, so that they act as
siphons, and at the same time these channels carry off the water in
them faster than it can flow from the first cavity to the second, it will
be only when the water in the latter cavity is above the level of all
such bends that a discharge will take place from thence. As the water
in that cavity may only attain the necessary height in consequence of
periodical falls of rain, it will follow that corresponding increases in the
total quantity of water discharged can only then take place.
For the amusement of young persons, several philosophical toys have
been constructed, in which the effects are produced by means of con-
cealed siphons. The siphon is sometimes placed within a figure in the
middle or on the edge of a cup, and sometimes between its exterior
and interior sides. Such are Tantalus's Cup and the Siphon Fountain.
SIPHON GAUGE, in pneumatics, is a tube of glass bent so as to
form two branches equal and parallel to one another, and each from 6
to 8 inches in length; the tube is hermetically closed at one end and
left open at the other. One of the branches is filled with mercury;
and, both of them being in vertical positions, with the closed and open
ends upwards, they are, by means of a brass stem terminating in a
screw, affixed generally to the under surface of the table carrying the
plate of an air-pump. The siphon is contained in a cylindrical glass
vessel, a little exceeding it in length, which is closed at the lower and
open at the upper extremity; and the open end of the cylinder is
screwed to the table of the air-pump immediately about the orifice of a
brass tube which passes through the pump-plate and opens into the
receiver placed upon the plate, so that there is a free communication
between the air in the cylinder, in the open leg of the siphon, and in
the receiver. This gauge has a scale of inches, decimally subdivided.
While the pressure of the air in the receiver and in the open branch of
the gauge is more than a counterbalance to the weight of the column
of mercury in the closed branch, the gauge presents no indications:
from the time however that, by continuing the process of exhausting
the receiver, the pressure of the air in the open branch becomes less
than the weight of the column of mercury in the other, that column
descends in the latter branch and rises in the former; and then the
degree of rarefaction in the receiver is indicated by the difference
between the heights of the columns of mercury in the two branches of
the siphon. [AIR-PUMP; Pear-Gauge.]
SIRENS (Žeipĥves) are described in the Odyssey' as two maidens
who sat by the sea and so charmed with their music all who sailed by,
that they remained on the spot till they died. Ulysses, by the direc-
tion of Čirce, had himself tied to the mast, and stopped the ears of his
companions with wax, by which means he was able to hear their music,
and escape from its influence. ('Od.' xii. 39, &c., 169.) The ship of
Ulysses, with himself tied to the mast, is frequently represented on
gems, and other works of ancient art. The number of the Sirens was
afterwards increased to three, who are variously named by different
writers, Parthenope, Ligeia, and Leucosia; or Aglaope, Peisinoë, and
Thelxiepia. They were usually called the daughters of Melpomene
and Achelous (Apollod., i. 3, § 4), and were represented by artists with
the feathers and wings of birds. (Compare Ovid, 'Met.,' v. 522, &c.)
According to the later writers they were urged by Hera to contend with
the Muses, who conquered them, and tore off their wings. (Paus., ix.
34, § 2.)
SIRIUS and PROCYON (Zeípios and Пpokúшv), the Greek names of
the bright stars in the constellations of the Great and Little Dog
[CANIS MAJOR and MINOR]. These are Orion's dogs, according to
some, and those of minor personages, according to others; the whole
of their mythic explanations form a strong proof, in addition to those
already noticed, that the constellations are not Greek in their origin.
The Egyptians called the dog-star Sothis [SOTHIAC PERIOD], and from
its HELIACAL rising had warning that the overflow of the Nile was
about to commence. Now the overflow of the Nile follows the
summer solstice; whereas, by the precession of the equinoxes, the
heliacal rising of Sirius is now about the tenth of August. This
heliacal rising is a very indefinite phenomenon, and will serve any
system: by it Bailly, from Bainbridge's calculations, was able to carry
back the settlement of Egypt 2800 years before Christ: while Newton,
by a reckoning made on the same principles, made many ancient
events seem later than was generally supposed.
569
5:00
SIROCCO.
SIVA.
The greatest heats of summer generally follow the summer solstice,
and in the Mediterranean latitudes, and in ancient times, it was
observed that the unhealthy and oppressive period coincided with the
heliacal rising of the dog-star. We say the dog-star, without specifying
whether it was Sirius or Procyon; it is uncertain which it was, and
may have been both, for the heliacal risings do not differ by many
days. All antiquity attributed an evil influence to the star; and
though Geminus among the ancients, and Petavius among the moderns,
thought that the effects were to be attributed to the sun alone, they
had hardly any followers until the fall of judicial astrology. Even at
this day, when the heats of the latter part of the summer are excessive,
we are gravely told that we are in the dog-days; and most of the
almanacs, in which an absurdity has the lives of a cat, persist to this
very year in informing us that the dog-days begin on the 3rd of July,
and end on the 11th of August. Now as the heliacal rising of Sirius
takes place about the very end of this period, it is clear that the cart
has got before the horse, or the mischief before the dog. Moreover, it
is notorious that in our island the oppressive heats of the summer,
during which dogs are apt to run mad (which is what many people
think the name arises from, as indeed it was anciently recorded among
the effects of the star), generally fall about the middle or end of
August. The real classical dog-days are the twenty days preceding
and the twenty days following the heliacal rising of whichever star it
was, Sirius or Procyon. It is perfectly useless to retain this period:
surely these dogs have had their day.
SIROCCO is the name given to a hot and suffocating wind which
appears to originate with the rarefied air in the sandy deserts of
Arabia, about the season that the overflowing of the Nile commences;
it extends eastward over Arabia, Persia, and some parts of Hindustan,
and it is felt, but with less inconvenience, in Italy and Spain. This
wind is probably only one of the modifications of that which, in
different countries, is called samoom, simoom, samm or samieli, khamsin,
and harmattan. [SAMIELI.]
SISSOO (Dalbergia Sissoo), a tree well known throughout the Bengal
presidency, and highly valued on account of its timber. It is common
chiefly in the forests and beds of rivers which extend all along
the foot of the Himalayas up to 30° N. lat. The trunk is generally
more or less crooked, lofty, and often from three to four feet in
diameter. The Sissoo yields the Bengal shipbuilders their crooked
timbers and knees. Dr. Roxburgh describes it as being tolerably light,
remarkably strong, but not so durable as could be wished; the colour
is light grayish-brown, with dark veins: he says that upon the whole
he scarcely knows any other tree more deserving of attention, from its
rapid growth in almost every soil, its beauty, and uses. Captain
Baker, in his Experiments on the Elasticity and Strength of Indian
Timbers,' describes the Sissoo in structure somewhat resembling the
finer species of teak, but as being tougher and more elastic, and as
employed by the natives for house furniture, beams, cheeks, spokes,
naves and felloes of wheels, keels and frames of boats, blocks, and
printing-presses. It is universally employed both by Europeans and
natives of the north-west provinces where strength is required. S.
Dalbergia Ougeinensis, found in central India, is also highly valued for
timber: the pillars of Sindia's palace at Ougein are made of it.
SISTRUM, a musical instrument of percussion, of great antiquity,
constructed of brass, and shaped like the frame and handle of a racket,
the head part of which had three, and sometimes four, horizontal bars
placed loosely on it, which were tuned, most probably, by some scale,
and allowed to play freely, so that when the instrument was shaken,
piercing, ringing sounds must have been produced. Some writers
have confounded the sistrum with the cymbals, though the instru-
ments could have had nothing in common except their harsh metallic
sounds.
As
now adored in most parts of India. According to Professor Wilson
(Vishnu Purâna,' xliv.), “ There is nothing like the phallic orgies of
antiquity; it is all mystical and spiritual.” The linga is twofold,
external and internal. The ignorant, who need a visible sign, worship
Siva through "a mark" or "type," which is the proper meaning of the
word "linga," of wood or stone; but the wise look upon this outward
emblem as nothing, and contemplate in their minds the invisible inscru-
table type, which is Siva himself. But his other forms are many, and
they vary in so far as they attribute to him the qualities of creator,
preserver, destroyer, and regenerator, and represent him in his various
avatúras (incarnations), eight of which are called by the common
name of Bhairava, all alluding to terrific properties of mind or body.
He is sometimes seen with two hands, at others with four, eight, or
ten, and with five faces; he has a third eye in his forehead, the corners
of which are perpendicular, which is peculiar to him; a crescent in his
hair, or on his forehead, encircling the third eye; he wears ear-rings of
snakes, and a collar of skulls. Mahadeva, when represented thus, but
with one head, has four hands, in one of which he holds a pasa, the
use of which is to extract the souls out of the bodies of men, when
their time is come, and is a common attribute of Yama, the god of
death ('S. Savitryupakhyana,' ed. Bopp.), a tris'ula is upheld by the
other, and the two other hands are in a position of benediction.
Bhairava (the lord of dread) he is frightful to behold; great tusks
burst through his thick lips; the hair, which is stiff and erect, gives
his face a dreadful aspect; the fall of the necklace is impeded by
numerous snakes which twine round his body. This is also the idol
which shows him as Maha-kâla, or god of time. It is in this character
that he is supposed to delight in bloody sacrifices, and that the Saiva
Sannyasis (followers of Siva who practice the yoga to the highest
degree) inflict on themselves the cruelties which have rendered so con-
spicuous the temple of Jaggernaut (Jagannatha, the lord of the world).
[YOGA.] A very minute account of the fortitude and self-denial of
the deluded Yogis is given in Ward's 'View of the Religion of the
Hindus.' His consort Sakti, who in her corresponding character is
celebrated as the goddess Durgâ or Kâlî, participates in these horrible
sacrifices, and has of late years become more notorious by the exposure
of the homicidal practices of the Thugs, who recognise in her their
tutelary divinity. Siva is also the god of justice. In that character
he rides a white bull, the symbol of divine justice (Manu, viii. 16), and
is often seen with the parashu (battle-axe) in his hand, and the sacred
string. On pictures he is often represented as if rubbed over with
ashes, and with a blue neck; the epithet of Nilakanta (blue-necked)
was given to him in commemoration of his having drunk the poison
which arose from the sea, and threatened to destroy mankind. But
the character in which he is more generally known, and which his
followers imitate, is that of the Kapala-bhrit (skull-bearer). Skanda-
Purâna makes him describe himself in the following words: Pârvatî
(his bride) must be foolish to practise so severe a penance in order to
obtain me, Rudra (one of his 1000 names), a wandering mendicant, a
bearer of a human skull, a delighter in cemeteries, one ornamented
with bones and serpents, covered with ashes and with no garments but
an elephant's skin, riding on a bull, and accompanied by ghosts and
goblins." Now this, except that the unearthly beings who follow him
are represented by a crowd of dirty people, is exactly the description
of a Saiva digambara (sky-clad, that is, naked-a kind of religious
mendicants), if, instead of the god's third eye, we add a round dʊt on
the nose, made of clay or cow-dung, and a mark on the forehead, com-
posed of three curved lines, instead of the chandra (half moon) which
Rudra obtained at the churning of the ocean.
To continue the account of his adventures: Siva marries Pârvati,
and lives with her in the midst of the eternal snows of Mount Kailasa.
His heaven is however one of the most splendid in Hindu mythology,
and a description of it may be found in Ward's 'View; it is a
translation from the Kritya Tatwa. There also are his two sons;
Ganesa, the leader of the heavenly choristers, and, as Vigueswara, the
god of difficulties, whose head is that of an elephant; and Kartikeya,
the six-faced god of war. It is there that he was thus addressed by
Brahma and the other gods:-"I know that thou, O Lord, art the
eternal Brahm, that seed which, being received in the womb of thy
Sakti (aptitude to conceive), produced this universe; that thou, united
with thy Sakti, dost in sport create the universe from thy own
substance, like the web from the spider." Here it was that he
of love), pierced by whose arrows he had neglected to avenge the
wrong done to him and his consort by his father-in-law Daksha. On
the top of Kailasa it is that the worshippers of Siva will be admitted
to the sports of the inhabitants, where Mahadeva invented for the
amusement of his bride the heavenly dance, to which his faithful
attendant Nandi plays the musical accompaniment. There lie before
the door his vehicle, the white bull, and the tiger on which his consort
rides. Though wanting all the splendours of the Swarga (Indra's
heaven), the abode of Siva, when drawn in the glowing colours of the
East, is no less gratifying. From thence he is supposed to bless his
worshippers," when, with Pârvati on his knees, he, the lord of the
world, on whose brow shines the moon throwing its beams over the
mountain of the north, deigns to allow the Suras and Asuras (gods and
dæmons) to wear for their frontal ornament the reflection of the
radiance of the nails of his feet, and the Ganga, rushing from the top
SIVA, the personification of the destroying principle, forms, with
the two other gods, Brahma and Vishnu, the Trimurti, or triad, of the
Hindus; and although, in allusion to his office as destroyer, he is
classed third, yet he is generally allowed to occupy the second place
among the Hindu deities, or even (according to some) the first, as his
supremacy appears to have obtained more general assent than that
of Vishnu. Indeed the worship of Siva is so predominant, that Brahma,
who is the only one of the three mentioned by Manu, and who seems
to have enjoyed a larger share of adoration in ancient times, has now
only one temple in India, while Mahâdeva (a name of Siva) and the
adventurous Vishnu, whose incarnations attract so much of the vene-reduced to ashes the "flowery-bowed mind-bewitcher” Kâma (the god
ration of the Hindus, are, in fact, the only gods of the whole Hindu
pantheon who have numerous worshippers. The present popular form
of Siva worship in all probability assumed its actual state before the
great Saiva reformer, Sankara Acharya, who lived in the eighth or
ninth century. ('Vishnu Purâna,' pref., p. x.) This opinion is sup-
ported by the well-founded assertion that the Saiva faith was insti-
tuted by Paramata Kalânala, who is described in the 'Sankara Vijaya'
of Ananda Giri as teaching at Benares, and assuming the insignia that
characterise the Dandis, a sect of Saivas of modern times. (As. Res.,'
xvi. 22.) No allusion is made in the Puranas to the original power of
this god as destroyer; that power not being called into exercise till
after the expiration of twelve millions of years, when, according to
Puranic accounts, the Kaliyuga will come to a close together with the
universe; and Mahadeva is rather the representative of regeneration
than of destruction. The linga is the only form under which Siva is
521
SIVAN.
of his head, refreshes the air of his sacred dwelling" (Katha Sarit |
Sagara). This is a favourite subject among the Hindu painters, and
we must allow that their conception of it is generally well executed.
The numerous names of Siva have led Europeans into a notion con-
trary to that which induced the Hindus to make the linga the general
type for all the forms of this god; they naturally enough supposed
each of his numerous names and pagodas to belong to a distinct and
separate deity. Hence the erroneous notion about polytheism in India,
whilst it is evident that the original monotheism of Hindu religion had
in the progress of time become pantheism, which is prevalent all over
the East. Even at present the follower of Siva denies the divinity of
Vishnu, and vice versa; although both these gods, now representing
the Supreme Being, were only types of divine qualities attributed to
the Trimurti. But the allegory eventually acted too strongly on the
imagination of the people. Brahma, as creator, had finished his work,
and could not with propriety act any more, Siva therefore and
Vishnu were destined to do all that fancy could suggest; but still
Mahâdeva is the only god to the Saivas, whilst Narayana is the one
chosen by the Vaishnavas. For this we have the express words of the
Radha Tantra, which says that the form of Arddhanareswara (half man,
half woman) was assumed by Siva in order to prove that he was the
one Brahm, in whom both the female and male powers are united.
This notion of the animating and recipient principles being united in
one, has been embodied in the statue termed Arddhanarî; one half of
Siva, from head to foot, bears all the ornaments of Parvati or Bhavanî;
the other is exactly the same as that in which he is usually exhibited.
The rage for identifying the gods of the Eastern nations with those
of the West has not spared Siva. He was Bacchus, and Saturn, and
Pluto; in fact, he was said to be almost the entire pantheon of Greece
and Rome and Egypt. Neither is this to be wondered at, seeing that
the Greeks and Latins ascribed different attributes to different deities.
The Hindus have only one to whom to ascribe all attributes. Siva is
also, and it appears originally, the representative of fire. This element
penetrates earth and water, represented by Brahma and Vishnu,
imparts to them some of its vigour, develops their qualities, and
brings everything in nature to that state of increase, maturity, and
perfection which they would not attain without it. But ceasing to
act beneficially on the created things, they perish this agent of repro-
duction, when free and visible, consumes the body, the composition of
which he himself had effected: to this quality he owes his title of god
of destruction.
The reader who may wish to see the connection of the Hindu gods
with those of Greece and Rome will find ample materials in the papers
which Col. Wilford inserted in the earlier volumes of the 'Asiatic
Researches:' they cannot however be implicitly relied on.
(Vans Kennedy, Researches into Ancient and Hindu Mythology;
Maurice, Indian Antiquities; Ward, View of the Religion, Literature, &c.
of India; Wilson, Vishnu Purana-Oxford Lectures; Rolle, Recherches
sur Bacchus et les Mystères; P. von Bohlen, Das Alte Indien;
Kindersley, Specimen of Hindu Literature; Moore, Hindu Pantheon;
Asiatic Researches; Dubois, Mœurs, &c. des Peuples de l'Inde.)
SIVAN (in Hebrew, 17) is the ninth month of the Jewish civil
770)
year. The name is mentioned in the Bible, at Esther viii. 9. In the
copies of the calendar of Heliopolis (Balbek) we find Enp, OŠip, and
Ogs; but these words are evidently intended to represent the Syrian
month Heziran. No probable Hebrew etymology has been suggested
for the word Sivan; but Renfey proposes the Persian month Sefen-
darmed, which the analogous Zend form shows to be compounded of
two words, the first of which, spenta,' signifies pure. Sivan has thirty
days, and it coincides with our May or June; in the year 1860 it
began on the 22nd of May and ended on the 20th of June; in 1861 it
begins on the 10th of May and ends on the 8th of June. On the
6th of this month Pentecost begins, and some festivals are mentioned
as held on the 15th, 16th, and 17th of the month, in commemoration
of victories gained by the Maccabees; but they do not appear to be
generally observed. The same may be said of certain fasts set down
for the 25th and 27th, in remembrance of the death of celebrated
rabbis.
SIX CLERKS.
532
Acts extended this privilege to other parties and other courts; but to
this day it would appear. that, by the strict law of the land, except so
far as it has fallen into desuetude, persons in good health, in pleas
relating to money, are bound to appear in person. None of these
statutes, however, extended to courts of equity; but, as far as appears,
every person who was desirous of relief, or compelled to defend him-
self in the Court of Chancery, was obliged to employ one of the Six
Clerks as his representative.
As
In early times great exertions were made to limit the number of
attorneys who were allowed to practise in each court. The increase of
litigation which accompanied the increase of property was looked on as
an evil to be checked in every possible method; and the method most
relied on was that of limiting the number of legal practitioners. The
well-known statute of 1455 (33 Hen. VI., c. 7, which is still in force)
may be referred to as an instance. It recites a practice of contentious
attorneys to stir up suits for their private profits, and enacts that there
shall be but six common attorneys in Norfolk, six in Suffolk, and two
in Norwich, to be elected and admitted by the chief-justice. As late
as the year 1616 a rule was made, "that the number of attorneys of
each court be viewed, to have them drawn to a competent number in
each court, and the superfluous number to be removed." These
various regulations, so far as they were enforced, could only have been
detrimental to the public; and as regards the courts of King's Bench
and Common Pleas, they seem not to have been long insisted on.
to the Exchequer, the principle of monopoly was continued in force
down to the year 1830, until which time eighteen attorneys only were
admitted to practise in it. As a consequence, that court was, before
the year 1830, scarcely at all resorted to. Since that time more actions
are commenced in it than in any other court. In the year 1632 a new
principle was introduced into the common-law courts, and all persons
wishing to be attorneys were required to serve an attorney under
articles for six years (since reduced to five). The Six Clerks' Office,
however, did not adopt this method until long after. They got over
the difficulty by admitting under-clerks, afterwards called sworn clerks,
to practise in their names, and they shared in some way or other the
profits with them. In 1548 an inquisition was appointed, to inquire
into the supposed exactions and abuses of the Court of Chaucery, and
the fees then payable for the business of this office. The presentment
shows that all the fees payable for business done in this office were at
that time payable to the Six Clerks; and it contains no allusion whatever
to the under-clerks as being in any way known as officers of the court.
They seem at that time to have held a position with regard to the Six
Clerks quite analogous to that which the solicitors for a long period
were under with regard to the sworn clerks, and to have been the real
persons who prosecuted the causes. They must have been numerous,
as in 1596 an order was made limiting the number that each Six-Clerk
should be allowed to have under him. Soon after this the Six Clerks,
instead of taking clients according to the clients' choice, agreed to divide
the business coming from time to time into court among themselves
alphabetically. This arrangement shows that the scheme of a limited
number of legalised attorneys for the Court of Chancery had now
entirely ceased to operate, and had been converted into a mere legal
pretext to enable these officers to tax all who were driven to such
Chancery Court for justice. This regulation for dividing the business
was, after some years, set aside on petition of the Master of the Rolls to
the crown, as a monopoly and a breach of the liberty of the subject.
In 1630 the office of Six-Clerk was, if not a sinecure, at least an appoint-
ment of great value. From a ridiculous story told about Sir Julius
Cæsar, the Master of the Rolls, in Clarendon's 'Rebellion,' it appears
that the appointment at that time sold for so large a sum as 60007.
About this time the under or sworn clerks, or clerks in court (for all
these names apply to them), began to be frequently mentioned in the
orders regulating the court, and soon grew into a very important body.
The under-clerks were the parties who knew the merits of the different
causes, and were interested in getting the work done, so as to gain the
fees from the clients. The Six Clerks had begun to sink into the
lethargy of sinecurists. Many orders were made to spur them into
activity, but all in vain.
The Six Clerks, in a paper given in by them to the Chancery Com-
SIX CLERKS. The office of Six Clerks was an office of great anti-missioners of 1825, state that," From the first establishment of the Six
quity connected with the Court of Chancery, probably as ancient as Clerks, up to the rebellion in the reign of King Charles I., many other
the court itself. The number of the Six Clerks was limited to six as important duties were attached to their office. During the usurpation,
long ago as the 12th Rich. II. The history of this office illustrates the however, a part of the duties was assigned to certain new officers
mischief of attempting to regulate the supply of legal services to the entitled the sworn clerks, who have ever since continued the execution
client. It exhibits an instance of the principles of interference and thereof." The Six Clerks in this statement have fixed rather too early
monopoly destroying two successive classes of officers, in spite of the a date to the legal transfer. Great efforts were made for reform of
strongest support which the law and the courts could give to them. legal procedure during the Commonwealth. Among others there was
The Six Clerks were originally the only attorneys of the court. an ordinance for abolishing the office of Six-Clerk in 1654, but it
By the common law, any person who was impleaded in any of the terminated, with the other ordinances of the Commonwealth, at the
courts of law was bound to appear in person, unless he obtained the Restoration, and the judges endeavoured vigorously to reinstate the
king's warrant, or a writ from Chancery enabling him to appear by Six Clerks in their old position. Lord Clarendon, in 1665, limited
attorney, "by reason whereof," says Lord Coke (1Inst.,' 128), "there the under-clerks to twelve to each Six-Clerk; these under-clerks are
were but few suits." There are many early statutes still in force sometimes referred to incidentally as the "attorneys of the parties,"
enacted for the purpose of empowering the subject to appoint an attor- though it is strongly repeated that "the Six Clerks are the only attor-
The earliest statute is that of Merton (A.D. 1235), whereby it isneys of this court." In 1668 the Six Clerks submitted to their fate;
'provided and granted that every freeman which oweth suit to the an order was made fully recognising the under-clerks, and dividing the
county, tithing, hundred, and wapentake, or to the court of his lord, office-fees between them and the Six Clerks. The Six Clerks, having
may freely make his attorney to do those suits for him." Subsequent secured their own monopoly, had, by the year 1688, become the
ney.
593
501
SIXTH.
SKEW-BRIDGE.
aggressors, and had schemed to increase their income by admitting
other persons, as well as the sworn or under-clerks, to practise in their
names. This was a bone of contention for many years. Before 1693
the under-clerks had obtained the privilege of filling up all the vacancies
in the office by taking articled clerks themselves. From this time till
their abolition, the office of Six-Clerk became a complete sinecure, and
the Six Clerks were only mentioned in the court's annals with respect
to the fees that they are entitled to demand from suitors. The office
was abolished by Lord Brougham's Act, which enacted that vacancies
should not be filled up till the number of Six Clerks was reduced to
two. Nearly the same story has to be told over again with reference
to the sworn clerks. For a long time these under-clerks were the prin-
cipal solicitors of the court; and until the middle of the last century
the chief business of the court was transacted by them without the
intervention of a solicitor. The same principle of monopoly led with
them to nearly the results that it did with their titular superiors. A
vested right to fees in the various stages of equity proceedings brought
about an inattention to business, which has led to the transfer of the
prosecution of suits to the solicitors.
span so wide as to allow the stream to pass under it without being
diverted; or by building the arch square with the stream, and of

Fig. 1.
Fig. 2.
sufficient length to allow the upper passage to take an oblique course
over it; but either of these is a clumsy expedient, although well
adapted for some situations. The arches or tunnels by which the
North-Western railway is conducted under the Hampstead Road and
Park Street, near the London terminus, are instances of the latter kind
of construction; the length of the arches being such that they present
faces square with the line of railway, notwithstanding the oblique
direction of the roads over them. A similar case occurs at Denbigh
Hall, on the same line, where the railway crosses over the London and
Holyhead road at such an angle that the difference of direction is only
25°. In this case a long gallery is constructed under the railway, con-
sisting of iron ribs or girders, resting upon walls built parallel with the
turnpike road; the ribs, and consequently the faces of the bridge,
being at right angles with it.
to the being at right angles with it. This gallery is about two hundred feet
long and thirty-four feet wide; and by its adoption, the necessity of
building an oblique arch of eighty feet span was avoided.
necessity of increasing the span of an arch according to its degree of
obliquity, by which the expense and difficulty are materially increased,
is illustrated by fig. 3, the ground-plan of an oblique arch across a
An effort was made in 1825 to get the offices of Six-Clerk and clerk
in court abolished. It was broadly stated at this time by a solicitor of
celebrity, that Mr. S. (a gentleman whose mind had failed him) was
"quite as good a clerk in court after he was a lunatic;" and the expense
of the office to the suitor was insisted on. Lord Eldon, however, saw
no reason to interfere with these offices, and they remained condemned
by the unanimous voice of the whole profession for many years longer.
Ultimately they were abolished, the then holders of the offices receiving
compensations so extravagant, that frequent attempts have been made,
though unsuccessfully, to reopen the question.
For further information as to this office, the reader is referred to the
case Ex-parte the Six Clerks," 3 Vesey's 'Reports,' 519; to the
Reports of the Commissioners on the Offices of Courts of Justice' of
1816; to the 'Report of 1825 of the Chancery Commission;' to Beames's
Orders of the Court of Chancery'; to pamphlets by Mr. Spence,
Mr. Field, Mr. Merivale, and Mr. Wainewright; and to a powerful
speech on Equity Reform, made in the end of the session of 1840, by
Mr. Pemberton (now Lord Kingsdown), which was afterwards published
in a separate form.
'
SIXTH, a musical interval, a concord, the ratio of which is 5: 3.
5:3.
[CONCORD; HARMONY.]
Of the Sixth there are three kinds: the Minor Sixth, the Major
Sixth, and the Extreme Sharp Sixth. The first (E, c), is composed of
three tones and two semitones; the second (C, A), of four tones and
one semitone; the third (c, A#), of four tones and two semitones.
Ex.:-
Fig. 3.
C
с
The

1st.
2nd.
3rd.

SIZAR, a term used in the University of Cambridge for a class of
students who are admitted on easier terms as to pecuniary matters
than others. These pecuniary advantages arise from different sources
in different colleges, and are of different value. Originally certain
duties were required of the students so admitted, approaching to the
character of menial, but these have been long discontinued. A similar
class of students at Oxford are called Servitors. The word Sizar is
supposed to be derived from size, which is used in the University to
denote an allowance of provisions at the college buttery; and that
from the verb to assize, which is much the same as the modern assess,
which means apportion.
SIZE. [GLUE MANUFACTURE.]
SKEW-BACK, in civil engineering, the course of masonry forming
the abutment for the voussoirs of a segmental arch, or, in iron bridges,
for the ribs. In the latter case a plate of cast-iron is usually laid upon
the stone skew-backs, extending the whole width of the bridge, and
forming a tie to the masonry. On account of the expansion and con-
On account of the expansion and con-
traction of iron under changes of temperature, the ribs should not,
especially in large arches, be fixed to their abutments. The ribs of
Southwark Bridge, over the Thames, were originally bolted to the
masonry of the piers; but it was found necessary, on this account, to
detach them, during the progress of the works.
SKEW-BRIDGE, a bridge in which the passages over and under the
arch intersect each other obliquely. In conducting a road or railway
through a district in which there are many natural or artificial water-
courses, or in making a canal through a country in which roads are
frequent, such intersections very often occur. As, however, the con-
struction of an oblique or skew arch is more difficult than that of one
built at right angles, skew-bridges were seldom erected before the
general introduction of railways; it being more usual to build the
bridge at right angles, and to divert the course of the road or of the
stream to accommodate it, as represented in fig. 1, in which a b is a
stream crossed by the road, the general direction of which is indicated
by the dotted line cd. In a railway, and sometimes in a common
road or a canal, such a deviation from the straight line of direction is
inadmissible, and it therefore becomes necessary to build the bridge |
obliquely, as represented in the plan, fig. 2. Where space and neatness
do not require to be considered, an oblique arch may be avoided, either
by building the bridge square with the upper passage, and making the
ARTS AND SCI. DIV. VOL. VII,
9
d
stream a b. Here it is evident that c g is the actual span of the arch;
although cd, the breadth of the stream, would be the span of a straight
arch, leaving the same width of passage underneath.
Very little is known respecting the origin of skew-bridges. It has
been repeatedly asserted that those built by George Stephenson on the
Liverpool and Manchester railway were the first erections of the kind;
but this is certainly incorrect, there being some of earlier date even in
Lancashire. A paper in the Transactions of the Institution of Civil
Engineers,' vol. i., p. 185, alludes to an oblique arch erected about the
year 1530 by Nicolò, called "Il Tribolo," over the river Mugnone,
near Porta Sangallo, at Florence. It appears however that the
principle upon which such bridges should be constructed was too little
understood to render an attempt at constructing them on a large scale
advisable. The next information the writer has met with on the
subject is contained in the article Oblique Arches,' in Rees's 'Cyclo-
pædia;' an article which appears to have escaped the notice of modern
writers on this branch of engineering science. It is written by an
engineer named Chapman, who mentions oblique bridges as being in
use prior to 1787, when he introduced a great improvement in their
construction. Down to that time, as far as he was informed, such
bridges had always been built in the same way as common square
arches, the voussoirs being laid in courses parallel with the abutments.
How very defective such an arch would be may be seen by reference
to fig. 3, in which lines are drawn to indicate the direction of the
courses. It is evident that here the portion cdfe is the only part of
the arch supported by the abutments; the triangular portions cdg and
efh being sustained merely by the mortar, aided by being bonded
with the rest of the masonry. This plan could therefore only be
adopted for bridges of very slight obliquity, and even then with con-
siderable risk. About the time mentioned above, Mr. Chapman was
employed as engineer to the Kildare canal, a branch from the Grand
Canal of Ireland to the town of Naas, on which it was desired to avoid
diverting certain roads which had to be crossed. He was therefore
led to look for some method of constructing oblique arches upon a
sound principle, of which he considered that the leading feature must
Q Q
595
SKEW-BRIDGE.
be that the joints of the voussoirs, whether of brick or stone, should
be rectangular with the abutment, instead of being parallel with the
face of the arch. Thus the courses, instead of taking the direction
shown in fig. 3, were laid in the manner indicated in fig. 4. One of
Fig. 4.
the first bridges built on this plan, the Finlay bridge, near Naas,
crossed the canal at an angle of only 39°; the oblique span being 25
feet, and the height of the arch 5 feet 6 inches. Mr. Chapman observes
that the lines on which the beds of the voussoirs lie are obviously
spiral lines, and to this circumstance may be attributed much of the
singular appearance of oblique arches. The Finlay bridge stood well,
but the ingenious designer did not think it prudent in any other case
to attempt so great a degree of obliquity, although he built several
other bridges on the same principle, over the Grand Canal in Ireland,
and over some wide drains in the East Riding of Yorkshire. He
recommends carrying up the masonry as equally as possible from each
abutment, in order to avoid unequal strains on the centering.
On the Liverpool and Manchester railway, out of rather more than
sixty bridges, about one-fourth were built on the skew; one, built of
stone, conducting the turnpike-road across the line at Rainhill, being
at an angle of only 34°, by which the width of span is increased from
30 feet, the width of the railway from wall to wall, to 54 feet, the width
on the oblique face of the arch. Skew-bridges have since become very
common, and some have been erected of even greater obliquity. That
at Box-moor, on the London and North-Western railway, was for long
unrivalled for obliquity by any other brick arch. Its angle is 32°,
the square span 21 feet, and the oblique span 39 feet. There are also
brick arches of great obliquity on the Greenwich and Blackwall rail-
ways, but with their precise angles we are unacquainted; on the Paris
and Rouen railway there is a skew-bridge of brickwork with stone
bond courses of 28 of obliquity.
From Mr. Buck's treatise on oblique bridges, it appears that the
difficulty of building skew-bridges increases with the obliquity of the
angle from 90° to 45°, which is supposed to be the most hazardous
angle for a semicircular arch; but that beyond that point, instead of
increasing, it rather diminishes to about 25°, which appears to be about
the natural limit for a semi-cylindrical arch. Mr. Buck, whose ex-
perience renders his opinion highly valuable, considers that oblique
arches of the elliptical form should not be attempted, as they are
deficient in stability, more difficult to execute, and more expensive
than semicircular or segmental arches.
The construction of skew-bridges of iron or timber is comparatively
simple, the ribs or girders of which such bridges are composed being
of the usual construction, laid parallel with each other, but the end of
each being in advance of that next preceding it. Fig. 5 represents the
Fig. 5.
ground-plan of such a bridge, the dotted lines indicating the situation
of the ribs upon which the platform is supported. The extraordinary
iron bridge by which the Manchester and Birmingham railway is con-
ducted over Fairfield-street, Manchester, at an angle of only 243°, is a
fine example of this kind of skew-bridge. It consists of six ribs, of
rather more than 128 feet span, although the width of the street is
only 48 feet, resting upon very massive abutments of masonry. The
total weight of iron in this bridge, which is considered to be one of
the finest iron arches ever built, is 540 tons. It was erected from the
design of Mr. Buck, who has constructed several other oblique bridges
of great size and very acute angles. Timber bridges, formed of trussed
ribs or girders, are built on the same principle. One of very great
obliquity, on the Sechill railway, is represented in the second series of
Brees's Railway Practice. A somewhat similar mode of constructing
skew-bridges in brickwork was introduced by Mr. Gibbs on the Croydon
SKIN, DISEASES OF.
598
railway. The Jolly Sailor bridge, which crosses over this line near
Norwood, consisted originally of four separate ribs of brickwork,
each forming an elliptical arch of 50 feet span, with a versed sine of
12 feet 6 inches, supporting a flat viaduct of Yorkshire flagstones.
Each of these ribs, which were three feet wide on the transverse face,
was built square, so that the brickwork was of the simplest kind;
but by making the respective abutments project beyond each other
according to the oblique direction of the railway, the ribs, taken
collectively formed a skew-arch. In a bridge erected by Mr. Wood-
house on the line of the Midland Counties railway, the same principle
is adopted, but the ribs are placed close together, so that no platform
of flagstones is required.
SKIN, DISEASES OF. Most of the diseases of the skin are
described in this work under their particular names.. In this article we
shall supply an arrangement of them, and a description of those which
are not described under special heads. The following arrangement is
that adopted by Rayer in his work on diseases of the skin :-
Class I. INFLAMMATION OF THE SKIN.
Order 1. Exanthematous.-Rubeola, Roseola, Scarlatina, Urticaria,
Erythema, Erysipelas.
Order 2. Bullous. - Vesication, Ampullæ, Pemphigus, Rupia, Zona.
Order 3. Vesiculous.-Herpes, Psora, Eczema, Miliaria.
Order 4. Pustulous. Varicella, Variola, Vaccinia, Vaccinella, Ec-
thyma, Cuperosa or Acne, Mentagra, Impetigo, Tinea, Artificial
pustules.
Order 5. Furunculous.-Hordeolum, Furuncle, Anthrax.
Order 6. Papulous.-Strophulus, Lichen, Prurigo.
Order 7. Tuberculous.-Lupus, Cancer, Elephantiasis of the Greeks.
Order 8. Squamous. - Lepra, Psoriasis, Pityriasis [SCURr].
Order 9. Linear.-Fissures.
Order 10. Gangrenous.-Malign pustules, Carbuncle of plague.
Order 11. Multiform. Burns, Frost-bite, Syphilitic eruptions.
Class II. CUTANEOUS AND SUBCUTANEOUS CONGESTIONS, And
HÆMORRHAGES.
Dermatorrhagia.
Cyanosis, Vibices, Petechiæ, Purpura Hæmorrhagica, Ecchymosis,
Class III. NERVOUS DISEASES OF THE SKIN.
Exaltation, Diminution, Abolition of the sensibility of the skin,
without appreciable alteration in the texture of this membrane.
Class IV. ALTERATIONS IN THE COLOUR OF THE SKIN.
Order 1. Decoloration.-Leucopathia, partial, general; Chlorosis.
Order 2. Accidental Colorations.-Ephelis, Lentigo, Chloasma, Mela-
dermis, Icterus, Nævus maculosus, Argentism.

Class V. MORBID SECRETIONS.
Ephidrosis, Acne, Folliculous Tumours.
Class VI. DEFECTS OF CONFORMATION AND TEXTURE.
Distention of the Skin, Cicatrices, Vegetations, Nævus hæmatodes,
Subcutaneous vascular tumours, warts, pearly granulations; Corns,
Ichthyosis, Horny appendages.
Diseases of the skin are very numerous and prevalent, but in the
case of the majority which occur they arise from the neglect of some
of the conditions necessary for the health of the skin. These con-
ditions in general are, good nutritious food, which should be properly
digested; a due amount of warm clothing, especially during changeable
and cold weather; constant and regular exercise, so as to keep the
skin as an excretory organ in perfect order; and daily ablution of every
part of the body, without which and the occasional use of soap it is
vain to expect to be free from many forms of skin disease.
The following are the diseases which appear to demand further

notice :-
The
Eczema, Heat-eruption, is an inflammation of the skin, characterised
at the outset by small non-contagious vesicles, the fluid of which is
finally reabsorbed; by superficial excoriations, attended by a serous
discharge, or by a squamous condition of the skin. This disease may
be confined to one particular part of the body, or it may attack the
whole surface. It may arise from a local cause, as from the direct
rays of the sun, or from some general disturbance of the system.
vesicles may be only few, and the surrounding skin only slightly inflamed
and confined to a very limited surface, or the vesicles may be nume-
rous, the excoriations painful, the surface attacked extensive, and the
tendency to inflammatory action in the skin so strong as to produce
pustules instead of vesicles. Such are the characters of the three forms
of eczema usually described by writers on diseases of the skin.-E.
solaris, E. rubrum, E. impetiginoides. Eczema is more likely to be con-
founded with itch than any other disease, from which it may be dis-
tinguished by its non-contagiousness and the very different parts of
the tegumentary system which it occupies.
There is a form of eczema which comes on from the exhibition of
mercury and the external application of other medicines, and which
frequently arises from the carelessness of the person attacked, which is
called E. mercuriale.
597
598
SKIN, DISEASES OF.
SKY.
The treatment of eczema must be adapted to the causes which have
produced it. According to the general state of health of the person
attacked, the disease will be either acute or chronic. Slight cases of
acute eczema require only a simple treatment; a light diet, saline pur-
gatives, and cooling or emollient applications to the part being all that
is required. In some cases the inflammation is great and the pain
intense, and where this occurs bleeding and a more active general
treatment should be had recourse to. Chronic eczema is much more
difficult to treat. The general health demands attention, and altera-
tives and tonics, according to circumstances, are demanded. Astringent
lotions and ointments, such as the preparations of silver, zinc, alum,
&c., may be used; sulphurous baths, and various mineral waters have
also been recommended in old chronic cases of this disease. The
tincture of cantharides and the preparations of arsenic have also been
employed in the chronic forms of eczema.
Miliaria (Febris miliaris, Miliary Eruption) is also a vesiculous disease
of the skin, and is described as contagious. It is accompanied with
inflammation of the gastro-intestinal mucous membrane, and is accom-
panied by profuse sweating. Miliaria as an epidemic and independent
disease is only seen between the 43rd and 49th degrees of latitude, and
its existence has been doubted by some nosologists. It frequently
accompanies other diseases, and retires with the cessation of the disease
which it attends. When the fever accompanying it is slight it requires
little treatment. Gentle purgatives and demulcents will be found
sufficient. In the epidemic form, however, it is often a formidable
disease, and requires the same treatment as other epidemic contagious
fevers.
Rupia is a bullous disease accompanied with small bullæ, the bases
of which are inflamed. The bullæ are not numerous but flat and full
of a serous fluid, which becomes thick, puriform, or sanguinolent, and
drying up forms blackish thin or prominent crusts. It is commonly
developed on the legs, sometimes on the loins or thighs. It attacks
children that are of a delicate constitution, and persons weakened by
other diseases. The scrofulous are peculiarly liable to it, and it comes
on after hard living, insufficient food, exposure to cold, and vicious
courses of life. It is generally indicative of an imperfect state of
nutrition, and the treatment consists not so much in applications to the
diseased skin, as in giving tone to the system by nutritious food, and
tonic and alterative medicines.
Ecthyma (Pustulous Scale) is a non-contagious inflammation charac-
terised by large pustules raised upon a hard circular base of a bright
red colour. The pustules are of the largest size, the phlysacia of
Willan, so that ecthyma bears the same relation to pustular diseases
that rupia does to vesicular ones. In some stages in fact it is difficult
to distinguish one of these diseases from another. Willan describes
four varieties of ecthyma, but Rayer recognises but two, acute ecthyma
and chronic ecthyma. Acute ecthyma is a comparatively rare disease;
it generally appears on the neck and shoulders, and runs its course in
a few days. This form requires little treatment; light diet, diluent
drinks, mild purgatives, and warm or cold applications to the part will
suffice.
In chronic ecthyma the same kind of pustules appear, which dis-
charge their contents in the course of two or three days, leaving behind
them thick brown adherent crusts, which sometimes fall off, leaving an
ulcer behind, but more frequently leaving a cicatrix. This form of
the disease comes on in scrofulous and debilitated subjects, and is
frequently modified by a syphilitic taint. Just in proportion to the
intensity of the constitutional derangement will be the duration and
extent of the disease. In its treatment the general health must be
especially attended to; it is more a disease indicating a want of action
than increased action, and alteratives, tonics, nutritious diet, change
of air, and sea-bathing are more beneficial than the opposite kind of
treatment.
Acne (Gutta rosacea, Rose-drop) is a chronic inflammation of the
skin characterised by an eruption of small pustules surrounded by
a hard and inflamed base. They are generally observed on the
cheeks, nose, and forehead, and sometimes on the ears and neck. The
pustules are sometimes single, constituting the simple form of the
disease; at other times they become hardened and the whole skin
becomes red, when the disease has different designations. This disease
has its origin in the oil-tubes, and arises from an obstruction to the
performance of their functions, which produces inflammation. The
oil-tubes of the face are very liable to obstruction from exposure
to the air and other causes, and may be frequently observed tipped
with a little black spot, and when pressed they give out a quantity
of their oily secretion in the form of a little maggot. They were
at one time supposed really to possess an independent animal life.
Although this is not the case with the masses of oil in question,
it is now known that a little acarus takes up its abode in these oil
tubes, and is well known to zoologists under the name of Demodex
Folliculorum. This little insect may then in some instances be the
exciting cause of acne.
In the treatment of acne, regard must be had to the general health.
It is frequently connected with a diseased state of the gastro-intes-
tinal mucous system, which requires attention. Where it is connected
with general debility from a rapid growth, or with a scrofulous constitu-
tion, tonics and alteratives with sea-bathing and regular exercise will
be found of service. As external applications, the preparations of
copper, zinc, and mercury, have been found most efficient. Where the
face is much swelled and inflamed, fomentations will be of service pre-
vious to the use of the astringents.
Lichen is a papulous disease, characterised by the simultaneous or
successive eruptions of red itching pimples, scattered or disposed in
groups over the whole body. It is in the adult what Strophulus is in
the child.
፡፡
Lupus is a disease of the skin which, although it usually attacks
the face, may appear on any other part of the body. It is generally
attended with inflammatory action and with more or less enlarge-
ment of the parts attacked. It terminates in ulceration, which on
account of its tendency to destroy the tissues which it attacks has got
for this disease the name of "wolf." The ulcer is also called the
rodent ulcer," and the term noli me tangere has been applied to it.
The disease may be superficial or it may penetrate more or less
deeply, destroying whatever tissues it attacks. There is no doubt
about the resemblance of this disease to cancer, especially that form
called epithelial. It is, nevertheless, so strongly separated that it
would be utterly inconsistent with the present knowledge of the
nature of cancer to regard it as originating in the same state of the
system. [CANCER.] The condition of the system and the nature of
the ulceration rather point to the scrofulous diathesis as the originator
of this disease.
In lupus no pathological elements can be discovered resembling
those of cancer. If removed it does not recur, and there is no ten-
dency to the production of the same disease in the lymphatics as in
cancer. It is therefore a much less formidable disease. Nevertheless,
the progress of the ulceration in many cases of lupus is sufficiently
alarming and demands constant attention.
The treatment must be both local and general. In the local treat-
ment removal by the knife is mostly out of the question, on account
of the extent of surface involved. According to the tendency exhibited
by the ulceration to spread a severe or mild system of cauterisation
should be pursued. Sometimes the application of sulphate or acetate
of zinc or nitrate of silver is sufficient to stimulate the parts to
assume a healthy action; whilst at others more violent applications, as
the chloride of zinc and tannic, nitric, or hydrochloric acids, are to be
recommended. General treatment is frequently very efficacious, and
this according to circumstances. In cases of tuberculosis of the
system cod liver oil and quinine and iron may be used with advantage.
In another set of cases arsenic has been found efficacious, whilst
perhaps a larger number are benefited by preparations of iodine.
SKIN-DRESSING. [LEATHER MANUFACTURE.]
SKY is the name commonly applied to the infinite space which
surrounds the earth, and of which the visible portion, above the
horizon of a spectator on any part of the earth's surface, appears to
have the form of a concave segment less than a hemisphere.
The earth is surrounded by the atmosphere, which is charged with
vapours and terrestrial particles; and by the reflections which, in con-
sequence, the rays of light experience in passing to the spectator, and
the absorption which they undergo in their long transit of the atmo-
sphere when the sun is near the horizon, the sky assumes the variously-
coloured tints under which it is seen.
It is known from many experiments that pure air is devoid of colour;
and the observations of M. de Saussure (Voyages dans les Alpes,'
tom. 4, p. 289) have established the fact, that, in an atmosphere free
from vapours, such objects as mountains covered with snow, when
seen by a spectator at a distance of 20 or 30 leagues from them, by
light which is merely transmitted through the air, appear to be white:
the same philosopher has observed, however, that at times when the
sun is seen to set behind a mountain so covered, the blue rays reflected
from the sky to the mountain, and from thence to the spectator, cause
the mountain to assume a blue colour, the other light with which
the mountain is illuminated not being strong enough to overpower
the blue reflected rays.
When the sun has considerable elevation, the rays of light which pass
through the earth's atmosphere almost perpendicularly to its surface,
undergo scarcely any change of direction; but, with respect to the
light from the sun which enters obliquely into the atmosphere, the
violet and blue rays are partially arrested in their course, and are re-
flected in abundance to the earth; they thus, when the atmosphere is
nearly free from clouds, give to the parts of the sky which are remote
from the apparent place of the sun an azure tint.
The blue colour of the sky about the zenith increases in proportion
as the sun is nearer the horizon; and, at the same time, the blue rays
in the beams of light which traverse the atmosphere in directions
nearly parallel to the horizon are absorbed, so that it is chiefly those
of less refrangibility, such as the yellow and the red, that arrive at
the eye of the spectator: in consequence of this the sky near the
horizon, on the side which is towards the sun, appears to be highly
tinted with those colours.
Many of the blue rays, after reflection from the upper parts of the
atmosphere, are, however, absorbed in passing down to the earth;
and further, it seems probable that in that portion of the reflection
which takes place at a great elevation the blue rays are reflected in
larger proportion compared with other colours than lower down;
and hence it is that the blue tint of the sky is found to increase in
intensity as the spectator ascends above the general surface of the
599
SKYLIGHT.
earth. On the top of high mountains, or in balloons at great eleva-
tions, the proportion of blue rays which, after reflection in the atmo-
sphere, enter the eye is very great; and the blueness at length becomes
a deep black ground on which the stars appear to shine at all times
with as much lustre as at midnight on the earth, during the absence of
the moon.
It is hence evident that if it were not for the innumerable
reflections of the light from the sun or moon, which take place in the
atmosphere, total darkness would prevail from the instant of sun-set
to that of sun-rise; and even during the day, darkness would ensue,
so that the stars would become visible, every time that the sun is
obscured by a cloud of sufficient density.
That the blue tint of the sky is caused by light reflected in the
atmosphere, is abundantly evident from the fact that the light of the
sky is found to be polarized, this quality in light being a result of its
reflection. Sir David Brewster, who first made the observation, has
moreover ascertained that the light of the sky consists of two parts,
one blue and the other nearly without colour; and he discovered that
these lights are polarized in different directions. (Treatise on New
Philosophical Instruments,' p. 349.)
The hypothesis that the azure colour of the sky is caused by re-
flections of blue rays, was at one time objected to on the ground that
the shadows of opaque objects, placed on white paper and exposed to
the sun's light, should always appear to be blue, since the part of the
paper which is in shadow can only be visible by the light of the sky
reflected from thence. This phenomenon is, in fact, frequently
observed; but M. de Saussure, while admitting that he has often per-
ceived the shadows of objects to be bluish in the mornings and
evenings on the general surface of the earth, states that in Alpine
regions, where the sky is intensely blue, the shadows of objects never
appear to be so he adds that, of fifty-nine observations made for the
purpose of ascertaining the colours of shadows on the mountains,
thirty-four showed them to be a pale violet, eighteen showed them to
be black, six a pale blue, and once they appeared to be yellowish. It
may be inferred, therefore, that shadows cast by opaque objects are
so much affected by the colours of the neighbouring objects that a
right judgment can scarcely be formed of the colour which they
receive from the light of the sky. [ACCIDENTAL COLOURS.] To the
like interference must be ascribed the variously-coloured shadows
which were observed by M. Bouguer ('Essai d'Optique;' and M.
Buffon, 'Mémoires de l'Académie des Sciences,' 1743.)
Between the tropics the transparency of the atmosphere is far
greater than it is, in general, în regions beyond them towards the north
or south; hence the sky there is almost always serene and intensely
blue, while the clouds near the setting sun are brightly tinted with
the prismatic colours. The skies of the south of Europe and some
parts of North America are distinguished for their serenity and
beauty; but, in these respects, they are said to be inferior to the
skies over the islands in the Pacific Ocean.
For the description of an instrument invented in order to measure
the intensity of the blue colour in the sky, see CYANOMETER.
SKYLIGHT. In the arts, the word skylight is sometimes used to
express the frame or the window by which the direct light from the
upper regions of the atmosphere is allowed to enter a room; at other
times, and especially in cases connected with architectural jurispru-
dence, skylight is understood to mean the view of a portion of the
atmosphere itself, or, in other words, an uninterrupted view of the
portion of space to which a house proprietor is entitled. In this
notice, attention will principally be directed to the former meaning of
the word; for the latter meaning, and the various conditions attaching
to it, see the articles EASEMENT, and LIGHTS, ANCIENT.
Skylights, in the ordinary sense, may be divided into those which
are placed in the roof or covering of the building, and into those which
are placed in lanterns rising above the line of the roof; the former
transmitting the light directly, the latter by means of vertical openings
in their sides. In some cases, also, a building may be lighted by means
of inclined skylights on the respective sides of the inclined roof over
the flat ceiling of the room, and by a horizontal skylight in that ceiling;
or, in other words, by a double skylight, as at the Madeleine at Paris;
and in the enormous rooms of the spinning-factories a species of
imperfect lantern skylight is used, in which one vertical glazed side
and three obscure sides of a half pyramid are introduced. Small
vertical windows, or, as they are technically called, "dormers," are
occasionally used for the purpose of lighting domical or other buildings
from the sky; but, strictly speaking, they must come under the cate-
gory of windows. The hall of the Middle Temple of London, the
dome of St. Paul's, and the Law Courts at Westminster, are illus-
trations of the use of lantern lights; the Pantheon at Rome, and the
Pantheon in Oxford Street, London, are illustrations of the use of
simple skylights; the other classes of skylights are principally used in
commercial or manufacturing establishments, although the double
ones are susceptible of being treated so as to produce very striking
architectural effects. In mediæval structures, such as Westminster
Hall, a portion of the light is obtained from the sky by means of
dormers; but clerestory windows are much more frequently resorted
to in the buildings of this period, when all the light cannot be
obtained from the lower side walls.
The practical advantages of the respective kinds of skylights seem to
be as follows:-In lantern lights, it is easy to provide for effecting
SLANDER.
600
ventilation at the same time and by the same means as those used
for the admission of light. The windows in these cases are on the
vertical sides of the lantern, and the top is covered by an opaque
roof, usually formed of imperfectly conducting materials; any con-
densation of moisture from the internal atmosphere takes place, under
these circumstances, on the vertical glass of the sides, and it can
thence be easily removed. Skylights placed on the slope or at the top
of a roof are exposed to considerable inconvenience from the condensa-
tion thus alluded to; and if they must be resorted to, it should be the
object of the architect to keep them within the width susceptible of
being covered by one sheet of glass; because if the length of the panes
be such as to require the use of two sheets, the drops of water arising
from condensation are likely to accumulate at the line of junction, and
either to fall from thence or to remain under the lap, and if a frost
should occur whilst water is there, it is very probable that the
expansion of the water passing into ice may crack the glass. The
introduction, by Sir J. Paxton, of the ridge and furrow system, has
enabled modern architects to execute large plane surfaces of skylight;
and it has, moreover, the advantage of being equally applicable to
lantern or to flat lights of this description. Lantern lights must, it
may be added, be placed upon the axis of the roof covering the room
so lighted; skylights may be placed wherever it may be desired so to
do; and in the large domes of modern buildings it is found that the
lanterns are invariably placed over their centres, whilst the skylights
let into the sides of roofs are disposed in the panels or segmental
divisions in such wise as to cause the light to fall in the desired
manner on the side walls. Lanterns diffuse light more equally over
the areas they serve than lights let into the sides of the roof, but not
more so than central skylights, such as those of the Pantheon; and
for this reason it seems that, in sculpture galleries lighted from
above, it would be preferable to introduce lanterns; whilst in picture
galleries plane skylights on the slopes of the roof are the most
advantageous, provided always that they do not receive the direct rays
of the sun.
i
There are, indeed, few positions in which it is desirable to admit the
sun's rays in rooms lighted from above; and wherever it is possible so
to do, the light should be admitted from the north exclusively, because
the glare and the reflection of the sun's rays affects the purity of colour
of the objects exposed to them. In factories, and in show rooms, this
law of excluding the direct sun's rays is carefully observed, and the
skylights formed over them are usually made of the form above
described; that is to say, as a section of a square pyramid, receiving
light from its base which faces the north. The proportion of the
surface for the transmission of light to the opaque part of the ceiling
should be at least as 1 : 20; for in the Pantheon the diameter of the
rotunda is about 141 feet, and that of the central light is 30 feet (or
in the ratio of their areas as 1 to 22 nearly), and the light in that
building would not be sufficient for the purposes of commerce or of
manufacture. The height of the room will, however, affect this con-
sideration; for the pencil of rays admitted through the skylight must
be able to reach every portion of the inclosed area, and in a well-lighted
room there should be no necessity for trusting to reflected rays. In
the Pantheon, the height from the floor to the under side of the sky-
light is precisely equal to the diameter of the rotunda; and Fontana,
in his 'Descrizione del Tempio Vaticano,' states that an examination of
the most important buildings lighted by lanterns showed that the best
proportions of the diameters of those structures to the diameters of
the cupolas on which they rested were as 1 to 6, and that the height
of such lanterns should be equal to half the diameter of the cupola;
the whole of this height is not, however, devoted to the glazed part of
the structure.
SLAKED LIME. [CALCIUM.]
SLANDER consists in the malicious speaking of such words as
render the party who speaks them in the hearing of others liable to
an action at the suit of the party to whom they apply. The mere
speaking of the defamatory words instead of the writing of them is
that which constitutes the difference between libel and slander.
[LIBEL.]
Slander is of two kinds: one, which is actionable, as necessarily
importing some general damage to the party who is slandered; the
other, which is only actionable where it has actually caused some
special damage. The first kind includes all such words as impute to
a party the commission of some crime or misdemeanor for which he
might legally be convicted and suffer punishment, as where one asserts
that another has committed treason, or felony, or perjury. It also
includes such words spoken of a party, with reference to his office,
profession, or trade, as impute to him malpractice, incompetence, or
bankruptcy; as of a magistrate, that he is partial, or corrupt; of a
clergyman, that "he preaches lies in the pulpit;" of a barrister, that
"he is a dunce, and will get nothing by the law;" and so on: or that
tend to the disherison of a party, as where it is said of one who holds
lands by descent, that he is illegitimate. Where a party is in posses-
sion of lands which he desires to sell, he may maintain an action
against any one who slanders his title, to the lands; as by stating
that he is not the owner. With respect to the second kind of slander,
the law will not allow damage to be inferred from words which are
not in themselves actionable, even although the words are untrue and
spoken maliciously. But if, in consequence of such words being so
691
602
SLATE-WORKING.
SLAVE, SLAVERY, SLAVE-TRADE.
spoken, a party has actually sustained some injury, he may maintain
an action of slander against the person who has uttered them. In
such case the injury must be some certain actual loss, and it must
also arise as a natural and lawful consequence of speaking the words.
No unlawful act done by a third person, although he really was
moved to do it by the words spoken, is such an injury as a party can
recover for in this action. Thus, the loss of the society and entertain-
ment of friends, of an appointment to some office, the breach of a
marriage engagement caused by the slanderer's statement, are injuries
for which a party may recover damages. But he can have no action
because in consequence of such statement certain persons, to use an
illustration of Lord Ellenborough's, "have thrown him into a horse-
pond by way of punishment for his supposed transgression."
With respect to both kinds of slander, it is immaterial in what way
the charge is conveyed, whether by direct statement, or obliquely, as
by question, epithet, or exclamation.
Two cannot join in bringing one action of slauder, except in the
case of husband and wife, or of partners for an injury done to their
joint trade; nor can an action be brought against two, except a
husband and wife, where slanderous words have been spoken by the
wife.
In answer to an action of slander the defendant may plead that the
words spoken were true, or that they were spoken in the course of a
trial in a court of justice, and were pertinent to the case; or formed
the subject of a confidential communication, as where a party on
application bona fide states what he believes to be true relative to the
character of a servant, or makes known facts merely for the purpose
of honestly warning another in whom he is interested. (Com., Dig.,
'Action on the Case for Defamation,' D. 1, &c.)
SLATE-WORKING. Referring to SLATE, in NAT. HIST. DIV., for
an account of the geological formation and structure of this valuable
rock, we here add a few words concerning its practical working.
The quarrying of slate is comparatively easy, seeing that the lamel-
lated structure enables the substance to split easily into layers. The
usual processes are adopted for sawing and smoothing the slabs; but
improved machines for these purposes have been introduced within
the last few years.
One machine has been invented for hollowing out
thick blocks of slate into sinks and vessels, by means of cutters screwed
to the ends of revolving shafts. By the use of peculiar tools, slate is
now turned in the lathe. Mr. Mathews's apparatus for cutting and
dressing slate consists of a frame, provided with arins, cutters, levers,
toothed wheels, &c., in such a way that the cutters may be raised by a
lever, and let fall with a sudden blow; and this in such a manner as to
work the slate either into plain or fancy surfaces. Ordinary slate
cannot very well be polished like other kinds of hard stone; it is
rubbed smooth with an iron plate, sand, or gritstone, and water.
Within the last quarter of a century, there has been a tendency to use
slate for many purposes for which other substances used to be em-
ployed. The slate top of a billiard table is perhaps the best kind of
work in this material. The best tables measure 12 feet by 6 feet; the
top consists of four slabs of slate 6 feet by 3 feet, and one inch thick,
ground on the lower surface, planed on the upper, and adjusted edge
to edge with the most scrupulous care. Pavements, cisterns, walls,
partitions, &c., are now largely made in this material. "Enamelled
slate" is used for table tops, chimney pieces, wash-stand tops, columns,
pilasters, door furniture, monuments, mural tablets, &c.
What are called slate pencils are simply narrow slips of a soft kind
of slate. Some of them are made to slide in wooden tubes or holders,
by a propelling apparatus similar in character to that of certain of the
ever-pointed pencils. Artificial slate pencils have been introduced,
made of a mixture of alumina, French chalk, and soapstone.
The largest slate quarries in the United Kingdom are the Penrhyn,
belonging to Colonel Pennant. These are briefly noticed under BANGOR,
in GEOG. DIV.
M. Raphael Carmana has recently proposed the use of slate as a
substitute for box-wood in wood engraving. He states that it is easily
penetrated by the graver; that the finest lines are producible; and
that slate is more durable than box under the action of the printing-
press.
SLAVE, SLAVERY, SLAVE-TRADE. The word slavery has
various acceptations, but its complete meaning is the condition of an
individual who is the property of another or others. Such was the
condition of the "servi," or slaves among the Romans and Greeks;
such is still that of the slaves in Eastern countries, and that of the
negro slaves in many parts of Africa and America. A mitigated form
of this condition has existed up to the present time in the case of the
serfs in Russia and Poland, though in the former, at least, it is about
to be abolished; and still exists among a similar class in India and
some other parts of Asia. The Russian and Polish serf is bound to
the soil on which he is born; he may be sold or let with it, but can-
not be sold away from it without his consent; he is obliged to work
three or four days a-week for his master, who allows him a piece of
land, which he cultivates. He can marry, and his wife and children
are under his authority till they are of age. He can bequeath his
chattels and savings at his death. His life is protected by the law.
The slave of the Greek and Roman nations had none of these advan-
tages, any more than the negro slave of our own times; he was bought
and sold in the market, and was transferred at his owner's pleasure;
|
}
he could acquire no property; all that he had was his master's; all
the produce of his labour belonged to his master, who could inflict
corporeal punishment upon him; he could not marry; and if he
cohabited with a woman, he could be separated from her and his
children at any time, and the woman and children sold. The distinc-
tion therefore between the slave and the serf is essential. The villeins
(villani) of the middle ages were a kind of serfs, but their condition
seems to have varied considerably according to times and localities.
In the present article we treat only of the real slave of ancient and
modern times.
Slavery, properly so called, appears to have been, from the earliest
ages, the condition of a large proportion of mankind in almost every
country, until times comparatively recent, when it has been gradually
abolished by all Christian states, at least in Europe. The condition
of slavery constitutes one great difference between ancient and modern
society. Slavery existed among the Jews; it existed before Moses, in
the time of the Patriarchs; and it existed, and still continues to exist,
in many parts of Asia. The "servants" mentioned in Scripture
history were mostly slaves: they were strangers, either taken prisoners
in war or purchased from the neighbouring nations. They and their
offspring were the property of their masters, who could sell them, and
inflict upon them corporeal punishment, and even in some cases put
them to death. But the Hebrews had also slaves of their own
nation. These were men who sold themselves through poverty, or
they were insolvent debtors, or men who had committed a theft, and
had not the means of making restitution as required by the law, which
(Exod.
was to double the amount, and in some cases much more.
xxii.) Not only the person of the debtor was liable to the claims of
the creditor, but his right extended also to the debtor's wife and
children. Moses regulated the condition of slavery. He drew a wide
The latter
distinction between the alien slave and the native servant.
could not be a perpetual bondman, but might be redeemed; and if
not redeemed, he became free on the completion of the seventh year
of his servitude. Again, every fifty years the jubilee caused a general
emancipation of all native servants.
The sources of the supply of slaves have been the same both in
In ancient times all prisoners were
ancient and modern times.
reduced to slavery, being either distributed among the officers and
men of the conquering army, or sold. When the early Eolian and
Ionian colonies settled in the islands of the Egean Sea, and on the
coast of Asia Minor, it was a frequent practice with them to kill the
adult males of the aboriginal population, and to keep the women and
children. As, however, dealing in slaves became a profitable trade,
the vanquished, instead of being killed, were sold, and this was so far
an improvement. Another source of slavery was the practice of kid-
napping men and women, especially young persons, who were seized
on the coast, or enticed on board by the crews of piratical vessels.
The Phoenicians, and the Etruscans or Tyrrhenians, had the character
of being men-stealers; and also the Cretans, Cilicians, Rhodians, and
other maritime states. Another source was, sale of men, either by
themselves, through poverty and distress, or by their relatives aud
superiors, as is done now by the petty African chiefs, who sell not
only their prisoners, but their own subjects, and even their children,
to the slave-dealers. Herodotus (v. 6) states that some of the Thracian
tribes sold their children to foreign dealers.
Among the Greeks slavery existed from the heroic times, and the
purchase and use of slaves are repeatedly mentioned by Homer. The
labours of husbandry were performed in some instances by poor free-
men for hire, but in most places, especially in the Doric states, by a
class of bondmen, the descendants of the older inhabitants of the
country, resembling the serfs of the middle ages, who lived upon and
cultivated the lands which the conquering race had appropriated to
themselves; they paid a rent to the respective proprietors, whom
they also attended in war. They could not be put to death without
trial, nor be sold out of the country, nor separated from their families;
they could acquire property, and were often richer than their masters.
Such were the Clarota of Crete, the Peneste of Thessaly Proper, and
the Helots of Sparta, who must not be confounded with the Perioci,
or country inhabitants of Laconica in general, who were political sub-
jects of the Doric community of Sparta, without however being
bondmen. In the colonies of the Dorians beyond the limits of
Greece, the condition of the conquered natives was often more
degraded than that of the bondmen of the parent states, because the
former were not Greeks, but barbarians, and they were reduced to
the condition of slaves. Such was the case of the Kallirioi or Kalli·
kurioi of Syracuse, and of the native Bithyniaus at Byzantium. At
Heraclea in Pontus, the Mariandyni submitted to the Greeks on con-
dition that they should not be sold beyond the borders, and that they
should pay a fixed tribute to the ruling race.
The Doric states of Greece had few purchased slaves, but Athens,
Corinth, and other commercial states had a large number, who were
mostly natives of barbarous countries. The slave population in Attica
has been variously estimated as to numbers, and it varied of course
considerably at different periods; but it appears that in Athens, at
least in the time of its greatest power, they were much more numerous
than the freemen. From a fragment of Hyperides preserved by Suidas
(v. àreynploato), the number of slaves appears to have been at one
time 150,000, who were employed in the fields and mines of Attica
603
SLAVE, SLAVERY, SLAVE-TRADE.
alone. Even the poorer citizens had a slave for their household
affairs. The wealthier citizens had as many as fifty slaves to each
family, and some had more. We read of philosophers keeping ten
slaves. There were private slaves belonging to families, and public
slaves belonging to the community or state. The latter were employed
on board the fleet, in the docks and arsenal, and in the construction of
public buildings and roads.
Slaves were dealt with like any other property: they worked either
on their master's account or on their own, in which latter case they
paid a certain sum to their master; or they were let out on hire as
servants or workmen, or sent to serve in the navy of the state, the
master receiving payment for their services. Mines were worked by
slaves, some of whom belonged to the lessees of the mine, and the rest
were hired from the great slave proprietors, to whom the lessees paid
a rent of so much a head, besides providing for the maintenance of
the slave, which was no great matter. They worked in chains, and
many of them died from the effect of the unwholesome atmosphere.
Nicias the elder had 1000 slaves in the mines of Laurium; others had
several hundreds, whom they let to the contractors for an obolus a-
day each. At one time the mining slaves of Attica murdered their
guards, took possession of the fortifications of Sunium, and ravaged
the surrounding country. (Fragment of Posidonius's Continuation of
Polybius; see Boeckh's Public Economy of Athens,' b. i.) The
thirty-two or thirty-three iron-workers or sword-cutlers of Demos-
thenes annually produced a net profit of thirty minæ, their purchase
value being 190 mine; whilst his twenty chair-makers, whose value
was estimated at 40 minæ, brought in a net profit of 12 minæ.
(Demosthenes' Against Aphobus,' i.)
The ancients were so habituated to the sight of slavery, that none of
the Greek philosophers make any objection to its existence. Plato, in
his' Perfect State,' desires only that no Greeks should be made slaves.
The Etruscans and other ancient Italian nations had slaves, as is
proved by those of Vulsinii revolting againt their masters, and by the
tradition that the Bruttii were runaway slaves of the Lucanians. The
Campanians had both slaves and gladiators previous to the Roman con-
quest. But the Romans, by their system of continual war, caused an
enormous influx of slaves into Italy, where the slave population at last
nearly superseded the free labourers.
The Roman system of slavery had peculiarities which distinguished
it from that of Greece. The Greeks considered slavery to be founded
on permanent diversities in the races of men. (Aristotle, 'Polit.,' i. 5.)
The Romans admitted in principle that all men were originally free
('Instit.,' i., tit. 2) by natural law (jure naturali), and they ascribed
the power of masters over their slaves entirely to the will of society, to
the "jus gentium," if the slaves were captives taken in war, whom the
conquerors, instead of killing them, as they might have done, spared
for the purpose of selling them, or to the "jus civile," when a man of
full
age sold himself. It was a rule of Roman law, that the offspring
of a slave woman followed the condition of the mother. ('Instit.,' i.,
tit. 3.) Emancipation was much more frequent at Rome than in
Greece the emancipated slave became a freedman (libertus), but
whether he became a Roman citizen, a Latinus, or a Dediticius,
depended on circumstances. If the manumitted slave was above thirty
years of age, if he was the Quiritarian property of his manumittor, and
if he was manumitted in due form, he became a Roman citizen. (Gaius,
i. 17.) At Athens, on the contrary, emancipation from the dominion
of the master was seldom followed by the privileges of citizenship even
to a limited extent, and these privileges could only be conferred by
public authority. It is true, that at Rome, under the empire, from
the enactment of the Lex Ælia Sentia, passed in the time of Augustus,
there were restrictions, in point of number, upon the master's power of
freeing his bondmen and raising them to the rank of Roman citizens;
still in every age there was a prospect to the slave of being able to
obtain his freedom.
Slaves were not considered members of the community: they had
no rights, and were in most respects considered as things or chattels.
They could neither sue nor be sued. When an alleged slave claimed
his freedom on the plea of unjust detention, he was obliged to have a
free protector, to sue for him, until Justinian ('Code,' vii., tit. 1, 7,
'De adsertione tollenda') dispensed with that formality. Slaves had
no connubium, that is, they could not contract a Roman marriage;
their union with a person of their own rank was styled contubernium;
and even the Christian church for several centuries did not declare the
validity of slave marriages. At last the Emperor Basilius allowed
slaves to marry and receive the blessing of the priest, and Alexius
Comnenus renewed the permission. As slaves had no connubium,
they had not the parental power (patria potestas) over their offspring,
no ties of blood were recognised among them, except with respect to
incest and parricide, which were considered as crimes by the law of
nature. Though slaves were incapable of holding property, they were
not incapacitated from acquiring property, but what they did acquire
belonged to their masters. They were allowed to enjoy property as
their own, "peculium," consisting sometimes of other slaves; but they
held it only by permission, and any legal proceedings connected with
it could only be conducted in the name of the master, who was the
only legal proprietor. Until the latter period of the republic, slaves,
and even freedmen, were not admitted into the ranks of the army. In
cases of urgent public danger, such as after the defeat of Canna, slaves
SLAVE, SLAVERY, SLAVE-TRADE.
604
were purchased by the state and sent to the army, and if they behaved
well they were emancipated. (Livy, xxii. 57, and xxiv. 14-16.)
They were not, however, denied the rites of burial, and numerous
inscriptions attest that monuments were often erected to the memory
of deceased slaves by their masters, their fellows, or friends, some of
which bear the letters D. M., "Diis Manibus." Slaves were often
buried in the family burying-place of their masters. The "sepulchre-
tum" or burial-vault of the slaves and freedmen of Augustus and his
wife Livia, discovered in 1726 near the Via Appia, and which has been
illustrated by Bianchini and Gori, and another in the same neighbour-
hood also belonging to the household of the early Cæsars, and contain-
ing at least 3000 urns, with numerous inscriptions, which have been
illustrated by Fabretti, throw much light upon the condition and
domestic habits of Roman slaves in the service of great families.
With regard to the classification and occupations of slaves, the first
division was into public and private. Public slaves were those which
belonged to the state or to public bodies, such as provinces, municipia,
collegia, decuriæ, &c., or to the emperor in his sovereign capacity, and
employed in public duties, and not attached to his household or private
estate.
estate. Public slaves were either derived from the share of captives
taken in war which was reserved for the community or state, or were
acquired by purchase and other civil process. Public slaves of an inferior
description were engaged as rowers on board the fleet, or in the con-
struction and repair of roads and national buildings. Those of a
superior description were employed as keepers of public buildings,
prisons, and other property of the state, or to attend magistrates,
priests, and other public officers, as watchmen, lictors, executioners,
watermen, scavengers, &c.
Private slaves were generally distributed into urban and rustic; the
former served in the town houses, and the others in the country. Long
lists of the different duties performed by slaves of each class are given
by Pignorius, De Servis et eorum apud Veteres Ministeriis,' Amster-
dam, 1674; Popma, 'De Operis Servorum,' ibid, 1672; and Blair, 'An
Inquiry into the State of Slavery amongst the Romans,' Edinburgh,
1833, which is a very useful little book. For all the necessities of
domestic life, agriculture, and handicraft, and for all the imaginable
luxuries of a refined and licentious people, there was a corresponding
denomination of slaves. Large sums were occasionally paid for slaves
of certain peculiar kinds, some of which we should consider the least
useful. Eunuchs were always very dear. A "morio," or fool, was
sometimes sold for 20,000 nummi, or about 160. Dwarfs and giants
were also in great request. Marcus Antonius paid for a pair of hand-
some youths 200 sestertia, or 16007. Actors and actresses, and dancers,
sold very dear, as well as females of great personal attractions who
were likely to bring in great gains to their owners by prostitution. A
good cook was valued at four talents, or 772. Medical men, grain-
marians, amanuenses, anagnostæ, or readers, and short-hand writers,
were in considerable request. With regard to ordinary slaves, the
price varied from 50l. to 201., according to their abilities and other cir-
cumstances. After a victorious campaign, when thousands of captives
were sold at once on the spot for the purpose of prize-money, to the
slave-dealers who followed the armies, the price sank very low. Thus,
in the camp of Lucullus in Pontus (Plutarch, Lucullus,' c. 14) slaves
were sold for four drachmæ, or two shillings and sevenpence, a head;
but the same slaves, if brought to the Roman market, would fetch a
much higher price. Home-born slaves, distinguished by the name of
"vernæ," in contradistinction to "servi empti," or "venales," or imported
slaves, were generally treated with greater indulgence by their masters
in whose families they had been brought up; and they generally were
considered of inferior value to the imported slaves, being considered as
spoilt and troublesome. The number of slaves born in Roman-families
appears at all times to have been far inferior to that of the imported
slaves.
There was a brisk trade in slaves carried on from the coasts of
Africa, the Euxine, Syria, and Asia Minor. The island of Delos was at
one time a great mart for slaves, who were imported thither by the
Cilician pirates. (Strabo, p. 668, Casaub.) The Illyrians procured nume-
rous slaves for the Italian market, whom they bought or stole from the
barbarous tribes in their neighbourhood. But the chief supply of
slaves was derived from Asia and Africa. In most countries it was
customary for indigent parents to sell their children to slave-dealers.
Criminals were also in certain cases condemned to slavery, like the
galley-slaves of our own times.
In
Both law and custom forbade prisoners taken in civil wars, especially
in Italy, to be dealt with as slaves; and this was perhaps one reason
of the wholesale massacres of captives by Sulla and the Triumviri.
the war between the party of Otho and Vitellius, Antonius, who com-
manded the army of the latter, having taken Cremona, ordered that
none of the captives should be detained, upon which the soldiers began
to kill those who were not privately ransomed by their friends.
In the later period of the empire free-born persons of low condition
were glad to secure a subsistence by labour on the estates of the great
landowners, to which, after a continued residence for thirty years, they
and their families became bound by a tacit agreement under the name
of Coloni, Rustici, Adscriptitii, &c. The phrase "servi terræ," which
is applied to them, shows their connection with the soil. They could
marry, which slaves could not. Though they bear a considerable
resemblance to the serfs and villeins (villani) of the middle ages, yet
605
608
SLAVE, SLAVERY, SLAVE-TRADE.
SLAVE, SLAVERY,
SLAVERY, SLAVE-TRADE.
there are some important points of difference, and there is no evidence
of any historical connection between the Coloni and Villani. The subject
of the Coloni is discussed by Savigny,' Ueber den Römischen Colonat;
Zeitschrift für Geschicht. Rechtswissenschaft,' vol. vi.
The customary allowance of food for a slave appears to have been
four Roman bushels, "modii," of corn, mostly far," per month for
country slaves, and one Roman libra or pound daily for those in town.
Salt and oil were occasionally allowed, as well as weak wine. Neither
meat nor vegetables formed part of their regular allowance; but they
got, according to seasons, fruit, such as figs, olives, apples, pears, &c.
(Cato, Columella, and Varro.) Labourers and artisans in the country
were shut up at night in a house (" ergastulum "), in which each slave
appears to have had a separate cell. Columella adverts to some dis-
tinction between the ergastulum for ordinary labourers and that for
ill-behaved slaves, which latter was in fact a prison, often under ground;
but generally speaking the ergastula in the later times of the republic
and under the empire appear to have been no better than prisons in
which freemen were sometimes confined after being kidnapped. The
men often worked in chains. The overseers of farms and herdsmen
had separate cabins allotted to them. Slaves enjoyed relaxation from
toil on certain festivities, such as the Saturnalia.
The number of slaves possessed by the wealthy Romans was enor-
mous. Some individuals are said to have possessed 10,000 slaves.
Scaurus possessed above 4000 domestic and as many rustic slaves. In
the reign of Augustus, a freedman who had sustained great losses
during the civil wars left 4116 slaves, besides other property.
A master had, as a general rule, the power of manumitting his slave,
and this he could effect in several forms, by vindicta, census, or by
testamentum. The Lex Ælia Sentia, as already mentioned, laid various
restrictions on manumission. Among other things it prevented
persons under twenty years of age from manumitting a slave except by
the vindicta, and with the approbation of the consilium, which at
Rome consisted of five senators and five Roman equites of legal age
(puberes), and in the provinces consisted of twenty recuperatores, who
were Roman citizens. (Gaius, i. 20, 38.) The Lex Ælia Sentia also
made all manumissions void which were effected to cheat creditors or
defraud patrons of their rights. The Lex Furia Caninia, which was
passed about A.D. 7, limited the whole number of slaves who could be
manumitted by testament to 100, and when a man had fewer than
500 slaves, it determined by a scale the number that he could manu-
mit. This lex only applied to manumission by testament. (Gaius,
i. 42, &c.)
In the earlier ages of the Republic, slaves were not very numerous,
and were chiefly employed in household offices or as mechanics in the
towns. But after the conquests of Rome spread beyond the limits of
Italy the influx of captives was so great, and their price fell so low,
that they were looked upon as a cheap and easily renewed commodity,
and treated as such. The condition of the Roman slave, generally
speaking, became worse in the later ages of the republic; and many
of the emperors, even some of the worst of them, interfered on behalf
of the slave. Augustus established courts for the trial of slaves who
were charged with serious offences, intending thus to supersede arbi-
trary punishment by the masters, but the law was not made obligatory
upon the masters to bring their slaves before the courts, and it was
often evaded. By a law passed in the time of Claudius, a master who
exposed his sick or infirm slaves forfeited all right over them in the
event of their recovery. The Lex Petronia, probably passed in the
time of Augustus, or in the reign of Nero, prohibited masters from
compelling their slaves to fight with wild beasts, except with the con-
sent of the judicial authorities, and on a sufficient case being made out
against the slave. Domitian forbade the mutilation of slaves. Hadrian
suppressed the ergastula, or private prisons for the confinement of
slaves; he also restrained proprietors from selling their slaves to
keepers of gladiators, or to brothel-keepers, except as a punishment,
in which case the sanction of a judge (judex) was required. Antoninus
Pius adopted an old law of the Athenians by which the judge who
should be satisfied of a slave being cruelly treated by his owner, had
power to oblige the owner to sell him to some other person. The
judge, however, was left entirely to his own discretion in determining
what measure of harshness in the owner should be a proper ground for
judicial interposition. Septimius Severus forbade the forcible subjection
of slaves to prostitution. The Christian emperors went further in pro-
tecting the persons of slaves. Constantine placed the wilful murder
of a slave on a level with that of a freeman; and Justinian confirmed
this law, including within its provisions cases of slaves who died under
excessive punishment. Constantine made also two laws, both nearly
in the same words, to prevent the forcible separation of the members
of servile families by sale or partition of property. One of the laws,
dated A.D. 334, was retained by Justinian in his code. The church
also powerfully interfered for the protection of slaves, by threatening
excommunication against owners who put to death their slaves with
out the consent of the judge; and by affording asylum within sacred
precincts to slaves from the anger of unmerciful masters. A law of
Theodosius I. authorised a slave who had taken refuge in a church to
call for the protection of the judge, that he might proceed unmolested
to his tribunal in order that his case might be investigated. After
Christianity became the predominant religion in the Roman world, it
exercised in various ways a beneficial influence upon the condition of
the slaves, without, however, interfering, at least for centuries, with
the institution of slavery itself. Even the laws of the Christian
emperors which abolished the master's power of life and death over
his slave were long evaded. Salvianus (De Gubernatione Dei,' iv.)
informs us that in the provinces of Gaul, in the 5th century, masters
still fancied that they had a right to put their slaves to death.
Macrobius ('Saturn.', i. 11) makes one of his interlocutors, though
a heathen, expatiate with great eloquence on the cruel and unjust
treatment of slaves. In Spain, in the early period of the Visigothic
kings, the practice of putting slaves to death still existed, for in the
Foro Judicum' (b. vi., tit. 5) it is said that as some cruel masters in
the impetuosity of their pride put to death their slaves without reason,
it is enacted that a public and regular trial shall take place previous to
their condemnation. Several laws and ecclesiastical canons forbade
the sale of Christians as slaves to Jews or Saracens and other
unbelievers.
"
The northern tribes which invaded the Western empire had their
own slaves, who were chiefly Slavonian captives, distinct from the
slaves of the Romans or conquered inhabitants. In course of time,
however, the various classes of slaves merged into one class, that of the
adscripti glebæ," or serfs of the middle ages, and the institution of
Roman slavery in its unmitigated form became obliterated. The
precise period of this change cannot be fixed; it took place at various
times in different countries. Slaves were exported from Britain to the
Continent in the Saxon period. Giraldus Cambrensis, William of
Malmesbury, and others, accuse the Anglo-Saxons of selling their
female servants and even their children to strangers, and especially to
the Irish, and the practice continued even after the Norman conquest.
In the canons of a council held at London, A.D. 1102, it is said, "Let
no one from henceforth presume to carry on that wicked traffic by
which men in England have been hitherto sold like brute animals."
(Wilkin's 'Concilia,' i. p. 383.)
But although the traffic in slaves ceased among the Christian
nations of Europe, it continued to be carried on by the Venetians
across the Mediterranean in the age of the Crusades. The Venetians
supplied the markets of the Saracens with slaves purchased from the
Slavonian tribes which bordered on the Adriatic. Besides, as personal
slavery and the traffic in slaves continued in all Mohammedan countries,
Christian captives taken by Mussulmans were sold in the markets of
Asia and Northern Africa, and have continued to be sold till within
our own times, when Christian slavery has been abolished in Barbary,
Egypt, and the Ottoman empire, by the interference of the Christian
powers, the emancipation of Greece, and the conquest of Algiers by
the French.
With the discovery of America, a new description of slavery and
slave-trade arose. Christian nations purchased African negroes for the
purpose of employing them in the mines and plantations of the New
World. The natives of America were too weak and too indolent to
undergo the hard work which their Spanish task-masters exacted of
them, and they died in great numbers. Las Casas, a Dominican,
advocated with a persevering energy before the court of Spain the
cause of the American aborigines, and reprobated the system of the
repartimientos," by which they were distributed in lots like cattle
among their new masters. But it was necessary for the settlements to
be made profitable in order to satisfy the conquerors, and it was
suggested that negroes from Africa, a more robust and active race than
the American Indians, might be substituted for them. It was stated
that an able-bodied negro could do as much work as four Indians.
The Portuguese were at that time possessed of a great part of the
coast of Africa, where they easily obtained by force or barter a con-
siderable number of slaves. The trade in slaves among the nations of
Africa had existed from time immemorial. It had been carried on in
ancient times: the Garamantes used to supply the slave-dealers of
Carthage, Cyrene, and Egypt with black slaves which they brought
from the interior. The demand for slaves by the Portuguese in the
Atlantic harbours gave the trade a fresh direction. The petty chiefs
of the interior made predatory incursions into each other's territories,
and sold their captives, and sometimes their own subjects, to the
European traders. The first negroes were imported by the Portuguese
from Africa to the West Indies in 1503, and in 1511 Ferdinand the
Catholic allowed a larger importation. These, however, were private
and partial speculations; it is said that Cardinal Ximenes was opposed
to the trade because he considered it unjust. Charles V., however,
being pressed on one side by the demand for labour in the American
settlements, and on the other by Las Casas and others who pleaded the
cause of the Indian natives, granted to one of his Flemish courtiers the
exclusive privilege of importing 4000 blacks to the West Indies. The
Fleming sold his privilege for 25,000 ducats to some Genoese
merchants, who organised a regular slave-trade between Africa and
America. As the European settlements in America increased and
extended, the demand for slaves also increased; and all European
nations who had colonies in America shared in the slave-trade. It is
generally understood that the slaves of the Spaniards, especially in
Continental America, were the best treated of all.
But the negro
slaves in general were exactly in the same condition as the Roman
slaves of old, being saleable, and punishable at the will of their owners
Restrictions, however, were gradually introduced by the laws of the
respective states, in order to protect the life of the negro slave against
807
of another.
SLAVE, SLAVERY, SLAVE-TRADE.
the caprice or brutality of his owner. In the British colonies,
especially in the latter part of the last century and the beginning of the
present, much was done by the legislature; courts were established to
hear the complaints of the slaves, flogging of females was forbidden,
the punishment of males was also limited within certain bounds, and
the condition of the slave population was greatly ameliorated. Still
the advocates of emancipation objected to the principle of slavery as
being unjust and unchristian; and they also appealed to experience to
show that a human being cannot be safely trusted solely to the mercy
But long before they attempted to emancipate the slaves, the efforts
of philanthropists were directed to abolish the slave traffic, which
desolated Africa, wholly prevented its advance in civilisation, and
encouraged the maltreatment of the negroes in the colonies, by
affording an unlimited supply, and making it not the planter's interest
to keep up his stock in the natural way. The attention of mankind
was first effectually awakened to the horrors of this trade by Thomas
Clarkson, His labours, with the aid of the zealous men, chiefly
Quakers, who early joined him, prepared the way for Mr. Wilberforce,
who brought the subject before parliament in 1788, and although,
after his notice, the motion, owing to his accidental illness, was first
brought forward by Mr. Pitt, Mr. Wilberforce was throughout the
great parliamentary leader in the cause, powerfully supported in the
country by Thomas Clarkson and others, as Richard Phillips, George
Harrison, William Allen, all of the Society of Friends, Mr. Stephen,
who had been in the West Indies as a barrister, and Mr. Z. Macaulay,
who had been governor of Sierra Leone, and had also resided in
Jamaica. A bill was first carried (brought in by Sir W. Dolben) to
regulate the trade until it could be abolished, and this in some degree
diminished the horrors of the middle passage. But the question of
abolition was repeatedly defeated, until 1804, when Mr. Wilberforce
first carried the bill through the Commons; it was thrown out in the
Lords, and next year it was again lost even in the Commons. Mean-
while the capture of the foreign colonies, especially the Dutch, during
the war, frightfully increased the amount of the trade, by opening
these settlements to British capital; and at one time the whole
importation of slaves by British vessels amounted to nearly 60,000
yearly, of which about a third was for the supply of our old colonies.
At length, in 1805, an order in council prohibited the slave-trade in
the conquered colonies. Next year the administration of Lord
Grenville and Mr. Fox carried a bill through, prohibiting British
subjects from engaging in the trade for supplying either foreign settle-
ments or the conquered colonies. A resolution moved by Mr. Fox, the
last time he took any part in public debate, was also carried in 1806,
pledging the Commons to a total abolition of the trade early next
session, and this was, on Lord Grenville's motion, adopted by the
Lords. Accordingly next year the General Abolition Bill was brought
in by Lord Howick (afterwards Earl Grey), and being passed by both
houses, received the royal assent on the 25th of March, 1807. This
act prohibited slave-trading from and after the 1st of January, 1808;
but as it only subjected offenders to pecuniary penalties, it was found
that something more was required to put down a traffic the gains of
which were so great as to cover all losses by capture. In 1810 the
House of Commons, on the motion of Mr. Brougham, passed unani-
mously a resolution, pledging itself early next session effectually to
prevent "such daring violations of the law;" and he next year carried
a bill making slave-trading felony, punishable by fourteen years'
transportation, or imprisonment with hard labour. In 1824 the laws
relating to the slave-trade were consolidated, and it was further
declared to be piracy, and punishable capitally, if committed within the
Admiralty jurisdiction. In 1837 this was changed to transportation
for life, by the acts diminishing the number of capital punishments.
Since the Felony Act of 1811, the British colonies have entirely ceased
to have any concern in this traffic. If any British subjects have
engaged in it, or any British capital has been embarked in it, the
offence has been committed in the foreign trade.
The Duke of Wellington, while ambassador at Paris in 1814, used
every effort to obtain from the restored Bourbon government a pro-
hibition of the traffic in slaves; but the French West Indian interest
and commercial jealousy of England frustrated all his attempts. The
first French law abolishing the slave-trade was a decree issued by
Napoleon on the 29th of March, 1815, during the Hundred Days, after
his return from Elba. It prohibited any vessel from fitting out for the
trade, either in the ports of France or in those of her colonies; and the
introduction or sale in the French colonies of any negro obtained by
the trade, whether carried on by French subjects or foreigners. The
influence of Great Britain was again strenuously exerted at the peace in
1815, to obtain the concurrence of foreign powers in the abolition; and
the object has been steadily kept in view by this country, and every
opportunity of forwarding it taken advantage of, down to the present
time. The consequence has been that now nearly all the powers in
Europe and America have passed laws, or entered into treaties, pro-
hibiting the traffic.
To the General Treaty signed by the representatives of Austria,
France, Great Britain, Portugal, Prussia, Russia, Spain, and Sweden,
assembled in Congress at Vienna, on the 9th of June, 1815, was annexed,
as having the same force as if textually inserted, a Declaration, signed
at the same place by the Plenipotentiaries of certain of the powers, on
1
SLAVE, SLAVERY, SLAVE-TRADE:
e0s
the 8th of February preceding, to the following effect:-that seeing
several European governments had already, virtually, come to the
resolution of putting a stop to the slave-trade, and that, successively, all
the powers possessing colonies in different parts of the world had
acknowledged, either by legislative acts, or by treaties or other formal
engagements, the duty and necessity of abolishing it; and that by a
separate article of the late treaty of Paris (30th May, 1814), Great
Britain and France had engaged to unite their efforts at this Congress
of Vienna to induce all the powers of Christendom to proclaim its
universal and definitive abolition; the members of the Congress now
declared, in the face of Europe, that they were animated with the
sincere desire of concurring in the most prompt and effectual execution
of this measure by all the means at their disposal. And this Declara-
tion was renewed by the plenipotentiaries of Austria, France, Great
Britain, Prussia, and Russia, assembled in Congress at Verona, in re-
solutions adopted in a conference held on the 28th of November, 1822;
in which, however, it is admitted that, "notwithstanding this declara-
tion, and in spite of the legislative measures which have in consequence
been adopted in various countries, and of the several treaties con-
cluded since that period between the maritime powers, this commerce,
solemnly proscribed, has continued to this very day; that it has gained
in activity what it may have lost in extent; that it has even taken a still
more odious character, and more dreadful from the nature of the means
to which those who carry it on are compelled to have recourse.'
""
The following will be found, we believe, to be a correct and complete
list of the treaties and conventions for the suppression of the slave-
trade that have been made by this country with other states since the
general peace :—
In 1814, with France, by Additional Artícles to the Definitive Treaty
of Peace signed at Paris 30th May (engaging that the slave-trade should
be abolished by the French government in the course of five years);
and with the Netherlands, by treaty of London, 13th August. Its
abolition had also been stipulated in the Treaty of Kiel, concluded
with Denmark on the 14th of January.
In 1815, with France, by Additional Article to Definitive Treaty
signed at Paris 20th November (by which the two powers, having each
already, in their respective dominions, prohibited, without restriction,
their colonies and subjects from taking any part whatever in the
slave-trade, engage to renew their efforts, through their ministers at
the courts of London and Paris, for its entire and definitive abolition);
and with Portugal, by Treaty signed at Vienna 22nd January (referring
to Treaty of Alliance concluded at Rio de Janeiro 19th February, 1810,
in which the Prince Regent of Portugal had declared his determination
to adopt the most efficacious means for bringing about a gradual abolition
of the slave-trade; and making it now unlawful for any of the subjects
of the crown of Portugal to purchase slaves, or to carry on the slave-
trade, on any part of the coast of Africa to the northward of the
equator).
In 1817, with Portugal, by Convention signed at London 28th July
(prohibiting universally the carrying on of the slave-trade by Portu-
guese vessels bound for any port not in the dominions of his Most
Faithful Majesty; and restricting it in other circumstances); with
Portugal, by Separate Article, signed at London 11th September
(referring to arrangements to be adopted "as soon as the total aboli-
tion of the slave-trade, for the subjects of the crown of Portugal,
shall have taken place"); with Spain, by Treaty signed at Madrid
23rd September (by which his Catholic Majesty engages that the slave-
trade shall be abolished throughout the entire dominions of Spain on
the 30th of May, 1820, and that in the mean time it shall not be
lawful for any of the subjects of the crown of Spain to purchase slaves,
or to carry on the slave-trade, on any part of the coast of Africa to the
north of the equator, or in vessels bound for any port not in the
dominions of his Catholic Majesty; and by which the restrictions
under which the trade may be carried on in other circumstances are
specified); and with Radama, king of Madagascar and its dependencies,
by Treaty signed at Tamatave 23rd October.
In 1818, with the Netherlands, by Treaty signed at the Hague 4th
May (specifying restrictions under which the reciprocal right of
visitation and search is to be exercised).
In 1820, with Madagascar, by Additional Articles signed at Tanana-
rivoux 11th October.
In 1822, with the Imaum of Muscat, by Treaty signed at Muscat 10th
September; with Netherlands, by Explanatory and Additional Articles,
signed at Brussels 31st December; and with Spain, by Explanatory
Article signed at Madrid 10th December.
In 1823, with Netherlands, by Additional Article signed at Brussels
25th January; with Portugal, by Additional Articles signed at Lisbon
15th March; and with Madagascar, by Additional Articles signed at
Tamatave 31st May.
In 1824, with Sweden, by Treaty of Stockholm, 6th November (ar-
ranging reciprocal right of visitation by the ships of war of the two
countries).
In 1826, with Brazil, by Treaty of Rio de Janeiro, 23rd November
(renewing, on the separation of that empire from Portugal, the stipula-
tions of the treaties subsisting with the latter power).
In 1831, with France, by Convention of Paris, 30th November (stipu-
lating mutual right of search, within certain seas, by a number of ships
of war to be fixed every year for each nation by special agreement).
(09
610
SLAVE, SLAVERY, SLAVE-TRADE.
SLAVE, SLAVERY, SLAVE-TRADE.
In 1833, with France, by Supplementary Convention of Paris, 22nd
March (further regulating the right of visitation by duly authorised
cruisers).
In 1834, with Denmark, by Treaty of Copenhagen, 26th July (con-
taining the accession of his Danish Majesty to the Conventions between
Great Britain and France of 1831 and 1833); with Sardinia, by Treaty
of Turin, 8th August (containing accession of that power to same con-
ventions); and with Sardinia, by Additional Article, signed at Turin,
8th December (respecting place of landing of negroes found in vessels
with Sardinian flag).
In 1835, with Spain, by Treaty of Madrid, 28th June (abolishing
slave-trade on part of Spain henceforward, totally and finally, in all
parts of the world; and regulating a reciprocal right of search); and
with Sweden, by Additional Article to Treaty of 1824, signed at Stock-in what is called the "seasoning" of the slaves. The Portuguese flag
holm 15th June.
In 1837, with Tuscany, by Convention signed at Florence 24th
November (containing accession of the Grand Duke of Tuscany to
French Conventions of 1831 and 1833); with Hanse Towns, by Con-
vention signed at Hamburg 9th June (to same effect); and with
Netherlands, by Additional Article to Treaty of 1818, signed at the
Hague 7th February.
In 1838, with the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, by Convention
signed at Naples 14th February (containing accession of his Sicilian
Majesty to French Conventions of 1831 and 1833).
In 1839, with Republic of Venezuela, by Treaty signed at Caracas
15th March (abolishing for ever the traffic in slaves, so far as it con-
sists in the conveyance of negroes from Africa; expressing the deter-
mination of Venezuela to preserve in force the provisions of a law
passed in February, 1825, declaring Venezuelans found engaged in
that trade to be pirates and punishable with death, and regulating a
mutual right of visitation); with Chile, by Treaty signed at Santiago
19th January; with Uruguay, by Treaty signed at Montevideo 13th
July; with Argentine Confederation, by Treaty signed at Buenos
Ayres 24th May; and with Hayti, by Convention signed at Port-au-
Prince 23rd December.
In 1840, with Bolivia, by Treaty signed at Sucre 25th September;
and with Texas, by Treaty signed at London 16th November.
In 1841, with France, by Treaty signed at Paris 20th December,
which however the French government afterwards refused to ratify;
with Mexico, by Treaty signed at Mexico 24th February; and with
Austria, Prussia, and Russia, by Treaty signed at London 20th De-
cember.
In 1842, with the United States of North America, by Treaty signed
at Washington 9th August (stipulating that each party shall maintain
on the coast of Africa a naval force, carrying in all not less than eighty
guns, "to enforce, separately and respectively, the laws, rights, and
obligations of each of the two countries for the suppression of the
slave-trade; the said squadrons to be independent of each other," but
"to act in concert and co-operation, upon mutual consultation, as
exigencies may arise"); with the Argentine Republic; and with the
Republic of Hayti.
În 1842, the Ashburton Treaty with the United States of America,
by which it was stipulated that each party was to maintain a separate
squadron on the coast of Africa to suppress the slave-trade, but if the
vessel seized on suspicion was under American colours she was to be
delivered to an American cruiser, and if under any other to be given
up to the British, to be decided upon as to the fact of slave trading
being established, by the courts of the respective countries. [SEARCH,
RIGHT OF.] This divided action has not been found effective. With
Portugal, by Treaty signed at Lisbon 3rd July.
In 1845, with Brazil; and with France, by a Convention signed at
London on the 29th of May (by which each power is to keep up an
equal naval force on the western coast of Africa, and the right of
visitation is to be exercised only by cruisers of the nation whose flag is
carried by the suspected vessel).
The History of the Abolition is to be found in the work under that
title by T. Clarkson, and the state of the law, as well as the treatment
of slaves practically in the colonies, is most fully treated of in a work
on that subject by Mr. Stephen. The writings of the late Sir John
Jeremie also contain much useful information on the condition of
slavery in the British colonies just before the Emancipation Act. T.
Clarkson's other works on the nature of the traffic, which first exposed
it to the people of this country, were published in 1787.
The slave-trade was suppressed, but slavery continued to exist in
the British colonies. In 1834 the British parliament passed an act by
which slavery was abolished in all British colonies, and twenty millions
sterling were voted as compensation money to the owners. This act
(3 & 4 Wm. IV. c. 73) stands prominent in the history of our age. No
other nation has imitated the example. The emancipated negroes in
the British colonies were put on the footing of apprenticed labourers.
By a subsequent act (1 Vic. c. 19) all apprenticeships were to cease
after the 1st of August, 1840, but the day was anticipated in all the
West Indian colonies by acts of the colonial legislatures. Slavery
exists in the Spanish and Portuguese colonies, and in the
southern states of the North American Union. The new republics
of Spanish America, generally speaking, emancipated their slaves at
the time of the revolution. As the slave population in general does
not maintain its numbers by natural increase, and as plantations in
ARTS AND SOI. DIV. VOL. VII.
America are extended, there is a demand for a fresh annual importation
of slaves from Africa, which are taken to Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Monte
Video. Since the slave-trade has been declared to be illegal, the
sufferings of the slaves on their passage across the Atlantic have been
greatly increased, owing to its being necessary for masters of slave-
traders to conceal their cargoes by cooping up the negroes in a small
compass, and to avoid the British cruisers; they are often thrown
overboard in a chase. There is a considerable loss of life incident to
the seizing of slaves by force in the hunting excursions after negroes,
and in the wars between the chieftains of the interior for the purpose
of making captives. There is a loss on their march to the sea-coast;
the loss in the middle passage is reckoned on an average at one-fourth
of the cargo; and, besides this, there is a further loss, after landing,
has been openly used, with the connivance of the authorities, for
carrying on the slave-trade. The Spanish flag has also been used,
though with caution, owing to the treaty between England and Spain
which formally abolishes the slave-trade on the part of Spain.
mixed commission court of Spaniards and British exists at Havana to
try slavers; but pretexts are never wanting to elude the provisions of
the treaty. There seems indeed to be a great difficulty in obtaining
the sincere co-operation of all Christian powers to put down the slave-
trade effectually, although it is certain that in all but the Portuguese
and Spanish settlements the traffic has now almost entirely ceased.
Besides the slave-trade on the Atlantic, there is another periodical
exportation of slaves by caravans from Soudan to the Barbary states
and Egypt, the annual number of which is variously estimated at
between twenty and thirty thousand. There is also a trade carried on
by the subjects of the Imaum of Muscat, who export slaves in Arab
vessels from Zanzibar and other ports of the eastern coast of Africa, to
Arabia, Persia, India, Java, and other places. The Portuguese also
export slaves from their settlements on the Mozambique coast, to Goa,
Diu, and their other Indian possessions.
A
By a law of the Koran, which, however, is not always observed in all
Mohammedan countries, no Mussulman is allowed to enslave one of his
own faith. The Moslem negro kingdoms of Soudan supply the slave-
trade at the expense of their pagan subjects or neighbours, whom they
sell to the Moorish traders. Mohammedan powers will probably never
suppress this trade of their own accord.
There is a considerable internal slave-trade in the United States of
North America. Negroes are bred and sold in Maryland and Virginia,
and some other of the slave-holding states, and carried to the more
fertile lands of Alabama, Louisiana, and other southern states. But
the attempts of the south, for some time successful, to legalise the
recapturing of their escaped slaves in the non-slaveholding states, has
at length led to a reaction. On the other hand the election of a presi-
dent opposed to the views of the slave states, has served as a pretext
for the southern states to secede from the Union, and form a new con-
federacy based on the fullest recognition of slavery as an institution.
The issue is however still pending, it being as yet uncertain whether
either party will make concessions, or whether or not coercive mea-
sures will be employed.
It is maintained by some that the African slave-trade cannot be
effectually put down by force, and that the only chance of its ultimate
suppression is by civilising central Africa, by encouraging agricultural
industry and legitimate branches of commerce, and at the same time
spreading education and Christianity; and also by giving the protec-
tion of the British flag to those negroes who would avail themselves of
it. It is certain that if other countries will not exert themselves, the
abolition must be postponed to this remote period. The Africans sell
men because they have no other means of procuring European com-
modities, and there seems no doubt that one result of the slave-trade
is to keep central Africa in a state of barbarism. Great hopes are
entertained, and a prospect has been afforded, that the influence of com-
merce will tend to lessen the hateful trade. From the western coast of
Africa a large amount of palm-oil is now exported, and as the cultiva-
tion of the plant, and the production of the oil, will render the profit
of the labour more productive to the rulers than the sale of the
labourer, it may induce them to discontinue the practice of under-
taking wars for the purpose of procuring captives for sale. It is also
hoped by many that cotton may be successfully raised in Africa.
The amount of the slave population now existing in America is not
easily ascertained, In Brazil it is estimated there are 2,000,000
negroes, of whom three-fourths are slaves. The slaves in Cuba, accord-
ing to the census of 1840, numbered 425,521. In the United States
the number of slaves was 3,204,513 by the census of 1850, which is
716,989 more than the number according to the census of 1840; yet
ten states which returned slaves in 1840 returned none in 1850, the
holding of them having wholly (or virtually) ceased.
Societies for the ultimate and universal abolition of slavery exist in
England, France, and the United States, and they publish their reports;
and a congress was held in London, in June, 1840, of delegates from
many countries to confer upon the means of effecting it. The American
Society has formed a colony called Liberia, near Cape Mesurado, on the
west coast of Africa, where negroes who have obtained their freedom
in the United States are sent, if they are willing to go [LIBERIA, in
GEOG. Div.] The English government has a colony for a similar pur-
pose at Sierra Leone, where negroes who have been scized on board
RR
611
SLEEP; SLEEP-WALKING.
slavers by English cruisers are settled. [SIERRA LEONE, in GEOG.
DIV.] Several thousands of negroes who have escaped from slavery
in the United States are now settled in Canada, earning a livelihood by
their own industry.
SLEEP; SLEEP-WALKING. [SOMNAMBULISM.]
SLIDE (or SLIDING) RULE. The sliding-rule is an instrument
for the mechanical performance of addition and subtraction, which is
converted into an instrument for the mechanical performance of multi-
plication and division by the use of logarithmic scales, instead of
scales of equal parts.
This instrument has been greatly undervalued in our country, in
which it was invented, and is very little known on the Continent; for
though a French work on the subject, published in 1825, which is fol-
lowed by the writer of a more recent mathematical dictionary in the same
language, assures us that in England the sliding rule is taught at schools
at the same time with the letters of the alphabet, we believe it would be
more correct to say that nine Englishmen out of ten would not know
what the instrument was for if they saw it, and that of those who
even know what it is for, not one in a hundred would be able to work
a simple question by means of it. For a few shillings most persons
might put into their pockets some hundred times as much power of
calculation as they have in their heads and the use of the instrument
is attainable without any knowledge of the properties of logarithms, on
which its principle depends.
1
SLIDE RULE.
612
=22 85, the truth being 22.8. Again, we find 623 (fixed) just over
275 (slide), the 8 being estimated; hence, by the scales we learn that
628-275-2.285; the truth being 2.2836. Thirdly, we estimate
that 1725 (fixed) falls over 757 (slide), and that 276 (fixed) falls
over 121 (slide). That is, the ruler informs us that 1725 : 757 ::
276: 121; the fourth term should be 12112, as found by com-
putation. We take a larger scale, having 7 inches of radius, and
setting 1 on the slide to 228 5, we find 1725 appears to fall over what
we should judge to be 756 rather than 757. Now 1725÷757=2.2787,
and 1725-756-2.2818. Both give on the scales 2.285, so that the
advantage is slightly in favour of the larger scale, but not so much as
we should have expected. We now try one of 24 inches radius, and
setting 1 on the slide to 2.285 on the fixed ruler, we find that 1725
(fixed) falls over 7547 (slide), the last 7 being estimation.
Now
1725-754-7=2.2857, which gives the advantage again (but not so
decidedly as might have been expected) to the large rule.
fact is, that it is rather ease than proportionate accuracy which is
gained by the large rules: the preceding results required care and
close attention on the 5-inch rule; were obtained with moderate care
on the 7-inch; and taken off instantly from the 24-inch rule. More-
over, divisions on wood, made in the usual way, do not allow accu-
racy to increase with the size: if these rulers were divided on brass,~
and with the precautions taken in astronomical instruments, it would
be a very different thing; but after all, the wonder is that the common
wooden rules should be so accurate as they are.
The
A
2
3
4
5 6 7 8 9 10

α
с B
d
Y e
r f e g s h ni o k B
then a e is that of 4.
We have before us a logarithmic scale, of which AB, called the
radius, may stand for the logarithm of 10, 100, 1000, &c. : but if A B
should be, say the logarithm of 100, then A c is that of 20, ad of 30,
and so on. If this scale be repeated several times, beginning again at
B, and if it be also large enough to be subdivided to a greater extent
than can be shown in the diagram, any multiplication can be approxi-
mately performed by addition, and any division by subtraction; which
may be done with a pair of compasses. That is to say, the figures of
the product may be found, exactly or approximately, and the meaning
of the figures must be settled from the known character of the result.
For example, to find 4 times 15:-First, let A B mean the logarithm of
100, then ▲ a is that of 15; next let A B mean the logarithm of 10,
Take A a on the compasses, and set it on to the
right of e; it will be found that the point g is attained, directly under
6. But 4 times 15 must be tens; therefore 60 is meant, or 4 × 15–60.
Next to divide 90 by 45: from ak take ad, or set off Ad from k
towards the left. The point c will be attained, under 2, which is the
quotient. Next to find 7 times 5: set off af from h towards the right,
and the point y of the scale following B will be attained, and 35 is the
But had it been to multiply 7 by 5 or 5-tenths, this 35 would
have meant 3.5 or 3. Attempts are made in works professing to ex-
plain the sliding-rule to give rules for the determination of the cha-
racter of the figures in the answer, but without any success. It is all
very well for a few chosen examples, but an attempt to do without the
book soon shows the insufficiency of rules. If, on a large scale, 653
should be the figures of an answer, common sense, applied to the pro-
blem, must say whether it is 0653, ·653, 6·53, 65-3, 653, 6530, 65300,
&c. which is meant. A knowledge of decimal fractions is therefore
indispensable.
answer.
Now these additions and subtractions might be performed by a pair
of rulers made to slide each along the other; but whether they are
kept together by the hand, or whether the one ruler slides in a
groove along the edge of the other, matters nothing to the explana-
tion. The following diagram represents the two rulers in one relative
position. Here 1 on the slide is made to match 2 on the fixed ruler,
and the instrument is now in a position to multiply by 2, to perform
every division in which the quotient is 2, and to work every question
in the rule of three in which the ratio of the first term to either the
second or third is that of 2 to 1, or of 1 to 2. And here let us observe,
that much the best way of beginning to use the sliding-rule is not by
working given questions, but by setting the slide at hazard, and learn-
ing to read the questions which are thus fortuitously worked.
1
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1
A
1
2
3
+
5
2
3
+
5
α
4
5
1
2
36
5
I
2
3
The next step in the description is as follows :-It matters nothing
whether the second scale be really made consecutive with the first,
or occupy any other part of space: provided that when 1 and 1 are
brought together on the first scale, 1 and 1 also come together on the
second, and that the first slide and its continuations slide equally. We
see this in the diagram before us: a b is one slide, and AB are two
rulers on opposite sides of the groove. When a b is pushed home,
A and a present coinciding scales, as do B and b: we should rather say,
that the last is not one scale, but the end of one and the beginning of
another; the 1 of в and b being in the middle. The consequence is,
that so long as 1 of the scale b is not pushed out so far as to fall out
of the groove (which is never necessary, since there is a whole scale on
B), there is always the power of reading every result of the multipli-
In the diagram, 1 on b is pushed out to 2 on B, and
2x
on the upper scales (A and a) we see 2 × 2=4, 2×3=6, 2 × 4=8,
2×5=10; on the lower (B and b), 2×4=8, 2x-5=10, 2×6=12,
2×
This modification was
2x7=14, 2 x 8=16, 2 x 9-18, 2x 10=20.
invented by Mr. Silvanus Bevan (Nicholson's 'Journal,' vol. xlix.,p.187);
but thirty years before this Mr. Nicholson ('Phil. Trans.', 1787, p. 246)
had pointed out how to divide the whole radius into four parts, two on
each face.
cation in hand.
A simple plan, and in some respects the best, is to make a revolving
circle turn upon a fixed one, in which case the scale is its own continua-
tion, as in the following diagram. The two circles have a common

G
5
1
67891
3

S
3
2
8
In the cut before us we have the 1 of the slide placed at 2 of the fixed
ruler; consequently 6 on the slide comes under what would be 12 of
the fixed ruler if the secondary graduations were inserted. Again, 4
comes over 2, and 9 over 45, giving 4 : 2 :: 9: 45, the decimal point
being inserted by intuition. To show the sort of results which we
obtain from such a slide of 5-inches radius (or from 1 to 1), we take
one of this sort, and throw 1 of the slide at hazard between 225 and
230 on the fixed ruler, a little farther to the right than it is on the
preceding diagram; guessing at the interval, it seems 228.5.
detect it more exactly by looking at 5 on the slide, which is hardly
visible in advance of 114 on the scale. As far then as the divisions,
aided by our judgment of this interval, inform us, we have 1145
We
pivot, and the upper one turns round on the lower; the rim of the
inner circle being bevelled down to the plane of the lower. A com-
plete logarithmic scale is marked on each circumference, and it will
readily be seen that the scales are placed so as to point out multiplica-
tions by 2, as in the former instances, and also that the recommence-
ment of the scale begins its continuation. Instead of two circles there
might be two thin cylinders, turning on a common axis, the graduations
being made on the rim. Thirty years ago, an instrument-maker at
Paris laid down logarithmic scales on the rims of the box and lid of a
common circular snuff-box: one of two inches diameter would be as
good an aid to calculation as the common engineer's rule. But either
calculators disliked snuff, or snuff-takers calculation, for the scheme
was not found to answer, and the apparatus was broken up.
613
CLA
SLIDE RULE.
SLIDE RULE.
The form first proposed by Oughtred (presently to be mentioned)
was a modification of the preceding. Instead of two circles, two
pointing radii were attached to the centre of one circle, on which a
number of concentric circles were drawn, each charged with a
logarithmic scale. These pointers would either move round together,
united by friction, or open and shut by the application of pressure:
they were in fact a pair of compasses, laid flat on the circle, with their
pivot at its centre. Calling these pointers antecedent and consequent,
to multiply a and в the consequent arm must be brought to point to
1, and the antecedent arm then made to point to a. If the pointers
be then moved together until the consequent arm points to B, the ante-
cedent arm will point to the product of A and B.
It will be observed that in every construction the logarithmic spaces
are very unequal, those near the end of the scale being small when
compared with those at the beginning. This is not so great a disad-
vantage as might be supposed, for it makes the liability to error increase
in nearly the same proportion with the result, so that the per centage
of error in the sliding-rule is nearly the same thing in all its parts.
For example, the scale going from 10 to 100, the interval from 10 to
11 is to that from 99 to 100 as 207 to 22, nearly in the proportion of
10 to 1. The tendency to absolute error will be inversely as these
intervals, or nearly in the proportion of 1 to 10: the tendency to
error is therefore about 10 times as great precisely when the result
estimated becomes ten times as great. Oughtred appropriated two
circles to his logarithms of sines, and it would be easy in his construction
of the circles of proportion,' as he called them, to distribute the
scale among different circles in such a manner that the graduations
should be nearly equal throughout. But the mathematician will easily
see that that the most perfect mode of developing this idea would be
to lay down the scale on a revolution of a logarithmic spiral, having
the pointers joined at its pole. The graduations would then be abso-
lutely at equal distances from each other on the arc of the spiral.
Another modification of the principle of the sliding-rule is as follows:
-Let the divisions be all made equal, and the numbers written upon
the divisions in geometrical proportion. If this were done to a
sufficient extent, any number might be found exactly or nearly enough
upon the scale; the only difficulty being that very small divisions do
not give room enough to write the numbers. This modification of
the principle has been applied in two very useful modes by Mr.
MacFarlane. In the first, two cylinders moving on the same axis, on
one side and the other of a third, give the means of instantaneously
proposing and solving any one out of several millions of arithmetical
questions for the use of schools and teachers. In the second, one
circle revolving upon another gives the interest upon any sum, for any
number of days, at any rate of interest under 10 per cent.
The rules for using the sliding-rule, in its most simple form, may be
symbolically expressed in the following manner :-
1 B
A AB
A C
B CX B÷A
A B
1 BA
Thus, if 1 on either ruler be brought opposite to a on the other, B
on the first ruler is brought opposite to A в on the other. But if the
slide be taken out and inverted, we have the following rules :—
1 B
A A÷B
| A
A B
A C
1 A B
B AX B÷C
|
We now proceed to some of the additious which are frequently made
to sliding-rules, premising that we do not describe any one in particular,
but refer for detail to the tracts which are afterwards cited. For the
extraction of square or cube roots, or the formation of squares or cubes,
the following method is adopted :—In the case of squares and square
roots, for instance, there is a pair of scales, one on the slide and one on
the fixed ruler, of different radii, the radius of one being twice as long
as that on the other: for cubes and cube roots the radius of one is
three times as long as the other. On the former scale (that of squares
and square roots) the rules are now as follows :—
Longer Rad. 1 A
Shorter Rad. 1 AA
A
B
VA
A
1 B
A AB3
A C
B
BC2: A2
AVB
1 B2. A² B
(√ B): A
B
A√(C: B)
*
C
The denomination of the answer, or the place of the decimal point,
must be determined by independent consideration, as before; but there
is one circumstance to be, attended to in every case in which two of the
data are to be read on the shorter scale. For example, suppose it is
required to estimate √(2:7). By the second formula, 7 on the shorter
scale is placed opposite to 1 on the longer, and 2 on the shorter scale is
then opposite to 1693 on the longer. The answer from the scale is
then 1693, to all appearance; but this is not √(2:7), but √(2:70).
The place on the longer scale which should give the answer has no
slide opposite to it, but only empty groove. But mark where 1 on
the shorter scale is opposite to a part of the longer (between 119 and
120), and push the slide in from left to right till the first 1 on the
The reader will not understand this, unless with the scale in his hand.
The common carpenter's rule or Bevan's rule will do, in which two consecutive
radii are on the shorter scale, and one radius of twice the length on the longer.
shorter scale comes where the second now is; then look under the
second 2 of the shorter scale, we have 534; and 534 is the true
answer so far as the scale will give it. We have taken the most
straightforward plan of reading the rule, and have not space for all the
details which are in works on the subject, particularly the method of
using the slide of numbers with a scale of numbers above and of square
roots below. The following is the general principle applicable to the
preceding case:-
It is well known that, whereas in common division the place of the
decimal point has nothing to do with the significant figures of the
quotient, yet in extracting the square, cube, &c., roots, the figures of
the root are altered by a change of the decimal point, unless it be
changed by an even number of places in extracting the square root, by
three or a multiple of three places in the cube root, and so on.
extracting the square root, a number may either have two figures in its
first period, or one; thus 07616 and 7616 must (in the rule for
extraction) be pointed
•076160 and 7616.
In
Let us call numbers unidigital or bidigital, according as there are one
or two significant figures in the first period. Then the application to
the sliding-rule is, that on the shorter scale numbers of the same name
must be read either on the same radius or with a whole radius inter-
vening, while numbers of different names must be read on different
radii.'In the scale for the extraction of the cube root, numbers must
radii. In the scale for the extraction of the cube root, numbers must
be distinguished into unidigital, bidigital, and tridigital; and signifying
these by their initial letters, and taking the succession UB TUBT, &c.,
there must be the same relation between the scales on which they are
read that there is between the places of their letters in the preceding
list. Thus, if u be read on one radius, T must either be read on that
immediately preceding, or on the next but one. Thus, in the preceding
question, which we first solved wrongly, we have 2 and 7 to consider on
the shorter scale, the pointing of which is-
2.0000 and 7-0000,
and both are unidigital numbers. Bringing 7 on the shorter scale to 1
on the longer, we see that the next 2 is on a different radius; it would
do then for 70, or '7, or '007, but not for 7. By the process we followed
we took not indeed a 2 on the same radius with our 7, but on the next
These points,
radius but one, and thus obtained the correct answer.
and others (such as the meanings of the lines of sines, tangents, &c.,
annuities, &c., which are found on several rules) can only be mastered
by those who are acquainted theoretically with logarithms, trigono-
metry, &c.; for after all the sliding-rule will not teach the method of
working any question, but will only afford aid in computation-in
common multiplication and division, to any one; in higher rules, to
those who understand their principles. Oughtred, the inventor, kept
the instrument by him many years, out of a settled contempt for those
who would apply it without knowledge, having "onely the superficiall
scumme and froth of instrumentall trickes and practises;" and wishing
to encourage "the way of rationall scientiallists, not of ground-creeping
Methodicks." A little distinction between that portion of its use
which is generally attainable, and that which requires mathematical
knowledge, would have been more reasonable.
On the carpenter's and engineer's sliding-rule are engraved a number
of numerals in columns with headings, of which the following is a
specimen :—
CAST IRON
SQUARE.
FFF FII III
0022 323 3 S78
GLOBE.
CYLINDER.
FI II
411 4.935
I
F I
0043 7.406
These divisors (called gauge-points) are intended to convert into
pounds the weight of a rectangular prism, cylinder, or globe, of cast-
iron; the first, on three suppositions, namely, all dimensions in feet,
one in feet and two in inches, and all in inches; the second, on the
suppositions that the length is in feet and the diameter in inches,
and that both are in inches; the third, on the supposition that the
diameter is either in feet or in inches. We shall here content ourselves
with verifying one of these, say the first of those marked "cylinder,"
which will show the nature of the divisor.
The specific gravity of cast-iron is 7 207, and the content of a cylinder
of D inches diameter and L feet of length is *7854 × DL divided by 144,
in cubic feet. A cubic foot of water weighs 62:321 pounds avoirdupois :
one of cast-iron, therefore, weighs 62.321 x 7·207; whence the weight
of the cylinder is, in pounds,
D'L
G
or '4082;
62·321 × 7·207¸× •7854 D³L ÷ 144, or ;
144
62·321 × 7·207 × 7854'
where G =
near enough to 411 to illustrate our object, but showing that the
computer of this divisor used a specific gravity slightly differing from
the above. The rule in all the cases is to multiply the three dimensions
together, diameters or lengths, and to divide by the divisor given in
the table. The term gauge-point, which properly belongs to the part
615
SLIDE RULE.
i
SLIDE RULE.
616
of the scale on which the divisor is marked, has passed to the divisor
itself.
The following list of sliding-rules contains all, or nearly all, which
can be useful to any one :—
1. Common Engineer's Rule, or Carpenter's Rule in its best form.
A double 12-inch rule, a slide of two radii with the same scale on one
side, and a scale of one radius of double length on the other, with
divisors. (Sold by all rule makers.) There is a description in Kentish's
Treatise on a Box of Instruments,' &c., London, 1839.
2. Bevan's Engineer's Rule, 12 inches. Has slides on both faces
(which may be exchanged), and serves for squares, cubes, square
roots of cubes, &c. There are scales on the backs of the slides
and in the grooves, for sines, tangents, inverted numbers, compound
interest and annuities at 5 per cent. (Cary, Strand, with an explanatory
treatise.)
3. Henderson's Double-Slide Rule, 12 inches. Has two parallel con-
tiguous slides, with scales of numbers fixed above and below, and
solves at one operation most sets of multiplications and divisions not
exceeding five operations. At the back are tables of divisors for solids.
4. Woollgar's Pocket Calculator, 8 inches. The two slides work in
either of the grooves: the backs and the grooves have scales of sines,
tangents, areas of polygons, circular segments; interest, annuities,
certain and for lives, at several rates of interest. An addition may be
made by a metal slip, giving the solution of the same questions as the
last rule.
5. Woollgar's Pocket-Book Rule, 6 and 8 inches. Two radii, one
under the other, as described in the preceding part * of the article; a
line for sines and duplicate proportions at the back of the slide. At
the bottom of the groove are sometimes inserted lines for finding the
relations of right-angled triangles, for cask-gauging, and for cuttings
and embankments.
6. Excise Officer's Sliding Rule, modern form. Sold at the Excise
Store-office, and by some of the instrument-makers. The old Excise
rule was a thick block, with a slide on each face.
7. Bayley's Rule, (Elliot, Strand) has a scale of numbers, squares,
and cubes, and a scale of equal parts, of the length of the line of
squares, from which the logarithm of a number can be approximately
read. This line is of considerable use in operations connected with
higher powers: it is found also in Bevan's rules. The constructor of
this scale, which is well divided and convenient, has a full treatise on
the whole subject in the press.
Among separate treatises not yet noted are Flower's, 8vo., London,
1768; Mackay's, 8vo., 2nd edit., London, 1811; do. Leith, 1812;
Instruction sur la Maniêre de se servir de la Regle à Calcul.,' petit-in-
Svo., Paris et Dijon, 1825; 'The Universal Ready-Reckoner,' by an
Idle Gentleman, 12mo., London, 1839; and there is a good deal on the
subject in Ingram's 'Concise System of Mathematics,' 12mo., Edin-
burgh; and Bateman's Excise Officer's Manual,' 12mo., London.
Between the sliding-rule and the book of logarithms comes the card
of four-figure logarithms, published by Messrs. Taylor and Walton
(explained in the Companion to the Almanac ' for 1841), to which has
been added a similar card for sines and tangents. A sliding-rule, which
would in all parts compete with these tables in accuracy must have a
radius of from 8 to 10 feet, and would be unmanageable. At what
length the card begins to be more easily used than the rule we cannot
determine, but we should suspect that the former would be preferable
to a rule of four feet radius. We have found the rule of 24 inches
extremely useful in checking the material figures of more minute cal-
culations, particularly when there are many divisions by the same
divisor.
The history of the sliding-rule, had it ever been properly given,
would be matter for a few lines of our work, in the way of abbrevia-
tion and reference. As it is, we have not only to establish the main
points, but also to point out a specimen of the manner in which the
account of early English science has been written. Harris's 'Lexicon
Technicum' (1716) informs us that sliding-rules are very ingeniously
contrived and applied by Gunter, Partridge, Cogshall, Everard, Hunt,
and others, who have written particular treatises about their use and
application.' Stone's 'Mathematical Dictionary' (1743) has the same
words. Dr. Hutton (Math. Dict., 1815) informs us that they are
variously (not ingeniously) contrived and applied by different authors,
particularly Gunter, Partridge, Hunt, Everard, and Coggleshall. Other
writers repeat this sentence in their own ways, and the summing up
is this: the recognised history of the sliding-rule consists in the
names of five persons; all our best English authorities are unanimous
in stating that these men 'contrived and applied' sliding-rules, either
ingeniously or variously; but to the credit of this century be it spoken,
that it was our historian who altered the chronological order, and spelt
Coggleshall's name right: had it not been for the research of Dr.
Hutton, it might have been Cogshall to this day.
We now go on to something more like history. It is generally stated
that Gunter invented the sliding-rule. This is not correct; Gunter
neither invented this rule nor wrote about it; and though he was the
first (On the Crosse-staffe, book i., cap. 6) who used a logarithmic scale,
it was in the manner described at the beginning of this article, com-
passes being used to make the additions and subtractions. Gunter's
* The maker of this slide has them of various lengths up to 24 inches.
|
rule is used up to the present time, under that name, in the navy,
without any slides.
The real inventor of the slide was OUGHTRED [BIOG. DIV.], who was
also the first writer upon it. He was a man who set but little value
upon instrumental aids, unless in the hands of those who had pre-
viously learned sound principles, which (as we have seen) he himself
testifies. In the year 1630 he showed it to his pupil William Forster,
who obtained his consent to translate and publish his own description
of the instrument, and rules for using it. This was done under the
following title: 'The Circles of Proportion and the Horizontal Instru-
ment,' London, 1632; followed, in 1633, by an 'Addition, &c.,' with
an appendix, having title, 'The Declaration of the two Rulers for Cal-
culation.' The following extract from W. Forster's* dedication to Sir
Kenelm Digby will explain the whole :-
Being in the the time of the long vacation 1630, in the Country, at
the house of the Reverend, and my most worthy friend, and Teacher,
Mr. William Oughtred (to whose instruction I owe both my initiation,
and whole progresse in these Sciences), I upon occasion of speech told
him of a Ruler of Numbers, Sines, and Tangents, which one had be-
spoken to be made (such as is usually called Mr. Gunter's Ruler), 6 feet
long, to be used with a payre of beame compasses. He answered that
was a poore invention, and the performance very troublesome: But,
said he, seeing you are taken with such mechanicall wayes of Instru-
ments, I will show you what devises I have had by mee these many
yeares. And first, hee brought to mee two Rulers of that sort, to be
used by applying one to the other, without any compasses: and after
that he shewed mee those lines cast into a circle or Ring, with another
moveable circle upon it. I seeing the great expeditenesse of both
those wayes, but especially of the latter, wherein it farre excelleth any
other Instrument which hath bin knowne; told him, I wondered that
he could so many yeares conceale such usefull inventions, not onely
from the world, but from my selfe, to whom in other parts and mys-
teries of Art he had bin so liberall. He answered, That the true way
of Art is not by Instruments, but by Demonstration: and that it is
a preposterous course of vulgar Teachers, to begin with Instruments,
and not with the Sciences, and so instead of Artists, to make their
Schollers only doers of tricks, and as it were Juglers to the despite
of Art, losse of precious time, and betraying of willing and industrious
wits unto ignorance, and idlenesse. That the use of Instruments is
indeed excellent if a man be an Artist: but contemptible, being set
and opposed to Art. And lastly, that he meant to commend to me
the skill of Instruments, but first he would have me well instructed in
the Sciences. He also shewed me many notes, and Rules for the use
of those circles, and of his Horizontall Instrument (which he had pro-
jected about 30 yeares before) the most part written in Latine. All
which I obtained of him leave to translate into English, and make pub-
lique, for the use and benefit of such as were studious, and lovers of
these excellent Sciences."
This
Oughtred gave his right in the invention (so soon as it was settled to
be published) to Elias Allen, a well-known instrument-maker, near
St. Clement's Church, in the Strand. In walking to and fro from his
shop, he communicated his invention to one Richard Delamain, a
mathematical teacher whom he used to assist in his studies.
Delamain not only tried to appropriate the invention to himself, but
wrote a pamphlet of no small scurrility against Oughtred, which the
latter answered in an 'Apologeticall Epistle' fully as vituperative;
which epistle was printed at the end of W. Forster's translation. It
contains some quantity of biographical allusion, and must not be for-
gotten by a mathematical historian of the times. W. Forster's work
was republished in 1660, by A. H. (Arthur Haughton, another pupil of
Oughtred), with Oughtred's consent, but the dedication and epistle
were omitted.
The next writer whom we can find is Seth Partridge, in a 'Descrip-
tion, &c. of the Double Scale of Proportion,' London, 1685. He
studiously conceals Oughtred's name: the rulers of the latter were
separate, and made to keep together in sliding by the hand; perhaps
Partridge considered the invention his own, in right of one ruler
sliding between two others kept together by bits of brass. Coggle-
shall's ruler was made in both ways, that is, with the rulers attached
and unattached; it appears to have come in at the end of the 17th
century. Since that time several works have been written, and
various modifications of the ruler proposed. Ward (Lives of Gresham
Professors') is incorrect in saying that Wingate carried the sliding rule
into France in 1624: it was Gunter's scale which he introduced there.
In fact the slide was little used and little known till the end of the
century. Leybourn, himself a fancier of instruments, and an improver
(as he supposed) of the sector, has 30 folio pages of what he calls
instrumental arithmetic in his 'Cursus Mathematicus' (1690), but not
one word of any sliding-rule, though he puts fixed lines of squares and
cubes against his line of numbers in his version of Gunter's scale.
Finding so meagre an account on this matter in publications pro-
fessedly mathematical, we did not at first think of having recourse to
any others. When we had finished the preceding however, we thought
*This man must not be confounded with the Gresham professor of his
name; nothing more than his connection with Oughtred is known of him.
The one whose name is so much connected with Gunter is Samuel Foster (died
1652), Gresham professor of astronomy.
+ Here is the old use of the word art; we should now say science. [SCIENCE.]
617
618
SLIDE RULE.
SLIP.
article.
of consulting the 'Biographia Britannica,' and there we found, in the
middle of a very full life of Oughtred, the whole account of the
invention of the sliding-rule, exactly as above, and from the same
authorities. On looking at Dr. Hutton's account in the Dictionary,
we perceive that he has either used this memoir or some copy of it;
but without giving any information on the subject of the present
We shall conclude this article by some account of a new species
of sliding-rule, invented by Dr. Roget ('Phil. Trans.' for 1815), which
would be very useful in the hands of writers on statistics, and would
sometimes save much trouble to the mathematician. The slide con-
tains a common logarithmic line of two radii, each 10 inches in length.
The fixed ruler has not logarithms, but logarithms of logarithms
denoted by its spaces. For instance, reckoning from 10 (remembering
that log log 10=0), the space from 10 to 100 is log log 100, or log 2,
the same space as from 1 to 2 on the slide. And since log log is
positive or negative, according as x is greater or less than 10, we
have the logologarithms laid down on the left for numbers less than
10, and on the right for numbers greater. This instrument is
constructed by Mr. Rooker, and in this manner: 10 is on the
middle of the upper ruler, which ends on the right at 1010, or
ten thousand millions; and on the left at 1.25. At the ex-
treme right of the lower ruler we find 1.25 again, from which we
recede to 1.0025 on the extreme left. The upper and lower rulers
are so adjusted that from the end of one to the beginning of the
other it is exactly two radii, so that a setting on the upper ruler
applies also to the lower, but it may be necessary first to slip the slide
a whole radius forwards or backwards, in the manner described in the
preceding part of the article. And here again the meaning of the
reading on the slide must frequently be determined by common sense
applied to the problem.
When 1 on the slide is placed opposite to a on the ruler, we
have b on the slide opposite to ab on the ruler. Or using the pre-
ceding rotation-
ав
Rule α
Slide 1 b
α
α
a
1
b
C
The approximations of this rule are equally easy whether applied
to fractional or integer exponents, and Dr. Roget justly observes
that it gives a much better idea of the rapid increase of powers
than simple reflexion. It is so little known even to mathematicians,
that we put down some of its results as specimens of its powers.
Set 1 on the slide opposite to 314 on the rule, and we find for
the approximate powers of this number by simple inspection 9.85, 31,
97, 300, 960, 3000, 9500, 29,500, 93,000, &c. The square root is 1.772,
the cube root 1.463, the fourth root 1.331, the fifth root 1·257. We
must now change the slide, as above directed, so as to put it in con-
nection with the lower scale, and the proceeding roots are 1.215, 1178,
&c. All questions of increase of money, population, &c., are in this
manner reduced to simple inspection, and very easy trial gives that
approximate solution of exponential equations which the mathema-
tician must find before he applies his more extensive methods.
Thus, to form the table of logarithms in SCALE the base of which
is ¹/2-Set 12 on the slide opposite to 2 on the ruler, and the
table is ready, as far as the instrument will give it. Thus, oppo-
site to 3, 4, 5, &c., we find 190, 24, 279, 310, 337, 360, &c.,
almost exactly as in the table cited. It is also worth notice that each
division of the upper fixed ruler answers to the hundredth power of
the division directly beneath it on the lower fixed ruler. Thus,
wishing to know what effect would be produced in 100 years upon
a population which increases 346 per cent., we set unity to
1.0346 on the lower scale, and find at once 30.025 on the upper
ruler, being the number by which the present population must be
multiplied.
The late Mr. Woollgar (to whom we were indebted for much infor-
mation in this article, and who made a particular study of the slid-
ing-rule) carried to a considerable extent the principle of making the
slide or the rule (no matter which) bear, not the logarithms of the
numbers marked on its graduation, but those of the values of a func-
tion of those numbers (Mechanics' Magazine,' No. 849, vol. xxxii.)
Let a slide be so graduated that the interval from a given point to the
graduation x represents log po. When a is then ascertained (by the
common scale, if necessary), the formula apr is immediately deduced
from the common scale and the new slide. Nor need there be a new
slide for any scale being laid down in the groove, the common slide,
by having its end made to coincide with one or another division of the
scale in the groove, may be rendered capable of answering the pur-
pose of a new slide.
We long since obtained from Paris a circular logarithmic scale in
brass, altogether resembling the one figured and described in the pre-
ceding part of this article, with the addition only of a clamping
screw. This instrument, the scale of which is 4 inches in diameter,
is so well divided that it will stand tests which the wooden rules
would not bear without showing the error of the divisions. But here arise
disadvantages which we had not contemplated. In the first place, no
subdivision can be well made or read by estimation, unless the part of the
scale on which it comes is uppermost or undermost, which requires a
|
In the next
continual and wearisome turning of the instrument.
place, to make the best use of it, and bring out all its power, requires
(we should rather say renders worth while) such care in setting and
reading, as, unless a microscope and tangent screw were used, makes
the employment of the four-figure logarithm card both shorter and
less toilsome. For rough purposes, then, a wooden rule is as good;
for more exact ones, the card is better. We made a fair trial of both
on the tables in SOLAR SYSTEM, and are perfectly satisfied that though
the French brass arithmometer did, with great care, bring out the
results required, the four-figure card did the work more easily. But,
had we wished to abandon two or three units in the last places of
figures, there would then have been no doubt that the instrument
would have been the easier of the two: but then a straight wooden
rule of the same radius would have done quite as well, and been more
convenient still. (Mechanics' Magazine,' No. 919.)
SLIDING SCALE. [SLIDE or SLIDING RULE.]
SLING, an instrument with which stones or other missiles may be
thrown to a great distance. In its simplest form the sling consists of
a thong of leather, or a piece of cord or some woven fabric, both ends
of which are held in the hand of the slinger. The stone or missile is
placed in the fold or double of the thong, which is made wide at that
part, and sometimes furnished with a slit or socket for the purpose of
holding it; and the sling is then whirled round to gain an impetus.
When a sufficient degree of centrifugal force is thus generated, the
slinger allows one end of the thong to escape, and the stone, being
thereby released, flies off with considerable velocity. In the hands of
an expert slinger, this instrument may be made to project missiles to a
great distance, and with surprising accuracy.
The simplicity and portability of the sling, and the facility with
which supplies of ammunition for it might be obtained, led to its
extensive use among the ancients as a weapon of war, as well as for
other purposes.
Its common use among the Jews is intimated by
several passages of scripture. Several ancient paintings_represent the
use of the sling at an early period by the Egyptians. Some of these
are given by Wilkinson. In the Greek and Roman armies the light
troops consisted in great part of slingers, who were called opevdovñtai,
or funditores, from σpevdóvn, and funda, the Greek and Latin names of
the weapon.
The Carduchi, according to Xenophon, annoyed the
retreating army of the Ten Thousand by their powerful slings.
('Anab.', iv. 1, &c.) There are no slingers mentioned in Homer; and
the word which usually means sling (σperdóvn) occurs only once
(Iliad,' book xiii., line 599), and then not in the sense of sling, but in
the primary sense of the word, which means a broad band or bandage.
This passage has sometimes been strangely misunderstood. The sling
is not mentioned by Herodotus; and it is an error to assign the use of
it to the Persians, for which there appears no evidence but a loose
expression in Diodorus (xviii. 51), where he speaks of 'Persians,
bowmen and slingers, five hundred." The natives of the Balearic
Islands attained the highest reputation for their skill in its manage-
ment; which is attributed to their custom of teaching their children,
while very young, to wield it, and forbidding them, it is said, to taste
their food until they had dislodged it from a post or beam by means of
a sling. Besides stones, leaden plummets, cast in moulds, were used
as projectiles for the sling. These, which were called glandes, or
oλußdides, were of an elongated spheroidal form; somewhat resembling
that of olives or acorns. They have been often discovered in various
parts of Greece, and frequently bear on one side a figure of a thunder-
bolt, and on the other side either the word AEZÃI (take this), the
name of their owner, or some other inscription or device. Some of
these were of considerable size, weighing as much as an Attic_pound,
or 100 drachmæ. Fireballs also have been thrown by slings. Some of
the slings used by the ancients were managed by more than one cord;
one, two, or three being used, according to the size of the missiles to
be thrown.
The sling was long used in England. The Saxons certainly used it,
and seem to have been skilful in its management. Besides the
ordinary sling, they used one attached to a staff or truncheon three or
four feet long, wielded with both hands. This kind of sling, with
which large stones were thrown, appears to have been used principally
in sieges and in naval warfare. It is represented in an old drawing,
supposed to be by Matthew Paris. Slingers formed a part also of the
Anglo-Norman soldiery; and the sling had not fallen into disuse as a
military weapon at the commencement of the 15th century The use
of the sling may now be considered obsolete in this country as an
offensive weapon.
(Wilkinson's Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians, first
series, vol. i.; Strutt's Sports and Pastimes.)
SLIP, Earthwork. When in an embankment, or cutting, the
materials move laterally in consequence of some dynamical action, they
are said to slip, and they do so occasionally under circumstances which
can only be overcome with great difficulty, and at great expense.
Slips occur either when heavy loads are placed on incoherent materials,
which under such circumstances are simply displaced; or they occur
when the earth is of such a nature as to absorb so much water as to
become a semi-fluid mud; or when there are intercallated between
more impermeable strata beds of sand, or other open materials suscep-
tible of being removed. The former of these sources of danger can
easily be avoided by carrying the foundations of the intended load to
619
SLIP.
such a depth as to ensure their not exerting any detrusive force;
the latter sources of danger are far more complicated, and they require
to be dealt with very carefully, on account of the numerous con-
siderations attached to the change of state the materials often assume
before they get into motion.
Uniformly permeable materials, such as broken stones, gravel, or
shingle, are not exposed to slip after they have once taken their angle
of repose, because the gravity of the separate stones is sufficient to
keep them in their places whilst the water falling upon their exposed
surfaces is percolating through them. Very fine sands, however, are
able to be rendered semi-fluid under some conditions, and they then
have no angle of repose, and are able to spread in every direction.
Some clays, such as the Oxford clay, the gault, and the London clay,
which seem to have originally been the alluvial muds of marine
estuaries, subsequently dried and consolidated, are susceptible of
absorbing again quantities of water able to bring them into their original
state; and it seems, from the experience of our railway and canal
engineers, that many years must pass before cuttings executed in those
formations attain permanent conditions of stability. Instances have
been known in which slips have taken place in the Oxford clay forma-
tion when the slopes have been even 10 to 1 (10 base to 1 in vertical
height); and the New Cross. cutting of the Brighton Railway, in the
London clay, slipped in the winter 1860-61, although it had formed
part of the cutting for the old Croydon canal executed nearly sixty
years since. Slips, it may be added, occur in undisturbed natural
deposits exposed to the action of the sea, or of running water, and the
same class of accidents, above described as occurring in the cuttings
and embankments executed by the hand of man, occasionally happen
in consequence of the action of the ordinary laws of nature. When
they do happen in coal mines, or in analogous positions, owing to the
interference with the lateral support of the strata worked through, the
slips are technically known under the name of "creeps," and they
constitute by far the most dangerous, because the most irresistible,
of the accidents to which coal mining is exposed.
As slips are principally attributable to the effects of water upon the
materials concerned, it must be evident that the only method of
preventing or remedying them must be to establish a perfect system
of drainage in order to carry off superficial waters without allowing
them to soak into the ground so as to dilute the soluble materials, or
to set in motion the more minute particles of the intercallated
permeable strata. The mode usually adopted near London in dealing
with the earthworks to be formed around, or for the support of, water-
works, where of course slips would be of very serious importance, is to
carry up the embankment in layers, alternately of the clay in its
natural state, and of the clay after having been burnt in a heap;
vertical dykes or trenches filled in with burnt clay are carried from the
top to the bottom of the bank; and the top is dressed off with the
longitudinal and transverse inclinations required to throw the rain-
water into a series of surface drains. Theoretically this system is the
one to be aimed at in all such works, but it is too often the case that
the cost of the precautions it involves induces constructors to neglect
some of them; and again it may happen that the materials of the banks
are exceptionally impermeable, and thus justify a more economical mode
are exceptionally impermeable, and thus justify a more economical mode
of treatment. Nevertheless, it must be considered that, especially
upon ground having a transverse fall, an embankment formed of the
London clay is always exposed to slip, unless it should have been
executed in some such manner as the one above mentioned. Broken
stone or broken chalk may be used instead of the burnt clay; but the
condition to be aimed at in the application of those materials is that
they should be perfectly permeable, and that the water they may
remove should have a free outlet. In deep cuttings, the experience of
the New Cross section of the Brighton line proves that the London
clay, as it exhibits itself there, will not stand with slopes of less than
4 to 1, even when a good system of superficial drains has been executed.
In no case will the stiff blue clays stand with slopes of less than 2 to 1,
without giving rise to numerous slips; and those accidents can hardly
be prevented, unless the inclination of the slopes is made in the ratio
of 3 to 1. An essential precaution to be taken before establishing an
embankment of clay is to clear its seating from the vegetable mould
which might be originally there, and to provide efficient lateral drains,
in order to prevent any land waters from finding their way under the
embankment. In order to prevent lateral displacement, or slipping on
the bed, on sloping ground, it is frequently the case that toothings are
cut in the natural surface, for the purpose of increasing the friction,
and thus of opposing the tendency to slip.
The earthwork at the back of retaining walls is frequently so much
saturated with water that it has very little more consistency than that
fluid itself has; and it is therefore necessary, in order to resist its
tendency to slip, to calculate the strength of the wall upon the suppo-
sition that the wall is intended to resist the pressure of a semi-fluid
mass denser than water. In many places near London, and in sea-
ports upon alluvial deposits, the best rule seems to be to make the
thickness of the walls equal on the average to half their height. This
rule will hold good with most deliquescent clays, such as the gault,
Oxford clay, the clays of the carboniferous series, &c.; all of these are
in fact as much exposed to slip as the London clays, from which the
previous illustrations have been principally derived.
SLIP, Ship-Building. The slips used for ship-building are inclined
SLIP.
620
surfaces (the upper parts of which are kept constantly above the water-
line, and the lower parts are carried to the requisite depth below the
water) for the purposes of building and launching the hull, either into
tidal or constantly deep water. They may be placed either in an
inclined direction to the line of the shore or normally to it, according
to the width of the piece of water into which the ship is to be launched,
to the set of the currents, or to the exposure of the situation; and there
must always be a clear space of deep water beyond the lower end of the
slip, equal to at least twice the length of the vessels to be built on it.
In most government ship-building yards several slips are grouped
together, in which case they must be separated by level platforms of
sufficient width to allow the carpenters to prepare the timber required
for the framing, or by platforms of 60 to 100 feet in width, inasmuch
as from 30 to 50 feet are required on each side of a ship for this pur-
pose. Wherever it is possible so to place a series of slips, they should
be so arranged as to ensure an equal degree of light and heat to the
sides of the ships built upon them; for, on account of the length of
time a ship is usually upon the stocks, the materials, which might
happen to be exposed to a considerable excess of either of those actions,
would be likely to have marked differences in their specific gravities at
the period of launching; or, in other words, the weights of the two
sides of the ship might be very different. The depths of water it has
been found advisable to secure over the extremity of the slips at the
moment of launching a vessel are considered to be as follows:-
For a first rate three-decker.
For a two-decker
For a frigate
For a corvette or small craft
18 ft. 0 in.
14 ft. 9 in.
10 ft. 6 in.
8 ft. 3 in.
But in all cases it is assumed that the hulls are launched "light." The
depths, moreover, are calculated by measuring from the under side of
the keels; and as the latter are usually placed in a groove of about
3 feet wide by 16 or 18 inches deep, in the centre of the slip, it is only
upon the line of this groove that the above-mentioned depths are
indispensable.
The sides of a building-slip, respectively on the right and left of the
groove for the keel, must in all cases be precisely similar; and, wherever
possible, they should be made rectilineal in their transverse section.
The longitudinal section should also be rectilineal; and it would appear
that the angle of inclination should vary with the weight of the vessel
upon the stocks: thus, for three-deckers, an inclination of is neces-
sary, whereas, for frigates, an inclination of, or even of, would
suffice. Very small craft-such as sloops, yachts, &c.-are most con-
veniently launched, however, from slips having very steep inclinations.
It is usual to make the lower immersed ends of the slips for the
construction of large vessels about 150 or 160 feet long beyond the
end of the portion devoted to the stocks and hull, the latter portion
being at the present day made about 300 feet long; so that a building-
slip for a large man-of-war is now usually from 450 to 500 feet long at
a maximum. The width of the sides of the slips, measured trans-
versely to the line of the keels, should never be less than from
one-third to one-half of the maximum breadth of the vessels to be
on
built upon them, and in practice it seems to range between 22 and 28
feet. The platforms on which the timber is worked by the sides of
these planes are raised above their level; but in so doing it is essential
to observe-1, that any rain-water falling upon them must be carried
away from the slip; 2, that no interference must be allowed with the
free circulation of air round the hull; 3, that the shores, either for
building or for launching, should have a sufficient width of base; and
4, that the vessel, in leaving the ways, should have sufficient space to
be able to sway freely within moderate limits.
The majority of the building-slips in English dockyards are at the
present day covered, at least in the length occupied by the vessels ordi-
narily built on them. Of course the dimensions, in length, breadth,
and height, of such structures must be regulated by the dimensions of
the vessels themselves; and as naval architecture appears at the present
day to be in course of change in all these respects, it may be dangerous
to pretend even to state any general laws on the subject. It may
suffice, then, to mention that, for the old class of 120-gun ships, the
roofs over the slips were usually made about 300 feet long by 110 feet
clear span between the points of support, and the ridge was usually
kept at about 120 feet above the depression for the keel; the framing
of the roof must be kept about 6 feet, at least, above the loftiest
portion of the vessel; and the opening at the end, through which she
has to be launched, must have at least the same amount of clear space
in all directions; the side supports of the roof must be placed at such
distances apart as to allow the framing which may be put together on
the side platforms to be set on end before being carried to their definite
positions, and in some of the best slips they are placed at intervals of
from 30 to 40 feet. In fact, the conditions to be attained by the roofs
erected over building-slips are, that the work and the workmen should
be at all times protected from the inclemencies of the weather, whilst
there must be an efficient ventilation and a good distribution of light,
together with facilities for the transport and hoisting of the materials.
The use of iron for ship-building will no doubt greatly modify the
details to be adopted in all these matters; but the principles of
effectually protecting the whole structure, and of admitting the undis-
621
622
SLUICES.
SMALL-POX.
turbed execution of the various manipulations, must remain unchange-
able. It would seem, indeed, that iron ships required to be protected
from the effects of the atmosphere during their construction even more
carefully than wooden ones; and "the fleet of the future" may tax the
skill of our constructors to cover their hulls whilst on the slips even
more than the old liners have done. Amongst the most important and
the most successful covered building-slips, those erected at Woolwich
and Deptford may be specially cited.
Some years since, Captain Morton patented what he called "the
patent slip,” for the purpose of hauling vessels on shore in positions
and under circumstances wherein it was requisite to examine and
repair their bottoms, and wherein it was either impossible or inex-
pedient to take the vessels into graving-docks. This slip consisted of
the usual inclined way passing down under the high-water line. Upon
this way, a platform on rollers, with proper stops, ratchets, and brakes,
bearing also iron cradles adapted to receive the ship's sides, was made
to work, by means of a steam-engine, in such a manner as to allow
the platform to pass under the ship at high-water. The ship subsided
into the cradles with the falling tide; and being then carefully wedged
into them, it was hauled up upon dry land to be treated as required.
Slips of this description have been found to answer remarkably well for
vessels of less than 400 or 500 tons burden; beyond those dimensions,
the weight of the hulls becomes too great to be economically dealt
with in this manner, and it becomes necessary either to resort to the
use of the hydrostatic or floating docks, or to take the vessel into a
graving-dock, if it should require repairs. Morton's slips are to be
found at most of the second-rate ports on our coast, and they are of
extreme utility for our coasting-trade.
The most important consideration with respect to the construction
of building-slips is, that the floor should remain rigid under any possible
load brought upon it; for any inequality in the rate of settlement
would not only increase the difficulty of launching, but it might very
possibly produce a deformation of the lines of the vessel. As ship
building almost necessarily takes place on the sea-shore, or on the
banks of rivers flowing over alluvial deposits, there are very few
occasions in which the natural foundations are sufficiently resisting;
and it therefore becomes necessary to resort to the use of artificial
foundations of some of the descriptions already mentioned. It is
under the line of the keel that the greatest strain occurs, and that
portion of the foundations must be treated with the greatest
attention.
SLUICES. A contrivance used in hydraulic engineering for the
purpose of closing, or of regulating the passage of water from one
level to another, is properly speaking called a sluice, although occa-
sionally when the door itself is upon hinges, or is made to work by
machinery, the closing door is called a vane, or a valve, and the leading
passage only is called the sluice. By extension, the word sluicing has also
been applied to the operation of allowing a large body of water to
escape through a sluice with great velocity, for the purpose of
removing the light alluvial matters which may accumulate in the
outer harbours of a sea-port, or in any analogous position. Properly
speaking a lock-gate is a species of sluice; but the usages to which
that class of machinery is applied are of so great importance as to have
rendered it advisable to treat of its construction and details under the
head of CANAL.
As was said under that article, the discharge through a sluice of the
ordinary form, (that is to say, of a rectangular section, and without any
provision for the effect of the contraction of the fluid vein,) is usually
calculated by the formula q=ms/2gu, in which ma coefficient of
0.625, when only one sluice is used, and of 0.548, when two sluices are
used and their streams can meet within a short distance of their points
of outlet. This formula, it must also be added, only applies when the
sluice discharges into the open air, and there is no head of water on the
down side, and it becomes q=ms\/2y (¤—H′) when there is such a
head; H representing the depth of water on the up side, and ¤'the
depth on the down side; in both formulæ s represents the area, and g,
the accelerating force of gravity. By forming the commencement of
the sluice in the manner described by Venturi in his remarks on the
effect of ajutages, the discharge of single sluices may be increased to
such an extent as to make the value of m=0·984; but unless the
0.984; but unless the
mouth of the sluice be executed in ashlar masonry, or in cast iron, it
would be difficult to effect this improvement; and in practice it is
rarely attempted. Canal sluices, or sluices for the irrigation or
drainage of land, rarely work under great heads of water, and they do
not therefore require any very extraordinary precautions in the con-
struction of their channels, or of their machinery; but in the sluices
used for scouring harbours, and occasionally in those used for drawing
off the water for town supplies, the velocity of efflux renders it
necessary to build some portions with particular care. For instance,
it is by no means rare to meet with scouring-sluices working with a
head of water equal to 16 or 18 feet, and the variable head usually
allowed upon the outlet of town reservoirs is equal to 14 feet; under
these circumstances the water rushes out with such force as to be able
to tear up the surfaces it comes immediately in contact with, and it is
therefore indispensable that the tail walls of open sluices, or the
materials of closed (ones, should be of the most resisting character.
The apron at the tail end, and the leading passage of the sluice up to
the valves, are in almost all cases executed either in solid masonry,
or in iron pipes, to which the framework of the valves is fixed.
In small land sluices, discharging water into tidal rivers, the outlets
are frequently closed by flaps hung in such a manner as to open when
the head of water on the inside exceeds that upon the outside, but to
close directly the outside head preponderates. These flaps, however,
are easily liable to derangement by the interposition of extraneous
bodies; and they are not therefore used when it is important to shut
out external waters under all circumstances. In the latter cases valves
working in close grooves, and raised by machinery worked by hand, or
self-acting, must be resorted to; and if the area of the water-way
should be large-as in the case of scouring-sluices-doors must also
be employed. Valves, in fact, are the most suited for closed channels,
or aqueducts; turning doors for large areas of water: the former
description of machinery is well illustrated in the various works
mentioned under WATER SUPPLY; and the latter, in Sganzin's Cours
de Construction,' and Minard's 'Travaux Hydrauliques des Ports de
Mer.'
The question as to the advantages of scouring-sluices for the pur-
pose of removing accumulations in harbours, is one upon which
opinions are much divided: for although when the water from the
scouring reservoirs is allowed to escape with considerable velocity, it is
able to act very energetically upon the materials it may meet in the
confined part of the channel; yet directly the stream passes the heads
of the jetties it must lose its velocity, and consequently its transport-
ing power. Unless, therefore, there should exist a littoral current
able to carry forward the matters scoured out from the inner harbour,
a bar must eventually be formed in the zone of still water caused by
the interferences of the respective forces of the sluice-waters and of
the tides. At the present day, the tendency of modern engineering is
to abandon the use of scouring-sluices, and to trust entirely to dredging
for the removal of the alluvial matters carried into the ports exposed
to that inconvenience. But as there are many occasions in which it
might still be advantageous to resort to the use of sluices, it may be as
well to add that the principles to be observed in their construction
are:-1st. To make the impounding reservoirs of such forms as to
insure the prompt discharge of the whole quantity of water they may
contain, for which purpose a semicircular basin, with the outlet upon
the centre of the chord line, is the most advantageous; 2nd. To make
the outlets as large as possible, and to continue the outfall channel as
far as may be necessary to conduct the stream, with its full force,
against the obstacle to be removed; and 3rd. To place the outlet of
the sluices as near to the head of the jetties as may be. The scouring-
sluices of Dover, Calais, Dunkirk, Östend, and the great sluices of
Catwyck, through which the waters of the old Rhine are dis-
charged into the German Ocean, are perhaps the most remarkable
works of their several descriptions in existence. The reader will find
much information on this subject, as also upon the construction of
sluices, sluice-gates, valves, &c., in Wiebeking, Allgemeine Wasser-
baukunst;' Rennie, 'On Harbours;' in Weale's 'Quarterly Papers on
Architecture;' Sim's 'Public Works of Great Britain;' D'Aubuisson's
'Hydraulique,' &c.
SLUR, in Music, a curved line ( ) more or less extended, as
may be required, drawn over two or many notes. If placed over two
notes on the same line or space, it signifies that the second is not to be
repeated, though to be held out its due time. When drawn over notes
on different degrees, it signifies that they are to be legato, that is, tied
played in a smooth blending manner. This character is sometimes
called a bind, and also a tie.
SMALL-POX (Variola). It is a subject of dispute whether this
disease was known to the ancients, or whether it has originated at a
comparatively recent date. Those who contend for its antiquity refer
which, they say, is as accurate a description of the leading symptoms
us to the account of the plague of Athens by Thucydides (ii. 46, &c.)
of variola as could possibly be expected from any historian who is not
a physician. Those who hold the opposite opinion call in etymology
to their aid; the word pock or pox, they say, is of Saxon origin, and
signifies a bag or pouch; the epithet small in England, and petite in
France, were added in the 15th century. The term variola is derived
from the Latin word varus, a pimple, or varius, spotted; and, according
to Moore, the first authentic passage in which it occurs is to be found in
the 'Bertinian Chronicle' of the date 961. The first author, however, who
treats expressly of small-pox is Rhazes, an Arabian physician [RHAZES,
in BIOG. DIV.] but even he confounded it with measles, and these
two diseases continued to be considered as modifications of the same
disorder till the time of Sydenham. Small-pox, when it occurs naturally,
is preceded by the usual premonitory symptoms of eruptive fevers,
such as rigors, pains in the back and loins, prostration of strength, loss
of appetite, nausea, and sometimes vomiting, and, in young children,
frequently convulsions. About forty-eight hours after the commence-
ment of these symptoms an eruption of small, hard, red-coloured
pimples makes its appearance about the face and neck, and gradually
extends downwards over the trunk and extremities. The primary fever,
as it is called, now lessens; but the pimples increase in size, and
become converted into whey-coloured pustules with a depression in
their centre. On the eighth day they are at their height, and on the
eleventh the matter oozes from them and concretes into crusts, which
fall off about the fourteenth day, leaving the skin of a brownish-red
1
623
SMALL-POX.
colour, and studded with slight depressions or pits. As the eruption
travels from above downwards, the parts of the body successively
attacked by it become affected with swelling, the mouth waters, and
the voice is hoarse; when the incrustation has taken place, these
symptoms subside, but a secondary fever commences, which is some-
times more severe than that which preceded the outbreak of the
eruption. Small-pox, according to its severity, is distinguished by
authors into two varieties, the distinct and the confluent, variola discreta
and confluens. In the former, the pustules are few in number, well
formed, and do not touch each other, and the fever is inflammatory,
but mild; in the latter, the disease altogether is more violent, the
eruption more general, and the pustules, small and unhealthy, run one
into another. The fever likewise is greater, and rather of the typhoid
character, is not mitigated on the appearance of the eruption, and is
much aggravated at its termination; there is delirium, considerable
prostration of the vital powers, ptyalism, inflammation of the fauces,
and frequently diarrhoea. Petechia and an unhealthy exudation from
the body often accompany this form of the disease. Among the
mucous membranes, the larynx and trachea suffer much, and children
often die of suffocation from this cause; the extent of mucous and of
cutaneous inflammation, however, are not always necessarily propor-
tioned to each other. Small-pox rarely attacks the same individual
more than once, and, like measles and scarlatina, its consequences are
sometimes more to be dreaded than the disease itself. During the
secondary fever, an intense form of ophthalmia frequently sets in,
which rapidly involves all the structures of the eye, and in the course
of a few days destroys its entire organisation. Although it is not
common to have both eyes thus affected, still a large proportion of the
blind at our public institutions owe their misfortune to this disease.
Pleurisy, consumption, scrofula, obstinate diarrhoea, and a fetid dis-
charge from the ears attended with more or less deafness, are the
principal diseases liable to result from a severe attack of small-pox.
The immediate cause of this disease is a peculiar miasm or poison
received into the system from an individual labouring under the same
affection, and it is said to make its appearance in from twelve to four-
teen days after exposure to the contagion; when, however, it is com-
municated by inoculation, it appears on the seventh or eighth day.
Instances are recorded of mothers who were exposed to the infection
of small-pox, communicating the disease to the fœtus in utero, without
being themselves affected by it; and, what is equally remarkable,
women suffering from small-pox during pregnancy, have brought forth
healthy children, who did not take the disease till they were inoculated.
Small-pox is frequently epidemic, especially in the spring, and, like all
other epidemics, those who are first attacked by it suffer the most
severely it is observed also to be greatly influenced by certain con-
ditions of the atmosphere.
Small-pox can be communicated by inoculation with the matter of
its pustules, and the resulting disease being rendered milder by this
operation, it was formerly much practised to guard the individual against
a spontaneous attack; since, however, the introduction of vaccination
by Dr. Jenner, the practice has been deservedly abandoned. Vaccination
was supposed by its discoverer to secure the individual permanently
and effectually from the contagion of the small-pox; more extended
experience has proved, that although it does not always prevent it,
yet it so shortens its duration and moderates its violence, that a
death from small-pox after vaccination is a rare occurrence. A dif-
ference of opinion prevails respecting the character of the eruption
which occasionally appears after exposure to variolous infection in
persons previously vaccinated. According to many, it is nothing more.
than chicken-pox; while others affirm that it is really small-pox,
although modified by the controlling influence of the cow-pox. The
truth appears to be, that "modified small-pox resembles the
chicken-pox
chicken pox in its mildness and duration, but differs from it in its
originating from the "variolous germ," and in its power of commu-
nicating the true small-pox to others, as well by inoculation as by
infection.
"
The history of the different epidemics of small-pox shows the mor-
tality to be one in four of those attacked who had not been vaccinated;
whilst of those who had undergone vaccination the proportion was
not one in 450. From the register kept at the Small-Pox Hospital in
London, it appears that the mortality at this institution is consider
ably greater than one in four, having averaged during the last fifty
years 30 per cent., the extremes being 18 and 41. From the same
source we learn that the greatest number of deaths occurs on the
eighth day. Of 168 fatal cases, there died in the first week 32; in the
second, 99; in the third, 21; and in the fourth and after, 16. The
causes of death at these different periods are the following:-1st week,
malignant fever; 2nd week, affections of the throat, and consequent
suffocation; 3rd week, or during the secondary fever, febrile excite-
ment, mortification of large portions of the integuments, pneumonia,
pleurisy, or laryngitis; 4th, and following weeks, exhaustion, erysi-
pelas, or some of the diseases before enumerated as liable to result
from small-pox. It was formerly supposed that the eruption of variola
was not confined to the skin, but invaded also the internal parts; this
is not the case, the internal affections are simply inflammatory, and do
not partake of the specific character of the cutaneous disease.
No peculiar plan of treatment is required for small-pox; it is that
of ordinary fever: cleanliness, free ventilation, an attention to the
SMALT.
624
strength of the patient, and a watchfulness against accidental compli-
cations, are the principal points to be kept in view. During the
eruptive stage of the disorder, the bowels should be kept moderately
open by saline aperients, and the occasional exhibition of a mild mer-
curial. The temperature of the skin may be regulated by cool air, or
by sponging it with tepid vinegar and water; if there should be much
unpleasant effluvium from the surface of the body, washing it with a
weak solution of one of the chlorides will be found to correct this. It
has been recommended by some writers, and has been long a practice
in Eastern countries, to pierce the pustules with a fine needle; this
procedure, it is said, lessens the violence of the secondary fever, and
prevents pitting. M. Serres, with the same object, directs the appli-
cation of lunar caustic to the pustules on the fourth day. As a general
rule, we should say that venesection is not admissible at any period of
small-pox; indeed we have no hesitation in affirming that some of the
severest consequences of the disease may be averted by a judicious
employment of measures of an opposite tendency to blood-letting.
The sloughing of the integuments, and the intense ophthalmia, rapidly
terminating in entire loss of vision, are eminently connected with an
enfeebled and cachectic state of body; and the best mode of averting
these evils is to have recourse early to those remedies which are most
efficacious in arresting their progress. Hence quinine, combined with
the mineral acids, sarsaparilla, wine, brandy, if the powers are much
reduced, and animal food, if the patient can eat it, must be perse-
veringly administered. It may not be out of place here to mention
that the character of the ophthalmia termed variolous has only lately
been pointed out to the profession by Mr. Marson of the Small-Pox
Hospital. It had been supposed that the eye was lost in small-pox
from one or more of the pustules of this disease forming on the cornea.
Mr. Marson has shown not only that this never takes place, but that the
loss of vision is attributable to ulceration or sloughing of the cornea,
which comes on generally about the eleventh or twelfth day of the
disease. The patient is nearly always in a state of great debility, and
requires tonic medicines and nutritious diet to give him a chance of
escaping from the destructive effects of this ophthalmia.
SMALT. A silicate of potash coloured by means of oxide of cobalt
in various shades of blue, which being reduced to powder is used in
painting and varnishing porcelain and earthenware, for imparting a
blue colour to glass, and in various other applications in the useful
arts. The manufacture, which is a curious one, is minutely described
by Mr. Tomlinson, in a paper read before the Society of Arts, London,
and inserted in the Pharmaceutical Journal' for April, 1851. The
materials are carefully prepared, and are melted in pots in the glass
furnace, with occasional stirring. The combination of the materials
by melting or smelting gives the origin of the word smalt from the
German, schmelzen, "to melt," or the substantive schmelz, which means
" enamel." Smalt or smalts is called also schmelz or schmalz-blau.
When the glass attaches itself to the workman's rod, and can be
drawn out into threads, it is ready for pouring. The glass gall or
sandiver is skimmed off, and the several metallic impurities of the
cobalt subside; the latter being afterwards separated, form an article
which is known in commerce by the name of speiss. It is variable in
its composition; but may contain cobalt, nickel, iron, arsenic, bismuth,
and silver. The blue glass is taken out of the glass pots in iron ladles,
and poured into water in order that it may be readily pulverised.
After this it is crushed at a stamping mill, sifted to the size of
ordinary sand, and then ground in a mill between horizontal granite
stones for from four to six hours. The powder thus produced is trans-
ferred to large vats of water, and in a few minutes a separation of
particles takes place, the heaviest, or those richest in cobalt form a
deposit, which constitutes one of the commercial varieties of smalt,
known as azure, coarse blue, or streu blau. The number of minutes
required to form this deposit varies with the season, it being some-
what longer in winter, when the water is colder and denser than in
summer. The water above the deposit, holding finer particles, is
drawn off into other vats and allowed to subside for a time, varying
from three-quarters of an hour to an hour and a half, according to the
quality of powder required. The term farbe or "colour" is applied to
these deposits. The water is again drawn off into reservoirs and
allowed to remain for an indefinite length of time, the deposit being
known by the name of eschel or "blue sand."
The colours thus obtained are all again subjected to the action of
water-washing over or clutriation, as it is called,-before they are fit
for the market. "Each deposit is agitated in tubs abundantly sup-
plied with water, and is then left to subside for a length of time, which
experience has taught will produce the particular variety required.
During the subsidence, any floating impurities are separated by means
of a fine horse-hair sieve. The water is then carefully decanted off
into another vessel; the deposit just formed is treated with fresh
water if necessary; and all these waters in their turn, on being drawn
off, deposit different varieties of smalt, either in the form of farbe or
eschel." The various precipitates being taken out of the vats and
drained are placed on shelves in a warm room or they are dried spon-
taneously in an airy loft. The hard masses thus formed are crushed
and sifted, placed in a hot room with occasional stirring, and when
dry are taken to a room in which are arranged a number of squares
containing the different shades of smalt with their numbers. The
sorting is followed by a final sifting, and the smalt is packed in small
625
€28
SMELLING SALTS.
SMILAX.
casks of half a hundred weight each. The powder is moistened with
a little water to prevent waste, and the cask is marked with the name
of the shade.
It may be remarked that artificial ultramarine [ULTRAMARINE]
has superseded some of the uses for which smalt was formerly in large
demand.
SMELLING SALTS. [AMMONIA.]
SMELTING. The processes of smelting, or extracting metals from
their ores, are described under the names of the principal metals, such
as COPPER; LEAD; METALS; IRON; &c.
SMILACIN. (C10H1500 or C18H1508). Salseparin. Pareglin. A
peculiar principle found in sarsaparilla (Smilax Sarsaparilla). It exists
in the form of colourless needles, is inodorous, very soluble in water
and in alcohol, when boiling, but less so when cold. It dissolves in
ether and volatile oils; the fixed oils dissolve it sparingly.
Smilacin dissolves in weak acids and alkaline solutions, and separates
from them unaltered when they are neutralised. Nitric acid partly
decomposes it. Sulphuric acid colours it first deep red, then violet,
and afterwards yellow; water precipitates it unaltered.
SMILAX, Medical Properties of. Though, according to Dr. Hancock,
but one species of this rather extensive genus yields the genuine sarsa-
parilla, it is quite certain that the roots of many are collected, and
under that name in commerce. Most species of smilax are pro-
pass
vided with spines, which has given origin to the first half of the name
in the Spanish language, zarza, a bramble, and parilla, a vine, from its
climbing or turning habit. Sarza has been adopted as the familiar
name in the London Pharmacopoeia,' which indicates S. officinalis
(Humbt., 'Nova Genera et Species,' i.) as the source of the officinal
article. This view is ably maintained by Dr. Berthold Seemann in
the Botany of the Voyage of H.M.S. Herald,' London, 1852-57. The
different kinds of sarsaparilla are better known by the course they
follow in their progress towards European consumption, than by their
botanical history. In describing them it seems best therefore to adopt
their commercial names.
1. Jamaica, or Red, Sarsaparilla.-This occurs in bundles formed of
the root alone, folded in a roundish mass, about a foot or more in
length, and four or five inches broad. Each bundle is formed by the
roots and rootlets (fibrillæ, or beards, as they are technically termed),
without any portion of the rhizoma (or chump) or of the aërial stem.
The roots are long, slender, about the thickness of a small quill, with a
dark-brown furrowed or wrinkled bark. The bark is thick, easily
The bark is thick, easily
separable from the ligneous part beneath. The ligneous part is of a
light red, which assumes a deeper hue when moistened. It is easily
split longitudinally, and has a whitish centre or medulla, containing
more or less starch. But for the absence of medullary rays and of
nodi, this root might be taken for the twigs of an exogenous plant, to
which the structure of the smilaceæ approximates in several other
points. A transverse section exhibits the cuticle and epidermis, which
are separated from the inner or ligneous circle by a zone of cellular
tissue; then the duramen, which presents the cut or open extremities
of numerous ducts; and lastly, the medulla, or pith, in the centre.
The duramen, though porous, is of a denser texture than that of the
Honduras sarza. The taste is at first sweetish or slightly mucilaginous,
then nauseous, resembling ipecacuanha, but not very acrid or bitter.
No variety of sarza has any odour, but dirty or unwashed specimens
have a faintly earthy smell.
The powder is a light reddish-brown, which, when triturated with
water and tincture of iodine, changes to a blue, but of less intense
depth than the Honduras sarza, indicative of a smaller proportion of
starch in the former.
According to Mr. Pope (Trans. Medico-Chir. Society,' xii., p.
349), "the whole medical efficacy resides in the bark; and the root,
deprived of its cortical part, contains only pith and tasteless woody-
fibre." The tasteless character of the wood renders this statement
very probable. He further says: "The corticle part gives out nearly
the whole of its virtues by cold infusion in distilled water, very readily
to lime-water or water slightly impregnated with caustic alkali; and
that boiling distilled water extracts all its virtues." He deems the
quantity of extract yielded by any specimen the criterion of its excel-
lence. Judged by this standard, the Jamaica sarza is manifestly the
best. His experiments have been confirmed by those of Mr. Battley,
and by Thubeuf. Jamaica sarsaparilla is the produce of the Spanish
Main, and thence sent to Jamaica to be forwarded to Europe. Some
has been cultivated in that island, but it is of inferior quality. The
Smilax officinalis (Humbt.), which is conjectured to be the parent
plant of the wild root, grows in New Granada, on the banks of the
Magdalen river, near Bojorque.
2. Lisbon, Para, or Brazilian Sarza.-The term Lisbon sarza was
also bestowed on the sort just described, for as Lisbon sarza was till
lately most esteemed, the former on its first introduction was vended
under that name. The true Lisbon sarza is the produce of Smilax
syphilitica, which grows both in New Granada, on the river Cassi-
quiare, between Mandacava and San Francisco Solano, and in Brazil,
on the Yupura and Rio Negro, by which last name it is sometimes
designated. (Martius, 'Reise,' iii., pp. 1213, 1280.) The Indians
collect it all the year round, dry it over a moderate fire, and tie it into
bundles with the flexible stem of a plant called Timbotitica. To
prevent its being attacked by insects, they hang it up at the gables of
ARTS AND SCI. DIV. VOL. VII.
These bundles have a
the houses, and sometimes gently smoke it.
neat appearance externally, but the interior is filled up with the chumps
and other rubbish. The fibres vary in thickness from that of a straw
to that of a crow-quill, with little beard, and fewer longitudinal
wrinkles than the Jamaica sarza; the colour, a light, sometimes a
dirty grayish-yellow, or reddish-brown colour, internally white; the
cortical part mealy, including a thin cellular layer, which, with the
duramen, is also white. Taste at first insipid, but on prolonged masti-
cation a sort of acrid guttural taste, without bitterness, is experienced.
This kind contains more starch than the Jamaica variety, and yields a
paler infusion.
3. Honduras Sarza was the kind first introduced into medical
practice, a circumstance which still leads many persons to prefer it.
It generally comes over in very large bundles, weighing from one
hundred to one hundred and fifty pounds, but sometimes in small
round bundles. Each piece has the chump and the numerous roots
proceeding from it. The chump is often two inches thick, woody,
hard, and insipid. The roots are from two to four feet long, mostly
thicker than those of the Jamaica or Lisbon kinds. The outer part is
a dirty grayish-yellow, sometimes verging to brown or reddish. The
cortical part is very easily separable from the ligneous; between the
epidermis and the duramen is a thick white amylaceous layer, whence
a large quantity of flour or starch falls when the piece is broken
across; hence the term mealy, applied to this variety. A transverse
section exhibits a great many cut extremities of ducts, which run
parallel, and are so continuous, that air can be blown from one end to
the opposite of a considerable piece. This kind has no odour, and the
taste is at first merely starchy and insipid, but at last acrid and
guttural. The rhizoma (or chump) is altogether tasteless. The fibres
and the bark are rendered black by iodine; while the rhizoma is not
affected by this re-agent. The decoction of the roots is changed to an
intense blue by a solution of iodine. "A strong decoction of Hondu-
ras sarza forms a copious precipitate (starch) on addition of alcohol."
(Pereira.)
4. Vera Cruz Sarza is not common in the English market, but is
occasionally sold under the name of Lisbon sarza. It is the produce of
Smilax medica (Schlecht), which grows abundantly on the eastern
slope of the Mexican mountains. Externally the fibres are more
furrowed than the Jamaica. The transverse section is denser in the
young roots, and it is not mealy; there is little beard. The chump is
always attached. It yields a deep-coloured decoction, which is un-
changed by a solution of iodine. The sarsaparilla of the Caracas of
French writers is deemed to be the Vera Cruz sort.
5. A kind called Lima Sarza is brought in considerable quantity to
this country, and greatly resembles Jamaica sarza, for which it is said
by Dr. Pereira to be extensively sold, and from which it differs chiefly
in yielding a less quantity of extract.
It is manifest that the S. sarsaparilla (Linn.), which is a native of
the southern states of the American Union, yields none of the article
used at present in Europe, though it may yield a portion of what is
used in the United States. But this is denied to be used in the United
States by Dr. Wood, though indicated in their Pharmacopoeia, and
Willd., iv., 776 referred to.
Besides the above-described varieties, the produce of different species
of smilax, there are numerous spurious or false sarsaparillas, some from
known, others from unknown sources. Italian sarza is the root of
Smilax aspera, the only species native of Europe. It is a very worth-
less kind, and owes its reputation to a mistake by which it was con-
sidered to be the source of the Indian sarza, a truly valuable root, but
which is the produce of an asclepiadeous plant, Hemidesmus indicus.
German sarsaparilla consists of the rhizoma of one or more species of
Carex, C. hirta and C. arenaria. It may easily be distinguished from
the genuine by the numerous nodi, which are absent from the smilax.
The active properties are mostly due to the salseparine, the resin,
and, when present, to the volatile oil. The more acrid and bitter any
specimen of sarza is, the better.
The virtues of sarsaparilla are the subject of much diversity of
opinion; many practical men deeming it very useful, while others
consider it nearly worthless. This difference seems owing partly to its
being employed in different diseases by the one set, from those in
which it is used by the other, and still more to inherent differences in
the particular root used. It is collected at all seasons of the year, and
in all stages of its growth, circumstances which cannot fail to influence
its qualities; as young roots gathered before the flower appears must
differ greatly from old roots gathered after flowering. But a more
important cause of difference exists in the mode of preparing it for
administration. The long period enjoined in the 'London and Edin-
burgh Pharmacopoeias' for boiling the root is most injurious, and in
reality the order is never obeyed by any of the chemists or druggists
who have obtained a reputation for their preparations. They either
use water of a temperature far below that of boiling, or perfectly
water, as ordered by the Dublin Pharmacopoeia, and recommended by
all the most eminent continental pharmaceutists. The powder is not
thus injured, but its bulk and taste are obstacles to its full employ-
ment. The compound syrup of the latest edition of the American
Pharmacopoeia is a most excellent form as an addition to some of the
watery preparations. A mixture of preparations made with both hot
and cold water seems best, as these menstrua dissolve out different
S S
cold
627
SMOKE BALLS.
principles. Preparations made in vacuo are also commendable, and for
keeping long either a hydro-alcoholic compound fluid extract is good,
or the same brought to a solid state, which diminishes the bulk, and
so fits it for exportation.
The efficacy is sometimes heightened by the introduction of a small
quantity of bichloride of mercury-a very objectionable proceeding, as
a person taking mercury ignorantly, may expose himself to cold and
run extreme risk of life.
The curative powers of sarsaparilla are often very much heightened
by combination either with alkalies, especially lime-water, or in other
cases with acids, particularly the nitric. When properly prepared, and
administered in suitable cases, no one can doubt the efficacy of sarsa-
parilla. From the high price of it, and the great consumption,
attempts have been made in many of the great hospitals to dispense
with it or discover a cheaper substitute, but without success. In the
worn-out or debilitated systems so common in the patients by whom
these establishments are crowded, its utility is daily manifested. This
is partly owing to the care taken to procure the best kinds, and partly
to the appropriate use made of it, for the sake of economy. It is
chiefly used in chronic, syphilitic, rheumatic, gouty, and cutaneous
diseases. Its most obvious action is diaphoretic, but if the patient be
kept cool, diuretic. In cases where an acid is indicated, the Hemides-
mus indicus, which is possessed of a natural acid (hemidesmic acid),
will be found a useful substitute for the artificial preparations,
If any European plant ever prove a proper substitute for sarsaparilla,
it will probably be the T'amus communis, or black bryony of our hedges,
the root of which, when scraped and applied externally as a poultice,
rapidly promotes absorption of effused blood. This is well known to
bruisers, gypsies, and others, who to remove ecchymoses of the eye
apply a poultice of this root, and generally remove the blackness in
twelve or twenty hours. (Tyrrell On the Eye,' vol. i., p. 200.)
A long list of plants used as substitutes is given by Th. Martius in
his 'Pharmakognosie. In many cutaneous diseases petroleum will be
found quite as efficacious. It is far cheaper and taken in smaller
doses. Pariglin, or smilacin has been recommended by Palotta, but
t has not come into much use.
SMOKE BALLS. [LIGHT BALLS.]
SMOKE; SMOKE-PREVENTION. Smoke is the vapour arising
from substances in a state of combustion. In its more extended sense
the word is applied to all the volatile products of combustion, which
consist of gaseous exhalations charged with minute portions of carbon-
aceous matter or soot; but the term is frequently employed to express
the carbonaceous matter only. It is important to bear this distinction
in mind, as it involves a fact which appears to have been sometimes
overlooked: namely, that however completely the soot may be
destroyed, and the smoke be thereby rendered invisible, it still remains
necessary to provide means of free exit for the deleterious gases.
The action of an ordinary chimney in conveying the smoke from a
fire situated at its lower extremity is very simple. The air in the
chimney, being rarefied by the heat, becomes lighter in proportion to
its bulk than the surrounding atmosphere, and therefore rises: its
place being supplied by fresh air forced in at the lower end by the
pressure of the comparatively heavy cold air outside the chimney. A
constant rising current is thus created, the force of which is sufficient
to carry up with it any light bodies, such as the particles of soot which
escape from the fire.
The intensity of this current depends much
upon the height of the chimney; for it is evident that the higher a
chimney is, within reasonable limits, the greater must be the difference
between the weight of the column of hot air which it contains, and
that of a column of cold air of equal elevation. It is also evident that
the hotter the air in the chimney is kept, the more rapidly it will rise.
Hence chimneys act better when built in stacks, or when in the
interior of a house, than when single, or when outside the walls.
The circumstances which impede the proper action of chimneys, and
occasion the annoyance of smoke in houses warmed by common open
stoves, have excited the attention of many individuals, and formed the
subject of several treatises. Franklin analysed the subject very
judiciously, and published a pamphlet pointing out nine causes, or
kinds of cause, for the evil. 1. The want of a free supply of air to
the bottom of the chimney. It is of little consequence how spacious
the room may be into which the chimney opens, if the access of fresh
air to the room be cut off. As the hot air escapes from the top of the
As the hot air escapes from the top of the
chimney, its place must be filled by fresh air taken from the room.
But if the entrance of the external atmosphere be insufficient, every
chimney-full of air abstracted from the room lessens the density of what
remains, so that the draught will decrease until the air in the chimney
and that in the room are of equal density; after which it will cease
altogether, and the smoke will no longer ascend. This inconvenience.
can only be remedied by providing openings for air commensurate to
the demands of the fire. Whenever it is practicable, the best situation
for them is near the top of the room, and over the fire-place; because
the entering air is then warmed by the warm air which rises to the top
of the room, and becomes pretty generally diffused. The object may
be attained by leaving a window a little open at the top, or by pro-
viding long narrow openings above the window or immediately beneath
the cornice. Another plan is the use of a pane of glass in the window,
hinged to the frame at its lower edge, and capable of being opened
more or less as required; side-pieces of glass being added to prevent
SMOKE; SMOKE-PREVENTION.
628
The
the air from entering laterally. Sometimes a number of strips of
plate-glass, so arranged as to resemble a Venetian blind, are used;
these being so placed as to throw the air upwards. The common
ventilator, or whirligig, answers the same purpose, and diffuses the air
in some degree by its rapid revolution, occasioned by the action of the
current upon its inclined vanes. 2. Many chimneys smoke because
the opening at the lower end is too large. While a small opening to a
tall chimney increases the draught to an improper degree, and causes a
wasteful consumption of fuel, a large opening to a short funnel will
allow the smoke to escape into the room; because all the air required
by the chimney may enter at one side of the opening, leaving the other
side free from current, and therefore allowing the smoke to puff out.
In such a case the draught is weakened by the coldness of the air
which enters the chimney at such a distance from the fire as to be
very little affected by it. This defect must be remedied by contracting
the opening. 3. A third cause of defective action is the funnel or
chimney being too short. The same effect is produced when the flue
The
from an upper story is turned into one from a lower room.
inconvenience of such an arrangement may be somewhat diminished
by a contrivance for closing the collateral flue when not in use.
shortness of a chimney may sometimes be rendered harmless by con-
tracting the entrance, so that all the air entering it shall be highly
heated, by passing immediately over the fire. 4. Different chimneys.
in the same house occasionally overpower each other. If we suppose
two stoves, each having a distinct chimney, in a room without a
sufficient supply of air from without, we may conceive that one fire
becoming stronger than the other, may overpower it, and obtain a
supply of air down the chimney of weakest draught; the descending
current of course blowing the smoke of the weaker flue into the room.
Precisely the same effect will take place if the stoves are in different
rooms; provided there be, owing to the opening of the doors, a com-
munication between them. This will account for the common case of
a parlour chimney smoking whenever the room-door is opened,
although it may act properly when the room is closed, and thereby
cut off from the effect of the kitchen chimney. The proper cure is
clear; if every room have a free supply of air from without, there
will cease to be any probability of the chimney of one apartment over-
powering that of another. 5. Another cause arises from the situation
of the house. If a house stand under the brow of a hill, or in the
vicinity of a much higher building, the wind, passing over the higher
obstacle, beats down into the chimneys of the sheltered house, and so
prevents the exit of smoke. This may sometimes be remedied by
raising the chimney, and in other cases by means of a cowl, or turning-
cap, the opening of which always turns from the wind. The ordinary
cowl is turned by means of a vane attached to its upper part; but one
patented by Mr. Pollard is turned by wheels set in motion by the
action of the wind upon the oblique vanes of a rotatory flyer. Another
contrivance consists of a square box placed on the top of the chimney,
each side of which is a door, hinged at one edge, and connected, by
means of an iron rod, with the door on the opposite side of the box:
in such a way that when one door is closed by the force of the
wind, the opposite one opens, and allows the smoke to escape.
6. Chimneys occasionally smoke from a cause just the reverse of that
last described. This occurs when the chimneys are low, and stand
between the wind and a high building, or neighbouring edifice, so that
the air is dammed up, as it were, round about them. Raising the
chimneys appears to be almost the only alternative. 7. Another cause
of smoking is the injudicious arrangement of the door or doors of a
If the door be on the same side as the fire-place, and occasion
it to smoke by sending a current across the front of the stove, either it
must be altered so as to open in the opposite direction, or a screen
8. Smoke is sometimes blown
must be used between it and the stove.
down a chimney which is out of use. This arises from the circum-
stance that a stack of chimneys usually maintains a more uniform
temperature than the surrounding air. When in the middle of the
day, the air generally becomes warmer than that in the chimneys, the
current moves downward, carrying with it smoke that may happen to
be passing over, or escaping from a neighbouring flue. A plate or
register, closing the bottom of the chimney when out of use, obviates
this inconvenience. 9. Chimneys, which under ordinary circumstances
perform very well, occasionally smoke in consequence of the passage of
is
a strong wind over them, which the force of the rising vapour
insufficient to cope with. Among various modes of cure adopted, one
is to make the top of the flue funnel-shaped, with a view to facilitate
the escape of the smoke under such circumstances; another, to reduce
the opening at the top to a long narrow slit. Probably a cowl might
be of use in such a case.
room.
The nuisance occasioned by the smoke of coal-fires has formed a
subject of complaint from the earliest times in which mineral fuel was
extensively used; and the great increase of steam-engine and other
furnaces, consequent on the extension of manufactures, has afforded, of
late years, additional ground for attempts to abate the nuisance. Such
attempts are important, not only for the purification of the air, but
also for the economy of fuel; since the matter which gives smoke
objectionable density and colour is unconsumed fuel in a finely-divided
state. It appears, therefore, that if a supply of air could be thrown
into a fire in such a way as to occasion the combustion of the carbona-
ceous matter, the result would be that a greater amount of heat would
1
629
SMOKE; SMOKE-PREVENTION.
SNOW.
630
cally, as being practically attainable, morally obligatory, and financially
profitable. Another committee sat in 1845, followed by an attempt to
pass a smoke-prevention act; but this was frustrated by certain
influential manufacturers, who did not like the trouble attending the
adoption of new apparatus. When the Health of Towns' Act was
passed, clauses were introduced which empowered town-councils to
attack the smoke nuisance in their own way, and within the limits of
their own towns; and many places availed themselves of this power.
After other minor attempts at legislation, acts were passed in 1853,
1856, and 1857, rendering it compulsory to adopt smoke-preventing
contrivances. Two of these acts related to the metropolis and one to
Scotland. Certain trades were exempted from the operation of the
statutes, and certain dates were named on which the penalties for non-
observance would begin to be enforced. Not only furnaces employed
be obtained from a given quantity of fuel, at the same time that the
nuisance of smoke would be abated. It may be observed, that the
quantity of smoke emitted from furnace-chimneys varies much with
the state of the fire, being greatest when a mass of fresh fuel is thrown
on, and least when the fire has burned clear or the fuel is fully ignited.
Attention to this circumstance, on the part of the stoker, will greatly
diminish the nuisance; because, if he throw on the fresh fuel in a thin
layer, it will the sooner become perfectly ignited; and, by laying it in
the fore part of the furnace, the dense smoke arising from it has to
pass over that part of the fire which is in a state of more perfect com-
bustion, and is thereby in a great measure consumed. Many of the
contrivances introduced or suggested as smoke-consuming furnaces act
on these principles; arrangements being adopted to insure the right
feeding of the fire without much attention on the part of the firemen.
James Watt was one of the first to obtain a patent for a smoke-in trades and manufactures, but also steam-boats working above London
consuming or smoke-preventing apparatus. He caused the smoke of
the fresh fuel, in its way to the chimney, to pass, together with a
current of fresh air, over fuel which had already ceased to smoke, and
was intensely hot; by which means the smoke, by coming into close
contact with the hot fuel, and being mixed with the current of
fresh air, was converted into pure flame, free from smoke. Since
that time innumerable plans have been brought forward for intro-
ducing the necessary supply of air to the furnace; but while many
of them accomplish the purification of the smoke as completely
as could be desired, many others increase the consumption of fuel
or weaken the draught of the furnace. If the air admitted to the
furnace be cold, it diminishes the heat of the fire; and if hot, expense
is incurred in heating it, whether this be effected by a separate fire or
by passing the air in pipes through the chimney. Most railway com-
panies are required, by their acts of incorporation, to avoid the emission
of smoke from their engines; and this is usually done, at great expense,
by the use of coke. To lessen this expense, Mr. Chanter devised a plan,
consisting in the introduction of a deflector dipping into the burning
fuel, which compels the smoke from the crude coal to pass through a
mass of burning coke, supplied through a small door, and conducted at
once to the back of the furnace. By this means three parts of coal
may be used to one of coke, with very little risk of much smoke.
Another mode of destroying smoke is by injecting steam into the
furnace. The plan has been tried by several inventors, among others
by Mr. Iveson. In his apparatus, the steam is thrown into the fire in
several minute jets, from a fan-shaped distributor in the fore part of
the furnace. The steam not only destroys the smoke, but also greatly
increases the intensity of the fire. Thus the necessity for a large
chimney is obviated, it being only necessary to provide a small passage
for the escape of the gaseous products of combustion. Experiments
on the same furnace, with and without the injection of steam, indicate
a saving of fuel to the amount of 33 per cent.; the consumption in
five hours being respectively 558 and 812 lbs. As a drawback from
this saving, the plan requires, in a steam-engine furnace, about one-
tenth of the steam generated, and in other furnaces renders necessary
the erection of a small boiler. It is proposed, in high-pressure engines,
to make use of the waste steam for the purpose of injection.
Besides the numerous plans for the combustion of smoke, various
methods have been tried on a limited scale for conducting it to a dis-
tance from the buildings in which it is formed, by means of subterra-
neous channels; and for condensing it by means of a shower of water,
so that the sooty matter might be conveyed away by the sewers.
In 1819, a committee of the House of Commons was appointed " to
inquire how far it may be practicable to compel persons who use
steam-engines and furnaces in their different works to erect them in a
manner less prejudicial to public health and comfort." The committee,
in their Report, noticed, among other plans, that of Mr. Steel, in which
the fuel was supplied in a constant stream, by means of an inclined
hopper; the quantity of coal supplied in a given time, and the size of
the pieces, being regulated by a grooved roller. The fuel was distri-
buted over the bed of the furnace by the motion of the grate itself,
which was of a circular form, and turned on a central pivot. The
committee, after much investigation, reported that efficient means for
destroying smoke had been "satisfactorily and effectually obtained."
An act of parliament was passed to enforce the use of smoke-consuming
apparatus; but it was very little attended to, and the smoky condition
of our great towns increased quite as rapidly as the increase of popu-
lation and manufactures. After many years had passed, the Commons
appointed another committee of inquiry in 1843. This committee
examined a large number of scientific and practical men, among whom
were Dr. Faraday, Dr. Arnott, Professor Brande, Dr. Ure, Admiral
Parry, Dr. Reid, Mr. Jukes, Mr. Solly, Mr. Muntz, and Mr. Houldsworth.
Nearly all concurred in opinion that smoke may be nearly prevented,
either by existing methods or by apparatus easy to devise. Voluntary
associations had been formed in many large manufacturing towns,
including Leeds, Bradford, and Manchester, to put down the nuisance.
In numerous factories there was a positive saving of fuel effected by
the avoidance of smoke; but most of the manufacturers declared that
the apparatus hitherto employed had not fulfilled the promises made.
The committee recommended an act of parliament, but none was passed
at that time. In 1844, before the Health of Towns Commission, Mr. Thos.
Cubitt (than whom few men were more thoroughly versed in the philo-
sophy of house-building) advocated smoke-prevention very energeti-
Bridge, were brought within the scope of the acts relating to the metro-
polis. The police received certain powers in relation to this matter,
and the provisions of the acts were sought to be enforced by penalties.
Improvements have resulted from these legislative enactments; but
the evil is still far from being removed. There seem to be difficulties
attending the enforcement of the law. Those manufacturers, whose
furnaces are arranged on the old plan, protest against the expense
necessary for adapting the smoke-preventing apparatus; and they are
not slow to declare that the several inventions fail in some or other of
the requisite conditions. On the other hand, the statements are most
clear and positive that the evil can be prevented, and that a saving in
fuel rewards those who resolutely make the attempt. Printers, woollen
spinners, builders, metal-founders, button-makers, sugar-refiners, steam
corn-millers, porter brewers-all have placed upon record the declara-
tion that gain as well as cleanliness results from the adoption of
smoke-preventing apparatus.
We shall make no attempt to describe the numerous forms of appa-
ratus patented within the last few years. All of them belong to one
or other of two classes. They attempt either smoke-consumption, by
supplying the heated smoke, at a particular spot, with fresh air enough
to kindle and consume it; or smoke-prevention, by so supplying fuel
that it may ignite without forming smoke at all. Jukes' apparatus
belongs to the latter class.
The inventions of Dr. Arnott would call for some attention here,
were it not for the fact that his ingenious stoves and ventilating appa-
ratus had better be described under WARMING AND VENTILATION,
in connection with many other kinds of apparatus for similar
purposes.
SMUGGLING is the clandestine introduction of prohibited goods,
or the illicit introduction of goods by the evasion of the legal duties.
Excessive duties present an overwhelming temptation to men to evade
them; and the law loses a great part of its moral influence when it
first tempts to violation of it and then punishes the offence. The true
remedy is a wise tariff. It annihilates at once a traffic which no inge-
nuity can ever put down; for all experience proves that so long as a
profit can be made by smuggling sufficiently high to counterbalance
the necessary risk, it will not fail to flourish. The decrees of Berlin
and Milan, instead of annihilating commerce, only forced it into extra-
ordinary channels. Silk from Italy, for example, instead of being
received in England by the most direct means, often arrived by way of
Archangel and Smyrna; in the former instance being two years, and
in the latter twelve months, on its passage. Sugar, coffee, tobacco,
and cotton-twist were despatched from England to Salonica, and thence
conveyed by horses and mules through Servia and Hungary to Vienna,
from which place they were distributed over the Continent, in defiance
of the rigorous decrees of Napoleon; it might happen that coffee was
consumed at Calais which, instead of being sent direct from London,
arrived by the above circuitous route.
We have only to examine the tariff of any country to know if
smuggling is practised; and if a bad system of commercial policy has
been long pursued, there the smuggler will be found. The contra-
bandista of Spain figures in novels and tales of adventure. In no
country is the illicit trade so general and extensive. The exports to
Gibraltar from England are very large, and a great proportion is intro-
duced by smugglers into the interior. Nearly the whole of the tobacco
imported into Gibraltar is smuggled into Spain, where the article is one
of the royal monopolies. On the French frontier the illicit trade is
equally active.
The vicinity of France and England, and the injudicious character
of their respective tariffs, long encouraged smuggling to a large extent
on both sides of the Channel.
The reduction of the duties on silks, tea, spirits, wines, and numerous
other articles, has done more to repress smuggling than all the efforts
of the revenue officers aided by a large armed force.
The present acts relating to smuggling are 3 & 4 Wm. IV. c. 53, and
4 & 5 Wm. IV. c. 13.
SNOW. It has been stated [RAIN, vol. vi. col. 925] that rain, snow,
and hail are formed by the precipitation of vapour when two volumes
of air of different temperatures, and saturated with moisture, become
mixed together; the nature of the precipitation depending on the
resultant temperature and on that of the region of the atmosphere
through which the aqueous particles descend towards the ground.
Now when the precipitating water is frozen into crystals
of ice,
631
SNOW.
united together in such a manner as to reflect light to the eye in great
abundance from all, thus producing a sensation of whiteness, the
assemblages of crystals constitute snow. In all probability it is formed
by the immediate freezing of aqueous vapour, without the sensible
intervention of the liquid state. Proximity to the earth's surface is
not required for its production; Mr. Green, the æronaut, met with a
severe snow-storm at the height of a mile and a quarter. The forma-
tion of snow through a considerable tract of the atmosphere appears
at a distance as a bluish, sometimes indigo-blue, haze.
M. Monge observes ('Annales de Chimie,' vol. v., p. 1), that the
crystallisation of sal-ammoniac presents phenomena similar to those
which are observed in the formation of snow. If a saturated solution
of sal-ammoniac in a warm state be allowed to cool in a tranquil air,
the surface of the liquid is that which first arrives at a state of super-
saturation, and there the first crystals are formed; these sink imme-
diately, and in descending they unite with similar crystals formed in
the liquid itself, so that they arrive at the bottom of the vessel in
white flakes.
The flakes of snow usually consist of brilliant spicular icicles, which
diverge from a centre in six directions, and resemble stars having so
many rays, upon each of which small crystals are sometimes formed;
but if the atmosphere is agitated, the original flakes strike against each
other, and uniting in groups by regelation [ICE], in consequence of
small quantities of moisture adhering to them, they descend in
irregular forms. In regions of the earth far to the north or south,
the air, when allowed to enter through a small aperture into a heated
apartment, has frequently caused the warm vapour to be converted
into snow. (Bibliothèque Universelle,' 1830.)
1
24
Beccaria observed that his apparatus for ascertaining the electrical
state of the atmosphere indicated the presence of electricity in snow
as well as in rain; and, according to the observations of Schübler, it is
more commonly positive than negative. The lightness of the flakes,
by which they float about in the air when agitated, is the result of
their surface being great when compared with their volume. The sp. gr.
of snow has been stated to be very variable; and according to Muss
chenbroek, that of some, of the stelliform kind, was only of the
specific gravity of water, but this must have been the specific gravity
of the mass, a mixture in fact of air and ice; and M. Quetelet has since
found that the greatest density is nearly 28 of that of water, the tem-
perature being 34-5° (Fahr.). He ascertained also that the density of
fine snow having no determinate form was about, the temperature
being 32°, and that the least density varied from to of that of
water, at which time the snow had the form of small stars, and the
temperature varied from 29.7° to 18.5°. It is, however, difficult to
understand these results; it would appear that they also must relate
to an aggregate of snow and air, as there is no reason why the specific
gravity of crystals of snow should differ greatly from that of ice, which
is always crystalline, and has the sp. gr. 0·918.
10
Snow has been observed to fall in a fine powder, not having any
appearance of regular crystals, and sometimes in grains, as fine as those
of what is called basket salt.
The flakes have, even in temperate regions, many varieties of form,
and are often very elegant; but the polar regions of the earth are those
in which it has been supposed that nature has displayed her power in
creating this species of beauty in the highest degree and to the greatest
extent. In the ‘Phil. Trans.,' 1775, may be seen numerous delineations
of the figures assumed by flakes of snow as they were observed by Dr.
Nettis, of Middelburg in 1740; but the late Rev. Dr. Scoresby, in his
'Account of the Arctic Regions,' has given still greater varieties; the
latter gentleman, besides dividing them into classes, has also expressed
their magnitudes, and the state of the barometer and thermometer
when the snow fell.
SNOW.
632
and those of the rest are inch diameter; they are usually formed at
temperatures between 32° and 20° (Fahr.).
4
5
6
7
6
9
14
The second class is also lamellar, but it differs from the former in
having a spherical nucleus, either transparent or white, about inch
diameter; and sometimes spicular radii proceed from thence in different
directions at angles of 60° with each other. The temperature at which
this class is formed varies also from the freezing-point to 20° (Fahr.).
The third class consists of spiculæ or six-sided prisms; of these, the
finer sort, which are formed at the temperature of 28°, resemble white
hairs very delicate and clear, and about inch long; the coarser kinds
are formed in the lower region of the atmosphere, at about the freezing
14
temperature.
The fourth class is of a pyramidal form and about inch high, but
Dr. Scoresby could not determine whether the base was triangular or
hexagonal. The fifth class consists of hexagonal crystals united together
by a slender spicular crystal, so as to resemble two wheels with an axle.
Both of these kinds are very rare. Dr. Scoresby saw the latter only
twice and the former only once.
M. Huber Burnand, speaking of the character of the snow which fell
at Yverdun in 1829 and 1830, states that it was crystallised in stellar
plates with six rays, along each of which were disposed filaments
arranged like feathers, and these again supported finer filaments
similarly arranged; the plates, which were extremely thin, were per-
fectly plane and regular. (Bibl. Univ., 1830.) It is also related
in the same work, that in 1829 the frost at Yverdun assumed every
day a different form, being sometimes disposed in parallel groups or
fillets; sometimes it resembled leaves, and occasionally spines about
an inch long, which were terminated by a flat rosette with six
divisions.
The severe weather experienced in the vicinity of London, and over
the south-west and eastern parts of England at the beginning of the
year 1855, of which no parallel had taken place since that of 1814,
which it greatly resembled, as well for depression of temperature as for
the duration of the frost, was remarkable also for the peculiar character
and continuous fall of snow, which first made its appearance on
January 16th, and lay on the ground till after the end of February.
We are indebted to Mr. Glaisher, the Secretary of the British Meteoro-
logical Society, for a particular account of this snow and its crystals,
which is annexed to the Report of the Society read at the fifth annual
meeting, May 22, 1855. Much of this snow, Mr. Glaisher observes,
was "of that peculiar character which former writers designated Polar
Snow, it having been chiefly composed of crystalline particles, which
Of these classes the first is called "lamellar," and is divided into they supposed to be confined, with rare exceptions, to the Arctic
many different species: one of the latter is a thin transparent hexagonal regions. This supposition, however, is not supported by the recent
plate, or a hexagonal plate with white lines parallel to the sides of prevalence of innumerable crystals, that have exhibited a degree of
the polygon, and sometimes there is a starlike figure in the centre; crystalline formation equal to any that has been recorded in colder
the magnitudes vary, and the greatest is about inch diameter. latitudes.
The primary figure or base of each crystal I deter-
Another species, and this is the most ordinary appearance of snow, is the mined to be a star of six radii, or a hexagon of lamine, and the com-
stelliform; the figures 1, 2, and 3 represent some of the most remark-pound varieties to include combinations of spiculæ, prisms, cubes, and
able varieties of this kind; its magnitude varies, but the diameter of the rhomboids, aggregated upon and around the central figure, according
to the degree of its complexity." The paper is illustrated by 88 small
and 63 greatly enlarged figures of the snow crystals, the joint pro-
ductions of the pencils of Mr. and Mrs. Glaisher, and probably the most
valuable series of such representations extant. The figures above,
copied from Dr. Scoresby, 6, 7, and 8, it will be observed, have an
inner tracing of the hexagon. Similar crystals to these were observed
by Mr. Glaisher, who had not seen them previously, nor any figures of
them, except those of Dr. Scoresby of those seen by him in the Arctic
Seas. But the forms of snow-crystals are doubtless dependent on the
temperature of the air and the amount and distribution of the aqueous
vapour it contains, the differences in those respects of the different
strata of air, the interchange of currents, and other physical cir-
cumstances, and not otherwise upon difference of locality than as that
may involve a difference in those circumstances. The forms ordinarily
characteristic of the snow of one latitude or region may be produced.
in any other, wherever snow can occur. It does appear, however,
that the most regular and complex stellate aggregations accompany the
1
2
3
***
greatest is about 3 inch, and it occurs most abundantly when the tem-
perature of the air is near the freezing point of water. Sometimes
the stars appear to have twelve points, but Dr. Scoresby thinks that
these are formed merely of two stellar plates applied one on the other.
The six following figures represent assemblages of hexagonal crystals,
the diameters of the first two kinds are respectively and inch,
633
634
SNOW, PERENNIAL OR PERPETUAL.
SNOW, PERENNIAL OR PERPETUAL.
lowest temperatures. The extraordinary complexity of many of these
crystals of snow, when considered in connection with the principle of
regelation which governs the union of separate portions of ice, leads
to the suspicion that infinitesimally small crystals result from the
solidification of vapour, which undergo accretion and are subse-
quently incorporated with each other by regelation, in directions
accordant with those of the crystalline forces to which the elementary
forms are due. The crystallography, however, of solid water, or ice,
which of course is that of snow, is at present in a condition of singular
contradiction. We appear not to know with certainty to what system
of crystallisation it should be referred, or even whether it does not
belong to more than one system; though there is strong evidence that
it must belong, in part at least, to the rhombohedral system, to which
it has usually been referred. The facts known respecting it will be
stated with the other properties of ice, in the article WATER.
It must be premised that three things are frequently confounded
together in popular science and in books of travels. First, the
elevation in the atmosphere, or above the general surface of the earth,
as defined by the level of the sea, of the temperature of 32° Fahr., or
the freezing point, for each latitude, as affected by the distribution of
land and sea, from which, in union with the solar temperature, results
the temperature of each isothermal line at the surface.
Secondly, the position of the inferior limit of the beds of perpetual
snow-the actual snow-line in this sense-on mountainous elevations,
as dependent on the cause just assigned, in conjunction with local
causes on the great scale, and as existing in fact at that particular
elevation for each region, below which all the snow that falls melts.
This may be considerably below or considerably above the line of 32°.
Thirdly, the altitude at which much snow is perennial, in the
ordinary sense of the word-its permanence arising from local and
Snow, in the form of cylinders and spheres or spheroids, has been from temporary (though recurrent) meteorological causes-masking,
occasionally observed in North America. The former were produced by by its extension downwards, the true limit of perpetual snow as
the snow deposited in a second shower upon some which had pre-defined above. It is requisite, however, for the due apprehension of
viously fallen, and the surface of which had been covered by a thin the subject, that the distinction between these three things should be
coating of ice. A violent wind then caused the particles of snow to carefully preserved in the mind.
roll on the ice, and the masses thus produced assumed perfectly
cylindrical forms of various sizes, the greatest being 2 or 3 feet
diameter; they were hollow at each end. The spherical balls were
from 1 inch to 15 inches in diameter, and were also formed chiefly by |
rolling, though some were found in enclosures where they could not have
rolled, and, therefore, they are supposed to have been formed in the
atmosphere itself; they were very light, and were composed of crystals
irregularly united. (Silliman's Journal,' vols. ii. and vi.) Similar
balls were observed in East Lothian, in 1830, by Mr. Sheriff; and this
gentleman relates that they were composed only of snow, for one of
them being cut through was found to have no hard body for its
nucleus. (Edin. Phil. Journal.,' ii. 58.) Mr. Luke Howard records
an instance, in which, with the surface at 33° or 34°, and during a strong
wind, the snow, instead of driving loose before the wind, was collected
occasionally into a ball, which rolled on, increasing till its weight
stopped it thousands of such balls were seen lying in the fields, some
of them several inches in diameter. The balls of snow, torrents of
which constitute what are called rolling avalanches [AVALANCHES],
appear to be formed in a similar manner, though by means chiefly
mechanical, in addition to regelation, which must have place in all these
accretions.
When an extensive tract of country is covered with newly-fallen
snow, its glare has a painful and injurious effect on the eyes, from
which the traveller has to guard them by a crape veil, the natives
using various similar means of protection. It is, however, from such
snow alone that much inconvenience is felt, indicating, probably, that
it is owing to the light reflected from the myriads of facets which the
crystals of snow present. Dr. Joseph D. Hooker remarks, that he has
never suffered inconvenience from this cause in crossing beds of old
snow, or glaciers with weathered surfaces, which absorb a great deal of
light, and reflect comparatively little, and that little coloured green or
blue. The changes to which snow is subject after descending to the
ground, according to the circumstances of temperature, weather, ex-
posure, and the nature of the surface upon which it has fallen, are
evaporation, liquefaction, and conversion into a compact ice. It evapo-
rates at all temperatures. Mr. Howard found a circular area, of five
inches diameter, to lose 150 grains troy from sunset to sunrise, and
about 50 grains more by the following sunset, the temperature varying
from 18° to 30°. This evaporation probably supplies the vapour which
appears in the form of mist after a snow-fall, and also that which is
condensed again in the form of a secondary fall of snow.
The process of conversion of snow into glacier ice has been noticed
in the article GLACIERS, in NAT. HIST. DIV. A similar conversion, in
localities of a different character, has been observed by Dr. Hooker,
who describes the beds of perennial snow in the Sikkim Himalaya,
which extend below the true inferior limit of perpetual snow (see the
following article), as having great resemblance to glaciers, from which,
indeed, he considers them undistinguishable. Though broad and con-
vex, and occupying mountain slopes,-not filling hollows like glaciers
commonly so called,-they display the ribboned structure of glacier-
ice, and descend at a rate and to a distance depending on the slope
and on the amount of annual accumulation behind. [CLOUD; HALL.]
SNOW, PERENNIAL, or PERPETUAL. In the article CLIMATE
(col. 968-70), a general view of this subject has been given,
together with particulars of the elevation of the snow-line under
different latitudes and in different localities, both as indicated by theory
and shown by observation. We are now enabled to enter in a more
precise manner into the consideration of the varying circumstances
which govern the position of the snow-line, and also into the special
history of perpetual snow as it exists about and upon the greatest and
highest mountains of the globe. For the materials of these we are
chiefly indebted to Dr. Joseph D. Hooker, who, in the Appendix to his
'Himalayan Journals,' has treated the subject with views at once more
general and more philosophical, perhaps, than have been applied to it
since the original investigations of Wahlenberg, Von Buch, and
Humboldt; and has largely illustrated them by the facts of the dis-
tribution of snow in Nepaul, Tibet, and the Himalaya, which are
stated in their appropriate places in his 'Journals' themselves.
Dr. Hooker has stated his belief ('Him. Journ.,' vol. ii., p. 394),
"that the limit of perpetual snow is laid down too low in all moun-
tain regions, and that accumulations in hollows, and the descent of
glacial ice, mask the phenomenon more effectually than is generally
allowed." He defines the limit, "in general terms only, as being that
where the accumulations are very great, and whence they are con-
tinuous upwards, on gentle slopes. All perpetual snow, however," he
continues, "becomes ice, and, as such, obeys the laws of glacial motion
·
.; whence it follows, that the lower edge of a snow-bed placed on
a slope is, in one sense, the termination of a glacier, and indicates a
position below that where all the snow that falls melts. It is im-
possible to define the limit required with any approach to accuracy.
Steep and broken surfaces, with favourable exposures to the sun or
moist winds, are bare much above places where snow lies throughout
the year; but the occurrence of a gentle slope, free of snow, and
covered with plants, cannot but indicate a point below that of per-
petual snow." A careful examination of those great beds of snow in
the Alps, from whose position the mean lower level of perpetual snow,
in that latitude, has been deduced, convinced Dr. Hooker that they
are winter accumulations-of the kind alluded to above, due mainly
to eddies of wind-of far more snow than can be melted in the follow-
ing summer, being hence perennial in the ordinary sense of the word
only. It follows that the true limit of perpetual snow is much higher
in the Alps than it is usually supposed to be. He proceeds to show
that the altitude of the limit in the Alps has been stated by Professor
James Forbes more than 1000 feet in defect, the Jardin, on the Mer de
Glace, at the elevation of 9500 feet, being evidently below the limit,
to which, however, Professor Forbes had assigned the elevation of
8500 feet only.
Proceeding to the principal scene of Dr. Hooker's own researches,
we find that there are two secondary considerations which materially
affect the melting of snow, and therefore exert a material influence on
the elevation of the snow-line, but which have not been sufficiently
dwelt upon, though they bear directly upon the great altitude of that
line in the most elevated regions. From the imperfect transmission of
the heating rays of the sun through films of water, it follows that the
direct effects of the rays, in clear sunshine, are very different at equal
elevations of the moist outer and dry inner ranges of the Himalaya,
Secondly, naked rock and soil absorb much more heat than
surfaces covered with vegetation, and this heat, radiated from them
again, is much more rapidly absorbed by the white snow than the
direct heat of the sun's rays is. Hence, at equal elevations, the ground
heats sooner, and the snow is more exposed to the heat thus radiated
in arid Tibet than in the wooded and grassed mountains of Sikkim.
In the latter region, "the position and elevation of the perpetual snow
vary with those of the individual ranges, and their exposure to the
south wind. The expression that the perpetual snow lies lower and
deeper on the southern slopes of the Himalayan mountains than on the
northern conveys a false impression. It is better to say that the snow
lies deeper on the southern faces of the individual mountains and
spurs that form the snowy Himalaya. The axis itself of the chain is
generally far north of the position of the spurs that catch all the
snow, and has comparatively little snow on it, most of what there is
lying upon north exposures." Thus appears to be at last explained the
apparent anomaly that the snow-line ascends in advancing north to
the coldest Himalayan region; the position of the greatest peaks
and of the greatest mass of perpetual snow being generally assumed,
though erroneously, as indicating a ridge and watershed. "Travellers
arguing from single mountains alone, on the meridional ridges, have
at one time supported and at another denied the assertion, that the
snow lies longer and deeper on the north than on the south slope of
the Himalayan ridge."
The enormous accumulation of snow in Sikkim at 15,000 feet
exercises a decided influence on the vegetation, preventing its exten-
sion upwards, which, in other situations, takes place to 16,000 and
17,000 feet. Glaciers descend to 15,000 feet in the tortuous gorges
which immediately debouch from the snows of Kinchinjunga, but no
plants grow on the débris they carry down, nor is there any sward of
€35
SNOW, RED.
grass or herbage at their base, the atmosphere immediately around
being chilled by the snows, and the summer sun rarely warming the
soil. In the vicinity of Kinchinjhow, 21,000 feet high, and where the
mean level of perpetual snow is 19,000 feet, coinciding, probably, with
a mean temperature of 20°, the glaciers do not descend below 16,000
feet, but a green sward of vegetation creeps up to their bases, and
herbs grow on the patches of earth they carry down, while dwarf
rhododendrons cover the moraines. Dr. Hooker concludes on this
subject with the following general statement :-"Looking eastward or
westward on the map of India, we perceive that the phenomenon of
perpetual snow is regulated by the same laws. From the longitude of
Upper Assam in 95° E. to that of Kashmir in 75° E., the lowest limit
of perpetual snow is 15,500 to 16,000 feet, and a shrubby vegetation
affects the most humid localities near it, at 12,000 to 14,000 feet.
Receding from the plains of India and penetrating the mountains, the
climate becomes drier, the snow-line rises, and vegetation diminishes,
whether the elevation of the land increases or decreases; plants
reaching 17,000 and 18,000 feet, and the snow-line 20,000 feet. To
mention extreme cases: the snow-level of Sikkim in latitude 27° 30'
is at 16,000 feet, whereas in latitude 35° 30′ Dr. Thomson found the
snow-line 20,000 feet on the mountains near the Karakoram pass, and
vegetation up to 18,500 feet-features I found to be common also to
Sikkim in latitude 28°.'
>>
The progress of physical geology brings before us, from time to
time, the conditions of the earth's surface at former periods. An
example of this, probably involving the consideration of the great
extension of snow and ice in the northern hemisphere, southward
from the arctic regions, at what has been termed the glacial epoch, as
alluded to in several former articles, is stated by Dr. Hooker nearly in
the following terms:- Were the snow-level in the Dingcham province
of Tibet as low as it is in Sikkim, or 15,000 feet, the whole of
Tibet, from the Donkia mountain northwards to the Yaru-Tsampu
river, the average direction of which is west and east nearly in the
latitude of 29° 10', "would be everywhere intersected by glaciers and
other impassable barriers of snow and ice, for a breadth of fifty miles,
and the country would have no parallel for amount of snow beyond
the Polar circles. It is impossible to conjecture what would have
been the effects on the climate of northern India and central Asia
under these conditions. When, however, we reflect upon the evidences
the evidences
of glacial phenomena that abound in all the Himalayan valleys at and
above 9000 feet elevation, it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that
such a state of things once existed, and that at a comparatively very
recent period." Valuable information on this subject, as well as on
the philosophy of the snow-line as at present existing, will be found in
Mr. W. Hopkins's paper, "On the causes of changes of climate,"
Quart. Journ. of Geo. Soc.,' vol. viii., p. 76-87.
SNOW, RED. [See NAT. HIST. DIV.]
SNUFF. [TOBACCO.]
SOAP MANUFACTURE. Soap originally meant the compounds
derived from the union between fatty bodies and the alkalies potash
and soda. Although the name is still usually thus limited in its mean-
ing, it has nevertheless been extended to compounds of oleaginous bodies
with some earthy and metallic bodies, having but few properties in
common with soap properly so called.
Properties.-It has been found by Chevreuil that different varieties
of fatty matter consist chiefly of two kinds: one hard, to which he
gave the name of stearin; and the other soft, which he ternied olein.
He also discovered that stearin is composed of stearic acid and a pecu-
liar principle which, on account of its sweet taste, he named glycerin;
and it was further proved by his experiments that olein consists of
oleic acid and glycerin. Stearin is therefore a stearate of glycerin, and
olein an oleate of the same substance. When, in the manufacture of
soap, an alkali (soda, for example) is heated with tallow, the soda
gradually dislodges the glycerin from combination with the stearic and
oleic acids, and by combining with them, forms soap, or, in other words,
a compound of stearate and oleate of soda, and the glycerin remains in
solution.
In vegetable fat oils-olive-oil, for example-the glycerin is combined
with margaric and oleic acids, forming margarate and oleate of glycerin;
and, consequently, soap made with this oil is a margarate and oleate of
soda, instead of a stearate and oleate of this base.
The soaps which have the alkalies for their bases are soluble in water,
though the solution is in general milky; they are also soluble in alcohol,
and the solution is used frequently as a test of what is called the
hardness of water. [SOAP-TEST.] Acids also decompose soaps, and
though the effect is apparently similar, yet it is in reality different:
thus when sulphuric acid is added to soap, a white precipitate is formed,
but this is merely the fatty acid which the soap contained, and shows
the change which the fat employed has undergone; it is cither stearic,
oleic, or margaric acid, &c., or a mixture of two or more of them.
Sulphate of soda remains in solution when a soda soap has been thus
decomposed. There are certain preparations used in medicine under
the names of emulsions and liniments, which are obtained by merely
agitating either ammonia, potash, soda, or lime-water, with oil. The
first of these is an ammoniacal soap; the second and third are imperfect
alkaline soaps; and the fourth is an earthy soap to which barytes and
strontia-water form compounds nearly analogous; these earthy soaps are
insoluble in water, or nearly so. Metallic soaps are formed by heating
SOAP MANUFACTURE.
033
certain metallic oxides, as those of lead, mercury, and bismuth, with
fatty matter; glycerin is separated, as has already been mentioned, and
the metallic soaps formed are insoluble in water. The only soap of
this kind extensively employed is that of oxide of lead, which is largely
used under the name of diachylon, or lead plaster.
Manufacture.-Some of the soap-factories of the present day carry
on operations with the aid of considerable chemical and mechanical
skill. There is, however, not much that requires description here.
Mottled soap, a kind much used in England, is made of tallow,
kitchen stuff, soda, water, and a little salt. The tallow principally
employed is brought from Russia, and arrives in a solid state in barrels;
The impure grease
it is tolerably pure, and is ready for use at once.
known as kitchen-stuff requires much heating, straining, and purifying
before it is fitted for use; and even then it is not employed for the
better soaps. The alkali formerly used, as has already been stated,
was obtained from kelp and barilla; but the carbonate of soda obtained
from common salt is now almost exclusively used. The soda being
required almost in a caustic state, the carbonic acid is driven off for
the soap-maker's purposes. The caustic soda is dissolved in water to
form a ley or lye. The ley is pumped into boilers, and mixed with the
fatty substances. Steam-heat is applied, and the mixture is boiled
until the fat has combined with all the alkali of the ley. The spent
ley is pumped up, fresh ley is introduced, and the boiling proceeds.
This is repeated several times, a stronger ley being used each time than
before. When the soap is nearly finished, the "mottling" is given by
sprinkling a small quantity of very dense ley; this percolates slowly
When the
through the mass, leaving dark-coloured veins in its track.
soap is finished, it is laded into buckets, and thence transferred
to frames. These frames are upright oblong boxes, made either of
wood or iron, and easily taken to pieces. The soap, when the frames
are full, is allowed to cool and solidify. Each frame being taken to
pieces, the mass of soap, sometimes weighing as much as three or four
thousand pounds, is exposed to view. It is cut up into slabs or
layers by a wire being drawn through it, following the marks of certain
gauge-lines. The application of a similar wire in a different way after-
wards separates the slabs into bars about 15 inches long, 3 inches wide,
and 3 inches deep.
Curd or white soap is made nearly in the same way as mottled, but
with a more careful selection of ingredients, and a better management
of some of the processes.
Yellow soap is distinguished from the others by the large amount of
resin and palm-oil contained in it. The casks of palm-oil, as brought
from Africa, are placed over a trough with the bung-hole downwards;
the steam-pipe is admitted, and the melted substance flows out. The
oil is bleached by a chemical process, and then the soap-making pro-
ceeds as before. The resin and the palm-oil both serve the purpose of
tallow, and are the cause of the relative cheapness of yellow soap.
Soft soap, used principally in the woollen manufacture, is made
chiefly of oil and potash. The oil may be whale, seal, olive, linseed,
or any that comes most readily to hand, and is combined with a little
tallow to increase the stiffness. Soft soap is not shaped in frames, but
is poured at once into barrels or casks.
Fancy soaps, as they are called, such as are sold by perfumers, are
generally made from good white soap, remelted, and modified by the
addition of perfumes, &c.
Dr. Normandy in 1841 patented an invention for using up all kinds
of gums and resins in soap by the addition of sulphate of soda. He
made hard soap cheap by that means; but his operations were checked
by the Excise insisting on the same rate of duty as was paid for
the high-priced soaps. His patent, not having been a profitable one,
was renewed in 1855 for three years.
A substance called soap bark was brought to Europe from some
tropical country in 1859. It is black without, and yellowish white
within, very heavy and dense. When the white layers are macerated
in water, they produce an emulsion which, when mixed with oil, may
be used as soap.
Soap Trade. The soap manufacture is one of considerable importance.
The principal seats in England are Liverpool and Runcorn, London,
Brentford, Bristol, and Hull. Nearly three-fourths of the total quantities
of soap are made at these places; but there are also manufactories of
considerable extent at Bromsgrove, Newcastle, Gateshead, Warrington,
and Plymouth. In Scotland, two-thirds of the total quantity of soap
are made at Glasgow and Leith.
In 1711 an Excise duty of 1d. per lb. was first imposed on all soap
made in Great Britain, which was raised in 1713 to 14d. per lb. In
1782 the duty was again increased, and a distinction was, for the first time,
made between hard and soft soap, the duty on the former being 24d.,
and on the latter 1d. per lb. In 1816 hard soap was subjected to a
duty of 3d. per lb. In 1833, the duty was 14d. per lb. on hard soap,
and 1d. per lb. on soft. The interference of the Excise in the manu-
facture of soap was, until recently, exceedingly arbitrary and vexatious;
but in the Seventeenth Report of the Commissioners of Excise
Inquiry,' 1835, the discontinuance of the system of survey which then
existed was recommended. The act 3 and 4 Vict. c. 49, passed in 1840,
repealed seventeen other acts, so far as they concerned the making of
soap. The article may now be made in any way or of any material
which the manufacturer thinks most judicious, as the Excise does not
interfere with the process of manufacture,
637
638
SOAP, MEDICAL USES OF.
SOCAGE.
When the duty on hard soap was 3d. per lb., the selling price averaged
about 6d., out of which another d. was absorbed in duties on the
tallow and other substances used in the manufacture. The 3d. duty,
as has been stated, was reduced to 14d. in 1833; and in 1853 the duty
was wholly repealed. In 1852, the last year for which official returns
are obtainable, rather more than 200,000,000 lbs. of soap were made in
the United Kingdom; of which the largest items were-London and
vicinity, 54,000,000 lbs.; Liverpool and vicinity, 47,000,000 lbs. ;
Glasgow and vicinity, 16,000,000 lbs. The export of soap is not large;
for the three years, 1858, 1859, 1860, it varied from 160,000 lbs. to
190,000 lbs.
The increasing use of palm oil is perhaps the chief commercial
novelty in the soap manufacture.
SOAP, Medical Uses of. In pharmacy and medicine the term soap
is applied to combinations not only of oily and fatty matters with the
alkalies soda or potash, but also with the volatile alkali (ammonia), lime
(an alkaline earth), and metallic oxides, especially oxide of lead; like-
wise to solutions of resins in liquid potash, such as guaiacin [GUAIA-
CUM], called therefore Sapo guaiacinus. The combinations of oils with
ammonia or lime, being very thin, are generally termed liniments; the
common one of hartshorn with oil is an example of the former, while
oil and lime-water constitute the common application to burns termed
Carron oil, from its frequent employment in the great iron-works at
that place. The combination of oil with oxide of lead is generally termed
a plaster. Some combinations of a volatile or fixed oil with an acid
are sometimes called soaps, such as that of oil of turpentine with hydro-
chloric acid (artificial camphor), or of almond oil with sulphuric acid
(Sapo acidus): but these are scarcely entitled to be so regarded. Among
continental pharmaceutists, many cerates and mixtures of metallic
salts with common soap are termed soaps, but they are more correctly
called plasters.
Of hard soaps, the fine kinds are made with soda and the purer
vegetable oils, and the inferior kinds with animal oils or the coarser
vegetable oils or resins. White soda soap is prepared with caustic
soda and olive oil (in Spain) or with almond oil (in France). In its
purest state it is called medicinal soap; in a less pure state, it is called
Alicant, Venice, or Spanish soap. The Castile or marbled soap has
this appearance communicated to it by sulphate of iron and red oxide
of iron being added and stirred through it when the soap is nearly made.
These are impurities which render it less fit for medical use in many cases
than the white soap. When properly prepared, white soap should neither
make an oily mark on paper nor have a burning alkaline taste. It
should be perfectly soluble in pure water and in alcohol. [SOAP-TEST.]
When an alcoholic solution is evaporated, the residuum constitutes
transparent soap.
White soda soap is the only one which should be used internally.
It is chiefly employed to form pills, which are gently aperient and
antacid; their power in this latter respect is greatly increased by the
addition of exsiccated carbonate of soda: this combination is of great
utility in the treatment of gouty and calculous disorders, when an
alkali is indicated. In other cases it is used to prevent the pills
becoming hard and insoluble; such as compound rhubarb pills. White
soap furnishes a ready antidote to the strong mineral acids, in cases of
poisoning by any of these.
Soft soap is directed by the London Pharmacopoeia to be made with
potash and olive oil only, but this order is seldom complied with. The
soft soap, in which both soda and potash are used, is made with olive
and other oils and tallow. It is employed only to form the compound
sulphur ointment. Soft soap is of great service in many cutaneous
diseases, several of which, when in a mild form, may be cured by it
alone. It may be rendered still more useful by the addition of sulphur
or sulphuret of potash (liver of sulphur). In the treatment of scabies,
porrigo (ring-worm), and such diseases, this application is far superior
to the ointments and other greasy compounds commonly employed,
which increase the filth or uncleanness by which the disease is aggra-
vated. It is also much cheaper. Many other soaps are vended,
pretending to special qualities, such as glycerine soap, tar soap, &c.
Soap formed of cocoa-nut oil has the great advantage of being soluble
in salt water, and so can be used at sea.
SOAP-TEST. A solution of white curd soap in proof spirit; it is
ased in ascertaining the amount of hardness of waters.
The action of hard water upon soap has already been alluded to.
[CALCIUM, carbonate of lime.] By using a solution of soap of known
strength, and adding it to a given quantity of hard water until no more
of the familiar curdy precipitate is thrown down, the amount of hard-
ness will obviously be at once indicated. The method of preparing and
applying this soap test is as follows :-
Sixteen grains of pure carbonate of lime are dissolved in pure
hydrochloric acid, the solution evaporated to dryness on a water bath,
the residue re-dissolved in water, again evaporated to dryness to ensure
the absence of free acid, and the residue now dissolved in one gallon
of distilled water. The resulting liquid is a solution of hydrochlorate
of lime, or, more correctly, chloride of calcium, but the amount of
lime in it is identical with that in the sixteen grains of carbonate
of lime, and inasmuch as all soluble lime salts act similarly upon
soap, that is, without any influence of the acid contained in them,
it follows that the gallon of chloride of calcium solution accurately
represents a natural water whose hardness is due to sixteen grains
All that is now necessary is to
of carbonate of lime in a gallon.
ascertain how much of a dilute alcoholic solution of soap must he
added to a given quantity of the chloride of calcium solution before a
permanent lather is produced. This being done the soap-test has
henceforth a value given to it, inasmuch as if it be added to any hard
water, equal in volume to that of the artificial hard water previously
experimented with, until a permanent lather be produced, the amount
so added indicates the number of grains of carbonate of lime present
in the gallon. The quantity of water tested is usually and conveniently
one thousand grains, and the soap-test is used to greatest advantage
when poured from a burette divided by transverse markings into
measures each containing ten grains: the soap-test should, moreover,
be so diluted by its proof-spirit solvent, that thirty-two measures
require to be added to one thousand grains of the artificially prepared
standard solution of sixteen degrees of hardness before complete
precipitation of the lime is produced and a permanent lather formed.
In applying the soap-test to a normal water, the specimen of the
latter should be placed in a bottle of five or six ounces capacity. The
solution of soap must then be added in small portions at a time and
the mixture well shaken in the intervals. When indications of a
| lather appear on the surface of the liquid, the additions of soap-test
must be very small, and finally when a lather is produced that does
not subside until after the bottle has remained undisturbed on its
side for three minutes, the amount of soap-test added is noted; an
inspection of a table similar to the one here appended at once indicates
the degree of hardness per gallon.
CLARK'S SOAP TEST-TABLE FOR HARDNESS OF WATER.
Degree of Hardness.
0. (Distilled water)
Difference for
next Degree of
Hardness.
Measures of
Soap Test.
1.4
1.S
1.
3.2
2.2
2.
5.4
2.2
3.
7.6
2.0
4.
9.6
1)
•
2.0
5.
11.6
15
·
2.0
6.
13.6
2.0
19
7.
15.6
1.9
•
8.
17.5
•
1.9
9.
19.4
1.9
10.
21.3
1.S
11.
23.1
1.8
12.
24.9
•
1.S
13.
26.7
1.8
•
14.
""
. 28.5
1.8
15.
11
16.
• 30.3
32.0
1.7
Excess of carbonic acid in a water is apt to decompose a lather once
formed and an experiment may be thus interfered with. To avoid this
source of error Professor Clark, who is the author of the process now
described, recommends that the water be violently agitated before the
addition of the soap-test, the superstratum of air being two or three
times renewed by suction through a glass tube. When a water is of
more than sixteen degrees of hardness it should be diluted with its
own bulk of distilled water before proceeding with the addition of
soap-test.
Salts other than carbonate of lime confer hardness upon water,
moreover an equal number of degrees of hardness is produced by very
different amounts of the several salts. Thus, to produce ten degrees
of hardness the annexed quantities of the following salts
necessary :—
Carbonate of lime
Sulphate of lime
Nitrate of lime
Chloride of calcium
Carbonate of magnesia
Sulphate of magnesia
Chloride of magnesium
100 grains.
• 13.6
>>
16.1
11.1
>>
•
S.5
•
12.1
9.6
are
Inasmuch, however, as it is only the relative hardness of a water
that is usually required to be known, unnecessary complication is
avoided by representing that hardness in degrees, the value of which
has been conventionally agreed upon by chemists. One degree is
the amount of hardness that would be produced by one grain of
carbonate of lim in a gallon of water: two degrees by two grains,
and so on.
SOCAGE, or SOCCAGE, is service rendered by a tenant to his
lord for lands, the principal ingredient of which is its being fixed
and determined in its nature and quality. The certainty of the service
distinguished socage from tenure in chivalry, or by knight's service, on
the one hand, and from tenure in pure villeinage by arbitrary service,
on the other; and therefore Littleton says, $ 118, "A man may hold of
his lord by fealty only; and such tenure is a tenure in socage; for
every tenure which is not a tenure in chivalry is a tenure in socage."
Socage is said by old writers to be of three kinds : socage in frank
tenure; socage in ancient tenure; and socage in base tenure. The
propriety of the last denomination is however doubtful. The second
and third kinds are now called respectively tenure in ancient dem-
esne and copyhold tenure. The first kind is called free, and common
039
SOCIAL CONTRACT.
socage, to distinguish it from the two others, though as the term
socage has long ceased to be applied to the two latter, socage and free
and common socage now mean one and the same thing.
Besides fealty, which the tenant in socage, like every other tenant,
is bound to do when required, the tenant in socage, or, as he was
formerly called, the socager or sockman, is bound to give his attendance
at his lord's court-baron, if the lord holds a court-baron either for a
manor [MANOR] or for a seigniory in gross. This obligation to attend
the court, it is supposed, gave rise to the name of the tenure, but the
question is not without doubt.
Both forfeiture and escheat are incident to tenure in socage, as they
were also to tenure by knight's service. In that species of socage tenure
which is called gavelkind there is no forfeiture.
Wardship is also incident to this tenure. But this incident is not,
as formerly in knight's service, a benefit given to the lord, but a
burden imposed on the infant's next friend of full age, who must
however be a person not capable of inheriting the estate upon his
young kinsman's death.
In particular districts some of the incidents of tenure by knight's
service were by custom annexed to the tenure in socage. Thus in the
diocese of Winchester the lord claimed the wardship and marriage of
his socagers.
Before the abolition of feudal burdens by the Commonwealth, con-
firmed upon the Restoration by 12 Car. II. c. 24, tenants in socage were
bound to pay 20s. upon every 207. of annual value, as an aid for making
the lord's son a knight, and the same for marrying the lord's eldest
daughter. This tenure was also subject to the payment of fines upon
alienations.
By the above statute, the provisions of which were extended to
Ireland by the Irish act of 14 and 15 Car. II. c. 19, tenure by knight's
service was abolished, and all lands, with the exception of ecclesiastical
lands held in free alms [FRANKALMOIGNE], were directed to be held in
free and common socage, which, with the limited exception in favour
of lands held in frankalmoigne, is now the universal tenure of real pro-
perty throughout England and Ireland, and those colonies which have
been settled by the English.
It is true that a large portion of the soil of all those countries is
held by leaseholders, and in England also by copyholders; but the
freehold of the land held by leaseholders and copyholders is in their
lords or lessors, who hold that freehold by socage tenures.
SOCIAL CONTRACT, or ORIGINAL CONTRACT. Locke thus
expounds his doctrine of the social contract (Essay on Civil Govern-
ment,' c. 8, Of the Beginning of Political Societies'): he says that
men being by nature all free, equal, and independent, no one can be
put out of his estate and subjected to the political power of another
without his own consent." By can he does not mean to say that it
may not happen that one man shall be subjected to the political
power of another, but that he cannot properly or justly be subjected
without his consent; which appears from what follows:-"Whosoever
therefore out of a state of nature unite into a community must be
understood to give up all the power necessary to the ends for which
they unite in society, to the majority of the community, unless they
expressly agreed in any number greater than the majority. And this
is done by barely agreeing to unite into one political society, which is
all the compact that is or needs be between the individuals that enter
into or make up a commonwealth. And thus that which begins and
actually constitutes any political society, is nothing but the consent of
any number of free men capable of a majority to unite and incorpo-
rate into such a society. And this is that, and that only, which did
or could give beginning to any lawful government in the world."
This doctrine is open to obvious objection. The conclusion as to the
origin of “lawful government" by implication contains the notion
that some governments are not lawful, whereas all men must and do
admit that all governments which can maintain themselves are govern-
ments, and the term lawful is not applicable to that power which can
declare what is lawful. The two objections which Locke mentions as
being made to the theory are, 1.-"That there are no instances to be
found in story of a company of men independent and equal one
amongst another, that met together, and in this way began and set up
a government." 2. That "it is impossible of right that men should do
so, because all men being born under government, they are to submit
to that, and are not at liberty to begin a new one. Locke replies
to both objections with considerable ingenuity, but there are few
political writers at present who will be inclined to consider his answer
conclusive.
""
Hume, in his ´Essay on the Original Contract,' admits that "the
people, if we trace government to its first origin in the woods and
deserts, are the source of all power and jurisdiction, and voluntarily,
for the sake of peace and order, abandoned their native liberty, and
received laws from their equal and companion. The conditions upon
which they were willing to submit were either expressed or were
so clear and obvious that it might well be esteemed superfluous
to express them. If this, then, be meant by the original contract, it
cannot be denied that all government is at first founded on a contract,
and that the most ancient rude combinations of mankind were formed
entirely by that principle." And yet he adds, “in vain are we sent to
seek for this charter of our liberties-it preceded the use of writing
and all the other civilised arts of life." Consequently we cannot trace
SOCIAL CONTRACT.
610
"government to its first origin," and therefore we cannot tell how
government originated. But we do know, as Hume shows, that all
governments of which we can trace the origin have been founded in
some other way than by an original contract among all the members
who are included in them. Hume further says, "that if the agree-
ment by which savage men first associated and conjoined their force
be meant (by the term Original Contract), this is acknowledged to be
real; but being so ancient, and being obliterated by a thousand
changes of government and princes, it cannot now be supposed to
retain any authority. If we would say anything to the purpose,
we must assert that every particular government which is lawful,
and which imposes any duty of allegiance on the subject, was at
first founded on consent and a voluntary compact." This is the
real question. Those who found what they very incorrectly term
"lawful government" on an original contract, must show us the con-
tract. So far Hume's objection is good, and whether there was an
original contract or not is immaterial. The question is, what was the
origin of any particular government? Those who maintain that any
particular government originated in a contract of all the persons who, at
the time of the formation of the government, were included in it,
cannot prove their case. Those who deny the original contract can
show that many particular governments have originated " without any
pretence of a fair consent or voluntary subjection of the people."
But an original contract, such as Hume admits, is as far removed
from the possibility of proof as the origin of any particular govern-
ment by virtue of a contract; nor have we any record of savage men
associating to form a government. If one set of savage men did this,
others would do it, and there must have been many original contracts,
which contracts are the remote origin of all particular governments;
but inasmuch as that origin of any particular government, which we
do know, was not made by contract, and did not recognise the original
contract, such government is unlawful, as those who contend for the
theory of an original contract would affirm, or ought to affirm, if they
would be consistent. Thus the practical consequences of the doctrine
of an original contract, if we rigorously follow them out, are almost
as mischievous as the doctrine that every particular government was
founded on an original contract. It is true that the theory of an
original contract of savage people being the foundation of government
is a mere harmless absurdity, when at the same time we deny that
any particular government has so originated, provided we admit that
such particular government is not to be resisted simply because it is
not founded on contract. Those who maintain that all existing govern-
ments rest on no other foundation than a contract, affirm that all men
are still born equal-that they owe no allegiance to a power or govern-
ment, unless they are bound by a promise that they give up their
natural liberty for some advantage that the sovereign promises them
these advantages, and if he fails in the execution, he has broken the
articles of engagement, and has freed his subjects from all obligations
to allegiance. Such, according to these philosophers, is the founda-
tion of authority in every government; and such is the right of
resistance possessed by the subject " (Hume). This is a good exposi-
tion of the consequences that follow from the theory of every govern-
ment being founded on contract.
Governments, as we now see them, exist in various forms, and they
exist by virtue of their power to maintain themselves. This power
may be mere force in the government and fear in the governed. Com-
bined with the power of the government there may be the opinion of
a majority in favour of the government, or of a number sufficiently
large and united to control the rest; and this opinion may be founded
either on the advantage which such number or majority conceive that
they derive from the actual form of government, or the advantage
which they and all the rest are supposed to derive from such govern-
ment. The opinion of a considerable number may be strong enough
to overthrow a government or to maintain it, but in either case it is
not the opinion of all.
The real origin of government lies in the constitution of man's
nature. Man is a social animal, and cannot exist out of society. He
is of necessity born in a society, that is, a family, the smallest element
to which we can reduce a state. He who requires not to live in a
society, says Aristotle, must be a beast or a god. ('Politik.' i. 2). The
nature of man compels him to seek union with the other sex. A man
by himself is not a complete being: by the constitution of their nature
man and woman must unite; and this is the foundation of a family.
Those who accept the Mosaic account of the creation have there a clear
statement of the origin of a family; and the father's authority is as
much in accordance with the constitution of our nature as the union
of the father and the mother. The various modes in which the
descendants of a common pair might be detached from their primitive
seats are infinite; and the modes in which they might be formed into
political societies are infinite also. But if we have no account of them,
it is useless to speculate what the precise modes may have been. Man,
says Aristotle, is by nature a political animal; and by his nature he
has an impulse to political union. He therefore follows the law of his
nature by living in political society, as much as he obeys it by uniting
himself with a woman. The form of any particular government, and
the mode in which it may have been established, are the accidents, not
the essentials, of political union, the real foundation of which is in our
nature. But inasmuch as every community exists for some good end
6.1
611
SOCIETIES, ASSOCIATIONS.
SODIUM.
(Aristotle), we estimate the value of any particular government by its
fitness for this end, and the accidents of its form are subordinate to
that for which pursuant to its nature it exists. Its origin may in
many cases have been as obscure, and as little perceived, as the origin
of those customs which exist in such endless variety in the world.
Nobody supposes that customs originated in universal consent, or that
people who follow them, or at least the majority who follow them,
ever consider why they follow them. He who can trace the origin of
customs can trace the origin of government.
The theory of men living in a state of nature and thence proceeding
to form political societies, has apparently derived some countenance
from the condition of many savages. There are perhaps people who
may be said to have no government, if it be true that among some
savages there is no bond of union except that of families. If this is
so, each family is ruled by its head, like the families of the Cyclops
(Aristotle, Politik.' i. 1), so long as the head can maintain his dominion.
This state, if it exists anywhere, is perhaps what some people call a
state of nature; but it is in fact a very imperfect state of nature, for
the perfect state of nature is a political society, because it is that
state to which the nature of our constitution impels us as the best.
The savage in his lowest condition bears the same relation to the man
who is a member of a political body, that the man who has not his
senses bears to the man who has his full understanding. Both the
savage and the idiot are imperfect men: they are the deviations from
the course of nature.
SOCIETIES, ASSOCIATIONS. The great increase of Societies or
Associations for all kinds of purposes is characteristic of the present
condition of Europeans in Europe and of Europeans who have settled
in other parts of the world. Association for particular objects is ana-
logous to the great associations of political societies, but with this
difference, that their object is something particular, and that they are
really established and exist by the consent of the individuals who
compose them.
Societies have been formed and exist for nearly every variety of
object. There are societies for objects scientific and literary, some-
times called academies; for objects religious and moral; and for
objects which are directly material, but in their results are generally
beneficial to the whole of mankind. There are societies for objects
which the members consider useful, but which other people consider
to be mischievous. Generally, in this country, it may be stated that
any number of individuals are permitted to contribute their money and
their personal exertions for any object which is not expressly forbidden
by some statute, or which would not be declared illegal by some court
of justice, if the legality of such association came in question before it.
The objects for which persons may and do associate are accordingly as
numerous as the objects which individuals may design to accomplish,
but cannot accomplish without uniting their efforts.
In some cases the State has aided in the formation of such associa-
tions, and has given them greater security for carrying their purposes
into effect, as in the case of savings' banks and friendly societies.
Sometimes the State grants a charter of incorporation to associations,
which in many respects enables the body to transact its matters of
business more conveniently. Sometimes the State perceives that it
can extract some revenue from persons who associate for particular
purposes, as in the case of fire-insurance offices, for all persons who
insure their property in them (except farming stock, &c.) must pay the
State 200 per cent. on the sum which they pay to secure their property
against the accidents of fire. [INSURANCE, FIRE.] If a man should
think it prudent to invest a part of his annual savings in a life insur-
ance, the State makes him pay a tax on the policy. A great many
associations of individuals for benevolent, scientific, and such like pur-
poses are left to direct their associations according to the common
principles of law.
If lists were made of all the associations in Great Britain and Ireland,
including those which are purely commercial, with an account of their
objects, income, and applications of income, we should have the evi-
dence of an amount of activity and combination that was never equalled
before. How far it might be prudent to give to all associations for
lawful purposes greater facilities for the management of their property
and the making of contracts, subject to certain regulations as to regis-
tration of their rules and approval of their objects, is a matter well
deserving of the attention of the legislature.
SOCIÑIANS. [SOCINUS, in BIOG. DIV.]
SODA. [SODIUM.]
SODA-ASH. [SODIUM.
SODA, MANUFACTURE OF. [SODIUM.]
SODA-WATER. [AERATED WATERS.]
SODIUM. (Na, natrium.) The original name of natrium for this
metal is derived from that of natron, nitron, or trona, old names of
certain natural deposits of carbonate of soda which were long con-
founded with the true nitron or nitre (nitrate of potash). The term
sodium originates from soda or sod-ash, the latter probably having
allusion to the practice of burning the sods or turf of plants growing
near the sea in order to obtain their ash, which is a crude carbonate of
soda, known as barilla.
Sodium, like POTASSIUM, was first isolated by Sir H. Davy. It may
be prepared in a manner similar to, but with far greater facility than,
the last-named element. Deville gives the following directions for
ARTS AND SCI. DIV. VOL. VII.
Like
obtaining it in large quantities. Intimately mix 717 parts of dried
carbonate of soda with 175 parts of powdered charcoal and 108 of
finely ground chalk; knead into a stiff paste with oil: heat in a
covered iron pot till the oil is all decomposed; finally, distil, with the
apparatus, arrangements, and precautions given under POTASSIUM.
Sodium has the characteristic lustrous appearance of a metal, and is
of a beautiful light rose colour. It may be obtained in quadratic
octohedral crystals by the method described under POTASSIUM.
potassium, it speedily tarnishes by exposure to the air, owing to its
great affinity for oxygen, and this occurs more rapidly when the air is
moist; it requires for preservation the same precautions as have been
mentioned with regard to potassium. It does not, like this metal,
inflame when thrown upon water, but decomposes the latter with a
hissing noise, the results being hydrogen and oxide of sodium, or soda,
which, remaining in solution, exhibits the well-known alkaline character
of that substance. When however it is placed on a moistened bad con-
ductor of heat, as charcoal, it decomposes water with vivid combustion.
Its specific gravity is 0.972. It is a good conductor of electricity and
heat; but if too strongly heated in the air, it burns with a yellow
flame.
The equivalent of sodium is 23.
Sodium combines with all the elementary gaseous bodies, two of
which combinations, namely, those with oxygen and chlorine, are of
great importance and utility.
Oxygen and sodium form two compounds, protoxide and peroxide of
sodium; the former of these has been long known, and extensively
used in various arts and manufactures. It was formerly called the
fossil or mineral alkali, to distinguish it from potash, which, as being
procured by the incineration of wood, was called the vegetable alkali;
the peroxide has been discovered only since the metal was known.
Under the head of carbonate of soda we shall briefly mention the
processes by which soda is procured for manufacturing purposes,
stating merely at present that protoxide of sodium, or anhydrous soda
(NaO) is prepared by heating the metal in dry oxygen gas. Thus
obtained, it is a gray solid, resembling potash in appearance, but it is
less fusible and volatile. It is extremely acrid to the taste, and is
very caustic. It has great affinity for water, dissolving readily in it,
and in large quantity, and the solution has strongly marked alkaline
properties.
Sodium differs remarkably from potassium in some respects; thus,
while both become first alkaline oxides, and afterwards carbonates, by
exposure to the air, the carbonate of soda remains dry, while that of
potash becomes fluid, owing to the absorption of water.
Sodium, as has already been noticed, is oxidised by decomposing
water, and the solution of soda obtained, when evaporated to dryness,
leaves hydrate of soda (NaO, HO). This is a solid white substance,
greatly resembling soda in appearance and properties. It retains the
water with such great affinity that it cannot be expelled by heat.
The hydrate is composed of one equivalent of soda and one equivalent
of water.
Solution of hydrate of soda is largely used in the arts. It is made
by boiling a tolerably strong solution of soda-ash or carbonate of soda
with milk of lime until a portion of the filtrate ceases to effervesce on
the addition of an acid. The strength of the solution is indicated by
its specific gravity at 59° Fahr., as demonstrated in the following table
by Zimmerman :—
Sp. gr.
1.4285.
1.4193
1.4101
:-
Soda
per cent.
Soda
per cent.
•
30-220
29.616
Sp. gr.
1.2392
1.2280
. 15.110
•
•
14.506
29.011
1.2176
•
•
•
13.901
1.4011
1.3923
1.3836
1.3751
1.8668
1.3586
1.3505.
1.3426
1.3349
28.407
•
•
1.2058
•
•
13.297
•
27.802
1.1948
•
•
12.692
•
•
27.200
1.1841
12.088
·
D
26.594
1.1784
•
11.484
•
25.989
1.1630
•
•
10.879
25.385
•
1-1528
. 10.275
24.780
•
1.1428
9.670
*
24.176
1.1330
•
9.066
•
•
23.572
1.1233
8.462
1.3278
22.967
1.1137
•
•
7.857
1.3198
22.363
1.1042
*
7.253
.
1.3143
•
21.894
1.0948
•
6.648
1.3125
1.3053
1.2982
21.758
•
1.0855
•
6.044
•
•
21.154
1.0764.
5.440
·
•
20.550
1.0675
4.835
1.2912
. 19.945
1.0587
4.231
1.2843
19.341
1.0500
3.626
1.2775
•
•
18.730
1.0414
3.022
1.2708
. 18.132
1.0330
2.418
1.2642
17.528
1.0246
1-813
1.2578
•
. 16.923
1.0163
•
1.209
1.2515
1.2453
•
16.319
15.714
1.0081
1.0040
•
0.604
0.302
Soda is met with in some mineral substances, but not so commonly
as potash. It is found however in albite, or cleavlandite, a con-
stituent of granite resembling felspar, except that it contains soda
instead of potash. [SODIUM, in NAT. HIST. DIV.]
Peroxide of Sodium (NaO³ ?).—This compound is formed on mode-
T T
$43
SODIUM.
rately heating sodium in oxygen gas. It burns vividly, evolving much
light and heat; the peroxide resulting is of a yellowish-green colour.
When put into water, it is decomposed, oxygen gas being evolved, and
soda, or protoxide of sodium, remaining in solution.
It is not applied to any use, and, being decomposed by water, it
does not form salts with acids.
Chlorine and sodium form only one compound, the important one,
common salt, formerly called muriate of soda, and now chloride of
sodium (NaCl). Of all natural soluble salts this occurs in the greatest
quantity. It is met with solid, constituting rock salt, in solution in
salt springs and in the ocean, and in small quantity in almost all
spring and river water. [SALT-TRADE; SODIUM, in NAT. HIST. DIV.]
This salt may be obtained artificially, either by the direct action of
chlorine gas on sodium, or by saturating hydrochloric acid with soda;
by evaporating the solution, common salt is obtained, which, in what-
ever manner or from whatever source procured, has, when pure, the
following properties :-it is colourless, inodorous, has a purely saline
taste unmixed with bitterness; is transparent, brittle, and easily
reduced to powder; its specific gravity is about 2.125; when exposed
to moist air, it deliquesces; it crystallises in cubes, which form under
common circumstances is but little subject to modification. It is
almost as soluble in cold water as in boiling. Water at 32° dissolves
more than at 60°; 100 parts of water at 58° dissolve 36 of salt, and in
a boiling saturated solution, the temperature of which is 229.5°, 100
parts of water hold 41′2 of salt in solution. A saturated boiling solu-
tion does not deposit crystals on cooling, evaporation being necessary
to produce this effect; in pure alcohol it is insoluble. At a red heat
common salt fuses, and on cooling it becomes a transparent brittle
mass; the crystals contain no water of crystallisation, but decrepitate
strongly when heated, owing to the expansion of mechanically inter-
posed water. At a bright red heat it sublimes in the air, and tinges
came of a blue colour.
The uses of this salt have been known from the earliest ages. It is
employed not only in seasoning food, but in preserving meat from
putrefaction. It is used occasionally as a manure. In chemical manu-
factures it is employed for preparing hydrochloric acid, sulphate and
carbonate of soda, and several other salts, and in the preparation of soap.
Sodium combines with fluorine, bromine, iodine, sulphur, phos-
phorus, &c.; the compounds which they form are unimportant, not
being extensively applied to any useful purposes. Their formation is
accomplished by methods similar to those employed in the preparation
of the corresponding salts of POTASSIUM.
Salts of Oxide of Sodium, or Oxisalts of Soda.
It is perhaps scarcely requisite to state that these salts are never
prepared by directly acting upon the metal sodium, although for pur-
poses of curiosity they might all of them be so procured. The first
which we shall notice is-
Nitrate of Soda (NaO, NO,).—This salt may be prepared either by
adding the metal, or soda, its oxide, to nitric acid; as a natural product
it has, however, of late years been largely imported from Peru, where
it forms a deposit similar to that of nitrate of potash in India. Nitrate
of soda has a cooling saline taste, is inodorous and colourless; in a
moist atmosphere it deliquesces; it readily crystallises, and the form
of the crystal is an obtuse rhomboid; so obtuse indeed, and so near a
cube, that the salt was originally called cubic nitre, to distinguish it
from potash nitre, the crystals of which are prismatic. According to
Gay-Lussac, 100 parts of water at 32° dissolve 73 parts of this salt;
and at 212°, 173 parts: water at 60° dissolves half its weight. It is
sometimes found with crude nitrate of potash.
Like nitrate of potash, it deflagrates with charcoal; but owing to its
property of attracting moisture, it cannot be used in the manufacture
of gunpowder. It is, however, used largely in making nitric acid,
sulphuric acid, and as a manure.
There are three compounds of carbonic acid and soda; namely,
1, carbonate; 2, sesqui-carbonate; and 3, bi-carbonate.
1. Carbonate of Soda (NaO, CO₂+10 Aq.).—This salt, formerly called
subcarbonate of soda, was obtained from barilla or kelp: the former
being the ashes of the Salsola soda, and prepared in Spain; the latter
the ashes of burnt sea-weed, manufactured in Scotland. Since the
duty has been taken off common salt, carbonate of soda is prepared, for
the numerous uses to which it is applied, by first converting common
salt into sulphate of soda by means of sulphuric acid, and then treating
the sulphate, or salt-cake, as it is called, with small-coal and chalk in
a reverberatory furnace; the result is a mixture of carbonate of soda
and oxysulphide of calcium, termed ball-soda, or black-ash, when this
is treated with cold water, the oxysulphide remains undissolved, while
the carbonate of soda is taken up by the water, and by evaporation to
dryness yields what is called soda-ash.
Carbonate of soda is a colourless, inodorous salt; it is devoid of
smell, but has a disagrecable taste, though less so than carbonate of
potash; it is readily soluble in water. The primary form of this
substance, when crystallised by moderate evaporation of the solution,
is an oblique rhombic prism. The crystals are frequently very large.
They contain about 62 per cent. of water, the greater part of which
they lose by exposure to the air, and efflorescing, fall to powder. At
high temperatures the salt becomes fluid and boils. Water at 60°
dissolves half its weight of carbonate of soda, and boiling water con
SODIUM.
644
siderably more. The solution possesses the alkaline property of turning
vegetable yellows brown. Like other carbonates, this salt is decom-
posed by the stronger acids, with effervescence of carbonic acid; and
by lime, which separates its carbonic acid, it is rendered caustic.
The quantity of this salt prepared and used is enormous; it is
other purposes.
required in making soap, and crown and plate glass, and for numerous
pound is found native in Hungary, and also near Fezzan in Africa.
2. Sesqui-carbonate of Soda (2NaO, HO, 3CO₂+3Aq.).—This com-
By the natives it is called Trona. It is found in hard striated crystalline
masses, is not altered by exposure to the air, and is readily soluble in
water.
soda is heated with carbonate of ammonia, and probably also when a
This salt appears to be formed when a solution of the carbonate of
solution of the bi-carbonate is heated. Its taste is less alkaline than
that of the carbonate, into which it is converted, when strongly heated,
by losing one-third of its carbonic acid.
by passing carbonic acid gas into a solution of the carbonate of soda; it
Bi-carbonate of Soda (NaO, HO, 2CO,).-This salt may be formed
is a crystalline granular compound. It is produced on the large scale
by exposing crystals of carbonate of soda to a current of carbonic
acid gas.
Bi-carbonate of soda has a very slightly alkaline taste, and acts very
feebly on turmeric-paper. It requires about twelve times its weight of
water for solution. When the solution is boiled, it loses one-fourth of
its carbonic acid, and is converted into sesqui-carbonate; at a red heat
it loses all its water and half its carbonic acid, carbonate of soda result-
ing. It resembles the sesqui-carbonate in giving no precipitate with
the salts of magnesia till heated; and they both differ from the
carbonate in this respect. It is used in medicine. Soda-water is, or at
least should be, a solution of bi-carbonate of soda in water charged with
carbonic acid gas under pressure. [AERATED WATERS.]
Sulphate of Soda (NaO, SO, +10Aq.), formerly called Glauber's
salt, may be formed by the direct combination of the acid and alkali;
it is, however, generally prepared by decomposing common salt, as in
the preparation of hydrochloric acid, or of carbonate of soda. It has
also been met with in nature, but not largely. [SODIUM, in NAT.
HIST. DIV.]
This salt is readily soluble in water, and the solution by evaporation
yields colourless transparent prismatic crystals, the primary form of
which is an oblique rhombic prism. It has a very bitter taste;
effloresces when exposed to the air, by losing water of crystallisation.
Boiling water dissolves its own weight of this salt, and water at 60°
one-third of its weight. It is, however, most soluble at 93° Fahr.; at
that temperature 100 parts of water will dissolve 50.6 parts of the salt.
A boiling saturated solution of sulphate of soda may be cooled and
kept for months without any crystals forming in it, provided that air
be excluded; let, however, a crystal of the sulphate, or any solid
matter, even a particle of dust, be dropped into the liquid, and the
whole then shoots into crystals with considerable elevation of tempera-
ture. Sulphate of soda is insoluble in alcohol. When exposed to
heat it first undergoes watery fusion, by melting in its water of
crystallisation; when the water has been expelled, it becomes opaque
white, and at a red heat it melts.
An anhydrous sulphate of soda, and a hydrate containing NaO, SO,
+7Aq. may also be obtained. Bisulphate of soda contains NaO, HO,
2SO¸、
Sulphite of Soda (NaO, SO₂+7Aq.) is formed on passing sulphurous
acid gas over carbonate of soda. It is used by paper manufacturers,
under the name of antichlor, for removing the last trace of chlorine
from their rag-pulp. Bisulphite of soda contains NaO, HO, 2SO₂
Silicates of Soda. [SILICON; GLASS.]
Acetate of Soda.
[ACETATE.]
Phosphoric Acid combines with soda to form several compounds.
[PHOSPHORUS.]
Borate of Soda is a compound of boracic acid and sola. [BORON.]
For an account of numerous other salts of soda we must refer to
chemical treatises; those whose properties we have detailed being
merely the most useful.
General Properties of the Salts of Sodium.-Unlike the salts of
potash, there is no acid nor any metallic oxide which forms a perfectly
insoluble compound with the salts of soda, so that they cannot be
precipitated in combination from solution. The best mode of dis-
tinguishing between these two alkalies is, by the yellow colour which
soda salts communicate to the blow-pipe flame, salts of potash giving a
violet tinge. They are separated from each other by taking advantage
of the insolubility of the double chloride of platinum and potassium,
and the great solubility of the corresponding sodium salt.
SODIUM, Medical Properties of the Preparations of. Sodium, when
in the state of an oxide, is termed the mineral alkali, in contradistinc-
tion to potash, or the vegetable alkali.
Sodium possesses the ordinary qualities of a fixed alkali, but not-
withstanding the resemblance it has to potash, the preparations, even
with the same acid, present some differences which may be here
pointed out.
In the oxidised state, or soda (pure or caustic), sodium is not
employed in medicine to counteract acidity; nor in surgery to form
an ulcer or to open abscesses, though for this latter purpose it possesses
615
646
SODIUM-ETHYL.
SOIL.
some advantages over hydrate of potash, inasmuch as it is not liable to
spread or run.
It is only when in combination with carbonic acid that it is used to
correct acidity. It exists in three states, namely, carbonate, sesqui-
carbonate, and bi-carbonate: the causticity of these is less in propor-
tion to the increase of the acid. These preparations, administered in
various ways, but chiefly in solution, are much used to counteract real
or presumed acidity of the stomach. The abuse of the analogous
preparations of potash has been already pointed out. [POTASSIUM.]
The same caution is necessary as to soda-water, when that really con-
tains any carbonate or bi-carbonate of soda, as it not unfrequently
consists only of carbonic acid compressed into the water. The saline
draughts so commonly employed in the medical practice of this country
are liable to the same objection, and in all cases of debility, especially
in the phosphatic diathesis, do infinite harm. For an opposite reason,
they are extremely serviceable in all inflammatory complaints: the
period when they should be discontinued can only be determined by an
intelligent medical attendant.
The preparations of soda possessed of purgative properties are-the
sulphate, or Glauber's salts, the phosphate, and the triple salt, called
soda-potassio-tartras, or Rochelle salts, of which potash is also a con-
stituent. Of these it is only necessary to observe that of the sulphate
a much larger dose is required than of the corresponding salt of potash;
and that the phosphate, being nearly tasteless, and extremely mild in
its action, is a very proper aperient for delicate persons. A nearly
similar character belongs to the Rochelle salt, but as this is decom-
posed in the stomach, it is as hurtful as the common saline draughts
in cases of debility, though very beneficial in inflammatory disorders,
particularly in both acute and chronic duodenitis. The same remark
is applicable to the so-called Seidlitz powders formed with Rochelle
salt and bi-carbonate of soda, to which, when dissolved, a solution of
tartaric acid is added, and the mixture drank in the state of effer-
vescence. The most quickly acting aperient is a Seidlitz powder
dissolved in warm water; this is most proper at the commencement
of common colds, influenza, and inflammatory diseases, but it should
not be repeated without medical sanction, especially in influenza, where
extreme debility speedily ensues.
The preparations of soda possessed of diuretic properties are the
bi-borate and the acetate. The former of these has been already
treated of [BORAX], and the second is rarely used, though, from not
deliquescing, it has the advantage over acetate of potash, that it can
be administered in the form of powder.
Chloride of sodium possesses purgative and emetic properties, which
render it useful as a domestic remedy. Its other uses have been
already pointed out. [BATHING; ANTHELMINTICS; FOOD.] Along
with lemon juice it is a great means of checking sea-sickness.
Chloride or hypochlorite of soda is a powerful disinfecting agent.
[ANTISEPTICS.] It is of great utility in the malignant sore throat of
scarlatina, and in diphtheria.
Bisulphite of soda is a powerful antiseptic. It effectually checks or
prevents fermentation. (Macculloch 'On Wine Making.') It retards
the decomposition of animal substances, and for that purpose is used
in Parisian dissecting-rooms.
Hypophosphite of soda is sometimes of use in the early stages of
consumption; also in anemia and chlorosis.
Valerianate of soda is a useful anti-spasmodic in some forms of indi-
gestion, with spasms from unhealthy acids in the stomach.
SODIUM-ETHYL. [ORGANOMETALLIC BODIES.]
SOFTNESS is a condition of solid bodies in which the particles are
held together by a cohesive power of small intensity in consequence
of this, such bodies change their figures upon the application of a small
degree of force; and they do not recover their previous forms upon its
removal.
This condition is the opposite of hardness, in which the particles
are held together by a power of cohesion so great that they cannot
be separated by any force which it may be convenient to apply to
them. No body in nature is known to possess either of these qualities
absolutely; but in contemplating the mechanical actions of soft bodies,
balls of wet clay are generally used, while blocks of wood acting
against one another in the directions of their fibres are frequently used
to illustrate the effects of hardness. Balls of glass or ivory, or steel
springs, serve to show the mechanical actions of elastic bodies.
[COLLISION OR PERCUSSION OF BODIES.]
SOIL. Wherever the surface of the earth is not covered with water,
or is not naked rock, there is a layer of earth, more or less mixed with
the remains of animal and vegetable substances, in a state of decom-
position, which is commonly called the soil.
The nature and composition of the soil, and consequently its greater
or less aptitude to the growth and maturity of vegetable productions,
depend on the composition, the proportion and the mechanical
structure of the various substances of which it consists. When the
soil is favourable to the chemical action by which the elements are
combined to form vegetable substances, and admits that quantity of
air and moisture without which this chemical action cannot take place
in any given climate or temperature, vegetation goes on rapidly, and
all the plants which are suited to the climate grow in the greatest
perfection, and bear abundant fruits.
It is not however very frequently the case that a soil possesses all
those qualities on which great fertility depends. So many circum-
stances must concur to make a soil highly fertile, that the great
majority of soils can only be made to produce abundantly by being
improved by art both in their texture and composition. Hence the
practice and science of agriculture, which is founded on experience,
but to which every progress in science also affords great assistance, by
the additional light which every new discovery throws on the true
theory of vegetation.
There are various modes of distinguishing soils, without entering
into a minute analysis of their component parts. The simplest and
most natural is to compare their texture, the size and form of the
visible particles of which they are composed, and to trace the probable
source of their original formation from the minerals which are found
around or below them, or the rocks from which they may have been
slowly separated by the action of the elements. The science of
geology, which teaches the relative position and nature of the minerals
of which the outer crust of the earth is formed, is consequently of the
greatest utility in aiding us to compare different soils and in ascertain-
ing their composition.
The knowledge which geology imparts is however not sufficient for
the minuter classification of soils; for it is found by experience that
the soils which lie over or near the different strata, as they appear
near the surface, vary greatly, although they retain some general
character which distinguishes them from others. The streams which
descend from the hills, and flow towards the valleys, and through
them to the sea, carry to a great distance the minuter portions of the
minerals which they flow over in their course, while the larger and
heavier are deposited much sooner. Hence the heterogeneous mixture
of various earths and stones, and their stratification in thin layers, as is
often found when a soil is examined which has never been disturbed
by cultivation.
It is not sufficient to class soils according to the substance which
predominates, as has been usually done, such as sandy, gravelly,
chalky, or clay soils; for this gives very imperfect information
respecting their nature or fertility; neither is it altogether sufficient
to class them according to any particular geological formation.
The soils which have been evidently formed from the rocks which
are supposed to be of secondary formation are fertile according to the
proportion of the earths of these rocks which they contain.
Argillaceous earth exists in some proportion in almost every rock.
It has the property, when mixed with other substances, as silica or
lime, of fusing into a stone of great hardness and insolubility. In
this state its effect on the soil is not to be distinguished from that of
silica; and by burning common clay, or clay mixed with carbonate of
lime, a sandy substance is produced resembling burnt brick, which
tends greatly to improve the texture of those clays which contain
little or no sand in their composition. It must be remembered that
the stiffest clays contain a large portion of silica in an impalpable
state; but this, instead of correcting their impermeable and plastic
nature, rather adds to it. It is only palpable sand which with clay
forms what is commonly called loam, and which, when the sand is in
due proportion with a mixture of organic matter, forms the richest
and most easily cultivated soils. Some of the rocks of secondary
formations contain a considerable portion of alumina and lime; and
when these earths meet with crystallised sand, a compound, or
rather a mixture is formed, which has all the requisite qualities, as to
texture, to produce the most fertile loams. The only deficiency is
that of organic matter; but this is so readily accumulated wherever
vegetation is established, or can be so easily added artificially, that
these loams may always be looked upon as the most favourable soils
for the usual agricultural operations; and if a considerable depth of
loam is found, which neither retains water too long nor allows it to
percolate too rapidly, it may be looked upon as a soil eminently capable
of the highest degree of cultivation, and on which no judicious outlay
of labour will ever cause loss or disappointment to the farmer.
Thus, the greensand which lies under the chalk, and appears near the
surface in several parts of Britain, consists of silicious, argillaceous,
and calcareous earth, intimately combined and in a high state of
subdivision, and yet not forming a compact paste with water so as to
dry in hard lumps, but having rather the loose appearance and granula-
tion of fine sand, whence its name. On this soil are found the finest
wheats; but such is the variety of its form as it approaches towards
the chalk or crystallised sand, or the plastic clay, that the soils which
it forms have every degree of texture, from loose sands to stiff marls,
whose chief use is to mix with other soils and improve them.
In
general however it may be said that the soils of which the greensand
forms a considerable part are productive and easily cultivated, and that
they repay the labour and manure expended on them better than most
others. A narrow strip of this sand crosses Bedfordshire, and in the
neighbourhood of Sandy and Biggleswade are raised some of the finest
culinary vegetables which come to the London market. This sand,
though light in appearance, and very easily worked, contains much of
the impalpable substance mentioned before; and this, with careful
cultivation and manuring, makes it peculiarly suited for gardens as
well as for corn-fields. In its natural state it is easily distinguished
from other sands by certain dark particles in it, which give it the
greenish hue from whence it has been called greensand, and also by its
effervescence with strong vinegar or any other acid.
6-17
SOIL.
SOIL.
619
contains a proper portion of calcareous earth, it may be reckoned
amongst the most fertile soils; and where this is deficient, the
addition of lime or chalk is the best means of improving it. The
calcareous earth seems greatly to add to the effect of the usual manures,
so that a much smaller portion is required to produce good crops.
Each distinct formation gives rise to a great variety with respect to
fertility, even where the basis remains the same: but it is of great
importance to the farmer to ascertain the general nature of the rocks
and strata on which his farm is incumbent.
Chalk is perhaps the mineral most widely spread throughout
Britain. The chalk formation of itself forms a very poor and barren
soil. In the course of ages the surface of the chalk has been covered
with a thin coating of soil, consisting of chalk and organic matter
chiefly. On this soil the finest and most aromatic plants are found,
but of small dimensions, affording a sweet short pasture, much
relished by sheep. The constant treading in of the dung of the sheep,
and the stimulating effect of their urine, gradually increase the
quantity of vegetable and animal matter; and thus the turf becomes
close and rich: but if this thin coat be disturbed by the plough and
mixed with the chalk below, it will, after one or two tolerable crops of
corn, be reduced to its original sterility; and it requires ages to
restore the fine pasture which once covered it. Such is the case with bear
Such is the case with
those hills which are called the South Down Hills, in Sussex and Wilt-
shire, on which are bred the excellent sheep which bear that name.
But the chalk has in many places been carried down by the rains
and transported in a comminuted state to the sandy or clayey valleys
around them, and by the mixture has greatly improved both, forming
various loams and marls in themselves highly fertile, or very useful in
increasing the fertility and texture of other soils. Chalk has the
peculiar property of neutralising acids of every description, and of
preventing their formation in the soil by the fermentation of vegetable
substances; while it assists in that slow decomposition which causes
the evolution of carbonic acid, and thereby assists and invigorates
vegetation. The presence of carbonate of lime, if it does not exceed
a third part, and if it is intimately blended with alumina and silica, is
always a sign of fertility, especially when loose sand is mixed with it,
so as to form one-half of the whole soil. This is called a light
calcareous loam, and is usually found on the slopes or around the base
of chalky hills.
The Weald clay consists of very minute particles of alumina and
silica, forming a tough unctuous earth, fit for the growth of oaks, with
very few stones or visible particles. This soil is found in Sussex and
Kent chiefly. The plough cuts it into continuous slices, when it can
be ploughed, which is only in a certain state of moisture; for when it
is dry the surface is as hard as a rock, while the subsoil is continually
moist, the water being unable to pass through its pores. It has the
most unpromising aspect, drying into hard lumps like brick, and appa-
rently incapable of being brought to such a state of mellowness as to
admit the seed or cause it to vegetate; yet this stubborn soil may be
rendered fertile by tillage, draining, and exposure to frost in winter;
and its tenacity may be corrected by the application of lime, ashes,
and other substances, especially fresh stable-dung, which interpose and
prevent the clods from re-uniting into one tough impervious mass.
Lime and chalk do this most effectually; and when the weald clay has
been brought to a looser texture, it produces beans, wheat, oats, and
clover in great perfection.
The system of complete under-draining by parallel drains, at the
distance of from 10 to 20 feet, which carries the moisture into the
surrounding ditches, has in many instances so greatly improved the
weald clays, that those who had formerly attempted to cultivate them
can scarcely believe their eyes when they see the abundant crops pro-
duced. Subsoil ploughing has also done wonders after complete
draining, in some cases rendering the soil so mellow and loose as to
allow of the cultivation of turnips, especially the Swedish. As clay
soils predominate in England, and their improvement has been almost
despaired of, it is of great importance that it should be generally known
that no soils repay the cost of improvement better than clays, provided
the surface be such as to admit of perfect draining.
Another clay is called the Oxford clay. This is of a bluish colour,
which alters on exposure to the air, probably from a change in the
oxidation of the iron which it contains. This clay is favourable to the
growth of grass, and some of the richest pastures in Wiltshire and
Oxfordshire have it for a subsoil, over which the decomposition of the
roots and leaves of the grasses has formed a layer of vegetable mould
of the highest degree of fertility. In the fens of Lincolnshire, the
Oxford clay is covered by a coat of peat, formed by the decomposition
of aquatic plants, which have accumulated wherever the water had no
natural exit. When these fens were laid dry by an extensive system
of draining, the peat was converted into a rich soil by the admixture of
the clay which was found under it.
The Oolite formation contains much carbonate of lime, cemented by
an unctuous earth into various sorts of stone. The soil which lies
over them, and which is of nearly the same nature, but broken and
disunited, is various in its qualities. Sometimes it is of great fertility,
and sometimes nearly barren, according as the impalpable matter in it
abounds and contains a due proportion of the different earths, or it |
resembles a loose chalky sand, in which moisture is retained with diffi-
culty. In the first case, it produces every kind of grain in abundance
with moderate cultivation; in the latter, it requires a great outlay of
manure, which readily disappears, and then it is justly called a poor
hungry soil.
On the red-sandstone is found a soil which is usually of the finest
quality. The fine loose soils of Devonshire and Somersetshire are of this
description. It unites most of the requisites of a good soil, both in its
texture, neither too close nor too loose, and in the impalpable matter
in its composition. It is peculiarly adapted to the growth of potatoes
and all roots which form the basis of a judicious cultivation. When it
The alluvial soils formed by the deposit of a variety of earths in a
state of great division, and mixed with a considerable portion of
organic matter, form by far the most productive lands.
They will
bear crop after crop with little or no addition of manure, and with a
very slight cultivation. These soils are found along the course of
rivers which traverse extensive plains, and which have such a current
as to keep very fine earth suspended by a gentle but constant agitation,
but not sufficiently rapid to carry along with it coarse gravel or sand.
Wherever there is an obstruction to the current and an eddy is formed,
there the soil is deposited in the form of mud, and gradually accumu-
lating, forms those alluvial soils which are so remarkable for their
fertility when carefully protected from the inroads of the waters. In
these soils the impalpable matter greatly predominates; but the
intimate mixture of the earths with organic matter prevents their con-
solidating into a stiff clay; and the gases which are continually evolved
from the organic matter keep the pores open, and give scope to the
growth as well as the nourishment of the roots. It is in the alluvial
soils principally that an accurate analysis is useful; because the pro-
portion of their constituent parts varies in innumerable degrees. It
may be laid down as a general rule, that the most fertile of these soils
are those in which the earths are nearly in equal proportions, silica,
however, being the most abundant, with about 10 per cent. of organic
matter; a greater proportion of this last would form too loose and
spongy a soil to bear good crops of corn, especially of wheat. But
4 per cent. of vegetable matter, with a good mixture of earths, and
some phosphate of lime from the decomposition of bones and marine
shells, produces a very good wheat soil. The rich warp-lands along
the Humber are artificial alluvial soils, and although they contain but
a small proportion of organic matter, are highly fertile after their first
deposition, but it is observed that they gradually become more tena-
cious and difficult of cultivation as this humus is carried off by the
crops; and that it is soon necessary to add animal and vegetable
manures to supply its deficiency.
Organic matter is no doubt essential to great fertility in a soil, but
some soils require more of it than others. In every stage of its spon-
taneous decomposition it keeps the pores of the soil open, and admits,
if it does not even attract, air and moisture to the fibres of the roots.
In all rich soils which have been long cultivated, especially in gardens,
there are particles of a dark colour and fibrous texture, which in the
microscope appear like minute logs of charred wood. These keep the
soil open, and supply carbonic acid, when the air reaches them. A
proper texture seems an indispensable condition of fertility. It is
much easier to supply the deficiency of vegetable matter in a
soil, which at best forms but a very small portion of it, than
of silica or clay, which should enter into its composition in the
proportion of one-half or a third of the whole. It is practicable to
carry lime or chalk upon soils which do not contain calcareous matter;
clay may also be carried upon loose sandy soils, where it can be found
below the surface, or at a moderate distance; but if a soil is very
deficient in silica, it requires so large a proportion of this earth to
give porosity to stiff clay, that it very seldom can repay the trouble
and expense. Hence the difficulty of bringing poor wet clay soils into
a fertile state, except where an abundance of chalk and vegetable
manures can be easily procured. In this case the perfect draining of
the land, and exposure of the ploughed surface to the frosts of winter,
with the addition of chalk and manure, produce such an alteration in
the texture of the clay, that by continuing the improving process it is
entirely changed into a mellow and fertile loam. The burning of a
portion of the retentive subsoil into a brick-like earth gives it a
porosity which renders it mechanically similar to silicious sand, and
converting the iron which all these clays contain into a peroxide, the
soil is thereby greatly improved in fertility; for it seems that iron, in
a state of slight oxidation, or combined with any acid, is hurtful to
vegetation, whereas the red peroxide is not only innocuous, but seems
to have fertilising properties.
In ascertaining the value of a soil for the purposes of agriculture, two
circumstances should be carefully noticed. The first is the permea-
bility of the soil to water; and the second is its power of absorbing
moisture from the atmosphere. To ascertain the first, it is only
required to place an equal weight of different soils in glass tubes of
equal diameter, pressing them so that they shall occupy equal spaces,
but not filling the tubes. Then pour an equal quantity of water over
each soil, and place them upright with cups under them. Examine
which has the surface first dry, and how much water runs through
each in a given time. That which presents a dry surface, while it
holds most water in its pores, is probably the best. To ascertain the
comparative absorption of moisture, the soils are dried in pairs on a plate
of metal heated by steam, or at a heat of 212°, to expel the water.
They are then placed in equal quantities in similar flat cups or dishes,
619
€50
SOILING.
SOLANINE.
and placed in opposite scales of a balance, and poised. The apparatus
is exposed to a moist atmosphere out of doors, or in a cellar, and occa-
sionally examined. That which is heaviest is, in general, the most
fertile.
It is often useful to ascertain roughly the composition of a soil,
without having time or opportunity to make accurate experiments. A
graduated glass tube, which can be carried in the pocket, and a small
phial with a ground stopper, containing diluted muriatic acid, and
secured in a wooden case for fear of accident, is all the apparatus
required. A little of the soil is taken and moistened with water; a
few drops of the acid are poured on; and by the greater or less dis-
engagement of bubbles the proportion of calcareous matter is guessed
at, and its presence proved. The soil mixed with water is poured
into the glass tube and well shaken. In a few minutes the coarse
sand is deposited: shortly after the finer sand, and, lastly, the clay and
impalpable matter, of which the lightest remains longest suspended.
Distinct rings can be observed in the deposits, and the graduated tube
shows their proportion. A person accustomed to this method will
guess with great precision the general qualities of the soil; and when
the geological structure of the neighbourhood and the nature of the
subsoil are taken into consideration, the value of the land for pasture
or cultivation is guessed with little danger of making very glaring
mistakes. To surveyors and valuers this method is of very great help,
when other means are not at hand. Among the properties of soils of
the greatest agricultural importance must be named the absorptive
powers which they possess over ammoniacal and other valuable in-
gredients of manures, either volatile or soluble, which would otherwise
be wasted when applied to the land. This fact, first observed by Mr.
Thompson, M.P., has since been investigated by Professor Way, and
explains the economy of autumnal manurings and top-dressings in the
winter season, when vegetation is inactive and unable at once to turn
to account artificial stores of food for plants.
In practice, soils are usually divided into light, mellow, and stiff;
but this gives very little information, there being every imaginable
variety in each of these. There are still minute circumstances which
produce great fertility or the reverse, and which it is difficult to
investigate. An accurate chemical analysis, which, however, is a process
requiring the service of the educated chemist, joined to a careful
mechanical examination, and very correct accounts of the average
produce under different systems of cultivation, can alone give us a
scale according to which the natural fertility of different soils can be
classed; and this must be the work of time and industry joined to
science and practical knowledge. Directed as it is to the detection and
estimation of ingredients, many of which occur in very small pro-
portion, the process of chemical analysis is one which cannot be
undertaken by the farmer. It is sometimes useful to him, however, to
know the exact composition of his soil, and the chemist is thus some-
times able to point out the causes of infertility, and so enable him to
remove them. When, therefore, he is at a loss, such an analysis
may be the guide he needs; and in a deficiency of phosphate of lime,
or an excess of chloride of sodium, or a deficiency of organic matter,
or in the presence of iron salt which is thus detected, he may read the
cause of his failure, and so be able to remove it.
SOILING is the name given in agriculture to the mode of feeding
horses and cattle in the stable or yards with food brought to them as
it is cut in the meadows or fields. The great advantage of soiling
cattle is the increase of manure of the best quality, which is thereby
produced; and this circumstance alone can counterbalance the great
trouble and expense incurred in cutting and carrying all the green food
from a distance to the farmyard.
The system of soiling is not very generally adopted in British
husbandry, it being so much easier to allow the cattle to crop their
food in the pastures; but in those countries where property in land is
greatly subdivided, and where farms are small and good pastures
scarce, as in Flanders, France, and Switzerland, especially where the
vineyards render manure scarce and dear by taking a considerable
portion of it and returning none, there the soiling of cattle is almost
a matter of necessity. A cow or ox requires from two to three acres
of pasture or meadow to feed it all the year round, allowing a portion
for hay. But by raising clover, lucern, sainfoin, tares, and other green
crops, one or two cows can be fed with the produce of one acre, espe-
cially if a portion is in mangold wurzel or other succulent roots. Thus
the straw of the white crops is converted into excellent manure, and
the land kept in a state of fertility.
In proportion as a farm is larger in extent, so the expense of soiling
increases, both from the distance of the fields where the green crops
and from the same distance to which the dung has to be carted.
grow,
There is a limit therefore to the soiling system, unless there be
many yards or stables in different parts of a farm, so as to sub-
divide it, and make each yard the centre of a distinct system of soil-
ing, with fields near at hand for the green crops. In almost every
experiment on a large scale it has been found that soiling was only
a certain mode of purchasing dung, and that it often was more
expensive to procure it in this way than to send to a considerable
distance to purchase it in towns. Where it cannot be purchased at
all, there are no other means, in many situations, of producing a
sufficient quantity; and the trouble and expense of soiling must be
submitted to. In almost every case where sheep can be folded to feed
off the crops, the soiling of cattle is a loss, because the sheep pay some-
thing for their food; the cattle in the stall do so less frequently.
But there are animals which must be fed for the work of the farm,
such as horses or oxen; and these are much more profitably and
A horse or
economically fed by soiling than by any other means.
ox, if he works eight or ten hours, has no time for rest if he has
to crop his food from a short pasture, however sweet; whereas an
abundant supply of clover, lucern, or tares enables him to take a hearty
meal and lie down to rest. He wants no corn with this food, and does
his work without losing flesh or activity.
There is nothing easier in a mild climate, and especially a moist one,
like Britain or Ireland, than to have a succession of green food from
the beginning of spring to the end of autumn, and afterwards a suc-
cession of succulent vegetable food through the winter.
Rye and
winter barley, sown early in autumn, will be ready to cut as soon as
the mild weather of spring commences; some sown later with winter
tares, and the young clover, which has not been cropped in autumn,
will succeed. After this come artificial grasses, as Italian rye-grass
and the grass of water-meadows mown early; although this last is not
such hearty food for working cattle; but when joined to a mixture of
oats and cut straw, their watery nature is corrected. Clover and spring
tares (when these last are sown at proper intervals), lucern and sain-
foin (if the soil is suited to them), will afford a constant and abundant
supply to the scythe which cuts the daily allowance. It is prudent to
provide against failure, and have more land in these crops than is
absolutely necessary, because the surplus can always be made into hay
or reserved to ripen its seed; and these green crops, valuable as they
are, far from deteriorating the soil, clear it of weeds, and render it
more fit to bear corn afterwards. Turnips, carrots, and mangold
wurzel provide with hay and straw the winter food. And by steaming
the roots or pulping them, and so mixing with chaff of hay or straw, a
palatable and nutritious food may be provided at small expense. In
these cases soiling is profitable and economical.
It is generally thought in those countries where the soiling system
is most universally adopted, that it is best to allow the green food to
remain twelve or twenty-four hours after it is cut, before it is given to
cattle. This may be prudent with cows and oxen, which are apt to eat
voraciously, and are subject to be hoven from the fermentation of
the green food in the paunch or rumen: but, excepting in the case of
young vetches, which are more physic than food, for horses there is
little danger; and if the food is not wet with dew or rain, the fresher
it is eaten the better it will nourish the animal, and the more he will
relish it.
If any one is desirous of calculating the expense of soiling any
number of beasts, he has only to reckon what time of men and horses
it will take to cut the food and carry it to the cattle, from the average
distance of the fields in which it can be raised in succession. Much
of their time is lost in the morning and evening in going backwards
and forwards from the field to the yard; for there can scarcely be an
establishment so large as to keep them employed a whole day; and
if there were, the fields must be so large and so distant, as to greatly
increase the expense of carriage. Not to enter into minute calcula-
tions, it is fully proved, that, to a certain extent, soiling is profitable
and economical, when it can be done before and after the usual hours
of labour; but that when undertaken on a large scale in any one
locality, it is usually attended with loss, the manure produced being
purchased at too great a price.
If a labourer who has an allotment of half an acre of good light
land would devote it entirely to raise food for a cow, his wife and
children cutting the food and tending the cow in a small yard with a
shed, or in an airy cow-stall, he would find that he had a much greater
clear profit, than if he had sown his land every year with wheat, and
had always a good crop, which last supposition is improbable. There
would be no better stimulus to industry than to let a piece of land
for this purpose to every man who could purchase a cow and feed it by
soiling.
SOL, in music, the name given, in sol-fa-ing, by the English, Italians,
and French to the fifth of the scale; and by the two last also to the
sound called & by the Germans and English. [SOLMISATION.]
SOLANINE, a vegetable alkaloid obtained by Desfosses from the
berries of the solanum nigrum, and the fruit of the common potato.
In appearance solanine resembles sulphate of quinine, but the
crystals are finer and shorter; it restores the blue colour of litmus
when reddened by an acid; dissolves in acids, and is precipitated from
them by the alkalies. The hydrochlorate and acetate of solanine have
a gummy appearance when evaporated to dryness, but the sulphate
and phosphate are crystallisable. It is extremely poisonous: a grain
of it, dissolved in dilute sulphuric acid, killed a rabbit in six hours.
The analyses which have been made of this alkaloid do not accord.
The following are the numbers obtained by Blanchet and O. Henry
respectively.
Hydrogen
Carbon
Oxygen
Azote
Blanchet.
8.9
O. Henry.
9.14
62.0
75.00
27.5
12-78
1.6
S.08
100.0
100.00
651
SOLANUM DULCAMARA.
SOLA'NUM DULCAMA'RA, an indigenous perennial climbing plant,
common in wet and shady places, especially hedges. It has a remark-
ably zigzag stem, with alternate leaves, the lower ones lanceolate,
entire, the upper hastate; the flowers resemble those of the potato,
but are smaller, and are succeeded by a cluster of red berries. This
plant is called woody nightshade, to distinguish it from the Atropa
belladonna, or deadly nightshade. The young twigs or tops are officinal,
and they should be gathered in spring, before the flowering of the
plant, or in autumn while the leaves are yet fresh, as much activity
seems to belong to the leaves, and the twigs are best from plants about
three years old. When fresh, the plant has an unpleasant odour,
which is in a great measure lost by drying, as is also a large portion
of water. The taste is at first bitter and slightly acrid, then sweet;
hence the name bitter-sweet given to it.
Ten pounds of the dried twigs yield two pounds of extract. Accord-
ing to Pfaff, 100 pounds of perfectly dried stems yield a bitter-sweet
extractive (picroglycion), 21; vegeto-animal matter, 3; gummy extrac-
tive, 12; gluten with wax, 1; resin with benzoic acid, 2; gum,
starch, salts (chiefly of lime), 6; and woody fibre, 62. Solanina
(solania) has been found by Desfosses. Whether picroglycion, called
also dulcamarin, and dulcarin, is a distinct principle, or a combination
of solanina with sugar, is doubtful.
Bitter-sweet, when taken fresh, has a slightly narcotic influence,
causing also nausea, vertigo, and a dryness of throat, like other solana-
ceous poisons. If delirium display itself, it is always of a most frantic
kind. Perspiration or an increased discharge of urine generally occurs,
followed by gentle purging.
Bitter-sweet is chiefly employed in cutaneous diseases, especially of
the scaly kind, such as lepra; it may be given internally, while a strong
wash of it is applied externally. It is also useful in some vesicular
diseases, such as herpes and eczema. In these its virtues as an
external application may be increased by dissolving in it sulphuret
of potass. This combination relieves most effectually the intolerable
irritation of these complaints.
It is usually ordered in the form of decoction, but long boiling is
destructive of its powers. Slow simmering is preferable. The
extract, when prepared from the fresh plant with a low degree of heat,
is a good form for internal administration, as it may be combined
with antimonials.
In cases of poisoning by the berries, often mistaken for currants,
the stomach-pump should be used as speedily as possible, and moderate
venesection is of service.
SOLAR CYCLE. [PERIODS OF REVOLUTION.]
SOLAR ECLIPSE. The phenomena of an eclipse of the sun
resemble those of the moon in one respect only, namely, that the body
of the luminary disappears. In all other respects there is so great a
difference, both in the cause of the phenomenon and its attendant
circumstances, that it is a pity one term, eclipse, should be used in
senses so different. In the first place, the disappearance of the moon
arises from the earth intercepting the light which she ought to receive,
while that of the sun is the consequence of the moon coming between
the sun and the earth. The body of the moon is never absolutely
hidden, and is even slightly visible through a telescope during the
darkest eclipse: but the body of the sun is really hidden by the inter-
vention of the opaque substance of the moon. Again, the phenomena
of an eclipse of the moon are the same for every point of the earth at
which they are visible: the beginning, middle, and end of the
phenomenon happen at the same instant of absolute time everywhere,
and the same portion of the moon is hidden from all the earth at the
same instant. But in a solar eclipse, it entirely depends upon the
position of the spectator whether there is any eclipse at all; and of
two persons at different parts of the earth, at the same instant, one
may see the sun totally eclipsed, while the other may, by the bright-
ness of the sun's rays, not know that the moon is almost close to him.
A screen held before a candle may be an eclipse of the candle for one
person in the room, but not for another, on account of their difference
of place; this is an illustration of the solar eclipse: a ball thrown into
a dark corner may be invisible to all the persons in a room at the same
time; this is the same illustration of a lunar eclipse.
If the earth had no motion of rotation, the inhabitants of any one
place would see something exactly resembling a lunar eclipse; the sun
being in place of the moon, and the moon in place of the earth's
shadow. But different places would see different kinds of eclipses,
some losing more of the sun's body, and others less. The rotation of
the earth, without materially altering the character of the phenomenon,
makes it much more difficult to calculate: for it is as if each spot of
the earth, instead of standing still to witness one phenomenon, or one
simple eclipse, were constantly taking into view portions of different
phenomena, a part of one followed by a subsequent part of another.
In an eclipse of the moon, whatever may be the phase for the time
being, from the disappearance of the first to the reappearance of the
last edge, the only question as to whether such phase will be
visible or not at any place is the following:-Will the moon be above
the horizon at that place when the phase occurs? Suppose, for instance,
it were asked, what places on the earth will see the beginning of the
eclipse, the disappearance of one edge of the moon, at the instant when
the moon rises? The answer is, calculate the absolute instant of the
beginning of the eclipse, find out the spot to which the moon is vertical
SOLAR ECLIPSE.
652
at that instant, and all places 90° distant from it will be exactly in the
same predicament with respect to the eclipse. But in an eclipse of the
sun, the beginning at two different places does not happen at the same
instant; the inhabitants of any the same circle see very different
phases, and a line drawn through all the places which see the same
sort of phase under the same position of the luminaries with respect to
their horizons, will be very different from a circle. Without attempting
to give any account of the modes of ascertaining all these points, we
subjoin, from the 'Nautical Almanac,' a projection of the eclipse which
took place on the 7th of July, 1842.
The southern line passes through all the places which see a simple
contact of the luminaries and nothing more: the edges of the lumina-
ries unite for a moment and then separate. This line touches the two
ends of a large figure of eight divided by another line passing through
its loop; and the portion of the earth which at any time sees a total
eclipse is contained in the broad shaded band. On the line marked
beginning of eclipse at sunrise" live those to whom the lumina-
ries rise in contact: the other lines are similarly explained. The
eclipse is first seen at the place marked "First contact" on the line
just mentioned. One point is marked as having both beginning, middle,
and end of the eclipse at sunrise: this means that the eclipse is there
only a contact, so that its beginning, middle, and end take place at the
same moment, and that moment is sunrise. At the loop of the figure
of eight, the beginning, middle, and end are represented as each of
them taking place both at sunrise and sunset: which must be a mystery
to those who are not used to trace mathematical conceptions to their
limits are there two eclipses, one for suprise and one for sunset? The
explanation is this: there is at every moment of time a point in the
arctic regions at which the sun is making its first appearance or its last
appearance previously or subsequent to the long polar day or night. As
this moment approaches the days shorten, if the disappearance be
coming on, and begin from nothing if the appearance be coming on:
the long day or night being preceded by the ordinary days or nights of
the rest of the earth. Now the point which is at the loop is that point
of the earth at which the sun and moon are in contact (without any
further eclipse) at the moment when the sun first grazes their horizon
after their polar night: so that their day is but a moment, and at that
moment the contact takes place.
The figure of the projection is not always like that of the preceding:
sometimes the loops become two ovals separated by a line which is
continued through the middle of them, the part of this line between
the ovals being a line on which nothing but a simple contact is seen.
There is an excellent mathematical account of eclipses in general,
with the full mode of calculating them, and examples, by Mr. Wool-
house, in the Supplement to the Nautical Almanac' for 1836. From
this we extract the summary of the limits within which an eclipse,
whether of the sun or moon, can happen.
At the time of full moon an eclipse of the moon will be certain
when the moon's latitude is less than 51' 57", impossible when it is
greater than 63′ 45″, and doubtful between these limits. For the
doubtful cases an eclipse will result when the moon's latitude is less
than
61
60
(p + π − σ) + 8+ 16″
p and s being the equatorial horizontal parallax and semi-diameter of
the moon, and r and σ those of the sun.
At the time of new moon an eclipse of the sun will be certain when
the moon's latitude is less than 1° 23′ 15″, impossible when it is greater
than 1° 34′ 52", and doubtful between these limits. For the doubtful
cases, an eclipse will happen when the moon's latitude is less than
p¬π + σ + s + 25″.
20-
It is hardly necessary to state that eclipses of the sun are frequently
wholly partial, that is, not total for any one moment to any one part
of the earth. Sometimes, though the eclipse be central, it is not total
on account of the moon not being near enough to hide the whole of
the sun; in which case part of the latter is seen as a bright ring round
the part hidden by the moon, and the eclipse is called annular.
Before proceeding to give some account of the physical phenomena
observed during total eclipses of the sun, it may be desirable to allude
briefly to some of the more interesting eclipses of this nature recorded
in history.
The ancient literature of Greece and Rome contains several incidental
allusions to the occurrence of total eclipses of the sun. The most
celebrated of these is the eclipse mentioned by Herodotus as having
taken place during a battle between the Medes and Lydians. The
historian relates that the two hostile armies were so much terrified by
the spectacle of the eclipse, that they suddenly desisted from fighting,
and concluded a treaty of amity and peace. He further states that the
eclipse had been foretold to the Ionians by Thales the Milesian. The
precise date of this eclipse has given rise to much discussion in
modern times. In 1811 the late Francis Baily communicated a paper
to the Royal Society, in which, by availing himself of Bürg's lunar
tables, he endeavours to prove that a total eclipse of the sun which
occurred on the 30th of September, 610 B.C., must have been the one
alluded to by Herodotus. He acknowledges, however, that the ele-
ments of the lunar orbit employed in his investigation failed to
653
654
1
SOLAR ECLIPSE.
SOLAR ECLIPSE.

account also for a total eclipse of the sun which Diodorus Siculus
mentions as having occurred while Agathocles, king of Syracuse, was
proceeding with his fleet to Africa. In a paper published in the
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society' for 1852, Mr. Airy
170
180
170
160
has taken up the subject of this eclipse. His researches are based
upon a new determination of the elements of the lunar orbit derived
from the Greenwich observations, and the values of the secular accele-
ration of the mean motion and node assigned by Professor Hansen.
150
140

150
140
130
160
Eclipse
NORTH
AMERICA.
70
120
110
80
20
30
ΤΟ
begins
setting.
40
Middle
of
Felipse
at
setting.
Eclipse
ends
50
60
SIBERIA.
Total
Eclipse.
A S
I A.
100
ΤΟ
80 NORTH
80
90
70
60
50
and
40
POLE.
70
60
80
80
GREENLAND.
80
50
Greenwich.
.70
30
Middle
40
Eclipse
of
Eclipse
Eclipse
ends
at
60
50
Path
EUROPE.
of
Central
CASPIAN
SEA.
TURKEY.
40
30
begins
EGYPT.
First Contact.
A
rising.
Meridian
20
R
rising.
I
Southern
20
10
rising.
C
A.
West of 10 Greenwich ◊
East of 10 Greenwich 20
30
CHINA.
30
HINDOSTAN.
line
setting.
Last
Contact.
contact.
120
BORNEO.
110
simple
20
10
90
of
CEFT.ON.
ARABIA.
60
10
50
70
80
100
130
Path of the Moon's Shadow and Penumbra over the Surface of the Earth during the total Solar Eclipse of July 7, 1842.
The conclusion at which he arrives is, that the eclipse referred to by |
Herodotus must have occurred on the 7th of September, 585 B.C. He
shows that this date accords satisfactorily with the eclipse of Aga.
thocles, and also with an eclipse briefly alluded to by Xenophon as
having occurred at Larissa, in Asia, during the retreat of the ten
thousand Greeks.
Plutarch, in his 'Dissertation on the Lunar Spots,' makes a brief
but interesting allusion to a total eclipse of the sun which happened in
his time. He mentions that it occurred about midday, that the dark-
ness was so great as to cause the day to resemble night, and that stars
were everywhere visible. Kepler, who investigated the probable time
of the occurrence of this eclipse, is of opinion that it is identical with
an eclipse which happened in the year 113 A.D.
The records of modern history contain a variety of interesting
allusions to the occurrence of total eclipses of the sun.
Halley, in a paper on the total eclipse of the sun which happened at
London in the year 1715, mentions, as an illustration of the rarity of
such phenomena, that no previous eclipse of the same nature had been
visible in the metropolis since the year 1140. This eclipse is recorded
in the Saxon Chronicle; a brief mention of it is also made by William
of Malmesbury. In the Saxon Chronicle it is stated that, "in the
Lent, the sun and the day darkened about the noontide of the day,
when men were eating, and they did light their candles to eat by.
That was the thirteenth day before the Calends of April. Men were
very much struck with wonder." William of Malmesbury states, "that
while persons were sitting at their meals, the darkness became so great
that they feared the ancient chaos was about to return; and upon going
out immediately, they perceived several stars about the sun.'
Total eclipses of the sun are mentioned in history as having occurred
in the years 1187, 1241, 1415, 1433, 1485, 1506, 1530, 1544, 1560,
1567, 1598, 1605, 1652, and 1699. The eclipses of 1433, 1598, and
1652 were visible in the British Isles. The eclipse of 1433 occurred in
Scotland. According to Maclaurin, there is a manuscript account of
it preserved in the library of the Edinburgh University. The moon's
shadow on the occasion of the eclipse of 1598 appears to have passed
over the border counties of England and Scotland. The day of its
occurrence, which was Saturday, was long remembered in both countries
as Black Saturday. The eclipse of 1562 was visible in the north of
Ireland and in Scotland.
In 1706 there occurred a total eclipse of the sun, which was visible
in the southern countries of Europe. At Montpellier, where it was
observed by Plantade and Capiés, the total obscuration lasted 4m 10.
855
SOLAR ECLIPSE.
During this time, the dark body of the moon appeared to be surrounded
by a corona of pale light. The planets Venus, Mercury, and Saturn,
and several of the fixed stars, were visible to the naked eye. On the
summits of some of the mountains of Switzerland, where the view was
not impeded by the gross vapours which accumulate in the lower
regions of the atmosphere, the stars appeared as thickly strewed as in
the time of full moon.
C
On the 3rd of May, 1715, there occurred a total eclipse of the sun,
which was visible in London, and of which Halley has given an
interesting account in a paper published in the Philosophical Trans-
actions of the Royal Society' for the same year. The total obscuration
lasted 3m 22°. The planets Jupiter, Mercury, and Venus, as well as
Capella and Aldebaran, were visible to the naked eye.
On the 22nd of May, 1724, a total eclipse of the sun occurred at
Paris. The total obscuration lasted only a little more than two
minutes. Venus, Mercury, and a few of the fixed stars were visible to
the naked eye.
The next total eclipse of the sun recorded in history was visible in
the northern countries of Europe. It occurred on the 2nd of May,
1733. The total obscuration lasted a little more than three minutes.
The planet Jupiter, the stars of Ursa Major, Capella, and several other
stars, were visible to the naked eye. Besides the corona, several
reddish patches of light were seen around the dark body of the moon.
This is the earliest allusion to the well-known red prominences which
have excited so much interest in recent years.
seconds.
A total eclipse of the sun which occurred in the Southern Ocean
on the 9th of February, 1766, was observed by the persons on board
the French ship the Comte d'Artois. The obscuration lasted only 5.3
On the 24th of June, 1778, a total eclipse of the sun was observed
at sea by the Spanish Admiral Don Antonio Ulloa, while proceeding
from the Azores to Cape St. Vincent. The obscuration lasted four
minutes. The corona around the moon appeared in great splendour.
On the 16th of June, 1806, a total eclipse of the sun was visible in
North America, at Kinderhook, in the state of New York, where it was
observed by Don Joachim Ferrers. The obscuration lasted 4m 37³.
Another total eclipse of the sun, which was visible in America,
occurred on the 30th of November, 1834. At Milledgeville, Georgia,
where it was observed by the French astronomer Nicollet, the obscura-
tion lasted 1m 15. At Beaufort, South Carolina, two planets and four
stars of the first magnitude were visible to the naked eye.
On the 7th of July, 1842, there occurred a total eclipse of the sun,
which was visible in the south of Europe. At Perpignan, where the
phenomenon was observed by the late M. Arago and other French
astronomers, the complete obscuration of the solar disc lasted only
2m 248. In the countries of Eastern Europe, the interval of totality
was somewhat longer. At Lipesk, it lasted 3m 58. The corona on this
occasion was very conspicuous. Several red protuberances were also
seen around the dark body of the moon.
On the 8th of August, 1850, there occurred a total eclipse of the
sun, which was visible in the islands of the Pacific Ocean. At
Honolulu, the chief town of the Pacific Isles, it was observed by
M. Kutczycki, who has given an interesting account of the phenomenon
in the Comptes Rendus' of the Academy of Paris for April 21, 1851,
The red prominences were very conspicuous on this occasion.
The next total eclipse of the sun occurred on the 28th of July, 1851,
and, having been visible in the northern countries of Europe, was
observed by a great number of astronomers. The totality, generally
speaking, lasted about three minutes. Several rose-coloured promi-
nences were seen around the moon's limb.
On the 30th of November, 1853, there occurred a total eclipse of the
sun, which was visible in South America. At Occaje, in Peru, it was
observed by M. Moesta, director of the National Observatory of
Santiago, in Chili. The totality lasted 2m 59s. The planets Jupiter
and Venus were very conspicuous. Antares, which was within 5° of
the sun, was also distinctly visible. Several rose-coloured prominences
were observed around the moon's limb.
sun,
On the 7th of September, 1858, there occurred a total eclipse of the
which was also visible in South America. At Paranagua, in
Brazil, it was observed by M. de Mello, director of the Imperial
Observatory of Rio Janeiro; by M. Liais, a French astronomer; and
several other individuals despatched for the purpose by the Brazilian
government. Several protuberances were seen. The corona appears to
have exhibited a very complicated structure. The planets Venus, Mer-
cury, and Saturn, besides Sirius, Canopus, and three other stars, supposed
to be a and B Centauri and a Crucis, were seen during the totality.
The last total eclipse of the sun which we have to mention is one
which occurred on the 18th of July, 1860. On this occasion, the
moon's shadow first traversed a portion of the North American Conti-
nent; it then swept across the Atlantic, and subsequently scoured the
entire breadth of the Spanish peninsula, the eclipse terminating in the
French colony of Algiers. The phenomena of the eclipse were observed
by a great number of astronomers, both official and private, who had
repaired to Spain for that purpose from every country in Europe. The
British government placed at the disposal of the observers from this
country the steamship Himalaya, for the purpose of conveying them
from England to the Spanish coast. A party consisting of between
forty and fifty individuals, headed by the Astronomer-Royal, availed
SOLAR ECLIPSE.
656
themselves of this liberal offer. The greater number of the observers
disembarked at Bilbao, a town in the Bay of Biscay; the remainder
proceeded to Santander, which is situate about 30 miles further west.
An arrangement was made by which the observers distributed them-
selves as widely as circumstances would admit over the track of the
moon's shadow, with the view of guarding against casualties of the
weather. A party, consisting of Captain Jacob, late director of
the Madras Observatory, the Rev. Dr. McTaggart of Glasgow, and the
writer of the supplementary matter of this article, observed the eclipse
from the southern slope of the Sierra de Tolonio, a lofty mountain-
range, commanding a most extensive view of the valley of the Ebro,
along which the moon's shadow was to pass. The total obscuration
of the solar disc lasted 3m 20s. The planets Venus and Jupiter were
seen shining with great splendour. Persons whose attention was not
distracted by other matters perceived also seven or eight fixed stars.
The corona was unusually brilliant on this occasion. Several rose-
coloured protuberances were also visible.
We shall now give a special description of some of the more promi-
nent features of total eclipses of the sun.
The corona of light which surrounds the dark body of the moon
during the totality of a solar eclipse has been remarked by more than
one ancient author. Plutarch especially refers to it in very explicit
terms. Speaking of total eclipses of the sun he says:-"But even
although the moon were at any time to conceal the whole body of
the sun, still the eclipse is deficient in duration as well as amplitude,
for there is seen around the margin a certain brightness which prevents
the shadow from being very deep." All modern accounts of total eclipses
of the sun agree in describing the corona as a characteristic feature of
the totality. Its light has been generally remarked to be of a pale
silvery colour, and to diminish gradually in brightness from the moon's
limb. Its breadth may be said to amount to half the moon's radius,
but there extend from it rays of much greater length, causing it to
resemble the glory which painters in Roman Catholic countries throw
around the heads of the saints.
Whatever may be the physical cause of the corona, it is very plain
from the accounts of observers, that its brightness is not the same
during every eclipse. Thus M. Kutczycki states, that on the occasion
of the total eclipse of 1850, the corona vanished at the very instant of
the reappearance of the solar light. A similar statement is made by
On the other
M. Moesta with reference to the total eclipse of 1853.
hand, in the case of the eclipse of 1860, the writer distinctly perceived
the corona at least ten seconds before the totality. Certain other
observers perceived it even earlier. It also continued to be visible for
several seconds after the reappearance of the solar light. In conse-
quence of the bright light of the corona, the darkness during the
totality was not so intense as it usually is during the occurrence of
such phenomena.
We shall now advert briefly to the rose-coloured protuberances seen
around the moon's dark limb during the totality of a solar eclipse.
These phenomena were first distinctly seen during the total eclipse of
1733, but they do not seem to have excited any interest until the
observation of similar phenomena on the occasion of the eclipse of
1842 attracted the attention of astronomers to the subject. The
following is a description by M. Mauvais of the protuberances as
observed by him at Perpignan during the last-mentioned eclipse.
"A few seconds after the total obscuration, while endeavouring to
measure the breadth of the corona, I perceived a reddish point at the
inferior limb of the moon, which, however, did not project sensibly
beyond the limb. After an interval of fifty-six seconds had elapsed
from the commencement of the totality, the reddish point to which I
have referred, transformed itself into two protuberances, similar to two
contiguous mountains, perfectly well defined. Their colour was not
I
uniform. Upon their slopes were seen streaks of a deeper tint.
cannot give a more exact idea of their aspect than by comparing them
to the peaks of the Alps illuminated by the setting sun and seen afar
off. After the lapse of one minute and ten seconds from the com-
mencement of the totality, a third mountain was perceived to the left
of the two others. It exhibited the same aspect as far as regards
colour. It was flanked by some smaller peaks, but all were perfectly
well defined. While this third mountain was in the process of issuing
forth, the first two continued all the while to increase. They finally
attained a height of about 2'. The interval between the two groups
appeared to embrace an arc of about 25° on the moon's limb. The
most considerable group, apparently the most western, seemed to me
to be a few degrees to the left of the lowest point of the moon's disc."
Francis Baily, who observed the eclipse from a station in the
vicinity of Pavia, in Italy, remarks ('Mem. Ast. Soc.,' vol. xv.) that the
protuberances resembled mountains of prodigious elevation. Their
colour appeared red, tinged with lilac or purple, or rather their aspect
suggested the colour of the peach blossom. According to M. Littrow,
who observed the protuberances at Vienna, their aspect, which was
first white, changed to rose colour, and then to violet, and afterwards
passed in a reverse order through the same tints. M. Otto Struve,
who observed the eclipse at Lipesk, remarks, in reference to the rose-
coloured protuberances, that a very large part of the moon's disc was
garnished with a similar reddish bordering.
The red prominences which appeared during the total eclipse of
1851 have been well described by the numerous skilled observers
657
658
SOLAR ECLIPSE.
SOLAR SYSTEM.
who proceeded to the countries of Northern Europe for the purpose of
observing the phenomenon. According to Mr. Lassell, they were of a
most brilliant lake colour, a splendid pink, quite defined and hard.
Mr. Dawes remarked a bluntly triangular pink body suspended, as it
were, in the corona, and the distance of which from the moon's limb
was observed to increase as the moon continued to advance over the
solar disc. The isolated patch of light was also seen by the greater
number of the observers of the eclipse.
M. Moesta, who observed the eclipse of 1853, remarked on the same
side of the corona, with a very conspicuous protuberance, two darker
spots, of a form approaching to a square, in apparent contact with the
moon's limb. They seemed to indicate an interruption of the corona, or
rather two apertures through which the dark ground of the heavens
was visible. Their height above the moon's limb was estimated to
amount to 1'.
The protuberances which appeared during the total eclipse of 1860
resembled in their general features those observed on previous occa-
sions. One of them appeared isolated from the moon's limb, but was
seen to approach the latter as the moon advanced over the solar disk.
The question has been much discussed, whether the red prominences
seen during a total eclipse of the sun belong to the sun or the moon.
The observations of the total eclipse of 1842 seemed to indicate that
they are appendages of the sun, for it was remarked by several of the
observers, that the protuberances on the western limb of the moon
gradually increased in magnitude as the moon advanced over the solar
disc, while those on the eastern limb similarly diminished in size, con-
sequences which would necessarily result from the protuberances being
situate behind the dark body of the moon. This view of the origin of
the protuberances was also strengthened by similar observations made
during the eclipse of 1851; but it was established beyond all doubt
by the observations of the eclipse of 1860. On the last-mentioned
occasion it was remarked by several observers, that as the moon ad-
vanced over the solar disk, the protuberances on the eastern limb of
the moon which first came into view, gradually diminished in size,
while those on the western limb, which at the commencement of the
totality were invisible, gradually increased in dimensions. This in-
teresting circumstance has also been indicated by photographs of the
protuberances taken by Mr. Warren De La Rue, and by the Italian
astronomer Professor Secchi.
Besides the protuberances which form so conspicuous an object
during the totality of an eclipse, there has been generally observed at
the parts of the moon's limb where the solar light disappears, and
again at the parts where it reappears, a long red streak of light, appa-
rently of the same physical nature as the protuberances, and tending
to support the opinion that the whole surface of the sun is enveloped
in such a substance.
Attempts have been made to connect the rose-coloured protuberances
with the solar spots, but the results of a careful comparison of the two
classes of phenomena do not seem to indicate the existence of any
physical relation between them. Other observers have endeavoured,
but with no better success, to account for the protuberances by means
of the faculæ of the solar disk.
The most probable view of the nature of the more important phe-
nomena which reveal themselves during a total eclipse of the sun, is
that the corona represents an atmosphere about the sun, and that the
protuberances are emanations from a substance enveloping the surface
of the sun, and somehow connected with the generation of the solar
light and heat.
the sun.
moon that was about to enter on the sun's disk. Its formation was so
rapid that it presented the appearance of having been caused by the
ignition of a fine train of gunpowder. His impression was, that the
annulus had just been formed, but to his great surprise he found that
the luminous points, as well as the dark intervening spaces, increased
in magnitude, some of the contiguous ones appearing to run into each
other, like drops of water; for the rapidity of the change was so great,
and the singularity of the appearance so fascinating and attractive, that
the mind was for the moment distracted, and lost in the contemplation
of the scene, so as to be unable to attend to every minute occurrence.
Finally, as the moon pursued her course, the dark intervening spaces
(which at their origin had the appearance of lunar mountains in high
relief, and which still continued attached to the sun's border) were
stretched out into long, black, thick, parallel lines, joining the limbs of
the sun and moon, when all at once they suddenly gave way, and left
the circumference of the sun and moon in those points, as in the rest,
comparatively smooth and circular; and the moon perceptibly advanced
on the face of the sun. The same appearance, although in a reverse
order, was witnessed on the breaking up of the annulus. While the
limb of the moon was yet at some distance from the margin of the
solar disk, a number of long, black, thick, parallel lines suddenly darted
forward from the moon, and joined the two limbs as before. As these
dark lines got shorter, the intervening bright parts assumed a more
circular and irregular shape, and at length terminated in a fine curved
line of bright beads, as at the commencement, till they ultimately
vanished, and the annulus ceased to exist.
The phenomenon alluded to in the foregoing description, which has
received the appellation of "Baily's beads," has been carefully sought
for on the occasion of all the total and annular eclipses which have
been observed in recent times, but no confirmation of its existence has
been obtained except in a few doubtful instances. The most probable
explanation of its origin is that which supposes it to be due to some
imperfection connected with the optical qualities of the telescope.
SOLAR SYSTEM. We have given the elements of the planetary
motions minutely in the several articles MERCURY, VENUS, &c., together
with such physical peculiarities as belong to them severally, and inde-
pendently of the System; the general phenomena of their motions
have been deduced from the great principle of GRAVITATION; their
history, as far as it is in the plan of this work to give it, has been
treated in ASTRONOMY. It remains to bring together the dimensions
of the various parts of the System, and to notice such points as could
not properly find a place under any of the heads just mentioned.
By the Solar System is meant that collection of bodies which
contains the Sun, the planets which revolve round him, their satellites,
and such periodic comets as have had their returns successfully pre-
dicted. The system of the ancients includes the Earth as a fixed
centre, with the Moon, Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, and
Saturn. That of the moderns includes at this day the Sun as a govern-
ing body (but not as a fixed centre), Mercury, Venus, the Earth (with
the Moon), Mars, the group of minor planets (now amounting to sixty-
four),* Jupiter and four satellites, Saturn (with his triple ring) and
eight satellites, Uranus with four satellites, and Neptune with one
satellite, besides a considerable number of periodic comets. The follow-
ing symbols are used to represent the ancient members of the system,
to which we add the received explanation, without expressing any
opinion about it :—
Sun.
Mercury.
Venus.
or Earth
(modern).
D Moon.
Mars.
4 Jupiter.
Saturn.
face surrounded by rays; Mercury has the caduceus, or rod, entwined
The symbol for the Sun is all that modern abridgment has left of a
by two serpents; Venus, a circular looking glass with a handle; the
(with some) an inverted symbol of Venus. Those who first used it
Earth (a modern symbol) has a sphere with an equator, and also
turned upside down represent their planet. The symbol of the Moon
did not, we presume, know that they might be making a looking-glass
is obvious; Mars has what remains of a spear and shield; Jupiter,
supposed to be a symbol of the thunder (arm and hand holding
thunder?); Saturn, an altered form of a mower's scythe, the emblem of
putting a and 7 together, the initials of TiXBv; Venus, from the first
But others have thought that Mercury was designated by
and last letters of wopópos; Jupiter, from the first and last letters of
Ζεὺς. These signs are found on very old manuscripts and gems,
variously figured, but all with some general resemblance to the modern
printed forms.
time.
We shall conclude this article with adverting briefly to a phenomenon,
apparently originating in an optical delusion, which has been sometimes
remarked on the occasion of total or annular eclipses of the sun. In
the case of an annular eclipse, the western limb of the moon, previous
to the formation of the annulus, exhibits an indented appearance,
resembling a succession of beads. Almost immediately the beads
become elongated, assuming the aspect of long black parallel streaks,
uniting the limbs of the sun and moon. In the next instant these
lines give way, as if they had been snapped asunder by the eastward
motion of the moon, and the annulus then appears completely formed.
The same succession of appearances has been witnessed when the
eastern limb of the moon is approaching the corresponding limb of
Phenomena of this nature were witnessed during the
eclipses of 1724, 1737, 1748, and 1791. Nicolai also observed a similar
appearance very distinctly during his observation of the annular
eclipse of September 7, 1820, at Manheim. He remarked that about a
second before the annulus was formed, the fine curve of the moon's
disk, then in contact with the sun's limb, appeared broken into several
parts; and in a moment these parts flowed together like drops of water
The four minor planets discovered about the beginning of the pre-
or quicksilver near each other. De Zach, who observed the same
eclipse at Bologna, also remarks that before the contact of the two
sent century were also designated by symbols. Vesta had for its
limbs was effected, there was visible, not a continuous thread of light, symbol, or an altar with fire on it; Juno was designated by a sceptre,
but a number of luminous points, resembling a row of so many pearl; Ceres, by a reaper's scythe, ?; and Pallas by the head of a lance,
beads, separated by dark intervals. But the most vivid description of
the phenomenon has been given by Francis Baily, who observed the
annular eclipse of May 15, 1836, at Jedburgh, in the south of Scotland.
(Mem. Ast. Soc.,' vol. x.) When the cusps of the sun, previous to
the formation of the annulus, were about 40° asunder, a row of lucid
points, like a string of beads, irregular in size and distance from each
other, suddenly formed round the part of the circumference of the
ARTS AND SCI. DIV. VOL. VII.
•
* Since the article ASTEROIDS was written, eight additional members of the
minor planet-group have been discovered, namely:-in 1859, Mnemosyne, at
Bilk, by Luther; in 1860, Concordia, at Bilk, by Luther; planet 59, name
unknown, at Paris, by Chacornao; Danae, at Paris, by Goldschmidt; Titania,
at Washington, by Ferguson; Erato, at Berlin, by Förster; in 1861, planet 63,
at Naples, by De Gasparis; planet 64, at Marseille, by M. Tempel. The total
number of asteroids accordingly now (March, 1861) amounts to sixty-four.
UU
1
659
SOLAR SYSTEM.
. This mode of designation has recently been abandoned. It is
now usual to distinguish the asteroids merely by a number, enclosed
in a circle, indicating their place in the order of discovery.
For Venus
>>
""
SOLAR SYSTEM.
660
For Uranus ⚫047
"
""
Jupiter. 048
Saturn ⚫056
"}
For Mars ⚫093
Mercury 206
•
•
007
Neptune 009
Earth •017
distance would be only 1007, and its least 993.
H;
That is, if the mean distance of Venus were called 1000, its greatest
Uranus has been distinguished by the initial letter of Herschel's
name, with the symbol of a planet attached, ; Neptune has for its
symbol a trident, .
We are now to state the relative dimensions of the Solar System in a
rough manner. This, we think, it may be useful to do in such a manner
that any two planets may be compared with one another without com-
putation. The planet Ceres is used to represent the group of minor
planets.
And first, as to the relative distances from the Sun, we have the
following table :-
For the excentricities of the minor planets, see ASTEROIDS.
We now give a table for the times of revolution, similar to that given
for the distances:-
CO
100
39
255
100
24 13
62 33
6
20
8
3
2
14
52 21
7
4
415
100
54
39
25 | 15
74 41
20
14
1911
187
100
72
47
26
139
76
38
24
4925
1929
258 138
100
66
36
192
105
52
34
T2
11950
4680
394 211 152
100
55
293
160
79
52
H
34880 13660
163 100 53
781 306 188 100 42
748 460 245 100
1186 631 257
28781531 624
8401 4467 || 1824
21
84 35
12
6
65 22
11
55
22
66
715
1344
h
2464
382 277
719 520
1319
182 100
341
532
290
144
95
187
1000
545
271
176
323
4955
649
954 626 347 1833 1000 497
2652 1918 1259 690 3686 2010 1000
7740 4140 3002 1980 1086 5760 3150 1560 1000
This table represents the comparative mean distances of the planets
from the Sun. In each column one of the distances is made 100
or 1000, and the rest are expressed accordingly. Thus we see by
inspection that Uranus is about 12 times as far from the Sun
as Mars; about 19 times as far as the Earth; about 26 times as
far as Venus; and about 7 times the mean distance of the four
small planets. Also, taking the mean distance of the small planets,
we see that the distances from the Sun are as the numbers 15,
26, 36, 55, 100, 187, 347, 690; and if we take the first away from
all the rest, we have 11, 21, 40, 85, 172, 332, 675, 1071, in which
it will be observed that each is about double of the preceding, except
in the case of the last two numbers. Kepler had observed a pro-
gression, without assigning a law, and had also noticed that one term
appeared to be missing. Bode assigned the law which has just been
noticed, noticing also the apparently missing term. The existence of a
planet between Mars and Jupiter was accordingly suspected; and at
last, to the astonishment of astronomers, four little bodies, looking
more like fragments of a planet than planets, were discovered at a
distance from the Sun so near to that which had been suspected, that
their mean distance fills up its place in the series as well as that of any
other planet. It was of course immediately suspected (when only two
had been discovered) that these were remains of some planet which
had been shattered by explosion or other cause; and the encourage-
ment which this idea gave to look for further fragments, was perhaps
one of the main causes of the discovery of the remaining two. It has
been already stated that the number of bodies constituting the group
of minor planets now amounts to sixty-four. This law of Bode, as
it has been called from the astronomer who first noticed it, may be thus
expressed if a be the distance of Mercury, and a+b of Venus, then
a+2b is that of the Earth, a + 4b of Mars, a +86 of the small planets,
a+166 of Jupiter, a + 326 of Saturn, and a +646 of Uranus. The law
fails, however, in the case of Neptune, the distance of which is a+996,
instead of a+1286.
To convert the above relative distances into actual ones, consider the
distance from the Sun to the Earth as 23,984 mean semidiameters of
the Earth, the mean semidiameter being 3956 miles; so that the dis-
tance in question is 95 millions of miles. The semidiameter of the
sun is 111.454 times that of the earth; so that the distance of the
Earth from the Sun may be called 215 semidiameters of the Sun. One
of our objects in this article is to correct the absurd notions derived
from the playthings called orreries, and the diagrams exhibited in books
and lectures. Let the capital letter O of the type which stands at the
beginning of the article in this work represent the Sun; then the Earth
is a speck which would need a good microscope to show it; and its dis-
tance from the Sun is represented by 11 inches, or nearly two inches
more than the length of one of our columns. Sir John Herschel describes
the Solar System thus :—
Planet.
Sun.
Mercury.
Venus.
Earth.
Mars.
Ceres, &c.
Jupiter.
Saturn.
Uranus.
Neptune.
Object which represents it.
Globe of 4 feet diameter.
Grain of mustard seed,
A pea,
A pea.
A rather large pin's head.
Grains of sand.
A moderate sized orange.
A small orange.
A full sized cherry, or small
plum.
A good sized plum.
Representative of its
distance from the Sun.
68060 | 26732 | 16400 | 8692 3524
159
388 160
1000 412 141
2428 1000 343 163
7082 2918 1000 489
13776 5740 1968 1000
The explanation of this table resembles that of the preceding one-
times, instead of distances, being the objects of comparison. Thus, if
a revolution of Jupiter contain 1000 parts of time, that of Saturn has
2428 such parts; and the revolution of Uranus is 84 01 as long as that
of the Earth.
In the following table will be seen the absolute time of revolution
in days of each planet, and also numbers expressive of the intervals (in
days) between two successive conjunctions with the Sun :-
Int. of
Rev.
Conj.
88
116
225
584
365
Int. of
Int. of
Rev.
Conj.
687
780
Rev.
10759
Conj.
378
1681
24333
467 I 30687 370
399
59860 368
Thus, Venus revolves in 225 days (all the numbers in this article are
more roughly given than in the articles specially devoted to the planets);
is in conjunction with the Sun at intervals of 584 days; and, with its
mean motion, would describe 274° in the heavens while Jupiter describes
23°1. Saturn moves 2:01 minutes daily; the Earth, 59' 8"-3.
by diagrams; the inclinations of the orbits may be represented by the
The minor elements (in a general consideration) may be best described
following lines, which show the slope or inclination of each orbit to the
orbit of the Earth or plane of the ecliptic. None of the old planets have
an inclination of more than 7°, while in the new planets the same element
varies from 40′ (Massilia) to 35° (Pallas).

-Earth-
·Pellas-

Mercury-
Venus-
Saturn.
Mars-
Jupiter.
Neptune-
Uranus-
In the next figure the plane of the ecliptic is represented: A B is the
line which points to the astronomical first point of Aries, or the vernal
equinox, and the arrows represent the directions of the planetary

-Neptune
Ceres
Juno
-Pallas
Uranus'
164 feet.
284 feet.
430 feet.
654 feet.
1000 to 1200 feet.
A
Half a mile.
of a mile.
A mile and a half.
Two miles and a half.
The excentricity of a planet means the fractional part of a planet's
mean distance by which its greatest or least distance exceeds or falls
short of the mean distance. Arranging the larger planets in the order of
their excentricities, we have
Fallas
Venus
-Vesta
Earth
UMTS
Mercury
Juno
Neptune
Mars
Mercury
Jupiter-
·Y..
}}
Mars
motions. On the outer circle are represented the longitudes of the
ascending nodes of the larger planets, or the lines in which they are
661
662
SOLAR SYSTEM.
SOLAR SYSTEM.
found when they rise through the ecliptic from the southern to the
northern side of it. On the inner circle are represented the longitudes
of their perihelia, or points of nearest approach to the Sun. The slow
changes which take place in these elements are noted in the articles
devoted to the different planets.
A general view of the elements of the minor planets has already
been given, [ASTEROIDS.]
Jupiter and his satellites might be inclosed in a sphere having a
radius of about 24 times as great as that of the Sun; Saturn and his
satellites in a sphere of 7 the radius of the Sun; Uranus and his
satellites in a sphere of 4 the radius of the Sun; and Neptune and
his satellite in a sphere of which the radius is a little greater than the
Sun's radius. The Earth and Moon [MOON] might be contained in a
sphere of one-half the radius of the Sun.
In apparent diameter Mercury varies from 5" to 12"; Venus from
10" to 61"; Mars from 4" to 18"; the small planets have diameters
hardly measurable; Jupiter from 30" to 46"; Saturn from 14" to 18";
Uranus from a little less to a little greater than 4"; Neptune oscillates
about 3".
If the radius of the Sun were divided into 1000 parts, there would
be as follows in the radii of the several planets:-Mercury, 3; Venus,
82; the Earth, 9; Mars, 4; Jupiter, 97; Saturn, 85; and Uranus,
39. If the bulk of the Sun were divided into a million of parts,
Mercury would be a little less than one-twentieth of one of the parts;
Venus, two-thirds of a part; the Earth, three-quarters of a part; Mars,
one-tenth of a part; Jupiter, 925 parts; Saturn, 720 parts; Uranus,
58 parts; Neptune, 120 parts. The Moon is about the third part of
Mercury in bulk.
The masses of the planets vary very much from what they would be
if they were nearly of the same substance. From the effects of the
planets in attracting their satellites, compared with the effects of the
Sun upon themselves, it is found that if, according to Cavendish's
experiment, we take the Earth to be, at a mean, 5 times the density
of water, or about half that of lead, the Sun may be considered, as to
density, to be made of asphaltum, or rather heavy coal; Jupiter, of
the same; Uranus and Neptune, each of a material very little heavier;
Saturn, of maple-wood; the Moon, of diamond or topaz. By other
modes, of course, than that of their satellites, Mercury is found to be
three times as dense as the Earth; Venus, of about the same density;
and Mars, about three-quarters as dense as the Earth.
The Sun revolves about its axis in about 25 sidereal days; Mercury,
Venus, the Earth, and Mars, all revolve in about the same time, from
231 to 241; Jupiter and Saturn severally revolve in about 10b and
10h. About Uranus and Neptune, nothing is known in this respect.
From what precedes, a sufficient general notion may be collected of
the dimensions of the Solar System, and we now proceed to some other
points connected with it. As to its place among the fixed stars, it is
only within the last twenty years that the distance of any star from
our system may be said to have been positively measured. [PARAL-
LAX OF THE FIXED STARS.] The star 61 Cygni is shown to be more
than 340,000 times as far from our system as its most distant dis-
covered planet is from the Sun. As to the question of the motion of
the Solar System in space, consult the article which follows.
The next question may be, is there any evidence in our System of
any secondary law of formation, indicating a connection between the
mode of creation of one planet and another? The will and power of
the Creator are the final causes both of the initiation and maintenance
of this vast machine; but in the latter there are visible secondary
laws, that of attraction, for instance: were there any in the former?
Attempts at investigation on this point have been frequently considered
atheistical; a foolish notion, arising out of those views to which we
have alluded in MOTION. Those who can only think of the Creator
and forget the Maintainer, and who virtually separate the office of the
latter, and give it to the "laws of nature," may reasonably fear that
they would have to give up also the former office to the "laws of
creation," if such were found; which would be (but owing only to
their own interpretation of the manner in which the world continues to
exist) a renunciation of the idea of Deity in the contemplation of the
manner in which it began to exist. But to those who keep constantly
in view the fact which no modern theist disputes, that the same power
which created continues to create in preserving, and that the "laws of
nature are only expressions of the manner in which this preservation
is seen to act, will look upon the "laws of creation" to be as simple
and natural an object of philosophical inquiry as those of the ascent
of sap in a plant, or of the revolution of a planet. The proper reply
to a charge of atheism brought against those who investigate any mode
of action of the Creator of the universe, at any past time, is the retort
of semi-atheism against those who make it.
Many speculations have been made upon the formation of the several
planets, but none which has any appearance of connecting the phe-
nomena of one planet with those of another, except by Laplace (Sys-
tème du Monde,' vol. ii., note 7), in what has been called the nebular
hypothesis. This conjectural theory, which is well worthy of atten-
tion, never received any particular notice, to our knowledge, from any
writer in this country, until Mr. Whewell's Astronomy and General
Physics,' the third of the Bridgewater Treatises, appeared, in which it
is announced that the nebular theory was ushered in with expressions
which showed Laplace to be a professor of atheism. What Laplace
"We
"I
really thought on these subjects, as we have said before [LAPLACE, in BIOG.
Div.] we do not know, nor would it really matter if he were what he was
represented to have been; for a conjecture may be ingenious, and a
theory sound in its details, even though its author made it stand in
the place of a Creator. But considering the collateral associations
connected with such a charge, it will be well to examine into the fact
whether there was any such announcement; and to do this fairly, we
must quote both Mr. Whewell and Laplace. The former says,
have referred to Laplace as a profound mathematician, who has strongly
expressed the opinion that the arrangeinent by which the stability of
the Solar System is secured is not the work of chance; that a primi-
tive cause has directed the planetary motions.' This author, however,
having arrived, as we have done, at this conviction, does not draw from
it the conclusion which has appeared to us so irresistible, that the
admirable arrangement of the Solar System cannot but be the work of
an intelligent and most powerful Being.' He quotes these expressions,
which are those of Newton, and points at them as instances where that
great philosopher had deviated from the method of true philosophy.
He himself proposes an hypothesis concerning the nature of the primi-
tive cause, of which he conceives the existence to be thus probable."
Here are two assertions:-1. That it is the doctrine of an intelligent
Creator which Laplace "points at " as a deviation from true philosophy;
2. That Laplace proposes his nebular hypothesis as a primitive cause.
We pay a writer of Mr. Whewell's character the compliment of insert-
ing here matter which would more appropriately appear in a review of
his work and we deny that Laplace has been well described in either
assertion. Our object is to clear the nebular hypothesis from the
unphilosophical character with which its first appearance is thus pre-
sented, and by no means to uphold the moral dignity of Laplace.
Until the biting facts connected with his treatment of his benefactor
are answered or explained, that great mathematician must be called a
time-server; and we suspect that his
time-server; and we suspect that his 'Système du Monde' only treats
the intelligent Creator whom his mind acknowledged in the same
manner as he afterwards treated Napoleon. It was published in 1796,
a period which would well explain the mere suppression of all allusion to
the Supreme Being and one of these things must be true; either
Laplace was what Mr. Whewell styles him, or he had not the courage
to declare himself otherwise in his age and country. But what we
have here to do with is the assertion that he did more-that he
attacked the doctrine of a Supreme Being. His words are as follows,
the passages to which we wish to draw attention being in Italics :-
cannot here help observing how much Newton has departed on this
point from the method which he elsewhere so happily applied. After
the publication of his discoveries, this great geometer, abandoning him-
self to speculations of another nature, inquired into the motives which
made the Author of nature give to the solar system the constitution
which we have described." Laplace then quotes Newton's Scholium
[PRINCIPIA, cols. 742-743, where we have translated the whole] thus: -
"And all these regular motions have no origin in mechanical causes,
&c., &c., down to "all parts of the heavens." He then further quotes,
This most elegant group, &c., can only arise from the design and
government of a powerful and intelligent Being." He (Laplace) con-
tinues thus, speaking, so far as the mere notion of a Supreme Being is
concerned, rather in approbation: "He repeats the same thought at
the end of his Optics,' in which he would have been still more con-
firmed if he had known what I have demonstrated, namely, that the
arrangement of the planets and satellites is precisely that which makes
a certain provision for their stability. 'Blind destiny,' says Newton,
'can never make the planets move thus with such small irregularities,
which appear to come from the mutual action of the planets and
comets, and which will probably become greater and greater in the course
of time, until at last the system will again require its Author to put it in
order. But," proceeds Laplace, "may not this arrangement of the
planets be itself a consequence of the laws of motion? and may not the
Supreme Intelligence, which Newton makes to interfere, have already
made it depend upon a more general law? Are we to affirm that the
[unlimited] preservation of the Solar System is a part of the intentions
of the Author of Nature?" This we should sum up as follows :—
Laplace charges Newton with a departure from philosophical prin-
ciples in-1, speculating on the motives of the Creator; † 2, assuming
the probability that his works would not last his time without his own
supernatural interference; 3, assuming that he intended to preserve
the Solar System for ever. But Mr. Whewell singles out only one part
of Laplace's quotation, and, without paying any attention to the
remarks which explain his meaning, declares that Laplace "pointed at"
Newton's declaration of belief in God as a piece of bad philosophy;
whereas this part of his quotation is only followed by the remark how
much stronger he himself (Laplace) had been able to make the sort of
evidence on which Newton rested; and the sentence selected by Mr.
Whewell as "pointed at," coupled with the remark specially made on
that sentence, has rather the appearance of being pointed at with
approbation. With regard to the assertion that Laplace propounded
#1*
* Laplace evidently thought that by mechanical causes Newton meant what
we now call second causes. See the reference just made,
Newton's Scholium does not seem to us to do any such thing; but that is
not the question. Laplace's approval or disapproval is of course to be applied
to his own interpretation of Newton's meaning, not to ours.
663
SOLAR SYSTEM.
the nebular theory as a primitive cause, it is true that he did so in his
own sense of the words. Mr. Whewell means by primitive cause a
first cause, as those words are usually understood; and he asks (and
the question would have been much to the purpose if Laplace had
really meant the same thing as himself by the words primitive cause),
"Was man, with his thought and feeling, his powers and hopes, his
will and conscience, also produced as an ultimate result of the con-
densation of the solar atmosphere?" But Laplace speaks as follows:-
Quelle est cette cause primitive? J'exposerai sur celà, dans la note
qui termine cette ouvrage, une hypothèse," &c. And in the very first
words of this note we find, "On a, pour remonter à la cause des
mouvemens primitifs du système planetaire," &c. This then is what
This then is what
Laplace understood by primitive cause, a cause of the primitive
motions;—an improper use of language, if the reader pleases; but
when a man puts his own meaning on his own words, no one has a
right to fix the consequences of another meaning upon him.
We now proceed to the nebular theory, which is a conjecture pro-
posed with much doubt by Laplace, as a possible explanation of the
manner in which the motions of the several planets obtained those
remarkable resemblances which are found to subsist, without making
the inquiry extend to anything except their motions. All the planets
move in one direction round the sun, and their satellites move in the
same direction round themselves; those that are known to revolve
round their axes (and the contrary has been proved of no one of them)
also revolve in the same direction, and their equators are not much
inclined to their orbits. The excentricities of the planets and satellites
are in no case very large, and generally very small; and the inclinations
of their orbits to one another are generally small. Many nebulæ in the
heavens appear, when examined, to consist of a bright nucleus sur-
rounded by nebulous matter; in others it is found that the apparently
nebulous matter consists of stars. This gave Laplace the idea that our
System might originally—that is, previously to the establishment of
its present order-have been a large nebula, of which the sun was at
the centre. Imagine a large nebulous mass in a state of revolution,
with a solid, or at least less nebulous, centre, round which it revolves:
call this central nucleus the sun. Assume the ordinary laws of matter to
be true of this nebulous mass; and also that it extends as far as such
an atmosphere can do-namely, until the attraction of the whole upon
particles at the equator is equal to the centrifugal force of those
particles. If condensation should begin to take place, arising from loss
of heat, the mass would revolve more and more rapidly as it was
condensed into less and less space; but it does not follow that the
equatorial particles would fall in towards the centre: they are balanced
by the equality, of the centripetal and centrifugal forces, and might
form a ring round the rest of the mass. If the process were conducted
with great regularity, this ring and the mass of vapour might undergo
continual condensation together, until the increasing velocity of rotation
prevented the formation of the ring from continuing. The departures
from complete regularity which might exist in the mass might cause
disturbances in the formation of the rings, which might end in there
being one or more (not many) permanently revolving round the rest of
the mass condensed into a solid body, in the manner of Saturn and its
rings. Such regular formation, however, might be rarely continued
long enough; and if the rings got broken, each ring would become
several masses, which would revolve nearly at the same distance, and
nearly with the same velocity: such a result is seen in the four small
planets. But as, generally speaking, these masses would, by irregu-
larities in their velocities, be combined into one* at last, each broken
ring would form a new nebulous mass, revolving round the diminished
central nucleus; and if a number of such masses were formed, those
nearer to the central mass would move with the greater velocity, and
would be both smaller and denser than the external ones: the first
circumstance certainly, the second and third most probably. Again,
each mass would have a motion of revolution in the same direction
[MOTION, DIRECTION OF] as the motion round the primary; for when
the ring becomes broken, its internal parts have a somewhat more
rapid motion than the external ones, which would give the motion of
rotation noticed. And the rotations thus created in the internal
masses would probably be greater than those in the external masses.
The orbits of the inasses would necessarily be nearly circular, and not
much inclined to each other; but for irregularities, quite circular, and
in the same plane. In each of the nebulous masses thus detached and
revolving, condensation might again give rings or satellites, or both;
but in all probability the external masses would get more satellites
than the internal ones: the orbits of the satellites must be also nearly
circular, and not much inclined. All the preceding circumstances,
both those which are certain and those which are probable (Laplace
confined himself to the former), are actually existing in the Solar
System; consequently this hypothesis, though subject to serious diffi-
culties, deserves attentive consideration, as often as any new knowledge
of the constituent parts of our system shall render a reference to it
likely to produce evidence on one side or the other. As a substitute
*If any number of masses, capable of cohering, revolve in orbits so near to
one another, that they must cohere when they come to their minimum distance,
nothing but an absolute and mathematical equality in their mean velocities
can keep them permanently asunder; the smallest inequality must at last bring
them all together.
SOLAR SYSTEM.
661
for intelligent creative power, if such a thing were intended, it would
do no better than any other; for, as Mr. Whewell observes, a man
with will, power, and conscience, cannot be admitted to be a necessary
consequence of the cooling of a nebulous atmosphere. Nevertheless,
as exhibiting a possible mode in which the Creator of mind and matter
made the laws of formation resemble those of continuation, as far as
the motions of the system are concerned, this hypothesis is strikingly
explicative of what we really see. But even if we were to take it to
be a true explanation, it would only be one step of the ascent, and the
next question would be, what higher process distributed the parts of
this nebulous mass in such a manner as to place those outermost which
were fit to form a planet so distant from the source of light and heat
as Neptune, and to support the appropriate forms of animal and
vegetable life which analogy would induce us to suppose must exist
there.
The history of astronomy teaches us that the system in which we
live has not undergone any apparent change for more than 2000 years;
and, on inquiring into the connection which exists between one planet
and another, or the laws of gravitation, it is found that so far as their
mutual actions are concerned, there is no reason why any change ever
should take place. If the central body were the only one which
attracted the rest, and as long as the laws of matter remained unal-
tered, it is certain that nothing could alter the revolutions of a system
of planets, unless two orbits intersected, and the planets of those orbits
happened to come to the intersecting part at the same time, and to
strike each other. But the planets are subject to the action of each
other as well as to that of the sun, and no instant elapses without
every orbit undergoing a slight change from every one of the planets
of the other orbits. Jupiter alone produces on the earth's orbit in one
year more change than we have any right to say all the comets put
together would do in a hundred. And yet the system not only con-
tinues without any sensible change, but, one circumstance alone ex-
cepted, to which we shall presently allude, is demonstrably formed to
continue for a most enormous length of time, unless some new action
should arise, or some external cause begin to operate. As it is some-
times stated that a complete mathematical demonstration has been
given of the eternal stability of the Solar System, so far as the mutual
actions of its parts are concerned-an assertion which is altogether
incorrect-it may be worth while to enter a little on the details of
this subject.
The disturbing forces of the planets on each other cannot have their
effects calculated all at once; but each force must be divided into an
infinite series of terms, the first of which contains all the terms of the
first dimension, the second all those of the second, and so on. Of all
these terms each is much less in its effect than the preceding; so that
in fact the first two dimensions are all that produce any sensible effect
in any time which it is worth while to consider. Occasionally it
happens that terms of the third and fourth dimensions have been
required to be used, but almost all the sensible perturbations of the
system depend on terms of the first two orders. As far as any effects
arising from such terms are concerned, Lagrange and Poisson are ad-
mitted on all hands to have demonstrated the stability of the Solar
System: and considering the nature of the process employed, and
there being no appearance of any circumstance which looks likely to
lead to a different result in any of the remaining terms of the dis-
turbing forces, it may be highly probable that a further investigation
would show the same thing, if all the dimensions of the disturbing
forces were employed. Sir J. Lubbock ('Phil. Mag.,' February, 1831)
has pointed out the forms which further investigation would appa-
rently produce, and which would (unless a detailed investigation should
lead to something not discoverable à priori) bear out as certain what
we have just stated to be probable. But though all the presumptions
lie on the side of those who would assert the proposition absolutely
of all dimensions of the disturbing force, it is not yet time to say that
it is a certain mathematical consequence of the theory of gravitation.
When the effects of perturbation are examined, as far as the second
dimension of the disturbing force, it appears that the immense
mass of the sun compared with that of any planet, the great distance
of the planets from each other as compared with their amounts of
departure from spherical form, the small excentricities and inclinations
of their orbits, and their motions being all in one direction, give the
following mathematical consequences of the law of attraction :-First,
the longest or major axes of the planets' orbits are not subject to any
slow variations of very long period; all their variations being excessively
small, and soon destroyed by the production of contrary variations. It
is very often stated that the major axes are subject to no variation;
this is to be understood only of secular variation (or of a very long
period). One year is not precisely the same as another to any fraction
of a second; but the average year of one long period is precisely the
same as that of another; or at least the mean years of the two periods
become more nearly equal the longer the periods are made. But the
excentricities and inclinations are subject to long periodic altera-
tions, the times of their recurrences not being exactly settled, from
the difficulty of their determination. How then is it known that
they are periodic? For instance, the excentricity of the Earth's orbit
is subject to a yearly diminution of 00004, its value in 1801 being
017. Had this diminution been an increase, as it is in Mercury
and Jupiter, it might à priori appear possible that this increase
€65
666
SOLAR SYSTEM, MOTION OF THE.
SOLDERING.
藥
​should continue until the orbit (preserving the same major axis)
should be so elongated that the ultimate approach to and recession from
the sun should give our planet the alternate climates of Mercury and
Mars, and thus no doubt destroy it as the abode of beings constituted
like ourselves. It is found, however, that the following relation must
exist If at any one moment the square of the excentricity of each
planet be multiplied by its mass and the square root of its mean
distance from the sun (represented in numbers), the sum of all these
products must be the same as it was at any moment past, or will be at
any moment future. And if in each product the tangent of the incli-
nation to a fixed plane be substituted for the excentricity, the result-
ing equation is true. From such relations as these, and others con-
nected with them, it is shown that so far as the mutual actions of the
planets are concerned, no one excentricity nor inclination can increase
indefinitely, but all their changes must be periodic, and confined within
rather small limits. The approach of the ecliptic to the equator, for
instance, which amounts to about half a second in a year (and which |
leads speculators sometimes to talk about a past time when the
ecliptic passed through the pole, and a future time when it will
coincide with the equator), must stop long before the ecliptic reaches
the equator, and attain a minimum inclination, after which the two
will begin to separate; the whole oscillation being less than three
degrees. The whole result is summed up thus: As far as terms of
the second order (inclusive) in the disturbing forces, and as long as
only the mutual attractions of the planets act, there is a mathematical
certainty that the Solar System will remain in its present state, the
elements of the different orbits oscillating about certain mean values,
from which they are never very distant: except only the longitudes of
the nodes and perihelia, which change with velocities which are always
very near to certain mean velocities. The probability is very small
that the higher dimensions of the disturbing forces would affect this
result, and certainly only in a length of time to which the longest
periods known are trifling in comparison.
This last point, however, is of the less importance, since it has
become highly probable, within the last few years, that an external
cause does exist, which must, unless there be a counteracting force of
which we know nothing, in time cause the destruction of the System.
If the planets move in any medium which resists their motions, how-
ever little, the consequence must be a gradual diminution of their
mean distances from the sun, and a gradual increase of their velocities,
ending in their absolutely falling into the sun. For the presumption
in favour of the actual existence of such a resisting medium, see
COMET. This retarding agent seems to show a rapid effect upon so
attenuated a mass as Encke's comet, though thousands of years have
elapsed without its producing any sensible effect upon the planets.
Little as it may concern us directly, these speculations have an
interest, both as to the glimpse they give of the possible destiny of
our System, and from their association with the history of past and
the hope of future discovery. It is to be remembered that no science
has drawn out so much of mathematical talent, or indirectly excited
such an influence upon other branches of physical research, as the
application of the theory of gravitation to the development of the
planetary motions.
SOLAR SYSTEM, MOTION OF THE, IN SPACE. One of the
most interesting results of modern astronomical research consists in
the discovery of the fact, that many stars of the class styled fixed stars,
are in reality subject to a minute movement, in virtue of which their
positions in the celestial sphere are slowly shifting from year to year.
This proper motion was originally found to be applicable only to a few
of the principal stars, but as the observations of astronomers have acquired
a greater degree of precision, the number of stars which appear to be
slowly changing their position continues to increase, and the probability
is, that there is no star in the celestial sphere whose position is absolutely
fixed. But the results at which astronomers have arrived with respect
to the parallax of the stars, combined with the relative intensities of
the light of the sun and the stars, as determined by photometric
experiments, tend strongly to confirm the idea that the sun is neither
more nor less than a star. It is reasonable then to suppose that the
sun, like the stars, should be subject to a motion of translation in
space. This idea seems to have first suggested itself to Fontenelle,
who refers to it in a notice on the labours of Cassini. Bradley also, at
the close of his paper in which he announces the discovery of the
nutation of the earth's axis, has remarked that the apparent motion of
the stars may arise either from a real motion of the stars themselves,
or from a motion of the solar system in space. But he was of opinion,
that ages would elapse before astronomers would arrive at a definitive
conclusion on this subject.
Thomas Wright, in his 'Theory of the Universe,' published in 1750,
suggests, as very probable, that the sun, with his attendant planets,
may be circulating round some other centre. Mayer was the first
astronomer who endeavoured to deduce a trustworthy result from an
examination of the proper motions of the stars. His researches were
based upon a comparison of the places of eighty stars, as observed by
Römer in the year 1706, with the corresponding places as determined
by Lacaille and himself about the middle of the same century. The
conclusion at which he arrived was, that the proper motions of the
stars do not afford any evidence of a motion of the solar system in
A remark made by Mayer on this occasion is worthy of
space,
mention. He states, that if the solar system is advancing to any par-
ticular region of the heavens, the stars in this direction will necessarily
be gradually receding to a greater distance from each other, while,
again, those in the opposite direction will appear to be drawn closer
together. In 1783 the elder Herschel having been induced to examine
the subject, arrived at a result quite different from that obtained by
Mayer. His investigation was founded on the proper motions of seven
of the brightest stars, as determined by Maskelyne. The result of his
inquiry indicated a motion of the solar system towards a point in the
heavens near the star A Hercules, which he found to be situated in
257° of right ascension, and 25° north declination. In 1805 he subse-
quently resumed the subject, and obtained for the point towards which
the solar system is moving, the following co-ordinates: right ascension,
245° 52′ 30″; north declination, 49° 38'.
The same subject was considered about the same time by Prévost
and Klügel, whose results agreed tolerably well with those obtained by
Herschel. On the other hand, Biot and Bessel, who examined the
subject, arrived at the conclusion that the present state of our know-
ledge respecting the proper motions of the stars is insufficient to afford
any trustworthy indication of the existence of a motion of the solar
system in space. In recent times, however, the researches of Arge-
lander, Lundahl, and Otto Struve, have confirmed the views of Sir
William Herschel. The researches of these astronomers were based
upon an examination of the proper motions of stars chiefly in the
northern hemisphere. The late Mr. Galloway, however, obtained very
nearly the same result by an examination of the proper motions
observed in the southern hemisphere by Lacaille about the middle of
the last century, and again by Johnson and Henderson in recent times.
By combining his own result with the results arrived at by Argelander
and Lundall, he obtained the following values for the co-ordinates of the
point in the heavens towards which the solar system is advancing :-
Right Ascension 259° 9'4,
34° 36'5,
Declination N.
•
these numbers referring to the equinox of 1792.
The most recent examination of this subject is due to Mr. Airy, who
by a method totally different from that employed by previous inquirers
has obtained a result agreeing very nearly in right ascension, but
differing considerably in declination, from that hitherto arrived at.
SOLDERED JOINTS. When two pieces of metal of the same or
of different natures are joined by the interposition of another metal
of a more fusible character than that of the pieces to be joined, it is
said that they are soldered together, or occasionally that they are brazed
together. Thus, when lead has to be joined to lead, the surfaces of
contact are scraped perfectly clean, and a mixed metal, composed of
about of tin to g of lead, is melted over the joint so as to effectually
23
adhere to the respective surfaces. When lead has to be joined to
brass, the soldering metal is usually composed of a mixture of 7 parts
of tin to 5 of lead, and this alloy is also used for soldering tin pipe,
or for repairing the joints of tinned iron-ware. When iron plates are
joined together by soldered joints, or when copper, tin, or lead pipes
are joined to iron work, the brazing or soldering metal used is com-
posed of about 4 parts of zinc to 3 of copper, or more properly speaking,
of 2 parts of fine brass to 1 of zinc, the brass consisting itself of 2 of
copper to 1 of zinc. The joints themselves may be either butt joints,
lapped joints, spiggot joints, crossed, or flat joints. Wrought-iron
joints upon wrought-iron are made by welding, as also are the joints
of wrought-iron upon steel, whenever it is possible to place the
respective pieces in the smith's forge; the more unmanageable joints
are usually brazed.
SOLDERING is the process of uniting the surfaces of metals, by
the intervention of a more fusible metal, which, being melted upon
each surface, serves, partly by chemical attraction, and partly by
cohesive force, to bind them together. In the ordinary soldering, the
alloy used as a solder must be more fusible than the metals to be
united, and must have a strong affinity for them. To insure perfect
union between the solder and the surfaces to which it is applied, it
is essential that they be made perfectly clean and free from oxide, and
that the atmosphere be excluded during the operation. This is
effected in various ways, but most commonly by the use of borax, sal
ammoniac, or resin, either mixed with the solder or applied to the
surfaces to be joined.
The kinds of solder used for the several metals are given under
SOLDERS.
Articles of wrought-iron, and some qualities of stecl also, may be
soldered with cast-iron; the cast-iron being repeatedly heated and
quenched in water, by which it becomes sufficiently friable to be beaten
to a coarse powder with an iron pestle and mortar. In making fine
steel instruments, gold, either alone or with a slight alloy of copper, is
often used as solder. Silver solder, being less expensive, and nearer
the colour of the steel, is preferred by some for this purpose.
larger articles of iron and steel, a solder consisting of equal parts of
tin and iron is sometimes used.
In
Common plumbers' solder is made of two parts lead and one part block
tin; or of the same metals mixed in nearly equal quantities; bismuth
is added when it is desired to make the alloy more fusible. Soft
solder has two parts tin to one lead; and other alloys of tin, lead, aud
bismuth, are used for uniting various articles of lead, tin, pewter, and
*
667
SOLDERS.
other soft compounds. Such highly fusible solders are usually cast in
ingots or strips, and melted as they are used by means of an instru-
ment called a soldering-iron, which is tipped with copper.
A curious mode of soldering is resorted to in order to fix upon the
back of the dial-plate of a watch the small copper studs by which it is
attached to the plate that encloses the wheel-work. The heat required
for melting spelter solder would be injurious to the enamel, and there-
fore the studs are made of wire plated with silver, and fixed by melt-
ing the silver on their sides, and causing it to run down to their base,
where a mixture of borax and water is previously laid. Thus the
studs are fixed without applying the jet of the blowpipe immediately
to the back of the enamelled plate.
A kind of soldering, called burning-to, is practised in some cases with
sheet-lead, where it has been desirable to make a vessel entirely of that
material; the junction being effected by pouring melted lead upon the
edges to be united, until they fuse together. Somewhat similar to
this is the process of autogenous soldering. This process, the invention
of M. de Richemont, consists in the union of two pieces of metal
without the interposition of any solder, by fusing them at the point of
junction by jets of flame from a gas blowpipe. The apparatus used
for the purpose contains a hydrogen gas generator, bellows for atmo-
spheric air, and valves for regulating the proportion in which the gas
and air are to be mixed. The joints formed in this way are neater and
less liable to flaws than those made by the common process. Mr.
Spencer discovered this process about the same time as M. de Richemont;
and his experiments led him to suppose that, by varying the admixture
of gases, a jet of flame might be produced of intensity suitable for any
metal to which it may be desired to apply this mode of soldering.
The recent investigations concerning the applicability of the metal
aluminium to purposes of use and ornament, have necessarily included
the preparation of some kind of solder. It is found that aluminium
cannot be soldered in the ordinary way. M. Mourey, of Paris, has
devised the following plan. He puts on each surface a solder of zinc
and aluminium, so as to form a thin film. Then, with a solder richer
in aluminium, he joins the two pieces together. The first solder thus
adheres to the metal, and the second solder to the first. The surfaces
of aluminium are in the first instance prepared by a mixture of turpen-
tine, balsam of copaiva, and lemon-juice, and strongly heated. The
solder No. 1 consists of 6 aluminium and 94 zinc; No. 2 of 20 alumi-
nium and 80 zinc.
SOLDERS. A name given to certain alloys used for uniting
metallic surfaces by fusion, to effect which it is necessary that the
alloy should fuse at a temperature below the melting point of the
metallic surfaces to be joined. The following are some of the most
important solders. [ALLOYS.]
Solder for gold
Gold (18 carats)
Silver
Copper
Solder for silver
Silver
Copper
Brass
•
Solder for brass
•
Copper
Zinc
Soft solder
Lead
Tin
66.6
16.7
16.7
•
100.0
66.6
30.0
3.4
100.0
50
50
100.0
67
33
100.0
SOLDIER is a term applied now to every man employed in the
military service of a prince or state, but it was at first given to such
persons only as were expressly engaged, for pay, to follow some chief in
his warlike expeditions. Cæsar mentions à band of 600 men called
"soldurii," who bound themselves to attend their leader in action, and
to live or die with him ('De Bello Gallico,' iii. 22), but it does not
appear that they served for pay. By some the word has been thought
to come from "solidus," the name of a coin under the Roman empire,
which may have been received as the payment for the service.
The troops which formed the armies of the Crusaders were engaged
to serve for pay, for though the nobles voluntarily entered into the
their vassals were not obliged by the tenure of their fiefs to accom-
pany them. Père Daniel ('Hist. de la Milice Fr.,' tom. i., p. 103)
expresses his belief that Philip Augustus, near the end of the 12th
century, was the first of the French kings who had hired troops, at
least in any considerable body, in his service; and the practice of
retaining such troops appears to have been afterwards very general. It
is probable that men hired for the wars were, from the time of that
prince, called soudoyers or souldyours, that is, stipendiaries; but the
name appears for the first time in the 'Chronicles' of Froissart, where
it is applied to the hired troops both of France and Germany.
war,
In the wardrobe account of Edward I. (1300) the term soldier occurs
frequently, and Grose considers that the persons so designated were of
a different class from the other troops. Some of them are called
"soldiers scutifers,' or esquires; some, 'soldiers constables;" and
SOLDIER.
603
others, simply "soldiers; " but the pay of all was the same, namely,
one shilling per day. (Mil. Antiq.,' vol. i., p. 326.) From the time of
Edward I. to the end of the reign of Edward III. the daily pay of a
banneret was 4s., and of a knight 2s.; that of a hobiler, a sort of light
horseman, was 6d.; of a crossbowman, 4d.; and of an archer, 2d. In
that age the stipendiary troops, or soldiers, were raised in England by
commissions granted by the king to persons who undertook to enlist
men for a certain pay (which was made to depend on the nature of the
service), and for a certain portion of the ransom-money which might be
obtained in the war.
Little change seems to have taken place in the pay of the English
soldiers between the times of Edward III. and Mary. We find that
during the reign of this queen the daily pay of a captain of heavy
cavalry was 10s., and of a cavalry soldier, 1s. 6d. The pay of a captain
of light cavalry was 6s., and of a soldier 1s. The pay of a captain of
foot was 4s.; of a lieutenant, 2s.; of an ensign, ls.; and of a foot
soldier, 8d.; a halbardier and a hackbutter, on horseback, had each
Is. daily. In the times of Elizabeth, James I., and Charles I., the pay
of the officers was a little raised, but that of a private foot-soldier, was
still 8d. per day; during the civil wars the pay of the latter was 9d.,
but in the reign of William III. it was again reduced to 8d. At that
time the pay of a private trooper was 2s. 6d., and that of a private
dragoon was 1s. 6d., including in both cases the allowance for the horse.
It is evident that the pay of the private soldier in later times is far
from having been raised in the inverse ratio of the value of money.
While armour was in general use, the common soldiers of England
were distinguished only by scarfs or by badges, on the latter of which
were impressed the arms of their several leaders; but in the reign of
Henry VIII. something like a uniform was worn, and it appears that
the colour of the men's upper garments was then generally white; the
soldiers in the king's particular service only, had on their coats a repre-
sentation of the cross of St. George. However, on an army being
raised in 1544, the soldiers were ordered to wear coats of blue cloth
bordered with red. White cloaks marked with red crosses continued
to be the uniform of the troops during the reign of Queen Mary; but
in the time of Elizabeth the infantry soldiers wore a cassock and long
trowsers, both of which were of Kentish gray: the cavalry were fur-
nished with red cloaks reaching down to the knee and without sleeves.
Gray coats, with breeches of the same colour, continued to be the
uniform as late as the end of the reign of William III., but soon after
that time red became the general colour for the coats of the British
infantry soldiers.
It must be admitted that, till lately, the condition of a private
soldier, both in this country and on the Continent, was unfavourable
for inspiring a love of the service in his mind. Obliged to be furnished
with good clothing and to preserve a becoming appearance, that which
remained of his scanty pay scarcely sufficed for procuring the food
necessary for his support. In his barracks he was subject to numerous
petty details of duty, which produced weariness and even disgust; and,
at all times, to the restraints of discipline, which deprived him of the.
recreations enjoyed by other classes of men; while the barracks them-
selves were far from being healthy or even comfortable. These disadvan-
tages are now, however, in a great measure removed; and the pay of
the soldier suffices to afford him the means of obtaining the comforts
of life in a degree at least equal to those which are enjoyed by an
ordinary peasant or mechanic. With the improvement of his con-
dition, a corresponding improvement in the character of the soldier
has taken place: men of steady habits are induced to enlist, and officers
are enabled to select the best among those persons who present them-
selves as recruits for the army.
The duties of the soldier are now rendered as little burdensome as is
consistent with the good of the service; the regulations promulgated
by the authorities prescribe that he shall at all times be treated
with mildness and humanity, and the non-commissioned officers are
required to use patience and forbearance in instructing the recruits in
their military exercises. When breaches of discipline on the part of
the soldier oblige a commander to order the infliction of punishment,
attention is paid as much as possible to render it a means of promoting
a reformation of character: the lash is now very sparingly used.
Wherever a regiment be now quartered, there is established for the
soldiers a school, which the men are obliged, as part of their duty, to
attend, and which is generally furnished with a library for their use.
The library and school are formed and supported by the subscriptions
of the officers, and both have been found to contribute greatly to the
preservation of sobriety and good conduct among the men, by weaning
them from the haunts of idleness and dissipation, and giving them a
taste for useful knowledge.
In time of peace the soldier, being surrounded by the members of
civil society, must, like them, conform to its laws; and, being under
the influence of public opinion, he is, unconsciously to himself, held in
obedience by them; so that no extraordinary coercion is necessary to keep
him within the bounds of civil or military law. But in the colonies the
soldier, even though he be serving in a time of peace, has many
temptations to fall into a neglect or breach of discipline: he is far
removed from the friends of his early life, who may have exercised
upon his mind a moral influence for good: he sees around him only
the conduct, too frequently licentious, of the lower orders of people in
the country where he is stationed; and it may be that he is not
669
670
SOLECISM.
SOLIDIFICATION.
fortified with the principles which should have been implanted in his.
mind by a sound education. The probability of a return to his native
land before many years have passed is small, and the diseases to which
he is exposed from the unhealthiness of the climate frequently termi-
nate fatally: hence he becomes reckless from despair, and the facilities
with which wine or spirituous liquors may often be obtained lead him
into excesses which, while they accelerate the ruin of his health and
render him unfit for duty, cause him to commit offences both against
discipline and morals. Thus in the colonies there arises a necessity for
greater restraints on the freedom of the soldier, and for the infliction
of heavier punishments than are required at home. (Maj.-Gen. Sir
Charles Napier, 'Remarks on Military Law.') Lastly, in time of war
and on foreign service a vigorous discipline is essentially necessary;
the privations to which soldiers are then exposed strongly induce those
who are not thoroughly imbued with moral and religious principles to
plunder the country-people, in order to supply their immediate wants,
or to drown the sense of their sufferings in liquor.
SOLECISM (soloccismus, σoλokioμós), a grammatical term which is
used by the later Greek and Roman writers, and by modern gram-
marians also, though in a somewhat different sense. It is defined by
Sinnius Capito (Gell., v. 20) as an unequal and improper arrangement
of the parts of speech, that is, as a violation of the rules of syntax.
Quinctilian (i. s. 28, &c.) specifies four kinds of solecisms: the first
consists in the addition of a superfluous word; the second, in leaving
out one that is necessary; the third, in perverting the order of the
words of a sentence; and the fourth, in using an improper form of
a word. The ancients also used the word in a wider sense, under-
standing by it any kind of fault, error, or mistake, whether made in
speaking, writing, or acting. Modern graminarians designate by
solecism any word or expression which does not agree with the
established usage of writing or speaking. But, as customs change,
that which at one time is considered a solecism, may at another be
regarded as correct language. A solecism therefore differs from a
barbarism, inasmuch as the latter consists in the use of a word or expres-
sion which is altogether contrary to the spirit of the language, and
can, properly speaking, never become established as correct language.
SOL-FA-ING. [SOLMISATION.]
SOLICITOR. [ATTORNEY; SIX CLERKS.]
SOLID, SOLIDITY. (Mechanics.) A solid body is one which is
composed of matter so connected together that the relative positions
of its parts cannot be altered without the application of sensible force.
The force which resists the alteration of the relative positions is called
force of cohesion [ATTRACTION]: the perfect absence of this force
constitutes fluidity [FLUID].
SOLID ANGLE, a name given to the idea of opening conveyed by
three planes which meet at a point. The properties of a solid angle
are considered under the head SPHERICAL TRIANGLE.
-
SOLID, SURFACE, LINE, POINT. (Geometry.) We have
thought it best to bring together the remarks which it is necessary to
make upon these fundamental terms of geometry. According to
Euclid, a point has no dimensions; a line, length only; a surface,
length and breadth: a solid, length, breadth, and thickness. No one
has the least doubt about each of these terms representing a clear and
distinct notion already in the mind; in spite of this, however, the
propriety of the definitions has been made matter of much discussion.
Space being distinctly conceived, parts of space become perfectly
intelligible. Hence arises the notion of a boundary separating one
part of space from the rest. That a material object, a desk or an ink-
stand, occupies a certain portion of space, separated by a boundary
from all that is external, needs no explanation: this boundary is called
surface, and possesses none of the solidity either of the desk or ink-
stand, or of the external space. Surface itself, when distinctly under-
stood, is capable of division into parts, and the boundary which
separates two parts of a surface has none of the surface, either on one
side or the other: it therefore presents length only to the imagination.
Again, length itself is capable of division into parts: the boundaries do
not possess any portion of length, either on one side or the other: they
are only partition marks or points. Euclid reverses the order of our
explanation, requiring first the conception of a point, then of a line,
then of a surface, then of a solid.
That when we think of a point, we deny length, breadth, and
thickness; that when we think of a line, it is length without breadth
that we figure to ourselves; that in the same manner the surface of
our thoughts possesses no thickness whatever-are, to us at least, real
truths. We cannot, for instance, imagine what Dr. Beddoes meant
when he said ('Obs. on Demonstrative Evidence,' p. 33), " Draw your
lines as narrow as you conveniently can, your diagrams will be the
clearer; but you cannot, and you need not, conceive length without
breadth." Why are diagrams the clearer, the narrower the lines of
which they consist? Diagrams have no clearness in themselves; the
comprehension of them is in the mind of the observer. If diagrams
having (so called) lines of one-hundredth of an inch in breadth be
clearer than others of five-hundredths of an inch, it is because the
former approach nearer than the latter to a true representation of that
which is in the mind, or of that which the mind desires to see por-
trayed
If the smaller the breadth the better the diagram in the
clearness which it gives to the mind, it must be because the mind
would have no breadth at all.
It matters nothing that the point, line, and surface are mechanical
impossibilities; that no point or line, if they actually existed, could
reflect light to show them; and that no surface could continue to exist
for any perceptible time, even supposing it to have one moment of
existence. Neither does it signify whether the ideas be necessary, or
acquired from the senses; the question in geometry is, Have you got
them? not, How did they come? There may be danger that some
students should need at first to be frequently reminded of the abstract
limits of which the conceptions must be made permanent, lest they
should accustom themselves to rest in the imperfect approaches to these
conceptions which are realised in their diagrams; but it is always
found that a moment's recollection will produce a satisfactory answer
to any question upon this point.
There is, it is true, one circumstance in which the pupil may acquire
a permanently false notion of the object of geometry. If an instructor
should require what is called a very well-drawn figure in every case,
with very thin lines and very small points, he may perhaps succeed in
giving the learner some idea that geometry consists in that approach
to accuracy which constitutes practical excellence in the applications
of the science. No idea can be more false: let the good line be ex-
amined under a microscope, and it is seen to be a solid mound of black
lead or ink, as the case may be. Hence- it is perhaps desirable that the
demonstrations should be frequently conducted with what are called
ill-drawn figures, in order that no reliance may be placed on the
diagram, further than as serving to remind the student of the ideal con-
ception which is the real object of his demonstration. This of course
is recommended without prejudice to his learning the accurate use of
the ruler and compasses for another distinct purpose, namely, the
intention of producing avowedly approximate practical results.
It is to be noted that these definitions, so called, are in Euclid more
than definitions. They appeal to conceptions supposed to exist, in
words which are considered sufficient not to give, but to recall, the neces-
sary ideas. This they actually do, to the satisfaction of the learner,
who would never dream of their containing anything dubious, if it
were not for the ill-advised interference of the psychologist. Whatever
of pleasure or profit there may be in the subsequent union of the
sciences, there is, we think, no doubt that the young geometer should
not be required to examine the foundations of his notions of space:
he cannot do this with effect until he has seen what these notions are
by the light of their geometrical consequences.
SOLID, SUPERFICIAL, AND LINEAR DIMENSIONS. A solid,
a surface, and a line, when they come to be the objects of arithmetic,
are things as distinct as a weight and a time. That a surface is
included by lines, or a solid by surfaces, makes no more of necessary
connection between them than exists between weight and time, because
the former can never be made sensible without the latter. Length
only can measure length, a surface only a surface, a solid only a solid.
Reasons of arithmetical convenience, not of necessity, make it advisable
that whatever length may be chosen to measure length, the SQUARE
on that length should be the surface by which surface is measured,
and the CUBE on that length the solid by which solidity is measured.
Unfortunately, if a foot be the measure of length, the square on a foot
and the cube on a foot have no other names than square foot and cubic
foot. The farmer with his acres, and the distiller with his gallons,
have an advantage which is denied to the young mathematician. Ask
the first how many acres make a gallon, and the second how many
gallons make an acre, and both would laugh at the question; the third
is allowed an indistinct conception of measuring surfaces and solids in
feet or inches, as if they were lines, from the occurrence of the same
word in all his measures.
Length is said to be a quantity of one dimension, surface of two,
and solidity of three. The right line, the right surface or RECTANGLE,
and the right solid or rectangular PARALLELOPIPED (the figure of a
box, a die, a plank, a beam, &c.), are the implements of mensuration.
Every surface must be reduced to the second form, and every solid to
the third, before it can be measured. The rules (which tacitly contain
these reductions) for measuring different superficial or solid figures
will be found under the several heads: the two fundamental theorems
by which measurement becomes practicable are as follows:--
1. The numbers of linear units in the two sides of a rectangle being
multiplied together, give the number of superficial units, square units,
or squares on the linear unit, which the rectangle contains.
65
rectangle of 2 by 4 feet contains X
5
2
13
or
Thus a
3' 6 or 10 square feet.
2. The numbers of linear units in the length, breadth, and thick-
ness of a right solid, being multiplied together, give the number of
solid units, cubic units, or cubes on the linear unit, which the right
solid contains. Thus a plank of 2 inches broad, 1 inch thick, and
10 inches long, contains
or
279
9 3 31
X X
4 2 3' 8 or 343 cubic inches.
SOLIDIFICATION. If heat be abstracted in sufficient quantity
from a body in the liquid state, it will become solid. This change in
the case of water is termed congelation. During solidification, the heat
of liquefaction becomes apparent, as explained under LATENT HEAT.
Certain liquids, however, have not been solidified at so low a tempe-
rature as -166° Fahr., such as alcohol, ether, and some others, noticed
671
SOLIDITY.
under GASES, LIQUEFACTION or, where will be found a list of those
gases which have been solidified under cold and pressure.
SOLIDITY. For the signification of this word in its strictest sense
the reader is referred to IMPENETRABILITY; but, as the word is fre.
quently employed to designate a condition of material substance in
contradistinction from liquidity, or a gaseous form, it may in this
sense be defined to be a state of a body in which the force of cohesion
between the molecules is such that these require a certain amount of
force to separate them from one another; and, at the same time, they
are subject to small variations only of their mutual distances by the
application of any quantity of heat less than that which would reduce
them to ashes or convert them into fluids. The expansion of solids by
heat is noticed under HEAT; see also SPECIFIC HEAT.
SOLIDS, REGULAR. [REGULAR FIGURES.]
SOLITARIUS (the Hermit), an obscure constellation of Lemonnier,
which, having been admitted into the Astronomical Society's lists,
appears here. It is situated a little above Centaurus, near the tail of
Hydra. There are no conspicuous stars in this constellation.
SOLMISATION, or Sol-fa-ing, in singing, is the art of applying to
the seven notes of the scale certain syllables, having no meaning in
themselves, but containing the first five vowels, according to the French
method, and the first four according to the system adopted by the
Italians and English.
This art was practised by the Greeks; but the six syllables now in
use are generally attributed to Guido d'Arezzo. These he selected, on
account of their furnishing all the vowel sounds, from the following
stanza of a monkish hymn to St. John the Baptist:
"Ut queant laxis,
Resonare fibris
Mira gestorum
Famuli tuorum
Solve polluti
Labii reatum.
SANCTE JOANNES."
In what is called the hexachord system [HEXACHORD], these syllables
were found sufficient. When, however, that absurd method began to
be disused, the addition of a name for the seventh of the scale became
necessary, and Le Maire, a French musician of the 17th century, has
the credit of having introduced for this purpose the syllable si. The
Italians rejected the French ut, and substituted the more euphonous
syllable do, which is also adopted in England. The syllables therefore
now used by the Italians and English are as follows :—
Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Si, Do.
SOLOMON, THE WISDOM OF.
672
mode of explanation, which if adopted would cut the knot, is that of
Dr. James Bennett, who supposes that the poem never had any literal
reference at all to an actual marriage, but is purely an allegory
descriptive of the mutual love of Christ and his church. But the
minute allusions, especially those to Solomon, which are contained in
this poem, are a most formidable objection to such an explanation;
and even those critics who contend most strongly for the purely alle-
gorical character of the 45th Psalm, maintain as strongly that the
Song of Solomon has a literal as well as a spiritual meaning. (See
especially Bishop Horsley's 5th Sermon.') The distinction however
between the two questions of who was the author and who were the
parties described, ought not to be lost sight of, as it too often has been.
Finding the book in the Jewish canon, the presumption is that it is a
genuine part of Holy Scripture, and is intended to teach religious
truth. This presumption is strengthened, if it can be proved that
Solomon was the author, since we have at least one other book of his
in the sacred canon; but it is not disproved even if the poem should
be found to have nothing to do with Solomon either as its author or
its subject.
It is admitted that from a very early period the oriental nations
have been accustomed to express religious sentiments allegorically
under the guise of amatory poems, of which the Gitagovinda is an
example. To this day the Egyptian Arabs, at their religious festivals,
sing songs resembling this, in which the prophet is the beloved object,
and which are only intended to have a spiritual sense. (Lane's
Modern Egyptians,' vol. ii.) Mr. Lane in fact gives passages from
these songs strikingly parallel to passages in Solomon's Song. Neither
is it denied that similar imagery is used with a similar meaning in
other parts of the Bible (Psalms, xlv.; Isaiah, liv.; lxii. 4, 5; Rom.,
vii. 4; 2 Cor., xi. 2; Ephes., v. 23-32; Rev., xix. 7; xxi. 2-9), and
also the opposite figure of representing idolatry and apostacy under
the image of adultery or whoredom. But it is said that in all such
passages the allusions are more distant, and enter less into detail than
is the case in Solomon's Song, and that in them the religious sense is
The first
made so prominent that one can scarcely fail to perceive it.
part of this assertion does not appear to be sustained by fact. Any
one who examines the passages carefully, especially those which relate
to spiritual adultery, will find allusions inferior in delicacy to the
grossest which can be produced from Solomon's Song. The latter
condition does not appear to be necessary (as has been argued above)
to establish the allegorical meaning of such imagery, when occurring
in a canonical book: neither is the spiritual sense always so obvious.
For example, there is nothing in the 45th Psalm, except one or two
expressions which could not by the greatest hyperbole refer to a
human being, to lead us to suspect its spiritual meaning. The fact
Song of Solomon is not so quoted, is no objection to this view of the
that the 45th Psalm is quoted in the New Testament, and that the
subject, for the quotation of the one sanctions the general principle of
interpretation, while the silence respecting the other proves nothing,
The canonical authority of this book has been much disputed. It knowing as we do that the New Testament writers adopted the Old
is now admitted that it formed part of the Jewish canon. It is found Testament canon as it existed in their day, and that this Song was in
in the oldest Christian catalogues of the sacred books, and in all the that canon. Nearly all expositors, both Jewish and Christian, have
ancient versions, though it is not quoted in the New Testament. The adopted the allegorical interpretation, though they have explained the
objections to its canonical authority are now therefore derived solely allegory in different ways. The Chaldee Targum considers it as a
from its internal character, and may be summed up in the following figurative description of the love of God to Israel, as shown in
argument that the book cannot form a part of Holy Scripture, since delivering them from the Egyptian slavery, supporting and comforting
it contains no religious truth, unless we interpret it after a fashion for them in the wilderness, and bringing them into the promised land.
which there is no authority.
Christian expositors, from Origen downwards, have generally under-
stood it as descriptive of the union between Christ and the church;
Those who
but some few have explained it in a different way.
acknowledge its canonicity, but reject the idea of a reference either
literally to Solomon or figuratively to Christ, take its admission into
the canon to be a divine recommendation and praise of a single
virtuous marriage as opposed to polygamy and concubinage. This was
latterly the opinion of the most distinguished modern opponent of its
canonicity in England, Dr. J. Pye Smith. Various opinions are held
as to the structure of the Song, the best of which appears to be that
which takes it to be a pastoral-nuptial song in a dramatic form.
C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C.
To these syllables the English give the Italian pronunciation.
SOLOMON, THE SONG OF, or THE BOOK OF CANTICLES
(D`¬WO TW; “Aoµa tŵv doµátwv, 'Canticum Canticorum,' our
'Song of Songs') a canonical book of the Old Testament.
The book is a poem, or collection of poems, describing in imagery
which is certainly warm, but to an oriental taste perfectly delicate,
the chaste loves of a bridegrooni and his bride. It bears the name of
Solomon in its title, 'The Song of Songs, which is Solomon's;' and is
supposed to be the only remaining one of the thousand and five songs
which we are told that that monarch composed. According to the
common opinion it was composed as an epithalamium at the marriage
of Pharaoh's daughter with Solomon, who are respectively the bride
and bridegroom of the poem; but under the guidance of divine
inspiration it was so constructed as to form a mystical allegory repre-
senting the relation between Christ and his church.
First, then, with respect to its date and author. An attempt has
been made, supported by Kennicott, Eichhorn, Jahn, and Rosenmüller,
to prove the poem later than the Babylonish captivity, but Ewald,
an excellent judge, and De Wette, agree in referring it to the time of
Solomon. The style and language are not more different from that of
the Book of Proverbs' than might be expected from the difference of
the subjects. But the structure and contents of the poem are alleged
as presenting insuperable obstacles to the supposition that Solomon
was the author. Again, with reference to the bride, it is contended
that the poem itself proves her to have been not an Egyptian princess,
but an Israelite. This point is very strongly brought out by Dr. Mason
Good. On all these points the difficulty is much increased by the
highly coloured imagery of the poem. But the first difficulty may
perhaps be explained by supposing one or more changes of scene:
there seem in fact to be several. The question respecting the person
designed to be represented by the bride, it has been attempted to
solve in various ways. Dr. Mason Good imagines that the poem
describes a love-match which Solomon made with some Israelitish
woman after his political marriage with Pharaoh's daughter. A third
(The Introductions of Eichhorn, Augusti, Jahn, and Horne; Papers
by Dr. Smith, Dr. Bennett, and others, in the Congregational Maga-
zine' for 1837 and 1838; The Song of Songs, by Mason Good, Lond.,
1803; other Commentaries in Horne, vol. ii., part ii.; Lowth's Prolec-
tions; Hirzel, Das Lied der Lieder, oder Sieg der Treue, Zurich, 1840;
Fava, La Cantica delle Cantiche, Milano, 1840.)
SOLOMON, THE WISDOM OF (Zopía Zaλúμwv), an apocryphal
book of the Old Testament, ascribed to Solomon, but manifestly
written long after his time. It is not known to have ever existed in
Hebrew, and it contains Greek ideas and expressions which prove it to
belong, if to a Jew at all, to one of the Alexandrian school. There
are in it historical references utterly at variance with the state of
things in Solomon's reign, and quotations from Isaiah and Jeremiah.
Internal evidence would point to the end of the second or beginning
of the 1st century B.C. as the time of its composition. It is commonly
ascribed to Philo the Jew, but the style is quite different from his
genuine writings. It was badly translated into Latin before the time
of Jerome, who did not revise the version. The fathers of the church
considered it apocryphal; but it was pronounced canonical by the
third council of Carthage (A.D. 397), and again by the council of Trent.
673
674
SOLSTICES.
SOMNAMBULISM.
*
It consists of two parts. The first part (chap. i.-ix.) contains the
praise of wisdom, an exhortation to all, and especially to kings, to seek
it, and the manner in which it is to be obtained. The second part
(chap. x-xix.) brings forward examples from history of the happiness
that springs from wisdom and the misery entailed by folly. Through-
out the book Solomon is represented as speaking; and the work is
evidently an imitation of his proverbs. It is remarkable as being the
earliest Jewish work extant which contains a clear statement of the
doctrine of rewards and punishments in a future state.
SOLSTICES, the points of the ecliptic which are highest above the
equator, at which, the sun's motion in declination being imperceptible,
the days remain sensibly unaltered in length for several days together,
as they would do if the sun absolutely stood still: whence the name.
[SUN.]
SOLUBILITY. [SOLUTION.]
SOLUTION. When the force of ADHESION is exerted between a
solid and a liquid with sufficient energy to overcome the cohesion of
the former, the substance is said to be soluble, or to undergo solution,
or to be dissolved. The solution of sugar in water, of resin in spirits
of wine, of silver in mercury, is now regarded as a form of adhesion.
Certain liquids are also soluble in other liquids, gases in other gases,
and gases in liquids, as noticed under DIFFUSION. For the solubility
of gases in liquids, we refer to GAS. In the present article we may
give a few details respecting the solution of solids in liquids.
The liquid which effects the solution is usually termed the solvent,
but sometimes the menstruum. Particular solutions have also special
names, such as syrup, which is applied to the solution of sugar in
water, while tincture refers to a solution of a solid in alcohol. When a
liquid can no longer dissolve further portions of the solid, it is said to
be saturated; that is, the force of cohesion balances that of adhesion.
Generally, however, an elevation of temperature, by diminishing cohe-
sion, will increase the solvent powers of the liquid. But there are cases
in which cold appears to favour solution: thus lime and some of its
salts dissolve more readily in water just above the freezing-point than
when boiling. Crystallised sulphate of soda requires about ten times
its weight of ice-cold water for solution, and its solubility increases
rapidly with the temperature up to 91° Fahr., from which point up to
the boiling-point of the solution the solubility decreases; and the
liquid, saturated at 91°, deposits a portion of the salt by increasing the
temperature. Seleniate of soda and sulphate of iron afford similar
results, which are due probably to the fact that heat diminishes
adhesion as well as cohesion, but the former force decreases more
rapidly than the latter. If a liquid added to a solution have a stronger
adhesion to the solvent than to the substance dissolved, the latter will
often be thrown down in a pulverulent state: thus, the addition of
water to camphorated spirit will throw down camphor.
Solution is favoured by increasing the extent of surface in the solid,
as by reducing it to powder. In general, the first portions of a solid
disappear rapidly, and the after portions more and more slowly until
saturation is reached. Solids present innumerable degrees of solubility;
for while some bodies, such as sulphate of baryta, are almost insoluble,
and sulphate of lime only soluble in about the proportion of 1 part in
700 parts of water, 1 part of sulphate of potash will dissolve in 16
parts of water, and 2 parts of sulphate of magnesia will dissolve in only
3 of water. It is remarkable that water saturated with one salt will
dissolve others. As aqueous solutions of solids are heavier than water,
the degree of solubility of a solid may be judged of by suspending it in
a glass of water, and watching the current as it descends. "If it fall
rapidly, and in dense striæ, it will indicate rapid solubility, and the
formation of a dense solution; if it fall in a very narrow stream, it will
indicate only moderate or slight solubility; and by its descending
rapidly or in a slow broad stream, or by resting about the substance, a
judgment may be made of the comparative density of the solution
produced. If no descending current appear, nor any fluid round the
substance of a refractive power oв colour different to that of the water,
then the body must be very nearly, if not quite, insoluble at common
temperatures." (Faraday, 'Chemical Manipulation.') The taste will
also frequently give an indication of the solubility of a solid.
In general, a solution due to adhesion partakes of the properties
both of the solvent and of the substance dissolved. Where chemical
change intervenes, we have the properties of a third body. Hence, in
cases of simple solution, the solvent and the body dissolved have, to
some extent, properties in common, as when mercury dissolves many
of the metals, and oils dissolve fatty bodies and each other; but in
cases of chemical action, the affinities are strongest between bodies the
most dissimilar, as when the acids dissolve metals or their oxides, oils
the alkalies, and so on.
The uses of solution are numerous. It allows a body to be purified
by filtration or crystallisation, so that one substance may be separated
from another, either by crystallisation or by the use of such fluids in
succession as have a solvent power over one or more of the substances
present. By means of solution, substances are prepared for the exertion
of chemical action, and all obstructions due to the attraction of aggre-
gation removed.
SOLUTION. (Mathematics.) By the solution of a problem should
be meant the method of finding that which the problem requires to be
found: but the word is frequently understood to apply to the answer
itself.
ARTS AND SCI. DIV. VOL. VII.
A solution is given when the problem is reduced to any other which
was supposed to be known before the first was presented: the difficulty
peculiar to the given problem is removed as soon as it is shown to be
capable of reference to another and a lower class. Thus, though
properly speaking a problem is not solved until the answer is
presented in numbers, yet it is not thought necessary to require that
such a result should be attained, provided the steps which are left are
such as are well known and generally admitted. Thus an equation
would be said to be solved were it found that the roots required are
those of a given quadratic; for no one is supposed ignorant of the
mode of then finding them.
A geometrical solution, in the strict sense of the word, is one in
which only the means of construction admitted by Euclid, or others
deducible from them, are employed in its attainment. This is the least
finished of all solutions; for a mode of laying down the various points
which terminate lines is not, generally speaking, a mode of ascertaining
the ratio of these lines. Nor must it be forgotten by the admirers of
geometry that the most important part of a result, the expression of
the ratios which the answer bears to the several data, is only indirectly
obtained in their favourite method.
When more means than those allowed by Euclid are employed, the
solution used to be called mechanical. It is rarely that such a solution
is now employed.
An algebraical solution is one which employs algebra and arithmetic,
to the exclusion of geometrical construction; that is, one in which the
answer can always be directly calculated from a formula. Geometrical
construction may be necessary for the demonstration of the solution :
it is enough that the answer contain no directions to find lines or
surfaces by construction.
An approximate solution is one which has an amount of inaccuracy
necessarily. Thus if 3+ √2 were the root of an equation, this solu-
tion would not be called approximate; for though √2 cannot be
perfectly represented in a finite form, the symbol itself contains the
mode of attaining the result with any degree of exactness short of
perfection. But if 2 were found to five decimal places, the answer
1-41421 would be called an approximate answer. Most solutions must
terminate in an approximate representation. [TRANSCENDENTAL.]
SOLVENT. (SOLUTION.]
SOMNAMBULISM, a word of modern origin, which means strictly
and etymologically sleep-walking; it is however generally used in a
more extended signification to comprehend all the phenomena that
take place when a person, apparently insensible to external objects,
acts as if he were in a state of consciousness: and this is the sense
which the word will bear in this article. M. Bertrand, in his 'Traite
du Somnambulisme' (Svo., Paris, 1823), divides those phenomena into
four classes: 1, essential (or proper) somnambulism, which arises from
some particular disposition of the nervous system in persons who in
other respects apparently enjoy perfect health; 2, symptomatic (or
morbid) somnambulism, which occurs in the course of certain diseases;
3, artificial somnambulism, which is occasioned by the proceedings
employed in animal magnetism or mesmerism; and, 4, ecstatic som-
nambulism, which is the result of a sort of religious enthusiasm. The
same division of the subject will be here adopted.
"}
I. Essential (or Proper) Somnambulism is intimately connected with
the subject of sleep and dreaming; and in fact" a somnambulator,"
as Dr. Pritchard says, "is nothing but a dreamer who is able
to act his dreams. [DREAMS.] [SLEEP, in NAT. HIST. DIV. ]
As a minute inquiry into the physiology of these two pheno-
mena would here be out of place, the reader must consult the
articles already given on these subjects. This form of somnambulism
was noticed by the ancients. The author of the treatise 'De Morbo
Sacro,' that commonly goes under the name of Hippocrates, says that
"he knew many persons who used to groan and cry out in their sleep,
and others that seemed to pant for breath (vyouévous), and others
that would get up and run out of the house and act like madmen till
they were awakened, after which they were in good health and sound
sense as before, only rather pale and weak" (tom. i., p. 588, ed.
Kühn). Aristotle tells us that "there are individuals who rise in their
sleep and walk about, seeing as clearly as those that are awake." Dio-
genes Laertius mentions (De Vitis Philosophorum, Pyrrho,' lib. ix.)
that a Stoic philosopher named Theon was a sleep-walker; and Galen
says (De Motu Musculorum,' lib. ii., cap. 4, tom. iv., p. 435, 436, ed.
Kühn) that he would not believe that people ever fell asleep while
walking, until one night when walking along the road he did so him-
self, and went on for about a furlong, sleeping and dreaming, till at
last he was awakened by kicking against a stone. "And this," adds
he, "is the reason why people cannot go on walking for any distance
in their sleep, because they cannot meet with a perfectly smooth
road;" in which he is not quite correct, as we often find that both the
bodily and intellectual powers of the individual are more active and
developed in his sleep then when he is awake, and that he is then able
to perform feats which at any other time he would shudder at. The
instances on record of this species of somnambulism are so numerous
that it is difficult to select the most interesting; one or two examples
however must be given, and for a more copious collection the reader
must be referred to some of the works whose titles will be given in the
following part of this article.
Several interesting cases of somnambulism will be found in Mura-
X X
675
SOMNAMBULISM.
tori's work, 'Della Forza della Fantasia Humana;' some of them given
on the authority of Gassendi. One of Gassendi's somnambulists used
to rise and dress himself in his sleep, go down to the cellar and
draw wine from a cask. He appeared to see in the dark as well as
in a clear day; but when he awoke, either in the street or cellar,
he was obliged to grope and feel his way back to his bed. He always
answered his wife as if awake, but in the morning recollected nothing
of what had passed. Another sleep-walker, a countryman of Gassendi's,
passed on stilts over a swollen torrent in the night, but on awaking
was afraid to return before daylight, or until the water had subsided.
This species of somnambulism has been known to be hereditary.
Horstius, in his work 'De Natura, Differentiis, et Causis eorum qui
Dormientes ambulant' (seu'de Noctambulonibus '), Lips., 1595, 8vo.,
p. 172, mentions three brothers who were affected with it at the same
time; and Willis knew a whole family that was subject to it. Perhaps
however these may rather be considered as instances of the influence
of example and of the power of unconscious imitation, which some-
times renders it in a manner contagious. Of this there is a curious
example given by Dr. Pezzi, in a work entitled 'Scretti di Medico
Argomento,' Venez., 1813. It appears that his nephew, after reading
more than once the history of a somnambulist, was himself seized with
this affection; and also that the servant who attended him soon began
to exhibit in his own person similar phenomena.
Essential somnambulism occurs in many persons (says Dr. Good)
without any manifest predisponent cause, though it is generally con-
nected with a considerable irritability of habit. A morbid state of
the stomach, where this habit exists, has very frequently proved an
exciting cause; and where this is the case, the attention of the phy-
sician must of course be directed to that quarter. With respect to
the mode of treatment during the fit, though it has sometimes been
recommended to employ violent means, so as to awaken the somnam-
bulist suddenly, and to repeat this as often as the attacks come on,
until they have completely ceased; yet M. Bertrand warns us against
such a proceeding. “If, in the first place," says he, "sensibility is
completely extinguished, all the means employed to awaken the
somnambulist will be useless; secondly, even when it is possible to
awaken him at once, the sudden shock produces serious conse-
quences; thirdly, as somnambulism is often the result of a salutary
crisis of nature, one is never sure of not hurting the patient by sup-
pressing it; and, lastly, the sudden suspension of habit of the animal
economy that has been contracted for a long time, must in all cases be
attended with danger." He adds that the best plan is to try to put
oneself in connection with the patient by entering into the course of
ideas by which he is occupied during the attack, and so endeavour to
direct him in a reasonable manner.
SONG.
670
the objects; and after turning round, she returned to her bed, covered
herself with the clothes, and again became stiff as at the commence-
ment. She then awoke as if from a profound sleep, and when she per-
ceived, from the appearance of the bystanders, that she must have had
her fits again, she wept the whole day for shame, and never knew
what had happened to her during the paroxysm. The above is by no
means one of the most wonderful cases of somnambulism occuring during
a cataleptic seizure, but it has been chosen on account of the respect-
able authority on which it rests. Those recorded by M. Petetin
(Mémoire sur la Découverte des Phénomènes que présentent la Cata-
lepsie et le Somnambulisme, &c.,' 1787; and Electricité Animale
prouvée par la Découverte des Phénomènes Physiques et Moraux de la
Catalepsie Hystérique, et de ses Variétés,' Lyon, 1808), are not perhaps
less authentic.
III. Artificial Somnambulism, or that which is occasioned by the
proceedings employed in animal magnetism, is not expressly mentioned
by any ancient writer, but some lines by Solon, and a verse in Plautus
(Amphitr.' i. 1-157) have been supposed by some persons to allude to
these manipulations. As an account of the doctrines of Mesmer has
been already given under the head of ANIMAL MAGNETISM, it will be
sufficient here to refer to the 'Rapport sur les Expériences Magnétiques
faites par la Commission de l'Académie Royale de Médecine [à Paris],
lu dans les Séances des 21 et 28 Juin, 1831, par M. Husson, Rapporteur.'
With respect to the phenomenon of somnambulism as caused by
mesmerism, or animal magnetism, so much credulity and deception
have been brought to light in connection with it, that a person
be too cautious in sifting and weighing the evidence on which each of
the alleged instances rests; but after all this mass of knavery and folly
has been cleared away, there still remain a large number of instances
which cannot be disbelieved without discarding all historical evidence
whatever. For more information on the subject the reader may con-
sult, besides the works already quoted, the Rev. Chauncey Towns-
hend's work on Somnambulism, and 'Le Magnétisme Animal en
France,' by M. Bertrand, Paris, 1826.
cannot
IV. Ecstatic Somnambulism.-M. Bertrand has given this name to
that species which is produced by a high exaltation of the mind, and
becomes in a manner infectious by sympathy in such persons as are
predisposed and subjected to the same influences. Of this last species,
the devotional ecstasis is perhaps the most frequent and the most
remarkable; and this has been supposed to have had some connection
with the oracles and other miraculous stories of antiquity. M. Ber-
trand has, however, for obvious reasons, selected his instances from
four different periods in modern times, in each of which the devotional
ecstasis appeared as a sort of epidemic, and presented symptoms very
similar to those occurring in the three former species of somnambulism.
The first series of phenomena are those which took place in connection
with the burning of the unhappy Grandier on the charge of sorcery at
Loudun, in 1634, an account of which may be found in Bayle (Dict.
Hist.,' art. 'Grandier'); or in the 'Hist. des Diables de Loudun,' by a
Protestant Refugee, Amst., 1693, 12mo. The next instances are ex-
tracted from a scarce work entitled 'Théâtre Sacré des Cévennes,' and
relate to the French Protestants who, after the revocation of the
Edict of Nantes, 1685, went by the name of the Trembleurs des
Cévennes,' and were persecuted and massacred in those mountains.
The third epidemic broke out at the tomb of the Abbé Pâris in the
church of St. Médard, at Paris, about the year 1731.
These are
perhaps the most celebrated of all, as having been selected by Hume
to oppose to the miracles of the New Testament. The original and
authentic account of them was published by M. Carré de Montgeron,
in a work entitled 'La Vérité des Miracles opérés à l'Intercession de
M. de Pâris,' &c., 2 vols. 4to, 1737, 1741; and they are examined at
some length and with great acuteness by Bishop Douglas, in his
Criterion, or Miracles Examined,' &c. To these he has added,
fourthly, some considerations on the state produced in the patients
who, towards the end of the last century, were exorcised by a priest
named Gassner, at Ratisbon. An account of thèse (supposed) mira-
culous cures is to be found in a work entitled 'L'Antimagnétisme;
ou Origine, Progrès, Décadence, Renouvellement, et Réfutation du
Magnétisme Animal,' 8vo, Londres, 1784 (pronounced by M. Deleuze
to be the ablest publication that had appeared against the doctrines of
Mesmer), which account is extracted from a work called 'Procès-verbal
des Opérations Merveilleuses, &c., par le Ministère du Sieur Gassner,'
&c., Schillingsfürst, 1775. As, however, neither these nor many other
examples that might be brought forward can be fully noticed here, it
has been thought sufficient to point out the places where further
information may be procured.
II. Symptomatic or Morbid Somnambulism generally presents itself as
one of the phenomena attending catalepsy. [CATALEPSY.] This form
of somnambulism does not appear to have been noticed by the ancients;
but there are many cases on record long before the time of Mesmer,
as well as others described by persons unacquainted with and even
opposed to the doctrines of animal magnetism. The following case is
given by Colquhoun, on the authority of Sauvages, and may be found
in greater detail in the 'Hist. de l'Académie des Sciences,' for the year
1742: A girl of twenty years of age was frequently attacked with cata-
leptic insensibility, during which she continued stiff and deprived of all
sensation, whether standing, sitting, or lying, in the position she might
happen to be in at the time of the commencement of the attack, and
she could be pushed forward, like a statue, when it was wished to
remove her from one place to another. She was afterwards placed in a
different state, which commenced with the same deprivation of sense
and motion, but at intervals, presented a wonderful kind of animation.
She first became motionless, then, some minutes afterwards, she began
to yawn, sat up on the bed, and enacted the following scene, which she
repeated at least fifty times. She spoke with an unusual liveliness and
cheerfulness, and what she said was a continuation of what she had
spoken in her previous fit, or a repetition of some part of the catechism
which she had heard read on the preceding evening. She frequently
addressed her acquaintances in the house, and sometimes made ironical
applications of moral apophthegms to them under feigned names with
open eyes, and such gestures as she had made the previous evening.
That during all this time she was not awake, was clear from various
experiments. A hand was suddenly passed near her eyes, without pro-
ducing any motion in the eyelids or any attempt to evade it, or inter-
rupting her speech in the slightest degree. The same thing happened
when a finger was suddenly approached close to her eye, or a burning
taper held so near to it that the hair of her eyelids was actually burnt,
and also when any one called loudly into her ear from behind, or threw
a stone against the bedstead. Nay more, brandy and spirit of harts-
horn were poured into her eyes and mouth; Spanish snuff was blown As denoting a musical composition, song is used, in this country, to
into her nostrils; she was pricked with needles; her fingers were signify a vocal melody of any length or character, and not confined to
wrenched; the ball of her eye was touched with a feather, and even a single movement; and while the solemn air of the oratorio, and the
with the finger: yet she manifested not the slightest sensation. During aria grande of the Italian opera, are frequently, though erroneously,
these trances she always began to speak with more than usual animation; called by this name, the same is bestowed on the short, simple ballad.
soon afterwards, she sang and laughed aloud, attempted to get out of But this is only one instance among many of the defective state of our
bed, and at length sprang out of it and uttered a cry of joy. She kept musical nomenclature. Of the varieties of song, see AIR, Ballad, Can-
the middle way between the bedsteads as well as when awake, and ZONET. The term however is not absolutely unlimited in its meaning,
never came against them-turned dexterously round between the bed-for, as regards performance, it is most frequently confined to an air for a
steads and a concealed closet, without ever groping her way or touching single voice. Thus our composers, especially in the 16th and 17th
SONG, a term applied to either a short poetical or musical com-
position, but most frequently to the two in union.
677
678
SONG OF SOLOMON.
SOPHISTS.
centuries, often entitle their productions for more than one voice,
'Part-Songs.'
Concerning the songs, or Exóλia, of the Greeks, see MUSIC and
SCOLLA. Of the Roman song, musically considered, we are without
information. Having more of war than of taste in their nature, the
Romans bestowed little thought on music, and coldly adopted what
was transmitted by the elegant Greeks. But music, as the term is at
But music, as the term is at
present understood, is an art exclusively modern, and cannot be said to
have existed till the invention, or at least the
use, of counterpoint.
The poetry of modern songs has, in too many instances, degene-
rated, while the music of them has gradually improved. England,
from about the middle of the last century till a recent period,
furnished its full share of beautiful songs (this term excluding all airs
of greater pretensions) to the general stock. France rather later
began to contribute its fair quota; and however opinions may differ
respecting the merit of earlier French melodies, it seems to be agreed
that they may now compete with those of most other nations. But it
must be admitted that Germany of late years has taken the lead in
this, as in higher departments of music.
SONG OF SOLOMON. [SOLOMON'S SONG.]
SONNET (Italian, Sonata, Sonetto), a form of poetry much used by
the Italian and Spanish poets, but which our deficiency of rhymes has
caused to be more sparingly used in English. The sonnet properly
consists of two quatrains, having properly but two rhymes, and two
tercets. The last six lines are susceptible of various arrangements;
the one usually adopted in English is the rhyming of the fifth and
sixth lines together, frequently after a full pause, so that the sonnet
ends with a point, as in an epigram. The Italians consider the best
form to be the rhyming together of the three uneven and the three
even lines; but our poverty of rhymes causes us to prefer the rhyming
of the first and fourth, second and fifth, third and sixth lines: this,
with a break in the sense at the third line, constitutes also a legitimate
sonnet, of which the Italians have given abundant precedents. We
need scarcely observe that all our poets have held themselves at
liberty to vary the form of the sonnet. The lightness and richness of
the Italian and Spanish languages enable their poets to express every
feeling or fancy in the sonnet; but with us it has been found most
suitable to grave, dignified, and contemplative subjects. Hence Milton
and Wordsworth are our best writers of sonnets.
SONOROUS VIBRATIONS. When the air or other elastic body
is made to vibrate with sufficient rapidity, sound is produced.
[ACOUSTICS.] During such vibrations the molecular arrangement of
the sounding body becomes changed, but returns to its normal state
when the vibrations cease. [NODAL POINTS AND LINES.] It is stated
(Bird's 'Natural Philosophy,') that if a copper ribbon 9 feet long,
4 inch wide, and '04 inch thick, be vibrated, its length will appear to
be unaffected. If it be stretched by a weight of 90 lbs., its length will
remain the same until it be made to vibrate, when it will become per-
manently lengthened by 6 or 7 inches. When sonorous vibrations are
isochronous a perfect sound or tone is produced; when irregular, a
noise. For the phenomena produced by the reflection of sonorous
vibrations, see ЕCHо, and for their interference ACOUSTICS and INTER-
FERENCE. For the production of sonorous vibrations during the
cooling of heated metals, see THERMOPHONE. For the different kinds
of vibrations, see VIBRATIONS.
SOOT is that portion of fuel which escapes combustion, and which
is mechanically carried up and deposited partly in chimneys and partly
in the air. The soot of coal and that of wood differ very materially
in their composition; the former indeed does not appear to have been
accurately analysed, but it evidently contains more carbonaceous
matter than the latter. Coal-soot contains substances usually derived
from the distillation of organic matters; it contains sulphate and
hydrochlorate of ammonia, and has been used for the preparation of
the carbonate; to hot water it yields a brown bitter extract, and it
contains an empyreumatic oil; but its great basis is charcoal in a state
in which it is capable of absorbing ammonia from the air, and hence
with the ammoniacal salts it already contains, it is used as a manure,
and acts very powerfully as such. Sir H. Davy observes that for this
purpose it is well fitted to be used in the dry state, thrown into the
ground with the seed, and requires no preparation.
The soot of wood has been minutely analysed by Braconnot, who
found it to consist of the following substances :-
Ulmin (about).
Azotised matter
30-20
20.00
Carbonate of lime and traces of carbonate of magnesia 14.66
Water
12.50
•
Acetate of lime
5.65
Sulphate of lime
5.00
Acetate of potash
4.10
Carbonaceous matter insoluble in alkalies
3.85
Ferruginous phosphate of lime
1.50
Silica
0.95
0.53
•
Asbolin (a peculiar acrid and bitter principle) about
0.50
•
Chloride of potassium
Acetate of ammonia (about)
0.36
0.20
Acetate of iron (a trace)
Acetate of magnesia
100.
Braconnot considers the ulmin as absolutely similar to that obtained
artificially by the action of potash on wood-sawdust, but Berzelius is
of a different opinion, and calls it gein. The azotised matter is very
soluble in water, and insoluble in alcohol. As coal-soot contains much
more carbonaceous matter than wood-soot, and also a much larger
portion of ammoniacal salts, it must be more active as a manure, and
altogether a more useful substance.
SOPHISM (ópioμa), that superficial and incomplete aspect of the
truth, which at first sight looks like the truth, but on closer inspection
turns out to contain some radical error. This seems the most correct
definition, but the word is used loosely. Its general signification,
namely, a specious proposition, is perhaps nearest the mark. Truly
considered, most errors are sophisms, for errors are not direct contra-
dictions to the truth, but simply the leaving out of view one or more
elements of the truth, and seizing on only one or two elements, and
declaring them to constitute the whole truth. Victor Cousin defines
error to be "One element of thought considered exclusively, and taken
for the complete thought itself. Error is nothing but an incomplete
truth converted into an absolute truth." (Introduction à l'Hist. de
Philosophie,' Leçon 7.) Spinoza had before defined "falsity to be that
privation of truth which arises from inadequate ideas." (Ethis,'
b. ii. prop. xxxv.) It is sometimes a mere confusion of terms; as in
the common example of Bread being better than paradise; because
bread is better than nothing, and nothing is better than paradise-the
confusion arises from both the "nothings" being used substantively;
whereas it is only the first that is so used; the second is affirmative,
and expresses "there is nothing better." A sophism is therefore the
use of some word in a different sense in the premises from that in the
conclusion, and this is the definition of Aristotle ('Top.' viii. 11):
When the discourse is a demonstration of anything, if it contain
anything which has no relation to the conclusion, there will be no
syllogism; and if there appear to be one, it will be a sophism, and
not a demonstration."
This confusion of words and ideas is the origin of all errors and
sophisms; but though errors and sophisms are logically constituted
alike, yet the instinctive sense of mankind marks the difference between
incomplete views (error) and wilful perversion (sophism). In all cases
a sophism is supposed to be recognised as such by the sophist. It is
an endeavour on his part to "make the worse appear the better reason.
It is the consciousness then of the sophist which distinguishes and
renders odious his error as a sophism.
"J
SOPHISTS. The race of sophists took its rise in Athens about the
5th century B.C., when Athens was a real democracy. From the neces-
sity every man was under of pleading his own cause before the dicastery,
in any case before the court, whether as plaintiff or defendant; from
the political power which every citizen possessed, but could scarcely
exercise with effect unless able to speak fluently; the teaching of
rhetoric, or the arts of speaking and arguing logically, came to be in
much request. The age was also a sceptical, and therefore an investi-
gating one. But though flourishing in Athens, sophists and their
teachings were not confined to that city, but extended throughout all
the Grecian republics, and occasionally to the courts of tyrants. They
went about Greece discoursing and debating, and sometimes educating
the youth of rich and noble families. They were not, strictly speaking,
a sect; indeed the name signifying only a wise or clever man, had
been so applied from the earliest times of Greece; and Socrates, Plato,
and other eminent men were all called sophists.
CC
The disrepute attached to the name arose apparently from the facts
of the teachers accepting payment for their lessons, and thence pro-
ceeding to inculcate not the desire for truth, but the means of securing
victory by the use of specious fallacies. It was against both these
modes that Socrates and Plato contended; and to which Plato and
Aristotle affixed the name as a term of reproach for a man who em-
ploys what he knows to be fallacy, for the purpose of deceit and of
getting money." (Grote, 'Hist. of Greece,' vol. v.) But the sophists
were able to bear up against the judgment of philosophers, by having
become the trainers of men for the active pursuits of life, and their
influence over the multitude greatly exceeded that of the sages. Nor
did they all, though they taught for money, teach fallacies merely;
and the representations of them in the Dialogues of Plato must not
be accepted as the truth with reference to them as a class. Socrates,
Protagoras, and Prodicus, were stigmatised as sophists, but what we know
of their doctrines and practice does not deserve any heavy condeinna-
tion. No doubt, in numerous instances the sophists, like the school-
men of the middle ages, indulged in subtleties and evasions which
were dishonest, trivial, and often ridiculous; but, as Ritter says ('Ge-
schichte der Philosophie,' vol. i.), "It is not to be denied that the
sophists contributed greatly to the perfection of prose; which was in
itself a great benefit to philosophy. The sophists applied themselves
to manifold arts of persuasion, and in their attacks upon each other,
labouring to expose and lay bare the delusions of appearance, they
acquired great nicety in the distinction of terms. Prodicus was cele-
brated for his skill in the distinctions of synonymous terms (as we
learn from Plato, who ridicules him for it, (Protag. p. 337; Crat.
p. 384); but Prodicus is honourably mentioned by him (Euthyd.
p. 277-305). The sophisms turning upon the words 'to learn,' to
understand,'' to know,' also contributed to the more accurate know-
ledge of these terms. The very circumstance that their rules were
679
SOPRANO.
intended to be subservient to the ends of fallacy and deception, must
have afforded a stronger motive to the philosophical spirit to bring
under investigation the true forms of thought and expression which
had been neglected by earlier philosophers; and accordingly we find
that they occupied much of the attention of Socrates."
SOPRA'NO (Italian), the highest of the various voices; the treble.
[VOICE.]
SORBIN. [SUGAR.]
SORBINIC ACID. [SUGAR.]
SORITES. A name given to any chain of premises, more than two
in number, from which a conclusion follows. As, Every A is B, Every
B is c, Every c is D, Every D is E, therefore, Every A is E.
SOTHIAC PERIOD. The ancient Egyptian year consisted only of
365 days, without any intercalation; and was divided into 12 months of
30 days each, with 5 days added at the end. (Herodotus, ii. 4.) The
Scholiast on Aratus informs us that the priests were sworn never to
alter this year. This oath, we may conjecture, only came into use
after the discovery of the fact that a fraction of a day more would
have been desirable to make the civil year conform to the sun. As
long as 365 days was imagined to be the real year, it is not likely that
they would have sworn each other to its observance; but if, after the
discovery, a party were formed in favour of an alteration, the attempt
to preserve the ancient institution by an oath would be almost a matter
of course. Again, Diodorus Siculus (i. 50) says, that the Egyptians
add five days and a quarter to the 360 days of their 12 months, which
statement is generally supposed to refer to a more correct year which
had been introduced among the people, while their religious festivals
continued to be regulated by the old year. The propriety of this
mode of reconciling the two authorities is made probable by the known
existence of the Sothiac period (also called the Canicular year, Annus
Magnus, &c., derived from Sothis, a name for the star Sirius) mentioned
by Geminus, and also by Censorinus and Clement of Alexandria, from
older writers. It is obvious that 1461 years of 365 days each make
1460 years of 365 days. This period of 1460 Julian years was the
Sothiac period. It is impossible to fix any time at which this period
was introduced, or to say whether, during its existence as a recognised
cycle, it had time to run its whole career. Had it been a real cycle of
experiment, it must be imagined that it would have been found to be
wrong, to the extent of requiring an addition to the oath; for 1508
real years is nearer to the time in which a year of 365 days would have
its beginning in all the seasons successively, and recommence the same
process. It is obvious that such a cycle of recurrence was the intention
of the Egyptians in constructing the period: their vague year (annus
vagus) of 365 days, combined with their nearly fixed festivals, depend-
ing upon the heliacal rising of SIRIUS, made the latter take all conse-
cutive positions among the months of the former, gradually falling
later and later. Again, if the Egyptians had really gone through a
whole recorded period, it is difficult to see how they would avoid dis-
covering that another cycle would be necessary. In the time of their
ancient kings the heliacal rising of Sirius would have advanced, by the
precession of the equinoxes, about 12 days in one Sothiac period. The
beginning of the vague year (365 days) was continually falling back;
so that if at the beginning of a period they had noted the day of
their vague year on which the equinox fell, and also the day on which
Sirius rose heliacally, they would have found that the latter came again
to the same day of the vague year fifty years, or thereabouts, before
the equinox was similarly restored. This, so far as the star was con-
cerned, would fit their erroneous period very well (1460 instead of
1508); but it is difficult to suppose that astronomers who had dis-
covered the odd quarter of a day which the year requires, should not
know within 12 days the time of the equinox.
The epoch of commencement of a Sothiac period is not well deter-
mined and only from comparatively modern writers. Censorinus asserts
that the consulship of Ulpius and Pontianus (usually placed in A.D.
238) was in the hundredth year of such a period accordingly B.C.
1322 was the beginning of the preceding period. Clement of Alex-
andria says that the period began 345 years after the migration of the
Israelites from Egypt, a date which differs considerably from that of
Censorinus, according to modern chronologers. The point is however
of no importance, as no dates were ever recorded in written history by
means of Sothiac periods.
SOTIES, or SOTTISES. [DRAMA; French Drama.]
SOULS, CURE OF. [BENEFICE.]
SOUND. For the various divisions of this great subject we must
refer to ACOUSTICS; ECHO; VIBRATIONS; PIPE; SCALE; &c.; also
to the various articles on MUSIC and its theory.
SOUND BOARDS. The boards which are used in floors for the
purpose of intercepting the passage of sound between the various
storeys of a building, are known amongst builders by the name of
sound boards. They are introduced in double floors (that is to say, in
floors formed by separate systems of joists for the ceiling and for the
floor-boards), immediately upon the ceiling-joists; and in single floors
they are executed in short lengths, laid upon fillets, nailed on the
sides of the deep joists. Upon these boards light plaster, or lime
rubbish, or other material able to arrest the passage of the sound
waves is laid, and the ordinary floor-boards are then nailed over the
whole. Sometimes a mixture of lime and hair is laid upon sound
boards as the "pugging material," to use the workman's phrase; and
SOUNDINGS, DEEP SEA.
030
in others, plaster of Paris is used; but it must be observed, in either
of these cases, that if the ceiling and the floor-boards should be closed
before the moisture of the lime and hair, or of the plaster, has been
allowed to evaporate, there is great danger of its producing dry-rot in
the timbers. Indeed, whenever sound boarding is used, great pre-
cautions must be taken to ensure that no sappy wood be employed;
and that the work should be allowed sufficient time to dry. In framed
floors it is more easy to secure these conditions than it is in single
ones, or at any rate it is more easy to establish a ventilation above and
below sound boarding laid upon the top of the lower range of joists, as
in the former case, than it is in the case of the boards laid between the
single joists.
SOUNDINGS, DEEP SEA. Under the word LEAD-LINE a general
description has been given of the process of sounding in anchorages
and moderate depths upon the coast. Deep-sea sounding requires
totally different apparatus. Prior to about 1850, the question of deep-
sea sounding was purely geographical and physical. To know the
extreme depths of the ocean was but the natural march of that pro-
gress which had measured arcs of the meridian, and obtained the
altitudes of the highest mountains on the face of the globe; and to
descend to the mysteries of the earth's submerged surface, was but the
obvious consequence of that insatiable desire for investigation which
seems to characterise the minds of men of this particular epoch. But
it is no longer a purely scientific question, since it has become a
matter of urgent necessity to find, at the bottom of the ocean, a rest
for the telegraph-wire.
With the exception of a few spirited researches, chiefly of a private
character, little in the way of systematic soundings had been accom-
plished; though we must not overlook the advantages which deep-sea
sounding received from the investigations ordered by Congress in 1849.
The conduct of further and more elaborate experiments was confided
to Lieutenant Maury, U.S.N., who was empowered by the Congress
of the United States of America to equip a small schooner of 100 tons
called the Faney, for various scientific purposes; among them it was
specially required that her commander, Lieutenant J. C. Walsh, U.S.N.,
should attempt to reach the bottom of the sea once in every 200 miles
in crossing. the Atlantic. Up to this time no particular apparatus for
taking deep soundings had been in use: the ordinary round shot slung
with strips of canvas was the usual means employed. It was found
extremely difficult to determine in some cases the period at which the
shot reached the bottom; the weight of some thousands of fathoms of
line, and the influences of current and drifting of the vessel, rendered the
exact depth attained only appreciable by long experience. The Faney
was, moreover, found too small a vessel for the purpose; the result,
however, of the cruise reflects great credit on the commander, since he
established the fact, that in some places the depth of ocean was more
than 5700 fathoms, or was above six English miles! thus exceeding
the height of the most lofty known mountain. This was the greatest
depth that had been measured, without finding the bottom, and was
attained on the 15th November, 1849, latitude 31° 59′ N., and longi-
tude 58° 43′ W. The time used in the descent of the line to this
enormous depth was only 1 hour, but the line at last broke at the
reel, losing the whole 5700 fathoms. We are assured by Lieutenant
Maury, that the descent of the sounding line was accomplished without
any jerks or checks, beyond those of the friction bands to give
uniformity to the descent, so that the weight could not have touched
the bottom, and was a fair straight up and down experiment. In
this memorable sounding, the lead had a Stellwagen cone fitted to it,
and a small apparatus weighing 6 lbs., for ascertaining the depth
reached. The line was of steel wire of the best English manufacture.
In May, 1850, the United States again determined on exploring the
deep sea. Considerable attention was paid to every requisite, and the
Albany, Captain Platt, was next equipped for this service; the prin-
cipal locality of her observations was to be the Caribbean Sea. Instead
of steel wire, this ship was fitted with about 40,000 fathoms of twine,
weighing about 150 fathoms to the pound. This was usually attached
to a 32 lb. shot, which was allowed in its descent to take the turn
from the reel without control. After various failures, and the loss of
much line and several shot, a useful list of soundings was obtained;—
and which are described in Lieutenant Maury's work.
The principal
result of these experiments was the proving that in no part of the
Gulf of Mexico is the depth greater than 1000 fathoms. ~ It became
evident, however, that with a fixed weight, it is extremely difficult to
determine the exact depth when the bight of the line is swept off by
an under-current, which, even when the shot rests upon the ground,
continues to take the line from the reel with scarcely diminished
velocity. This would have a general tendency to give exaggerated
depths.
In May, 1851, another United States ship, the John Adams, renewed
the soundings of the Atlantic, and accomplished the greatest deep-sea
sounding which had as yet been obtained. The bottom was found in
latitude 32° 6' N., and longitude 44° 47′ W., at 5500 fathoms (Lieutenant
Walsh, in the Faney, had reached 5700 fathoms, but found no bottom).
In this great sounding two 32 lb. shot were used, which, together with
the 5500 fathoms of line, were lost on attempting to recover them :-
correcting for drift, the actual depth is estimated by Captain Barron,
her commander, at 4825 fathoms, or about 5 English miles.
It is unnecessary to follow up these observations in detail. The
681
682
SOUNDINGS, DEEP SEA.
SOUNDINGS, DEEP SEA.
CANDIA
NO
CRETE
165
590
1110
1020
1720
440
185
near Santorin.
227
1270
270
Amorgo Channel,
4155
125
185
near Stapadia.
72
300
Candia, or Crete, to Tenedos.
In 1857, Captain T. Mansell, in H.M.S. Tartarus, was occupied in
sounding between Alexandria, Rhodes, and Smyrna. He also used
Bonnici's claw, but had in addition Lieutenant Brooke's (U.S.N.) appa-
ratus in which had been substituted a conical mass of iron, sliding on
a rod. This is an exceedingly simple and ingenious plan, but has been
surpassed by improvements yet to be described. Captain Mansell
seems to have given each of these instruments a fair trial in the
Mediterranean, and records his decided preference for the Bonnici
claw. The following will explain Brooke's apparatus. It is remark-
able as the one used in discovering the plateau existing between Ireland
and Newfoundland.
In fig. 3 (col. 683), a a are arms working loosely upon a pin at b, con-
necting them with the rod c. The sounding line is attached at d to the
bridle connecting the upper ends of the two arms. The conical weight
Scale-Horizontal 60,000 fathoms
Vertical 2,000
}+
to one inch, or 30 to 1.
sliding upon the bar, is held in its position during the operation of
sounding by a looped line passing under the base of the cone, and
loosely hung on the spurs, e e, of the arms; immediately on the sound-
ing-line being relieved of the weight of the apparatus by the latter
touching the ground, the arms drop into the position shown by dotted
lines, and the loops slip off the spurs, thus detaching the cone altogether,
which slips off the bar. But here is supposed to be a defect in the
apparatus, inasmuch as the force necessary to draw the rod from the
aperture of the cone, when in a much inclined position upon rocky
bottom, is found enough to break the line at great depths.
by
Another excellent form of simple apparatus was invented by
Mr. Skead, R.N., Master of H.M.S. Tartarus, and found
Captain Spratt to answer admirably in comparatively shallow water.
Fig. 4, is a sketch of it. The sounding-line is attached to a small metal
ཅན་
་
420
1350
345
225
230
280
---
ཪ ་ ་
་་
A
Cape Bon.
Pantellaria.
Malta.
79
71
57
70
285
1530
1863
1950
2040
1950
2150
experience gained in them led to various contrivances whereby the
saving of the line at the expense of the shot might be effected. In
the Dolphin, U.S.N., an improvement was made in having shot so cast
as to slide upon an iron rod. Upon the latter touching the bottom, the
shot released itself, and the line and rod were more easily recovered.
A great advantage over the rod and shot was gained by the inven-
f
e
N
Fig. 1.
Scale of booshenk
Fig. 2
Lecco 1. Foot.
tion of a kind of double claw, acting somewhat upon the principle of
that used for detaching the monkey of a pile-driving machine. It was
invented by a blacksmith of H.M.S. Spitfire in 1851, named Carmelo
Bonnici, a Maltese. Captain Spratt, R.N., who commanded the
Spitfire, introduced it to public notice in the 'Nautical Magazine'
for 1856.
As the increasing demand for submarine telegraphs will much extend
the work of deep-sea sounding, we give a few diagrams of the means
employed in that interesting operation, as well as some sections of the
sea bed, carefully drawn to a scale, and, in order to facilitate com-
parisons, each of them has the horizontal scale in proportion to the
vertical as 30 to 1.
Bonnici's claw, as it is called, consists of two metal hooks of peculiar
shape working on a pin, so that on any weight being attached it
clasps and sustains a wire or line; its great advantage being that any
kind of sinker may be used with it, namely, either a shot or a pig of
iron, or, on the want of these, a piece of heavy stone. In the above
figures, No. 1 shows the outline of the apparatus when in course of
descent, a a being the claws hooked into a rope-grummet, c, suspend-
ing a weight, b; the arms, dd, of the claws lie close to the link e, to
which is fastened the sounding-line f, and the whole outline is such as
to favour the descent of the apparatus; but the moment the lower
portion touches the bottom, the arms d d being relieved of the weight
of the sinker, drop, as in fig. 2, and the claws detach themselves from
the grummet, and the weight is left at the bottom.
It will be noticed that a piece projects beyond the underpart of the
sinker which, among various contrivances, is loosely tied with string, J,
to the body of the sinker: this has a hollow armed with tallow in the
end, to bring up indications of the nature of the bottom bed, as in the
ordinary hand-lead. On the sinker being detached from the apparatus,
a small string, h, attached to the link of the instrument draws this
clear of the mass of the sinker, and it is hauled up with the line.
This was a great step towards a better system, but it required con-
siderable care in setting the instrument, so as to insure the ready
detachment of the weight on reaching the sea-bottom. Captain Spratt,
however, made excellent use of it. He was engaged in sounding upon
an extensive scale in the Mediterranean. In the accompanying section
it will be seen that his greatest depth was 2170 fathoms, or nearly 21
miles this was obtained in about lat. 35° 30′ N., and long. 18° 45′ E.
It shows that eastward of Malta there exists a small plateau, having
on it from 70 to 80 fathoms water, but that 50 or 60 miles from Malta,
in the same direction, there is an enormous submarine escarpment of
some 2000 fathoms, or 2 English miles.


Section 1.
Tunis to Candia or Crete.
Scale-Horizontal 136,000 fathoms
Vertical 4,533- "}
}
to one inch, or 30 to 1.
In the following section we see that the bed of the Mediterranean | (after passing the deeps about Candia) being 420 fathoms, and then
rises as we proceed northward in the Archipelago, the deepest water gradually shallowing.
Section 2.
near Scio (westward).
180 Psara Channel.
180
80 S.W. of Mitylene Bank.
140
near Mitylene.
120
150
80
near Tenedos.
40
2150
2170
1810
1720
1620
1970
་་
པ་ཡ་
བབས་
ན་པ
....
***
1590
1150
247
м
Candia or Crete.


Newfoundland.
པ དོན་རྙིང ཞེས་ སྟོན་ རྣམ་
Alexandria.
110
བ ལ་ ་ ཆ་ ་ ་ ་
་་་་་་
a
t
683
SOUNDINGS, DEEP SEA.
ring, which slides in a groove in a bar of quarter-inch iron, and 12 inches
in length, having a small hook at one end, and a weight at the other,
SOUNDINGS, DEEP SEA.
681
In 1857, Lieutenant (now Commander) Dayman, R.N., was ordered
to check the deep soundings which had been taken by the Arctic


C
A
FIG.3.
FIG.4.
72
m
B
68.16
m
Scale of
I foot
hollowed and jagged so as to bring up any portion of the bottom. This
can be used with either shot or pig-iron, and on reaching the ground
the weight a descends and unhooks the sinker, which being left at the
bottom the simple apparatus is easily recovered without much strain
on the sounding-line. The position of the hook at the moment of
detachment from the weight is shown at f.
The result of Captain Mansell's labours can be best explained by the
following section (3).
i
-----
7
J
b'
a
B
©
Scale of inzuliïu¨1 Foot
n
between Europe and North America, preparatory to the laying of the
Atlantic electric cable. [TELEGRAPH, SUBMARINE]. The following (4) is
Section 3.
740
1954
1903
1450
1495
1515
Alexandria to Nikaria.
200
450
850
1000
།
1300
2225
1550
2385
2025
1600
2050
2250
1600
2424
1950
1500
2350
1963
1350
1657
1970
1600
1500
2050
1675
2176
1950
2290
1875
1950
1800
1575
2100
2050
1740
1750
1550
Section 4.
Scale-Horizontal 71,000 fathoms
Vertical 2,367
""
}
to one inch, or 30 to 1.
1050
1200
950
500
་ ་་་་་་་
Rhodes.
400
420
600
600
ཡ་་
350
176
286
270 Westward of Kos.
44...
67
351
275
150
125
175
Newfoundland to Ireland.
Scale-Horizontal 254,160 fathoms
Vertical 8,472 "
to one inch, or 30 to 1.
} to
a section published by him, and shows in a remarkably satisfactory | remark that the United States' Government, who took the lead in
manner that the examination of the bed of the ocean at any part of
the globe is probably within the power of man even with existing
apparatus. In no part of the Atlantic under his observation did he
find the depth beyond 2424 fathoms, or about 2 miles.
It is unnecessary to mention more than the leading facts connected
with deep sea soundings. It becomes, however, an act of justice to
sounding the Atlantic, are doing the same in the Pacific. The United
States' schooner Fennimore Cooper was commissioned by Lieutenant
Brooke (the experienced officer who invented the sounding apparatus
bearing his name) for the purpose.
The only other deep sea soundings which we shall mention are those by
Captain Sir F. L. McClintock, of H.M.S. Bulldog, in the Northern Ocean
Ireland.
1
175
210 Westward of Patmos.
Nikaria.


685
686
SOUNDS, HARMONIC.
SOUTH KENSINGTON MUSEUM.
•
Iceland
(Angolla Hofde)
100
64
127
368
Greenland to Isla.
(Christiansund)
202
Greenland
1620
682
1168
350
Iceland to Faröe.
All the above sectional diagrams are upon the same relative scale,
namely, 30 to 1, and each is referred to the inch. Much valuable
information on deep sea sounding may be obtained from Maury's
works on the Physical Geography of the Sea and many very useful
details are recorded in the pages of the 'Nautical Magazine.' [SEA.]
SOUNDS, HARMONIC. [HARMONICS; TEMPERAMENT; ACOUSTICS.]
SOUTH KENSINGTON MUSEUM. The formation of a national
Museum of Ornamental Art was commenced on a very small scale in
1838. Originally intended merely as an adjunct to the Central School
Soale-Horizontal 30,000 fathoms
Vertical 1,000
}
to one inch, or 30 to 1.
of Design, its progress was comparatively slow. By the Great Exhibi-
tion of 1851, however, not only was attention directed
necessity of forming a more comprehensive museum for the especial
strongly to the
use of manufacturers and art workmen, and which should at the same
time serve to interest and instruct the public generally; but it was also
seen that the exhibition afforded a singularly favourable opportunity
for securing the nucleus of such a museum. A selection of objects was
accordingly made from the Indian, Continental, and British sections,
and along with the articles previously purchased for the Museum of
250
244
252
253
269
264
748
-
1260
1465
1575
Section 8.
Scale-Horizontal 180,000 fathoms
Vertical
6,000
}
to one inch, or 30 to 1.
267
277
180
13
Farðe (Stromöe)
1507
1036
490
660
465
154
Labrador to Greenland.
Labrador
(Hern Island)
30
79
180
1190
150
870
1622
1677
Scale-Horizontal 90,000 fathoms
Section 7.
Vertical
8,000
}+
to one inch, or 30 to 1.
106 South of Rockall.
***
1310
74
176
82
Isla.
1915
1815
1983
2032
1
1030
Greenland to Iceland.
1913
1919
1690
Greenland
(Christiansund)
1947
945
1285
1295
1284
1473
1527
Scale-Horizontal 120,000 fathoms
Vertical
Section 6.
4,000
}
to one inch, or 30 to 1.
1080
1235
1190
Packed ice.
Greenland
(Fredrichstad)
in 1860. It has been shown that much of the success of previous
experimenters had depended on the instruments in use. One great
object also had been to collect as much of the sea bed at each operation
of sounding as possible. Up to 1860 very many contrivances had been
in use to effect this, with various results. Captain McClintock had
been provided with a modified form of Brooke's machine, but it did
not answer his expectations. Much attention was given to improve-
ments by Mr. Roughton, his chief engineer, and Mr. Steil, his assistant;
also by Dr. Wallich, naturalist to the ship; but Mr. Steil succeeded
admirably in contriving a double-scoop machine wherewith to bring up
a considerable quantity of the sea bed. It will be henceforward known
as the "Bulldog sounding machine," and is of the form shown in col. 684.
In this, Lieutenant Brooke's plan of a hollow sinker is combined
with Bonnici's claws, but the section of its scoop requires some little
explanation. The two parts a a' and b b' move like shears on the pin, c,
in fig. s. Another view of them is in fig. B, in which ee are two studs,
which fit the two holes loosely in the cone, as in cat x. When the
cone is descending it rests on these two studs and collars, being steadied
by the line in A and B marked n. A strong india-rubber band, i, is
attached, so that on the apparatus reaching the ground, the sounding-
line, o, being relieved from the weight, allows the claws to fall open,
as in B, and the part of the line n, being released, the cone tilts off the
studs, e e, and falls, remaining on the ground; the part of the line n,
unreeving through it, as n in B, and the claws and scoop being secured
to the part m, are hauled to the surface; the removal of the cone
from ee allowing the india-rubber bands to compress and close the
scoops while in the ground, inclosing about 4 lbs. of the bottom of
the sea.
Captain McClintock's results will be best understood by the following
sections of his principal soundings.
Section 5.
1550
1572
t
་་་ ་
1377
བ་མ་བ
1235
1086
853
819
610
292
117
153
166
203
80
69
60
Iceland
(Cape Reckianaess)




687
SOUTH KENSINGTON MUSEUM.
the Schools of Design, exhibited to the public in a suite of rooms
appropriated to the purpose in Marlborough House. The Museum of
Ornamental Art thus formed, was in the following years considerably
increased by the purchase of the collection of porcelain and pottery of
Mr. Bandinell, and by extensive purchases made at the Bernal sale. |
In 1857 the museum, which had been placed under the Department of
Science and Art [SCIENCE AND ART, DEPARTMENT OF], was removed to
the iron building erected by the Commissioners of the Exhibition of
1851, on the ground purchased by them at South Kensington. The
Museum of Ornamental Art has since been very largely increased, and
other collections have been added to it, and the whole has been incor-
porated into what is officially designated the South Kensington
Museum of Science and Art; buildings of a permanent character
having been at different times added to the original iron structure to
meet the growing requirements of the case.
As at present constituted, the South Kensington Museum consists
of three distinct divisions; those, namely, of Ornamental Art; of
Fine Art; and of Science. In the Companion to the Almanac for 1861
is given a full analysis of the Museum, to which we refer for further
details, contenting ourselves with giving here a brief statement of its
general character.
The Museum of Ornamental Art, as it formed the foundation, may
still be regarded as the distinctive feature, of the South Kensington
Museum. Although intended primarily to aid the Schools of Design,
and to improve the manufactures of the country, it has of late years,
in a great measure, to use the words of its director, "settled itself into
Medieval Art," or rather the art of the medieval and renaissance
periods. Within these limits it is, however, very comprehensive in its
range, and articles have been sought out for purchase with great
industry and judgment. The Museum of Ornamental Art is arranged
in eighteen classes :-(1) Sculpture, in which are many exquisite
specimens of Italian architectural sculpture of the renaissance period,
carvings in wood, ivory, bone, &c., including some admirable works by
Fiammingo, with some important examples of artists of an earlier
period; bronzes and terra-cottas and models, among which are some
by Michel Angelo. (2) Glyptic and Numismatic Art, including gems,
medals, and seals. (3) Mosaics, Marquetry, &c. (4) Painting, almost
exclusively of a decorative character. (5) Japanned or Lacquered
Work. (6) Glass Painting-comprising Italian, German, and Flemish
examples from the 13th century to the decline of the art, with a few
of recent execution. (7) Enamels on Metal, an extremely choice and
valuable collection, especially rich in early German champlevé works,
and the much-prized Limoges enamels, and including also some inte-
resting specimens of modern Indian and Chinese work. (8) Pottery,
as a whole, one of the finest collections in Europe, including a few
examples of Egyptian, Greek, Etruscan, and other antique ware;
Hispano-Moresco ware; early Italian enamelled and incised ware; an
almost matchless collection of Gubbio and other lustred wares, and
Majolica of the various Italian manufactories; modern reproductions;
Persian painted ware; Morocco enamelled earthenware; Palissy,
Nevers, and other French glazed and enamelled earthenware; Delft,
old German, Dutch, and Flemish stoneware; old Saxon red stone-
ware; Hindoo and other Oriental earthenware; Oriental porcelain
(China and Japan); Dresden and other German porcelain; old Sèvres;
modern Sèvres; French porcelain of various manufactories; Italian,
Dutch, Spanish, and Portuguese, Swiss, Danish, and Russian 18th
century porcelain; old English earthenware, stoneware, and porcelain,
&c., of all the principal varieties (including a fine collection of old
Wedgwood), and English and Foreign modern porcelain, earthenware,
biscuit, Parian, &c. (9) Glass Manufactures, including a very choice
selection of old Venetian, German, and French glass, and a few
examples of modern glass, chiefly French and English. (10) Works in
Metal, comprising wrought-iron coffers, &c.; locksmith's work; instru-
ments; knives, forks, spoons, &c.; firedogs and stoves; candlesticks,
chandeliers, &c.; antique Greek and Roman ornamental bronzes;
Oriental bronze vessels; metal household utensils; medieval ecclesi-
astical utensils; modern bronze vessels; goldsmiths' work both ancient
and modern; damascene work; nielli. (11) Watch and Clock Work.
(12) Jewellery and personal ornaments in the precious metals, ancient,
mediæval, modern, and Oriental. (13) Arms, Armour, and Accoutre-
ments. (14) Furniture, Upholstery, &c., including a singularly interest-
ing variety of old Italian cassone or marriage chests, carved cabinets,
mirrors, &c. (15) Leather Work. (16) Basket Work. (17) Textile
Fabrics, as might be anticipated in a British Museum of Ornamental
Art, the most extensive collection of the kind extant. (18) Bookbind-
ing and Book Decoration generally.
The Fine Arts Division comprises the Sheepshanks' collection of 234
modern oil paintings; a small collection of drawings and sketches also
presented to the nation by Mr. Sheepshanks; and a collection of 50
water-colour paintings, the gift of Mrs. Ellison of Sudbrooke, to which
other drawings have been added by purchase: these collections are
more particularly noticed under NATIONAL GALLERY.
The Science Division consists of-1. An Educational Collection, in
which are brought together, models of schools, school-fittings, school-
books (and a reading-room, in which to examine them) maps and
diagrams, philosophical instruments, &c., in fact, as far as practicable,
whatever may serve to guide or assist those engaged in teaching.
2. Collection of Animal Products. 3. Food Collections- in which are
|
SOVEREIGNTY.
688
shown the chemical compositions of the various substances used as
food. 4. Structural Museum, in which are collected the materials
employed in building, &c.
These form the Museum proper; but to them are to be added other
collections which are placed in the same building, though they do not
belong to the Department of Science and Art. They consist of the
British pictures belonging to the National Gallery, which are placed
here temporarily [NATIONAL GALLERY]: collections of architectural
casts belonging to the Architectural Museum Association and the
Royal Academy; a small collection of modern sculpture, chiefly casts,
and the Patent Museum belonging to the Commissioners of Patents.
Certain rooms are also set apart for the reception for a limited time of
choice collections of articles of ornamental art belonging to private
individuals; and there are now usually five or six of these "Loan
Collections on view here at one time, containing commonly many
specimens of great interest and value.
The total cost of the South Kensington Museum up to July 1860,
was 167,000l., including everything except management, the annual
expenditure on which is about 70007. Of the above sum the land cost
60,000l., the buildings 54,536l., the collections 53,2691. The value of
the private gifts to the Museum, including the Sheepshanks and
Ellison collections of paintings, is estimated by the director at upwards
of 88,000l. The permanent buildings which have been erected are
intended to form part of a spacious structure which is to cover an
area of above ten acres, and to supply all the requirements of the
Department at South Kensington. [SCIENCE AND ART, DEPARTMENT
OF.] In its main features the building is intended to consist of a
centre and two great projecting wings, the fronts of which are to be
connected by an open corridor. In the centre will be the Lecture
Theatre, Art Training Schools, &c. The eastern wing will be appro-
priated to the Art-collections; the western to the Educational col-
The extreme length
lections, Art-Library, offices, residences, &c.
(facing Cromwell Road) will exceed 700 feet; the extreme depth (or
western façade) 650 feet, but the site is very irregular. The design is
by Captain Fowke, the official architect and engineer to the Museum;
the total cost is estimated at 214,000l., but at present only the eastern
wing is in course of erection.
All the collections are open free to the public on Mondays, Tuesdays,
and Saturdays in each week; on the other days (being "students
days") the public are admitted on payment of 6d. each person. The
collections are also opened to the public free on the first two evenings
of the week-an innovation which has proved exceedingly popular.
To the Art Library-a very excellent one-though formed primarily
for the students, any person is admitted on payment of a trifling fee.
SOVEREIGN. [MONEY.]
SOVEREIGNTY. Supranus is a low Latin word, formed from
supra, like subtranus, another low Latin word, formed from subtra.
(Ducange in vv.) These words, however, though they do not belong
to classical Latinity, are formed according to the same analogy as the
classical word supernus from super.
From supranus have been derived
the Italian soprano or sovrano, and the French souverain, from the
latter of which has been borrowed the English word sovereign. In the
old English writers the word is correctly spelt soverain or sovercin
(Richardson in v.); the received orthography seems to be founded on
the erroneous supposition that the last syllable of the word is connected
with reign, regnum. Milton spells the word sovran, deriving it from
the Italian; but it passed into our language from the French.
Having explained the etymology of the word sovereign, with its
derivative, sovereignty, we proceed to consider the meaning of the term
sovereignty as it is understood by political and juridical writers.
In every society not being in a state of nature or a state of anarchy
[ANARCHY; SOCIAL CONTRACT], Some person or persons must possess
the supreme or sovereign power.
The marks by which the possession of the sovereign power may be
distinguished are mainly two, the one positive and the other negative;
namely:
1. A habit of obedience to some determinate person or persons, by
the community which he or they assume to govern.
2. The absence of a habit of obedience, on the part of the same
person or persons, to any person or government.
Whenever these two marks meet in any person or body of persons,
such person or body possesses the sovereign power; on the other hand,
if either of the two marks be wanting, the person or body is not sove-
reign. For example, the local government of Jamaica or Canada, being
in the habit of obeying the English parliament, is not a sovereign or
supreme government; whereas the governments of the smaller Ger-
man states, although they may occasionally defer to the wishes of
Austria or Prussia, are not in a habit of obedience to these or any
other states, and therefore are sovereign governments. Again, a body of
persons calling themselves a government, but unable, through their
weakness, to secure the habitual obedience of the people, are not
sovereign, and would not be recognised as a sovereign government by
foreign states.
Inasmuch as it is impossible to fix the precise moment at which a
habit of obedience to a foreign government ceases, it is difficult for
foreign states to determine when they will recognise the sovereignty
of a territory, once dependent, which has achieved its independence.
The sovereign powers include all the powers which can be exercised
689
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SOWING.
SPACE AND TIME.
by a government. They include the legislative power, the executive
power, the power of making privilegia [Law; LEGISLATION], the
power of declaring peace and war, and of concluding treaties with
foreign states, the power of making contracts with private individuals,
and the power of instituting inquiries.
Sovereign power abstractedly is unlimited by any legal check or
control. The securities for its beneficial exercise are derived exclu-
sively from the balance of interests and the influence of public opinion.
Sovereign or supreme governments are divided into MONARCHIES
and REPUBLICS; and REPUBLICS are divided into ARISTOCRACIES and
DEMOCRACIES.
It is commonly, but erroneously, thought that the sovereignty
resides in every person who bears the name of king; in other words,
that every king is a monarch. Accordingly those kingdoms in which
the king is not strictly a monarch are called "limited monarchies;"
and the king is supposed to be a sovereign whose power is checked or
controlled by certain popular bodies; whereas, in truth, the sovereignty
is divided between the king and the popular body, and the former
does not possess the entire sovereignty. This subject is further
explained in KING, MONARCHY, and ROYALTY.
The subject of sovereignty is well explained in Mr. Austin's 'Pro-
vince of Jurisprudence determined.' The received doctrines upon the
subject will likewise be found in the treatises on international law.
The 'Leviathan' of Hobbes contains a view of the nature of sove-
reignty, which has been often misunderstood and misrepresented by
later writers.
SOWING AND SOWING-MACHINES. The sowing of the seed
has always been looked upon as one of the most important operations
of husbandry. Much of the success of the future crops depends on
the time and the mode in which the seed is committed to the earth.
After the land has been well prepared by judicious tillage and manuring,
many accidents and circumstances may disappoint the hope of the
farmer, and the crop may be scanty or fail altogether. The weather
and the seasons are not under his control, and he must submit to the
dispensations of Providence with pious resignation; but much also
depends on his own judgment and skill. If he selects the best seeds,
chooses the proper season for sowing them, and has them carefully
distributed and properly covered with earth, as their nature requires
for the most perfect germination, and thus also protects them
from the voracity of birds or insects, he will have a much greater
prospect of success, under all circumstances, than if he were careless
or negligent.
The most common mode of sowing the seed is by scattering it as
evenly as possible over the ploughed surface, as it lies in ridges from
the plough. The harrows follow, and crumbling down the ridges,
cover the seed which has fallen in the hollows between them. It
requires an experienced sower to scatter the exact quantity over a
given surface, without crowding the seed in one spot, and allowing
too great intervals in another. Hence the farmer who does not him-
self sow the seed, invariably chooses the most experienced and skilful
labourer to perform this work. Notwithstanding every care and
attention on the part of the farmer or master, the labourer will often
relax and become careless, and the result appears only when it is too
late to remedy it. This has given rise to the various attempts which
have been made to invent machines for sowing the seed, such as should
insure perfect regularity. Of some of these we will now give a short
account.
One of the simplest of these machines consisted in a hollow cylinder,
with one or more rows of holes in a line parallel to the axis. These
holes can be stopped in part if required. The seed is put into the
cylinder, the length of which is equal to the width of the land, or
stitch, which it is desired to sow at a time. By shaking this when
held horizontally and at right angles to the path of the sower, the seed
is scattered with considerable regularity one inconvenience of this
instrument is that it requires to be filled frequently, and that much
still depends on the attention of the operator. Accordingly it was
very soon laid by. The idea, however, was followed up and improved
upon in the sowing-barrow, an instrument still extensively used for
sowing grass-seeds. It consists of a wooden trough placed on the
frame of a light wheelbarrow. An iron spindle, furnished with circular
brushes at regular intervals, runs the whole length of the trough, and
is turned by means of simple machinery connected with the wheel.
Opposite each brush is a brass plate, with holes of different sizes, which
can be partly closed by means of a circular slide. According to the
size of the seed to be sown and the quantity to be scattered, the holes
are opened or shut. The seed is put into the trough, which has a cover
or lid; and by merely wheeling the barrow in a straight line, a breadth
is sown equal to the length of the trough, usually 12 or 15 feet. But
this machine cannot conveniently be used in windy weather, which
disperses the seeds irregularly; and it is very little superior to sowing
by the hand, except in the case of small seeds, which cannot so well be
spread evenly by the hand.
The drill husbandry has suggested other more complicated machines,
of which some account will be found in the article DRILL. The prin-
ciple of these is to deliver the seed by means of funnels, each corre-
sponding to a small furrow made by a coulter placed immediately before
the funnel; and some of these machines perform the work very
regularly and satisfactorily. As the inequalities of the ground require
ARTS AND SCI. DIV. VOL. VII.
that the coulters should move up or down, to allow for these in-
equalities, the seed cannot be accurately deposited at a given depth;
and some further improvement in the mode of drilling is yet desirable,
though much has been effected. The patent lever-drill in common
use is very imperfect in its work, and the remedy lies in the greater
attention to the preparation of the surface. When this is effected, the
levers may be set aside, and a much simpler drill, such as was used at
first, may replace it. The object is to make furrows of equal depth in
which to deposit the seed, and to cover this uniformly. The land
must consequently be more carefully prepared by repeated harrowing
and rolling, till the surface resembles the seed-beds in a garden. A
simple drill, which makes equidistant furrows at a given depth, in
which the seed drops regularly, will then do better work than a more
complicated machine; but if still greater accuracy and perfection are
desired, the dibble must be had recourse to. No one will deny that
seed deposited by means of a dibble is distributed more equally and
covered with a more equal depth of soil than by any other means, and
that there is a great economy of seed in this mode of sowing; but the
slowness of the operation, and the number of hands it would require
to dibble all the seed on a large farm, have prevented its being very
generally adopted. [ARABLE LAND.] Many attempts have been made
to invent machines to imitate the work done by hand in dibbling, but
hitherto with no marked success, owing chiefly to the difficulty of
clearing the dibbles from the adhering soil, and making a clean hole,
and also of letting the seed fall exactly in the dibble-holes.
SOY, is obtained from the Soja hispida, or Soja japonica [SOJA, in
NAT. HIST. DIV.] From the seeds of this leguminous plant, the
Japanese prepare the sauce termed Sooja, which has been corrupted
into Soy. The beans are boiled until the water is nearly evaporated,
and they begin to burn; when they are taken from the fire, and
placed in large wide-mouthed jars, exposed to the sun and air;
water and a certain proportion of molasses or very brown sugar are
added. These jars are stirred well every day, until the liquor and
beans are completely mixed and fermented; the material is then
strained, salted, and boiled, and skimmed until clarified. There are
two or three qualities of soy. Japanese soy is much esteemed in China
on account of the superior manner in which it is made. Soy is only
sparingly used as a sauce in this country.
SOYMIDA. [SOYMIDA, in NAT. HIST. DIV.]
SPACE AND TIME (Mathematics). We do not here propose to
enter into any discussion of the doctrines of psychologists as to the
idea of space, or as to whether it be innate or acquired. Space and time
are essential to thought, and are, come by the notions how we may,
necessary attendants on our own consciousness of existence. It is
possible for imagination to picture the annihilation of all things, itself
included, or to fancy that it can form such a picture, which is the same
thing; but what then would remain (in the thoughts)? Infinitely
extended empty space, lasting through infinitely extended time. Exist
ence of space and successions of existence we may defy the speculator
to deprive himself of for one moment. The greatest proof we have of
our ignorance of the Creator of all things is the absolute impossibility
which we find of making the necessity of his existence as real a con-
ception of our minds as that of space or time. The most religious man
will read with pleasure a work on natural theology tending to prove
that there must be a God; but who would bear ten pages of a serious
attempt to demonstrate the existence of space and time?
In these ideas we have the foundation of the mathematical sciences;
for from space follows form, which is the conception of the manner in
which one part of space is separated from the rest, and from the investi-
gation of forms arises geometry. Again, time is only apprehended by
succession of events or ideas, and succession or repetition gives the
notion of numbering. And though collection is sometimes stated to be
the leading idea in number, yet it may be asserted that number in the
last sense is not the object of arithmetic, except as furnishing the sub-
ject of numbering. The leading phrases of arithmetic suggest the idea
of time, and are derived from it. How often is 2 contained in 12?
Six times. The 2 presented to the thoughts at six different times is
the mode in which the collection of 12 is counted by twos.
From both space and time we get the notion of direction, but in very
different manners. The extremities of a portion of length give the idea of
a point of space, a fundamental notion of an indivisible index of com-
mencement or termination. The extremities of time give the notion of
points of time, or indivisible portions of duration. No point of space con-
tains any space; no point of time lasts any time. If we choose a point of
space or a point of time, we can in our thoughts set out from the former
in an infinite number of different ways; from the latter, in only two.
This is the law of thought, upon which it is useless to speculate; but
it is followed by important consequences. So long as algebra, the
science of reasoning by symbols, was founded only on notions of arith-
metic or succession, its ideas were not competent to furnish explanation
to all the results of its mechanical processes. As soon as the same
rules were transferred to ideas of space, or made to spring from geo-
metrical explanations, the mysteries of that science gradually vanished.
From space and time, also, we get the idea of infinity, a subject
which has been already treated [INFINITE]; but only in such a point
of view as would meet the objections of those who cannot reason clearly
on absolute infinity. That space and time are unbounded, is the simple
consequence of their being necessary to our notion of the existence of
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691
SPACE AND TIME.
anything we speak of our conceptions of them. For if it could be
imagined that space ceased at a certain boundary, it would be as easy
to make it cease in our own neighbourhood; and if duration could be
imagined to have an end, it would not be difficult to place ourselves in
thought within five minutes of that end. The denial of the possibility
of our approaching the boundary of space or time in our thoughts, is
the same thing as the denial of the existence of such a boundary; and
the notion of infinity becomes a relief from the incongruity of the
attempt to conceive existence stripped of its essential conditions. But
it might be asked why not, as to space at least, consider real existing
extension, not as the object of our thoughts, but as it would exist if
we were not alive to think? Is it, or is it not, physically possible to
go on for ever in space? If a person could provide himself with an
unlimited supply of motive-power, air, heat, food, &c., must we, or
must we not, say that there is anything to hinder his travelling to all
eternity? For ourselves, we should say there is clearly nothing to
hinder; but of course we cannot appeal to experiment, and it may be
only the impossibility of destroying our own conception of space which
dictates an answer as to that external reality which, let metaphysicians
say what they please, can always be established by a wave of the hand.
We should have supposed that, mysterious as the connection may be
between the external world and our impressions of it, the possibility of
really infinite external space would be admitted by any one, unless he
held the metaphysical system of Berkeley, which denies the necessity
of any external substratum of our conceptions, and substitutes the
direct agency of the Creator; and we should have thought it impossible
to maintain the necessary finitude of matter, without also maintaining
the same of real external space. Nevertheless, to show how differently
these subjects strike different persons, we quote the following from a
dissertation of an eminent writer:-"Every real, existing, material
body must enjoy that indefeasible attribute of body—namely, definite
place. Now place is defined by direction and distance from a fixed
point. Every body. therefore, which does exist, exists at a certain
definite distance from us, and at no other, either more or less. The
distance of every individual body in the universe from us is therefore
necessarily admitted to be finite." Now it will hardly be denied that
the space which a body fills is as real and existent as the body itself,
and this whether so occupied or not. Leave out the word material in
the above, and for "body" read "part of space," and the argument
remains as good as before, ending with a denial of the infinity of space.
Every assignable body is at a finite distance from us; but this is an
identical proposition contained in the meaning of the word assignable.
But who is therefore to deny the following? Name any distance, how-
ever great; matter exists at still greater distances.
If we estimate the reality of a conception by its necessity, which is
what we do when we settle the pre-eminence of space and time among
our ideas, then it is certain that the conception of infinity is as real as
that of space or time, being essentially united with them. Many
mathematicians try to deny this, and substitute various modes of
speaking to avoid the introduction of the idea: It is true that the
notion of infinite is one which it is difficult to use without falling into
error; a very good reason for avoiding it until the understanding has
been well practised in mathematical deduction, but none for denying
its existence. Why say that the notion of infinity arises from our not
being able to assign a limit, when we know that we feel something
more positive; when we are as certain as we are of any right to use
the words can and cannot, that there cannot be a limit, to either space
or time? Those who examine the views of different writers on the
first principles of science see a great variety of modes of expression on
this point, but a uniform practical use of nothing more than the denial
of finitude, accompanied by the mere expression of incapacity to attain
infinity; resolutely coupled, in many cases, with a determination not
to allow any words capable of expressing the absolute notion of infinity
which actually is before the thoughts. Now it should be the object of
elementary writing, while guarding the avenues to error which branch
in all directions from an improper use of the word infinite, to acknow-
ledge the existence of the idea, and to make a gradual preparation for
its correct and legitimate use. Both infinitely small and infinitely
great ought to become terms which may be employed without fear;
and the student who has been trained to the natural and healthy use
of all his notions will in the end succeed better than the one who has
had some of them tied up from the beginning because they are some-
what difficult or somewhat unsafe to use at first.
So soon as an attempt is made to fetter one branch of thought, the
effect is sure to be immediately felt in others. The infinite divisibility
of space is a truth of the same sort as its infinite extension. Matter
may not be divisible without end, and the truths of modern chemistry
would seem to show that there are ultimate particles inseparable by
chemical, and still less by mechanical, means. But there is a solvent
which everyone has it in his power to apply to space; it is the intuitive
conviction that every portion of it, however small, except that ultimate
notion which is called a point, is divisible into parts, which are them-
selves divisible into parts; a process which may be continued without
end. Now, a person who trifles with the notion of infinite extension,
and persuades himself that he has not the idea, will probably end by
denying infinite diminution; and as motion, however small it may be,
requires the succession of positions answering to an unlimited sepa-
ration of the time of motion into parts, the next step will be to deny
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SPEAKING-MACHINE.
692
the infinite divisibility of time, and the possibility of motion, as com-
monly conceived. Change of place will be imagined to be physically
impossible, if it be asserted that between the first and last positions
there have been an infinite number of others; and the mind will be
driven, in order to avoid the notion of infinity, into a sort of opinion
that motion is a very large (but finite) number of annihilations and
re-creations: annihilation in one spot, and re-creation a little farther
on, without anything intermediate. This is no imaginary case; and
it seems to us that when this theory of motion is once attained,
nature has taken a satirical revenge for the attempt to smother her
conceptions.
The errors which arise from the improper use of the notion of
infinite, lie mostly in the idea that all that is proved of finite
space or
time must necessarily be true of the infinite. We pass over the error
that all infinites must be equal, as being that of the merest beginner;
there are enough remaining to claim great caution.
The process
adopted in the article INFINITE is perhaps the best way of habituating
the young mind to the rigorous attainment of results, provided only
that the understanding be duly apprised that such a course of pro-
ceeding is not pursued because there is not infinity, but because there
is, and because the notion, though inevitable, is not easily used.
road need not be carried over any unsafe foundation; but that is no
reason why the quicksand and the marsh should be left out of
the map.
SPACES, in Music, the intervals between the five lines forming the
staff. [STAFF.]
The
SPAHIS (or rather Sipáhis, from the Persian sipah, meaning a
cavalry soldier), are a body of Turkish cavalry organised by Amurath I.
(Múrad), who was also the founder of the Janizaries. Their number
varied according to circumstances, but amounted sometimes to 20,000.
They enjoyed many privileges in common with the Janizaries. Their
usual arms were a sabre, a lance, a jereed or dart about two feet long,
which they hurled with great dexterity and strength, and a second
sabre, or rather broadsword, attached to the saddle. Some of them
had also a carabine and one or two pistols. At one time they were
the most formidable body of cavalry in the Turkish army; but being
an undisciplined and unruly militia, they were, together with the
Janizaries, dissolved by sultan Mahmud, and their place is now sup-
plied by the Bashi Bazouks. [JANIZARIES.]
SPANIOLITMIN. [LICHENS, COLOURING MATTERS of.]
SPARTEIN, [SCOPARIN.]
SPASM (from the Greek σTaoμós) is an unhealthy, involuntary,
and forcible contraction of muscular tissue. The term is almost syno-
nymous with convulsion, but is more generally applied than that word
is to the unhealthy painful contractions of the heart, intestines, and
other involuntary muscles.
Nosologists have distinguished spasms into clonic, in which the
muscular contractions alternate rapidly with relaxations (as in epilepsy),
and tonic, in which the contracted fibres remain for a long time rigid,
as in tetanus; but in nature the distinction is not well marked. Spasm
has also often been regarded as occurring in many tissues in which
it is perhaps not possible, such as the small blood-vessels. In the
present day its occurrence is believed to be limited to the muscles.
What their condition is when affected by spasm is not precisely known.
Very generally the contraction is unnatural, not only in its origin and
its continuance, but in its extent; for it does not take place simulta-
neously, or in a regular succession, in each part of the muscle, but, as
one may often see in common cramp, it affects a single portion of the
muscle, drawing it up into a hard mass, while the fibres above and below
it are much less contracted, or are even elongated.
The greater number of spasms seem to depend on an irritation of
the nervous centres. Sometimes they are produced by primary disease
in those parts, but much more commonly they are the results of
irritation propagated from some disordered organ to the brain or spinal
cord, and thence reflected through the motor nerves of the muscles
in which the spasm occurs. Hence probably the frequency and the
aggravation of cramps, and other more important spasmodic affections,
when the digestive organs are disordered, the dependence of a variety
of spasms or convulsions on the irritation of teething, &c. Much less,
however, is known of the nature of spasm in general than of the best
methods of treating it, and of the effects which it produces in the
several organs which it affects. These are treated of in the articles
ANGINA PECTORIS; ANTISPASMODIOS; ASTHMA; COLIO; CONVULSIONS;
EPILEPSY; HYDROPHOBIA; TETANUS, &c.
SPEAKER. [PARLIAMENT.]
SPEAKING-MACHINE. Various attempts have been made to
imitate the human voice by means of a machine. In 1779, the
Imperial Academy of St. Petersburg proposed, as one of their prize
questions, an inquiry into the nature of the vowel sounds, and the
construction of an instrument for imitating them. The prize was
awarded to M. Kratzenstein ('Journal de Physique,' xxi.), and his prin-
ciple consisted in the adaptation of a free reed, in all respects similar
to that represented under HARMONIUM, to a set of pipes of peculiar
forms, determined by repeated trials. About the same time, M. Kempe-
len, of Vienna, best known for his ingenious fraud, the so-called
automaton chess-player, succeeded in producing the vowel sounds by
adapting a reed to the bottom of a funnel-shaped cavity, and placing
his hand in various positions within the funnel. He also contrived a
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694
SPEAKING TRUMPET.
SPECIFIC GRAVITY.
hollow oval box, divided into two portions, attached by a hinge so as
to resemble jaws, and by opening and closing them the sounds which
issued from a tube connected with the reed produced A, O, OU, and an
imperfect E, but not I. He afterwards succeeded in obtaining, from
different jaws, the sound of the consonants P, M, L; and by means of
these vowels and consonants he could produce such words as mamma,
papa, aula, lama, mulo. He afterwards succeeded in imitating the
human organs of speech by having only one mouth and one glottis.
The mouth consisted of a funnel- or bell-shaped piece of elastic gum,
to which was added a nose made of two tin tubes. When both tubes
were open, and the mouthpiece closed, a perfect м was produced; and
when one was closed and the other open, an N was sounded. He also
obtained a tolerable resemblance of the four sounds D, G, K, T, or rather
a modified P, and at length succeeded in producing entire words and
sentences, such as Constantinopolis; opera; astronomy; Vous etes mon
ami; Je vous aime de tout mon cœur. We learn from a letter from
Mr. Thos. Collinson to Dr. Hutton, who had seen the machine in
London, and afterwards at Kempelen's house in Vienna, that the
sounds issued, not from a speaking figure, but from a rectangular box
about three feet long, placed upon a table and covered with a cloth.
Kempelen set it in action by introducing his hands beneath the cloth.
Professor Willis, in the third volume of the Transactions of the
Cambridge Philosophical Society,' shows that by using a shallower |
cavity than that employed by Kempelen, he could dispense with the
introduction of the hand, and by sliding a flat board over the mouth of
the cavity could obtain the whole series of vowels, in the order U, 0. A,
E, I. The apparatus was, of course, connected with a wind-chest and a
double pair of bellows. Mr. Willis also used cylindrical tubes containing
a reed, with a contrivance for varying the length of the tubes by means
of sliding joints. When the tube was much less than the length of a
stop-pipe in unison with the reed it sounded I and by increasing the
length of the tube it gave E, A, o, and U; but what was remarkable,
when the tube was lengthened so as to be 1½ times the length of a
stop-pipe in unison with the reed, the vowels began to be sounded in
an inverted order,—namely, U, O, A, E,—and then again in a direct
order, I, E, A, o, U, when the length of the tube was equal with twice
that of a stop-pipe in unison with the reed. When the pitch of the
reed was very high, it was impossible to sound some of the vowels,
which Mr. Willis remarks is exactly the case with the human voice,
female singers being unable to pronounce U and o on the highest notes
of their voices.
SPEAKING TRUMPET. The efficiency of this instrument is due
to the repeated reflection of the sound from side to side in passing
through it, and its ultimate reflection from the mouth of the trumpet,
in such a way as either to collect the rays of sound into a focus at a
distance, or to project them forward in parallel lines, instead of allow-
ing them to diverge in all directions. Fig. 1, illustrates this theory,
Fig. 1.
of which there are many modifications, some of them founded on the
supposition of a very close analogy between the motion of sound and
that of light. These have given rise to many suggestions respecting
the best form and degree of curvature of the sides of the trumpet.
Some writers recommend a simple cone, the mouth-piece being at the
apex: these explain the motion of the rays of sound on the principle
shown in fig. 2, in which, as in fig. 1, the dotted lines represent the rays.
Fig. 2.
In Dr. Young's 'Lectures on Natural Philosophy,' the following
remarks occur: "If an ellipsis be prolonged without limit, it will
become a parabola; hence a parabola is the proper form of the section
of a tube calculated for collecting a sound which proceeds from a great
distance into a single point, or for carrying a sound nearly in parallel
directions to a very distant place. It appears, therefore, that a para-
bolic conoid is the best form for a hearing trumpet, and for a speaking
trumpet; but for both purposes the parabola ought to be much
elongated, and to consist of portion of the conoid remote from the
vertex; for it is requisite in order to avoid confusion, that the sound
should enter the ear in directions confined within certain limits: the
voice proceeds also from the mouth without any very considerable
divergence, so that the parts of the curve behind the focus would in
both cases be wholly useless. A trumpet of such a shape does not
very materially differ from a part of a cone, and conical instruments
are found to answer sufficiently well for practice; it appears, however,
unnecessary to suppose, as M. Lambert has done, that they differ essen-
tially in principle from parabolic trumpets. It is not yet perfectly
decided whether or no a speaking trumpet has any immediate effect in
strengthening the voice independently of the reflection of sound.”
[EAR TRUMPET.]
Speaking Tubes are used in large buildings for conveying messages
from one part to another, and sometimes on shipboard from the cap-
tain's cabin to the topmast. These tubes are cylindrical, and the rays
of sound proceeding from the mouth at one end of the tube instead of
diverging in the air are confined within the tube, and successively
reflected from its sides, so that a much larger number of rays meet the
ear at the farther end than if they had travelled without being re-
flected. The shafts of mines, wells, and chimneys produce a similar
effect.
SPECIAL OCCUPANCY. [OCCUPANCY.]
SPECIALTY, SPECIALTY DEBT, or debt by special contract,
is a debt which becomes due or is acknowledged to be due by an
instrument under seal. [DEED.]
The nature of a debt by simple contract is explained under SIMLPE
CONTRACT.
Blackstone considers a debt of record, that is, a debt which appears
to be due by the judgment of a court of record, as a contract of the
highest nature, being established by the sentence of a court of
judicature." This is, however, an erroneous view of the matter. It is
simply a rule of law that a debt for which the judgment of a court of
record has been obtained has a priority over other debts.
SPECIES. This word is used in mathematics, or rather has been
used, in two different senses. In the first place, by Euclid, who means
by figures of the same species those which have the same form, what-
ever may be their size. Thus, in the Data, when the form of a figure
is given, he designates it as given in species (Tâ eidei dedoµévov). The
word species is here used in its primitive sense of appearance.
But the term was again used by Vieta in its logical sense, as opposed
to individual, in designating the algebraical notation which he first
distinctly proposed. Lawyers were in the habit of describing general
cases by using an individual name, as Caius or Julius, to signify any
person concerned, which they termed description by species. Vieta
borrowed the word to signify the use of letters to stand for numbers,
when such letters were used to designate members generally, without
reference to any one in particular. The logistics (a common term for
the science of calculation) thus introduced he called specious, and his
first tract on the simple operations of algebra is headed 'De Logisticâ
Speciosâ.' Hence, for some time, the language of algebra was called
the specious notation.
SPECIFIC ELECTRIC INDUCTION. [ELECTRICITY.]
SPECIFIC GRAVITY, or, more properly, specific weight, is a term
used to express the weight of any gas, liquid, or solid, under some
given volume; but the unit of weight and unit of volume are usually
such, that for some one particular substance the weight of the unit of
volume shall be expressed by the unit of weight, or by 10 times, 100
times, or 1000 times that unit. Thus the numbers expressing the
specific gravities of different substances denote the actual weights of
those substances under the unit of volume; and hence the ratio
between the numbers expressing the specific gravities of any two
substances is the same as the ratio between the weights of those
substances under any two equal volumes, the density of the atmo-
sphere and also the states of those substances with respect to tempera-
ture being the same.
Distilled water is the substance usually employed for the purpose of
comparing together the weights of all substances except the gases; and
because the volume of any substance varies with its temperature, in
determining from experiment the specific gravity of any substance, the
weight under a given volume is reduced to that which it would
become at one constant temperature. The constant temperature
adopted in this country is, in general, that which is expressed by 60°
of Fahrenheit's thermometer.
From the experiments of Sir George Shuckburgh Evelyn it was
found that at the temperature expressed by 39° Fahr., the height of
the column of mercury in the barometer being 29.79 inches, the
weight of a cubic foot of distilled water was 999 8066 ounces avoir-
dupois; and reducing this weight conformably to the table of the
densities of water at different temperatures which had been given by
Biot, it will be found that at a temperature expressed by 60° Fahr.,
and when the height of the mercurial column is 30 inches, the weight
of the cubic foot of water is 999-54 ounces. But in the Parliamentary
regulations, which were made in 1825, a cubic inch, of water is stated
to weigh 252-456 troy grains, the temperature being 62° Fahr., and the
height of the barometrical column, 30 inches; and 7000 troy grains
are made equivalent to one pound avoirdupois : hence it follows that
a cubic foot of water should weigh 997-136 ounces. Either of these
numbers is sufficiently near 1000 to make it very proper that this last
should be adopted for the specific gravity of water, since a change in
the value of the avoirdupois ounce, which would be scarcely appre-
ciable in the ordinary transactions of commerce, would render the
ounce an accurate and convenient unit of weight, while the cubic foot
constitutes the unit of volume.
In France, since the employment of the decimal scale of weights
and measures has become general, the cubic centimetre (061028 cubic


695
SPECIFIC GRAVITY.
SPECIFIC GRAVITY.
€96
required. There is usually a counterpoise for the weight of the empty
bottle. If such a bottle be counterpoised and then be filled with pure
alcohol it will weigh only 792 grains, thus giving 0.792 as the specific
gravity of the alcohol.
Thus the gravity of the alcohol. If the bottle were filled with sulphuric acid it
would weigh 1845 grains, so that 1.845 would be the specific gravity
of the acid. In some cases bottles containing only 100 or 200 grains
may be used with advantage.
inches English) is the unit of volume, and the gramme (15:432
grains) is the unit of weight. The gramme having been determined
by the weight of a cubic centimetre of distilled water of the tempera-
ture at which its density is a maximum (39°.2 Fahr.). Thus the
weight of a cubic centimetre of any substance being expressed by any
number n of grammes, n is the specific gravity of that substance.
The numbers expressing the specific weights of substances are also
taken to represent their densities. Density, properly speaking,
denotes the degree of closeness of the particles of a substance to one
another; but this is evidently proportional to the number of particles
within a given volume of that substance; and since the weight of a
body is only the sum of the actions of gravity upon all its particles, it
follows that the densities of two substances under equal volumes will
be proportional to their specific gravities. It follows also that if two
substances have equal densities or specific gravities, their weights will
vary with their volumes; and that the weights of bodies are to one
another in a ratio compounded of their specific gravities and volumes.
Previously to describing the methods of finding the specific gravities
of substances, it will be proper to explain the construction of the
hydrostatical balance, which is the instrument employed for the
purpose. The beam of this balance rests, as usual, on the lower cir-
cumference of a circular perforation in both sides of the fork which
holds it, by a pin which is fixed in it perpendicularly to its length and
depth, at a small distance above the common centre of gravity of the
beam, scales, and weight. The fork is suspended from the middle of
a horizontal bar, and this last is suspended from a spring at the top of
the pillar which supports the machine. Care is taken that the two
arms of the beam are symmetrical, and that the points from whence
the scales are suspended are at equal distances from its centre of
gravity. Now let the substance which is to be weighed be put in one
of the scale dishes, and the number of grains necessary to keep it
in equilibrio be put in the other. If the weight of the substance
should be an exact number of grains, that weight is determined, but if
not, and it were required to ascertain the weight within one-hundredth
part of a grain (for example), the following contrivance may be adopted.
Suspend in a vertical position from the lower part of the scale con-
taining the substance to be weighed, a brass wire, whose volume and
weight have been previously determined, and let part of the length of
this wire enter into water which is contained in a vessel underneath
the scale. The scales with this wire thus attached to one of them
being previously put in equilibrio when the surface of the water is at a
certain mark on the wire, let the substance to be weighed be intro-
duced into the scale above the wire, and let weights be placed in
the opposite scale till one grain more would be found too great:
then gently raising the whole balance till, by the increase of the
weight on the side of the scale containing the substance, in conse-
quence of a greater portion of the wire being out of the water, an
equilibrium takes place. The wire being graduated so that 100
divisions correspond to a weight equal to one grain, the number of
graduations on it between the surface of the water and the fixed mark
before mentioned will enable the experimenter to determine the
number of hundredths of a grain by which the weight of the substance
in the scale exceeds the number of grains already placed in the opposite
scale.
If it be required to weigh a substance in water, or in any other
liquid, that substance may be suspended in a vessel containing the
liquid by a horse-hair attached below the scale opposite to that from
whence the wire before mentioned was suspended; and its weight
while immersed in the liquid may be found to the hundredth part of a
grain, as in the former case. The reason why horse-hair is employed
to suspend the substance in water is, that it has very nearly the same
specific gravity as that fluid.
A solid body having greater specific gravity than water being thus
weighed both in air and water, may have its specific gravity deter-
mined, that of the water being supposed to be known or assumed, by
the following proportion :-
The weight lost by immersion in water (that is, the weight of water
equal in volume to the volume of the solid [HYDROSTATICS]),
Is to the weight of the body in air,
As the specific gravity of the water is to that of the body.
The weight of
Or, an equal bulk
of water.
The specific
gravity of
water 1.000
::
The weight
of the body
in air.
The specific
gravity
required.
The specific gravity of a fluid is found by weighing any one and the
same solid body in air, in water, and also in the fluid, and observing
the two differences of weight. These differences are the weights of
quantities of the two fluids which are equal in volume to the solid
body; and they are to one another as the specific gravities of the two
fluids: hence that specific gravity which was required may be found.
[See also HYDROSTATICS.] It should be observed that the specific
gravity of the solid must be greater than that of either of the fluids,
in order that the solid may sink when immersed in them.
The specific gravity of a liquid may be conveniently determined by
means of a specific gravity bottle, a light bottle containing exactly
1000 grains of distilled water at 60°, so that when the bottle is filled
with the liquid whose specific gravity is to be determined, the weight
in grains of the liquid immediately determines the specific gravity
The density of a powder not soluble in water may be ascertained by
means of the specific gravity bottle, or if soluble in water spirits of
wine, oil of turpentine, or some other liquid, may be employed. But
suppose the powder to be sand, we weigh into the 1000 grain bottle
say 150 grains of the sand. If the sand had not displaced any of
the water the bottle, when filled up, would weigh 1150 grains; but
it is found to weigh only 1096 grains, so that the sand has displaced
54 grains of water. Hence
54: 1·000 :: 150 2.764 the specific gravity of the sand.
If the body whose specific gravity is to be found be a solid lighter
than water, there must be annexed to it, before it is weighed, a mass
of some material of known specific gravity, and such that the two
bodies may together sink in the water. The compound mass, and the
heavier body alone, must be weighed both in air and water; also the
lighter body must be weighed in air. Let w be the weight of the com-
pound mass in air, and w' the weight of the same mass in water; also
let w be the weight of the heavier body in air, and w' the weight of
the same body in water: then w-w' is the weight of water equal in
volume to the compound body, and w-w' is the weight of water equal
in volume to the heavier body. The difference between w-w' and
w-w' is the weight of water equal in volume to the lighter body;
therefore, by hydrostatics, that difference is to the specific gravity
of water as the weight of the lighter body is to its specific gravity.
When the body is soluble in water, it may be weighed in air, and
also in some fluid whose specific gravity is known, and which is not
capable of dissolving it; then its specific gravity may be found by the
first of the above-mentioned rules, substituting the weight lost in the
fluid for the weight lost in water.
If the solid body imbibes water without being dissolved in it, let it
be weighed when perfectly dry, and call that weight w: again, we find
the weight of water displaced by the body when dry, and call it D;
then D is to w as the specific gravity of water is to the specific gravity
of the body in its actual state. But D-w is the weight of the water
displaced by the solid part only of the body; therefore D-w is to w
as the specific gravity of water is to the specific gravity of the solid
part only of the body.
It must be observed that the true weight of any body, or that which
the body would appear to have if weighed in vacuo, is greater than the
weight which it is observed to have when weighed in air, by the
weight of a volume of air equal to the difference between the volume
of the body and that of the object by which the weight is determined.
It should also be observed that the numbers expressing the specific
gravities of substances are strictly correct only on the parallel of
latitude passing through the place where the weight of the water
under the unit of volume is determined; for the force of gravity,
and consequently the weight of any substance under a given
volume, increases in proceeding from the equator towards either pole
of the earth.
In order to determine the specific gravity of the atmosphere, or of
any gas whatever, the air or gas must be weighed in a globular vessel
of glass, of sufficient magnitude to prevent the unavoidable errors of
the operation from sensibly affecting the results.
In taking the specific gravities of gases, correction must be made
for temperature. It is known that for every degree of Fahrenheit's
scale there is an expansion equal to of the bulk occupied at 32°
Fahr. If, for example, 9.2 cubic inches of gas at 70° were reduced to
60° the change in volume would be as follows:-Since 70-32=38,
491 parts of a gas at 32° would at 70° have increased in bulk 38 parts
or would have become equal to 529 parts. Again 60-32-28, so
that a gas which at 32° occupied 491 parts, would at 60° occupy a
space equal to 519 parts. The volume therefore of any gas at 70°
would bear the same proportion to the bulk which it would occupy
at 60° as 529 does to 519. Hence, 529 519 92: 9.026 cubic
inches. A correction is also required for pressure; but in taking
the specific gravity of a gas, Regnault has reduced the number of
corrections required by counterpoising the globe in which the gas is
to be weighed by a second globe of equal size. The film of moisture
adhering to the glass is equal in both globes, and as the bulk
of air displaced is equal in both cases, the calculation for its
buoyancy is thus got rid of. A balance capable of weighing
2 lbs., and turning with the 150th part of a grain when loaded, is
placed on a chest, furnished with folding doors, within which the
glass globes, each of the capacity of about 600 cubic inches, attached
to the scale pans, are freely suspended. The counterpoise globe is
hermetically sealed, the other globe is furnished with a stop-cock, the
air is exhausted from it, and it is filled with the gas to be tried in
a pure and dry state. The globe is again exhausted so as to get rid
of the last portions of atmospheric air, when it is again filled with
the gas, which may be again pumped out and again filled. To get
rid of the correction for temperature the globe is placed in melting
697
698
SPECIFIC HEAT.
SPECIFIC HEAT.
ice, which reduces the gas to the French standard; more gas is
introduced to equalise the pressure, the stop-cock is then closed, the
globe withdrawn and wiped carefully with a damp cloth to prevent the
surface from becoming electric, and it is then attached to the scale-pan.
Two hours are allowed to elapse before it is weighed, in order that it
may acquire the temperature of the surrounding air and get rid of
the currents about it. The weight is then accurately noted, the
globe again plunged in ice, the gas removed by means of the air
pump, and the elasticity of the remaining portion in the globe
measured by the pump gauge. The empty globe is again weighed as
before, and the difference of the two weights will give the weight of a
bulk of gas the elasticity of which is equal to that of the atmosphere
as marked by the height of the barometer H' diminished by the
elasticity h of the remaining gas as measured by the gauge. If the
capacity of the globe has been previously determined with accuracy,
the corrected weight of the gas will be obtained by the following
proportion:-
The standard The observed The observed
pressure.
pressure.
weight.
H'-h :: W' :
As H :
Corrected
weight.
W
The following table has been calculated by Professor Miller from
Regnault's experiments, and reduced to the English standard tempe-
rature and pressure,
temperature. So also if these two bodies be removed from a warm to
a cold atmosphere the oil will cool much quicker than the water. In
comparing various bodies with water it will be found that they all
vary in their rates of heating and cooling. Taking water as the
standard of comparison, the thermal unit is the quantity of heat
required to raise 1 lb. of pure water from 32° to 33°.* And in general
the quantity of heat required to raise 1 lb. of any other body from 32°
to 33° is called its specific heat. When the quantity of heat required
to raise the temperature of a body one degree is uniform throughout,
or in a very large portion of the thermometric scale, the specific heat
of such body is said to be uniform. Where such is not the case, it is
said to be variable, and is in general found to increase with the
temperature.
Three methods are adopted in calorimetry, as it is called, to distin-
guish it from thermometry, or the measuring of sensible or apparent
heat. First, by measuring the heat by the quantity of ice which the
body in question liquefies; Secondly, by calculating it by the method
of mixtures; Thirdly, by observing the rate at which heated bodies
cool.
By the first method the calorimeter of Messrs. Lavoisier and Laplace
is used. It consists of two similar metallic vessels, one smaller than

100 Cubic Inches weigh
At 32° Fahr.
Grains.
At 60° Fahr.
Grains.
Sp. gr.
Air=1.
Air
32.698
30.935
1.0000
Oxygen
36.153
34.203
1.1056
Nitrogen
31.762
30.119
0.9713
•
Hydrogen
2.265
2.143
0.0692
Carbonic acid
50.000
47.303
1.5290
B
A
B
For further details on this subject, and for the method of deter-
mining the specific gravity of vapours, we must refer to Professor
Miller's Elements of Chemistry,' Part I. 2nd edition, 1860. In the
appendix to the third part of that work will be found tables of specific
gravities corresponding to degrees of Baumé's hydrometer, and also of
Twaddell's hydrometer, the latter being converted into their corres-
ponding specific gravities by multiplying them by 5 and adding
1000. The specific gravities of the various solids, liquids and gases
are given under their respective heads in this Cyclopædia, also
in works on Chemistry. Copious tables are also published in a
separate form. As a sample of such tables, a list of the specific
A
gravities of the metals is given at the end of this article.
number of instruments on the principle of the HYDROMETER are sold
in the shops, such as the Areometer, the Lactometer for testing the
quality of milk, the Saccharometer for enabling the brewer to form an
estimate of the quality of his sweet-wort, and some others. The
Barometrical Aëriometer consists of a tall siphon tube, inverted and
mounted on a pedestal with a graduated scale between the two limbs.
It was intended to compare the specific gravities of immiscible liquids;
thus 1 inch of mercury in one limb will balance about 13 inches in
the other limb. Brewster's Staktometer or Drop-measurer is an instru-
ment for measuring specific gravities by the size of the drops which
exude from a small orifice. The instrument is formed like a pipette,
and is filled by the action of the mouth with distilled water, and the
number of drops which escape between an upper and a lower level are
counted, and serve as a standard. The instrument may now be filled,
say with proof spirit, and the drops similarly counted. In one instru-
ment the number of drops of water was 724, while the number with
proof spirit was 2117, thus indicating that the drop of water was
about three times the size of the drop of proof spirit. What are
called specific gravity beads or hollow beads of different sizes with
projecting tails, and marked with certain numbers, are used to show
roughly the density of a liquid. A number of these beads being
thrown into it, those which sink or swim are of no account, but those
which remain just suspended indicate the specific gravity.
·
Metals.
Platinum
Osmium
Gold
Sp. gr.
21.5
21.4
Sp. gr.
7-844
Metals.
Iron
Tin
•
•
•
19.34
Zinc
18.4
Chromium
•
7.292
7.146
6.81
6.71
6.25
•
•
•
2.67
2.56
Uranium
Tungsten
Mercury
Palladium
Ruthenium
Lead
Silver
17.6
Antimony
Tellurium
Arsenic
Aluminum, rolled.
cast
5.969-5.7
2.54
2.1
13.596
•
•
11.8
11.4
•
•
. 11.36
10.53
Strontium
9.799
Glucinum
8.95
Magnesium
8.92
$.82
Calcium
Sodium
1-743
. 1.578
·
8.62
8.601
8.013
Potassium
Lithium
•
0.972
0.865
0.593
Bismuth
Cobalt
Copper
Nickel
Molybdenum
Cadmium
Manganese
•
SPECIFIC HEAT. If 1 lb. of water and 1 lb. of oil be transferred
from a temperature of 40° to one of 70°, the oil will indicate 70° much
quicker than the water, requiring in fact less heat to reach the same
D
E
From this space
From the bottom of the
and contained in the other, so as to leave a space c c.
proceeds a discharge-pipe with a stop-cock E.
inner vessel also proceeds a pipe D; it passes air-tight through the
outer vessel, and is furnished with a stop-cock. There is a third
vessel, A, contained within the second, and the space BB is also filled
with pounded ice. The vessel A is furnished with a cover, and there
is a large tray-like cover over the whole apparatus. This is also filled
with pounded ice. Now supposing such an apparatus to be introduced
into a room at a temperature of 40°, it is evident that the ice in c will
slowly melt, and retain B at, the constant temperature of 32°. Now
if we introduce the body whose specific heat is to be determined into a
at any given temperature above 32°, it would cool down to that tem-
perature, and in doing so will melt a quantity of ice, the water from
which will be collected in the bottle below D. If this quantity of water
be divided by the number of degrees through which the body in a has
fallen, the quantity of ice dissolved by the heat corresponding to 1°
will be found. This being divided by the weight of the body in a in
pounds, the weight of ice dissolved by the heat which would raise
1 lb. of the body 1° will be determined. In this way it is found that
the heat necessary to raise 1 lb. of water 1°, is that which would dis-
solve the 142 65th part of 1 lb. of ice. For other bodies we get the
following rule:-Multiply the weight of ice dissolved by 142.65, and
multiply the weight of the body which dissolves the ice, by the num-
ber of degrees of temperature which it loses, and divide the former
product by the latter, when the quotient will be the specific heat of
the body.
By the method of mixtures a mean temperature is obtained when
equal weights of the same body are mingled together; but when
different fluids are mixed the result is different. For example,
1 lb. of mercury at 40° agitated with 1 lb. of water at 156°, gives a
mixture =152°3. In this case the water loses 3°7, and the mercury
gains 112°.3. Hence 112°3: 3º·7 :: 1 : 0·033, or, in other words,
water being 1000, the specific heat of mercury is only 33; 1 lb. of
water absorbing 30 times more heat than 1 lb. of mercury.
By the third method equal and similar volumes of two bodies are
raised to the same temperature, and allowed to cool under similar
circumstances. By observing the intervals of time required for equal
volumes to fall 1°, we get the ratio of the quantities of heat which
they lose. The quantities for equal weights may be inferred from the
specific gravities of the bodies, and in this way the specific heats can
be arrived at.
The specific heat of bodies diminishes with an increase of density,
so that mere mechanical compression will raise the temperature of
many bodies, and even make some of the metals very hot; iron, it is
said, incandescent. The sudden compression of aëriform bodies is
699
SPECIFICATION.
attended with the evolution of heat, sufficient under proper arrange-
ments to ignite amadou, or German tinder. On rarefying air an oppo-
site effect is observed, as is evident from the dimness seen on the inner
surface of an air-pump receiver on first beginning to exhaust the air.
The capacity for heat of the remaining air is increased, and there is
not sufficient heat to retain the vapour in its elastic form. So when
compressed air suddenly escapes, it absorbs heat, and moisture is
deposited. Similar effects may be observed in nature. A blast of
cold air descending from a lofty height, has its temperature raised by
the mere compression that it undergoes.
The following are a few specific heats obtained by the process of
mixture or immersion. They refer to that part of the scale between
32° and 212° :—
Water
Oil of turpentine .
Charcoal
Glass
Iron
Zinc
Copper
1.00000
0.42593
•
Brass
Silver
. 0.24150
•
0.19768
0.11379
Tin.
Mercury
Platinum
0.09555
0.09515
Gold
Lead
•
•
•
0.09391
. 0.05701
0.05623
0.03332
. 0.03243
0.03244
0.03140
A body in the liquid state has a higher specific heat than the same
substance in a solid form. The specific heat of water, for example,
is double that of ice. Indeed the large specific heat of water has a
great effect on the temperature of the globe, in moderating the rapidity
of the transitions which would otherwise occur.
The determination of the specific heats of gases and vapours is
attended with difficulty. Regnault's results are probably very near
the truth. Taking the specific heat of an equal weight of water as the
unit of comparison, he finds that of air to be = 0.2377. The following
are a few of his results :-
Equal Equal
vols. weights.
0.3308 0.2164
0.5080
Gas or Vapour.
Oxygen.
Nitrogen
•
Bromine
Equal Equal
vols.
weights.
0.2412 0.2182
0.2370 0.2440
0.2356 3.4046
0.2962 0.1214
0.2992 0.0552
•
Nitrous oxide
0.3413 0.2238
. 0.2406 0.2315
Gas or Vapour.
Carbonic acid
Ammonia
Olefiant gas
Sulphurous acid
Water
Alcohol
Ether
·
•
. 0.2994
0.3572 0.3694
•
0.3489
0.1553
·
•
0.2950 0.4750
0.7171 0.4513
1.2296
•
0.4810
2.3776
Hydrogen
Chlorine
SPECTACLES.
700
mate object of convex spectacles is to restore the natural power (or
rather the natural focus) of the eye, and not to enable the wearer to
see objects larger or more distinctly than with the eye in a strong
and healthy condition. Short-sightedness being still less dependent
upon age, cannot be met by any rule even so well as the opposite
defect.
In choosing spectacles, the frame should fit comfortably to the head,
and be of such a form as to bring the centre of each lens exactly oppo-
site to the centre of the eye. Should this not be the case, the bridge
or wire that unites the two halves of the frame may be stretched or
bent to suit the wearer.
With respect to the glass used in spectacles, it may be taken as a rule
that, except in cases where it is necessary to protect the eyes from an
injurious glare of light, the most colourless material is to be preferred.
The accurate figure of the lenses cannot be too strongly insisted on,
and may be tested by holding the spectacles near to a printed book,
and gradually moving them nearer to the eye; by doing which, if the
glasses be not well-shaped, the letters will appear distorted. Veins or
blebs in the glass are injurious, and may be detected by holding the
glass between the eye and the flame of a candle, and moving it back-
wards and forwards, until it appears full of light; when every such
inasmuch as they do not produce distortion; yet they should be
defect will be distinctly seen. Scratches are not quite so injurious,
principal recommendation of spectacle lenses of rock crystal; but some
Their diminished liability to injury by scratching forms the
opticians consider their use injurious, owing to their tendency to
irregular refraction of the rays of light.
avoided.
Several deviations from the ordinary mode of constructing specta-
cles may be alluded to. The periscopic spectacles of Dr. Wollaston
were contrived in order to allow considerable latitude of motion to the
eyes without fatigue, by conforming the shape of the glasses to that
of the eyes. This is effected by the use of lenses either of a meniscus
or concavo-convex form: the concave side being in both cases turned
towards the eye. Fig. 1 represents in section, the form of the lens
Fig. 2.
Fig. J.
Nitric oxide
Carbonic oxide
0.2399 0.2479 Oil of turpentine
0.5061
There is a remarkable relation between the specific heat of an ele-
mentary body and its chemical equivalent. If the specific heat of a
body in the solid state be multiplied into the chemical equivalent of
the same body, it gives a number which coincides almost exactly with
the product obtained by multiplying together the specific heat and the
equivalent of any other elementary substance.
SPECIFICATION. [PATENT.]
SPECTACLES are lenses so mounted in frames as to be conveniently
held before the eyes to assist defective vision. The eyes of a person
whose sight is much tried often receive injury from delay in the use of
spectacles; while the sight of many persons is prematurely worn out
by the use of glasses of too high a power. Whether the glasses used
be concave or convex, the lowest power that is available should be
used. The use of a single reading-glass instead of spectacles is in-
jurious, since, by occasioning one eye to be more used than the other,
the power and focal length of the two are rendered unequal. The
unsteadiness of the glass is also a disadvantage. The defects of the
single hand-glass are not removed by increasing its size so much that
both eyes may see through it, because in that case the axis of each
pencil of rays will be distorted by passing through the lens at points
beside its centre. Hand-spectacles, which are made to fold up into
nearly as small a space as a single glass, are better than reading-
glasses; but, although steadied in some degree by resting upon the
nose, they are not equal to spectacles well fitted to and supported by
the head.
Varieties in the conformation of the eyes, and in the manner and
degree in which they are affected by use, render it impossible to lay
down any rule for the focal length of convex glasses for persons of a
given age; yet a general idea of the necessary power may be obtained
from the following table, extracted from Dr. Kitchener's Economy of
the Eyes:'
Years of age.
Inches of focus. Years of age. Inches of focus.
12
40
36
70
45
80
75
10
50
24
80
9
55
20
85
8
58
18
90
7
16
14
100
6
60
65
In some cases it is advisable to use different spectacles for night and
day, to suit different degrees of light; and it is, generally speaking,
well to increase the power of the glasses as the sight becomes weaker
from age.
Even in this, however, caution must be exercised, lest, by
over-stimulating the eye, its powers be too rapidly exhausted. It
should always be borne in mind, both by young and old persons, and in
changing spectacles as well as in first taking to them, that the legiti-
used in convex or magnifying spectacles of the periscopic construction;
and Fig. 2 shows that of a concave lens suitable for short-sighted
persons. In the former case the curve of least radius is that of the
anterior, and in the latter, that of the posterior surface of the lens.
Divided spectacles, each glass consisting of two half-lenses, are some-
times used; the upper half of each glass being occupied by a concave
lens, or one of very slight convexity, for seeing distant objects, while
the lower half has a strong magnifier, for examining things near the
eye. Such spectacles have an awkward appearance, on account of the
joint along the middle, and require some practice to avoid inconve-
nience to the wearer; but they have been used with advantage by
artists and others requiring to look alternately at near and distant
objects. Other plans have been tried for obtaining a similar advantage;
such as having a second pair of glasses hinged to the frame, and
capable of either turning up out of the way, or being placed imme-
diately before the ordinary lenses, to modify their power; or having
two distinct pairs of spectacles, capable of being used either separately
or together. Spectacles with glazed wings, or frames partly filled with
crape, are sometimes used by travellers; the glasses, which may be
plain, unless otherwise required, being of such a form as to shield the
eyes from dust.
In the Great Exhibition of 1851 the British exhibitors of spectacles
were contented with improvements in the method of mounting, but
left out of sight the main object, the improvement of the glasses.
Thus there were fine and delicate frames, some weighing only 11 grains,
and the whole weight, including glasses, not amounting to more than
two pennyweights. The steel frames of these spectacles resembled
hair lines, and were imperceptible at a short distance. There were
also ventilating eye-shades, designed to allow a current of air to
circulate freely between the shade and the wearer: there were also
spectacles for sketching, mounted without a rim to prevent obstruction
of vision. These, with every variety of gold, silver, and steel-mounted
spectacles, were to be found in abundance; but it was left to the
French exhibitors to present glasses to suit almost every peculiarity of
vision. M. Henri, uniting the skill of the optician with the knowledge
of the physiologist, exhibited spectacles of an improved kind, the glass
of which was so pure as to remove one source of uneasiness and
fatigue incident upon the use of spectacles; while the foci were so
arranged as to rectify certain defects and obliquity of vision. Some of
these spectacles were furnished with a moveable diaphragm, to be
shifted right or left at will. These were designed for the cure of
squinting, either converging or diverging. M. Pouillot exhibited
701
702
SPECTRUM.
SPECULUM.
metallic woven spectacles for the free admission of air to the eyes,
while they serve as a screen against dust, insects, &c., and also subdue
the light.
SPECTRUM (in optics) is the name applied to the coloured image
of the sun, or a narrow luminous object, when the light proceeding
from it is transmitted through a prism, and either allowed to fall on a
screen at some distance, or received directly into the eye. [DISPER-
SION.] A similar coloured_image, produced by diffraction, may be
obtained without a prism [DIFFRACTION OF LIGHT], and to it the
term spectrum equally applies.
The fixed lines of the solar spectrum have been already mentioned
in the former of the articles just quoted. Much light has recently
been thrown on their origin by the labours of Professor Kirchoff.
Fraunhofer long ago observed that the spectrum of a candle, or of a
spirit-lamp, exhibits a double bright line, which exactly coincides in
position with the double dark line D of the solar spectrum; and Sir
David Brewster noticed a similar correspondence in the case of defla-
grating nitre. (Report of the British Association,' for 1842, p. 15.)
An imitation of the fixed lines of the solar spectrum, as to their general
character, is obtained by subjecting light to the absorbing action of
certain gases, as was first discovered by Sir David Brewster, in the
case of nitrous acid gas. If the light of a lamp, which, if unmodified,
would give a continuous spectrum, be transmitted through this gas,
and then analysed, the spectrum is seen to be traversed by numerous
dark lines or narrow bands, which by their sharpness of definition,
narrowness, and apparently capricious arrangement, remind one of the
lines of the solar spectrum. That some of the fixed lines of the spec-
trum seen when the sun is near the horizon are to be attributed to
absorption by the earth's atmosphere, is evident from the fact that
they are not seen when the sun is high; but that all have not this
origin seems to follow from the fact, observed by Fraunhofer, that
different fixed stars have lines of their own, whereas were all the lines
due to absorption in the earth's atmosphere, the same system ought
to be seen whether the source of light were the sun or a fixed star.
During the researches in which he was engaged, in common with
Professor Bunsen, on the application of the prismatic analysis of
flames to qualitative chemical analysis, Professor Kirchoff was led to
discover that flames which exhibit in their spectra bright lines of
certain definite refrangibilities at the same time absorb energetically
light of those precise degrees of refrangibility. (Poggendorff's Annalen,'
vol. cx., p. 161; or 'Phil. Mag.' for August, 1860.) He further connected
this phenomenon with Prevost's theory of exchanges. He found that
if behind a flame giving bright lines in its spectrum were placed
a brilliantly luminous body of higher temperature, giving itself alone
a continuous spectrum, the compound light, consisting partly of light
emitted by the flame, partly of light emitted by the luminous body
behind it and transmitted through the flame, exhibited on analysis
dark lines in the places of the bright lines given by the flame alone;
the regions of those lines, as compared with the neighbouring regions,
suffering more in luminosity by absorption of the light from the
luminous body than they gained by the light emitted by the flame. A
particular instance of this simultaneous emission and absorption of
rays of definite refrangibility had been observed in the case of the
voltaic arc many years before by Foucault (L'Institut,' for Feb. 7,
1849), who, however, had not further followed the observation, nor
connected it with the theory of exchanges. Now the outer portions of
the atmosphere of the sun or a star, and the inner portions, or else
the solid or liquid body itself, may be conceived to be in the same
relative condition as the flame in the above experiment and the
luminous body behind it; and thus we are led to connect the dark
lines seen in the spectra of light coming directly from the sun or a fixed
star, with the presence in their atmospheres, in a state of incandescence,
of those elements, which, when present in flames, cause them to give
out bright lines of the same refrangibility. It is found that the intro-
It is found that the intro-
duction of small quantities of various metallic salts into a flame causes
its spectrum to exhibit bright lines, depending upon, and characteristic
of, the metal introduced; and by comparing these lines with the dark
lines of the solar spectrum we may infer the presence or absence of
such metals therein. Thus Professors Bunsen and Kirchoff have con-
cluded that the solar atmosphere contains potassium and sodium, that
lithium is absent, or present in comparatively small quantity, and so
forth.
SPE'CULUM, a name frequently given to a mirror used for any
scientific purpose, as in a reflecting telescope. For the astronomical
bearings of the speculum we refer to TELESCOPE, but we here give the
first part of the simpler mathematical description of a pencil of
13
A
to LENS.
F
O
p
י
rays incident upon a mirror, so as to make this article a counterpart
The convex mirror is comparatively of no importance, and the
formulæ for it may be easily derived from those for the concave
mirror, to which we proceed, referring to Mr. Griffin's work on OPTICS
for further information. Let a pencil of rays fall on the spherical
mirror AB from the point P, of which rays PB is one. Let PB be
reflected into Bp. It is supposed that P is in the radius o a, which is
the axis of the mirror; o being the centre of the sphere. Let A 0=r,
AP=u, Ap=v. The nearer B is taken to A, the more nearly does the
point p approach to a certain point F, at which the image of P is
said to be formed: not that any rays are actually reflected to F,
but because all the rays which are reflected from points near to
A fall exceedingly near to F, which is the cusp, and brightest point
of the CAUSTIC. If A F=w, the position of r is determined by the
equation—
1
13
2
1
น
(1)
The point p however is always nearer to A, or lies between F and A,
and p F, or the longitudinal aberration, is thus found: let the length
| of the arc A B be y; then
203
PF =
༡་
( −
112
u) y².... (2)
very nearly, if y be not very great. And for the lateral aberration F t,
we have
~ ( - )²x².
1)² y³.... (83).
W
F t
7'
น
Again, there is for all the rays proceeding from P, after reflection, a
circle through which they all pass, as in LENS. The distance of this
circle of least aberration from the focus F toward a, is the following
expression:-
/1
3 20²x² (1 - 4)³ .... (4).
4 r
if y be the whole semi-arc of the mirror: it is therefore three-fourths
of the longitudinal aberration of the extreme ray. The diameter of
this circle of least aberration is
120x³ (1 - 4)³ .... (5),
r
น
or one-half the lateral aberration of the extreme ray.
When the rays fall parallel to each other on the mirror, u is infinite,
and we have
1
7 for the value of w, for the longitudinal aberration,
y3
2,2
2
y²
4r
3r
16r
for the lateral aberration, for the distance of the circle of
least aberration from the focus, and for its diameter.
47
When ur, or the incident pencil is thrown from the centre, it is
returned again to the centre, and there are no aberrations.
When u is less than r, or P is between o and A, F then falls beyond
0, and, as P approaches to the middle point of oa, recedes without
1
limit. When u= r, or P is at the middle point of o A, all the
2
reflected rays are parallel to one another and to the axis of the mirror.
And when u is less than r, w becomes negative, or the focus is on
the other side of the mirror, and the reflected rays diverge; but only
the latitudinal aberration alters its sign.
1
2
tive in those for a concave mirror.
The formula for a convex mirror may be found by making r nega-
focus of every pencil is behind the mirror: the longitudinal aberra-
Hence w is always negative, or the
tions change sign, but not the latitudinal ones: and as w has also
changed sign, the effect is that p is always nearer to the mirror than
F, as before.
The image in a convex mirror is always upright; and in a concave
focus (or middle point of the radius) and the mirror.
one always inverted, except when the object falls between the principal
The astronomical value of the speculum depends on the quantity of
the optical image of a distant object. Hence the magnitude, the cur-
light that it can concentrate, and on the precision with which it forms
vature, and the surface polish are all of importance. The figure may
ellipsoid, where the edge is of shorter focus than the centre, or if
be parabolic, where every part has the same focus, or it may be an
longer an hyperboloid. The grinding and polishing of lenses in a
refracting telescope, to say nothing of the difficulty of obtaining good
optical glass, greatly limit the perfection of that form of telescope;
but an amount of error that would be tolerated in the best lenses,
would be fatal in the speculum of a large reflecting telescope. The
difficulties of forming an accurate speculum constitute a problem of
the highest order, the solution of which has received the careful study
of first-rate astronomers and mechanicians. The reader who is
desirous of seeing how these difficulties have been overcome, will do
well to consult the memoir communicated to the Royal Society of
London in 1840 by Lord Oxmantown (now Earl of Rosse) entitled An
Account of Experiments on the Reflecting Telescope. We may also

703
SPECULUM.
refer for a multitude of minute details to Holtzapffel's, Mechanical Mani-
pulation,' to papers in the proceedings of the British Association, 1843,
1850, to the Transactions of the Royal Astronomical Society,' to the
'Philosophical Transactions' for 1850, and also to the article Speculum
in Nichol's 'Cyclopædia of the Physical Sciences,' 1860. All we can
do, in this place, is to indicate the nature of the problem to be
solved, and briefly to state some of the means adopted for its solution.
And first as to the material. Speculum metal is an alloy of tin and
copper, which according to Lord Rosse should be a definite atomic
compound, namely, four equivalents of copper to one of tin, or
1264 parts of copper to 58.9 of tin, or 32 to 15 nearly. This is the
alloy used by Newton in the first reflecting telescope. It is very
brilliant, but so brittle as to break with a slight blow or sudden change
of temperature, and so hard and friable that it cannot be worked with
steel tools. The introduction of other metals or a larger proportion of
copper may diminish the brittleness, but will lower the brilliancy, and
produce a metal more liable to tarnish. It is remarkable that speculum
metal displays its porosity with the aid of a simple Coddington's
microscope. [BRONZE; SPECULUM METAL.]
When it is stated that the 6 feet speculum of Lord Rosse's telescope
weighs 4 tons, it may be imagined that the casting of such a mass is a
work of some difficulty. If a close mould were used, or if the metal
were rapidly cooled, it would fly to pieces in attempting to work it, or
if cast in sand, as an open casting, it would probably have a spongy or
crystalline texture, which would be visible when polished. Small
specula are cast in sand, and as soon as they are set the sand core is
pushed out of the central aperture of such as are intended for Grego-
rians, and the red-hot disc is surrounded by ignited wood ashes to
delay the cooling; but in large specula the margins solidify first and
from want of ductility the central parts are torn away in the act
of contracting, and the mass becomes rent or flawed. To prevent
these defects and accidents, the speculum is cast on a chill or surface
of iron moderately heated, the effect of which is to give a fine grain
and increased compactness to the metal to a small distance from the
surface. In Mr. Lassell's mode a cast-iron mould a little deeper than
the speculum, with its bottom convex, and of the same radius, is
attached to the end of a strong weighted lever, so that when the
mould is empty, its bottom makes a considerable angle with the
horizon, but becomes horizontal when charged with the proper
quantity of speculum metal. The fused metal is poured into a lateral
cell, communicating with the mould at its lowest point. In this way
the metal rises smoothly and evenly along the bottom, and entangled
air and scoria are got rid of. In Lord Rosse's arrangement the bottom
of the mould is made of pieces of hoop iron on edge, wedged tightly in
an iron frame, and turned to the proper curvature. This holds the
fused metal, but allows the gaseous matter to pass freely through. On
this a wooden pattern is laid about twice as deep as the intended
speculum and 1-65th larger to allow for contraction: sand is rammed
round this, and when the pattern is removed and the metal poured
into the cavity, the lower surface is chilled, the sides in contact with
the sand next harden, while the central parts remain longer fluid, and
the top or back of the speculum congeals last, by which arrangement
the contraction and irregularity of texture occur where they are least
injurious. While the cast is still red-hot, in which state it is not
brittle, it is transferred to an annealing furnace, which has been kept
heated for some days so that its interior brickwork is at a full red, and
here it is left to cool for a month or six weeks in case of a 6-feet
speculum; smaller ones, of course, requiring less time.
The grinding and the polishing, so as to produce a brilliant polish
and a true parabolic figure, are still more difficult than the casting.
The grinding is done by means of a tool on which are cemented small
pieces of gritstone, dressed to the convexity of the surface by means
of a gauge of sheet-iron. A convex and a concave gauge should be at
hand: circular arcs are struck on them of a radius equal to twice the
focal length, and afterwards left free by filing and grinding. When an
even surface is produced by this tool, another is taken, of cast-iron,
turned to the convex gauge, and cut up into small squares by two sets
of grooves, about a quarter of an inch wide. This is charged first with
sand, then with emery and water, and is made to traverse the face of
the speculum by machinery. There must be occasional washing, and
emery of increasing fineness used, till all scratches are removed. The
face may be tested optically from time to time, and examined as to the
focus. Early in the process the edge of the speculum is ground true
with sand applied by means of a divided hoop of iron, which admits of
being tightened. The back may also be made uniform. In the grind-
ing, care was taken to prevent the slightest jar of the grinder on the
speculum, as the metal is so brittle that there is great danger of
breaking it. A number of thin wooden wedges may be placed on
the margin of the speculum, and the polisher slowly lowered upon
them, and then by degrees they can be gently withdrawn.
In the polishing process, the tool, sometimes of lighter material than
the grinder, is coated with pitch to a small thickness, but not closing
the grooves which divide the surface into squares. The pitch must be
of the degree of hardness such that a sovereign will stand on it on
edge for one minute, and leave the impression of four nicks of the
milling. The speculum is cleaned from emery or dust, and properly
secured on the polishing-machine, and is smeared with a mixture of
water and rouge (peroxide of iron), and the polisher, at the temperature
SPECULUM.
704
of 80°, is placed on it for a short time. On raising it, all the squares
of the pitch must have been in full contact with the speculum. If
this be the case, the polisher is ready for work. In the old method of
polishing by hand, the polisher is fixed to a firm block, and the ope-
rator, holding the speculum by a handle cemented to its back, works it
backwards and forwards across the polisher by straight strokes, after a
few of which he shifts his position to give them a new direction,
turning the speculum somewhat to get rid as far as may be of
inequalities in the abrasion; and from time to time these cross-strokes
are varied by circular ones; and as the moisture evaporates, a little
water must be supplied at the edge. The adhesion and friction
increase rapidly; the polishing-powder changes in colour, and at last
disappears, when a fine polish covers the speculum, and the operator,
by a few circular strokes, completes the parabolic figure.
This may be tested by optical means. Care must be taken not to
pass the proper figure, for it cannot be recovered except by re-grinding
and repeating the whole process. The advocates for this laborious.
kind of work attach much importance to the touch of the operator,
since he can feel if anything is going wrong, and correct it in time.
But as hand-polishing cannot be applied to specula above nine inches,
and science required those of larger size, the introduction of machinery
was necessary to progress. The two Herschels availed themselves of
mechanical aid; but the first astronomer who has given a minute
account of his method is Lord Rosse, in the paper above referred to.
His plan is to work by a double system of cross-strokes, while the
speculum and polisher are slowly revolving with unequal velocities,
The speculum is carried by a chuck attached to a strong vertical shaft.
and is surrounded by water at 55° to insure the proper consistence of
the pitch. The polisher is of iron, stiffened by means of ribs arranged
like the walls of a honeycomb, and suspended by six points to lessen
the chance of bending. The polishing-bar has a rectilinear motion

J
K
I
• P
S
CI
M
C
H
0
F L
0
from a variable crank. The effect of this crank corresponds to the
cross-stroke in hand-polishing, tending to a spherical form; but the
705
706
SPECULUM.
SPHERE.
і
rotation of the speculum tends to lengthen the focus of the exterior
zones of its surface. There is also an excentric motion, which aug-
ments to any required extent the circumferential action. The figure
depends on four things, namely, the radius of the primary, that of the
excentric, and the angular velocities of it and the speculum. In
polishing a six-feet speculum, the number of strokes is eight per minute;
and for smaller ones, inversely as their diameter. The polishing of a
six-feet speculum requires five hours. The figure of the speculum was
tested in Lord Rosse's process, during the grinding and polishing, by
observing the reflection of a watch-dial placed perpendicularly over
the speculum, at a height of about 90 feet. By carefully watching the
image of this dial, the adjustment of the length of stroke could be made
with such accuracy that the three-feet speculum, with its whole
aperture, was thrown perceptibly out of focus by a motion of the eye-
piece amounting to less than the thirtieth of an inch. During the
polishing, it was found necessary, in order to prevent irregular expan-
sion of the speculum, to maintain a uniform temperature in the
polishing-room; and it was also necessary to have a certain degree of
moisture in the air, that the wet polishing-powder should dry at the
proper rate.
When the air was too damp, the polishing was not
attempted; if it were too dry, a jet of steam was introduced. Instead
of water, ammonia soap (or common soap treated with ammonia) was
sometimes used with the polishing-powder, as this was found to dry
more rapidly.
A more complete idea of the arrangements for grinding and polishing
specula may be formed from Mr. Lassell's arrangement, as improved by
Mr. Nasmyth, and represented in the figure (col. 704), the object being to
imitate as closely as possible those evolutions of the hand by which Mr.
Lassell had been accustomed to produce perfect surfaces on smaller
specula. F L represent fast and loose pulleys for conveying the power, and
transmitting it by the endless screw on the shaft, A, to the wheel c.
The spindle, E, of this wheel has attached to it a crank or arm, I, which
carries a pinion, J, and causes the pinion to revolve round the toothed
circumference of the wheel H, which wheel н, being fixed to a bracket,
causes the pinion J to revolve with as many turns as its circumference
is less than that of the wheel H, or five to one. The spindle of the
pinion J has a wheel, K, fixed to it at its lower end, which wheel K, in
like manner, conveys motion to the pinion L, which works on an
adjustable centre-pin; and as the T-groove in which the centre-pin of
L works is radial to the centre of the wheel н, this pinion may be set
to any degree of excentricity, and yet be in gear with H.
The pinion L
has also a cross-crank, M, attached to its under side, which, having its
crank-pin, N, also sliding in a T-groove, it may be set to and fixed at
any degree of excentricity; so that by these two excentric movements
we have the means of giving to the pin N any compound motion
required. The polisher is of wood or other suitable material, coated
with pitch, and divided into squares.
This polisher is free to move upon the pin N, while N causes the
polisher to slide over the surface of the speculum s with a motion not
like that represented in the figure contained in Holtzapffel's 'Mechani-
cal Manipulation,' where the curves are all re-entering, but rather as in
the following figure, where the curves do not re-enter. In order that
every part of the surface of the speculum may continually change its
position, with respect to the movements of the polisher, a slow revolving
motion is given to it by an endless screw on B working into the teeth
of the wheel D, which forms the base on which the speculum rests. It
ARTS AND SCI. DIV. VOL. VII.
rests, in fact, on nine equilibrium points in the cell in which it is to rest
when actually in the telescope, so as to incur no risk of distortion. 'By
means of this arrangement," says Mr. Nasmyth, "a speculum having a
decidedly hyperbolic figure may be corrected, and brought to a perfect
parabola, or to a spherical curve, or the same may be done in the
reverse order, at pleasure." In Lord Rosse's arrangement, the polisher
is traversed over the speculum with reciprocating longitudinal motion;
and in Mr. Lassell's, the polisher has a continuous epitrochoidal motion,
the path of which is dependent upon the adjustments of L and M. The
polisher is made of two thicknesses of pine-wood, with the grain crossed.
This, from its lightness, does not require to be counterpoised, as in
Rosse's; and, apparently from its being sufficiently yielding to accom-
modate itself somewhat to the form of the speculum, a single coating
of pitch was found sufficient, and the polishing was completed with
wet powder. The value of the two-feet speculum thus produced is
shown by Mr. Lassell's discovery of the satellite of Neptune, an eighth
satellite of Saturn, and the re-observation of the satellites of Uranus,
which had not been seen since their announcement by Sir W. Herschel.
Mr. Lassell's polisher has served as a type to other skilful mechanicians,
such as Mr. De la Rue, Mr. Grubb, of Dublin, and Mr. Lassell himself
has introduced some modifications.
Further details respecting specula belong to TELESCOPE; but we may
mention the proposal, if not introduction, of silver as a substitute for
speculum metal. It reflects 0.91 of the incident light, while speculum
metal only reflects 0.67. It is, on the other hand, liable to tarnish,
and there are difficulties in the way of figuring and polishing it.
M. Foucault, however, has formed a speculum of glass, figured and
polished to a true parabola, and deposited a thin but uniform film of
silver on its surface, by means of Drayton's process, in which a solution
of nitrate of silver is reduced by means of oil of cassia. The exterior
surface of the glass speculum is parabolic, but has no lustre. That
property may be imparted to it in a high degree without any sensible
change of figure, by means of light friction with wash-leather and a little
peroxide of iron. In case of tarnish, the polish may be renewed by
the same process, and often be repeated before the silvering requires to
be renewed.
SPECULUM METAL. [BRONZE.]
SPEISS. [COBALT.]
SPELTER. (ZINC.]
SPERMACETI, or CETACEUM, a fatty material, obtained from
the Physeter macrocephalus, (Catodons macrocephalus of Beale)
[CETACEA, in NAT. HIST. DIV.], a species of whale, generally met with
in the South Seas, but also on the coast of Greenland, and occasionally
stranded on the coasts of Britain. When purified it is called cetine.
It is also soluble in ether, and volatile and fixed oils.
white, pearly, or silky appearance, considerable tenacity, but may
be broken into mica-like scales, with a smooth or fatty feel, slight
fish-like odour, and mild mawkish taste. Its specific gravity is 943;
it melts at 112°, and when a lighted body is applied to it, it burns with
a clear flame.
It has a

Sulphuric is the only acid which dissolves it. It is only partially
dissolved by the fixed alkalies, and is with difficulty saponifiable. Hot
caustic ammonia forms with it an emulsion, which is not decomposed
on cooling.
Long exposure to the air renders it rancid; it may be again purified
by washing in a warm ley of potass. It should be protected from air
and light.
A hundred parts of spermaceti consist of sixty parts of margaric and
oleic acids, forty parts of ethal, and 0.9 parts of a yellow extractiform
substance. The ultimate composition of cetine seems to be-carbon,
81; hydrogen, 12; oxygen, 5.
Spermaceti possesses the properties common to fatty matters. It is
bland and demulcent, with considerable nutritive qualities, when taken
with mucilage or syrup, to shield the throat from the irritation of the
internally. It was formerly much used in colds and coughs, united
air, also in dysentery. Triturated with sugar-candy, and having warm
milk added to it, it is a mild nutrient article, fit for children or old
persons. It is however now chiefly employed externally as an ingre-
dient in ointments and cerates. It is also largely used to form candles,
and to burn in lamps.
SPHERE, or GLOBE, a solid body, the surface of which is every-
where equally distant from a given point or centre within it. This
distance of each point from the centre is called the radius. In the
article MENSURATION will be found the formula which connect the
surface and solidity of a sphere with the radius: we shall here add
that the weight of a sphere of pure water is found in ounces avoirdu-
pois, by multiplying the cube of the number of inches in the radius by
2-4171; and in pounds avoirdupois by multiplying the cube of the
number of feet in the radius by 261.05. These results multiplied by
the specific gravity give the weight of a sphere of any other substance.
A section made by a sphere and plane is always a circle. When the
cutting plane passes through the centre of the sphere, this proposition
is obvious from the definition of a circle. When the plane does not
pass through the centre the assertion follows so soon as it is shown
that a plane curve having all its points equidistant from a given point
not in the plane is a circle. A section passing through the centre is
called a great circle, and one which does not pass through the centre a
small circle. These terms are incorrect, since a small circle may be in

Z Z
703
SPHERE.
size as nearly as we please equal to a great circle: the words greater
and smaller would be more correct.
The centre of a circular section is found by drawing a perpendicular
from the centre of the sphere to the plane of the section. All sections
whose planes are parallel have their centres on one straight line,
namely, the perpendicular to the planes which passes through the
centre of the sphere. The great circle in such a system (CUAB) is
called the primitive, the common perpendicular (POQ) the axis, all the
small circles (DEFG, KLMN, &c.) parallels, the extremities of the axis
D
E
U
P
W
L
M
G
F
A
B
(P and Q) poles, and all great circles passing through the axis and poles
(PCQB, PUQ, PAQ, &c.) secondaries.
By the angle made by two great circles is always understood the
'angle made by their planes, which is also that made by their tangents
at the point of intersection, and that made by the intersections of the
two circles with the third circle to which both are secondary. It is
also the angle made by the axes of the two circles. Thus the spherical
'angle EPF is the angle made by the planes PEQ and PFQ, or the angle
made by tangents to the circles drawn through P, or the angle UOA.
The angle made by two straight lines drawn from the centre (as o▲
and OB) is often confounded with the arc (AB) which that angle marks
out on the sphere. When this causes any confusion, which at first it
will sometimes do, instead of each arc mentioned, read its angle: thus
for the arc AB read the "angle subtended by the arc AB or AOB.
Thus when we say that the angle made by two great circles is the arc
intercepted between their poles, we mean not to equate the angle to
the length of an arc, but to the angle which that arc subtends at the
centre.
""
The following propositions are essential to the doctrine of the sphere
in geography and astronomy; they may be easily proved, and will
serve as exercises in the meaning of the preceding terms :-
1. If the poles of a first circle lie upon a second, the poles of the
second will also lie upon the first.
2. If a sphere be made by the revolution of a semicircle round its
diameter, the diameter will be an axis, the middle point of the semi-
circle will describe the primary, all other points will describe parallels,
and every position of the generating circle will be a secondary.
3. If a point on a sphere be distant from each of two other points
(not opposite) by a quadrant of a great circle, the first point must be a
pole of the great circle which joins the second and third.
4. The arc of a parallel (as Er) is found from the corresponding are
of the primary (AU) by multiplying the latter by the cosine of the
angle (FOA) which is subtended by the intercepted arc (AF) of the
secondary.
5. The surface of the zone intercepted between any two parallels is
the rectangle contained under the circumference of the primary and
the perpendicular distance between the parallels.
6. The surface of a lune contained between two great circles is such
a proportion of the whole surface of the sphere as the angle contained
between the two great circles is of four right angles.
7. The part of a lune contained within any zone made by two of its
parallels (as EFUA) is such a proportion of the whole zone as the angle
of the circles forming the lune is of four right angles.
We are now to show the method of CO-ORDINATES by which points
in the sphere are ascertained, and their relative positions described.
Take any great circle CUAB, and choose any point U as an origin, and
either direction to be that in which arcs are measured. Say for in-
stance that UA, in preference to Uo, shall be the direction in which
arcs are measured. The position of any point in this great circle is
then ascertained simply by determining its distance from U, since there
is a tacit understanding as to the direction in which that distance
shall be measured. If we give a name to that distance, be it longitude,
right ascension, or any other, the point whose right ascension (if it be
right ascension) is 80° means the point which is at 80° distance from u
in the direction UA. Again, if we wish to describe any other point,
not in the great circle chosen, as r: through F draw a secondary to
the great circle (PFAQ), then the point F will be known as soon as A is
SPHERE, DOCTRINE OF THE.
708
described, in the manner just laid down, and also as soon as the arc AF
is given, and the pole towards which it is measured. These two co-
ordinates, UA and AF, when described in magnitude and direction,
form a complete description of the position of the point r on the
sphere; and the angles subtended by UA and AF are generally used
instead of UA and AF.
For the first steps of the application of spherical geometry to astro-
nomy, see the next article.
SPHERE, DOCTRINE OF THE. This phrase is generally used
to signify the application of the simple geometrical notions in the
article SPHERE to geography and astronomy. It comes between
spherical trigonometry and those two sciences, being merely the
explanation of the circumstances under which the former is to be
applied to the latter, and the nomenclature which is employed to faci-
litate explanation.
In geography the end is almost gained when a distinct notion is
acquired of the meaning of the terms terrestrial latitude and terrestial
longitude, generally abbreviated into latitude and longitude. These
are only names given to a pair of spherical co-ordinates as described in
SPHERE, the axis of rotation of the earth furnishing the means of pre-
scribing the necessary data. The earth revolves round an axis, say P Q
(see the diagram in SPHERE), and the great circle perpendicular to that
axis is the equator (CU AB). An arbitrary point u is chosen as an
origin; and P being the pole which is called north, u A is the east
direction and u c the west. The English choose the point u in such a
way that the secondary P U passes through the Observatory at Green-
wich: the French pay the same compliment to their Observatory at
Paris, and so on. The co-ordinate UA (or its angle) is called longitude,
east or west according as it falls; and the co-ordinate A F (or its angle)
is called latitude, north or south according to the pole towards which
it is directed. Thus the place F (PU passing through Greenwich)
would be described as in longitude u A east of Greenwich, and FA of
north latitude; but if the fundamental secondary, P U, be moved any
number of degrees to the east, every east longitude must be diminished
and every west longitude increased as much; and all places which
the secondary passes over in the transfer, must have the names of
the directions of their longitudes changed, and take for their new
longitudes the excesses of the angle of transfer over their former
longitudes. Again, longitude might be measured all the way
round in one direction: thus D, instead of being described as in u c
of west longitude, might be considered as in 360°-UC of east
longitude.
There are few problems of much interest connected with geography
merely; and it must be remembered that the common terrestrial
globe, with its brazen secondary to the equator (called a meridian, very
incorrectly, except as meaning that it may be made a meridian to any
place), its ecliptic, and figured horizon, is almost as much a represen-
tative of the sphere of the heavens as of the earth; and the most
useful problems are those in which the sphere is used conjointly in these
capacities. But, merely to show what we asserted at first, that the
description and nomenclature which are called the doctrine of the sphere
are nothing but the connecting link of geography, &c., and spherical
trigonometry, let us ask the following question:-Given a table of
latitudes and longitudes, required the distance between two places
mentioned? Let D and м be the places (see diagram in SPHERE), then
PD is the co-latitude of D, or 90°-lat. of D, and PM (on account of M's
south latitude) is 90° + lat. of M; while the spherical angle, DP M
(which is the angle of the arc a c), is, on account of the longitudes
being of different names, the sum of the longitudes of D and M.
Hence, if D and M be joined by the arc of a great circle, we have given
(from the tables) two sides and the angle included, in the spherical
triangle D P M. From these data the third side, D M, can be found, in
degrees, &c.: convert this into miles, at the rate of 69 miles to a
degree (which is accurate enough for the purpose), and the result will
be the distance required.
We now make the passage from the terrestrial to the celestial
sphere. The latter is a fiction, derived from the impossibility of dis-
tinguishing the distances of the heavenly bodies, on which account
they all seem at the same distances, on a sphere so great that the
earth, its centre, is but a point in comparison. But it must be
remembered that the appearances of the heavenly bodies conform
themselves to this fiction, so that the development of the consequences
of the latter amounts to an explanation of the phenomena of the
heavens. And first, the rotation of the earth from west to east gives
to the sphere of the heavens an apparent motion from east to west,
round an axis which is obtained by lengthening the axis of the earth.
The point of the heavens which answers, for the moment, to the
spectator's position on the earth, is that point which is directly over
his head, or his zenith. And since the spectator is not exactly at the
centre of the celestial sphere, we give the following diagram, illustra-
tive of the manner in which the effect of this misplacement is destroyed
by the largeness of the sphere.
The eye of the spectator is at E, and his zenith-line is oz. The
smaller circle is a section of the earth, and the larger of the sphere of
the heavens. The figure is drawn of dimensions so false, that the
sphere of the heavens is represented about as well as a common orrery
represents the solar system. The HORIZON is the small circle drawn
perpendicular to oz through Nn; the altitude of the pole of the

709
710
SPHERE, DOCTRINE OF THE.
SPHERE, DOCTRINE OF THE.
suppose
heavens (P' being that of the earth) is the angle NE P. Now
and horizon make an angle equal to the colatitude (90°-lat.) of the
the earth and the spectator to diminish until they cannot be distin- place of observation; a star which is distant from the north pole by
less than the latitude of the place of observation can never set nor go
below the horizon (it is called a circumpolar star).
Z

n
B
P
E
N
A
P
R
0
guished from the point o, the sphere of the heavens remaining the
same. All angles at o remain unaltered: the altitude of the pole of
the heavens becomes Q o P, equal to the angle A O E, the latitude of the
spectator, and the horizon of the latter coincides with the great circle
drawn through RQ perpendicular to oz. The great circle, QPZ R,
passing through the pole and the zenith, is the meridian; the second-
ary to the horizon perpendicular to the meridian is the prime vertical.
We here exhibit a skeleton of the sphere, showing nм ZP N, half the
Ꮓ
M
P
N
N

B
M
T
h
C
3
ጎ
E
meridian; N En, the horizon (N, E, n, its north, east, and south points);
Z E, the prime vertical; a portion of PO, the axis; EM, the equator,
perpendicular to the axis.
We now give three positions of the sphere, differing only in the
manner of projecting the figure. Each one represents the state of the
heavens some two or three hours before noon in an October morning,
in a latitude somewhat greater than our own. The first figure is pro-
jected on the plane of the meridian; that is, the meridian is the
circle which bounds the view of the sphere. The second is projected
on the prime vertical; the third, on the horizon.
Z
9
P
*---
N
R
ல
S
E
Y
X LIGN
P
2
H


V
WIDE
X
K

22
C
M
B
W
R.
T
X
P
~
S
C
5
10
E
L
G
K
*
4
-
772
N
The diurnal motion carries the sphere round the axis in the direction
of the arrows marked upon the equator. The meridian, horizon, and
prime vertical, must be considered as detached from the sphere, and
not moving with it. Every point of the sphere describes a small
circle parallel to the equator: and all stars which are at the same dis-
tance from the pole describe the same small circle. The whole revolu-
tion takes place in what is called a sidereal day [TIME], about four
minutes less than the mean solar day shown by a good clock. A
secondary to the equator describes angles uniformly about the pole at
the rate of 360° to 24 sidereal hours, or 15° to 1 sidereal hour. [ANGLE.]
Hence if we would know how long it will be before the diurnal motion
will bring a star at K into the position s, we must turn the angle SPK,
which is measured by the arc Q5, into sidereal time at the rate of 15°
to 1h, and then turn the sidereal time so obtained into common clock
time, at the rate of about 23h 56 of clock time to 24 of sidereal
time. For purposes of general explanation, the two species of time
may be confounded. The sidereal day is always made to begin when
a certain point of the equator, presently to be noticed (the vernal
equinox), comes on the south side of the meridian, and the hours are
measured on to 24h.
The diagrams have many letters and numerals which are useless,
except in tracing the affinities of the figures. The meridian, n P Z N ;
the prime vertical, z Ez; the horizon, n EN, and its poles, the zenith
and nadir, z and z; the equator, M Em, and its poles P and p (which
are called the poles, from their importance), are supposed to be well
known. The reader who is new to the subject should learn to see the
following propositions in each of the figures, namely:-the poles of the
meridian are the east and west points of the horizon; the poles of the
prime vertical are the north and south points of the horizon; the
equator and prime vertical make an angle equal to the latitude of
the place of observation (which is PN, or the angle of P N); the equator
We shall now explain the systems of co-ordinates which are made
use of in describing the positions of stars.
1. Horizontal System. Altitude and Azimuth.-In this case the
horizon is the primitive circle employed; its north point, N, is the
origin, and the position of a point w is determined by its azimuth, NI,
and its altitude, L W; ZWL being a secondary to the horizon. Since
the altitude and azimuth are reckoned by means of a fixed circle, both
711
SPHERE, DOCTRINE OF THE.
are perpetually changing their values for any one star. The following
assertions will serve to try the reader's comprehension of these terms:
points on the north side of the meridian are in azimuth 0°, on the
south side in azimuth 180°; the zenith has all azimuths, and every
other point of the east side of the prime vertical 90° of azimuth; the
altitude of a star which sets is greatest when it is on the meridian;
the meridian altitudes of a circumpolar star are the greatest and least
of all its altitudes, and their half sum is always the latitude of the
place of observation. [ALTITUDE; AZIMUTH.]
SPHERICAL TRIGONOMETRY.
712
wanted of noon, or has elapsed since noon. All this on the globe is
done without attending to the distinction of sidereal and solar time,
which need hardly be attended to when no greater degree of accuracy
is wanted than can be obtained on a globe. We now refer the reader
to works on the use of the globes, and shall conclude this article by a
few indications of the mode of applying spherical trigonometry.
To find the time of sunrise, observe that in the spherical triangle
PKN, right-angled at N, we have PK given, being 90° + the sun's
declination, and also PN, the latitude of the place of observation.
Hence the angle KPN can be found, which being turned into sidereal
time, gives a good approximation to the time of sunrise, refraction and
the sun's proper motion being neglected.
Two known stars, w and s, are observed to be in the same circle of
altitude s WL at a given place; required the time of day. Here P w
and rs, the co-declinations of the stars, are known, and also the angle
WPS, which is the difference of their right ascensions; hence in the
triangle s w p the angle s w P can be found, and thence its supplement,
P
the angle z W P. Then, in the triangle w z P, we know the angle z w P,
Pw the co-declination of the star w, and z P the co-latitude of the
place: whence the angle WPZ can be found; and thence, by com-
parison of w with the sun, the time of day.
2. Equatorial System. Right Ascension and Declination.-The pri-
mitive circle here is the equator; the point of the equator called the
vernal equinox (presertly described) is the origin, and the direction of
the sun's motion from west to east is the direction in which right Given SL the sun's altitude, and the latitude of the place; required
ascension is measured. In the diagrams T is not the vernal, but the the time of day. In the triangle sz P, we now know z s the sun's co-
autumnal equinox, the point opposite to the vernal equinox, conse-altitude, s P which is 90° + declination, and ZP the co-latitude of the
quently T has 180° of right ascension, and so have w, v, and all points place. Hence the angle SPZ can be found, and thence the time from
on the same half of the secondary PWT. The other co-ordinate, noon. If s, instead of the sun, were a known star, the question would
declination, is measured on the secondary to the equator north or south be solved in the same way, except that the sun's hour-angle is no longer
according to its direction: thus s has for its right ascension 180° + T Q, SPZ, but that angle increased or diminished by the difference of
and qs of south declination; while R has the same right ascension, the right ascensions of the sun and star.
and Q R of north declination. The secondaries to the equator are called
hour-circles, and the difference of the right ascensions of two stars is
the angle made by their hour-circles: thus the angle QP5, measured
by the arc Q5, is obviously the difference of the right ascensions of the
point R and 1. The equator moves with the sphere, so that the right
ascension and declination of a star remain the same, as long as it moves
only with the diurnal motion. The right ascension is generally ex-
pressed in time, as before described; and the following assertions will
serve for exercise in the meaning of these terms:-the sidereal day
beginning when the vernal equinox is on the meridian, the right
ascension of any star, turned into time, expresses the moment of the
sidereal day at which that star will be on the meridian; when the
vernal equinox is on the meridian of Greenwich, the longitude of any
place, measured eastwards, is the same as the right ascension of a star
which is on the meridian of that place; the meridian altitude of any
star, diminished by its declination (if north), or increased by its
declination (if south), is the co-latitude of the place of observation;
every star which has the same declination as the place of observation
has latitude, passes directly over the head of the spectator at that
place; the time of rising of a star, and the time during which it
remains above the horizon, depend solely upon the declination, and not
at all upon the right ascension. [RIGHT ASCENSION; DECLINATION.]
3. Ecliptic System. Celestial Longitude and Latitude.-The ecliptic
BTS b) is the circle which the sun appears to describe in the course of
a year, the direction of this orbital motion being from west to east.
One half of it is north, the other half south, of the equator; and the
point of the equator in which the ecliptic cuts it, and through which
the sun passes when it leaves the southern and enters the northern
part of the ecliptic, is the vernal equinox, the opposite point being the
autumnal equinox. Consequently, T, as drawn, is the autumnal
equinox, for motion from west to east, or in the direction BTS, makes
the sun pass from the northern to the southern side of the equator.
In this system of co-ordinates the ecliptic is the primitive circle, the
vernal equinox is the origin, longitude is measured from west to east
on the ecliptic, and latitude north or south, as the case may be, is
measured on a secondary to the ecliptic drawn through the star.
fact, celestial longitude and latitude are to the ecliptic precisely what
right ascension and declination are to the equator. The obliquity of
the ecliptic is the angle made by the equator and the ecliptic; and the
secondaries to the ecliptic, drawn through the vernal and autumnal
equinoxes, are the equinoctial and solsticial colures. [LONGITUDE AND
LATITUDE.]
In
A complete understanding of all these terms makes the comprehen-
sion of the globe easy, and also the application of spherical trigonometry
to those who know the latter science. We now describe the diagrams,
in order to point out how such applications are made. The point s is
the sun, of course in the ecliptic; its right ascension is 180° + TQ, its
declination Qs south, its longitude 180° + Ts, its latitude 0°, its
azimuth NL, its altitude LS, its hour-angle ( a name given to the angle
made by the hour-circle of a star with the meridian) S P M, measured
by M Q. The parallel to the equator os Ke would be the diurnal path
of the sun, if it continued at the point s of the ecliptic; but as the sun
has a slow motion of its own towards K, it is not strictly (though very
nearly) correct to say that, for the day in question, the sun continues
in the parallel. Hence we may say, without sensible error, that the
sun moves over cK during half the night, and through Ko during half
the day. It rises when at the point K, and the angle KPS, turned into
time, shows the sidereal time elapsed since the rising, while the angle
SPM shows the time which is yet to elapse before noon. As to the
time of the year, observe that the sun was at the autumnal equinox T
on the 21st of September, since which time it has moved over Ts,
independently of the diurnal rotation of the sphere. We see then
what is meant by saying that the diagram represents some morning in
October. The use of the globe is thus explained, as far as setting it for
any hour and day is concerned. The pole P must first be elevated
until the elevation is equal to the latitude of the place, the sun must
then be put in its proper place in the ecliptic for the time of the year,
and its hour-angle must then be made to represent the time which is
For the actual applications we must refer to mathematical works on
astronomy.
SPHERICAL ABERRATION. If a lens or mirror could accom-
plish all that we should desire in it, it would refract or reflect rays
diverging from or converging towards a point so that the directions of
the refracted or reflected rays should accurately pass through a point.
This however can in general be only approximately effected; and the
failure of the rays to pass accurately through a point is termed
aberration. It depends partly on the form of the surfaces, partly on
the compound nature of light itself. The former is termed spherical,
the latter chromatic aberration. Spherical aberration is of course the
only kind which exists in the case of a mirror. For the formula
relating to the spherical aberration of lenses and mirrors, see LENS and
SPECULUM.
SPHERICAL ANGLE. [SPHERICAL TRIGONOMETRY, &c.]
SPHERICAL EXCESS. SPHERICAL TRIGONOMETRY, &c.]
SPHERICAL TRIANGLE. [SPHERICAL TRIGONOMETRY,
&c.].
SPHERICAL TRIGONOMETRY, SPHERICAL TRIANĞLE,
SPHERICS. We shall confine ourselves in the present article to such
a collection of the properties of a spherical triangle as may be useful
for reference, referring for demonstration to the treatise on the subject
in the Library of Useful Knowledge,' and to that on Geometry;
adding to the former nothing but a shorter mode of obtaining Napier's
Analogies.
By a spherical triangle is meant that portion of the sphere which is
cut off by three arcs of great circles, each of which cuts the other two

B
as A B C. It is now usual, however, to consider the spherical triangle as
a sort of representative of the solid angle formed at the centre of the
sphere by the planes AOB, BOO, CO A, as follows:-The arcs a B, BC,
CA, are the measures of the angles A OB, BO C, CO A, and are used for
them the spherical angles BAC, ACB, CBA are by definition the
angles made by the planes BOA and A 0 C, A O O and COB, COB and
вол. The sperical triangle then has six parts corresponding in
name to the six parts of a plane triangle; but a side of it means the
angle made by two straight lines of a solid angle, while an angle of it
refers to the angle made by two planes of the solid angle.
Throughout this article we shall designate the angles by A, B, C, tho
sides opposite to them by a, b, c; the half sum of the sides by s.
And by A', B', c', a', b', c', we mean the supplements of A, B, &c., so
that A+ A' 180°, a + a′ = 180°, &c. No triangle is considered
which has either a side or an angle greater than 180°.
Three circles divide the sphere into eight spherical triangles. Of
these four are equal and opposite to the other four, with which they
agree in every respect but one [SYMMETRICAL] with which we have
nothing here to do. Of the four which are distinct, if A Bo be one,
there are three others thus related to it: the first has for its sides.
a, b', c', and for its angles A, B', o',; the second has a', b, c', for sides,
1
713
714
SPHERICAL TRIGONOMETRY.
SPHERICAL TRIGONOMETRY.
and A', B, c', for angles; the third has a', b, c for sides, and A', B′, C,
for angles. Hence every spherical triangle has another, with one side
and its opposite angle remaining unchanged, and all the other parts
changed into their supplements.
Again, if the three circles be taken which have A, B, and c for their
poles, the intersections of these new circles are themselves the poles of
AB, BC, and CA; and, of the eight new triangles thus formed, each
one has all its angles supplemental to the sides of its corresponding
triangle in the first set, and all its sides supplemental to the angles.
Thus there exists a triangle which bas the sides A', B', c', and the
angles a', b', c'; which is called the supplemental triangle of that
which has a, b, c, for sides, and A, B, C, for angles. Hence if, in any
general formula, sides be changed into supplements of angles, and
angles into supplements of sides, the result is also a general formula.
Any two sides of a spherical triangle are together greater than the
third, and the sum of the three sides is not so great as 360°. Any
two angles of a spherical triangle are together less than the third angle
increased by 180°, and the sum of the three angles is more than two, and
less than six, right angles. And the greater side of a spherical triangle
is opposite to the greater angle; and the sum of two sides is greater
than, equal to, or less than, 180°, according as the sum of the opposite
angles is greater than, equal to, or less than, 180°.
The formula for the solution of a spherical right-angled triangle are
six in number. Let c be the right angle, and let c be called the
hypothenuse, as distinguished from a and b, which are still called sides.
[CIRCULAR PARTS.]
1, 2. The cosine of the hypothenuse is equal to the product of the
cosines of the sides, and of the cotangents of the angles:
cos c = cos a cos b; cos c = cot a cot B.
The formula (5) which are called Napier's Analogies, may be demon-
strated more easily than in the usual way, as follows. First-
tana tanc+ tan B tan c
+tan & A tan B
&c.
tan ( A + B). tan ½ C =
from (4) tana tan B =
tan (Atan B). tan α =
1
sin (s c)
sin s
sin (s—b) + sin (s — a)
sin s
+ sin (s — c)*
2 sinc cos (a - b)
[TRIGONOMETRY.] tan ( A + B). tan § c =
2 sinc
cos (a + b)
since 28 α b = c.
Hence the first of (5) easily follows, and the
J
second in a similar manner.
The formula (6) is not easily remembered, except by the following:
-Write the sides in any successive pairs, as ab, bc, ca, or ac, cb, ba:
change the last three into the corresponding angles giving ab, bc, ca,
or ac, cB, BA; remembering the formula cos÷sin cot make the
middle terms cosines, those on the right and left sines, and those on
the extreme right and left cotangents. We have then—
cot a sin b = cos b cos c + sin c cot a,
which is a case of the formula in question.
We now proceed to the different cases of triangles, observing that
these may be taken in pairs, owing to the property of the supple-
mental triangle.
mental triangle. Thus, suppose it granted that we can solve the case
of finding the three angles when the sides are given, it follows that we
can solve that of finding the three sides from the three angles. For, if
A, B, and c be given, find the angles of the triangle whose sides are a',
3. The sine of a side is the sine of the hypothenuse into the sine of B', and c'. If a', b', and c' be these angles, then a, b, c are the sides of
the opposite angle :
sin a sin c sin a; sin b - sin c sin B.
the original triangle. Nor is it worth while to separate the several
cases, since it generally happens that out of each pair one is of much
more frequent occurrence than the other.
Case 1.-Given the three sides, to find the three angles. If one
4. The tangent of a side is the tangent of the hypothenuse into the angle only be wanted, one of the formula (3) answers as well as any-
thing. If all three angles be wanted, the shortest way is to calculate
M from
cosine of the included angle:
tan a = tan c cos B; tan b tan c cos A.
5. The tangent of a side is the tangent of its opposite angle into the
side of the other side:
tan a tan a sin b; tan b = tan B sin a.
6. The cosine of an angle is the cosine of its opposite side into the
side of the other angle:
cos a = cos a sin B; cos B = cos b sin a.
These formulæ are sufficient for every case. Name any two out of
the five a, b, c, A, B (c being a right angle), and in the preceding six
formulæ, by repetition ten, will be found those two combined with
each of the other three. Thus, having given a side a and its adjacent
angle B, we find the other parts from
tan b tan B sin
tan B sin a, tan c =
tan a
COS B
cos A = cos a sin B.
These formulæ should be committed to memory: the abbreviation,
so called, described in CIRCULAR PARTS, is only an expeditious mode
of wasting time.
When all the angles are oblique, the principal formulæ are as follows
(in most cases we give only one, those for other sides, &c., being easily
supplied) :-
1.
sin A sin B
sin c
sin a sin b sin ci or the sines of sides are to one another
as the sines of their opposite angles.
2. cos c = cos a cos b + sin a sin b cos α.
C
3. cos
2
sin
NIQ
sin s sin (s)
с
sin a
sin b
M
tan B
M
tan c =
M
M = √ {sin (s -- a) sin (s—b) sin (s—c)÷sin s}
and then the angles from
tan & A =
sin (s — a)'
sin (s — b)'
sin (s — c)
Supplement.-Given the three angles, to find the three sides. Make
the supplements of the given angles sides, calculate the three angles,
and the supplements of the last three angles will be the sides
required.
Case 2.-Given two sides (a and b), and the included angle c, to find
the remaining parts. If all the parts be wanted, calculate (A + B)
and (A — B) from (5), and then find A and B by addition and sub-
traction: lastly, find c from one of—
sin C
sin B'
sin c = sin b
sin c
sin c sin a
sin &
or from both, which will be a verification. But if the remaining side
only be wanted, use the formula (7) or (S), which gives this third side
at once, by means of the subsidiary angle 0. Or from the extremity
of the shorter side given (say a), let fall a perpendicular arc z on b,
dividing b into x and 3. Then-
tan x = tan a cos c, sin z= sin a sin o
y = b―x, cos c = cos z cos y.
Supplement. Given a side (c) and the two adjacent angles (A and B)
required the remaining parts. Make A' and B' the sides of a triangle,
and c' the included angle; find c' the remaining side, and a' and b′ the
remaining angles. Then c is the remaining angle of the original
triangle, and a and b are the remaining sides. To find the remaining
sides alone, the following formula may be used :

a + b
с cos (AB)
tan
•
tan
2
2 cos(A + B)
tan
α b
2
B)
tan
4. tan
2
where M =
A+ B
sin (s
sin (s
―
a) sin (sb)
sin a
sin b
a) sin (s — b)
sin s sin (s c)
-
Ar
sín (8 — c) '
√(sin (s — a) sin (s —- b) sin (s — c) ÷ sin s).
c cos (a - b)
5. tan
= cot
2
2 cos(a + b)
A
B
o sin (a - b)
tan
= cot
2
2 sin (a + b)°
6. cot a sin c = cos c cos B + sin B cot a.
7. tan 0
=
sincsin a sin sin (a —b),
b
§
gives sin c = sin (a - b) ÷ cos 0.
sin(a
8. sin sinc sin a
0
sin÷cos (α — b),
gives cos c = cos † (a - b) cos ✪,
C sin(A
-
2 sin (A + B)
Case 3.-Given two sides (a and b) first both less than a right angle,
and an angle opposite to one of them (A); required the remaining
parts. This case may afford no solution at all, or may give two
solutions; it is therefore sometimes called the ambiguous case. The
formula (6) may be used by the usual introduction of a subsidiary
angle; but we should recommend a person who is not well practised
in the subject to prefer the following simple method:-From the
extremity of b which is not adjacent to the given angle, drop a
perpendicular z on the side c, and let x be the segment adjacent to
Let a^z and b`z be the angles made by a and b with z. And first
calculate sin b sin a; if this be greater than unity, the triangle does
A.
715
SPHERICAL TRIGONOMETRY.
not exist; if it be equal to unity, the triangle is right angled at B, and
may be treated as a right-angled triangle. But if sin b sin a be less
than unity, find z from sin z = sin b sin a, and x and B from
tan x = tan b cos a, sin B = sin a
sin b
sin a
There are two values of B, supplements of each other, both of which
are possible answers. Let B be the one which is less than a right
angle, and B' that which is greater.
Calculate y from cos y
First, when a is acute and a less than b.
cos acos z, and b^z and a^z from
cot bˆz = cos b tan a, cos aˆz
tan z
tan a
A
=
There are two triangles which satisfy the data; in the first,
c = x - y, B′ is the angle opposite to b, and c = b^z-az; in the
second, c = x + y, B is the angle opposite to b and c = b^2 + aˆz.
Secondly, when A is acute and a equal to or greater than b. Cal-
culate exactly as in the last case, but there is only one triangle which
satisfies the data, namely, the second of the preceding.
Thirdly, when a is obtuse, in which case there is no triangle, unless
a be greater than b. Calculate (using a as more convenient)
sin z = sin b sin A', tan x = tan b cos a, sin B = sin a'
sin b
sin a
Use the value of B which is less than a right angle; calculate b^z and
a^z from
SPHEROGRAPH.
716
of small sphericity, then, it may be assumed that in being flattened,
each of its angles loses one-third of the spherical excess.
This pro-
position is one of considerable use in the measurement of a degree of
the meridian.
SPHEROGRAPH, an instrument invented in 1856, for facilitating
the practical use of spherics in navigation, &c., being a contrivance for
constructing, without dividers or scales, any possible spheric triangle,
and reading off the measures of the parts required; thus in most
cases saving much time and labour. The degree of accuracy of the
instrument is limited only by its size, but it has been found by navi-
gators that circles of 5-inch radius will work any question which arises
at sea, sufficiently near for the practical purposes of the navigator.
The description of the instrument will be better understood by
giving some general preparatory hints as to the names of the ordinary
lines of the sphere.
In the following figure, No. 1, the observer is supposed to be at the
centre c of a hollow transparent sphere, on which the usual lines are
drawn as upon a terrestrial globe. He would see the sun as at o upon
the globe's surface amongst these lines. Rejecting all superfluous
E
d
Fig. 1.

cot bˆz = cos b tan a′, cos aˆz =
tan z
tan a
Then c = y x, and σ = a^z — b^z.
In the case in which one or both of the sides are greater than a right
angle, which rarely, if ever, occurs, it is best to have recourse to one
of the adjacent triangles described at the beginning of this article, and
to use it in the same manner as the supplementary triangle has been
used. It is not however necessary to dwell on this point.
Supplement.—Given two angles (A and B) and a side opposite to one
of them (a); required the remaining parts. Let a' and B' be the sides
of a triangle, and a' the angle opposite to a'. Find c' the remaining
side, and b' and c' the remaining angles; then c is the remaining
angle of the original triangle, and b and c the remaining sides.
All the cases would need some subdivision to adapt them to cal-
culation, if it were really often required to solve triangles with very
large sides and angles. But in application it generally happens that
the reasoning of the previous part of the process is so conducted as to
throw the calculation entirely upon triangles which have at least two
sides and two angles severally less than a right angle. Divide a great
circle into three parts, and we have the extreme limit of a spherical
triangle: the sum of its sides being 360°, and the sum of its angles
six right angles. But a triangle which should be very near to this
limit would be best used in reasoning, and solved in practice, by means
of one of the other seven triangles into which its circles divide the
sphere. And if one of the sides should be greater than two right
angles, the remainder of the hemisphere would be the triangle on
which calculation is employed. And it is to be understood that all
the formulæ are demonstrated only for the case in which every side is
less than two right angles. At the same time we should recommend
the beginner to procure a small sphere, and to habituate himself to the
appearance of all species of triangles.
The area of a spherical triangle is singularly connected with the sum
of its angles, on which alone it depends, the sphere being given. Let
any two triangles, however differently formed, have the sum of their
angles the same, and they must have the same area. If the angles be
measured in theoretical units [ANGLE], the formula is as follows: r
being the radius,
Area = p² (A + B + C — π),
which gives the number of square units in the area, the radius being
expressed in corresponding linear units. But if the angles be measured
in degrees and fractions of a degree, the formula is
Area = ⚫01745329252 ¹² (A + B + α 180).
The angle A + B +0 - 180° is called the spherical excess, and it may
be found at once from the sides by the formula
H
t
N
R
circles, &c., and confining our description to such parts as affect the
sun's position at the time, we have in fig. 1 what is called a pro-
jection of the sphere on the plane of the meridian, the primitive circle
representing the meridian of the place of the observer, H being the
south part of the horizon HR, and R being the north, z will be the
zenith, N the nadir, c will be the east or west point of the horizon, P
the north pole, s the south pole of the world; al parallel of altitude
in which the sun is at the moment of observation, de the sun's decli-
nation, tw a parallel of 18° distance below the horizon, limiting twilight
to the period at which the sun is traversing from s where he sets, to c
where he will be at midnight, d being his place at noon; Hd being
the meridian altitude, PR being the latitude (represented by the
height of the pole above the horizon), then Pz will be the co-latitude,
on the sun's altitude as measured upon the azimuth circle zn; oz
will be the zenith distance; of being the sun's declination as measured
upon the hour circle rfs, o P will be the polar distance, E Q the equator,
zs the amplitude of the sun at setting-the angle R PS being the time
of sun-set, the angle z ro the time of observation. The small circle
ds is the semi-diurnal arc, or half the length of the day, and sc the
semi-nocturnal arc, or half the length of the night (c falling within Rw
there will be no real night, only twilight), PS is the six o'clock hour-
circle, z N the prime vertical, &c. In the spherograph only five terms
are principally used, namely, latitude, declination, time, azimuth, and
altitude, and what precedes will have fully prepared the mind of the
reader for the application of the instrument to practical purposes.
The instrument is composed of two pieces of stout card-board, nicely
attached, and revolving concentrically upon a pin carefully turned to
work without lateral motion in an ivory collar. The upper card has
the ruled part, on which the lines are described, formed of stout trans-
parent tracing paper, and it is ruled like fig. 2; having only azimuths
Fig. 2.
ZZ

RO
GO
40元
​tan2
sph. ex.
2
α
tan
2
tan
2 tantan
S b
2
2
"-";
N
SOE
SE E
ΝΕ NIE
so that the area of a triangle is easily found from its sides. If a
spherical triangle were flattened into a plane one, without any altera-
tion of the lengths of its sides, it is obvious that the sum of the angles
would undergo a diminution, being reduced to 180°. The angles
would not diminish equally; but, if the sphericity of the original
triangle were small, or if it occupied only a small part of the sphere,
the diminutions which the several angles would undergo in the process
of being flattened would be so nearly equal, that it would be useless, and parallels of altitude (it has an oval space out so as to enable the
for any practical purpose, to consider them as unequal, For a triangle observer to put pencil marks on the under sphere), while the under
717
718
SPHEROGRAPH.
SPHEROGRAPH.
one (fig. 3) has hour circles and parallels of declination: for of the
three parts always given in every spheric triangle, two will fall on
Fig. 3.
N 80
VII
V
1
1
S 80
GO
GO
40
40
20
20
either one of the cards, and their intersection is made to touch the
third datum as found in the other. We will suppose, in illustration,
that we have given the sun's altitude 48°, the declination 10° N., and
the apparent time 11 h. A.M., to find the latitude. If we discard all
Fig. 4.
H
E
m
n
2
C
R
in
tion; and it has introduced a new mode of navigating ships
places subject to fogs and haze: for instance, the Montreal traders
use it on the Banks of Newfoundland, by substituting azimuth for
altitude, in the three things given, when the horizon is entirely
invisible, the sun being in sight. It also dispenses with double alti-
tudes, inasmuch as latitude can be as well determined by it from a
single observation as from two, rendering all clapsed time uncalled for.
But it is not our purpose to describe these methods in detail. It seems,
however, that a means of so readily finding the position of a fast-sailing
steamer when approaching the land is important.
It is well known that one common source of error in working sea
observations taken at night, is the liability to mistake the name of a
star. This instrument provides a very handy method of correctly
finding the name of any star of the first magnitude, even when others
around it are obscured. The inventor of the spherograph, Mr. Stephen
Martin Saxby, R.N., had noticed that no two stars of the first magni-
tude had equal declinations in either hemisphere, or were within two
or three degrees of each other in that respect. By having a list of
such stars and their declinations on the face of the instrument, the
name of any star of first magnitude is easily obtained in the following
manner :-Using merely approximate data, such as latitude, altitude,
and azimuth, we apply them thus: suppose a star has an altitude of
about 10°, its true bearing [BEARING] being N.E., the estimated lati-
tude of the place being 43° Ñ.; setting the instrument to the latitude,
the intersection of these three elements would on the line of declina-
tion be 38° N. Reference to the list of stars on the instrument
would at once show that this declination could only apply to the star
a Lyræ.
In working a night observation, the finding of the right ascension is
rendered in the spherograph peculiarly simple, and is divested of all
liability to error from the occasional fault of adding instead of sub-
tracting, &c. A form of spherograph is prepared for this. (See fig. 5.)
Fig. 5.


b
No on

XII Afternoo
Fortmoon
Regulus
tion go
28 Nor
a
VI PM
the lines that are not necessary to the working of this question, we
shall, in fig. 4, have a view of the spheric triangle under consideration,
which, had it been merely projected on a plane, must have been worked
by computation, thus: in the spheric triangle z OP we have o z=zenith
distance, or the polar distance, and z Po the hour angle, to find z p the
co-latitude, and thence PR the latitude. By the spherograph this
question of latitude is answered (simultaneously with numerous other
results not asked for in this) by simply turning the upper sphere on the
under, until the place where the time and declination on the under
sphere coincide with some part of the parallel of given altitude on the
upper. The instrument is thus said to be set, and the measures of
altitude, azimuth, time of sun setting, rising, &c., are at once read off;
while without the spherograph the latitude alone would require the
following work (and one illustration of its saving of time and labour
will suffice) :-
After letting fall a perpendicular in fig. 4 from the centre g
through o to x [SPHERICAL TRIGONOMETRY], o d P will be a right angle,
then by circular parts in triangle Pz o find angle z, thus,—
As sine zenith distance o z, 42º
Is to sine hour-angle P, 15°
ვეხა.
So is sine polar distance o P,
co. ar. 0.174489
•
9'412996
9.993351
To sine angle z, 180°—22° 23′ =157° 37′ =9•580836
In Adro find d P.
As cotang. polar distance, 80°
Is to cosine hour-angle, 15°
So is radius
To tangent side d P, 79° 39′
In Adzo find dz.
As cotang. zenith distance, 42°
. co. ar. 0-753681
9.984944
Is to cosine 180°-157° 37′-22° 23'
So is radius
To tangent of dz, 39° 47'
. 30-
=10.738625=79° 39′
co. ar. 9.954437
9.965981
. 10.
=9.920418=39° 47′
Co-latitude=39 52
90
Latitude 50 8
The spherograph is of different forms, to suit special purposes.
Figures 2 and 3 combined, 2 being the upper sphere, represent
its general form for latitude, time, azimuth, altitudes, and declina-
M VI
Vovember
2-12-
December
新
​I i XII
Midnight
The inner circle a revolves upon a centre-pin connecting it with 6 the under
part. On this circle the principal stars are delineated according to their
right ascensions, which are measured on its circumference, and their
declinations as measured upon a radius. To avoid confusion, we omit, in
the above figure, all but Regulus. Suppose at 2h 12m a.m., on the 5th of
November, a navigator was desirous of using Regulus as a means of
obtaining his latitude, &c. On turning the circle till the date 5th
November, marked on it, coincided with 2h 12 marked upon the outer
part b, he would find that a line through Regulus would cut a point
on the part b at the distance of 5b 5 from the part of the circle
marked Noon. This, then, would be the star's distance from the
meridian, and would be used in the common form of spherograph
made up of figs. 2 and 3, as if it were time by the sun. Thus night
observations are rendered as easy as those taken by day.
There is another peculiarity of the instrument. Heavy southerly
gales in the English Channel, when they clear up, generally do so
by the clouds breaking in the N.W. to N., so that the polar star
is generally about the first star visible. At such times, the mariner
eagerly attempts to obtain his latitude, and the form of spherograph
fig. 5, is a very great convenience. Suppose he have obtained an
altitude of the polar star 50° 5' at 2" 12 a.m. of 5th November;
having set the date to the hour as before, the polar index engraved on
the circle will point to some one of the figures engraved round the
circle on the part b; in this instance it would be to 47' subtractive:
then 50° 5' 47'49° 18', the true latitude, to the nearest mile. The
readiness of the method admits of increased number of observations
and, consequently, by using the means of such observations, the present
prevailing error from the indistinctness of the horizon is greatly
diminished. .
We shall only notice one other use of the spherograph as greatly
curtailing labour of computation-namely, in lunar observations. The
lines on fig. 6 are thus obtained (and here, again, a knowledge of the
principles on which the lines are constructed is not at all necessary to
the successful use of it)
Taking advantage of the circumstance that refraction varies nearly
as the tangent of the zenith distance, and as tan. 45° = radius, we take,
in the projection for refraction, the radius as the refraction at 45°
719
SPHEROID.
zenith distance. It fortunately happens that 58"-4, the number of
seconds in the refraction at 45°, nearly corresponds with the number of
minutes in the mean horizontal parallax. The same diagram does
therefore for both parallax and refraction, substituting seconds for
minutes.
In the following figure (6), therefore, CA, or C M, or CD = moon's
moon's
horizontal parallax; MCS = apparent distance between the sun and
moon, м being the moon's place in the figure and s the sun's; or the
arc M S = apparent distance. ME = the moon's zenith distance, or, as
every part of the small parallel of altitude, F E, is equally distant from
M, CH on the line of sines will equal the moon's altitude.
And again, ST will be the sun's zenith distance, and therefore CK on
the line of sines will equal the sun's altitude, AD being the moon's
horizon and hr the sun's; HE will be the moon's parallax in altitude;
Fig. 6.
Fig...
H
M T
A
N
L
KE
R
E
D
and HE CD: cos. ED: radius, or the moon's parallax in altitude
hor. pax. x cos. moon's alt.
radius
But CD:
and is
CNXHE
radius
And in the orthographic projection of the lunar triangle Mszon a
scale where radius is = moon's hor. parallax, or C D, the angle M is the
angle at the moon corresponding with the angle c in the usual lunar
construction, as in fig. 7; and CN (the distance of the orthographic
great circle M N passing through z, where the sun's and moon's horizons
coincide) is the cosine of this compared with radius C D.
CN:: HE: HZ; or Hz is the correction for parallax=
measured from Hz by the scale of chords from the nature of the pro-
jection. (In fig. 7, cc': CD rad. cos. c, cc' being the moon's
parallax in altitude, and CD the correction for parallax.) In fig. 6,
moreover, MR = tangent of moon's zenith distance, in seconds for alt.
45°; MP, correction for moon's refraction in seconds; sv correction
for sun's refraction in seconds. Such being the principles on which
this part of the spherograph is constructed, the following is the form
of each of the parts: The under sphere has its line MC crossed by
parallel circles drawn to the scale of sines, or on the orthographic
projection; these are again crossed by lines parallel to MC, CD being
divided into 60 parts by the line of chords (being very nearly 58"-4 of
refraction at 45°, as above).
-
=
The practical use of the spherograph in correcting a lunar distance
may be thus briefly illustrated: suppose, for example, the apparent
distance given=72°, the moon's altitude = 26°, the sun's altitude=32°,
and the reduced horizontal parallax 59'. Moving the circles concen-
trically until м and s are moved 72° apart in fig. 6; the apparent
distance, where the two horizons AD and OT cut each other, will give
a point which, counting the vertical lines from M C, each will be one
minute of correction (as read upon CD); this correction, multiplied by
a number taken from a small table printed on the back of the instru-
ment, gives at once a correction for the distance, thus:-
The number read on CD
The tabular multiplier
The apparent distance
Sum of corrections (subtractive).
True distance by spherograph
Elaborate logarithm calculation gives
24'
.⚫952
3808
1904
22.818=22′ 51″
•
72° 0′ 0″
22 51
71 37 9
71 37 8
1″ error.
When the intersection of the horizons falls on the right of MC,
the correction is subtractive; when to the left, it is additive. The
spherograph is especially useful to check observations when worked out
by logarithms, and imparts confidence to a navigator. A little work
published by Longman and Co., called 'Calculation and Projection of
the Sphere,' plainly illustrates the general mode of spheric con-
struction.
SPHEROID, a name given to the class of surfaces which are formed
SPIGELIA MARYLANDICA.
1
720
by the revolution of an ellipse about either its longest or shortest
diameter. When the longer diameter is the axis, the spheroid is
called prolate; when the shorter, oblate. The earth is an oblate
spheroid, or very near indeed to such a figure: hence the oblate
spheroid is of much more importance than the prolate one. The
general properties of the spheroid are either those which belong to it
as particular cases of SURFACES OF THE SECOND DEGREE, or those
which are useful in geodesy, and which belong more to the generating
ellipse than to the surface.
SPHEROIDAL CONDITION OF LIQUIDS. [EBULLITION.]
SPHINX. The name applied in glyptic art to the combinations of
lions' bodies with other forms; that with a human head being called
androsphinx, with a ram's criosphinx, and with a hawk's hieracosphinx.
They appear to have been derived from Egypt, where they were
sculptured as symbolical representations of kings and queens, and they
expressed in the hieroglyphic texts the idea of nel lord, or akar
victory, or the sun on the horizon. In Egyptian art they are repre-
sented couchant, with a human head, the portrait of the monarch they
personify; and recent excavations at Tanis have shown that they are
as old as the 17th dynasty of Shepherds, the king Apepa or Aphophis
being thus represented. In Egyptian art they are rarely winged, the
only example being the sphinx of the queen Mutnemt at Turin;
Thothmes III. and other monarchs, even the young Alexander and
Ptolemies are personified as sphinxes, and there are some small sphinxes
in European collections, as one in the Louvre, at Paris, of Rameses II.,
23 feet long, of a block of red syenite, and a black granite sphinx of
Amenophis III. at St. Petersburg; but the largest is that at Gizeh, of
143 feet long and 62 feet high, cut out of the solid rock, and lying
about 1960 feet east of the second pyramid. This was called
Har-ma-khu, or Harmakhis, " Horus on the Horizon," and adored as a
god by Thothmes IV. and Rameses II. It was approached by a stair-
case and surrounded by a kind of peribolos, having a temple of
alabaster and granite attached to it, in which was a well filled with
Nile water, into which had been thrown seven statues of green and
yellow breccia of the monarch Shafra, or Kephren, the builder of
the second pyramid. Winged sphinxes are often seen in Assyrian and
Babylonian art, and seem to represent deities or monarchs under this
form.
The few remains of Phoenician art show that this people had
adopted the form of the sphinx, probably from Egyptian sources, and
the Etruscans seem to have derived the same from their oriental con-
nection, their early works of art being often decorated with repre-
sentations of this monster. The same may be also said of the Greeks
Greece, Lycia, and other localities. At the earliest period of art
and other cognate races, winged sphinxes being a common type in
sphinxes have recurved wings, but on some later monuments they
are unwiuged. They have the face and breasts of a beautiful but
cruel female, the body of a lioness, and sometimes the tail of a dragon.
According to the earliest myths, the Sphinx was the daughter of
Typhon and Echidna, Orthus or Typhon and Chimera, and being
sent by Juno to punish the Thebans, proposed a fatal riddle or
enigma which was solved by Edipus, and the Sphinx destroyed.
Sphinxes are also found in India as the ornaments of temples.
Birch, Mus. Class. Antiq. II. p. 27; Vyse, Pyramids, III. p. 107;
(Mariette, Aug., Revue Archéologique, 1860, p. 18-20, 1861, p. 20;
Blacas, 8vo. Paris, 1824; Layard, Nineveh; Winckelmann, Werke;
Letronne, Inscr. Grec. ii. 460-461; Champollion, Lett. à M. le Duc de
Voss, Myth. Br. ii. p. 22; Müller, Arch. d. Kunst, p. 700.)
SPIGELIA MARYLANDICA, Carolina pink, perennial worm-grass,
states of the American Union. It is from six inches to two feet high,
or worm-seed; a perennial herbaceous plant, native of the southern
leaves opposite, sessile, ovate, and acuminate. The root has a short
caudex, from which issue numerous fibres; all which parts are of a
yellowish colour when first dug up, but become black on drying. It
is collected by the Indians, and sold to the white traders, who pack it
in casks, or make it up into bales, weighing from three hundred to
three hundred and fifty pounds. The odour of the fresh plant is
disagreeable, the taste sweetish, slightly bitter, and nauseous. The
leaves are less potent than the root, which part consists of woody
fibre 82, a peculiar principle like tannin 10; bitter acrid extractive
4; and an acrid resin; also a fixed and a volatile oil. Both the
resin and extractive have emetic properties. Spigelia has slight narcotic
powers, and in large doses causes vomiting and purging. In America
the fresh plant has decided anthelmintic virtues, but it is only useful
against the Ascaris lumbricoides, or large round worm. In Europe it
is little used, having lost much of its power by long keeping. Dr.
Barton recommends it as a cure for the infantile remittent fever,
which often terminates in hydrocephalus, or water in the head. In
such a case it acts beneficially by removing the worms, the irritation
of which, when propagated to the brain, gives rise to the more serious
disease. But the expulsion of the worms by any other means, and the
exhibition of any tonic and astringent, like the tannin of the Spigelia,
will prevent their recurrence. [ANTHELMINTICS.]
Spigelia is given in powder, or as an infusion or decoction. It is
usually combined with senna or some other purgative, but it is better
to give it alone, and follow its administration by a dose of calomel and
jalap.
The Spigelia Anthelmia, a native of Brazil, which is a much more


721
722
SPINA BIFIDA.
SPINAL IRRITATION.
potent plant, is sometimes mistaken and given for the other. It
contains an alkaloid called spigelina, which is volatile, somewhat like
nicotina, the effects of which it also resembles, causing formidable
narcotic symptoms, to which lemon-juice, sugar, or carbonate of potash
is said to be an antidote.
SPINA BIFIDA, or cleft-spine, is a disease commencing in foetal
life, and which consists in an imperfection of the posterior part of the
spinal canal. It is almost always accompanied by an excessive secre-
tion of spinal fluid, and in these cases it may be regarded as a disease
of the same kind affecting the spinal canal as that which, existing in
the skull, constitutes hydrocephalus. The two are indeed not
unfrequently coincident; and spina bifida is sometimes called hydro-
rachis.
The arch of each vertebra [SKELETON, in NAT. HIST. DIV.] is
developed and ossified in two pieces which meet behind in the middle
line at the base of the spinous process. This is also developed in two
lateral portions which subsequently unite together and with the arch,
so as to form the one piece of bone which we find in the adult closing
in the back of the spinal canal. This development and union of the
arches of the vertebræ goes on during an early period of foetal life,
while the spinal column is growing rapidly, and the fluid of the spinal
canal and arachnoid sac is being constantly secreted. If this fluid be
secreted in an unnaturally large quantity before any or a part of the
arches of the vertebræ are completely ossified, it may exert such
pressure upon them as to separate their component parts, and produce
a permanent aperture in the back of the spinal canal, through which
a sac containing the excess of fluid will protrude. Or if the develop-
ment and ossification of any or all of the arches take place more slowly
than it should, then a secretion of not more than the ordinary quantity
of fluid may suffice to keep them permanently open. A cleft spine
will thus be produced without the watery tumour; but the openness
of the spine will generally in cases of this kind lead to the secretion of
an unnatural quantity of the spinal fluid; for it seems a general law
that, other things being equal, the quantity of fluid secreted in each
part is inversely proportionate to the resistance offered by the walls of
the cavity into which it is poured.
Spina bifida is almost always characterised by a tumour situated
over the defective vertebræ, globular, elastic, and fluctuating, often
attached by a narrowed base, and varying in size according to the
extent of the fissure in the spinal canal. It is usually covered by
healthy skin, and consists of the dura mater, and one or more of the
other membranes of the spinal cord, protruded in a sac through the
space between the separated arches, and filled by a clear serous fluid.
On pressing such a tumour the patient may become insensible, or be
convulsed; for the fluid within it communicating with that within or
around the brain and spinal chord, the pressure made upon it is felt
with equal force by the whole of those organs. The parts of the body
below the tumour are often paralytic, not from the pressure of the
fluid, for that is equally diffused, but from disease of the cord coinci-
dent with that of the arches.
Spina bifida is most common in the lumbar and sacral regions, in
which the vertebral arches are latest completed: it is most rare in the
neck, and is there also most dangerous, because of the great number of
nerves which, by the coincident disease of the spinal cord, may be
paralysed. It does not commonly interfere with the general health:
but by the friction to which, when the tumours are large, the skin is
subjected, and by the distension produced by the increasing secretion
of fluid, the sac is liable to inflame and ulcerate, till, exposing the
spinal cord, or its membranes, death is produced by their inflamma-
tion; or, the quantity of fluid secreted may be so great as to produce
death by its pressure on the cord and brain, in a manner similar to
that in which hydrocephalus often terminates.
In one of these modes, spina bifida, when accompanied by excessive
secretion, almost always terminates fatally, though patients may survive
with it for ten or even twenty years. Life may generally be prolonged
by maintaining a gentle even pressure upon the tumour, so as to
supply the necessary resistance to the effusion of more fluid. In a
few cases a repeated evacuation of the fluid, and then firm pressure
upon the sac, has been found successful; and lately, M. Tavignot has
related some cases which he cured by slicing off the tumour, and
instantly bringing together the edges of the mouth of the sac, and so
holding them till they had united and formed a firm cicatrix.
That just described is by far the most common form of spina bifida;
others more rare are those in which not the arches only, but the bodies
of the vertebræ also are cleft, the two lateral portions in which each is
developed being kept apart, so that a portion of the spinal canal is
open in front towards the cavity of the abdomen. Some differences of
character also depend on the seat of the fluid secreted: it is generally
in the sac of the arachnoid, but sometimes is in the tissue of the pia
mater, or in both it and the sac, or, yet more rarely, in the central
canal of the spinal cord.
SPINA VENTO´SA is a term now obsolete, which was applied by
old surgeons to abscesses in bone, accompanied with excessive swelling,
and then to nearly all the diseases indiscriminately in which either
bones or joints become enlarged.
SPINACH. One of the species of this genus, the S. oleracea, the
common spinach, is well known on account of its use in the kitchen.
It has an herbaceous stem one or two feet high, branched, and hollow;
ARTS AND SCĮ. DIV. VOL. VII.
arrow-shaped leaves; male flowers in long spikes, abounding with
pollen; female flowers on another plant, axillary, herbaceous, and small.
The fruit is a small round nut, which is sometimes very prickly.
There are two principal varieties cultivated in gardens, the prickly-
fruited, with triangular, oblong, or sagittate leaves, and the smooth-
fruited, with round or blunt leaves. The former is considered the
hardiest, and is therefore employed for winter culture; the latter is
used for summer crops.
Of these varieties there are several sub-
varieties, varying in the size, thickness, and shape of their leaves.
For the winter crop the seed is sown at the beginning of August.
A light, dry, rich soil should be preferred, and, if possible, in a
sheltered situation. When the plants have put forth two pair of leaves,
the ground should be hoed and the plants thinned. By October or
November the outer leaves of the spinach are fit for use.
In February,
when fine weather occurs, the plants should be again attended to,
cleaned, and thinned out, and in this way it may be made productive
till April or May, by which time the summer sort will be ready. The
first sowing of the round-leaved spinach or smooth-fruited should take
This crop
place at the end of January in some sheltered border.
should be successively thinned out till the plants are eight or ten inches
apart. Successive sowings may be made, in order to ensure a constant
supply in February, March, and April, and, if desirable, these sowings
may take place between rows of cabbages, &c.
Spinach is often sown in narrow drills, which is rather more trouble-
some at first, but this is made up for by the facility with which
clearing, thinning, and gathering are afterwards accomplished.
For preserving seed, those plants which are of the most stocky
growth should be selected. The winter crops run up soonest, but seed
may be obtained from spring crops in July and August. The new
seed is the best for sowing, although it will keep very well for a year.
When the plants are saved for seed, the male plants, which are easily
distinguished by their flowers, may after fertilisation be drawn and
thrown away.
Spinach is sometimes grown by the farmer for the purpose of
obtaining a crop of seed for the uses of the gardener. In the selection
of land for this purpose, care should be taken that it is finely prepared
by ploughing and harrowing in the early spring, and some well-rotted
dung should be ploughed in where the soil is not of the best quality.
When the spinach has blossomed, the male plants should be drawn
out, which serve at this time as excellent food for pigs, and might be
given to other animals with advantage. There is much uncertainty
about this kind of crop; sometimes, however, it turns out very
advantageous.
SPINAL IRRITATION. This term has been applied to those
functional disorders of the spinal cord and its nerves, which do not
readily fall under the definitions of diseases of the same organs having
more precise symptoms. Under the heads TETANUS, CHOREA, HYS-
TERIA, NEURALGIA, HYDROPHOBIA, and PARALYSIS, will be found de-
scriptions of definite derangements of the spinal cord and its nerves.
But there is a general state of the nervous system in which some of
the symptoms of one or all of these diseases may occasionally be pre-
sent, and in which there is very commonly present, pain in the spinal
column induced or increased by pressure or percussion. To this state
the term " spinal irritation
the term “spinal irritation" has been applied. What the precise con-
dition of the nervous system is in this disease it is impossible to say,
but the general theory of its nature is that the spinal cord at some one
or more points is congested, and that this congestion acts upon the
sensitive or motor nerves proceeding from this part of the cord,
and gives rise to the pains, spasms, and other anomalous symptoms
complained of by the patient. This condition is not unfrequently
referred to hysteria, but as it may come on in the male as well
as the female, there is evidently an impropriety in the use of this
term.
It would be quite impossible to describe here all the nervous
symptoms that may be referred to spinal irritation. Wherever nerves
of motion and sensation are distributed they may become disordered,
and thus there is no organ or part of the body that may not be the
seat of excessive pain or paralysis of sensation, of spasmodic or con-
vulsive action, and of a paralysis of motion. Such symptoms when
they are not fixed, and are connected with pain on pressure of the
spinal cord, are said to depend on spinal irritation. Whether these
symptoms depend on a morbid condition of the spinal cord, or of the
muscular or nervous tissue, or of the blood, are still questions
admitting of discussion.
The treatment of these cases has been directed very much by the
theory held with regard to the cause of the nervous symptoms. Those
who advocate the theory of congestion of certain portions of the cord,
recommend the employment of counter-irritants over the tender part
of the spine, whilst, those who believe that they arise from an under
nutrition of the nervous and muscular tissues, recommend a treatment
addressed to the restoration of the nutritionary powers of the system.
Those who think the blood is the source of the disorder, likewise adopt
the same general principles of treatment.
Whatever may be the theoretical views held with regard to the
nature of the symptoms, known under the name of spinal irritation,
there seems to be a general agreement that they come on in asthenic
states of the system, and that antiphlogistic measures must not be had
recourse to without great caution.
3 A
723
>
SPINET.
Relief from pressing occupations, a nutritious diet, change of air,
gold bathing, the preparations of iron and quinine, are the great means
that must be looked to for the cure of the disordered states of the
nervous system. When the painful symptoms arise from over-exertion
of the muscles, as is often the case, artificial support may be given
with advantage to the particular muscles. Friction over the seat of
pain, and the application of stimulants, as turpentine, ammonia, and
brandy, in the form of embrocation with oil or glycerine, has been
found very beneficial.
beneficial. Where the pain is very acute, or the muscular
action excessive, sedatives, as opium, henbane, and belladonna, may be
given internally and applied externally.
(Laycock On the Nervous Diseases of Women; Bennett, The Principles
and Practice of Medicine; Inman, The Phenomena of Spinal Irrita-
tion.)
SPINET, a musical instrument of the harpsichord kind, but differing
in shape and power, formerly much in use, though now entirely
superseded by the piano-forte. The Spinet had but one string to each
note, which was struck by a quilled jack, the latter acted on in the
usual manner by a key. The tone was, of course, comparatively weak,
but pleasing, and as the instrument was small in dimensions and cheap
in price, it answered the purpose of those who did not find it convenient
to purchase a harpsichord. The outline of its ordinary form was
nearly that of a harp laid horizontally, supposing the clavier, or key-
board, to be placed on the outside of the trunk, or sounding part, of
the last-named instrument.
SPINNING. There are two entirely distinct manufacturing opera-
tions to which this name is given the one relating to animal and
vegetable fibres, and the other to certain soft metals.
Fibre Spinning. This kind of spinning consists in forming a flexible
cylinder of greater or less diameter, and of indeterminate length, out
of vegetable or animal fibres, arranged as equally as possible alongside
and at the ends of each other, so that, when twisted together, they
may form an uniform continuous thread. The primitive modes of
spinning by the spindle and distaff, and by the spinning-wheel, which
are still extensively practised in the East, and not entirely superseded
in some remote districts of Scotland, only enable the spinner to produce
a single thread; but with the almost automatic spinning-machinery
which has been called into existence by the cotton manufacture, one
individual may produce nearly two thousand threads at the same time.
The history of the series of inventions by which this result has been
gradually attained has been already given under COTTON MANUFAC-
TURE; together with wood-cuts and descriptions of some of the
chief machines. The spinning of flax, silk, and wool partake of the
same general character as that of cotton; so far as they differ they will
be found noticed under LINEN MANUFACTURE; SILK MANUFACTURE;
and WOOLLEN AND WORSTED MANUFACTURE.
from 2 to 4π, and so on.
names have been given, are-
SPIRE.
724
The principal spirals to which distinct
1. Spiral of Archimedes
2. Reciprocal Spiral
3. Lituus.
Equation.
до = ав
r0 = a
120 = a
або
Ꮎ
4. Logarithmic or Equiangular Spiral
r = ab
with some others of less note. The figures of these spirals are given
in all books on the application of algebra to geometry.
It has hitherto been universal to consider spirals in a manner which
has deprived these curves of half their convolutions; this has been
done by refusing to entertain negative values of the radius. For
example, in the spiral of Archimedes r=ao, a being a positive quantity,
the curve is supposed to have no convolutions when is negative, or
when the radius revolves negatively. The consequence is, that the
curve begins abruptly at the origin. It would be a matter of little
importance to insist on the existence of the additional branches which
belong to the negative radii, if it were not that the other mode of
representing curves, by means of rectangular coordinates, always gives
the additional branches: so that, if we refuse to receive the latter as
coming from the polar equation, we have only the alternative of sup-
posing that the mere transformation of coordinates destroys a part of
the curve. In the spiral of Archimedes, for example, the rectangular
and polar equations are-
√(x² + y²)
y = x tan
α
·?' = al.
The first, treated in the usual way, gives a curve of which there is

A
0
D
one succession of convolutions beginning with o ABCD, and another
Metal Spinning. This is a peculiar branch of Birmingham and beginning with o Abcd. But the second equation, which is only the
Sheffield manufacture, in which articles of use and ornament are pro-volutions, unless by means of the negative values of the radius vector
first in a different form, does not yield any of the second set of con-
duced without forging, casting, stamping, or cutting, by bringing into
play the ductility of the metal. The metal employed is chiefly one or
answering to negative values of 0.
other of the soft mixed white metals, such as Britannia metal. Tea-
The manner in which the negative value of r is to be treated, is as
angles with the positive side of the axis of 2, POD, less than a right angle in
follows:-Every line passing through the origin, as POQ, makes two
the diagram, and Q OD, between two and three right angles: the second
tively. The bounding directions of these angles are different, OP and
of which may be considered as the common angle QOD, taken nega-
oq: the rule is, whichever angle the straight line Q OP is supposed to
make with o D, let the bounding direction of that angle be the positive
direction, and the other direction negative. Thus, when POD is the
angle, o P is positive and oo negative: when QOD is the angle, oq is
positive and or negative. In this manner it will be found that the
first three of the four spirals above enumerated have never been com-
pletely drawn. There is little need to insist much on the necessity of
the extension here described: one more instance may suffice. Let the
reader trace the curve whose equation is—
pots, and such-like articles, are shaped in this metal almost entirely by
the process of spinning. There is first prepared a wooden mould, of x,
the exact size and shape; and this mould is fixed upon a lathe. Then a
circular piece of the thin sheet metal is taken and fixed temporarily
in contact with the bottom or flat surface of the lathe. Burnishers
and smooth tools are then pressed cautiously against the metal, while
the mould is rotating, and made to conform to all its curvatures-
stretching out a little to cover the convexities, and compressing a little
to cover the concavities. The ductility of the metal alone enables it
to do this; the bending takes place gradually, so as to enable the
particles of the metal to accommodate themselves to their altered
position. Teapots, plated candlesticks, dish-covers, bell mouths of
musical instruments, &c., are made by a succession of processes of
which this is the chief; and a large quantity of cheap Birmingham
jewellery is worked into form in a similar way.
SPIRAL, a name belonging properly to curves which wind round a
point in successive convolutions. The easiest mode of representing
such curves algebraically is by means of polar CoORDINATES: hence, in
many of the older English works, any curve referred to such coordi-
nates is said to be considered as a spiral. Thus we have the circle
considered as a spiral; the ellipse considered as a spiral, and so on.
The rest of this article is intended only for those who have some
knowledge of the mathematical part of the subject.
છે.
7
If be the radius vector of a curve, e the angle which it makes with
a given line, and rp (0) the equation of the curve, it is obvious that
if 40 be a common trigonometrical function of sin e, cos e, &c., the
curve will not have an unlimited number of convolutions. The whole
of the curve from 0=27 to 0=4π. will be merely a repetition of that
from 0 to 02. Thus, r=
0
2″. Thus, r=sin 0 is the equation of a circle of a
unit diameter, tangent at the origin to the line from which r sets out;
the fifteenth half-revolution of the radius vector is only the fifteenth
description of this circle. It is then only when the angle e occurs
independently of trigonometrical quantities, that any curve is repre-
sented which can properly be called a spiral. Thus, the spiral of
Archimedes, or Conon, of which the equation is ra, has a convolu-
tion in which r changes from 0 to 2ma, while 0 changes from 0 to 2π;
another, in which changes from 2nα to 4α, while changes
2y2 = 1 — 4x 2x²±√1—8x,
T
derived from r=1-2 cos 0. The rectangular equation gives a curve
of two loops, of which the polar equation will only yield one, un-
less negative values of r be employed, in the manner above
described. Nevertheless, if the process had been inverted, and the
polar equation deduced from the rectangular, we should have found
7=+1-2 cos e for the former; and the effect of the double sign is
that the positive values of r only, in the two equationsr=1-2 cos 0,
and r-1-2 cos 0, will give the complete curve deduced from the
rectangular equation. As far as this instance goes, it might seem as if
the complete polar equation, as reduced from the rectangular, would
give the whole curve by means of positive radii; though at the same
time a single instance hardly proves anything. But even granting
that the passage from the rectangular to the polar equation will always
give forms enough to the latter to trace the whole curve from positive
radii, it remains indisputable that the other transition, from the
polar to the rectangular, requires the negative radii to be taken into
account.
SPIRAL of ARCHIMEDES. (SPIRAL.]
SPIRE (in German, Spitze, or Thurm-spitze; in French, Flèche), in
Gothic architec.ure, is used to designate the tapering pyramidal mass
erected on a tower by way of finish and ornament. The origin of the
725
726
SPIRE.
SPIRE.
spire, like that of the pointed arch, is merely matter of conjecture.
The probability is that it arose out of the peaked roof usually given
to campaniles and towers of a preceding period, which form was after-
wards gradually improved upon and refined, till it eventually grew up
into the slender tapering spire. The tower of Than church, Normandy,
engraved under NORMAN ARCHITECTURE, may be referred to as an
example exhibiting the rudiments of the spire, it being no more than
a steep peaked roof or low pyramid, whose height does not exceed
three-fourths of its base. A peak of this kind differs also from the
spire both in being the same in plan as the tower on which it is placed,
and in being immediately set upon it, whereas the spire is almost
invariably an octagon or other polygon, and is surrounded at its base
with a parapet. In Italy, where campaniles are usually detached
square towers of very slender or lofty proportions, the spire is almost
unknown, for such towers have seldom more than a mere pyramidal
roof or peak. There are some few instances of square spires; among
them a very singular one at Egeln in Germany, where two such spires
are set immediately together upon the same tower. But however
slender in their proportions such spires may otherwise be, they have a
certain heavy massiveness of form. When therefore greater loftiness
and lightness were aimed at in this feature, the adoption of a polygonal
plan for it became almost matter of course; for although in a geo-
metrical drawing the general outline and proportions of a spire are the
same whether it be square or octangular in plan, the perspective or
actual appearance is widely different; because in the latter case the
diagonal breadth of the square tower below is cut off, and each side or
plane of which the spire is composed becomes a much more pointed
triangle. Besides which, the polygonal spire produces a degree of
contrast and variety highly favourable to general effect in the Pointed
style.
A gradual and progressive transition from the mere peak or pyra-
midal roof to the slender tapering spire, cannot, however, be clearly
traced. On the contrary, some of the earliest deviations from the
simple pyramidal form appear to have produced uncouthness rather
than lightness; for although much greater loftiness upon the whole
was so occasioned, the appearance of it was reduced by the sides of the
tower being made to terminate in gables cutting into, and therefore
partly cutting off, the base of the pyramid or spire itself. Many of
the earlier German edifices contain examples of this peculiarity-one
almost confined to them; among others the cathedrals of Worms and
Gelnhausen, the church at Andernach, and that of the Apostles at
Cologne, exhibit many varieties of spires, or rather spire-roofs, springing
up from gables at their base: and in some the gables are so large, and
rise up so high, that the appearance of spire is almost entirely lost.
Such is the case with the pyramidal covering of the square tower at
the west end of the church at Gelnhausen, of which the portion above
the gable forms a mere capping. In this country the spires in the
First Pointed, or Early English style, were usually much less acute
than in those of the Second Pointed period, when this feature arrived
at its greatest perfection both in design and decoration. The outline
of spires of this Second Pointed period is commonly very graceful and
refined, a well-considered entasis being often given the spires of
Salisbury Cathedral and St. Mary's Church, Oxford, are well known
and admirable examples of this period.
Spires vary much in character. In this country a spire set imme-
diately upon a tower without any parapet, &c., at its base, is technically
described by the term broach. There are indeed so many peculiarities
in spires, that it is highly desirable to have descriptive terms for them.
First, as regards its base, a spire may be said to be cluster-based when
surrounded below with pinnacles connected with it, and from among
which it seems to spring up; of which kind St. Mary's, Oxford. is a
celebrated example. The Hôtel-de-Ville, at Ypres, has a spire clustered
with four exceedingly tall pinnacles or lesser spires. Where there
are windows placed against a spire, rising upright like the dormers or
lucarnes on a roof, the terin Lucarned would express that character; we
have therefore not scrupled to make use of it in the annexed table of
spires, where it is applied, among others, to those of Lichfield cathedral,
which have several tiers of such windows, and are described accordingly.
Where the height does not exceed two diameters of its base a spire
might not inconveniently be termed a stump-spire. Crocketed and
banded are terms requiring no explanation; but in regard to the first
it may be remarked, that spires, otherwise quite plain, are sometimes
ornamented with crockets along their edges; and with respect to bands,
they are sometimes little more than string-mouldings, but in other
cases broad and enriched surfaces. Many of the spires in Normandy
are ornamented with such a number of bands, that they form alter-
nating courses with the plain spaces between them. Finialled is a
term which does not apply to any of our English spires; but that of
St. Stephen's, Vienna, and some other continental spires, have an
exceedingly large and rich finial, which ornament gives them a par-
ticular boldness of expression. The Tabernacle-spire also is one of which
there is no example in this country, but of which the one just men-
tioned, and those of Strasburg, Ulm (as designed), Thann in Alsace,
and many others, are specimens, the tower and spire being carried up
from the ground in a succession of diminishing stages, all profusely
adorned with pannelling, niches, canopies, pinnacles, and other taber-
nacle-work, in such a manner that it is barely possible to distinguish
where the upright portion or tower terminates, and the spire itself
begins, the latter seeming little more than the uppermost stage in con-
tinuation of the rest. Neither have we any instances of Open-work
spires, or of such as, if not actually perforated, are yet entirely covered
with tracery. That at Freyburg, and those at Burgos and Batalha,
are exceedingly rich specimens of the kind. The chapter-house of
Burgos also has a series of very large pinnacles or small spires of
tabernacle character. Cambrai and Esslingen on the Neckar afford
other examples of open-work spires.
There are various other circumstances which, though they do not
affect the spire itself, produce greater or less difference in regard to the
character of the structure of which it is a component feature. Very
much, for instance, depends upon its situation in the general plan: at
TABLE OF SPIRES, ENGLISH AND FOREIGN.
Tower. Spire.
Total
Height.
Remarks.
Feet.
Feet. Feet.
Old St. Paul's
Salisbury
260
274
534
Six diameters high.
207
197
404
Norwich
140
163
303
Lichfield
114
138
252
two western
estern
$9
108
192
Chichester
270
·
Oxford Cathedral
94
52
146
Oxford, St. Mary's
86
94
180
Louth
148
140
288
Grantham (about)
140
250
Bloxham
101
94
195
St. Michael's, Coventry
136
164
300
St. Mary's, Stamford
Cologne (as designed)
330
200
530
Strasburg
364
110
474
Two west towers, only north-west spire.
St. Stephen's, Vienna.
285. 180
465
On south side of church.
Example of a tabernacle tower and spire.
Ulm (as designed)
320
171
491
Freyburg
221
159
380
Date about 1350. Three enriched bands. Nearly 5 diameters.
Plain, rather more than 5 diameters high.
Lucarned, 5 tiers of windows. Nearly 5 diameters high.
Lucarned, 4 tiers; 4 diameters high.
Pinnacled and lucarned below; banded with two broad rich bands; else quite plain. Both
tower and spire fell, Feb. 21, 1861.
Date about 1220.
Spire itself quite plain, lucarned with a canopied window below, on four sides. Embased by
very rich canopied niches and pinnacles.
Embased with lofty pinnacles and flying buttresses. Crocketed. 6 diameters.
Lucarned, crocketed, large crocketed pinnacles at base. Base of spire less than tower.
A very beautiful example. Spire 5 diameters high. Date about 1350.
This tower and spire a very fine example,
Date about 1260. Base without parapet or pinnacles. Lucarned, 4 tiers. Spire 24 diameters.
Two west spires enriched with tracery, and crowned by large finials.
Tabernacle example. Tower and spire in centre of west front.
Rich open-work spire. Tower and spire in centre of west front.
Marburg
184
88
272
•
Two west towers and spires.
Base of spire gabled.
Spire 4 diameters.
Nürnberg, St. Laurence
180
90
270
Two west towers and spires.
Base of spire gabled.
Spire 4 diameters.
Nürnberg, St. Sebaldus
170
00
260
Two west towers and spires.
Base of spire gabled.
Spire 43 diameters.
Antwerp
366
·
Two west towers, only north-west spire,
Chartres "New Spire"
371
Bayeux
142
104
246
Caen, St. Stephen's
155
107
262
27 feet.
Lucarned at base and banded.
Caen, St. Peter's
134
110
214
Batalha
113
57
170
Burgos Cathedral
280
Glasgow
115
105
220
Two west spires, the north-west, or "New," spire loftier and more enriched than the other.
Two west spires. The north-west spire has 6 broad bands; the other plain.
Diameter at base
Base of spire 24 feet. Spire has 9 bands, with small hexafoil, quatrefoil, and trefoil apertures
between them. Crocketed.
Very rich open-work spire. Diameter at base 19 feet.
Two short or stump but very rich open-work spires, at west end. Date of spires 1442.
Lucarned, banded, lower band richly moulded and quatrefoiled, and surmounted by fleurons.
Diameter at base 27 feet.
727
SPIREIN.
Salisbury and Norwich, the spire is raised upon a tower at the inter-
section of the cross, or in the centre of the plan; whereas in most
continental cathedrals and large churches there are two spires on the
towers of the west front, though in some instances (Strasburg, Ant-
werp) only one has been erected. Several, however, have a single
tower and spire in the centre of the west front (Ulm, Freyburg, Thann
in Alsace), in which case the tower itself begins to diminish almost
from the ground, and the whole becomes what we have described as
of the tabernacle character. In most of our English churches (not
cathedrals) the spire is placed upon a tower at the west end, as at
Grantham, Louth, Bloxham, &c. If we except Peterborough, where they
are very diminutive, the only English cathedral which has two western
spires is Lichfield, which is further remarkable as having a central
tower and spire also. Besides the richness and variety thus produced,
the larger central spire serves to balance the whole composition,
whereas else the body of the structure is apt to look low in comparison
with the west end. At St. Stephen's, Vienna, the tower and spire are
singularly placed on the south side of the edifice, it having been
intended to balance them by a corresponding tower on the north
side. At Gelnhausen, on the contrary, there is a group of spires at the
east end.
Though so much depends upon the proportion of spires to their own
diameters and to the height of the towers, almost the only thing that
is specified in the usual description of spires is the entire altitude from
the ground, which single measurement, unaccompanied by others, gives
no idea of the relative dimensions of the spire or how it is proportioned.
Some of the loftiest spires, as they are popularly termed, are by no
means lofty, being not above a third of the entire height, and not more
than four of their own diameters. The spire of Strasburg, for
instance, is only 110 feet out of 474, or less than one-third of the tower
itself. At Antwerp again the spire is a mere peak crowning the upper-
most stage of the tower, while the tower itself is twice as high as the
roof of the church. If we compare Salisbury with Norwich, the spire
of the latter cathedral will be found, though of less dimensions, much
loftier in relation to the rest than the other, being in the ratio of 163
to 308 feet, while Salisbury is only 197 to 404. We have, therefore,
We have, therefore,
drawn up a short table of spires (see preceding page) showing,
where we can, the separate as well as united heights of the respective
towers and spires.
42 24
SPIREIN. (C₁₂H2020?) The yellow colouring matter of the
meadow-sweet (Spirœa ulmaria). It is a crystalline yellow powder
insoluble in water, but very soluble in alcohol and ether. The dilute
solution is yellow, but becomes dark green on concentration. It
possesses a slight acid reaction, and cannot be volatilised without
decomposition.
SPIRIN. [SALICYLIC GROUP.]
SPIRIT, a term used in chemistry. When employed alone, it is
now almost exclusively applied to spirit of wine, or alcohol; formerly
however the name spirit was given to most substances capable of being
vaporised and condensed by distillation, and to some not obtained by
distillation. It will be requisite merely to name a few of those com-
pounds to show how extensively it was used in naming substances of
very different origin and composition: thus nitric acid was called
spirit of nitre hydrochloric acid, spirit of salt; sulphuric acid, spirit
of sulphur; chloride of tin, spirit of Libavius; solution of ammonia,
spirit of sal-ammoniac, or sometimes spirit of hartshorn.
SPIRIT-LEVEL, a tube of glass nearly filled with spirit of wine or
distilled water, and hermetically sealed at both ends, so that when
held with its axis in a horizontal position, the air which occupies a part
not filled with the spirit or water places itself contiguously to the
upper surface. The tube being supposed to be perfectly cylindrical,
the exact horizontality of its axis is ascertained by the extremities of
the air-bubble being at equal distances from the middle point in the
length of the glass.
The spirit-tube is used in determining the relative heights of ground
at two or more stations, and in order to render it available for this pur-
C
E
HM
A
a
G
HI
Κ
B
F
pose, it is placed within a brass case having a long opening on the side
which is to be uppermost, and is attached to a telescope; the telescope
SPIRIT-LEVEL.
728
and tube are then fitted to a frame, or cradle, of brass, which is sup-
ported on three legs. In the interior of the telescope, at the common
focus of the object-glass and eye-glasses, are fixed, generally, two wires,
at right angles to each other, their intersection being in the line of
collimation, or that which joins the centres of all the lenses.
The case containing the spirit-tube is made to turn on a joint at one
extremity, as a, by the revolutions of a screw, b, at the opposite extre-
mity; and the telescope rests, near each end, within two arms at the
top of a small pillar, A or B, the pillar and its arms resembling the
letter Y, and the interior sides of the arms being tangents to the tube
of the telescope. One of these pillars is made capable of a small
movement in a vertical direction by turning a screw, o, at its base, for
the purpose of elevating or depressing one end of the telescope and
spirit-tube; and in the more perfectly constructed instruments, botli
the pillars may be so moved. The pillars are at the extremities of a
strong brass plate, EF, the under side of which is connected with the
tripod-stand, which supports the whole instrument; and a compass-
box, G, is attached immediately to the plate, as in the figure, or is
raised above the telescope by means of four small pillars. A hollow
conical socket, H, of brass is screwed to the under side of the plate, and
is intended to receive a piece of bell-metal of a corresponding form,
which constitutes the upper part of the stand. This piece serves as a
vertical axis, upon which the telescope, the spirit-level, and the com-
pass are to turn round horizontally: sometimes, however, the conical
pivot projects from the under part of the plate, E F, and the socket is
on the stand.
The three legs which are to support the instrument are firmly fixed
to a circular plate, K, perforated at its centre, and having about the
perforation a hollow spherical zone, resembling a small inverted cup.
In the simpler kinds of spirit-levels a circular plate, L, of the same
dimensions as the last, carries above it the pivot before mentioned;
and from below it projects a stem, terminating in a ball, which fits the
inverted cup or socket. By means of four screws which pass through
one of these two plates (the upper plate in the cut), nearly at the
extremities of two diameters at right angles to one another, the upper
plate is made parallel to the horizon, and consequently the conical
pivot which it carries is brought to a vertical position.
The above is a general description, which will serve nearly for
every spirit-level at present in use, whatever be its form; and the
following is the usual manner of performing the adjustments, prepa-
ratory to the instrument being employed on the ground :-
The telescope should, by a proper opening of the legs of the stand,
be at first rendered as nearly level as can be estimated by the eye; then,
being turned so as to lie vertically above the line joining two opposite
screws in what are called the parallel plates (K and L), the spirit-tube
is brought to horizontal position by relaxing the screw nearest to its
higher end, and tightening that which is opposite to it: the like
operation is to be performed with the other pair of screws, after placing
the telescope vertically above them. In order to render the spirit-
tube parallel to the axis of the telescope, after the bubble of air has
been made to occupy the middle place by the process just mentioned,
let the telescope be reversed in the arms (the Ys as they are
called); then if the bubble does not still occupy the middle, it
must be made to do so by successive trials, endeavouring to correct
half the error by means of the screw b, and the other half by the
screw C.
The eye-piece of the telescope must be moved inwards or outwards.
till the wires in the field of view are distinctly seen; and the object-
glass must also be moved by means of the pinion, M, till the station-
staff, placed at any convenient distance (suppose 100 yards), is also dis-
tinctly seen. By a few trials, the distance between the eye and the
object-glass may be made such that the intersection of the wires will
appear to remain constantly at one point on the staff while the observer
in looking through the telescope varies the position of his eye. It is
necessary besides that the intersection of the wires should be precisely
in the line of collimation, or the optical axis of the telescope: for this
purpose the point of intersection should be directed to some well-
defined mark at a considerable distance. The telescope must then be
turned on its axis; and if the intersection remains constantly on the
mark, that adjustment is complete; otherwise it must be rendered so
by means of the screws, cd, &c., on the telescope; those screws being
placed at the extremities of two diameters at right angles to one
another, on being turned they move the plate carrying the wires in
the directions of those diameters. In order that the correction may be
made, the apparent displacement of one of the wires, in consequence
of the telescope being turned half round on its axis, should be observed,
and the screws turned till half the displacement is corrected; the like
observation and correction may then be made for the other wire a few
repetitions of each adjustment will probably be necessary before the
error is wholly removed.
The level constructed by the late Mr. Troughton differs from that
which has been above described in having the spirit-tube sunk partly
in the telescope; and the latter, being incapable of a movement about
its axis, does not admit of a separate adjustment for the intersection
of the wires.
Mr. Gravat, who made considerable improvements in the mechanism
of these instruments, recommends the following method by which the
error in the positions of the cross-wires and spirit-tube may be ascer

729
730
SPIRIT OF SALT.
SPLEEN, DISEASES OF THE.
tained and corrected :-Let three pickets be driven into the ground in
a line and at equal distances from one another, and let the spirit-level
be set up successively in the middle between the first and second, and
between the second and third pickets; then, having by the screws of
the instrument adjusted the spirit-tube so that the bubble of air may
retain the same place while the telescope is turned round on the
vertical axis, direct the object-end of the telescope successively to the
station-staves held up on the different pickets, read the several heights,
and take the differences between those on the first and second, and on
the second and third staff. Now the staves being at equal distances
from the instrument, it is obvious that any error which may have
existed in the line of collimation, or from the spirit-tube not being
parallel to that line, will be destroyed, and the differences between the
readings on the staves are the differences in the levels of the heads of
the pickets; but unless the adjustments are perfect, this will not be
the case if the instrument be set up at any point which is unequally
distant from all the pickets; therefore from such point direct the
telescope to the staves, and take the differences of the readings as
before. On comparing these differences with the former, a want of
agreement will prove that the intersection of the wires is not in the
optical axis: and the error may be corrected by means of the screws
belonging to the wire plate. After the agreement has been obtained,
should the bubble of air not stand in the middle of the tube, it may be
brought to that position by the screw b, at one extremity of the case,
and the instrument is then completely adjusted. (Simms, "Treatise
on Mathematical Instruments.')
The spirit-level is usually provided with a clamp, N, and a screw, P,
by which when the axis of the telescope has by hand been brought
near the object, the coincidence may be accurately made by a slow and
steady motion about the vertical axis.
The spirit-tube or level which is employed for the adjustment of
transit telescopes or astronomical circles is contained in a case with feet
or with loops at its extremities, in order that it may either rest above
or be suspended below the horizontal axis of the instrument to be
levelled; also the upper part of the case is furnished with a graduated
scale, the divisions of which are numbered on each side of a zero point,
this point being usually placed near each of the two extremities of the
air-bubble when the tube is in a horizontal position. Having set up
or suspended the spirit-tube, the two particular graduations at which
the extremities of the air-bubble rest are marked; and half the sum,
or half the difference of these numbers, according as the extremities
of the bubble are in the same or in opposite directions from the two
zero-points, being taken, gives the distance of the centre of the bubble
from the middle between those points. The level being then reversed,
the graduations at which the air-bubble rests are again marked, and
half the sum or half the difference is taken as before. A mean of the
two distances thus found is the true distance of the centre of the
bubble from the middle point on the scale; and the screw which
elevates or depresses one end of the axis of the telescope being then
turned, till either extremity of the bubble has moved, in a direction
contrary to that in which the centre of the bubble had moved from
the middle of the scale, through a number of divisions equal to that
mean distance, that axis will be brought to a horizontal position. This
method is used in preference to that of successive trials, in order
to avoid the trouble of making several reversions of the whole
instrument.
The levelling-staff till lately in general use for finding the relative
heights of ground is a rod consisting of two parts, each six feet long,
which, by being made to slide on one another, will indicate differences
of level nearly as great as twelve feet. The face of the rod is divided
into feet, inches, and tenths, or into feet with centesimal subdivisions;
and a vane, or cross-piece of wood, perforated through the middle, is
moved up or down upon the rod by an assistant till a chamfered edge
at the perforation is seen by the observer at the spirit-level to coincide
with the horizontal wire in the telescope. The height from the ground
to the chamfered edge of the vane must be read by the assistant; and
it being out of the power of the observer to detect any mistake in the
reading, it becomes very desirable that the graduations on the rod
should be sufficiently distinct to allow the heights to be read at the
spirit-level itself. The rod proposed by Mr. Gravat for this purpose is
divided into hundredths of a foot by stripes which are alternately
black and white, and are numbered at every foot in the usual way with
figures great enough to be seen on looking through the telescope; the
tenths of a foot are indicated by lines longer than the others. A
similar staff has been proposed by Mr. Sopwith and Mr. W. P. Barlow;
and the former gentleman, besides the number of every foot, has given
a number to every first, third, fifth, and ninth decimal. Mr. Barlow's
rod is also divided into centesimals of a foot; but the marks, instead
of being stripes whose edges are parallel to one another, have the form
of triangles: each tenth mark, however, is in the form of a lozenge, or
double triangle, for the sake of greater distinctness.
SPIRIT OF SALT. [CHLORINE.]
SPIRIT OF WINE. TALCOHOL.]
SPIRIT THERMOMETER. [THERMOMETER.]
SPIRIT TRADE. [WINE AND SPIRIT TRADE.]
SPIRITUAL COURTS. [ECCLESIASTICAL COURTS.]
SPIRÖILOUS ACID.
[SALICYLIC GROUP.]
SPIROUS ACIĎ. Synonymous with hydride of salicyl. [SALI-
CYLIC GROUP.]
Synonymous with hydride of salicyl.
is
SPLEEN, DISEASES OF THE. These do not appear to have
been much studied in this country, because they do not very frequently
occur; they are, however, by no means of unusual occurrence in moist
climates, whether warm or temperate, as Italy, Holland, South America,
and some parts of India; in fact, wherever malaria exists. The spleen
is liable to many sorts of disease: Dr. Bigsby (Cyclop. of Pract. Med.')
enumerates as many as ten, but of these only the most important can
be here noticed. Spleuitis, or inflammation of the spleen, may be
either acute or chronic; though Dr. Baillie remarks that this organ
much less subject to inflammation than many other of the abdominal
viscera. (Posthumous Lectures and Observations on Medicine,' 1825,
unpublished.) Acute inflammation of the spleen, together with heat,
fulness, and tenderness in the splenic region, with pain upon pressure,
is accompanied with the usual pyrectic signs, and often with a pain
extending over the whole of the abdomen, but particularly in the left
side, and shooting from the diaphragm to the left shoulder. There is
also not unfrequently a dry short cough, and sense of constriction in
the præcordia, sickness, or nausea, and a discharge from the rectum of
black or livid blood, from a rupture of some of the splenic vessels.
Of this disease a remarkable instance, which terminated in nine days,
has been recorded by Dr. Ley, in the Transactions of the College of
Physicians of London' (vol. v. p. 304). The texture of the spleen
after death was in this case so altered as to resemble an extremely soft-
piece of sponge, of which the cells had been filled with an intimate
mixture of pus and grumous blood.
blood. On placing it in water, innumer-
able vessels, as fine as the fibres of swans' down, floated separately,
rising from every point of the superficies of the organ. The contents
of this spongy mass having been removed by repeated washings, some-
thing like an attempt at the formation of cavities to contain the matter
manifested itself. No regular cyst however had been formed. All the
other viscera, abdominal and thoracic, were healthy, except the uterus,
whose inner surface was gangrenous. The common causes of intlam-
mation of the spleen are much the same as those of inflammation of
the liver, namely, suddenly suppressed perspiration, especially from
currents of cold and damp air, and excess of spirituous potation;
sometimes, however, the cause is too obscure for detection. With re-
spect to the treatment, the usual antiphlogistic remedies may be
employed, but promptly and energetically. Dr. Baillie says, he is not
aware that inflammation of the spleen would require a different treat-
ment from that of other viscera.
If after a certain period the inflammation do not yield, it assumes
the chronic form, in which the variation in the severity and duration
of the complaint is very great. If it has accompanied ague, the symp-
toms may possibly not have been urgent in the outset, but it is almost
always a painful as well as formidable disease.
always a painful as well as formidable disease. It commonly lasts for
some months, and may continue for years with remissions. With
respect to the terminations of chronic splenitis, resolution does not
take place often; suppuration is also rare upon the whole, and Dr.
Baillie says he " had never met with an abscess in the spleen in all the
dead bodies which he had examined." When pus is formed, it is of
the ordinary creamy kind, but is sometimes concrete; it varies in
amount from a few ounces to many pounds. The matter may find its
way into the stomach, colon, or peritoneal cavity; it may burst into
the left side of the chest, or into the lungs, inducing symptoms of
phthisis; or it may empty itself outwards through the abdominal
walls. Ossification of the spleen after inflammation is rare, as is also
gangrene; softening, induration, and hypertrophy, especially the last,
are much more common. With respect to the treatment of chronic
splenitis, perhaps the best plan that can be adopted is the combination
of aperients with iron and sedatives; the good effects of mercury in
this disease being now generally considered precarious, trivial, and at
best temporary. Local applications, such as cupping, issues, setons, &c.,
are sometimes productive of great benefit.
Besides the inflammatory softening of the spleen, there is another of
a character quite peculiar, and unattended by any of the characteristics
of inflammation, wherein the structure of the spleen is more or less
destroyed, and it is often reduced to a simple bag, containing a sub-
stance which varies from the state of clotted or grumous blood to that
of tar. This was very frequent in the Walcheren fever, in which cases
the spleen was usually found after death of great size, and generally
a mere bag filled with a liquid like tar, and weighing from three to
five pounds.
One of the most common diseases of the spleen is hypertrophy, the
most usual causes of which are ague and remittent fever. It is there-
fore chiefly to be found where these are endemical, but it is not very
uncommon in any part of Great Britain. The size which this organ
sometimes attains is enormous, and it is surprising to find how long
persons can carry about with them very enlarged spleens, and at last
die of some other disease. Dr. Bigsby quotes from Lieutaud the case
of a woman who had for seventeen years a spleen weighing thirty-two
pounds; similar facts are to be found in Haller. Dr. Baillie mentions
Posthumous Lectures') having met with cases where it was so large
SPIRÖILIC ACID. Another name for hydride of nitrosalicyl. as to occupy nearly all the left side of the abdomen, extending from
[SALICYLIC GROUP.]
the diaphragm to the pelvis. When the enlargement is so considerable
731
SPLINT.
that the lower end of the spleen can be felt under the margin of the
ribs upon the left side, there can be no doubt with respect to the
disease. When the hypertrophy does not reach this extent, its most
characteristic symptoms, are a sense of weight in the left side, with
or without evident swelling; inability to lie with ease on the right
side; debility, without corresponding emaciation; disordered stomach,
irritable bowels, dry cough, and absence of fever. The spleen, when
enlarged, is always felt to be harder than in a natural state, but pressure
upon it with the hand seldom produces pain. An hypertrophy of the
spleen is sometimes followed by ascites; but there will frequently be
no dropsy of the abdomen, even where this organ has been for a long
time much enlarged. When this form of disease has been connected |
with ague, it more frequently subsides than in any other case; and the
quina, which has been prescribed to cure the latter affection, will pro-
bably be serviceable also to the former, "When the enlargement has
taken place independently of this cause," says Dr. Baillie," it hardly
ever subsides of itself, or is materially diminished by medicine.
According to my experience, mercury, administered both externally
and internally, produces very seldom any good effect; I have seen, I
think, more advantage from a seton inserted under the skin which
covers the spleen. In some cases it has appeared to be diminished in
size by this remedy, and to be rendered softer; but I do not recollect
a siugle instance, except after ague, in which it has been reduced to
nearly its natural size. Temperate living, abstaining from violent
exercise, and keeping the bowels open, must be to a certain degree
useful in retarding the progress of the disease." The remedy largely
employed in India for the cure of chronic tumour of the spleen is a
compound of garlic, aloes, and sulphate of iron. When emaciation
and diarrhoea are present, the garlic and aloes are macerated in brandy;
under other circumstances, in vinegar.. The proportion of aloes is so
regulated as to produce three evacuations daily; and the medicine also
produces copious secretions from the kidneys. The Decoctum Aloes
Compositum with the Tinctura or Acetum Scille would probably prove
equally effectual. The moxa, and even the actual cautery, have been
recommended for this disease; and emetic cataplasnis of tobacco-
leaves, renewed constantly so as to keep up frequent vomiting, have in
some instances produced the happiest effects.
Atrophy of the spleen is by no means so common as hypertrophy;
and though some instances are related by modern writers, yet their
statements are so meagre and unsatisfactory, that no use can be made
of them. It is sometimes found exceedingly small and even shrivelled
when some other organ is much enlarged, where there have been
great discharges of blood, in ascites, and in extensive chronic disease.
This form of disease of the spleen obviously admits of no remedy.
Hydatids in the spleen are found now and then, but not very often;
Dr. Baillie had never met with a single case of them. It is hardly
possible to discover their existence during the life of the patient, nor,
even if it were more easy, could the complaint receive any cure, or
even amendment, from medicine. The disease arises quite uncon-
sciously to the patient; the first intimation of its existence being
debility, dyspepsia, and the uneasiness created by a slowly increasing
tumour, which in its progress causes further derangement by com-
pression and displacement of other organs, and becomes itself per-
ceptible externally. It is only when the containing membrane, or
some organ, becomes inflamed, that fever, pain, and their fatal con-
sequences ensue. Hydatids may prove fatal by passing into the
peritoneal cavity from ulceration of the containing sac, or by disturbing
the circulation, or by irritating other viscera; or the patient may live
very long with this complaint, and die eventually of another disease
during the indolent continuance of this.
Melanosis and calculi of the spleen are noticed shortly by Dr.
Bigsby, but the instances are too rare to require any particular remarks
here.
Rupture of the spleen from some external violence occurs not
unfrequently; but in the majority of cases the injury is so over-
whelming that little is left for the medical practitioner to do. Free
Free
venesection and perfect rest have occasionally saved life; but in many
instances the patient dies in a few hours. In these latter cases the
symptoms are great shiverings, coldness of body, vomiting, and other
signs of extreme collapse: when there is time and strength for reaction,
there is considerable fever, with a remarkable heat of skin, and great
pain in the left side or all over the abdomen; the stools and urine are
not materially affected.
(Good's Study of Med.; Gregory's Theory and Pract. of Med.
Bigsby, in Cyclop. of Pract. Med., from which works, with Dr. Baillie's
(posthumous) Lectures and Observ. on Med., great part of the patho-
logical part of this article is taken.)
SPLINT is a piece of wood or other rigid substance which is used
in surgery to maintain any part of the body in a fixed position, and
especially for the purpose of holding steadily together the portions of
a fractured bone. Splints vary almost infinitely in form and size,
according to the part to which they have to be adapted, and the
position in which it is to be held; the number and the arrangement of
them in each case are equally subject to variation; nor can a surgeon
have a better rule than that of following no general plan, but of deter-
mining in each case the apparatus best fitted for its peculiar exigencies.
[FRACTURE.] The material of which they are commonly made is light
wood; each splint consisting either of one piece cut nearly to the form
SPRAIN.
732
and size of the limb, or of several pasted together with a strap of linen
so as to be flexible in one direction. In some cases tin is a preferable
material; in some stiff pasteboard. In many cases also it is very
advantageous to adapt the splints exactly to all the irregularities of
the limb; and as this cannot be done with wood or any unyielding
material, it is usual to employ one which, being applied moist and soft,
gradually hardens. Stiff pasteboard will sometimes be sufficient,
especially for children; but a better material for general use is sole-
leather or gutta percha, applied while quite pliant after having been
well soaked in hot water, and then bandaged closely to the limb and
allowed to dry. Another plan of this kind now much employed is to
form a splint of linen and some glutinous material, such as starch, or a
mixture of white of egg and flour, or of mucilage of gum-arabic and
whiting, made as thick as bird-lime. In using these, the limb or
other part should be thinly padded with soft lint; then strips of coarse
linen soaked in the tenacious material should be laid on, one over the
other, till on each side of the limb they form a layer about as thick as
a common wooden splint. The whole should then be surrounded
with a neatly-applied bandage soaked in starch. When dry, splints of
this kind will so exactly fit the part to which they are applied, and be
so rigid, that a patient may with safety execute the slighter natural
movements of a limb within a fortnight after it has been fractured.
All the further care of a simple case of fracture will generally consist
in the occasional replacement of the starched bandage, and the
adaptation of the splints, by cutting their edges, to the change of
form which the limb may undergo as the swelling diminishes.
Splints of this kind however must not be applied till all the inflam-
mation immediately consequent on the fracture has ceased.
Druitt's 'Surgeon's Vade-mecum.'
See
SPONDEE (spondeus, orovdeîos) is a foot which consists of two long
syllables (- -). The name is derived from σovdǹ, a libation, as the
metrical prayers on such an occasion were generally of a slow and
solemn movement. To produce this solemnity the spondee is often
used instead of a dactyl in the hexameter or pentameter: and in
iambic, trochaic, or anapastic metres, instead of an iambus, trochee,
or anapast. There is no metre which consists of spondees alone, and
indeed such a metre would be very disagreeable, even if it were
possible; but spondees produce a good effect when mixed with other
feet. An hexameter verse which has a spondee in the fifth place, is
called a spondaic verse.
SPONĜIA, MEDICAL USES OF. The use of sponge by surgeons,
in its natural state, to absorb fluids, needs no notice, but it is also
employed by them under the name of sponge tent, when prepared in
a particular manner. This consists in dipping the sponge in melted
wax, and compressing it between iron plates till it hardens on cooling;
it is then cut into cylindrical or other forms. The pieces are intro-
duced into sinuses and other narrow canals, with the intention of
dilating them by the expansion of the sponge, when the wax melts by
the heat of the part. Sponge tents are however little used by modern
surgeons.
According to the analysis of Hornemann, sponge consists of a
substance similar to osmazome, animal mucus, fat oil, a substance
soluble in water, a substance only soluble in potash, and traces of
chloride of sodium, iodine, sulphur, phosphate of lime (?), silica,
alumina, and magnesia.
When sponge has been cut into pieces, beaten in order to free it
from little stones and shells, and burnt in a closed iron vessel, till it
is black and friable, it is then called burnt sponge (spongia usta). As
the virtues of this greatly depend on the proportion of iodine con-
tained in the sponge, much of which is volatilised by the high
temperature required in calcination, it has been proposed only to
expose it to such a heat as will thoroughly dry, colour it brown, and
render it friable, when it may be powdered, and preserved in well-
closed bottles. For use it is generally formed into an electuary or into
lozenges. A test of its goodness consists in heating it in a glass flask
with sulphuric acid, and if copious violet-coloured fumes be evolved,
this proves that it contains much iodine. Burnt sponge has been
almost completely superseded in the treatment of bronchocele and
scrofula, by iodine and its preparations; but as it obviously consists
of a natural combination of many of the principles which have been
deemed useful in scrofula, it ought not to be hastily discarded. It is
with great propriety retained in the Dublin Pharmacopoeia.
SPONTANEOUS COMBUSTION. [COMBUSTION.]
·
SPORADIC (the Greek word orоpaducós, with the termination
dropped) is a term applied to any disease which, being usually epidemic
or contagious, occurs at any time in a few persons, without spreading
extensively through a district. For example, in the year 1841 several
cases of sporadic cholera occurred; that is, several persons, at different
times and in different parts of the country, were affected with a disease
in no respect different from the cholera which raged as an epidemic
in 1832; but it did not spread beyond them by contagion, nor did it
attack a number sufficient to give it the character of an epidemic.
The circumstances on which the occasional occurrence of diseases that
are usually epidemic, in a sporadic form, depend, are altogether
unknown.
SPOUT, WATER. [WATER SPOUT.]
SPRAIN, or STRAIN, is an injury of muscular or tendinous tis-
sues, resulting from their being forcibly stretched beyond their natural
733
734
SPRING.
SPRING CARRIAGE.
length. Its ordinary consequence is, after the first pain is gone by, to
produce some degree of swelling, and a considerable dull aching pain
of the injured part, which is greatly increased by any movement of it.
These signs are due to an inflammation of the sprained tissues, which
partakes of the slowness and obstinacy that characterise all the diseases
of the tendons and ligaments, and which, if not early and duly
attended to, frequently terminates in thickening, rigidity, and even
more serious disorganisation of them and the adjacent parts...
+
7
The treatment to be adopted for sprains is the immediate application
of leeches, in number proportionate to the severity of the injury and
the importance of the part. They should be repeated till the pain and
swelling are distinctly decreased: the part should be kept perfectly at
rest and cool, and the patient's general health should be kept or made
good. When the pain has nearly ceased, and there remains little more
than stiffness of the injured part, stimulating liniments (the common
soap liniment, or a mixture of hartshorn and oil, for example) may
be used.
SPRING. [SEASONS, CHANGE OF.]
where c is the tangent of the angle of contact at B'. If, on account of
the smallness of this angle, o be neglected, it will follow, when x is
made equal to B'c, that the whole deflection AC or BB' will vary
nearly with the weight P, and with the cube of the length of the
spring.
The use of a spring as a moving-power may be best exemplified in
its application to watch-work. The main-spring of a watch is a thin
and narrow plate of well-tempered steel, which is coiled in a spiral
form: one of its extremities is attached to a pivot or axle, and the
other to the interior circumference of the cylindrical box in which it is
contained. In being wound, the spring closes round the axle, and
afterwards, in the effort by its elasticity to recover its former position,
it turns the cylinder in a contrary direction: thus the chain which is
attached to the exterior circumference of the cylinder and to the fusee
causes the latter to revolve.
SPRING, in Mechanics, is an elastic plate or rod, which is em-
ployed as a moving-power, or a regulator of the motions of wheel-extent about the axle be given in one direction to the balance, the
work; also to ascertain the weights of bodies, or to diminish the effects
of concussion.
The elder Bernoulli was the first whose attention was directed to
the curvature assumed by elastic bodies, and he succeeded in resolving
the problem in the case of a rectilinear plate being fixed at one end and
bent by a weight applied at the other it being assumed as a principle
that, at any point in an elastic body, the force by which the body when
bent by any power endeavours to recover its previous position is pro-
portional to the angle of contact at that point; that is, to the angle
which a tangent to the curve surface of the body makes, at the point,
with that surface.
In order to give some idea of the manner in which the effects of
elasticity are to be determined mathematically, let A B be a thin elastic
plate immovably fixed at a, and bent into the form AB' by a power P
applied at B, and let a, a, aa' be two consecutive elementary portions
of the bent plate: let also E represent the unknown force of elasticity
acting perpendicularly to a a' by which that element tends to recover
the direction a, a, from which it has been made to deviate by the
power at B; and for simplicity let it be supposed that this power acts
in the direction B'c parallel to A B. Let fall ap perpendicularly on
B′c; also represent B'p by a and ap by y. Then, by mechanics P.y
expresses the momentum of the power at B' to bend the plate at a,
and in the case of equilibrium we have P.y=E. But E varies with the
B
C
a,
i a a
P
B
B'
angle of contact, or the angle between the element aa' and a, a pro-
duced, and that angle in any part of AB' varies inversely with the
radius of curvature at that part; therefore let be the known radius
of curvature at a point where the force of elasticity is given, and let
this force be represented by e: also let R be the radius of cur-
vature at a point, as a, where the force is represented by E.
1
: e :
2°
1
R
: E, or
en
R
Then
E'
=
R
E, and putting E' for er, we have P.y
Substituting in place of R the differential expression for the radius of
curvature, the elastic force might be obtained by the processes of
integration. The integral, however, can only be obtained approxi-
mately.
If the elastic plate were in a vertical position with its lower end a
resting on an immovable object, and a weight P, applied at the upper
extremity B', were to act in a direction towards A, the equations of the
curve, approximately determined, are (the deflection being small)
y = A sin x (+), and
Ε
P.42
4E'
and L = (1 + h,
where a is any abscissa from B' on the line B'A, y is the corresponding
ordinate, ▲ is the greatest deflection, or the ordinate at the middle
point in B'a, h
BA, and L is the length of the curve line AaB': also
the greatest weight which the plate or spring will bear without bend-
ing when pressed in that direction is expressed by. (= 3·1416).
If P exceed by a small quantity the value of m² where m is
any whole number whatever, the spring will make several bends
crossing the straight line A B′ in m 1 points between the two ex-
tremities.
―
E' T
E' T 2
L
When the elastic plate, in a horizontal position, is fixed at one end,
as A, and the weight P, applied at the extremity B', acts always
vertically, the equation becomes (the deflection being small)
ย
1 1
— ( | P² + OF)
|
A slender and highly elastic spring of a like form is employed to
produce a vibratory motion in the balance ring of a watch: one ex-
tremity of the spring is attached to the axle of the balance, and the
other to some part of its circumference. If a movement of small
spring will be compressed near the axle, and, in the effort to recover
its previous state, the balance-ring will be moved round in a contrary
direction; but the force of elasticity carries any point in the ring
beyond the place which it occupies when the ring is in a state of rest;
and when that force is destroyed by the compression again produced
in the spring, near the axle, the balance is made to return in the
direction in which it was first moved. Thus an alternate motion in
the balance-ring is continued; the time of the vibrations, and con-
sequently the velocities with which the wheels revolve, depending
upon the force of elasticity in the spring. The elastic power of the
spring varies with the tension, and is directly proportional to the
angle through which the spring is wound about the axle; and thus the
vibrations of a spring, like those of a pendulum in a cycloidal arc,
are isochronous. [ELASTICITY.] The length of the spring and the
diameter of the balance are increased by heat and diminished by cold;
consequently, without some compensating power, the times of vibra-
tion will vary according to the changes of temperature.
When a carriage moving along a level road passes suddenly over an
obstacle, so that a point in the circumference of the wheel is in contact
with the obstacle, the centre of the wheel describes a circular arc
about the point of contact as a centre; and then, if the carriage is
perfectly rigid, a portion of its velocity will be lost. In order to
maintain that velocity, an additional force of draught would be necessary;
and an expression for this additional force is investigated in Whewell's
'Mechanics' (art. 261, and the following). Part of this additional
force is employed in counteracting the motion of ascent, and the re-
mainder, which is generally much the greater quantity, in diminishing
the effect of the sudden change which takes place in the direction of
the motion of the carriage. This latter part may be in a considerable
degree removed by the use of springs; for then, on the wheel meeting
the obstacle, the suspended body of the carriage bending the springs
by its weight, the centre of gravity of that body is made to describe a
curve line, to which its previous rectilinear direction is a tangent; and
thus the jerks which arise from movements in directions making finite
angles with one another are avoided.
The force of draught required in addition to that which is due to
friction, when a stiff carriage passes over a roughly paved road, varies
as the square of the velocity and the height of the stones directly, and
as the radius of the wheel inversely.
SPRING-BALANCE. [BALANCE; DYNAMICS; WEIGHING - MA-

CHINES.]
SPRING CARRIAGE. The progress of a wheel-carriage, even
upon the best of roads, is impeded by the wheels coming in contact
with, and being compelled to rise over, undulations of surface which
check their rolling motion. In many old rough pavements, owing to
the openness of the joints, and the wear of the stones, the road
consists of a series of blunt ridges, in passing over which the motion of
the wheel can be no other than a succession of jolts. The surface of a
well-made road of broken stone, when in perfect order, presents few
important asperities; but when metal or broken stone has been
recently laid on, it is exceedingly rough. If a rigid carriage be drawn
over any of these surfaces, the irregularities which affect the path of
the wheels will be communicated through them to the body, to which
they will impart a jolting or vibratory motion. In a four-wheeled
carriage the movement of the body will be influenced by the discor-
liable, owing to the imperfections of the road, to have the whole of its
dant motions of the fore and hind wheels; and it will be continually
weight thrown upon three wheels, whereby the framework will be
exposed to injurious strains. To enable it to sustain such strains, the
framework must be made very strong and heavy; and the destructive
and painful effect of increasing the velocity of inelastic carriages would
alone have been sufficient to limit the speed of vehicles.
adopted in light carts, of suspending the seat from the sides of the
One of the simplest means of alleviating concussion is that often
body by leather straps. Next to this is the use of straps to suspend
the body itself, an expedient which seems to have been occasionally
resorted to from an early period. With very few exceptions, it
appears that slung or suspended carriages were not used until the 17th
}
735
SPRING CARRIAGE.
century. In the early carriages of this kind the straps were usually
attached to a framework of wood at each end of the vehicle, rising to a
considerable height above the axles. The antique four-wheeled
carriages of Europe used for state purposes are mostly constructed on
this plan; and their great weight and slow movement prevent any
violent concussion. A serious disadvantage of this construction is the
great length of carriage that it renders necessary, and the cumbrous
character of the wooden framework which supports the braces. The
carriage must also be heavily loaded, in order to make the motion
tolerably comfortable, especially when the straps are suspended from
points not much higher than the bottom of the body. To remedy the
defects of the primitive slung carriage, it was desirable to render the
pillars from which the straps were suspended somewhat elastic. This
could not be readily effected with wood, because the pillars were
necessarily short, and therefore stiff. Hence arose the use of elastic
steel supports, which have gradually assumed the form now well known
as C-springs.
Straight springs of steel probably owe their origin to the straight
wooden springs occasionally used in light vehicles in this and other
countries. Used either singly or in combination, they afford sufficient
elasticity for many purposes, without raising the body to an incon-
venient degree, or interfering with its form; since they may be placed
entirely beneath it, and require but little room for their play. Ellip-
tical springs have, in some degree, the same advantages; but they
require rather more depth than straight springs.
Carriage-springs are usually formed of several thin plates of steel, of
various lengths, so laid and fastened together that the spring shall be
thick in the centre, or at the end by which it is fixed, and thin, or
consisting of only a single plate, at the end or ends where the greatest
play is required. The steel used is of coarse quality, and has little
carbon in its composition. It is fashioned by rolling-machinery to the
transverse dimensions required, which vary from one inch and a half
to three inches in width, by one-eighth of an inch to half an inch in
thickness. The plate forming the back of the spring is usually
thicker than the rest, on account of its being the longest, and having
its ends formed into bolt-eyes, to receive the bolts by which the body
is connected with it. With this exception, it is not usual to make any
difference in thickness in the several plates of a spring, notwithstanding
their different lengths. After the plates have been wrought into the
form required, they are hardened by heating in a hollow fire, and then
plunging into water. They are subsequently tempered by drawing
them again through the fire, until they become so hot that a stick
rubbed over the surface will be kindled to a blaze. Any accidental
warping acquired in these processes is removed by hammering, the
plates being slightly warm during the operation, to avoid the risk of
breakage. They are then finished by filing all the parts that will be
exposed to view when the spring is complete; and are finally put
together and secured by a square hoop of iron, which is shrunk on hot,
and by a rivet passing through the hoop and through all the plates.
Coach-makers apply distinct names to a great many varieties of
springs; but those which are most generally used may be briefly
enumerated. The straight spring, if single, is the single-elbow spring.
The double-elbow spring is a straight spring, acting on both sides of the
fixed point. It is a kind of spring very extensively used in stage-
coaches, omnibuses, and light two-wheeled vehicles. Elliptic springs
are used single in some carriages, between the axle and the frame-
work; the spring resting on the axle, and being connected with the
carriage by means of a curved bar of iron, called a dumb-iron, placed
over it like another spring. The spring is then called an under-spring.
Elliptic springs are often used in pairs, under the name of nut-cracker
springs, the two springs being hinged together at each end, so as to
form a long pointed ellipsis. In this way elliptical springs are much
used in such four-wheeled carriages as have no perches. C-springs
consist of two-thirds of a circle, lengthened out into a tangent; the
tangent being laid horizontally, and bolted down to the framework of
the carriage. When these springs are used, the body is not, as in
most other cases, connected immediately with the springs, but is
suspended by leather straps, which pass round the back of the springs,
and are fastened to the framework near to their base. Telegraph
springs are combinations of straight springs in sets of four. Two are
placed longitudinally, resting either immediately upon the axles, or
upon the lower framework of the carriage; and two others, placed
transversely, are suspended from their ends by shackles. The body is
supported upon the centres of these transverse springs. Tilbury-
springs are another combination of straight springs. Two single-elbow
springs are attached to the hinder part of the body, and suspended by
leather braces from a transverse spring elevated on an iron standard at
the back of the framework. The front of the body is suspended from
the shafts by two single-elbow springs with short leather braces; and
sometimes a pair of double-elbow springs are interposed between the
shafts and the axle. Dennet-springs are a combination of three straight
springs, two of them placed across the axle, and attached at their fore
ends to the shafts or the framing of the body, and the third placed
transversely, suspended by shackles from their hinder extremities, and
fastened to the body at its centre. The bodies of private cabriolets
are usually hung upon C-springs, with small curved springs in front,
and double-elbow springs frequently added between the shafts and the
axle. The combination of springs used in under-spring carriages is the
SPRINGS.
736
most effective which has yet been discovered for producing the
minimum of concussion or motion to the passengers. The body of
such a vehicle is suspended by braces from C-springs; and the frame-
work of the carriage to which the C-springs are fastened, is supported
upon under-springs, which intercept concussion from the unevenness
of the road.
Of these various springs, none but the C-springs with leather braces
allow universal motion to any important extent. In some carriages
loops of leather or caoutchouc have been used, instead of iron shackles,
for connecting straight springs, by which means the motion is rendered
pleasanter, and the rattling noise of the shackles is avoided. Another
defect of ordinary springs is their want of adjustibility to the weight
they have to carry. They must, of course, be made strong enough to
sustain the maximum weight they are intended to bear; but, by being
so, they become too stiff to play easily under a light load. To meet
the deficiencies of the springs in common use, Mr. Bridges Adams con-
trived one on the principle of the bow, which will yield in any direction,
and may be made capable of adjustment, by means of screws, to a light
or heavy load. This spring consists of a single plate of well-tempered
steel, forced into a curved form by the tension of a chord of prepared
hempen rope, or of a riband of iron or steel, and to which the axle is
attached. There are two bow-springs, ab and c d, connected with each
other and with the same axle. These are jointed together at bc, and
b c
ƒ

d
attached to the body, of which the lower framing is shown at ff, by
movable joints at a and d, which allow the springs to lengthen and
shorten in playing. The chord of each bow is in two parts of unequal
length, each of which is connected at one end with the bow, and at
the other with the axle at e; so that the chord of the bow, ab, takes
the direction a eb, and that of the bow, cd, the direction ced. Among
the advantages claimed for them are their lightness and extreme
elasticity, arising from the superior quality of the steel, and the
absence of the friction which attends the action of the common
laminated springs.
All the springs that have been alluded to in this article are bearing-
springs, for supporting the weight of the body of the carriage, and of
the load which it conveys. In ordinary carriages no other springs are
used; but in those employed upon railways, springs are also used to
impart elasticity in the direction of the line of draught, so as to render
the starting and stopping of the carriages gradual and
easy.
SPRINGS. Rain and snow fall in quantities so unequal in different
districts, and on soils which exercise upon them such various influ-
ences, that the phenomena of springs, which are primarily dependent
on the penetration to some depth in the earth of water which was
absorbed at the surface, are extremely complicated and curious. It is
very interesting to geologists to classify and determine the causes of
these phenomena, and very important in agriculture and the arts to
acquire a power of directing the water currents in and below the soil
and strata. The art of draining consists essentially in giving to the
diffused and injurious springiness of particular soils and situations a
concentrated, perhaps beneficial, current; while artesian wells relieve
the hydrostatic pressure prevalent at great depths, and yield copious
streams in dry lands and deserts.
As a general rule, springs are permanent in proportion to the
depth to which the water which supplies them has descended from
the surface; they are perennial and almost invariably constant in
temperature and volume, whether hot or cold, copious or full, in
situations where, from the arrangement of the mineral masses of the
globe, deep subterranean channels exist for the reception of rain, and
particular impediments direct and contract the passages of reflux to
the surface. Such cases are common in stratified countries where
jointed limestones or sandstones receive water at elevated points on the
surface, and conduct it downwards below strata of clay, which are only
pervious at a few points, and there permit natural discharges at lower
levels than the recipient surfaces. Frequently these argillaceous strata
are so nearly impervious, that artificial perforations relieve the pressure
of the subterranean columns of water better than the few natural
points of efflux, and thus pits and levels excavated for mines may drain
springs at some distance.
On the contrary, in a country which contains narrow and frequently
mixed masses of clay and gravel, or clay and sand, which cover the
solid rocks, concentrated springs are almost absent, but there is a
prevalent humidity and diffused springiness along the limit of the
gravelly or sandy tracts. After a continuance of dry weather such
springs and wetness disappear, to be renewed after the next fall of
rain.
The particular points at the surface where springs, or "wells," as
they are often called in the districts where somewhat of the Saxon
elements of our language remains (quelle, in German, signifying not
what is commonly understood by the English word "well," and the
737
738
SPRINGS, MINERAL.
SQUARE.
French "puit," but a spring), are determined in general by one of
three things:-
1. They occur at the point of lowest level, on the edge of the
impervious clay which dams up the water. This happens in the
cretaceous and oolitic districts of England.
2. They are often dependent on the lines of great joints, or fissures
of the rocks, produced in the course of the consolidation and shrinking
of the mineral masses. Large springs are thus poured out of the
mountain-limestone of England.
3. The waters are directed to the surface by lines of fault, which are
often quite impervious to water, and traverse the rocks in vertical or
inclined planes. The hot springs of England and Wales are mostly
thus circumstanced.
In general, then, the water which issues from the earth in one
copious spring has been received by minute absorption on a large
surface: as the living tissue of a sponge receives water by absorption
through the numerous pores, collects it internally in a few channels,
and rejects it by a very limited number of orifices, or as the capillaries
collect blood for the veins, and these supply the heart, so the porous
texture and channelled structures of rocks permit that continual
circulation of water below the earth's surface, on which, in a great
degree, its habitable character depends.
Between perennial or constant springs, and those which are merely
dependent on the last shower of rain, the gradations are insensible,
and the explanation is entirely obvious upon the general principles
stated. One of the most interesting cases of this intermediate series, is
that of the "intermitting" springs. It is a common circumstance on
the chalk downs of the South of England (Wiltshire, Dorsetshire) for
the valleys to be quite dry in one part of the year (autumn or winter),
and very fully watered in another (spring, summer); the springs
bursting higher up the valley in some years than in others, according
to the quantity of rain which fell in some previous season (as the
autumn), and the rate of its transmission through the jointed and
absorbent chalk.
Another peculiarity of springs flowing out of cavernous limestone
rocks is marked by a variable discharge; the springs now gush with
vehemence, now subside, shrink away, and disappear. These ebbing
and flowing wells are noticed in many districts, as near Dynevor in
Caermarthenshire, at Tideswell in Derbyshire, and near Settle in
Yorkshire. The explanation most generally received supposes the
water to fill cavities underground, from which the discharging channels
are siphon-formed, so that at a particular moment the full cavity
begins to be discharged and finally runs out, and the current then
ceases till the space be again filled to the vertex of the siphon-formed
arch.
In thus descending downwards and rising upwards through various
mineral masses, springs become impregnated with gaseous, saline,
earthy, or metallic admixtures-as carbonic acid gas, sulphuretted
hydrogen gas, nitrogen, muriate of soda, sulphate of lime, carbonate of
lime, silica, carbonate of iron, &c. [ARTESIAN WELL; WATERS,
MINERAL.]
SPRINGS, MINERAL. [WATERS, MINERAL.]
SPY. In the discussion of this and many other questions of inter-
national law the terms Right, Law, Lawful, and others of the same
class, must be understood in a different sense from their proper
technical meaning. What writers on international law speak of as a
Right is very often merely what appears fair, reasonable, or expedient
to be done, or to be permitted. It is this reasonableness or expediency
alone which is the foundation of those various usages which are recog-
nised by independent civilised nations in their intercourse among one
another, and constitute what is called the Law of Nations. Thus a
person or a power is said to have a right according to the Law of
Nations, which means that the usage of civilised nations permits the
act, and this is the least objectionable sense in which the word Right
is used.
No doubt, we believe, has ever been intimated by any writer of
authority on International Law, as to the right of nations at war with
each other to avail themselves of the service of spies, or secret
emissaries, in carrying on their hostile operations: and still more
expressly is the general right of employing spies conceded to every
conductor of military operations; but it is equally admitted that spies
when caught by the enemy may be hung, and such is their usual fate.
Vattel says,
"A man of honour always declines, serving as a spy, as
well from his reluctance to expose himself to this chance of an
ignominious death, as because, moreover, the office cannot be performed
without some degree of treachery." In ordinary cases, he adds, "the
general must be left to procure spies in the best way he can, by
tempting mercenary souls by rewards."
The employment of spies is conceived to be subject to certain
limitations in respect to the manner of it and the object attempted to
be gained by it. "We may lawfully endeavour," says Vattel, "to
weaken the enemy by all possible means, provided they do not affect
the common safety of human society, as do poison and assassination."
Accordingly the proper business of a spy is merely to obtain intelli-
gence, and such secret emissaries must not be employed to take the
lives of any of the enemy, although that, done in another way, is
commonly the main immediate object of the war. Yet it might be
somewhat difficult to establish a clear distinction between what would
ARTS AND SCL DIV. VOL. VII.
be called an act of assassination by a spy, and many of those surprises
of an enemy which, so far from being condemned or deemed dis-
honourable to the actors, have usually been admired. A distinction
however has been taken; and it has been maintained that an officer or
soldier cannot be treated as a spy if he had his uniform on when
apprehended. See Martens 'Précis du Droit des Gens Modernes de
l'Europe' (traduit de l'Allemand), Paris, 1831, liv. viii., ch. iv., § 274;
where references are made to Bruckner, 'De Explorationibus et
Exploratoribus,' Jen., 1700; to Hannov., 'Gel. Anzeigen,' 1751, pp.
383 et seq.; and, in regard to the celebrated case of André in the
American war, to Martens, Erzählungen merkwürdiger Fälle,' i. 303;
and to Kamptz, Beyträge zum Staats und Völkerrecht,' tom. 1., No. 3.
A question closely connected with the so-called lawfulness of
employing spies, and indeed forming in one view a part of that question,
is that of the lawfulness of soliciting the enemy's subjects to act as
spies, or to betray him. Such measures, says Vattel, are practised in
all wars, but they are not honourable nor compatible with the laws of
a pure conscience. "If such practices," he concludes, “are at all
excusable, it can be only in a very just war, and when the immediate
object is to save our country when threatened with ruin by a lawless
conqueror. On such an occasion (as it should seem) the guilt of the
subject or general who should betray his sovereign when engaged in an
evidently unjust cause would not be of so very odious a nature." But
who ever heard of a war that was not thought by those engaged in it
to be a just war on their own side and an unjust war on the part of
their adversaries? So that this distinction settles nothing. It is held,
however, to be perfectly allowable in every point of view merely to
accept the offers of a traitor.
The proper question as to the so-called law of nations with regard to
spies, is what practices are sanctioned by the general usage of indepen-
dent civilised nations. Such practices as are now permitted by such
usage constitute a part of this so-called international law. Those
practices which are not generally permitted or acknowledged are not
yet a part of such law. Persons who have occasion to write or think
on this subject will find that much of the indistinctness and confusion
observable in the treatises on the law of nations will be removed if
they will first form for themselves a clear conception of the proper
meaning of the word Law, and of the improper meanings which it has
also acquired; and they will thus be enabled to give the necessary
precision to those terms which are used so vaguely by writers on
international law. [LAW; RIGHT.]
SQUADRON is supposed to be derived from "squadra" (Italian),
which is itself corrupted from the Latin word "quadratum;" acies
quadrata denoted a body of men drawn up in a square form. The
term "escadron" occurs in Froissart's Chronicles,' and probably it
was very early used in the French armies to designate a body of
cavalry. It is generally used to designate a part of a fleet, or even of
an army. Milton speaks of squadron'd' angels. Technically, however,
it means the principal division of a regiment of cavalry, which is
divided into two troops, each of which is commanded by its captain,
who has under him a lieutenant and a cornet.
The strength of an army, with respect to cavalry, is usually ex-
pressed by the number of squadrons in the field, as it is with respect
to infantry by the number of battalions.
For the manner in which a regiment of cavalry is encamped, see
ENCAMPMENT.
SQUARE. We believe that the old English meaning of this word
had reference only to the corners of a figure, or at most to right-angled
corners. The old word for any oblong, or rectangle, is a four-square
figure; the carpenter's rule for drawing a right angle is called a
T-square to this day. The French word équerre (anciently esquerre,
originally derived, like the Italian squadra, from `quadratum) is the
immediate origin; and this (in French) means also an instrument for
drawing a right angle. In Recorde's
drawing a right angle. In Recorde's 'Ground of Arts,' the earliest
English geometry extant, he calls what is now a square by the name of
square quadrate (square, right-angled, quadrate, four-sided figure); and
it is not until he is considerably advanced in his work that he seems to
find out that he may drop the second word and retain the first only.
There was still an incorrectness, for a square figure should have meant
one having all its angles right angles; that is, what we now call a rect-
angle, whether its sides were equal or not. To complete the proof of
connection between the square and the right-angled corner, we may
mention that before now a right-angled triangle has been called a
square. In or about 1613, Thomas Bedwell published a work, of which
the title was 'Trigonum Architectonicum, the Carpenter's Squire.'
In geometry, a square means a four-sided plane figure with all its
sides equal, and all its angles right angles. In algebra, it signifies the
number produced by multiplying a number by itself. The reason of
the double meaning is obvious enough. [RECTANGLE.] A square of
7 units long contains 7x7 square units; so that the operation 7 × 7
is the arithmetic of finding the content of a square of 7 units in
length and breadth. We have spoken, in the article just cited, of the
confusion which is caused by this double use of the word square; and
proposed to correct it by speaking of the square on a line in geometry,
and the square of a number in algebra. It has been the fashion of late
years to publish what are called symbolical editions of Euclid, in which
A B is made to stand for the square on the line AB, because a stands
for the square of the number a. The learner who uses this species of
3 B
1
739
SQUARE ROOT.
symbol will not, without great care, avoid false reasoning in making
the connection between geometry and algebra.
A square is divided by its diagonal into two isosceles right-angled
triangles its diagonals are equal, and bisect each other at right angles.
The easiest way of drawing a square is to describe two circles on the
side a B, and bisecting AC in D, to make CE and CF equal to A D; the
figure A EFB is then a square.
Of all similar figures, squares are those to the areas of which
reasoning is most easily applied. If three similar figures be described
E
F
SQUARE ROOT.
740
too small, we go on adding 100-to the square root, until no more hun-
dreds can be added; all the while forming the squares by the rule,
each square from the preceding. We then begin to add tens, forming
the squares also, until the addition of one more ten would bring the
square past 104713; we then add units, until either the square is
exactly 104713,
exactly 104713, or the nearest to it. Or, instead of continual
additions, we might subtract every number, as we get it, from 104713
until no more subtractions can be made. Both modes are exhibited in
the following:
104713
A
D
C
B
On the sides of a right-angled triangle, the sum of those on the sides is
equal to that on the hypothenuse. This proposition is learned with
reference to squares [HYPOTHENUSE] long before it can be proved with
reference to similar figures in general: the consequence is, that the
general proposition is almost overlooked by the previous occurrence of
the particular case. We have noted in the article just cited the Hindu
proof of this celebrated case; the simplest properties of the square
may be made to give a more easy proof, founded on the same prin-
ciple; it being remembered that the first four propositions of the
second book of Euclid do not require the last two of the first book.
The proof is as follows:-Let AB, BC, be the sides of a right-angled
triangle, and on their sum describe a square; make C E, F H, KL, each
equal to A B. It is easily proved that LBEH is the square on the
hypothenuse of the triangle; and it is made by subtracting four times
the triangle from the whole square ▲ F. But if four times the triangle
L
A
K
H
B
I
M
G
I
F
1002 10000
100 (2 × 100 + 100) = 30000
10000

2002
100 (2 × 200 + 100) =
40000
94713 a
50000
30000
3002
90000
64713 b
10 (2 × 300 + 10):
6100
50000
3102=
96100
14713 c
10 (2 × 310 + 10):
3202
1 (2 × 320 +1)
6300
i
102400
641
3212
103041
643
16100
8613 d
6300
2313 €
641
/ 1672 ƒ
643
= 104329
1029 g
647
645
104976
384 h
1 (2 × 321 + 1
3222 = 103684
645
1 (2 x 322 + 1)
3232
1 (2 × 323 + 1)
3242 =
In the first column we feel our way, so to speak, by hundreds, by
tens, and by units, up to the result that 3232 is too small, and 3242
too great; so that we see that 104713 has no square root. In the
second column we go down from 104713, and subtracting the squares
already formed in the first columu, we come to the result that 104713
is 384 more than 3232, but less than 3242. The results of the second
column are

94713
104713 – 1002-
64713 104713200º
14713 = 104713
8613104713
3002
3103
2313104713 — 3202
1672 104713-3212
1029104713 — 3222
384 = 104713 3232
The best method of making the trials depends upon the following
circumstances :---
1. A square number followed by an even number of ciphers, such as
16000000, is also a square number.
2. If b (2 a + b) is to be found as near as possible to R, and if 2a be
bx 2a=R, or br÷2a.
be subtracted by taking away the rectangles AM and GD, we have (Euc., considerable compared with b, the value of b is near to that given by
ii. 4) the sum of the squares on the sides, which is therefore the same
as the square on the diagonal.
SQUARE ROOT, the name given to a number with reference to its
square. Thus, 49 being the square of 7,7 is the square root of 49.
When an integer has no integer square root, it has no square root at
all in finite terms: thus 2 has no square root. But since 1·4142136
But since 1.4142136
multiplied by itself gives very nearly 2, or has a square very near to 2,
it is customary to say that 1-4142136 is very nearly the square root of
2: more properly, the square root of something very near 2.
The extraction of the square root came into Europe with the Indian
arithmetic, the method followed by Theon and other Greeks (which
was substantially the same) having been forgotten. The earliest
extensive treatise on the subject is that of P. A. Cataldi (Bologna,
1613), though the books of algebra and arithmetic had then been long in
the habit of giving the rule. The process presently given for finding
the square root of a number in a continued fraction was first given (in
a less easy rule) by the same Cataldi, who was thus the first who used
continued fractions. This fact was pointed out by M. Libri, before
which Lord Brounker was generally considered as the first who used.
continued fractions.
The rule for the extraction of the square root is a tentative inverse
process very much resembling division, and is contained under the
general rule given in INVOLUTION AND EVOLUTION.
The peculiar
simplicity of this case, however, allows of a condensation of form, and
makes the demonstration easy. The general rule just alluded to might
be demonstrated on the same principle.
In order to turn the square of a into the square of a+b, we must
add to the former 2 a b + b², or (2 a+b) b. This follows from
ab+b²,
(a + b)² = a²+2ab+b².
An example will now show how the square root is extracted; first
roughly, afterwards more skilfully in the choice of trials. Let the
number be 104713. The square of 100 being 10000, which is much
Taking the number 104713, and parting it into periods of two num-
bers each, we have 10, 47, 13, and 9,00,00 is the highest square
in it. Choose 300 for the first part of the root, and we have 14713 for
belonging to a simple unit followed by ciphers, which can be contained
the remainder. If b be the number of tens in the root, we have to make
106 (2 x 300 +106) as near as we can to 14713, or 106 not being much
compared with 600, we must try 106 x 600=14713, or b=14713÷6000,
whence 2 is the highest (perhaps too high, but that will be seen by
from 14713, gives 2313. The part of the root now obtained is 320,
the remainder). If b=2, 106 (600+106) is 12400, which, subtracted
and if c be the number of units, c (2 x 329 + c) must be made equal, or
and cx 640-2313 shows that c=3 at most, giving 3 x 643, or 1929,
as near as can be, to 2313. Now c is very small compared with 640,
to be subtracted from 2313, which leaves 384. The process may be
written thus:-
600
A
104713 (300 + 20 + 3
90000
14713
20 12400
640
3
)
)
2313
1929
384
which, omitting superfluous ciphers, is the one commonly used. We
do not intend to dwell on the common process, which is in all the
books, but confine ourselves to the explanation, which is frequently
omitted.
We now take a longer instance, at full length, followed by a state-
ment of its results:—
741
742
SQUARE ROOT.
SQUARE ROOT.
290225296( 10000
100000000 7000
20000 190225296
7000/189000000
34000\ 1225296
000) 1020900
30
34060 204396
34060)
60)
204396
30
6
When R is the remainder, and a the part of the root found, the
remaining part of the root is the continued fraction [FRACTIONS,
CONTINUED.]
R
R
R
R
2a + 2a + 2a + 2a + &c.
But this is not a continued fraction of the most useful form, except
when R=1. To reduce the remainder of a square root to a continued
fraction in which all the numerators are units, proceed as follows (the
process comes first and is followed by the explanation) :-
To extract the square root of 21—
4 1 3 3 1 4 4 1
0
The following are the successive conclusions:-
290225296-100002 190225296
290225296-170002:
290225296170302-
290225296-170362 =
=
1225296
204396
0
whence the given number is the square of 17036.
The rationale of the approximate extraction is as follows :-Suppose
we wish to find, to four places of decimals, the square root of 1.74;
that is, to find a fraction a, such that a² shall be less than 1.74, but
that (a+·0001)2 shall be greater than 1:74. Give this fraction the
denominator 1,00,00,00,00, which requires that its numerator shall be
1,74,00,00,00. This numerator is found, by the integer rule, to lie
between 131902 and 131913, or 173976100 and 174002481. We have,
then,-
(1.3190)²=1.73976100
(1.3191) = 1.74002481
which satisfy the conditions.
The common process of contraction, explained in books of arithmetic,
has the following rule :-When the number of places in the divisor
has so much increased as to exceed by 2 or more the number of places
yet remaining to be found, instead of proceeding with the complete
operation, leave the remainder unaugmented by any new period, strike
one figure off the divisor, and proceed as in contracted division. If
R be the remainder, a the part of the root found, b that remaining to
be found, we have b (2a+b)=R. If a be very large compared with 6,
2ab=R nearly, or b=R÷÷2a nearly; now 2a is the divisor in the rule.
The fact is that b must lie between
R
and
2a
R
2α +
R
2α
Processes of this sort are often best shown, as to mere operation, by
an instance in which the numerical computation gives no trouble.
The following is a complete instance of the rule, exhibited in finding
the square root of 4444 444444, &c. :—
4444·444444, &c. (66·666666666667
36
126)844
756-
1326)8844
7956
13326)88844
79956
133326)888844
799956
1
5 4
3 4 5
1
5
4
1
1
2 1 1 8
1
Let the number be N, the integer part of its root a, and write under
Proceed to form the second,
one another in the first column, a, 1, a.
third, &c., columns, each from the preceding, in the following way :—
If p, q, r, be in one column (found), and p', q'r' in the next (to be
found), then-
N-p
q
1. q' is
and is always integer.
2. 7' is the integer part of ª +2.
3. p' is q'r' — p.
a P
q
Thus, for the second column we have (21-16)÷1, or 5, for the second
row; the integer of (4+4)÷5, or 1, for the third row; and 1 × 5—4,
or 1, for the first row. In the third column we have (21-1)÷5, or 4,
for the second row; the integer of (4+1)÷4, or 1, for the third row;
and 1 × 4—1, or 3, for the first row. In the fourth column we have
(21—9)÷÷4, or 3, for the second row; the integer of (4+3)÷3, or 2, for
the third row; and 2x 3-3, or 3, for the first row, and so on. This
process must, after a time, begin to repeat itself; as soon as this
happens, the last row shows the integer of the square root, and th
succession of denominators of the continued fraction, which must be
repeated as often as is necessary to give the required degree of accuracy.
Thus,
√/21 = 4 +
4+
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
&c.
1+ + 1 + 2 + 1 + 1 + 8 + 1 + 1 + 2 + 1 + 1 +
If we proceed with the continued fraction as in the article cited, we
have for the successive approximations to its value—
and 4
769
1320
1 1 3 4 7 60 67 127 321 448 769
1 2 7 12 103 115 218 551 769 1320'
&c. :
only differs from √21 in the 8th decimal place. The use
of this method is, not to extract the square root of any number which
accidentally occurs, but to find convenient approximations, if possible,
for square roots which frequently occur, and as to which it is therefore
worth examination whether there may not be some common fraction
which will serve the purpose as well as a decimal of considerable accu-
racy. For instance, we take √2 and √3, which represent the diagonals
of a square and a cube having a unit for their sides. The processes
are as follows:-
1
1
1, &c.
•1
1 1 1 1, &c.
1
1 1, &c.
1
2 1 2 1, &c.
2 2, &c.
1 2 1 2, &c.
1
1 1
1 1
1
1
√√/2 = 1 +
&c.
1333326)8888844
7999956
13333326)88888844
79999956
13,3,3,3,3,3,2)8888888
7999999
2 + 2 + 2 + &c. √3=1+
1 + 2 + 1+ 2+
The successive approximations to the fractions are-
1 2 5 12 29 70 169 408
2 5 12 29 70 169 408 985'
&c.
888889
800000
88889
80000
8889
8000
889
800
89
80
9
The given number is, in fact, 4444, which is the square of 663.
1 2 3 8 11 30 41 112 153 418 571
1 3 4 11 15 41 56 153 209 571 780'
&c.
Thus we immediately see a convenient mode of finding the diagonal
of a square, derived from
29 99
100
1
√/2 = 1 + 70 70
70, nearly,
the excess of which above the truth is less than the 11830th part of
the side. Thus, to find the diagonal of a square of 769-23 feet, we
have
76923
769.23
70)76153.77
1087·911
which is too great by only about 6-hundredths of a foot.
743
SQUINTING.
The rule for extracting the square root of an algebraical quantity is
very little needed, but is a remarkably good exercise in the operations
of algebra. Arranging the square in powers of some one letter, the
rule is identical with that for the square root of numbers in every
point but this, that the new term is always found by dividing the first
term of the remainder by the first term of the divisor. A couple of
examples will suffice. Let it be required to find the square root of
1+2x+3x² + 4 xx³ +
•
1 + 2x + 3x² + 42³ + ....
1
2+x) 2x + 3x²+
2x + x²
(1 + x + x²+x³3 +
2+2x+x²)2x² + 4x³ + 5x¹+
2x² + 2x²+x+
4-
2+2x+2x² + x³) 2x³ + 4x¹ + 6x5 +7x6
2x³ + 2x² + 2x + x6
2x4+4x+6x+6
Again, to find the square root of 1+x:
х
23
5x4
1 + x(1 +
+
+
16
128
1
2+
X
x +
2+x
00180
2+x
4
2
001 200
4
2
203
21
---
8
64
x²
X4
16 8
64
203
24
+
8
16
64
+
256
5.*
20-5
хо
+
64
64
256
SQUINTING (Strabismus). It is a condition essential to correct
vision that the axes of both eyes correspond in direction, and be
turned simultaneously towards the object we regard. Now to ensure
the fulfilment of this condition, the orbital muscles (motores oculorum)
are so supplied with nervous influence, that we cannot will the move-
ment of one eye without the other being called into involuntary and
harmonious action. There are some individuals, however, whose optic
axes are not parallel, and whose eyes do not move in harmony with
each other; such persons are said to squint, or to be affected with
strabismus. Squinting may take place either upwards, downwards,
inwards, or outwards, or in the intermediate directions; it may also be
confined to one eye; or may affect both. As the inward and outward
varieties of squint are by far the most common, we shall devote the
following remarks to them alone.
Inward Squint, or, Strabismus convergens, is met with in three distinct
forms: 1, single convergent strabismus; 2, double convergent strabis-
mus; and 3, alternating strabismus. In the first form of the affection
one eye is habitually turned more or less inwards towards the inner
angle of the orbit, whilst the other maintains its natural position,
and is capable of being directed to any object that the individual
wishes.
On closing the sound eye, the inverted one then becomes straight,
and can be turned in every direction nearly to the same extent as the
other; but as soon as it is again opened, the one affected with stra-
bismus revolves inwards, and there remains; or if it do move along
with the good eye, yet never so as to permit the two axes to be pointed
at the same object. Double convergent strabismus differs from the
preceding in its affecting both eyes; the axis of each eye is inclined
unnaturally inwards, as if the person were regarding some object
placed close to his face. On directing his attention to distant objects,
the eyes do not become parallel, but the one least affected (for one is
always more so than the other) becomes straight, whilst its fellow pre-
serves its former position, or is turned more strongly inwards. With
regard to the relative frequency of strabismus in one or in both
eyes, it is said to affect most frequently one eye only, and this
the left.
Alternating Strabismus differs from the ordinary form of squint, in
its affecting both eyes equally, though never both at a time. An in-
dividual thus affeded appears to use either eye indifferently; and the
change of inversion from one eye to the other is a voluntary act,
independent of the opening or closing of the eyelids.
Outward Squint, or Strabismus divergens.-Nearly all that has been
STABLE.
744
said in reference to convergent strabismus, may be applied, mutatis
mutandis, to divergent squint. In this form of the affection, one eye
is more or less everted, whilst the other is directed straight forwards;
the patient is likewise incapable of directing both eyes inwards simul-
taneously. These cases we believe to be most frequently of the
alternating kind; that is, the individual can employ either eye singly,
and bring it into the central axis, but then its fellow becomes everted.
It is a more rare affection than the former one, and the deformity
arising from it is seldom so obvious. Whether we regard strabismus
as affecting one eye or both, it is certain that the vision of the one
most distorted is nearly always imperfect, and usually in a direct ratio
with the degree of distortion. Now we know that if impressions on
the two retina are dissimilar in force, the mind disregards the weaker,
and takes cognizance only of the stronger; so that a person who
squints badly generally sees objects with the sound eye only. If the
sight of both eyes is equal or nearly so, double vision results when-
ever both are employed together, because the images of objects do not
fall on corresponding portions of the two retina [SIGHT, DEFECTS OF];
and as the defect of sight is generally in a direct ratio with the degree
of distortion, double vision is most frequently experienced in slight
cases of squint.
Causes. The inequality of power in the two eyes has been regarded
by many as a cause of strabismus; the defective eye, it is said, “in-
stead of being fixed on the object before it, is left to wander from the
true axis of vision." When, however, we consider how numerous are
the examples of unequal vision with the two eyes, yet unattended
with squint, and the great and immediate improvement of sight which
generally results from the operation for the removal of the defect, we
may fairly question the influence of this cause in the production of
strabismus. Among the remote causes which unquestionably con-
tribute to this effect, may be enumerated convulsions, teething, the
irritation arising from worms, ophthalmia, imitation, a habit of mis-
directing the eyes, as by frequently looking at a mole on the nose, &c.
The proximate cause resides in some affection of the muscles or nerves
of the eyeball; either the balance of power between the former is
lost, or the sympathy which exists naturally between the motor-oculi
nerves of the two eyes is impaired.
-
Treatment. This must depend upon whether the affection is of a
temporary or permanent nature; in the former case it will be found
to arise from some local irritation, and can be removed by suitable
therapeutic remedies; in the latter, an operation will generally be
required. Among the different other plans of treatment which occa-
sionally have proved successful, we may enumerate binding up the
sound eye; the employment of spectacles having glasses of different
power; blinders projecting in front of the temples, with a view of
attracting the eyes outwards; electricity, &c. The operation for the
cure of strabismus is said to have suggested itself first to Dr. Stromeyer,
from witnessing the success of tenotomy in contractions of the limbs.
Dr. Dieffenbach of Berlin, however, was the first who had the boldness
to carry it into practice on the living subject. The operation consists
in dividing the muscle by which the distortion is produced, and thus
allowing its antagonist to draw the eye again into the centre of the
orbit. Although most cases of strabismus may be either completely
cured or very much bettered by this operation, it is proper to remark
that in some, neither this nor any other plan of treatment is of any
avail. Provided, however, that the subjects to be operated on are
judiciously selected, and the surgeon qualified for the task, there is no
operation within the whole range of surgery which is more simple,
more free from danger, or more satisfactory in its results, than the one
in question.
STABLE AND UNSTABLE; STABILITY. A system is said to
be stable when a slight disturbance of its actual condition would not
produce a continually increasing effect, but one which finally ceases to
increase, diminishes, becomes an effect of a contrary character, and so
on, in an oscillatory manner. The ordinary vibration of a pendulum
is an instance; the oscillation takes place about a stable position of
equilibrium. We can give no instance of an unstable position; for by
definition, such a thing is a mathematical fiction. Any disturbance,
however slight, produces upon an unstable system an effect which con-
tinually increases: no unstable equilibrium therefore can exist a
moment, for no system made by human hands can be placed with
mathematical exactness in a given position. The pendulum has a
position of equilibrium exactly opposite to that about which it
can oscillate, but no nicety of adjustment will retain it in that
position: it may appear to rest for a moment, but will almost instantly
begin to fall.
The following curves or lines are all such that, supposing them to
be rigid matter, a molecule placed at a would rest :--
A
A
A
بیانیہ ہے شہرت
A
2
3
4
5
In the first, a displacement to the right or left would produce
nothing but oscillation, and the equilibrum is stable; in the second,
neither displacement would be followed by any tendency to restora-
1
745
746
STADE DUTIES.
STADIUM.
tion, and the equilibrium is unstable; in the third, displacement
would only be a removal to another position of rest, and the equili-
brium is called indifferent. In the fourth, displacement to the right
would be followed by restoration, but the velocity acquired in restora-
tion would carry the molecule to the left, on which side there is no
tendency to restoration: the equilibrium would then be permanently
disturbed, and practically unstable; though it might be convenient to
say that it is stable as to the disturbances to the right, and unstable as
to those to the left. In the fifth, the equilibrium at A is unstable,
but if a push, however slight, were given to the molecule, it would
obviously, by reason of the two contiguous stable positions, oscillate
about ▲, as if A were itself a stable position: and in the same
manner a stable position, with an unstable one near to it, might, for a
disturbance of sufficient magnitude, present the phenomena of an un-
stable position.
is at A.
Now, suppose that the point a, instead of being a single molecule,
is the centre of gravity of a system acted on by its own weight only;
and let the curve drawn be the path of the centre of gravity, which,
owing to the connection of the parts of the system with its supports,
that centre is obliged to take. The phenomena of the single point
still remain true there is in every case a position of equilibrium
when the system is placed in such a position that its centre of gravity
In (1) the equilibrum is stable; in (2), unstable; in (3),
indifferent; in (4), stable or unstable, according to the direction of
disturbance; in (5), unstable, with results like those of stability. It
is an error to state, as is frequently done, that there is no equilibrium
in such a system except when its centre of gravity is highest or
lowest; as is obvious from (3) and (4). The general proposition which
is true is this--that a system acted on by its own weight is in equili-
brium then, and then only, when its centre of gravity is placed at that
point of its path which has its tangent parallel to the horizon, or per-
pendicular to the direction of gravity.
When a system is supported on three or more points, it is well
known that there is no equilibrium unless the vertical passing
through the centre of gravity cuts the polygon formed by joining
these points. This must not be confounded, as is sometimes done,
with a case of distinction between stable and unstable equilibrium;
for it is a case of equilibrium or no equilibrium, according as the
central vertical cuts or does not cut the base of the figure. Of course
it is in the power of any one to say that stability means equilibration
and instability non-equilibration; but such is not the technical use of
these words in mechanics: stability and instability refer to equili-
brium, stable equilibrium being that which would only be converted
into oscillation by a disturbance, and unstable equilibrium that which
would not be so converted.
Neither must the effects of friction or other resistances be con-
founded with those of a stable or unstable disposition. A ladder rest-
ing against horizontal ground and a vertical wall is maintained by
friction; were it not for friction, there would not be rest in any posi-
tion; and as it is, the angle which the ladder makes with the ground
must not be too small. There is thus a set of positions, from the
vertical one to a certain inclination, depending on the amount of
friction, in all of which there is equilibrium; while in every other
position there is no equilibrium. In no case must the words stability
and instability be used in such manner as to confuse their popular
with their technical sense.
Under SOLAR SYSTEM is pointed out what is meant by the stability
of that system. When a system has a motion of a permanent charac-
ter, it is stable if a small disturbance only produce oscillations in that
motion, or make permanent alterations of too slight a character to
allow the subsequent mutual actions of the parts to destroy the per-
manent character of the motion. Suppose a material body, for
instance, to revolve about an axis passing through the centre of gravity
unacted on by any forces except the weight of its parts. If this
axis be one of the principal axes, the rotation on it is permanent, that
is, the axis of rotation will continue unaltered, even though that axis
be not fixed. The rotation however, though permanent, is not stable
about more than two out of the three principal axes. Let the first
rotation be established about the axis which has the greatest moment
of rotation, or the least, and if a slight displacement or disturbance be
given, which has the effect of producing a little alteration of the axis
of rotation, that alteration will not increase indefinitely, but will only
occasion a perpetual transmission of the rotation from axis to axis, all
the lines lying near to the principal axis first mentioned. But if that
axis be chosen about which the moment of inertia is neither greatest
nor least, any disturbance, however slight, will continually remove the
axis of rotation farther and farther from the first axis, near which it
will not return until it has made a circuit about one of the other two
principal axes.
For the mathematical part of this subject, so far as we give it, see
VIRTUAL VELOCITIES.
STADE DUTIES are so called from Stade, in the kingdom of
Hanover, a town situated on the right bank of the Schwinge, three or
four miles from where it falls into the Elbe, and 22 miles west by
north from the city of Hamburg. The name Brunshausen Tolls is now
more commonly used, from the village of Brunshausen, at the mouth
of the Schwinge, where there is a custom-house and a royal guard-ship,
and where the duties are collected which are levied on vessels and
merchandise passing up the Elbe. The original duties, which were
regulated by a treaty made in 1691, were light, but were gradually
increased by the Hanoverian government till they amounted to about
40,000l. a-year. The duties levied were about per cent. ad valorem,
more on some articles and less on others. British vessels by a procla-
mation of Geo. II., December 1, 1736, were allowed under certain
regulations to sail directly up to Hamburg, without coming to anchor
at the mouth of the Schwinge, as other foreign vessels were obliged
to do.
By a convention between the King of Hanover and the heads of the
other Elbe-bordering states (Emperor of Austria, King of Prussia,
King of Saxony, King of Denmark, Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin,
Duke of Anhalt-Coethen, Duke of Anhalt-Dessau, Duke of Anhalt-
Bernburg, Free and Hanseatic town of Lübeck, and Free and Hanseatic
town of Hamburg), dated April 13, 1844, in conformity with articles
108 and 116 of Act of Congress of Vienna, of June 9, 1815, the
Brunshausen Tolls were revised, regulated, and settled according to a
Toll-Tariff agreed upon by the contracting parties.
These rates, by a treaty with Great Britain in July, 1844, were to
continue in force till January 1, 1854. The treaty was then renewed,
temporarily, while the question of the abolition of the duties was
considered, as they were felt to be oppressive and unjust, nothing
being done to benefit the navigation in return for them. At length a
compensation of 3,000,000l. was offered, of which Hamburg, which
would derive the greatest benefit, was to pay one-third; Great Britain
1,125,2067., and all the other commercial states of Europe with the
United States of America the remainder, in proportion to their com-
merce. This has been agreed to, but the ratification has not yet been
completed.
STADIUM (δ στάδιος and τὸ στάδιον), the principal Greek measure of
length, was equal to 600 Greek or 625 Roman feet, that is, to 606 feet
9 inches English. The Roman mile contained 8 stadia. The Roman
writers often measure by stadia, chiefly in geographical and astro-
nomical measurements. (Herod., ii. 149; Plin., Hist. Nat.,' ii., 23 or
21; Columell., Re. Rust.,' v. 1; Strabo, vii., p. 497.)
The standard length of this measure was the distance between the
pillars at the two ends of the foot-race course at Olympia, which was
itself called stadium, from its length, and this standard prevailed
throughout Greece. Some writers have attempted to show that there
were other stadia in use in Greece besides the Olympic. The only
passages in which' anything of the kind seems to be stated are one
in Censorinus ('De Die Natali,' c. 13), which, as far as it can be
understood, evidently contains some mistake; and another which
is quoted by Aulus Gellius (i. 1) from Plutarch, but which
speaks of the race-courses called stadia, not of the stadium as a
measure.
The principal argument for a variety of stadia is that of Major
Rennell (Geog. of Herod,' s. 2); namely, that when ancient authors
have stated the distances between known places, and a comparison is
made between their statements and the actual distances, the distances
stated by them are invariably found to be too great, never too small.
Hence the conclusion is drawn that they used an itinerary stade shorter
than the Olympic. If so, it is strange that the very writers who have
left us these statements of distances have not said a word about
the itinerary stade which they are supposed to have used, while several
of them often speak of the Olympic stade as containing 600 Greek feet.
But there is a very simple explanation of the difficulty, which is giveu
by Ukert, in his Geographie der Griechen und Römer' (i., ii., p. 56,
&c.). The common Greek method of reckoning distances, both by sea
and land, was by computation, not by measurement. A journey or
voyage took a certain number of days, and this number was reduced
to stadia, by allowing a certain number of stadia to each day's journey.
The number of stadia so allowed was computed on the supposition that
circumstances were favourable to the traveller's progress; and there-
fore every impediment, such as wind, tide, currents, windings of the
coast, a heavily laden or badly sailing ship, or any deviation from the
shortest track by sea, and the corresponding hindrances by land, would
all tend to increase the number of days which the journey took, and
consequently the number of stadia which the distance was computed
to contain. These circumstances, together with the fact that the Greek
writers are by no means agreed as to the number of stadia contained
in a day's journey, and other sources of inaccuracy which we know to
have existed, furnish a satisfactory explanation of the discrepancies
which we find in their statements of distances, both when compared
with one another, and when compared with the actual fact, without
there being any occasion to resort to the supposition of a stade different
from the Olympic. Colonel Leake' On the Stade as a Linear Measure'
(Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of London,' vol. ix.,
1839), has also come to the conclusion "that the stade, as a linear
measure, had but one standard, namely, the length of the foot-race,
or interval between the apeтýpia and кaµπтp in all the stadia of
Greece, and which is very clearly defined as having contained 600
Greek feet."
When we come however to writers as late as the 3rd century of the
Christian era, we do find stadia of different lengths. Of these the
chief are those of 7 and 7 to the Roman mile. (Wurm, ' De Pond.,'
&c., § 58.)
The following table, from the Appendix to Hussey's 'Ancient
1
747
STADTHOLDER.
STAFF, MILITARY.
743
Weights and Money,' represents the supposed varieties of the Greek and regimental officers to whom is confided the care of providing the
stadium:-
Stade assigned to Aristotle's measurement of the
earth's surface
Mean geographical stade, computed by Major
Rennell
•
Olympic stade
Stade of 7 to the Roman mile
Stade of 7 to the Roman mile
•
Yds. Ft. Inch.
109 1 2.26992
168 1 6
9
202 0
215
2.4
2
231 0 5.124
2. The race-course for foot-races at Olympia was called stadium, as
above mentioned, and the same name was applied to all other such
courses.
The stadium consisted of a flat area, surrounded by raised seats, and
was made either in a spot which had by nature the required shape, or
in the side of a hill, or on a plain. In the last two cases the stadium
was constructed by forming a mound of earth of the proper shape, and
covering it with stone or marble for the seats. The second of these
three forms was the most common. Of the third we have a fine
example in the Panathenaic Stadium at Athens. The area of the
stadium was oblong, terminating at one end in a semicircle. At the
other end it was bounded by a wall, at the two extremities of which
were the entrances, one on each side of the stadium. Here was the
starting-place (άpeσis, ypaµµń, voπλng, or Baλßís), marked by a square
pillar in the middle of the breadth of the area. Another such pillar
was placed at the other end of the course, at the distance of a stadium
from the former, and at or near the centre of the semicircular end
of the area. This pillar marked the termination of the simple foot-race
[OLYMPIAN GAMES], but in the Diaulus the runners turned round it and
went back to the starting-place; in the Dolichus they turned round
both pillars several times, according to the number of stadia of which
the course consisted. The end of the course was called Tépua, Barnp,
TÉλоs, каµπтηр and vúoga. Halfway between these pillars stood a
third. On the pillar at the starting-place was inscribed the word
ȧploreve (excel); on the middle one, oneúde (hasten); on the one at the
goal, káμlov (turn). The semicircular end of the area (σpevdový) was
thus not used in the foot-race. Here probably the other gymnastic
contests took place; for though the stadium was originally intended
only for the foot-race, yet as the other contests came to be added to
the games, they also took place in the stadium, except the horse-races,
for which a separate course was set apart, shaped like the stadium, but
larger : this was called ἱππόδρομος.
Among the seats which surrounded the area, a conspicuous place,
opposite to the goal, was set apart for the three Hellanodicae, who
decided the contests, and who entered the stadium by a secret passage.
Opposite to them on the other side of the stadium, was an altar, on
which the priestesses of Demeter Chamyne sat to view the games.
The area was ornamented with several altars and statues.
The position of the stadium was sometimes, but not always, in con-
nection with the gymnasium.
Under the Romans many of the Grecian stadia were modified so as
to resemble the amphitheatre.
There still exist considerable ruins of stadia: among the most re-
markable of which are those at Delphi, Athens, Messene, Ephesus, and
Laodicea.
(Pausanias, ii. 27, 6; vi. 20, 5, 6; ix. 23, 1; Müller's Archäologie der
Kunst, sec. 290; Krause, Die Gymnastik und Agonistik der Hellenen,
i., p. 131, &c.)
STADTHOLDER (Statthalter in German, Stadhouder in Dutch)
means lieutenant or governor. The appellative Statthalter is used in
the cantons of German Switzerland, to denote the civil officer who is
next to the landamman or chief magistrate. In the federal republic
of the Seven United Provinces of the Netherlands, the stadhouder was
himself the first magistrate or president of the Union. When several
of the towns of Holland revolted against the tyranny of the Duke of
Alba, the lieutenant of King Philip of Spain, they chose for their
governor William, prince of Orange, swearing allegiance to him as the
king's stadhouder, thus implying that they had revolted against the
Duke of Alba and not against King Philip. But it was not until after
the death of William, in 1584, that the three united provinces of
Holland, Zealand, and Utrecht agreed to have one stadhouder in
common, and appointed to that office Maurice of Nassau, son of the
deceased William. (Puffendorf.) From that time the stadhoudership
continued in the house of Nassau till the death of William III. in
1702, when the male line of William I. becoming extinct, the office
remained vacant, and was considered as tacitly abolished. But in 1747,
after a struggle between the republican and the Orange parties, the
latter, having triumphed, proclaimed William IV., of a collateral branch
of the Nassau family, hereditary stadhouder of the Seven United
Provinces. His son William V. was expelled by the French in 1795,
and resigned the stadhoudership by treaty with France in 1802, since
which the office has not been revived, the republic of the Netherlands
having been transformed into a kingdom.
STAFF, in Music. The five parallel lines and the four spaces
between the lines, on which notes and other musical characters are
placed, are, collectively, called the Staff.
STAFF, MILITARY. In the British empire this consists, under the
sovereign and the general commanding-in-chief, of those general, field,
means of rendering the military force of the nation efficient, of main-
taining discipline in the army, and regulating the duties in every
branch of the service.
Besides the commander-in-chief, his military secretaries and aides.
de-camp, the general staff consists of the adjutant and quartermaster-
generals, with their respective deputies, assistants, and deputy-assis-
tants, a deputy, assistant, and deputy-assistant adjutant-general for the
royal artillery, and a deputy and assistant-adjutant-general for the
royal engineers; the director-general of the medical department, and
the chaplain-general of the forces. The staff of the ordnance depart-
ment consisted formerly of the master-general and lieutenant-general,
with their deputies and assistants: the inspector-general of fortifica-
tions, and the director-general of artillery, &c. The duties connected
with the Ordnance having been transferred to the War Department,
the office of master-general has been abolished, and the staff made a
part of the War Office. The head-quarters for the general staff are in
London. There are also, for the several military districts into which
Great Britain is divided, inspecting field-officers, assistant adjutants-
general, and majors of brigade, together with the officers attached to
the recruiting service. The head-quarters for Scotland are at Edin-
burgh. For Ireland, besides the lord-lieutenant and his aides-de-camp,
the chiefs of the staff consist of a deputy-adjutant and a deputy-
quartermaster-general, with their assistants. Their head-quarters are
at Dublin; and there are, besides, the several officers for the military
districts of that part of the empire. Lastly, in each of the colonies
there is a staff graduated in accordance with the general staff of the
army, and consisting of the general commanding, his aides-de-camp,
military secretaries, and majors of brigade, an inspecting field-officer, a
deputy-adjutant, and a deputy-quartermaster-general.
The adjutant-general of the army is charged with the duty of
recruiting, clothing, and arming the troops, superintending their
discipline, granting leave of absence, and discharging the men when
the period of their service is expired. To the quartermaster-general
is confided the duty of regulating the marches of the troops, providing
the supplies of provisions, and assigning the quarters, or places of
encampment.
All military commanders of territories or of bodies of troops in
Great Britain, Ireland, or in foreign stations, transmit periodically to
the adjutant-general of the army circumstantial accounts of the state
of the territory and of the troops which they command; and the
reports are regularly submitted to the general commanding-in-chief.
The staff of a regiment consists of the adjutant, quartermaster, pay-
master, chaplain, and surgeon.
The first establishment of a permanent military staff (état majeur,
as it was called) was made in France in 1783, about the conclusion of
the Revolutionary war between Great Britain and the United States
of America. The officers who held the highest rank in it were con-
sidered as assistant-quartermaster-generals, and their deputies as
captains. The first duties consisted in collecting the reports, the
orders, and instructions which had formerly passed between the
generals of the French armies and the minister of war, together with
the plans of the ground on which the most important actions had
taken place; and from these documents it was endeavoured to acquire
a knowledge of the causes of success or defeat as far as these depended
on the dispositions of the troops and the nature of the ground. The
persons who were allowed to enter the department of the état majeur,
were such as, to a knowledge of the general theory of military tactics,
added that of topographical surveying, and who were skilful in the art
of representing on a plan the features of ground so as to present to
the eye at once a view of its capabilities as a military position, and of
the facilities which it might afford for the march of troops with their
artillery and stores.
About the year 1800 the British government first formed a
particular school for the purpose of instructing officers in the art of
surveying ground in connection with that part of tactics which relates
to the choice of routes and of advantageous positions for troops.
These officers were independent of the master-general of the ordnance,
and served under the orders of the quartermaster-general or adjutant-
general; they were called staff-officers, and were selected from the
cavalry or infantry after having done duty with a regiment at least
four years. They were first employed in Egypt, where they rendered
considerable service; and the school was afterwards united to the
Royal Military College, which had been then recently instituted for the
instruction of cadets who were to serve in the cavalry or the infantry of
the line. At that institution a limited number of officers, under the
name of the senior department, continue to be instructed in the duties
of the staff, and in the sciences connected with the military art. All
officers are now obliged to pass an examination before they can be
employed on the staff of the army, and they may either enter the Staff
College at Sandhurst by a competitive examination, and remain there
for two years, or may qualify for the staff by passing the same
examination as is required of the officers at Sandhurst at the end of
their course of study.
During the war in Spain, from 1808 to 1813, the staff-officers were
constantly employed, previously to a march or a retreat, in surveying
the country at least one day's journey in front of the army. After the
death of the Duke of York, the staff corps ceased to be kept up, and
719
750
STAGE CARRIAGE.
STAGE CARRIAGE.
for several years it was reduced to a single company, which was
charged with the duty of repairing the military canal at Hythe. This
company was afterwards incorporated with the corps of sappers and
miners.
The duties of officers belonging to the quartermaster-general's staff,
though in certain respects similar, are different from those of the
military engineers; the latter are employed in the construction of
permanent fortifications, batteries, and field-works; while the former
survey ground in order to discover roads, or sites for military positions,
for fields of battle, or quarters for the troops. The education of a
staff-officer is such as may qualify him for appreciating the military
character of ground: for this purpose he learns to trace the directions
of roads and the courses of rivers or streams; and in mountainous
countries to distinguish the principal chains from their ramifications,
to examine the entrances of gorges, and to determine the heights of
eminences or the depths of ravines. He has, besides, to acquire a
facility in determining or estimating the resources of a district with
respect to the means it affords of supplying provisions or quarters for
the troops. [RECONNAISSANCE.]
The staff-officer ought also to know how to correct the illusions to
which the eye is subject in examining ground, from the different states
of the air, and the number and nature of the objects which may inter-
vene between himself and those whose positions are required. He
ought to be able to estimate the number of men whom a visible tract
of ground can contain, and to form a judgment concerning the
dispositions and stratagems which it may permit an army to put in
practice.
STAGE CARRIAGE. Although the law regards differently a stage
carriage and a hackney carriage, we may conveniently treat of both
here. The former group comprises stage coaches and omnibuses, for the
use of which passengers pay at the rate of so much per journey; the
latter group comprises hackney coaches and cabs, for which passengers
pay either at so much per mile or so much per quarter of an hour.
As to coaches generally, it needs simply to be observed here, that they
were introduced into England about 1570, and that a long time
elapsed before their use became customary among wealthy persons.
Hackney Carriages.-The derivation of the word Hackney, as
applied to a class of public conveyances, has occasioned much specula-
tion. The suburb of Hackney; the French Hacquenée and Haque,
both derived from the Latin, equus, a horse; and the Anglo-Saxon
equivalent for "neighing have been severally proposed as the
probable origin for the name. However this may be, it is sufficiently
evident that the term hackney was first applied to horses let for hire,
and then, by a very natural transition, extended to coaches, and
subsequently to sedan-chairs, employed in a similar way.
13
construction have been introduced, in which comfortable and safe
accommodation, with complete shelter from the weather and separation
from the driver, is provided for two, three, or four persons. The name
cab is still commonly applied to all hackney-carriages drawn by one
horse, whether on two or four wheels. During the first few years
of the employment of such carriages their number was restricted to
65, while the number of coach-licences was increased to 1200; but in
1832 all restriction as to the number of hackney carriages was
removed.
Since the year 1822 hackney carriage-drivers have been required to
deposit any articles which may be accidentally left in their vehicles
with the registrar of licences, to whom the owners of the lost property
may apply for its restoration. The property thus recovered has often
exceeded 10,000l. in a single year. To lessen the risk in reference to
one important department of hackney carriage business, the railway
companies which have termini in London enter into arrangements by
which a limited number of carriages, driven only by men of well
attested respectability, are allowed to stand within their stations, to
convey passengers to their respective destinations, under a system of
supervision so strict, that any case of misconduct or overcharge is
almost certain to be brought home to the guilty party.
The hackney carriages of the metropolis are now regulated as to
vehicles, drivers, and fares by the Act 16 & 17 Vict. c. 33, (1853). Every
owner of a stage-carriage must be licensed. On applying to the
Commissioners of Police for a licence, his vehicle is to be inspected;
if it be approved on inspection, the Commissioners grant a certificate,
stating how many persons the vehicle is permitted to carry. On the
presentation of this certificate, the Board of Inland Revenue grants a
licence. The police commissioners are empowered, at any time deemed
by them proper, to order an inspection of metropolitan stage and
hackney-carriages and horses; if any are found in improper condition,
notice thereof is sent to the proprietor; if he neglect to attend to this
warning, the commissioners may suspend his licence for a stated time,
and take away his Stamp Office plate until after the expiration of that
time. The fares for hackney-carriages are fixed at 6d. for every mile
or fraction of a mile, or 2s. per hour. Back fares are disallowed; but
6d. per quarter of an hour is allowed for detention. Each hackney-
carriage is to be provided with a table of fares, and each driver with a
book of fares, which he is to produce when required. The driver
must not refuse to carry a fare, if the distance be within six miles or
the time within an hour; beyond these limits he may exercise an
option. When hired by time, the driver is not bound to go more than
four miles an hour, unless paid 6d. per mile extra. The driver is to
give a ticket to his fare, inscribed with the Stamp Office number of the
carriage. The carriage must contain, in writing, a notification of the
number of persons it may carry at once. A reasonable quantity of
luggage is to be taken free of charge. Property left in carriages is to
be accounted for, by the driver, under certain regulations. Lamps are
to be lighted in or on the carriages at night. The police are to have
control over all the coach-stands. In the cases where a hackney-
carriage is drawn by more than one horse, an addition of one-third may
be made to the fare. The driver may refuse to charge by time instead
of distance, between eight in the evening and six in the morning. If
more than two persons ride in a hackney carriage, 6d. for each is
charged (over any distance) beyond the regular fare.-All these pro-
visions are enforced by fine or imprisonment.
Hackney carriages appear to have originated in London. It was in
1625 that they began to ply in London streets, or rather at the inns,
to be called for as they were wanted; and they were at this time only
twenty in number. In 1634 sedan-chairs appear, for the first time, to
have entered into competition with hackney-coaches, the sole privilege
being granted in that year to Sir Sanders Duncomb. In the following
year an attempt was made to check the increasing annoyance
occasioned by the "general and promiscuous use of coaches" by a
proclamation from the king (Charles I.) that no hackney or hired coach
should be used in London, Westminster, or the suburbs, unless it
were engaged to travel at least three miles out of the same; and that
every hackney-coach owner should constantly maintain four able horses
for the royal service when required. Finding it impossible to prevent
the use of so great a convenience, a commission was issued to the
master of the horse in 1637 to grant licences to fifty hackney-coach-duties (57. for a licence, and 10s. per week) were repealed, and lower
men in and about London and Westminster, and as many others as
might be needful in other places in England, each coachman being
allowed to keep not more than twelve horses. In 1652 the number of
hackney-coaches daily plying in the streets was limited to 200; in
1654 it was increased to 300, allowing however only 600 horses; and
an increase was at different times allowed till 1771, when the number
of coaches was further increased to 1000. Notwithstanding this steady
increase in the use of hackney-coaches, they were long assailed as
public nuisances.
The first hackney-coach stand was established in 1634, by one
Captain Baily, near the May-pole in the Strand. Even so late as 1660
Charles II. issued a proclamation against hackney-coaches standing in
the streets to be hired. The monopoly long enjoyed by the London
hackney-coachmen produced great indifference to the increasing wants
of the community; even down to the year 1823, while that monopoly
was undisturbed, hackney-coaches appear to have sunk lower and
lower in the scale of efficiency.
While this was the state of things in London, a lighter kind of
vehicle, drawn by one horse, called cabriolets de place, had been brought
into extensive use in Paris. But it was not till 1823, and then with
great difficulty, that licences were obtained for eight cabriolets to be
started at fares one-third lower than those of hackney-coaches. The
new vehicle was a hooded chaise, drawn by one horse, and carrying
only one passenger besides the driver, who sat in the cabriolet (or, as
more commonly called for brevity, the cab), with his fare. An improved
build was soon introduced, by which room was provided for a second
passenger, and the driver was separated from the fare. With the
rapid extension of this lighter class of vehicles, numerous varieties of
The above act related chiefly to hackney-carriages in connection
with the public. Another, relating to their connection with the
revenue, was passed in the same year (16 & 17 Vict. c. 127). The old
duties imposed. The licence for every hackney-carriage is to be 21.,
and the duty is to be 6s. or 7s., according as the carriage is to be
worked six or seven days in a week. Every licence is for one year
only, and is to be renewed annually. The number-plate is proof of
the licence. Drivers are entitled to charge 1s. per mile instead of 6d.
for any portion of their route beyond four miles from Charing Cross;
provided the carriage is discharged beyond that limit. A proprietor
must not withdraw his hackney-carriage from plying, beyond one day
at a time, without giving notice of his intention to that effect.
We must here state that hackney carriages, as regulated by law,
comprise only those which work within the police limits of the inetro-
polis. Beyond those limits, the owners have to pay post-horse duty
[POSTING], and possibly some local tax imposed by municipal authori
ties; but none of the duties mentioned in this article. The sum
contributed to the national revenue by the London cabs (for in the
middle of 1860 there was only one pair-horse hackney-coach left) is
considerable. The duty of a shilling a day brings in about 80,0007.
or 85,000l. per annum; while the cab licence, and the drivers' and
watermen's licences, raise this to about 40007. more. There were rather
over 5100 London cabs in the middle of 1860. The drivers are more
numerous than the cabs; for there are often a day driver and a night
driver for the same vehicle. The six-day cabs, which do not run on
Sundays, bear for distinction numbers expressed by five figures,
beginning with 10,000. Of the sum realised by the government from
the metropolitan cabs, about 13,000l. is annually handed over to the
Commissioners of Police, to defray the expenses of supervision, water-
meu, coach-stands, &c. It is computed that seven horses are ou an
average kept for three cabs, Some of the cab-masters own above
t
761
STAGE CARRIAGE.
fifty vehicles each; most of them own a few only and in certain cases
the cabman is the owner of the vehicle which he drives. The patent
or 'Hansom' cabs, peculiar for their construction and their high speed,
are well-horsed; and there is observable a gradual improvement in the
general condition of the horses employed in the London cabs.
In Paris, the hackney carriages are under strict regulation. The
general custom has been to charge so much for a course, or journey,
whether long or short, provided it be within the limits of Paris. This
charge used to be one franc; but practically, a fee to the driver raised
it to a few sous more. A few years ago this system was changed;
every vehicle was provided by the authorities with a timepiece or
watch, and fares were charged by the hour. For some reason this
system was abandoned after a trial, and the old method of paying for
the course resumed. The pernicious custom of allowing the driver
to demand a fee or "pour boire," without defining its amount, con-
tinues.
Stage Carriages.-We have next to notice those public carriages
which run regular stages or routes, and which charge by the journey,
not by the mile or the hour.
Stage-coaches were first used in England soon after the introduction
of hired carriages. In Scotland, in 1678, Provost Campbell established
a coach to run from Glasgow to Edinburgh, "drawn by sax able
horses, to leave Edinboro' ilk Monday morning, and return again (God
willing) ilk Saturday night." The first mail coach travelled from
London to Edinburgh about 1785, and to Glasgow in 1788. Springs
were the first means towards better travelling; since their invention,
the increased speed and better appointment of English stage-coaches
have been caused by the improvement of roads, in conjunction with the
great demand for rapid travelling. In this country the best stage-
coaches were very perfect machines, and the arrangements by which
they were conducted were well-planned, but some deterioration has
taken place since their very general displacement by railways. The
expense of horsing a four-horse coach, running at the speed of from nine
to ten miles an hour was reckoned at 31. a double mile for 28 days (a
lunar month); so that a person horsing ten miles of a coach passing
backwards and forwards each day, required to earn or receive by way of
remuneration 13 times 301. or 3901. a year for his work. Mails are
exempt from turnpike tolls, but a tax is paid for them to the govern-
ment, and mileage to the contractor for the use of the coach. The
Post-office allows them a certain sum, determined by circumstances,
per mile for carrying the letters; in consideration of this, it claims a
right to limit their number of passengers, and regulate their speed and
time of starting: the guard is the servant of the Post-office.
Short-stage-coaches, plying in the neighbourhood of towns, have
been nearly superseded by omnibuses.
STAIRCASE.
752
and by which, besides the rules applicable by previous acts to these
conveyances as stage-carriages, other enactments are made as to the
Stamp-Office plates, &c. It also empowers the Secretary of State to
appoint a Registrar of Metropolitan Stage-Carriages, whose duty it is to
issue the licence which the Commissioners of Stamps are authorised to
grant to drivers and conductors. These licences the registrar may
grant to any person above 16 years of age who can produce certificates
of his ability to drive, and of good character. The licence is renewable
yearly, and with it is given an abstract of the laws and penalties to
which the receiver is amenable, and a numbered ticket, the latter of
which he is to wear conspicuously on his person, and not to transfer
or lend. The duty is calculated in the proportion of so much per mile
according to the number of passengers the carriage may be licensed to
carry.
"}
|
Another regulative Act was passed in 1843. Proprietors are, as
before, to fix their own fares; but the list of fares is to be painted
within-side the coach or omnibus. A further Act, passed in 1855,
contained two or three clauses relating to stage-carriages. The mileage
duty is reduced from 14d. to 1d. per mile. The charge for a supple-
mentary licence is reduced from 5s. to ls. On the other hand, the
liberty to compound for stage-carriage duties is withdrawn.
In 1836, a joint-stock association called the "London Conveyance
Company was established, which proposed to run omnibuses
along the principal lines of traffic, starting at short and regular in-
tervals, and conducted by men of sober and respectable character.
The result of this experiment was so successful, that other owners
formed themselves into bodies of similar character. In the course
of a few years the association system was almost universally adopted
in the metropolis. For some years the traffic from Paddington to the
Bank through Holborn was managed by the London Conveyance Com-
pany, with more than eighty omnibuses, and not less than a thousand
horses. Each of the omnibuses performed upon an average six double
journeys per day, and required at least ten horses to work it, inde-
pendent of casualties. These horses were selected for strength and
activity, and an experienced veterinary surgeon, with a staff of assistants
and farriers, was employed to attend to them. The annual receipts
of this company alone were roughly estimated at 80,000l. to 100,000l.
About the year 1844 it was found that, out of 1400 metropolitan
omnibuses, 200 were engaged on various routes to Paddington. In
1855 a "London General Omnibus Company" was established. It
was of French origin, as a Société en Commandite, but was afterwards
transformed into an English Company with limited liability. A capital
was raised by shares; and the company proceeded, not to establish
new omnibuses and omnibus routes, but to purchase those already
existing. The sets of omnibuses known as the "Wellington," "Atlas,"
"Waterloo," "Favourite," &c., were one by one bought up. On an
average the company purchased eleven horses with each omnibus. In
order to propitiate the public the company promised new and superior
vehicles. They offered a prize of 100%. for a design for an improved
omnibus; but though the prize was awarded, the company have not
adopted that or any other particular model in the build of their
omnibuses. The operations gradually extended until the company
became possessed of more than 600 omnibuses: each omnibus, with
its stud of horses, harness, and "goodwill" of the business already
established, cost on an average about 7001. The horses exceed 6000
in number. It has been found that these metropolitan omnibuses, one
with another, run more than 20,000 miles a year each. In renewing
the stock the average expenditure has been about 120%. per omnibus,
30l. per horse, and 127. harness. Each horse, under average prices,
costs 26s. per week for food, litter, medicine, shoeing, attendance, &c.
The "wear and tear" of omnibus and harness per week is about 24s.
The horses run about 12 miles per day each on an average.
Until about the year 1830, in the metropolis a few slow and un-
punctual stages were the only means of transit provided for the
citizens to convey them to their suburban residences. A little earlier,
only one stage plied from Paddington to the Bank; and this single
vehicle, going in the morning and returning at night, was not always
full. Its fares were two shillings inside, and eighteen-pence outside.
The old stage-coaches could only carry four, or at most six, inside
passengers; and when an attempt was made, about the year 1800, to
introduce a more commodious kind of vehicle, resembling an omnibus,
the project failed, in consequence of a general prejudice against the
hearse-like appearance of the carriage. The long-bodied carriage then
tried was drawn by four horses, and had six wheels.
When re-
introduced from Paris, the omnibus had four wheels, but was much
longer and heavier than at present, and was drawn by three horses
abreast. The first successful omnibus in London was started by a
coach-builder named Shillibeer, in 1829, to run between Greenwich
and Charing Cross, at fares considerably less than those of the old
short stages; in addition to which advantage, the greater part of the
passengers were sheltered from the weather. Success in the first
experiment led Shillibeer to establish omnibuses between Paddington |
and the Bank. After opposing the innovation most violently for a
time, the old coach-proprietors followed his example, started omnibuses
of their own, and by combined opposition succeeded in driving him
entirely off the road; not, however, before the new system of travelling
was fully established.
A few notices concerning the omnibus system of the present day
may be added; but we must first speak of the legislation on the
subject of stage-carriages.
In 1799 the Act of Parliament was passed (19 Geo. III., c. 51)
which first imposed a duty on hired carriages of any description. This
duty has at times been variously regulated. By an Act passed in
1833, the duty on stage-coaches was made to depend on the number of
miles such carriage is authorised by the licence to travel in the day,
week, or month, as the case may be. This duty might be compounded
for. Every stage-carriage is to have a numbered plate affixed to it; a
licence is necessary for every pair of plates, and the number of
passengers each carriage is allowed to carry is stated in the licence.
These regulations are applicable to all such carriages throughout the
country, and include the more recently introduced omnibus, a word in
no way recognised by the legislature. The conduct of the stage-
carriages which are employed in London and within ten miles of the
General Post-office, is further regulated by an Act passed in 1838, in
which they are directed to be called "metropolitan stage-carriages,"
|
The transactions of this company during the year 1860 present a
strange result in a financial point of view: 40,000,000 passengers had
been conveyed, and had paid about 589,000l. to the company for that
service; but the expense incurred in rendering the service was
591,000l., showing a small but actual loss on the whole year's opera-
tions, and leaving no dividend whatever for the invested capital. The
receipts show an average of about 34d. per passenger.
The omnibuses in Glasgow, Liverpool, Manchester, and several other
towns, are in most respects superior to those of London. Projects
have been formed for running omnibuses on tramways in the public
streets; this plan was commenced at Birkenhead in 1860.
The mileage duty paid to the government for the metropolitan
omnibuses amounts to about 70,000l. a year; to which is added about
15,000l. a year for stamp-duty, and drivers' and conductors' licences.
Stage-coaches and omnibuses are not so severely taxed in other parts
of the kingdom. In Ireland the road traffic is mostly conducted by
means of Bianconi's stage cars-a remarkable example of successful and
effective private enterprise.
STAINING. [DYEING; GLASS ManufacturE; PAPER HANGING.]
STAIRCASE. This is an indispensable part of the interior of
buildings which consist of more than a ground-floor, and stairs of some
sort must have always been employed wherever there were upper
rooms, and even to obtain access to the terraced roofs which are used in
the East. But we are altogether ignorant of the character of ancient
staircases. Vitruvius--who touches upon so many matters that are
very remotely connected with his subject-gives no information about
763
751
STAIRCASE.
STAIRCASE.
staircases; neither has much light been thrown upon the subject by
the discoveries of Pompeii. Scarcely any indications even of upper
floors to the houses have there been found, and what few traces of
staircases, or rather of stairs, remain, show them to have been exceed-
ingly incommodious, fitted only for obtaining access to an upper loft,
or to the roof, and not at all adapted for constant communication
between dwelling apartments on different floors. It may, therefore,
very safely be taken for granted-at least until some direct evidence to
the contrary shall be found-that the houses of the ancients were in
this, as well as in many other respects, greatly inferior to our own,
and had nothing whatever corresponding to the modern staircase.
Nearly the same may be said with respect to the ancient domestic
architecture of our own country, where, even in residences of the
highest class, the staircases were generally very confined, placed within
turrets, and exceedingly steep and narrow: narrow not only as regards
the actual width of passage up and down, but as regards the diameter
or space occupied by the whole, there being no well, or central opening,
but the steps winding around a solid newel; so that, in ascending or
descending, a person is continually revolving, without any
foot paces
for resting upon, and cannot see whether he will encounter any one
else. Turnpike was a term formerly applied to staircases of this kind;
also vise, from their spiral or screw-like shape, whence the more
modern appellation of corkscrew stairs, corresponding with the Italian
scala alla`lumaccia, or scala alla chiocciola, with the French escalier
à limaçon, and the German wendeltreppe.
cr
It was not till about the time of Elizabeth that staircases began to
be planned more commodiously in this country, and were made a deco-
rative feature in the interior of a mansion. But though they were
greatly improved, the flights being made wider, and the steps parallel to
cach other, with intermediate landings or resting-places between the
several flights, and although considerable decoration was bestowed
upon them, the walls being panelled, and the parapet of the stairs
formed either by richly carved balusters or open fretwork, frequently
with heraldic figures of animals on the pedestals at the angles of the
different flights, the staircase itself was usually inclosed within a
comparatively small area, so as to admit of no general view of the
whole of it, there being very little open space, or well, as it is termed,
sometimes none at all. The staircases at Aldermaston, Berks; Crewe
Hall, Cheshire; and Knole, Kent, may be taken as examples of the
kind. At a later period, staircases in mansions of a superior class were
made disproportionably spacious, being upon a scale as to size with
which the apartments themselves were not at all in keeping.
The planning of a staircase is generally considered one of the most
difficult matters in internal architecture, and it is certainly one that
requires great consideration. Yet there is no particular difficulty,
except where, as is generally the case in moderate-sized houses, the
architect is cramped for room, more especially if, while restricted in
that respect, the ascent from one floor to another is greater than usual.
The number of stairs, and the space required for the convenient arrange-
ment of them, are easily estimated when the height of the ascent from
one floor to another is given, and the dimensions are determined for
the risers and treads. Stairs are technically described as consisting of
risers and treads, the former being the fronts or heights of the steps,
and the other their flat surfaces or breadths. Stairs are further dis-
tinguished as being flyers, those which ascend straightforward; and
winders, which having their treads triangular, coming quite to a point
at their ends near the balusters, afford no footing there, and ought
consequently to be avoided whenever it is at all practicable to do so.
A flight is a consecutive series of stairs in the same direction, or
between one quarter-space or half-space (palier) and another, which last
are short intermediate landings, serving to lessen the fatigue of a con-
tinuous ascent, by subdividing it into shorter flights. For the area
containing, or rather constituting, the staircase itself, we have no
distinct term in addition to the general one, similar to the French cage,
the Italian gabbia, and the German treppenhaus.
We proceed to notice the most convenient proportions of the stairs
themselves as to height and breadth for their length. As to the
breadth of the flights, that is comparatively arbitrary: it should never
be much less than 4 feet, so as to allow two persons to pass, except
in back-staircases; but it may be as much more as the space will
permit, or the effect aimed at in the design may require. The best
general, and what may be considered standard, proportions, are 6 inches
for the risers and 12 inches for the treads; though from 6 to 7 inches
may be allowed for the former, and only ten for the latter, in secondary
staircases. In those of a very superior kind, on the contrary, the
risers do not exceed 5 or even 4 inches (less height than which last
would be more fatiguing than convenient), and their treads are then
made from 14 to 16 inches. The height, therefore, to the landing
of the floor to be reached being given, it is easy to calculate either
how many risers of a certain number of inches will be required; or
what must be the dimensions of the risers and treads, in order to
ascend within the space allowed. Supposing the first-mentioned
height to be 14 feet, and the risers 6 inches, two risers will be equiva-
lent to 1 foot of ascent, and consequently twenty-eight risers will be
required, or twenty-seven treads, the upper landing being the tread to
the last riser. In such case, hardly less than an area of 20 by 8 feet,
on the level of the upper floor, would be sufficient for the staircase,
unless there were winders instead of quarter-spaces, or of a single half-
ARTS AND SOI. DIV. VOL. VII.
space between the two flights. The number of risers required is
ascertained by reducing the given altitude of ascent to inches, and
dividing it by the height of the risers: thus, taking the altitude as
before (14 feet), and the risers at 5 inches, there must either be 33
risers a trifle more than 5 inches each, or 34 a trifle less. Rondelet
gives the following very simple formula for calculating the dimensions
of the treads and risers respectively, namely, calling h the riser, and t
the tread, 2h+t=2 feet; it is based on the principle that the ordinary
length of a pace is equal to 2 feet, and that the effort exercised in
lifting the leg vertically is double the effort required to move it
horizontally.
Palladio, and others following him, have laid it down that the stair-
case ought to be seen immediately on entering a building; but it is
impossible to establish any positive rule for what must depend upon
particular circumstances, and this is by no means the best general
arrangement. In a public building or place where strangers go in and
out without inquiry, it may be desirable that the staircase should
present itself at once; but certainly this is not the case in private
mansions. On the contrary, it is in every respect better that the
staircase should be kept out of view until the first vestibule has been
passed through, and that it should be placed in a position as remote
from the entrance into the house as the plan will admit, both in order
that the approach to it may be lengthened, and that, in case it has any
architectural pretensions at all, it may strike the more by not coming
into view at once. At all events, only the lower part of the staircase
no more than is sufficient to indicate its situation-should be visible
from the entrance, otherwise it will be inconveniently exposed; and if
there are doors to several rooms on the upper landing, persons passing
from one to the other would be seen from the hall. It is therefore a
great error to place the staircase, as is sometimes done, in the first or
entrance hall of a mansion, because, in addition to the inconvenience
just pointed out, such hall must be made the height of two floors, and
consequently, if otherwise suitably proportioned to such height, it will
be the most spacious and loftiest room, and so far be attended by a
degree of effect which, instead of being afterwards increased or kept
up, is greatly diminished. Such arrangement also cuts off the com-
munication above between the rooms on one side of the hall and those
on the other, except there is a gallery or continuation of the landing
carried over the entrance.
Even when kept apart from the entrance-hall or other vestibule, a
staircase will always be sufficiently striking in proportion to the rest
of a house, because it will produce greater architectural effect, and be
loftier than the rooms themselves. We are now speaking only of what
is usually termed a "grand staircase," leading up no higher than the
principal floor, so that the whole of the space from the level of the
landing is perfectly clear, and there are no flights leading up higher,
for if there were, the space over head would appear encumbered and
confused. There is in fact no part of an interior which accommodates
itself more readily to architectural character and display, or which
admits of greater variety of design both as to plan, section, and decora-
tion, than a staircase of the kind just referred to. If the house itself
be not upon a very large scale, there is danger of doing here rather too
much than too little. In regard to altitude, there will here always be
greater magnitude than elsewhere; if therefore corresponding magni-
tude of area be given to it, the staircase will overpower everything
else, cause the rooms to appear small by comparison, and appear in
itself too large for the house. It is therefore desirable to make the
area, at least the visible area of the staircase, rather less than more than
that of any of the principal rooms. It is also rather a solecism to affect
magnitude of space in other respects corresponding to that of height.
While it serves as a contrast to the apartments, loftiness or excess of
height, as compared with length and breadth, is as much an appropriate
characteristic of a staircase as it is of a tower. Its altitude therefore
from the bottom of the first flight to the ceiling, may very properly be
made between two or three times the breadth. Accordingly it will be
found expedient to enclose the landing, if continued quite round the
staircase, not merely by a screen of columns, but in such manner as to
shut it out from view, with only partial openings at intervals, in order
to avoid too much spaciousness on that level, and to keep the cage of
the same size from bottom to top. Of such staircase upon a large
scale there is an example at Taymouth Castle, the seat of the Marquess
of Breadalbane, which is about 40 feet square by 100 feet in height,
with an upper corridor surrounding it, with open arches.
One of the most simple and effective yet least common arrange-
ments of a staircase, is that which may be described by the term
avenue staircase, the stairs being continued in a straight line, though
broken by spaces into a succession of flights, within what would else
be a level corridor or gallery; and occupying its entire width. There
is something particularly noble and majestic in a staircase of this kind,
for although it may be narrow, considered as a gallery, it looks
unusually spacious as a staircase, the flight itself being wider than
those of staircases placed within a much larger area; besides which,
the whole is more regularly disposed, and forms a more striking piece
of perspective. Still, simple as such plan is in itself, it is by no means
adapted to general application, because, although it requires only
moderate width, it requires considerable length, short flights, and
ample spaces between them, and stairs with low risers and broad
treads; otherwise, the descent, as viewed from above, being in a
3 a
755
STAIRCASE.
STALL-FEEDING.
756
straight line, looks precipitous, or at least has no dignity of appear-gular plans; and one advantage attending it is, that while the ascent
ance. Another circumstance which limits a staircase of this kind to itself is as spacious and commodious as if the whole were entirely
particular cases, is, that in order for it to produce proper effect, the open, there may be a secondary staircase for servants, shut up within
height to be ascended should be very moderate, hardly more than the larger one.
seven or eight feet; for else, the space at the foot of the stairs looks
confined, and the upper flights scarcely show themselves from that
station. Hence, though it may be referred to as an instance of an
avenue staircase, the one leading to the keep or round tower at
Windsor Castle, is more remarkable than beautiful or grand, leaving
decoration out of the question; the altitude ascended being so very
great. Sir John Soane has given some ideas of the kind in his designs
for a Scala Regia '-a favourite subject with him. The staircase of
the Chamber of Peers at Paris, designed by Percier and Fontaine, was
an example of the kind, but not the best, for the ascent was so great
that the columns on its sides, on the same level as the landing, looked
quite insignificant. The National Gallery, again, afforded instances of
a different modification of the same arrangement, half the ascent being
by an external flight in the vestibule, the remainder by another within
the corridor leading from it; and though not exactly suited for such
a building, the idea is pleasing in itself and would produce a striking
effect, in one of less pretension.
!
In public edifices or large mansions, whatever be the plan of the
principal staircase, it is generally branched, that is, there is first a wide
central flight, and then two other narrower ones branching off from it
one on each side, either at right angles to it or as return flights parallel
to it; and it is hardly necessary to observe, that in all such staircases
the foot-spaces are large, and that there are no winders. Extreme care
should, however, be taken in planning staircases of this (or indeed of
any) description for places of public resort, as theatres, concert-
rooms, &c., to so design them as to produce the least possible hindrance
to the rapid passage of the audience in case of the occurrence of a panic.
The branched staircase at Goldsmiths' Hall, which is parted off from the
vestibule by a glazed screen, is an example of more than ordinary
splendour, being lighted by a dome. The branching flights at right
angles to the first, lead to a landing on each side, which has a
double screen of Corinthian columns, so that the view across from
side to side, in the upper part, is unusually rich. At Buckingham
Palace, there is first a very wide flight, entered from between columns,
branching off right and left in curved flights, the cage, which is
about 36 by 26 feet, being curved elliptically on those sides or ends.
In this example, the stairs rest upon a graduated podium or wall
enclosing the space immediately beneath, which serves as a private
passage behind; a mode frequently adopted in similar cases, being one
which contributes to solidity and nobleness of appearance, and pre-
vents that mass of shadow beneath the stairs which gives a gloom to
the lower part of the staircase.
Instead of there being a central flight below, the ascent frequently
begins on each side, and is carried up in one or more flights to the
common landing, where both branches terminate; from which point
the stairs are sometimes continued, returning in an upper central flight,
which is carried across an arch thrown from that landing or half-space,
to a higher landing. Staircases of this kind, which may be termed
bridge staircases, occur in the Custom House and the Auction Mart.
Their effect, however, is not good, because the upper suspended flight
or bridge darkens the lower part of the staircase, and has a strangely
awkward cumbersome appearance when viewed from that station. At
the best, therefore, they are suitable only for places of evening resort,
where they can be lit up below as well as above.
The staircase of the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, claims notice,
not only on account of the richness of the general design, but of some
peculiarities in its arrangement. Strictly speaking however, this
example can hardly be given as that of a staircase, according to the
usual meaning of the term, the stairs being mere flights of steps in
the entrance hall. That in the centre is a broad descending one, lead-
ing down to the libraries, which are on a lower level than the hall;
and on each side of it is a rather narrower ascending flight to the
spacious landing carried around three sides of the hall, and serving as
a statue gallery. Though the lower area is only 32 by 26 feet, conse-
quently that of the floor very much less, owing to the space occupied
by the flights of steps, that of the upper part on the level of the land-
ing is 68 by 44 feet, the landing itself being about 17 feet wide. In
some degree similar in plan, although very different in design, is the
hall at Holkham, the seat of the Earl of Leicester, which has a noble
flight of steps within a recess or tribune enclosed by columns which are
continued along the sides of the hall.
The grand staircase of the Reform Club-house, London, is an
example, somewhat unusual in this country, though common enough
in Italy, of what may be called an enclosed staircase; the flights are
shut up between walls, and consequently there is no open well, nor can
the whole be seen at one view. A plan of this kind therefore differs
from the avenue staircase, merely in not being carried straight-forward,
but either returning in a parallel flight from the half-space or first
landing, or having the second flight at right angles with the first.
The last is the case at the Reform Club-house, where the staircase
consists of three enclosed flights, the last being a return one to the
first, and landing upon the gallery around the upper part of the inner
hall or saloon. That at Burleigh too is similarly planned. The same
mode may be adopted for circular or semi-circular as well as rectan-
The architectural effect of a staircase will greatly depend upon the
mode of lighting it. Where it is carried up only one floor, the best
mode is to light it entirely from above, either through a dome or
lantern in the ceiling, or by making the upper part of the walls just
beneath the ceiling a continued lantern. If there are windows on the
landings of the several flights, the effect will be improved by their
being filled with stained glass, especially if towards a back court; or;
if a conservatory can be carried out on the level of the first landing,
so as to show itself through glazed folding-doors, a very pleasing and
cheerful effect is obtained, even though the conservatory itself should
be hardly more than a glazed veranda. As to material, stone is greatly
preferable to wood for stairs, if only on account of greater security in
case of fire; in lieu of stone, cast-iron may be employed. Marble is
very rarely used for stairs in this country, and whenever it is, it should
be left unpolished on the treads, or it would be dangerous to descend
them. The same remark applies to stairs of wainscot, unless they are
carpeted nearly their entire width.
|
STALL-FEEDING. The feeding of cattle in stalls for the purpose
of fatting them more readily than by simple grazing, and at a time
when they cannot get fat on pastures, as a regular part of the process
of husbandry, is comparatively modern. In former times cattle were
slaughtered in October and November, which latter, in most languages
derived from the Teutonic, is called Slaughter-month, there being no
possibility of buying fresh meat of any degree of fatness during winter,
and salt meat was the food of all classes in that season. But now the
process of fatting cattle goes on without interruption during the whole
year, and fat beasts come as regularly to market in winter as in summer.
Stall-feeding is now the principal means by which oxen and cows are
rendered fit for the market.
It has been observed, in the article SOILING, that one object of that
system was to save the waste of food which is occasioned by the tread-
ing of cattle in pastures, and by their choosing the sweetest grasses to
the neglect of the coarser. The principal object however is to save
the manure, which in the pastures goes to waste, but in the yards or
stall is all preserved. In stall-feeding another object is looked to, that
of increasing the substance of the animal, especially the fat; and to do
this judiciously and with profit requires much experience and atten-
tion. It has been proved that animals require a certain portion of
meat and drink to keep them alive, and that this quantity, in the same
species, is in general in proportion to the weight of the animal. If an
animal has his exact ration of food, he will continue in health, but he
will not increase in weight: in this case therefore it only produces a
certain portion of manure, which is not equivalent to the food con-
sumed. If a larger quantity be given, the animal, if in health, will
increase in weight, and the more food he has, within a certain limit,
the faster will be this increase: but there is a point where increase
stops; and if by any means the animal is induced to take more, his
stomach will be deranged, and he will become diseased, and occasion
loss by over-feeding. It is consequently of great importance to the
stall-feeder to ascertain what is the exact quantity of food which it
will be most profitable to give to a stall-fed animal. Experience alone
can teach this: but some rules may be given which will enable any
one who wishes to stall-feed cattle not greatly to err in his mode of
One who wishes to stall-feed cattle not greatly to car in his mode of
feeding, and soon to find out what is the most profitable course to
pursue. For this purpose it is essential that after having ascertained
by experiment the quantity of food which will give the greatest in
crease of flesh per week on a certain weight of beasts when put up to
fatten, all the food given to the cattle be carefully weighed, and no
more be given in any day than is needful. The quality of the food
should also be attended to; for a truss of fine well-made clover, lucern,
or sainfoin hay, may contain double the nourishment of another truss
of coarse marsh hay. The best kind of food should always be reserved
for fatting cattle. Roots alone are too watery, and must be corrected
by dry food, such as straw cut into chaff, or good hay, and especially
farinaceous food, whether it be corn ground or bruised, or oil-cake.
By a judicious mixture of food a much greater increase of flesh may
be produced than by an irregular mode of feeding, however good the
quality or abundant the quantity given may be. To overfeed is as
unprofitable as to starve a beast, and produces similar effects. It is of
great importance that the cattle should be fed with great punctuality,
at certain hours during the day, and that the troughs should be cleared
of all the remains of food which they do not eat at each time of feeding.
Rest and sleep are great aids to digestion, and a little gentle exercise
after sleep prepares the stomach for a fresh supply of food. Air also
is highly conducive to health; and hence those beasts which are
allowed to move about in a loose stall, or á small yard protected from
the rain and wind, thrive better in general than those which are tied
up. It is the practice of many good feeders to put oxen in pairs in
small stalls, partly open, so that they may be in the air, or under
shelter, as they prefer; and the finest oxen, if not the fattest, are pre-
pared for the market in this way. Experience shows that all domestic
animals like company, and that they are more contented and quiet
when they have a companion than when they are alone. This is the
reason why they are put up in pairs. Whatever promotes the health
757
758
STAMMER.
STAMMER.
and comfort of the animal will be most profitable to the feeder. When
a beast has acquired a certain degree of fatness, it is a nice point to
decide whether it would be best to send him to market or continue to
feed him. This is often decided by mere caprice or fancy; but if the
food has been weighed, and the weekly increase of the beast is noted,
which is best done by weighing, but may nearly be guessed by mea-
suring, it becomes a mere question in arithmetic to determine whether
his increase pays for his food and attendance; if it does not, there is a
loss in keeping him; and if a lean animal put in his stead would in-
crease faster on the same food, every day he is kept there is a loss of
the difference between the increase of the two. The pride of pro-
ducing a wonderful animal at a fair or show may be dearly paid for,
and must be put down to the account of luxuries, like the keeping
of hunters or racehorses.
The most profitable food for fattening cattle is, in general, the pro-
duce of the farm: the expense of all purchased food is increased by
the profit of the dealer and the carriage of it. And the only com-
pensation for this additional cost may be in increasing the manure,
where the straw and roots of the farm are deficient: in that case oil-
cake, or even corn, may be purchased with advantage, since by means
of the manure crops may be raised which without it must fail. The
stalling of cattle, as well as the fatting of pigs, is in many situations
the best means of carrying the produce of the farm to market. An ox
can be driven many miles, whilst the food he has consumed would not
repay the carriage, and all the manure would be lost, and must be
purchased at a great expense, if it can be had at all. If a farmer can
feed cattle, so as to pay him a fair market-price for the food consumed,
and something for the risk of accidental loss, he may be well contented
to have the manure for his trouble: few stall-feeders get more than
this in the long run.
Observation and experiment concur to prove that the production of
voice is an acoustic phenomenon depending on mechanical principles
similar to those which regulate the production of sound from an
inanimate instrument; for it is now agreed that the upward current
of air passing through the larynx produces an effect on the vocal
ligaments precisely similar to what it would if the larynx were an
inanimate mechanism. The voluntary power over the larynx adjusts
it to be acted on by the current of air, and thus the voice is to be
regarded partly as a mechanical and partly as a physiological result.
Observation and experiment concur to prove that the modification
of voice into speech is also an acoustic phenomenon depending on
principles similar to those which regulate the modification of sound by
an inanimate instrument; for it is now agreed that the modification
of voice into speech in passing through the variable cavity of the pha-
rynx, mouth, and nose, produces an effect precisely similar to what
would be produced if the variable cavity were an inanimate me-
chanism.
Thus both in voice and speech the production and modification of
vocal sound depend on the laws of acoustics, while the adjustments of
the various parts of the apparatus which produce and modify the voice
depend on voluntary muscular movement. The one is mechanical, the
other physiological.
It is familiarly known that the movement of every organ is effected
by muscular contraction; that both voluntary and involuntary con-
traction of the muscles depend on the nerves; that all voluntary
contraction is regulated by the brain; and also that the voluntary
contraction of one muscle is accompanied by an adjusted voluntary
relaxation of its antagonist muscle.
The speech apparatus may be considered as consisting of the lungs
or bellows, which can send a current of air through the trachea or
windpipe to the larynx, which is situated on its summit. In the
larynx this current of air can be vocalised at will into song, or into
speech-sounds, which, on passing through the variable cavity, consist.
speech. Thus the speech-apparatus, as a whole machine, consists of
the respiratory, the vocal, and the enunciative organs.
It may be proper to add to the above, that the box-feeding where
the animal is loose in a space about 10 feet square, is more conducive
to health than stall-feeding where the animal is tied by the neck. The
box is littered every morning, and the animal is thus kept dry and cleaning of the mouth, pharynx, and nose, can be further modified into
without the removal of the soiled litter, which thus kept from exposure
to air and rain, ultimately yields a much more fertilising manure than
that of the ordinary dung-heap.
STAMMER. The terms stammer and stutter are synonymously
adopted to denote the involuntary interruption of utterance arising
from difficulty and often total inability to pronounce certain syllables,
the speech apparatus being frequently affected with spasm in the effort
to speak.
In some stammerers the spasm consists of involuntary movements
similar to chorea (St. Vitus's dance), which occasionally affects other
than the speech muscles. Stammer with this spasm distorts the
utterance by an involuntary repetition of some part of the syllable, as
ge-ge-ge-good de-de-de-day. The repetitions may or may not be vocal.
In other stammerers the spasm consists of involuntary immobility,
similar to tetanus (lock-jaw), commonly of the form termed trismus, in
which the mouth is closed, and the jaw cannot move to open it; and
sometimes of the form termed antitrismus, in which the mouth is
open, and the jaw is equally incapable of moving to shut it. Stammer
with this spasm distorts the utterance by an involuntary extension of
some part of the syllable, as laugh, where the l is much pro-
longed.
In the looseness of language resulting from inexact knowledge, all
kinds of difficult and defective utterance are misnamed stammer; as
the difficult utterance of the intoxicated, the faltering utterance of the
paralytic, the imperfect utterance of deep emotion, as of fear, the
defective utterance of malformed organs of speech, and the hesita-
tion in discourse when the suitable word fails to present itself to a
speaker's mind. Such affections of the utterance, however, are distinct
from stammer, for
1. The stammerer's inability to pronounce words remains during
health, soberness, calmness of mind, and also when the appropriate
words occur to him.
2. The stammerer feels his difficulty of utterance essentially to consist
in a refusal of some part of the speech apparatus to obey his will.
3. The stammerer's utmost efforts to force out any difficult word
commonly excite spasm, and increase it if it previously existed.
4. The stammerer's inability to speak is intermittent: the same
syllable is not always equally difficult to utter, and is sometimes
uttered with ease.
Those circumstances will distinguish stammer from the misnamed
stammer of paralysis, intoxication, &c.
Now to understand the nature of stammering, it is necessary to
know the audibility and mechanism of utterance, which may be thus
briefly described :-
The voice is produced in the larynx, whence it issues into the
pharynx. The pharynx opens into the nose and into the mouth; and
by means of a curtain valve, named the velum pendulum palati, we can
direct the issue of breath through the mouth or the nose, or through
both mouth and nose at once. The voice is produced in the larynx,
an audible sound, which may possess the distinctions of song-notes
(musical sounds), as those of pitch, loudness, and quality; or it may
possess the peculiar conditions of those distinctions which constitute
speech notes. In the pharynx and mouth the volume of voice is
magnified, and its quality is modified.
The respiratory apparatus consists of the chest, the lungs, and the
air-passages. The respiratory movements are involuntary and periodic;
the inspiration of breath alternates with its expiration; and in both
acts the breath flows in a continuous stream. There is a periodic
action of the inspiratory muscles, but whether their action alternates
with an action of the expiratory muscles, or simply with the spon-
taneous return of the parts by their elasticity and gravity, is yet un-
determined. The muscular actions during the tranquil respiration of
repose appear to be limited to periodic inspiratory movements.
The movements of respiration include the motions of the diaphragm,
the abdominal and thoracic muscles, and those of the larynx, which
dilate and contract the aperture of the glottis. The nerves engaged in
these movements are the phrenic, the spinal accessory, the vagus,
many of the spinal nerves, and the portio dura of the seventh. The
will can influence and somewhat modify the movements of respiration;
thus we can prolong or shorten the duration of an inspiration, and
we can delay or hasten to begin one. We have similar control over
the expiration of the breath; and we have power also to limit, or
nearly so, the movements of respiration to sub-groups of muscles: thus
we can breathe by the diaphragm alone, or by the ribs alone.
Indeed in the act of vocalising, whether for speech or song, the
involuntary is almost superseded by the voluntary act of respiration.
The will gives a different play to the chest. We breathe less by the
diaphragm and more by the ribs; we shorten the duration of the
inspiration and completely change the character of the expiration.
There are two modes of involuntary respiration: in the one, the
breath issues in one continuous unbroken stream, as in the ordinary
breathing of unruffled tranquillity, which by some emotions is hurried
and involuntarily vocalised, producing sighs, groans, &c.; in the other
mode the stream of breath is interrupted so that it issues in detached
portions, which during some emotions is also involuntarily vocalised,
producing laughter, crying, &c.
The will has power to produce voluntary expirations in both modes.
The unbroken stream is termed the exhausting breath, which is often
required for a long-drawn note in song. The broken stream is termed
the holding breadth, which is constantly required in lengths suitably
adjusted to the demands of the syllables as they occur in speech. The
general conditions of respiration, vocalisation, enunciation, and articu-
lation, under which stammer occurs, are subjoined.
1. Respiration.-1. Most stammerers manage their respiration
badly, although nearly all can speak freely in a whisper. 2. They feel
that they have insufficient breath to speak. This sensation, however,
arises less from an insufficiency than from attempting to speak on an
involuntary inspiration. The breath is expired to be vocalised by the
voluntary action of the ribs, which mechanically contract the chest's
cavity. The ribs, however, cannot accomplish this when they are in
the position in which an involuntary inspiration leaves them; they
must be raised to that position to which a voluntary inspiration carries
them, before they can act with mechanical effect on the chest to expire
a holding breath for the purpose of conversation. 3. With the sensa-
tion of insufficiency of breath, some feel also a pain at the pit of the
stomach. This pain is connected with attempting to speak on an
769
STAMMER.
involuntary inspiration, and its severity is commonly increased by
struggling to speak.
II. Vocalisation.-1. Song-voice. The song condition of voice seldom
presents any difficulty to stammerers. Cases of stammer in the song-
voice occur but rarely.
2. Speech voice. Stammer occurs in all parts of the speech-note,
more frequently, however, in the middle than towards the end, but
most commonly at the initial.
3. Pitch of Voice. Changes of pitch, whether concrete or discrete
(slide or skip), through narrow intervals of the scale, present difficul-
ties which wider changes of pitch do not. Stammerers can mostly
declaim, if they cannot converse or quietly read; and it is well known
that wider intervals of pitch occur in declamation than in ordinary
conversation.
4. Loudness of Voice.-When the loudness of the speech-note is of
the form of the musical diminuendo, which begins abruptly and
gradually diminishes in loudness, as thus figured, a difficulty is
presented to the stammerer which does not occur if the form be the
musical crescendo, where the note begins feebly, and gradually increases
in loudness, as thus figured
5. Quality of Voice. The conversation tone presents a greater
difficulty than the falsetto, or than the full enriched voice of epic
declamation.
6. Quantity or Duration of Syllables.-Short and inextensible syl-
lables present a greater difficulty than the long and extensible.
7. Accent. The unaccented syllables of discourse seldom offer any
difficulty to stammerers. The element, or combination of elements,
which is difficult to utter with accent, is easy to utter without accent.
The accent given by stress is infinitely more difficult than that given
by extended duration.
8. Rhythmus.—The measured movement of verse is easier for the
stammerer than the unmeasured movement of prose and conversation.
III. Enunciation.-Syllables are of two kinds, namely:-
1. Those composed of one elementary sound.
2. Those composed of more than one elementary sound.
1. Vowels.-A vowel alone may constitute an accented syllable, and
even a whole word, of which the pronoun I and the article a are
familiar examples. Stammer often occurs on such syllables.
2. Consonants. When two or more are combined together without
a vowel to form a syllable, they occur only as unaccented final syllables
of words. The stammerer's difficulty is less to utter the elementary
sounds singly than to articulate them so as to form syllables.
IV. Articulation.-The elementary sounds are articulated in three
orders of succession:-
1. The vowel followed by a consonant.
2. The consonant followed by a vowel.
3. The consonant followed by a consonant.
Stammer occurs in each of these modes of articulation. There is
seldom any difficulty in articulating two consonants together; some,
however, is felt in postfixing a consonant to a vowel, and the greatest
is felt in adding a vowel to a consonant.
To these general conditions of voice and speech under which
stammer occurs, may be added other conditions, such as sex and age. A
majority of stammerers are males; and few of either sex stammer from
their infancy; children commonly speak freely until about five years
of age. An occasional difficulty is first observed, which becomes more
frequent up to the tenth year, when it is commonly at its maximum;
although the spasm frequently increases in severity up to manhood. In
the decline of life sometimes the stammer spontaneously diminishes,
and it has been known to entirely disappear. The voices of childhood
and old age differ in several respects from that of the intermediate
period of life. The speech melody of infancy is set in a high pitch,
which often runs into the falsetto, and is much intersected with wide
intervals both concrete and discrete. The loudness is chiefly of the
crescendo form on long whining quantities. The voice of old age often
falls into the tremulous scale, the rate of utterance is slow, steady,
and uniform. The loudness is not often of the diminuendo form, and is
on extended quantities. The accent is given to syllables by quantity
rather than by stress, deliberate pauses are made, and the whole style
is marked by the self-possession of experienced age conversing with a
consciousness of superiority, if in nought else, in a longer reach of
memory. Sudden changes of temperature, especially from a high to a
low temperature, likewise tend to increase a stammer.
The Varieties of Slammer are many. They all arise from-1. Diffi-
culty to produce voice; 2. Difficulty to produce voice in quantities
adjusted to the syllable's demands; 3. Difficulty to produce the
elementary sounds; 4. Difficulty in joining such sounds together; and
in each of these classes there are varieties.
Variety 1 arises from ill-regulated respiration, in which the effort to
vocalise is accompanied with a feeling of insufficiency of breath. The
stammer proceeds from an attempt to speak on an involuntary inspi-
ration. A holding breath cannot be maintained on an involuntary
inspiration, and therefore voluntary respiration for speech must always
begin with an inspiration of breath. The physiology of this stammer
indicates a discipline for its removal. The organs of respiration must
be drilled to rightly change the involuntary act of respiration to the
voluntary, which, with a course of rhythmus, will effect a permanent
curo.
STAMPING, STAMPING PRESS.
760
2. The difficulty in producing voice which is occasioned by an involun-
tary closure of the glottis. In this variety of stammer, instead of the
larynx receiving the adjustment for vocalisation in ready obedience to
the will, the glottis suddenly closes, either by an involuntary associate
movement, or by a tetanic spasm, probably in most cases by the latter.
Dr. Arnott pointed out the nature and means to cure it. His remedy
consists in keeping open the glottis, by issuing a drone sound, such
as the e of the word berry, before beginning to speak, and in join-
ing this prefixed drone to the words. See his 'Elements of Physics,'
vol. i.
3. The difficulty in producing voice which is occasioned by an invo-
luntary twitching of the glottis similar to chorea. This spasm is
sometimes so excited as to preclude vocalisation, when only short
iterations of breath are audible. The glottis must be disciplined on
sounds of the crescendo form of loudness in a low pitch, and proceed
gradually from the song-voice to that of speech. Respiration and
speech-voice training will follow, accompanied with general rhythmic
discipline to the whole speech-apparatus for reading and speaking both
verse and prose.
4. In this variety the difficulty is not to produce voice, but to control
its quantities. Vocalisation freely takes place, but the event of two or
three short or accented syllables following near together throws the
glottal muscles into choreal spasm. The principles of discipline for
the spasm will be similar to the preceding variety of stammer; while
a distinct discipline must be projected to acquire a higher degree of
associating power.
5. The difficulty of uttering a vowel of uniform sound is a voice
stammer, it being an absence of voluntary control over the vocalisation
of the breath. The difficulty of uttering a diphthongal vowel may be
either a voice or a speech stammer, and is often a combination of both.
When the difficulty is to produce voice to begin the vowel, the stam-
mer is vocal; and when the difficulty is to change the adjustment
from that for the initial, to that for the final sound of the diphthong,
it is a speech stammer. When the difficulty is to produce voice to
begin the consonant, the stammer is vocal; and when the difficulty is
to change the adjustment from that for the initial to that for the final
sound of the consonant, it is a speech stammer. Stammer on the
single elementary sounds of speech can be permanently remedied only
by a systematic training of the disobedient organ which occasions it.
The organ must be disciplined to perform the necessary movements
under all conditions of voice, which, accompanied with a general
training of the whole apparatus of speech, conducted on rhythmical
principles, will effectually remove the stammer.
6. Stammer occurs in all three modes of articulation, namely:-
A consonant followed by a vowel, as bee; a vowel followed by a con-
sonant, as ebb; a consonant followed by another consonant, as l of the
word bled.
The difficulty in articulating the elementary sounds of speech to
form syllables, can be permanently remedied only by a systematic
training of the disobedient organs to perform their required move-
ments for the several adjustments of the mouth which are necessary
to articulation. The training must be general and special.
general is a rhythmic training of the whole speech-apparatus; and the
special is a training of the disobedient organ to perform its various
movements in articulation.
The
Our analytic description of stammering reveals three functional
causes of inability to control the muscular movements which are re-
quired for utterance, namely :—
I. Spasm, both of the tetanus and chorea forms. All muscles are
liable to spasm. Spasm of the larynx, the tongue, the lips, and the
masseter muscle, are each sources of stammering.
II. Defect in the associating power, which combines the voluntary
movements of different organs in one simultaneous act, or in an allied
succession of acts. Defective association of vocalisation with respira-
tion will occasion stammer; for perfect association of the voluntary
movements of the larynx with those of the chest are required in utter-
ance. The movements of the larynx and chest are effected by means
of the laryngeal, the recurrent, and the expiratory nerves.
III. Involuntary associate movements; as after mimicking a stam-
merer it has been found that those muscular movements, which in the
mimicry were voluntarily associated with the proper movements of
utterance, have suddenly become linked to them so firmly in allied
motion, that the mimicker is unable to dissociate them, and an actual
stammer results.
The adoption of appropriate remedies for stammering then will
depend on the following conditions, namely:-1. On the part of the
speech-apparatus which is affected; 2. On the cause producing the
stammer; and 3. On the vocal and other conditions under which the
utterance is least affected. The appropriate remedies for each are
treated of in several works on the subject, among which we may men-
tion Thelwall's Letter to Clive on Stammering; Cull's Observations
on Impediments of Speech;' Cull's 'Stammering Considered;' and
J. Hunt's Treatise on the Cure of Stammering.'
C
>
STAMPING, STAMPING PRESS. The important manufacturing
process of stamping will be found sufficiently described in several
foregoing articles in this work; such as BRASS; BUTTON; CHASING;
COPPER; MINT; NEEDLE, &c. In most varieties of the operation, the
substance to be treated is in the form of a thin sheet. The pattern is
781
762
STAMPS, STAMP ACTS.
STANZA.
engraved on two dies, one placed below and one above the plate; and
the impression is given by the upper die being made to fall forcibly
upon, or being forcibly driven into, the plate. The lower die is
generally a reverse of the upper, the one being in cameo and the other
in intaglio; that is, any part of the device which is convex or raised in
the one, is concave or sunk in the other.
STAMPS, STAMP ACTS. Stamps are impressions made upon
paper or parchment by the government or its officers for the purposes
of revenue. They always denote the price of the particular stamp, or
in other words, the tax levied upon a particular instrument stamped,
and sometimes they denote the nature of the instrument itself. If
the instrument is written upon paper, the stamp is impressed in relief
upon the paper itself; but to a parchment instrument the stamp is
attached by paste and a small piece of lead which itself forms part of
the impression. These stamps are easily forged, and at various times
forgeries of them upon a large scale have been discovered. The
punishment for the forgery of stamps was long a capital offence; it is
now punishable by imprisonment or penal servitude.
In France stamps are used both for the authentication of instruments
and as a source of revenue: thus they constitute a large part of the
income of the municipality of Paris.
The stamp tax was first introduced into this country in the reign of
William and Mary, such an impost having previously existed in
Holland. The act 5 W. & M., c. 21, imposes stamps upon grants from
the crown, diplomas, contracts, probates of wills and letters of
administration, and upon all writs, proceedings, and records in courts
of law and equity; it does not however seem to impose stamps upon
deeds, unless these are enrolled in the courts at Westminster or other
courts of record. Two years afterwards, however, conveyances, deeds,
and leases were subjected to the stamp duty, and by a series of acts
in the succeeding reigns every instrument recording a transaction
between two individuals was subjected to a stamp duty before it could
be used in a court of justice. By the 38 Geo. III. chap. 78, a stamp
duty was imposed on newspapers (which was only taken off a few
years ago), [NEWSPAPERS], and by an act of Geo. IV., inventories
and appraisements are required to be stamped. Stamps are also used
as a convenient method of imposing a tax upon a particular class of
persons: thus, articles of apprenticeship are subject to duty, and so
are articles of clerkship to a solicitor. Solicitors and conveyancers are
required to take out annually a stamped certificate, and before a
person commences practice as a physician, an advocate, a barrister-at-
law, or an attorney, he must pay a tax, under the form of a stamp
upon an admission. Notaries public, bankers, pawnbrokers, and others
must obtain a yearly licence in order to exercise their callings.
It is only possible thus generally to point out the nature of the
things subject to stamps, as these have varied frequently, and are
subject indeed to constant change. It is enough to refer to the stamps
on newspapers and letters as an example. And it may be added here
that it is only recently that the system of levying a tax by means of
stamps on legal proceedings has been revived, after having been
abandoned for a great many years.
The general principle which regulates the courts in the interpretation
of the stamp acts is, that on the one hand fraudulent evasion of the
stamp duties shall be punished by forfeiture of all benefit from the
document which ought to have been stamped; and, on the other hand,
that a just claim shall not be evaded or a fraud be effected because the
just claimant has unintentionally violated the stamp laws. Accordingly
almost all instruments requiring stamps (except bills and notes) may
be stamped on payment of a penalty; and all courts of civil justice are
authorised to receive the unstamped instrument when tendered in
evidence, on deposit of the amount of the stamp and penalty. Bills
and notes cannot be stamped after they are made; a provision intended
to prevent fraud in the use of these important instruments of com-
merce.
An unstamped instrument, though in general inadmissible, may be
used as evidence to defeat fraud, and, with certain limitations, to
establish a criminal charge. Thus, where an unstamped agreement
contained matter not requiring a stamp, it was used as evidence of that
matter, although invalid as evidence of the terms of the agreement.
An indictment for forgery likewise may be maintained, although the
instrument forged may be invalid for want of a proper stamp; but
such an invalid instrument is not sufficient to support an indictment
for larceny.
The stamp duties and the custody of the dies are placed under the
superintendence of commissioners, who transact their business in
Somerset House, London. It may not be out of place to remark that
the endeavour to impose stamp duties upon our American colonies
in 1765, was one of the proximate causes of the American revolution.
STANAMYL. [ORGANOMETALLIC BODIES.]
at its point of maximum density, namely, 39°2 Fahr. [SPECIFIO
GRAVITY; HEAT.]
STANDARDS are those trees or shrubs which stand singly, without
being attached to any wall or support. In gardening and planting
they are distinguished into three kinds, the full standard, the half
standard, and the dwarf standard. The full standards are trees whose
stems are suffered to grow seven or eight feet or more without allowing
side branches to be developed, but at this point are allowed to spread
in all directions. In this way most fruit-trees, with the exception of
the vine, may be grown, though many of those of the almond tribe, as
the peach, apricot, &c., are best grown against a wall. The various
kinds of apple, pear, and plum trees are grown as full standards. In
fruit-trees the primary branch or stem is often cut off at a certain
height for the purpose of favouring the lateral growth; but in forest-
trees grown for the sake of timber or for ornament, this treatment is
never resorted to.
Half standards are those plants which are allowed to run up three
or four feet and then permitted to branch out. The height at which
it is desired a tree should branch out may be frequently secured by
cutting off the lower branches up to that point, or by cutting down
the primary branch and allowing the highest lateral branches to de-
velope themselves. Many shrubs grow naturally in this manner, and
when fruit-trees are grown in this way, it is done as a matter of
convenience for gathering the fruit, or ensuring their growth under
particular circumstances.
Dwarf standards are those plants whose stems are only allowed to
reach a height of one or two feet before they are permitted to branch,
and this object is effected in the same manner as in the last. All kinds
of fruit-trees, as apple, pear, plum, and cherry trees, may be grown as
dwarf standards, but these trees do not bear so good fruit under such
treatment as when allowed to grow as half or full standards. Goose-
berry and currant trees are best treated in this way, and when care is
taken to thin them well, they produce by far the finest fruit when
grown as dwarf standards of about a foot high. It is in this way that
the fruit of the gooseberry has been brought to so great perfection in
Lancashire and elsewhere. Many shrubs may be trained as dwarf
standards, although in most instances they are more ornamental when
allowed to grow as bushes with several stems direct from the ground.
STANETHYL. [ORGANOMETALLIC BODIES.]
STANMETHYL." [ORGANOMETALLIC BODIES.]
STANNARY, from the Latin Stannum, "tin." This term some-
times denotes a tin-mine, sometimes the collective tin-mines of a dis-
trict, sometimes the royal rights in respect of tin-mines within such
district. But it is more commonly used as including, by one general
designation, the tin-mines within a particular district, the tinners
employed in working them, and the customs and privileges attached
to the mines, and to those employed in digging and purifying the ore.
The great stannaries of England are those of Devon and Cornwall,
of which the stannary of Cornwall is the more important. The stan-
nary of Cornwall, and also that of Devon, were granted by Edward III.
to the Black Prince, upon the creation of the duchy of Cornwall, and
are perpetually incorporated with that duchy. Both stannaries are
under one duchy-officer, called the lord warden of the stannaries, with
a separate vice-warden for each county.
All tin in Cornwall and Devon, whoever might be the owner of the
land, appears to have formerly belonged to the king, by a usage pecu-
liar to these counties. King John, in 1201, granted a charter to his.
tinners in Cornwall and Devonshire, authorising them to dig tin and
turves to melt the tin anywhere in the moors and in the fees of bishops,
abbots, and earls, as they had been used and accustomed. (Madox,
Exch.,' 279 t, 283 1.) This charter was confirmed by Edward I.,
Richard II., and Henry IV.
In Cornwall the right of digging in other men's land is now regulated
by a peculiar usage, called the custom of bounding. This custom
attaches only to such land as now is or anciently was wastrel, that is,
land open or uninclosed. By this mode the bound-owner acquires a
right to search for and take all the tin he can find, paying the lord of
the soil one-fifteenth, or to permit others to do so; and to resist all
who attempt to interrupt him. The bounds must be renewed annually,
by a bounder employed on behalf of the bound-owner, or the lord may
re-enter.
As part of the stannary rights, the duke of Cornwall, as grantee of
the crown, has or had the pre-emption of tin throughout the county,
a privilege supposed to have been reserved to the crown out of an
original right of property in tin-mines, but which in modern times is
never exercised.
The stannary courts were remodelled by the 6 & 7 Wm. IV. c. 106.
The duties payable to the duke of Cornwall on the stamping or coinage
of tin were abolished by 1 & 2 Vict. c. 120; and further regulations
STANDARD OF MEASURE, &c. [WEIGHT, MEASURE, &c., for these courts were introduced by 2 & 3 Vict. c. 58; and the juris-
STANDARD OF.]
diction was extended, and the procedure amended and improved by
the 18 & 19 Vict. c. 32.
STANNIC ACID. [TIN.]
STANDARD TEMPERATURE AND PRESSURE. In deter-
mining the specific gravity of solids and liquids, the standard of com-
parison is the weight of an equal bulk of distilled water at 60° Fahr. ; STANNIC ETHYLOMETHIDE. [ORGANOMETALLIC BODIES.]
and for gases and vapours atmospheric air is the standard at 60° Fahr., STANZA (Stance, in French), an Italian word which means room or
and under a pressure of 30 inches. In France the standard tempera- dwelling-place, is used in poetry to designate certain parts or divisions
ture is 0°C. (32° Fahr.), and the pressure is 760 millimêtres, or 29.922 of a poem, each forming a complete period within itself, and consisting
inches. The unit of density is the volume of an equal bulk of water, | of a number of lines regularly adjusted to each other, and containing
763
STAPHISAGRIA.
every variation of measure or rhyme which is to be found in the whole
poem. There is a great variety of stanzas in the poetry of modern
languages, according to the rhythm and structure of the poem.
There
""
is the terzina of three lines, used chiefly by the Italians and Spaniards;
the quartetto (quatrain, in French) of four lines; the sestina, "sixain,'
of six lines; the ottava, consisting of eight lines, used in epics, &c.
Each of these is susceptible of various combinations of measure and
rhyme.
STAPHISAGRIA, or STAVESACRE, the seeds of the Delphinium
staphisagria. [DELPHINIUM, in NAT. HIST. DIV.] Stavesacre seeds
are not now used internally: when introduced into the stomach they
cause vomiting, purging, and local ulceration of the intestines, and they
may even produce serious general effects. When powdered, they are
employed externally for the destruction of lice, or they are dissolved
in vinegar and made into an ointment, which is employed for the cure
of scabies, which it is said to effect in seven or eight days, and which
has found favour in the eyes of some persons, as it does not stain the
linen, nor have the unpleasant smell of sulphur. Its external applica-
tion to abraded surfaces is not free from danger. The only case in
which its employment is justifiable is, not to remove, but cause revul-
sion of, the cutaneous eruption, when, by its sudden drying up, the
internal organs are oppressed, as, like most ranunculaceous plants, it
causes acute inflammation and pustulation of the skin. It contains
an alkaloid, delphine [DELPHINE], which is a powerful sedative against
rheumatic and neuralgic pains. Its internal use requirès great caution,
and still more its external use as a lotion or ointment, as its absorption
through chaps, cracks, or ulcerated places, makes an impression on the
nervous system more dangerous than when taken into the stomach. A
volatile acid also exists in it, which is powerfully emetic. As this is
dissipated at a low temperature, decoction is an objectionable form of
administration.
STAPLE," anciently written estaple, cometh," says Lord Coke," of
the French word estape, which signifies a mart or market.” It appears
to have been used to indicate those marts both in this country and at
Bruges, Antwerp, Calais, &c., on the Continent, where the principal
products of a country were sold. Probably in the first instance these
were held at such places as possessed some conveniences of situation
for the purpose. Afterwards they appear to have been confirmed, or
others appointed for the purpose by the authorities of the country. On
the Continent in the staple-towns the goods had to be offered there for
sale, and if not bought within a prescribed time might be again
exported on payment of a certain toll, and the towns had to provide
warehouses where the goods were to be deposited. This rule, how
ever, has been materially modified, and in many cases abolished. In
England the arrangement of the staple was made by the king
(2 Edw. III. c. 9). All merchandise sold for the purpose of exporta-
tion was compelled either to be sold at the staple, or afterwards
brought there before exportation. This was done with the double
view of accommodating the foreign merchants, and also enabling
the duties on exportation to be more conveniently and certainly
collected. Afterwards the word staple was applied to the merchandise
itself which was sold at the staple. The staple merchandise of
England at these early times, when little manufacture was carried
on here, is said by Lord Coke to have been wool, woulfells or sheep-
skins, leather, lead, and tin. Incident to the staple was a court
called "the court of the mayor of the staple." This court was
held for the convenience of the merchants, both native and foreign,
attending the staple. It was of great antiquity; the date of its com-
mencement does not appear to have been certainly known. Many
early enactments exist regulating the proceedings at the staple and
the court held there. Most of these were passed during the reigns
of the two Edwards, the first and the third of that name. These
kings appear to have been extremely anxious to facilitate and
encourage foreign commerce in this kingdom; and by these statues
great immunities and privileges are given, especially to foreign, but
also to native merchants attending the staple. The first enactment of
importance is called the statute of merchants, or the statute of Acton-
Burnel, and was passed in the 11th year of Edw. I. A.D. 1283.
[ACTON-BURNEL, STATUTE OF.] But the statute more expressly
directed to this subject was passed in the 27th year of Edw. III.
cap. 8, and is entitled the Statute of Staple. One object of it was to
remove the staple, previously held at Calais, to various towns in
England, Wales, and Ireland, which are appointed by the statute
itself.
Matters connected with the staple were not subject to the cognisance
of the king's courts, and the king's officers were prohibited from inter-
fering in places where the staple was held. The court consisted of a
mayor, who was to be acquainted with the law merchant, and was
elected every year by the merchants attending the staple, both native
and foreign; he was attended by two constables, also elected by the
merchants, and who held their office for life. Two alien merchants,
one, as the statute says, " towards the north," probably a German, "the
other towards the south," Italian, were to be chosen to be associate in
judgment with the mayor and constables, and also six mediators of
questions between buyers and sellers. Of these six persons, two
were to be Germans, two Lombards, and two English.
In matters of doubt reference was to be had to the privy council.
The mayors, sheriffs, and bailiffs of the towns where the staple was held,
|
STAR, DOUBLE STAR.
764
or there adjoining, were also to attend the mayor and ministers of the
staple to execute their commands. Complaints against the mayors
were to be redressed by the chancellor and others of the privy
council. A prison also was to be provided for the use of the staple,
and the mayor and constables had power given them to keep the peace,
and to arrest and imprison, their authority extending throughout the
town in which the staple was held and the suburbs of it.
The law administered in the court of the staple, so far as regarded
all matters connected with the staple, was the law merchant [LEX
MERCATORIA], and not the common law of the land, nor the custom of
the place. If both parties in a suit were foreigners, all the jury were
to be foreigners. If one party was native, the other foreign, the jury
was to be half native, half foreign. Upon the judgment of the court
execution was to be done in the manner provided for by the statute
merchant. The statute contains various other enactments relating to
the internal regulations of the staple.
Several other statutes were passed in the same and succeeding
reigns, in some respects confirming, in others altering the provisions
of the leading statute. As commerce became more extended, the
staples appear to have fallen into disuse. Lord Coke, a great
worshipper of antiquity, complains that in his time the staple had
become a shadow; we have only now, he says, stapulam umbratilem,
whereas it was formerly said that wealth followed the staple. The
practice, however, of taking recognisances by statute staple, from
the many advantages attending them, long continued. (11 Edw. I.;
27 Edw. III. caps. 1, 3, to 6, 8, 9; 2 Inst. 322; Com. Dig. tit.
'Stat. Staple;' 2 Saund. by Wms. 69; Reeves, Hist. Eng. Law, v. 2,
pp. 161, 393.)
A
STAR, DOUBLE STAR. We distinguish the stars from the planets
in much the same way as our ancestors did before us, though there is
hardly one point of difference which is now left to its full extent.
contemporary of the publication of the 'Principia' (1687), engaged in
writing an article like the present, would have stated that the only
notion out of which antiquity described a star was derived from its
fixedness in the heavens; to which he would have added that these
stars present no appearance of systematic arrangement, that their dis-
tance is too great to be measured, and that they exert no sensible
attraction on the solar system. Not one point of this is now left except
the last: the speculation described in MILKY WAY gives a high pro-
bability to the theory that the universe is a collection of vast systems
of stars; observations of double stars have rendered it certain that
many organised systems, regulated by mutual attraction, exist in
space, besides our solar system; it is fully established that numbers of
stars, once called fixed, have slow motion of their own in the heavens;
and in a few instances at least there is no room left for doubt that
[PARALLAX OF THE FIXED STARS] the distance of the stars has been
approximately ascertained. That no discoverable effect of attraction
upon our system can be traced, is the only point in which the stellar
astronomy of our own day coincides to the full extent with that of the
time of Newton.
The apparent motions of the stars are first to be cleared of the effects
of PRECESSION AND NUTATION, and also of ABERRATION, which depend
on motions of our earth, as well as of the grand diurnal revolution.
From the REFRACTION of our atmosphere, and from the various
casualties to which the rays of light are subject in passing through it,
proceed, besides the increase of apparent altitude alluded to in the
article cited, a great many varieties of colour and general appearance,
particularly that decided size which most of the stars appear to have.
A good telescope reduces this phenomenon very much, in favourable
states of the atmosphere; but even these instruments are not so per-
fect as to show the stars to be what there is no doubt they ought to be,
mere luminous points. If the apparent diameter of 61 Cygni, the
earth's atmosphere being entirely removed, were only one-third of a
second, or one-thirtieth of that of Venus when smallest, it is now
known that the diameter of that star must be equal to that of the
earth's orbit.
Independently of relative position, the stars are distinguished by
their colour and quantity of light, on which last in a great degree
depends their apparent magnitude. A casual observer would hardly
think that there was any difference of colour between one and another;
but a little practice shows that a tinge of one or another colour pre-
dominates a little in the nearly white light which all the stars have in
common; and a good telescope gives some stars an appearance which
observers have not scrupled to call "blood-red." And when the two
stars of a close double star are together in the field of a telescope, it
most frequently happens that each star differs sensibly in colour from
the other. But when we look at a star, we must remember that we
see only the result of the treatment which its light has received from
the atmosphere; and with a telescope the matter is in some respects
worse, for there is no object glass which forms anything like a real
image. "When we look at a bright star," says Sir John Herschel,
"through a very good telescope with a low magnifying power, its
appearance is that of a condensed brilliant mass of light, of which it is
impossible to discern the shape for the brightness; and which, let the
goodness of the telescope be what it will, is seldom free from some
small ragged appendages or rays. But when we apply a magnifying
power from 200 to 300, the star is then seen (in favourable circum-
stances of tranquil atmosphere, uniform temperature, &c.) as a per-
765
760
STAR, DOUBLE STAR.
STAR-CHAMBER.
fectly round well-defined planetary disc, surrounded by two, three, or
more alternately dark and bright rings, which, if examined attentively,
are seen to be slightly coloured at their borders. They succeed each
other nearly at equal intervals round the central disc, and are usually
much better seen, and more regularly and perfectly formed, in
refracting than in reflecting telescopes. The central disc too is much
larger in the former than in the latter description of telescope. These
discs were first noticed by Sir William Herschel, who first applied
sufficiently high magnifying powers to telescopes to render them
visible. They are not the real bodies of the stars, which are infinitely
too remote to be ever visible with any magnifiers we can apply; but
spurious or unreal images, resulting from optical causes, which are
still to a certain degree obscure." The various appearances of stars,as
seen in telescopes, particularly the resolution of stars which appear
single into two or more, render them excellent objects, when classified,
for the examination of the power and goodness of these instruments.
Such a classification was made by Sir J. Herschel (Mem. Astron.
Soc.'); and the paper is reprinted at the end of the explanation (pub-
lished separately) of the maps of the stars published by the Society
for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge.
The magnitude of a star is a notion formed by observers as to the
apparent quantity of light which comes from them, on which they are
divided into classes. Those which are visible to the naked eye are
usually divided into six magnitudes, which, according to W. Herschel,
emit quantities of light which are (roughly) in about the proportions of
the numbers 100, 25, 12, 6, 2, and 1. But though practical astronomers
are tolerably well agreed as to the mode of naming most of the prin-
cipal stars in respect of magnitude, there are many about which they
differ, and some as to which it is tolerably well known that the order
of magnitude which adherence to old catalogues still procures for them,
is not that which would have been given had they been new stars
named in our day. The magnitudes of stars are in fact rather inde-
terminate after the first and second. An astronomer would hardly say
that an appearance was like a star of the "first or second" magnitude;
the difference of the two is too well established, though as to the
fainter stars of the first magnitude, and the brighter ones of the
second, there may be little to choose between them. But it is very
common to speak of an appearance as being of the "second or third,"
"third or fourth," &c., magnitude, showing that the distinction between
one magnitude and the next is not then very prominent. Sir John
Herschel and Professor Struve, the two most assiduous observers of
small magnitudes, usually differ (Mem. Astron. Soc.,' vol. iii. p. 180)
about a magnitude in their estimation of one star with another, from
and below Struve's fourth or Herschel's fifth magnitude, down to
Struve's twelfth or Herschel's thirteenth. When therefore the reader,
who is no astronomer, hears of the constant reference to stars of all
magnitudes down to the sixteenth, he must look upon it as a rough
mode of estimating the relative brilliancies of the stars, in which a
numerical nomenclature is far from being held to imply numerical
accuracy.
Some stars (perhaps all) are variable in their magnitudes, and with
periodical regularity, which is perhaps to be attributed to the effect of
revolution round their axes; it being imaginable that different parts
of a star should give different kinds or quantities of light, either or
both. [VARIABLE STARS.]
There are a few instances in which a sudden appearance of a new
star is recorded, followed, after a time, by its disappearance. Such a
phenomenon made an astronomer, it is said, of Hipparchus; and
certainly the star which appeared in Cassiopeia in 1572 was the intro-
duction of Tycho Brahe to the character of a public astronomer.
[BRAHE, TYCHO, in BIOG. DIV.] Tycho Brahe himself thought, from
historical evidence, that a star had appeared in Cassiopeia in 945 and
1264, that of his own time being in 1572, from which, if the historical
evidence be correct, a new star might be expected to appear in that
constellation in 1872 or thereabouts. But, on examining his evidence,
we find it exceedingly vague and deficient in antiquity. (Comp. to
Maps of the Stars,' p. 86.)
It has been reasonably supposed that those stars which have most
motion are comparatively near to the earth, and when it was requisite to
choose a double star for the determination of the question of PARALLAX,
61 Cygni was selected, as being a star with a large proper motion; in
fact, its right ascension alters yearly 5" 46, and its declination 3" 19.
The experiment turned out favourably, and the parallax was discovered,
and with it (roughly) the distance of the star from the solar system.
And though light takes more than ten years to travel from this star
to the earth, at the rate of two hundred thousand miles a second; yet,
so far from this being anything enormous, it rather cuts down the
idea which was entertained of the distance of these bodies. The
absence of all parallax, in spite of repeated efforts to obtain it, made
many speculations upon the possibility of the nearest starlight being
hundreds of years in reaching us. Among other stars which have a
decided proper motion, we may notice Sirius, Procyon, 61 Virginis,
a Bootis, A Ophiuchi, p Ophiuchi, and u Cassiopeia.
The particular objects which are seen in the heavens are stars,
simple points of light, and nebula, patches of an appearance of cloudy
light. Single stars, under the telescope, very frequently become
double, triple, quadruple, or even a large cluster; nebulæ are in some
cases found to consist entirely of stars, but many remain which either
are not composed of stars, or will not show themselves as such to the
power of our present telescopes. It is necessary to say, in speaking of
double stars, that they have been long known to exist, and that scores
of observers have been diligently employed upon them during the last
century and a half.
When two stars are so close together that the naked eye shows them
only as one, it is possible that the coincidence may be merely optical;
that is, that the lines of their directions may be so close as to make an
apparent coincidence, such as takes place between the sun and moon
in an eclipse of the former, though the real distances may be very
great. Such optical coincidence is suspected in various double stars,
but only a long course of observation can settle the suspicion in either
way. But it is now found that many double stars are connected with
each other by the law of gravitation, each revolving in an ellipse about
their common centre of gravity, and showing every evidence of each
being retained by the other, according to the Newtonian law of gravi-
tation. The following stars, y Leonis, e Bootis, (Herculis, & Serpentis,
and y Virginis, were made out to be revolving double stars, by W.
Herschel, in 1803. He had been examining these pairs under the
idea of detecting the parallax from them, and in so doing he recognised
their changes of relative position. Since that time, Castor, & Ursæ,
70 Ophiuchi, σ Coronæ, n Coronæ, & Bootis, n Cassiopeia, 8 Cygni,
μ Bootis, e (4) and € (5) Lyræ, A Ophiuci, μ Draconis, Aquarii,
Cancri, and others, have been added to the list. The periods of
revolution of several have been determined, ranging from 43 to 1200
years, and the other elements of several orbits have been established.
The star 7 Coronæ has completed a revolution since it was first
observed.
The most interesting of double stars is y Virginis. When observed
by Herschel in 1780, the distance between the two constituent stars
amounted to 5"66. Henceforward it continued gradually to decrease,
until at length, in 1836, the two stars had approached so close as to
appear like one star even when observed in the best telescopes. From
that time the two stars have been slowly opening out from each other,
until they are now nearly 4" apart. The orbit of this double star has
been computed by several astronomers, including among these Sir
John Herschel, who has found the period of revolution to be 182 years.
The orbits of a considerable number of double stars have been com-
puted in recent years, a list of which will be found in Herschel's
Outlines of Astronomy' and other similar works. The most dis-
tinguished observers of double stars besides the elder Herschel have
been Sir John Herschel, Sir James South, the Rev. Mr. Dawes, and
Admiral Smyth, in this country; and on the continent the elder
Struve, Bessel, Professor Mädler, Otto Struve and Professor Secchi.
The labours of the elder Struve in this field of astronomical observa-
tion exceed in magnitude and importance those of any other
astronomer.
STAR-CHAMBER. The Star-Chamber is said to have been in
early times one of the apartments of the king's palace at West-
minster allotted for the despatch of public business. The Painted
Chamber, the White Chamber, and the Chambre Markolph, were
occupied by the triers and receivers of petitions, and the king's council
held its sittings in the Camera Stellata, or Chambre des Estoylles,
which was so called probably from some remarkable feature in its
architecture or embellishment. According to Sir Thomas Smith's
conjecture "either because it was full of windows, or because at the
first all the roofe thereof was decked with images or starres gilded."
(Commonwealth of England,' book iii. cap. 4.) Sir William Black-
stone proposes a conjecture that the chamber received its name from
its having been a place of deposit for the contracts of the Jews, called
"Itarrs,” under an ordinance of Richard I. (Blackstone's 'Commenta-
ries,' vol. iv. p. 266, note.) Whatever may be the etymology of the
term, there can be little doubt that the court of Star-Chamber derived
its name from the place in which it was holden. "The lords sitting in
the Star-Chamber" is used as a well-known phrase in records of the
time of Edward III., and the name became permanently attached to
the jurisdiction, and continued long after the local situation of the
court was changed.
The judicature of the court of Star-Chamber appears to have origi-
nated in the exercise of a criminal and civil jurisdiction by the king's
council, or by that section of it which Lord Hale calls the Consilium
Ordinarium, in order to distinguish it from the Privy Council, who
were the deliberative advisers of the crown. (Hale's Jurisdiction of
the Lords' House,' chap. v.; Palgrave's Essay on the Original Autho-
rity of the King's Council.') This exercise of jurisdiction by the
king's council was considered as an encroachment upon the common
law, and being the subject of frequent complaint by the Commons,
was greatly abridged by several acts of parliament in the reign of
Edward III. It was discouraged also by the common-law judges,
although they were usually members of the council; and from the joint
operation of these and some other causes the power of the Consilium
Regis as a court of justice had materially declined previously to the
reign of Henry VII., although, as Lord Hale observes, there remain
some straggling footsteps of their proceeding" till near that time.
The statute of the 3 Henry VII. c. 1, empowered the chancellor, trea-
surer, and keeper of the privy-seal, or any two of them, calling to
them a bishop and temporal lord of the council and the two chief
justices, or two other justices in their absence (to whom the president
767
STAR-CHAMBER.
of the council was added by stat. 21 Henry VIII., c. 20), upon bill or
information exhibited to the lord chancellor or any other, against any
person for maintenance, giving of liveries, and retainers by indentures
or promises, or other embraceries, untrue demeanings of sheriffs in
making panels and other untrue returns, for taking of money by juries,
or for great riots or unlawful assemblies, to call the offenders before
them and examine them, and punish them according to their demerits.
The object and effect of this enactment are extremely doubtful. It
appears to have been the opinion of the courts of law at the time the
statute was passed that it established a new jurisdiction, entirely
distinct from the ordinary jurisdiction of the council; for five years
afterwards, in the eighth year of Henry VII., it was resolved by all
the judges, according to the plain words of the law, that the only
judges of the court under the statute were the lord chancellor, the
treasurer, and the keeper of the privy-seal, the bishop and temporal
lord being merely "called to them " as assistants or assessors, and not
as constituent members of the court. (Year Book,' 8 Hen. VII., 13,
pl. 7.) This view of the effect of the statute is confirmed by the fact
that, more than forty years afterwards, the president of the council
was expressly added to the judges of the court by the statute 21
Henry VIII., c. 20; “ a decisive proof," as Mr. Hallam observes "that
it then existed as a tribunal perfectly distinct from the council itself."
('Constitutional History,' vol. i., p. 70.) And this writer concludes a
careful examination of the subject by the following propositions:
1. The court erected by the statute of 3 Henry VII. was not the
court of Star-Chamber, 2. This court by statute subsisted in full force
till beyond the middle of Henry VIII.'s reign, but not long afterwards
went into disuse. 3. The court of Star-Chamber was the old Concilium
Ordinarium, against whose jurisdiction many statutes had been enacted
from the time of Edward III. 4. No part of the jurisdiction exercised
by the Star-Chamber could be maintained on the authority of the
statute of Henry VII." In the first of these propositions, Mr. Hallam
confirmed by Hudson, in his ' Treatise of the Court of Star-Chamber.'
('Collectanea Juridica,' vol. ii. p. 50.) On the other hand, both Lord
Coke and Lord Hale consider the statute of Henry VII. as having
merely introduced a modification of the ancient jurisdiction.
former calls the above resolution of the common-law judges "a sudden
opinion," and says it is "contrary to law and continual experience."
And he contends that the statute did not create a new court, but was
merely declaratory of the mode of proceeding in an ancient court, pre-
viously known and recognised. (Fourth Institute,' p. 62.) Lord
Hale also speaks of the "erection of the court of Star-Chamber by the
stat. 3 Henry VII.," and says it "was a kind of remodelling of the
Consilium Regis." (Jurisdiction of the Lords' House,' chap. v., p. 35.)
However this may have been, there is no doubt that, previously to the
time of Coke, this court, whether distinct or only a modification of
the ancient jurisdiction, had again merged in the general jurisdiction
of the lords of the council so completely as to justify his statement,
that the opinion expressed in the judicial resolution was contrary to
continual experience." Sir Thomas Smith, who wrote his Treatise on
the Commonwealth of England' in the year 1565, makes no mention of
a limited court, though he treats particularly of the court of Star-
Chamber, and says that the judges were the lord chancellor, the lord
treasurer, all the king's council, and all peers of the realm; and he
ascribes the merit of having renewed the vigour of the court to
Cardinal Wolsey. At the beginning of the reign of Elizabeth, there-
fore, the court of Star-Chamber was unquestionably in full operation
in the form in which it was known in the succeeding reigns; and at
this period, before it had degenerated into a mere engine of state, it
was by no means destitute of utility. It was the only court in the
land in which great and powerful offenders had no means of setting at
defiance the administration of justice or corrupting its course. And
during the reign of Elizabeth, when the jurisdiction of the Star-
Chamber had reached its maturity, it seems, except in political cases,
to have been administered with wisdom and discretion. (Palgrave's
Essay on the King's Council.')
The
The proceedings in the court of Star-Chamber were by information,
or bill and answer; interrogatories in writing were also exhibited to
the defendant and witnesses, which were answered on oath. The
attorney-general had the power of exhibiting ex-officio informations;
as had also the king's almoner to recover deodands and goods of a felo-
de-se, which were supposed to go in support of the king's alms. In
cases of confession by accused persons, the information and proceedings
were oral, and hence arose one of the most oppressive abuses of the
court in political prosecutions. The proceeding by written information
and interrogatories was tedious and troublesome, often involving much
nicety in pleading, and always requiring a degree of precision in setting
forth the accusation which was embarrassing in a state prosecution.
It was with a view to these difficulties that Lord Bacon discouraged
the king from adopting this mode of proceeding in the matter of the
pursuivants, saying that "the Star-Chamber without confession was
long seas.' (Bacon's 'Works,' vol. iii. p. 372.) In political charges,
therefore, the attorney-general derived a great advantage over the
accused by proceeding ore tenus. The consequence was, that no pains
were spared to procure confessions, and pressure of every kind,
including torture, was unscrupulously applied. According to the laws
of the court, no person could be orally charged, unless he acknowledged
his confession at the bar, "freely and voluntarily, without constraint."
"}
STAR-CHAMBER.
768
(Hudson's Treatise of the Court of Star-Chamber.') But this check
upon confessions improperly obtained seems to have been much neg-
lected in practice during the later periods of the history of this court.
Upon admissions of immaterial circumstances thus aggravated and
distorted into confessions of guilt, the Earl of Northumberland was
prosecuted ore tenus in the Star-Chamber, for being privy to the Gun-
powder Plot, and was sentenced to pay a fine of 30,000l. and to be
imprisoned for life; "but by what rule," says Hudson ('Coll. Jurid.,'
vol. ii.), "that sentence was, I know not, for it was ore tenus, and yet
not upon confession." And it frequently happened during the last
century of the existence of the Star-Chamber, that enormous fines,
imprisonments for life or during the king's pleasure, banishment, muti-
lation, and every variation of punishment short of death, were inflicted
by a court composed of members of the king's council, upon a mere
oral proceeding, without hearing the accused, without a written charge
or record of any kind, and without appeal.
The judges of the court of Star-Chamber were the lord chancellor or
lord keeper, who presided, and when the voices were equal gave a
casting vote, the lord treasurer, the lord privy seal, and the president
of the council, who were members of the court ex officio, probably by
usage since the statute of 3 Henry VII. In addition to these, were
associated, in early periods of the history of the court, any peers of
the realm who chose to attend.
the realm who chose to attend. According to Sir Thomas Smith, the
judges in his time were the "lord chancellor, the lord treasurer, all
the king's majesty's council, and the barons of this land." ("Common-
wealth of England,' h. iii. c. 5.) Hudson states that the number of
attendant judges "in the reigns of Henry VII. and Henry VIII. have
been well near to forty; at some one time thirty; in the reign of
Queen Elizabeth often times, but now (that is, in the time of James I.)
much lessened, since the barons and earls, not being privy councillors,
have forborne their attendance." He further states, that "in the times
of Henry VII. and Henry VIII. the court was most commonly
frequented by seven or eight bishops and prelates every sitting-day;
and adds, "that in those times, the fines trenched not to the destruc-
tion of the offender's estate, and utter ruin of him and his prosperity,
as now they do, but to his correction and amendment, the clergy's
song being of mercy." (Coll. Jurid.,' vol. ii., p. 36.) The settled
course during the latter part of the reign of Elizabeth and the
reigns of James I. and Charles I. seems to have been to admit only
such peers as judges of the court as were members of the privy
council.
??
The civil jurisdiction of the Star-Chamber comprehended mercantile
controversies between English and foreign merchants, testamentary
causes, and differences between the heads and commonalty of corpo-
rations, both lay and spiritual. The court also disposed of the claims
of the king's almoner to deodands, as above referred to, and also such
claims as were made by subjects to deodands and catalla felonum by
virtue of charters from the crown. The criminal jurisdiction of the
court was very extensive. If the king chose to remit the capital
punishment, the court bad jurisdiction to punish as crimes even
treason, murder, and felony. Under the comprehensive name of con-
tempts of the king's authority, all offences against the state were
included. Forgery, perjury, riots, maintenance, embracery, fraud,
libels, conspiracy, and false accusation, misconduct by judges, justices
of the peace, sheriffs, jurors, and other persons connected with the
administration of justice, were all punishable in the Star-Chamber.
It was also usual for the judges of assize previously to their circuits
to repair to the Star-Chamber, and there to receive from the court
directions respecting the enforcement or restraint of penal laws.
Numerous instances of this unwarrantable interference with the ad-
ministration of the criminal law occur with reference to the statutes
against recusants in the reigns of Elizabeth and James I.
A court of criminal judicature, composed of the immediate agents
of prerogative, possessing a jurisdiction very extensive, and at the
same time imperfectly defined, and authorised to inflict any amount
of punishment short of death, must, even when best administered,
have always been viewed with apprehension and distrust; and, accord-
ingly, in the earlier periods of its history we find constant remon
strances by the Commons against its encroachments. As civilisation,
knowledge, and power increased among the people, the jurisdiction
of the lords of the council became more odious and intolerable. A
measure which was introduced into the House of Commons in the last
parliament of Charles I., to limit and regulate the authority of this
court, terminated in a proposal for its entire abolition, which was
eventually adopted without opposition in both houses. The statute
16 Car. I. c. 10, after reciting Magna Charta and several early statutes
in support of the ordinary system of judicature by the common law,
goes on to state that "the judges of the Star-Chamber had not kept
themselves within the points limited by the statute 3 Henry VII., but
had undertaken to punish where no law warranted, and to make
decrees having no such authority, and to inflict heavier punishments
than by any law was warranted; and that the proceedings, censures,
and decrees of that court had by experience been found to be an in-
tolerable burthen to the subjects, and the means to introduce an
arbitrary power and government." The statute then enacts, "that the
said court called the Star-Chamber, and all jurisdiction, power, and
authority belonging unto or exercised in the same court, or by any of
the judges, officers, or ministers thereof, should be clearly and abso-
769
770
STAR-FORT.
STARCH.
lutely dissolved, taken away, and determined, and that all statutes
giving such jurisdiction should be repealed.”
STAR-FORT, a kind of redout inclosing an area, and having its
lines of rampart or parapet disposed, on the plan, in directions making
with each other angles which are alternately salient and re-entering, as
a star is usually represented. This construction is adopted when the
work is intended to contain, for some time, the stores of an army, or
to secure some important part of the position which the army occupies.
The magistral line of the work may be traced by first laying down a
polygonal figure, regular or irregular, as the ground may permit, and
then upon each of its sides forming an equilateral triangle: the interior
capacity and the quantity of fire will evidently be increased as the
polygon has a greater number of sides; but the importance of the work
is seldom so great as to render it necessary to form it on a polygon
superior to a hexagon or an octagon; and the latter polygon, while it
admits of being easily traced, allows the re-entering angles between the
sides of the triangles to have a degree of obtuseness sufficient to avoid
the risk that the defenders of the faces on each side of such an angle
might fire upon one another. As it is found that soldiers fire nearly
perpendicularly to the face of the parapet behind which they stand, a
greater obtuseness would cause the lines of fire to diverge so far from
the direction of the adjacent face as to prevent the ditch of the latter
from being effectually flanked.
A star-fort on an octagon may, if the ground is level, be traced by
laying down a square, and, upon the middle of each of its sides, an
equilateral triangle, whose base is one-third of the length of such side;
or, more regularly, by transferring half the diagonal of the square to
each side, from the four angles; the distances between the extremities
of these half diagonals are the sides of an equilateral octagon, and upon
these sides equilateral triangles may be formed. The subjoined cut
represents the magistral line of half a star-fort with eight points, con-
structed in this last manner. If the polygon had more than twelve
sides, the re-entering angles would be acute; and, agreeably to the
above supposition concerning the direction in which soldiers fire, the
defenders on the adjacent faces might annoy one another.
That the fire of musketry may be sufficiently effective, it is con-
sidered proper that the lengths of the several faces should not be less
than thirty yards; and a star-fort whose faces are of much greater
|
position of the hilum, are always the same in any one kind of starch,
but vary considerably in starch from various sources; the microscope
is therefore of considerable aid in detecting the admixture of an inferior
with a superior variety, and in determining the origin of a starch.
Starch is insoluble in, and but very slightly acted upon by, cold
water; nor is it really soluble in hot water. When, however, it is
heated with twenty or thirty times its weight of water its granules
swell and finally burst; if the whole be diluted and set aside, the rent
walls of the granules subside to the bottom of the containing vessel,
while their contents are so thoroughly mixed with the water that the
two can only be separated by very tedious processes. Starch is also
insoluble in alcohol or ether. Acids and alkalies, even when cold and
highly diluted, cause it to swell and form a paste and finally convert
it into dextrin. Air-dried starch usually contains about eighteen per
cent. of water; if more than this is present the starch has a tendency
to agglutinate when pressed between the finger and thumb; moreover,
when projected on to a metal plate heated to 212° Fahr., it agglo-
merates into hard lumps forming a sort of artificial tapioca, no such
effect being produced if it has been properly air-dried. Exposed in
vacuo at a temperature of 60° Fahr., the amount of water is reduced to
fifteen per cent. (C12H10010, 2Aq.) and at 260° Fahr. to the minimum of
eight and a half per cent. (CH10010). At a higher heat than this,
starch is converted into dextrin.
Starch combines with certain bases, the compounds have been
termed amylates; that of lead contains (C,H¸0, + 2PbO).
12
Test for Starch.-Free iodine communicates a deep blue colour to
starch. The resulting body is called iodide of starch, but its con-
stitution has not yet been satisfactorily ascertained. The colour
disappears if the iodine be in excess, if the mixture be boiled, or if any
unstable organic matter, such as urine, be added to it. By bringing
iodide of starch into contact with yeast, M. Duroy has lately obtained
what he calls colourless iodide of starch, a sweet, gummy, uncrystal-
lisable neutral substance, very soluble in water, but insoluble in
alcohol.
The amount of starch in various vegetables varies as they progress
towards maturity, and is much influenced by soil and climate.
Per cent.
Wheat
Potatoes
Rice
•
contains about 60
Beans
20
Peas
""
83
Buckwheat
""
Rye
60
Indian corn.
""
Oats
37
Horse-chestnut
">
Barley.
64
""
Per cent.
contains about 37

$8
41
66
25
20
length is capable of containing a garrison more numerous than that
which would be required for the end proposed by such a work. A
star-fort with six or eight points has a great advantage over a simple
redout, though its construction is less simple: the crossing fires from
the faces seriously impede the advance of the enemy towards the salient
points; and the assailants, in passing the ditch, are completely exposed
to the view of the defenders.
During the Seven Years' War, the king of Prussia's intrenched camp
at Jauernick contained a star-fort on a rising ground in its centre, from
whence the movements of the Austrians could be observed; and in this
work the king's tent was pitched. The position taken up on the Nivelle
by Marshal Soult, while the British army was acting in the south of
France (1813), was protected by a strong star-fort. The work was
constructed on a terrace below the summit of a mountain called the
Smaller Rhune, and was intended to defend the entrance of a ravine.
A platform below the summit of a ridge of high ground near the
Bidassoa was, in like manner, fortified by a star-fort.
STARCH (CH10010). Fecula; Amidon; Amylaceous matter.-The
substance known in commerce and in domestic life as starch, is usually
prepared from wheaten flour. Starch, however, exists in abundance in
very many other vegetables, so that, strictly speaking, the term is a
generic one. The flour of barley, oats, rye, arrow-root, sago, tapioca,
rice; the greater part of the common potato, harico bean, lentil,
maize, millet, &c., is starch. The starch from these various sources is
identical so far as composition is concerned; the elements carbon,
hydrogen, and oxygen exist in exactly similar proportions in all. As
usually met with, the several varieties differ somewhat in taste, but
this is probably owing to admixture of traces of volatile oil. [ESSENTIAL
OILS, of Starch.] They appear also to slightly differ from each other
in capability of assimilation when taken as food; a fact not yet satis-
factorily accounted for.
To the naked eye starch presents a white glistening appearance, and
seems to be an aggregation of small shapeless particles. By the aid of
the microscope, however, it is seen to consist of beautiful regular ovoid
granules; and under a magnifying power of from two to five hundred
diameters, each granule is found to be marked by à series of circles
converging from the circumference to a point termed the hilum. The
size of the granule, the distinctness of the concentric lines, and the
ARTS AND SOI, DIV. VOL. VII.
Arrowroot tuber
Wheat Starch.-Wheaten flour is mixed with water and exposed
to the air, with occasional stirring, for several weeks. During this
time a portion of the gluten of the flour undergoes putrefaction:
fermentation is set up, and some of the starch is converted into
carbonic acid and alcohol, acetic and lactic acids are also formed.
During this change an exceedingly unpleasant prutrescent odour is
given off from the mass; the starch, however, ultimately subsides in
the pure state, and colourless, the other matters with which it was
mixed in the flour, as well as some products of decomposition, remain-
ing in solution or floating on the surface as a scum, called slimes or
flummery. The latter was formerly given to pigs for food, but is now
used by the calico-printer as a resist paste. The peculiar, but well-
known columnar appearance of wheat starch, as met with in commerce,
is acquired during the drying opertion. The moist starch is cut up
into blocks about six inches square, and placed in carefully heated
stoves; as the water evaporates the masses shrink and split up into
the characteristic irregular fragments.
A preferable method of extracting starch from wheat-flour has lately
been introduced by Mr. Martin. It consists in kneading the flour into
dough with water, and then washing on a sieve in a stream of water.
The starch is thus washed out, and nearly all the gluten remains
behind as a sticky mass. Slight fermentation is induced in the wash-
ings, whereby the remaining portions of gluten are destroyed, and the
starch is then dried. The gum-like gluten educed in this process is
dried, ground, and sold as semolina, or is mixed with flour and made
into maccaroni and similar pastes.
Potato Starch, now largely manufactured on the Continent, is readily
obtained from the washed and rasped or grated potatoes by simple
kneading of the pulp in a stream of water on an inclined plate or fine
sieve; the starch is carried off by the water, is allowed to subside, and
after one or two washings by decantation, is drained in boxes lined
with felt, and dried on floors of plaster of Paris. Potato starch does
not, in drying, assume the columnar form characteristic of wheat
starch.
Rice Starch. For the preparation of this variety the rice is macerated
for twenty-four hours in a very weak alkaline solution, composed of
nearly half an ounce of caustic soda to a gallon of water; it is then
washed, drained, reduced to a pulp, and again macerated in a fresh
quantity of soda-ley; after brisk agitation and a short repose the
liquor, still containing the starch in suspension, is poured off from the
vegetable fibre, which first deposits, and the starch, accumulated by
subsidence, is finally dried in the usual manner. The object of this
process is the solution of the gluten in the weak alkali. If the latter
be carefully neutralised by sulphuric acid the gluten is deposited in
3 D
771
STARCH.
Locks, and after washing may be used in the preparation of certain
varieties of food, as before mentioned.
Other Materials for Starch.-Mr. Simmonds states that at Oswego, in
New York State, starch is made on a vast scale from maize or Indian
corn. There is one factory which covers nearly three acres, and which
consumes 200,000 bushels of maize yearly, whence is obtained 4,000,000
lbs. of starch. Mr. Anderson, by a patent obtained in 1857, proposes
so to treat maize as to obtain starch from one portion, and oil from a
residue hitherto wasted. Frequent search is made for new materials
whence starch may be obtained. So far back as 1796, the Society of
Arts offered a prize medal for any novelties in this direction. The
prize was awarded to Mrs. Gibbs of Portland, who obtained starch from
the roots of the Arum maculatum-4 lb. from 1 peck. It was very
pure, and was sold under the name of "Portland arrow-root." There
is not much now made, because the rotation of crops prevents the wild
arum from growing. In 1853, M. Bassot obtained a prize in France,
for making starch from the Fistillaria imperialis, or crown imperial; he
washes and rasps the bulbs, and obtains starch from them in the usual
way. The plant grows well in France. M. Bassot estimates that
5000 lbs. of starch may come from an acre of land, and need not cost
more than 4s. per cwt.-much cheaper than potato starch. In 1857,
there was a great demand for horse-chestnuts in France, in consequence
of the establishment of a factory at Nanterre for making starch from
that source. Chestnut trees are very abundant in France, and the
starch obtained from the fruit is said to be good.
The use of starch in the cotton manufacturing districts is very
large. One print-work in Manchester consumed 6000 cwts. in 1859.
A kind called Glenfield starch is, by a peculiar process, made semi-
transparent, for use in stiffening net and lace.
Properties of Starch.-Starch, when pure, is nearly devoid of odour
and taste, and is possessed of demulcent properties when boiled in
water, with which it forms a hydrate of à jelly-like character. Its
insipidity, however, hinders it from being very digestible in this state,
or even when kneaded with cold water, and exposed to heat, to form
biscuits. Its digestibility is greatly increased by fermentation, and
hence bread or rusks are much more suitable to invalids than any
unfermented preparations of flour. The best bread is formed by flour
which contains the greatest proportion of gluten. The relative pro-
portions of starch and gluten differ not only in the different cereal
grains, but in the same species or variety, according to the season
when they are sown, or the manure which has been applied to the
land.
Starch exists in larger proportion in Carolina rice than in any other
grain. Potatoes yield the purest starch. It is procured from them
with great ease, by simply rasping down the potatoes over a sieve, and
passing a current of water over the raspings. The water passes through
the sieve milky with the starch. By rest the starch subsides; it is
then two or three times washed with pure water, and afterwards
allowed to dry.
The quantity of starch is at its maximum in the winter months, but
as soon as the potato begins to sprout, the starch lessens, as does also
the proportion of nitrogen, so that its nutritive properties are impaired.
If, however, the process of isolating the starch be followed in the
winter months, the result is, a sixth portion of the weight of the
potatoes employed, in a condition fit not only for immediate use, but
of easy transport, and capable of preservation for years.
12
Starches differ, according to their sources, in chemical composition,
and certainly in their digestibility, as also in their nutritive properties,
according as they are isolated or associated with other principles, such
as gluten. Wheat-starch consists of C₁₂H0010, while potato-starch
consists of C₁₂H,O,. Arrowroot has no gluten associated with it, rice
very little, potato only one-third what good wheat has. Thus while
arrowroot is the most digestible, wheat is the most nourishing.
Potatoes are neither nourishing nor digestible, being of all starches the
most prone to run into acidity, and so distress weak stomachs. The
consumers of rice and potatoes are remarked to be almost invariably
pot-bellied, owing to the large quantity they are compelled to use. "To
supply a given amount of carbon and nitrogen to the system it costs|
two and a half times as much to obtain it from potato as from bread."
(Dr. Edward Smith.) These facts constitute a strong objection to the
use of potatoes, either in their natural state, as when used at dinner,
or when employed as a constituent of bread. Many persons have
found their health strikingly improved by relinquishing the use of
potatoes. It is difficult to detect the presence of potato-starch in
bread. The motive for using it is that it takes up more water than
wheat-flour. But this is a double disadvantage to the consumer, as
he gets less nutritious material for his money, and has unhealthy acid
generated in his stomach. The bread made with flour very moist is
always inferior, from an alteration in the gluten, unfavourable to a
perfect panification, and because such bread is very much more prone
to become mouldy, by which its degree of wholesomeness is still
farther impaired. (Dumas, Traité de Chimic appliqué aux Arts,'
vol. vi. p. 391.)
The carefully devised and systematically conducted experiments
of Dr. Edward Smith prove that "animals cannot live on starch, and
yet it is not uncommon to find mothers with deficient milk giving
to their infants arrowroot, or some of the fashionable preparations of
corn, which consist almost entirely of starch freed from the important
STATER.
773
nitrogenous constituents, and using water instead of cow's milk,
under the impression that the latter would be too rich a food. Suchi
a course can only be a source of starvation," and a fertile source of
mortality. (See Practical Deductions from an Experimental Inquiry
into the Influence of Foods,' by Edward Smith, M.D., Dublin, 1860.)
The above are the more important kinds of starch. For information
concerning starch from other sources see the names of the several
plants in the NATURAL HISTORY DIVISION of this Cyclopædia. [Arrow-
ROOT; SAGO; SALEP; TAPIOCA.]
STARCH GUM. [BRITISH GUM.]
STARS, DOUBLE. [STAR, &c.]
STARS, SHOOTING. [METEOR.]
STATE. [SOVEREIGNTY.]
STATER (σTaTnp, a standard of value), or Chrysus (xpvooûs, gold
money), was the name of a Greek gold coin, which, after being used
from a very early period in some states, became, in the time of
Philip II. and Alexander the Great, the general gold currency of
Greece. It is said to have been first coined in Lydia, to which the
origin of silver money also is attributed by an ancient tradition.
(Herod. i. 94.) The stater of Croesus seems to have been the first
gold money seen in Greece. (Herod. i. 54.) No undoubted specimen
of this Lydian stater is in existence. According to Böckh, it was
formed of the pale gold or electrum (gold and silver) contained in
ૐ
the sands of the Pactolus.
Of the better known gold coins, most were of the same standard of
weight as the Attic drachma, the Attic silver having at a very early
period obtained a general circulation throughout Greece, and being
reckoned extremely pure. The stater was generally equal in weight to
two drachmæ, and in value to twenty. This was the case with the
Macedonian stater, which the influence of Philip and Alexander brought
into general circulation in Greece, and which continued to be coined
by the later Macedonian kings after the same standard, or very nearly
so. Many specimens of it exist.
The average weight of the staters of Philip and Alexander is a little
under 133 grains. An assay of a stater of Alexander, made for Mr.
Hussey, gave 115 grains of fine gold and 18 of silver, with no alloy.
The silver here ought not to be reckoned as an alloy, and therefore the
coin is equivalent to 133 grains of fine gold. Our sovereign contains
113·12 grains of fine gold. Therefore this stater was worth
133 of a
sovereign, or a very little more than 17. 3s. 6d. If we calculate its
value by the number of drachmæ it was worth, we find it only 16s. 3d.
The reason of this is, that silver was much dearer in ancient times than
it is now. The higher value of the stater is the true one, as no material
change has occurred in the value of gold.
113:12
In the states of Greece proper the chief standards of money followed
were those of Athens and Ægina. In both, the principal denomina-
tions of money were coined in silver, and it does not appear that the
Æginetan system contained any gold coin.
At Athens there seems to have been no gold money in the flourishing
times of the republic, if we except a coinage mentioned by the Scholiast
to Aristophanes (Frogs,' v. 719). There are however a few Attic gold
coins in existence, but only about a dozen. Of these, three, which
there is every reason to suppose genuine, are in the British Museum,
and one in the Hunterian Museum at Glasgow. Their weights agree
exactly with the Attic standard, being respectively 132.3, 132.7, 132.6,
and 132.75 grains, or on the average 132-5875 grains, which is only
about half a grain less than the Attic didrachm. The character of the
impression is exactly like that of the old Attic silver, but the form of
the coin is more like the Macedonian.
It is very clear however that foreign gold was in circulation at
It was obtained
Athens quite as early as the Peloponnesian war.
doubtless in commerce, and as the tribute of the allies, many of whom
had gold currencies. Among the denominations so used, the chief
were the darics of Persia [DARIC] and the staters of the Greek cities
of Asia and the neighbouring islands. In fact, the Greeks got nearly
all their gold from Asia. The following were the principal coins of
Greek states in circulation at Athens:
Demosthenes (in 'Phorm.,' p. 914, Reiske) informs us that a little
after 335 B.C. the stater of Cyzicus passed at Bosporus in the Tauric
Chersonese for twenty-eight Attic drachmæ. The existing coins vary
from 160 to 120 grains, the former of which is greater, the latter less
than the Attic, and both apparently derived from an element of 40
grains. The existing coins seem however to have been multiples of
different standards. As the heaviest of the existing coins does not
come up to the weight answering to the value assigned to the Cyzicene
stater by Demosthenes, we must suppose that gold was dearer or silver
cheaper than usual at Bosporus at the time referred to.
The Staters of Lampsacus, which may be recognised by the impres-
sion of a sea-horse, are of the standard of the daric. Two in the British
Museum weigh about 129 grains each.
The Stater of Phocæa also appears, from the specimens given by
Sestini ('Degli Stateri Antichi '), to have followed the standard of the
daric. It was divided into sixths (ekтα) and twelfths (μlekтa), of
(ἡμίεκτα),
which the latter were equal in value to eight obols, and in weight
probably to one, since the obol bore the same proportion to the
didrachm in the silver coinage, that the μleKTOV did to the stater in
the gold.
773
STATISTICS.
STATES-GENERAL.
Most of the cities of Ionia coined staters. Those of Chios, Teos,
Colophon, Smyrna, Ephesus, and other places, now exist. There were
also gold coins struck in Samos, Siphnus, Thasos, the Greek cities of
Sicily, and Cyrene, at an early period. After the Macedonian coinage
of staters, many Greek states coined them according to the same
standard; we may mention Epirus, Acarnania, Ætolia, and Syracuse.
The coins in the system of the stater were the single, double, and
half staters; these were very common: there were also, less commonly,
quarters, thirds, sixths, and twelfths of staters.
The Attic silver tetradrachm was called stater in later times, but it
is doubtful whether it was so called in the best ages of the republic.
The term stater was also applied to weight, meaning apparently any
standard of weight. The Mina and Sicilian Litra were so called.
(Hussey, Ancient Weights and Money; Wurm, De Pond., &c.; Böckh,
Metrologische Untersuchungen; Humphrey, Coin Collector's Manual.)
STATES-GENERAL. [NATIONAL ASSEMBLY.]
STATICS, a subdivision of mechanics, meaning the part of the
science in which equilibrating forces are considered, in opposition to
DYNAMICS, in which the effects of forces producing motion are
investigated: it is subdivided into the statics of rigid and of fluid
bodies, the latter being called HYDROSTATICS. The general con-
siderations in MECHANICS, FORCE, PRESSURE, POWER, WEIGHT, &c.,
and such articles as LEVER, INCLINED PLANE, PULLEY, WHEEL AND
AXLE, WEDGE, SCREW, may be consulted; and also the articles VIRTUAL
VELOCITIES, THEORY OF COUPLES, &c.
One foundation of statics was first given by Archimedes, and
another by Stevinus, as noticed in MECHANICS. The former is the
more rigorous, the latter being open to some objections of a serious.
character. The discoveries of Galileo turned the attention of philoso-
phers upon dynamical problems, and the very easy connection which
exists between the statical and dynamical measure of forces caused the
theory of statics to be founded, almost up to the present day, upon
dynamical principles. The taste for the purer form of statics has
however revived, and we imagine that from henceforward it will be
customary to make this science stand by itself.
The two great propositions of statics are that of the LEVER, demon-
strated in the article on that word, and that of the COMPOSITION of
pressures, mentioned, but not demonstrated. Which of these shall be
chosen as the foundation of the science, and how the other shall be
deduced from it, are two points on which every writer on the subject
should think much, as the character of his work in the eyes of others
will, in a great measure, depend on his treatment of these parts of the
subject. The method of Archimedes is, in our opinion, the soundest
of all; but we say it without denying the possibility of exhibiting a
direct statical proof of the composition of pressures which shall be
equally satisfactory. In those which have hitherto been given, there
is a want of distinction between the mathematical and physical
assumptions: the student leaves off with no very clear perception how
far the proposition is one of mathematics, and how far one of physics.
There is a general dislike and distrust of these proofs, which is evidence
almost conclusive against them: any one who would improve them
should not leave off until he has not only made a better separation of
the physical axioms from the rest, but has put it in a form in which
such separation is exceedingly obvious. Till this is done, the proofs
in question will only stifle opposition, while the proposition of
Archimedes forces conviction. If there be anything likely to be mis-
understood in the latter, it applies as much to the former in all the
cases which we have seen. [SUFFICIENT REASON.]
Statics, like all other mechanical sciences, is usually placed among
mixed MATHEMATICS. But the line which separates it from the pure
sciences is almost imperceptible, and it would seem more reasonable
to invent a third and intermediate distinctive term, than to place
statics and electricity under the same name, to distinguish them from
geometry. It would be easy to show that all which is common to
geometry and statics, and not to electricity, is more extensive, more
striking, and more easily described, than the little which is common
to statics and electricity, and not to geometry. In fact, when we say
that both statics and electricity are concerned with properties of matter
as distinguished from space, we have stated the whole of the common
tie by which the two sciences are united: while geometry and statics
possess in common almost equal degrees of evidence in their axioms,
altogether the same rigour of deduction, and strong analogies in their
theorems. Mr. Whewell has contended for the alteration of the loca-
tion of statics: but he carries the idea farther than we can follow him,
for (Mechanical Euclid,') he asserts that the axioms of statics are
"self-evidently true," "not to be learnt from without, but from
within.' We may also refer to the same writer's History of Scientific
Ideas,' vol. i., 1858. We shall enter further upon this point in the
article SUFFICIENT REASON.
STATIONARY (Astronomy). All the planets appear at the earth
to move alternately forwards and backwards in the heavens, the retro-
grade motion not continuing so long as the direct motion. For a little
time at the beginning and end of the retrogradation, the planet appears
to have no motion. This arises when the relative MOTION of the
planet is really towards the earth. The planet's velocity may always
be decomposed into two, one in the direction of the earth's motion, or
its opposite, the other towards or from the earth. When it happens
that the former motion is not only parallel to that of the earth, but
""
equal to it, the planet cannot change its place in the heavens, but all
its apparent motion is the remaining motion, directly to or from the
earth. If the planet were so near that we could readily see alterations
of its distance, we should say it was directly approaching or receding:
but as we cannot see this phenomenon, we pronounce it stationary,
and for some nights we lose the distinction between it and the fixed
stars. [TROCHOIDAL CURVES.]
STATIONARY. This term requires introduction into mechanics
in a manner corrective of the mistakes which have sometimes been
made. One of these is pointed out in STABLE AND UNSTAble.
Instead of saying that a system acted on by its weight is in equilibrium
only when the centre of gravity is highest or lowest, it is there pointed
out that all that is necessary is that the motion which the centre tends
to take should be horizontal: or that the centre should be stationary
as to ascent or descent, for the moment. Again, there is what is
called the principle of least action [VIRTUAL VELOCITIES], which the
mathematician will recognise in the theorem that the motion of a
system is always such that Em fv ds is a minimum. Now all that is
proved is that in the motion of a system, in the language of the
calculus of VARIATIONS, dΣm ƒ v ds is = 0. Now all that this requires
is that Σm fv ds should be stationary; or that if a path infinitely near
the path of motion should be chosen, Em f v ds, calculated for the
new path, should differ from the same calculated for the old path, by
a quantity of an order inferior to those on which the difference of the
paths depends. Sir W. Hamilton proposes to call this the principle of
stationary action, instead of that of least action; the action of a
particle whose mass is m moving over an arc s being a name given to
m fvds, taken from one end of the arc to the other, where v
represents the velocity.
STATISTICS is that department of political science which is con-
cerned in collecting and arranging facts illustrative of the condition
and resources of a state. To reason upon such facts and to draw con-
clusions from them is not within the province of statistics; but is the
business of the statesman and of the political economist. In order to
exemplify the precise character and limits of statistics, the Statistical
Society of London have aptly chosen for their emblem a wheat-sheaf,
with the motto "aliis exterendum."
That it is necessary for a government, in order to govern well, to
acquire information upon matters affecting the condition and interests
of the people, is obvious. Indeed the civilisation of a country may
almost be measured by the completeness of its statistics; for where
valuable statistical records of ancient date are found concerning a
country not yet advanced in civilisation, which would appear to con-
tradict this position, we owe them to sovereigns or governments of
uncommon vigour and sagacity. However rude the government of a
country may be, it cannot attempt to make laws without having
acquired the means of forming a judgment, however imperfect, as to
the matters brought under its consideration. In this sense statistics
may be said to be coeval with legislation; but as the latter has rarely
been conducted upon any fixed principles, or partaken of the character
of science, in the earlier ages of the world, we must attribute to
statistics, as a department of political science, a much later origin. It
is chiefly to the rise of political economy that we are indebted for the
cultivation of statistics. The principles of that science, which are
directly concerned about the prosperity and happiness of mankind,
were not reduced to any system until the middle of the last century;
since that time, political economy has been cultivated as an inductive
science. The correctness of preconceived theories has been tested by
the observation and analysis of facts; and new principles have been
discovered and established by the same means. A limited knowledge
of facts had previously been an obstacle to the progress of political
economy; and on the other hand the neglect of that science caused
indifference to statistical inquiries.
This connection between political theories and statistics, while it has
led to the collection of many data which would not otherwise have
been obtained, has too often introduced a partial and deceptive state-
ment of facts, in order to support preconceived opinions. This is
sometimes unjustly objected to statistics, as if it were a defect peculiar
to them. That facilities for deception are afforded by statistics cannot
be denied; but fallacies of this kind, like all others, are open to
scrutiny and exposure. Reliance need not be placed upon statements
of facts nor on numbers, unless supported by evidence; and inferences
from them should only be admitted according to the rules by which
all sound reasoning is governed. Fallacies are difficult to detect in
proportion to the ingenuity of the sophist and the ignorance or inex-
pertness of his opponents; but in political matters, opposite theories
and opinions are maintained with equal ability, and facts and argu-
ments are investigated with so much jealousy, that, in the end, truth
can hardly fail to be established. Neither does any suspicion of par-
tiality attach to such facts as are collected by a government without
reference to particular theories. Until some one has shown the value
of noting a certain class of facts with a view to his own inquiries, no
pains are taken to obtain information of that nature from the best
sources; but as soon as the importance of seeking auy data is acknow-
ledged, the collection of them becomes the business of impartial
persons. The statist must be acquainted with the purposes to which
the facts collected and arranged by him are likely to be applied, in
order that the proper distinctions and details may be noted in such a
775
STATUARY.
manner as to give the fullest means of analysis and inference; but his
services are greatest when he does not labour in support of a theory.
It thus becomes the duty of a government to apply all the means in
its power in aid of statistics, not only for the administration of the
affairs of state, but also for the furtherance of political science, and for
general information. Abundance and accuracy must be the object of
a government in collecting statistical facts.
We would lay much stress upon the collection of facts by the
highest authority of the state, because the classes of facts most
important in political inquiries can scarcely ever be searched out by
other persons, who have not access to the offices of government,
and who are without authority to demand information; while the
government has ample means at its disposal, and can, without
difficulty, and in the ordinary course of executive business, obtain
statistical information of the highest value. In this and many other
countries the respective governments are applying themselves
earnestly to statistical investigations. In England a statistical depart-
ment has been established at the Board of Trade to collect and
arrange all the documents of a statistical nature that can be obtained
through any department or agency of government. The admirably
organised departments of the French government have abundance of
statistical materials systematically collected, which they never fail to
arrange in a very lucid manner, and to analyse with much ability.
Great credit is due to the Belgian government for the diligence
with which its several departments have engaged in statistics under
the superintendence of a central statistical commission. Austria,
Prussia, and other European governments, have also more or less
complete and comprehensive statistical departments.
But while governments are thus engaged, there is ample room for
the labours of individuals. Local statistics of all kinds are open to
them. The books and records of public institutions, facts relating to
particular trades, to the moral and social state of different classes of
society, and other matters apparently of local interest only, often pre-
sent results as important as those derived from inquiries on a more
extended scale. Good service also may often be done by a judicious
selection and comparison of matters not brought together in official
statements, with a view to the illustration of principles of science or
experiments in legislation, and by suggestions and criticism, which
may direct the attention of government to particular branches of
inquiry, to improvements in the mode of carrying them on, or in the
form in which they are published.
STATUTE.
776
to be by them promulgated. The practice of printing the statutes has
continued to the present time.
Before the first of Richard III., the aid of the press had been called
in to give extended circulation to the older statutes. Before 1481 it is
believed that an abridgment of the statutes was printed by Letton and
Machlinia, which contains none later than 33 Henry VI., 1455. To the
next year is assigned a collection, not abridged, from 1 Edward III. to
22 Edward IV. Next to these in point of antiquity is to be placed a
collection printed by Pynson about 1497, who also, in 1508, printed
what he entitled Antiqua Statuta,' containing Magna Charta, Charta
de Foresta, the Statutes of Merton, Marlbridge, and Westminster
primum and secundum. This was the first publication of those very
early statutes.
In the reign of Henry VIII. the first English abridgment of the
statutes was printed by Rastall; and during that reign and in the suc-
ceeding half century there were numerous impressions published of
the old and recent statutes in the original Latin and French, or in
English translations. Barker, about 1587, first used the title 'Statutes
at Large.'
In 1618 two large collections of statutes ending in 7 James I., were
published, called Rastall's and Pulton's. Pulton's collection was several
times reprinted with additions.
In the 18th century an addition, in six folio volumes, was published
by Mr. Serjeant Hawkins in 1735, containing the statutes to 7 George
II. Cay's edition, in 1758, in the same number of volumes, contains
the statutes to 30 George II. Continuations of these works were
published as fresh statutes were passed; and another work in 4to., of
the same kind, was begun in 1762, well known by the designation of
Ruffhead's 'Statutes at Large.' Pickering's edition is in 8vo., and
ends with 1 George III.
None of these collections, however, had ever been published by
authority of the state. This led a committee of the House of Com-
mons, who, in 1800, were appointed to inquire into the state of the
Public Records, to recommend, among other things, that " a complete
and authoritative edition of all the statutes should be published." And
finally, between the years 1810 and 1824, the Record Commissioners
appointed, in pursuance of this recommendation, produced a critical
edition of the statutes (including the early public charters), ending
with the close of the reign of Queen Anne. This is the authentic
edition of the statutes. It is supplied with a valuable index, and
forms ten folio volumes. In the introduction to that work there is a
more particular account of the former editions of the statutes and of
the means for making such a work as this complete.
It would be useless to attempt an enumeration of the various
matters that are included in the province of statistics, but for the
more convenient consideration of the subject we may indicate its
division into-1, Historical statistics, or facts illustrative of the former
condition of a state; 2, Statistics of population; 3, of revenue; 4, of
trade, commerce, and navigation; 5, of the moral, social, and physical-Public and Private; but they may more conveniently be distributed
condition of the people.
The article CENSUS will serve as an example of the use to which
such materials may be applied, and the parliamentary returns of the
Board of Trade and the criminal and legal statistics now published
annually furnish other examples.
STAŤUARY, STATUE. [SCULPTURE.]
STATUTE. Bills which have passed through the houses of Lords
and Commons and received the royal assent become acts of parliament,
and are sometimes spoken of collectively as forming the body of
"statutes of the realm." In a more restricted application of the word,
private acts are excluded, and even public acts, when their purpose is
temporary. The meaning of the word is even more restricted when
the measures of the early parliaments are in question, for many acts
received the royal assent, and are found on the Rolls of Parliament,
which are not accounted statutes.
The Statutes of the realm, properly so called, were at a very remote
period written in books apart from the other constitutions and charters
of the monarchy, and received by the courts as of equal authority with
the ancient customs of the realm.
Three volumes, in the custody of the Master of the Rolls, contain
the body of those enactments which are called "statutes."
One con-
tains those passed before the beginning of the reign of Edward III.;
and the other two, those from 1 Edward III. to 7 Henry VIII., all
very fairly written. These books are not considered in the light of
authorised enrolments of the statutes. For the authentic and authori-
tative copies, if any question arise, recourse must be had (1) to what
are called the Statute Rolls, which are six rolls containing the statutes
from 6 Edward I. to 8 Edward IV., except from 8 to 25 Henry VI.;
(2) to the enrolments of acts of parliaments which are preserved in the
Rolls chapel from 1 Richard III.; (3) to exemplifications and tran-
scripts with writs annexed, signifying that they were transmitted by
authority to certain courts or other parties, who were required to take
notice of them; (4) in those since 12 Henry VII., to the original acts
in the parliament office; (5) the rolls and journals of parliament; (6)
the close, patent, fine, and charter rolls; on which statutes are some-
times found.
With the parliament of the reign of Richard III. began the practice
of printing, and in that manner publishing, the acts passed in each
session. This followed very soon on the introduction of printing into
England. Before that time it had been a frequent practice to transmit
copies of the acts as passed to the sheriffs of the different shrievalties
The statutes passed in the Imperial Parliament of Great Britain
are now printed by the queen's printers, and sold at fixed prices.
These "Statutes of the Realm" are generally divided into two classes
into three classes-Public General, Public Local, and Private. The
two former only come within the term "laws," in the proper accepta-
tion of the term. The private acts embody special privileges conferred
on individuals, or the sanction of the legislature to private arrange-
ments regarding property; and before they can be enforced, they must
be pleaded before the courts of law, like contracts, or the titles of
estates. The public local statutes, though published separately, and
though the standing orders of the Houses of Parliament require that,
on account of the private interests which they are often likely to affect,
certain preliminary notices and other proceedings should take place
before they are passed through their stages, are yet, in contemplation
of law, in the saine position as the public general statutes.
Formerly all the public statutes, local and general, were published
together and numbered consecutively; but from the year 1798 down-
wards, the local acts have been separately enumerated. From the
number of railway and other joint-stock schemes, this branch of legis-
lation increased so rapidly a few years ago, that it became necessary to
simplify and abbreviate it. Steps were taken to accomplish this end
by passing what are known as Consolidation Acts, such as the Land
Clauses Consolidation Act, the Railway Clauses Consolidation Act,
&c., &c., a distinct series being passed applicable to Scotland; but
there is yet room for further legislation in the same direction.
STATUTE (SCOTLAND). It would be difficult to explain the
character of the older legislation of Scotland, the method in which
it was sanctioned, or the constitution of the bodies by which it was
passed. All the light that probably is to be obtained on the early
history of the statute-law has lately been embodied by Mr. Innes, in
his preface to the edition of the Scottish Statutes and Old Laws,'
published by the Record Commission. "Whatever," he says, " may
be the case in other countries, it is not easy in Scotland to distinguish
the ancient legislative court or council of the sovereign from that
which discharged the duty of counselling the king in judicial pro-
ceedings. The early lawgivers, indeed, enacted statutes by the advice
of the bishops, earls, thanes, and whole community,' or 'through the
common counsel of the Kynryk;' but during the reigns previous to
Alexander III. we find the king also deciding causes in a similar
assembly of magnates; while laws of the greatest importance, and
affecting the interest of whole classes of the community, bear to be
enacted by the king and 'his judges."" It is probable that the practice
of the assembly, legislative or judicial, of the principal barons, though
irregular, was in general an imitation of the parliament of England,
777
778
STATUTE.
STATUTE OF FRAUDS.
Before the war of independence, the lands of the southern districts of
Scotland had been in a great measure partitioned among Norman |
adventurers, some of whom owed a double allegiance to the crowns.
both of England and Scotland; and it was natural that they should
bring with them the practices and opinions of the country with which
they were earliest connected. A large proportion of the lowland popu-
lation of Scotland were at the same time Saxon refugees from England.
So early as the reign of David I. (1125) we begin to find that the
municipal corporations had a voice in the ratification of the laws.
"The parliament," says Mr. Innes, "assembled by John Balliol at
Scone, on the 9th of February, 1292, was probably the first of the
national councils of Scotland which bore that name in the country at
the time, although later historians have bestowed it freely on all
assemblies of a legislative character. We have no reason to believe
that any change in its constitution occasioned the adoption of the new
term, which soon became in Scotland, as in England, the received
designation of the great legislative council solemnly assembled. It
was not till a few years later, on occasion of negotiating an alliance
with France, that Balliol, probably at the desire of the French king,
procured the treaty to be ratified, not only by the prelates, earls, and
barons, but by certain of the burghs of his kingdom. That treaty was
finally ratified at Dunfermline on the 23rd day of February, 1295; and
the seals of six burghs were then affixed to the deed, along with those
of four bishops, four monasteries, four earls, and eleven barons. Not
withstanding this very formal ratification, however, it may be doubted,
both from the peculiar phraseology of the deed itself, and from the
silence of historians as to any meeting of a parliamentary nature in
which it could have been voted, whether the parties stated as con-
senting, and especially whether representatives of those six burghs,
were actually present as in a national assembly or parliament."
The acts which were thus sanctioned--sometimes, perhaps, by the
separate adhesion of the principal interests of the country, sometimes
in assemblies-were of a mixed character. Some were judgments in
particular disputes, accompanied probably by the announcement of a
principle on which such questions should thenceforth be decided;
others were acts of executive authority; and others might be regu-
lations having the character of fixed and general laws. When these
proceedings related to matters of private right, the recording instru-
ment would be put into the hands of the party interested. "When
the proceedings of the national council," says the authority already
cited, “related to matters of a more public nature, such as negotiations
with foreign states, its earliest records were probably of a similar kind,
and consisted of nothing more than the indentures or other diplomacy
which embodied the results of its deliberations. Perhaps the earliest
instances of this kind that now remain are those important deeds of
the reign of Alexander III., when, however, a more artifical system
must have been beginning to prevail. It would be still more interesting
to ascertain the modes in which the more general ordinances and laws
of the realm were enacted and recorded; but on this head the loss of
every original document has left us entirely to conjecture. Judging,
however, from the mutilated and imperfect transcripts of a later age,
and from the analogy of the other states of Europe, it would appear
that the more important and general statutes were framed into short
capitulars, and ingrossed into a writ, addressed, in the name of the
king, to the chief ministers of the law in the different districts of the
kingdom, requiring the publication and observance of them. The laws
of the burghs, the assizes of David I. and of William, and the statutes
of Alexander II., as found in the old manuscript compilations of
lawyers, seem to be the fragments of various capitulars of this kiud."
The assizes of David I., Assisé Regis David,' are reported to be the
oldest fragments of legislation in Scotland, and are partly, but not
entirely, traceable to so early a period as the reign of the king with
whose name they are associated. The burgal laws, Leges Quatuor
Burgorum,' constitute the oldest systematic collection of laws. They
too may be referred to the reign of David; and though historians give
him the credit of having planned the whole system of the municipal
corporations, it is more likely that this code of laws embodies the
privileges and restrictions which had gradually come into existence
with the growing influence of the burghs. The coincidence between
these early vestiges of Scottish legislation and the old law of England
is remarkable. Both in the assize and in the burgh laws technical
phraseology is frequently used, which still belongs to the law and
practice of England, but has long been disused in Scotland. Indeed,
it is very clear that before the attempt of Edward I. there was much
harmony in tone and spirit between the two nations, and that Scotland
generally followed or accompanied England in her constitutional pro-
gress. There is a still more remarkable coincidence of legislation in
the celebrated 'Regiam Majestatem,' or general code of the old laws of
Scotland. It was, like the fragments mentioned above, attributed to
David I., who had obtained the character of the Justinian of Scotland;
but it is undoubtedly of later date. In the 16th and 17th centuries it
was very popular, as an undoubted early national code; but it was
subsequently discovered to have many features in common with the
compilation De Legibus et Consuetudinibus Angliæ,' attributed to
Ranulph de Glanvil, justiciar of England; and then it acquired the
evil reputation of being a code prepared by Edward I., for the purpose
of subjecting Scotland to the law of England.
The Regiam Majestatem,' so named from the words with which it
commences, is, along with the burgh laws, and other vestiges of early
legislation, printed in the first volume of the edition of the Scottish
statutes issued by the Record Commission. None of the contents of
this first volume, however, come within the description of the accepted
statute law of Scotland. In 1566 a commission was issued for the col-
lection and publication of the statute law, and they speedily published
a series of statutes reaching from 1424 to 1564. It is at the former
date that the statute law, properly speaking, commences, and it
proceeds thence in a regular series to the Union with England. The
Scottish acts are referred to by the date of the parliament in which
they are passed, and their numerical order; as, "The Act 1424, c. 25;'
"The Act 1661, c. 16." These early statutes are brief and sententious,
and were admired by Bacon for " their excellent brevity."
From the date of the accession of Bruce, after the war with England,
the Scots long entertained a feeling of national jealousy and enmity
towards England; and though some of the kings introduced southern
practices, we do not find that steady imitation and adoption of the con-
stitutional movements of the English parliament which characterise
the earlier period, but rather an isolated creation of, and adherence to,
national peculiarities. The subsequent creation of the Court of
Session, in imitation of foreign tribunals, to administer justice,
according to the rules of the Civil Law, has eradicated nearly all the
traces of similarity in laws and procedure which formerly existed
between the judicial systems of Scotland and England.
Of the Statutes of the Scottish parliament, those only are now law
which are said to be in viridi observantia. By this principle the
statute law has silently adapted itself to the character of the times
and, though not formally repealed, the barbarous laws of periods of
bigotry or violence have ceased to be enforceable. Since the Union of
1707, it has been considered, in conformity with the English doctrine,
that an act passed by the British parliament must be held as law, and
judicially enforceable, until it is repealed.
The law of Scotland, the judicial and executive system, and the
ecclesiastical polity, being quite distinct from the corresponding institu-
tions of England, many statutes are from time to time passed by the
British legislature solely applicable to Scotland, prepared by persons
professionally acquainted with the institutions of that part of the
empire. The revenue laws of Scotland were formerly distinct; but
now, with few exceptions, one system embodied in one series of acts
applies to the United Kingdom. In matters of national policy, and
frequently in the criminal law and in legislation for internal economy,
acts are made applicable both to England and Scotland at the same
time.
STATUTE (IRELAND). In Ireland, the method by which the early
irregular convocations, called parliaments, passed their acts, appears to
have been a close imitation of the English practice. The authenticated
printed statutes begin in the year 1310, 3 Edw. II. After five short
acts of this parliament there is a hiatus until the year 1429, although
it is known in history that repeated parliaments were held in the
interval. Many of these statutes are characteristic indications of the
state of the country, and throw light on the domination of the English
over the natives--for example, the 25 Hen. VI. c. 4, "An Act, that he
that will be taken for an Englishman, shall not use a Beard upon his
upper Lip alone; the Offender shall be taken as an Irish Enemy:" 28
Hen. VI. c. 3, " An Act, that it shall be lawful for every Liegeman to
kill or take notorious Thieves, and Thieves found robbing, spoiling, or
breaking Houses, or taken with the manner : " and in later times (the
7 Will. III. c. 21), “An Act for the better suppressing Tories, Robbers,
and Rapparees; and for preventing Robberies, Burglaries, and other
heinous Crimes." The Statute of Drogheda, commonly called
Poyning's Law, passed in 1495 (10 Hen. VII.), had a marked influence
on the later legislation and constitutional history of Ireland; as by it,
all the acts then or late passed in England, "concerning or belonging
to the common and public weal of the same," should be law in Ireland.
It further provided that no measure should be proposed for the adop-
tion of parliament until it had first received the royal assent in
England. It is believed that this badge of servitude prevented the
passing of many exterminating acts, which, in times of anarchy, dis-
cord, or tyranny, the Irish ministry, and their partisan-parliaments,
would have readily passed. This act was repealed, and the indepen-
dence of the Irish legislature restored by the measure of 1783. At the
Union, in 1800, the Irish Parliament was merged in that of Great
Britain and Ireland.
STATUTE OF FRAUDS. This name is applicable to any statute
the object of which is to prevent fraud, but it is particularly applicable
to the 29 Car. II. c. 3, which is entitled the "Statute of Frauds and
Perjuries." One object of the statute was to prevent disputes and
frauds by requiring in many cases written evidence of an agreement.
Before the passing of this statute many conveyances of land were made
without any writing as evidence of the conveyance. An estate in fee-
simple could be conveyed by livery of seisin, accompanied with proper
words, and a use could also be declared by parol. No writing was
necessary to convey any estate in possession, for such estate is technically
said to lie in livery; but a reversion could only be conveyed by deed.
The Statute of Frauds declared that all leases, estates, and interests of
freehold or terms of years or any uncertain interest in any lands or
hereditaments, made by livery and seisin only, or by parol, and not put
in writing and signed by the parties, &c., shall have the force of leases
779
STATUTE MERCHANT.
or estates at will only. But leases for not more than three years,
whereon the rent reserved shall be two-thirds of the full improved
value of the thing demised, are excepted by the statute. Further, no
lease, estates, or interest either of freehold or terms of years, or any
uncertain interest, not being copyhold or customary interest, shall be
assigned, granted, or surrendered except by deed or note in writing.
Another section of the statute provides that all declarations or
creations of trust or confidences of any land, tenements, or heredita-
ments shall be manifested and proved by some writing signed by the
party who is by law enabled to declare such trust, or by his last will
in writing, or they shall be void. The 5th section of this statute
declared that all devises of lands or tenements, as more particularly
described in this section, should be in writing and signed in the
manner here prescribed by three or four credible witnesses; and the
6th section related to the revocation of a devise in writing of lands or
tenements. Both these sections are repealed by the 1 Vict. c. 26, which
makes alterations in other provisions also of the Statute of Frauds.
There are several other important provisions in this statute, which
may be omitted here. The purpose of the statute is to prevent fraud
by requiring the evidence of writing, which is a better kind of evi-
dence than men's memory. Its enactments have been usefully
amended by the Mercantile Law Amendment Act, 1856, especially
with reference to guarantees.
STATUTE MERCHANT. [ACTON BURNEL, STATUTE OF.]
STATUTE STAPLE. [STAPLE.]
""
STATUTES OF LIMITATION. There appear to have been no
times limited by the common law within which actions might be
brought; for though it is said by Bracton (lib. 2, fol. 228), that,
omnes actiones in mundo infra certa tempora limitationem habent;
yet with the exception of the period of a year and a day, mentioned by
Spelman (Gloss.', 32), as fixed by the ancient law for the heir of a
tenant to claim after the death of his ancestor, and for the tenant to
make his claim upon a disseisor, all the limitations of actions in
the English law have been established by statute. Certain remarkable
periods were first fixed upon, within which the cause of action must
have arisen. Thus in the time of Henry III., the limitations in a writ
of right, which was then from the time of Henry I., was by the
Statute of Merton, c. 8, reduced to the time of Henry II.; and by the
Statute of Westminster, 1, c. 8, the period within which writs of right
might be sued out was brought down to the time of Richard I. (Co.
Lit., 114 b.)
Since the 4 Hen. VII., c. 24, which limited the time within which
persons might make their claim to land of which a fine had been levied
with proclamations, various statutes have been passed for the
purpose of limiting the time within which actions and suits relating to
real property may be commenced. The 21 Jac. I., c. 16, enacted
generally that no person should make entry into any lands, but within
twenty years next after his right of entry accrued.
By the 9 Geo. III. c. 16, the right of the crown to sue or implead for
any manors, lands, or other hereditaments (except liberties or franchises)
was limited to sixty years. Before this act, the rule that nullum
tempus occurrit regi was universal. It still prevails as a maxim where
not abridged by statute.
The next statute upon this subject is the 3 & 4 Will. IV. c. 27, by
which great changes were made in the remedies for trying the rights
to real property, and which embodies the greater part of the present
law of limitations relating thereto.
No entry or distress can be made or action brought to recover any
land or rent, but within twenty years after the right has accrued to
the claimant, or some person through whom he claims.
But persons under the disability of infancy, coverture, idiotcy, lunacy,
unsoundness of mind, or absence beyond seas, or persons claiming under
them, notwithstanding the period of twenty years shall have expired,
are to be allowed ten years after the person to whom the right first
accrued has ceased to be under any disability or has died. Forty years
is, however, a complete bar.
No part of Great Britain and Ireland, nor the adjacent islands, is to
be deemed beyond seas, within the meaning of this act.
A mortgagee to whom a payment of principal or interest has been
made, or an acknowledgment in writing has been given, has twenty
years from the time of such payment or acknowledgment. (7 Will. IV.
and 1 Vict. c. 28.)
STEAM AND STEAM-ENGINE.
780
As to advowsons, the 3 & 4 Will. IV. c. 27, s. 30, enacts that no
Quare impedit or other action is to be brought after the expiration of
the period during which three clerks in succession shall have held the
same, all of whom obtained possession adversely to the right of the
person claiming, or of the person through whom he claims, if the times
of such incumbencies together shall amount to sixty years, and if not,
then after such further period as with the times of such incumbencies
shall make up the period of sixty years.
|
Limitations as to other incorporeal rights are now mainly regulated
by 2 & 3 Will. IV. c. 71. [PRESCRIPTION.]
Arrears of dower, or damages for such arrears, are not recoverable
by any action or suit beyond six years before the commencement of
the action or suit. Before the act, there was no limitation either at
law or in equity to a claim for arrears of dower during the life of the
heir. No arrears of rent or of interest in respect of any money charged
in any manner on land or rent, or any damages in respect of such
arrear of rent or interest, can be recovered but within six years next
after the same respectively became due, or next after an acknowledg-
ment in writing given to the person entitled thereto or his agent,
signed by the person by whom the same was payable, or his agent.
The rents here dealt with are rents charged upon land only, to which
the former statutes did not apply, and not conventional rents, the
limitations as to which are provided for by the 21 Jac. c. 16, s. 3, and
the 3 & 4 Will. IV. c. 42.
Limitations as to tithes and other ecclesiatical property are now
regulated by 2 & 3 Will. IV. c. 100, and 3 & 4 Will. IV. c. 27.
The limitation in actions of assault and battery, is, by 21 Jac. I. c.
16, s. 3, four years after the cause of action arises.
Actions of slander must, by the same statute, be commenced within
two years next after the words spoken.
The limitation applicable to actions arising upon simple contract,
and actions founded in wrong, is, by 21 Jac. I. c. 16, s. 3, six years next
after the cause of action arises.
Formerly there was no limitation applicable to a suit for a legacy,
though in some cases presumption of payment was admitted. The 3 &
4 Will. IV. c. 27, s. 40, is applicable to all legacies, whether charged
on real estate or not.
The limitation on actions arising upon specialty is, by 3 & 4 Will. IV.
c. 42, twenty years.
Actions of debt for rent upon an indenture of demise, actions of
covenant or debt upon bond or other specialty, and actions of debt or
scire facias upon recognisance must therefore be commenced and sued
within twenty years after the cause of such actions or suits arises. But
if any acknowledgment has been made, either by writing signed by
the party liable, by part payment, or part satisfaction, on account of
any principal or interest then due thereon, the person entitled may
bring his action for the money remaining unpaid, and so acknowledged
to be due, within twenty years after such acknowledgment or part
payment, and in case of the plaintiff being under disability, within
twenty years of the removal of such disability.
The limitations of actions on penal statutes is, by 31 Eliz. c. 5, s. 5
(which act repeals a previous one, the 7 Hen. VIII. c. 3, upon the same
subject), two years after the commission of the offence, if the suit be
by the crown; and one year after the commission of the offence if by
a private prosecutor.
A prosecution by the party grieved was not within the statute; but
now, by the 3 & 4 Will. IV. c. 42, s. 3, all actions for penalties,
damages, or sums of money given to the party grieved by any statute
now or hereafter to be in force must be brought within two years after
the cause of such actions or suits.
By the 24 Geo. II. c. 44, s. 1, actions against justices of the peace
and constables or others acting in obedience to their warrants are
limited to six calendar months.
There is no time limited by any statute for indictments for felonies
and other misdemeanors when there is no forfeiture to the queen or
to the prosecutor.
A charity is never considered in equity as absolutely barred by the
statutes, or by any rule of limitation analogous to them; but the court
takes notice of a long adverse possession in considering the effect and
construction of instruments under which claims are set up on its
behalf.
The statutes of limitation must in general be pleaded positively by
the defendant in any action at law, who wishes to take advantage of
them, and it has been held in equity that unless the defendant claims
the benefit of the statutes by plea or answer, he cannot insist upon
them in bar of the plaintiff's demand.
STEALING. [LARCENY.]
STEAM AND STEAM-ENGINE. Steam is the gas or vapour
given off by a liquid, when its temperature is raised to such a degree
as to cause it to pass into a state of ebullition; but as the vapour of
water so given off is the one most commonly applied in the mechanical
arts, attention will be called principally to that particular kind of
steam in the ensuing notice.
Steam or vapour in its natural state, like all gases, is transparent and
colourless; its visibility in air being caused by its partial condensa-
tion, which gives rise to the formation of small vesicles of water,
enclosing transparent steam, of such a nature as to refract and absorb
light. It seems that the phenomenon of the generation of steam is
affected by the following general laws, namely: 1st, that the tempera-
ture of the ebullition of a liquid is the same at all times, under the
same pressure and in a vessel of the same substance: 2nd, that the
temperature of the liquid remains constant during the whole period of
the ebullition, provided the pressure remain the same, and if a greater
quantity of heat be communicated to the vessel containing the liquid
at one stage of the process than at another, the only effect will be that
a greater quantity of steam will be evolved: the temperature of the
liquid will not be raised: 3rd, that the volume of the steam will be
much greater than that of the liquid furnishing it, and that the
volume of the vapour of water, for instance, will be about 1700 times
greater than that of the water itself. The temperatures at which
particular substances pass into steam are very different, it may be
added; thus whilst water boils at 212°, ether boils at 98.6°; con-
centrated sulphuric acid, at 617°; mercury, at 680°; sulphur, at 752°,
&c. Even the most refractory metals when properly treated can be
731
782
STEAM AND STEAM-ENGINE.
STEAM AND STEAM-ENGINE.
made to pass into the state of vapour, and there are others which pass
into the gaseous state without passing through the liquid form, as for
instance camphor, arsenic, iodine, &c., under which circumstances
they are said to sublime; whilst liquids occasionally pass into the state
of vapour at temperatures below those required for ebullition, and
they are then said to evaporate. Water evaporates at all temperatures;
ice, and snow, sublime in dry winds.
The law with respect to ebullition ascertained by Dalton, namely,
"that the elastic force of the vapour given out during the process is
equal to the exterior pressure," allows us to calculate the former from
the temperature at which ebullition takes place, if we possess tables
showing the elastic force of steam at the different temperatures; and
it is upon this principle that hypsometric observations with respect to
the altitudes of mountains are made, by ascertaining the boiling point
of water in open vessels. Very great precautions are requisite in
observations of this description, but with the aid of the hypsometric
thermometer of M. Regnault, very useful checks upon the other modes
of ascertaining altitudes may be obtained. Amongst other essential
points to be taken into account in these observations the nature of the
vase must not be neglected, for Gay-Lussac observed that water
required a greater degree of heat to pass into a state of ebullition
when it was boiled in a glass vase than when it was boiled in a metal
one; and it is well known that when the vase is covered with a
material with which water may have less cohesion than it has with the
metal, the boiling point may be lowered. Thus, if the boiling point of
water in a metal vase be at any place 212°, it would usually be 213° 96
in a glass vase; but if the glass be covered by a coating of shell lac,
the boiling point would become about 211°.64. It also appears that
the quantity of air diffused through the water has a considerable
effect on the formation of steam; for unless there be air in dissolution,
the cohesion of the particles of the water will oppose the disengage-
ment of steam, excepting upon the surface. Galy Cazalat found
indeed that, by excluding air from water exposed to heat, it was
possible to raise the temperature to about 253°-4 without ebullition,
but that at that temperature part of the water flashed into steam with
a violent explosion. There are some curious facts connected with the
spheroidal condition of water in contact with incandescent materials
which are worthy of the attention of the physical philosopher; but as
they have not hitherto led to any practical results, the reader is
referred, for a view of the present state of our knowledge on this
subject, to the works of Boutigny, Pouillet, Poggendorff, Perkins and
Faraday.
The temperature of ebullition is not affected by the presence of
substances in suspension in the liquid considered; but when those
substances are in solution they produce a very distinct effect, and in
the proportion that the new ingredient is more or less volatile than
the liquid, will the boiling point be lowered or raised. Salts dissolved
in water retard its ebullition, and they do so in an increasing ratio
until the point of saturation has been reached, beyond which the
boiling point remains constant; but it is to be remarked that the
precise temperature of ebullition of a saline solution is not to be
judged by the degree of heat that solution may temporarily attain;
for it is possible to raise the temperature to a certain degree, but
directly the salt begins to be precipitated the temperature may fall.
Thus, a solution of the carbonate of potash was observed by Legrand
to attain 284° without parting with that substance; but suddenly a
great effervescence took place, and the temperature fell to 275°,
accompanied by a copious deposition; after which the temperature
remained constant. M. Legrand gave a table of the boiling points of
the different saturated saline solutions, from which the following
statement is copied; the temperatures are of course given in this
table, and throughout this article, unless otherwise mentioned, on the
Fahrenheit scale.
Salts.
Chloride of sodium
"
•
potassium
barium
Carbonate of soda.
Nitrate of soda.
41·2 | 227·12°
59-4226-94
60.1 219.92
48.5 217-33
224.8 249-8
ammonia No limit 356*
Chloride of calcium 325.0 355.1
■
•
Salts.
Temperature.
•
Sal ammoniac
88.9 237.56°
Chloride of strontium 117:5 244-13
Carbonate of potash 205⚫ 275.0
Nitrate of lime
862. 271-8
Acetate of soda
209. 261.7
potash
798.2 336-2
Phosphate of soda 112.6 | 234.7
The boiling point of water being 212°, that of concentrated nitric
acid will be 1868; that of alcohol will be 1742; that of oil of
turpentine will be 314°6; and that of linseed oil 600°8. Sea water,
containing of its own weight of the chloride of sodium, boils at
213°2 in the open air; if the proportion of salt be increased, the
temperature of ebullition will increase also; thus, for of salt it
becomes 214°·4; for, it becomes 215.°5; for, 21607; for, 217-09;
for, 219°; for 8
221°4; for 19, 223°7; for, or the point of
saturation, 226°. It may be interesting to the practical reader here to
332
10
33
33
state, that marine boilers are usually worked with proportions of salt
equal to of the weight of the water; but that occasionally those
proportions are raised as high as without much inconvenience.
For mechanical purposes, it is necessary that steam should exercise
a pressure in excess of that of the atmosphere; and, upon Dalton's
law above quoted, this additional pressure, or elastic force, can only be
obtained by causing the water to boil under such conditions as shall
bring to bear upon its surface an effort equivalent to the one the steain
is desired to exercise. It is a matter of the greatest importance in the
arts, then, to ascertain the temperature of the water which corresponds
with steam of certain pressures, and numerous experiments have been
made for this purpose. Messrs. Dulong and Arago, M. Regnault, and
Macquorn Rankine, may be cited as the greatest authorities on
the subject; and the reader who may desire to study this branch of
physical science in detail is referred to their works, as also to those of
Wollaston, Lavoisier, Laplace, Gay-Lussac, Petit, De Pambour, Lubbock,
Mosely, &c. The tables drawn up by Messrs. Arago and Dulong of the
elastic force of steam at the different temperatures observed during
their experiments, or ascertained by calculation by means of a formula
deduced from those experiments when the elastic force of the steam
exceeded 392.8 lbs. on the superficial inch, are sufficiently accurate for
practical purposes, though M. Regnault's later researches are more
elaborately correct. Arago and Dulong's table is to be found in
Daguin's Traité de Physique,' and elsewhere; the pressure being
indicated in atmospheres of 14.7 lbs. on the superficial inch, and the
temperatures are given on the centigrade scale. Macquorn Rankine,
however, gives in his Treatise on the Steam Engine,' p. 564, a table,
from which the following statement of the tension and the boiling
points is extracted; the tension being given in pounds, the tempera-
ture of the water, producing the steam of that elastic force, in degrees
of Fahrenheit's scale.
Table of temperature of water able to produce steam possessing the
elastic force indicated, in lbs. avoirdupois per superficial inch :—

Temperature. Force.
Volume of
Volume of
1 lb. of steam Temperature. Force. 1 lb. of steam
in cubic feet.
in cubic feet.
2122
14.70
26.36
329°
101.9
4.280
221
17.53
22.34
,338
115-1
3.814
230
20.80
19.03
347
129.8
3.110
239
24.54
16.28
356
145.8
3.057
248
28.83
14.00
365
163.3
2.748
257
33.71
12.09
374
182.4
2.476
266
39.25
10.48
383
203.3
2.236
275
45.49
9.124
392
225.9
2.025
284
52-52
7.973
401
250.3
1.838
293
60.40
6.992
410
276.9
1.672
302
69.21
6.153
419
305.5
1.525
311
79.03
5.433
428
336.3
1.393
320
89.86
4.816
In practice, the pressure of steam is reckoned without any reference
to that of the atmosphere; or, in other words, it is only the pressure
in excess of the atmospheric pressure which is noticed. Ordinary
condensing engines, said to be working at from 16 to 40 lbs. pressure,
would, according to the above table, work with steam of an elastic
force of from 307 to 547 lbs.; high pressure engines, working at from
60 to 120 lbs. pressure, really work with steam of 747 and 1347 lbs. of
the table, and the temperature of the water would in both cases corres-
pond with the higher degrees of elastic force. The laws connected
with the relations between the temperature and pressure above stated
are, moreover, sometimes applied practically in the arts as a pre-
caution against danger from an accidental increase of pressure; for, on
the continent, it is usual to place in a steam-boiler, intended to work
under high pressure, plugs of mixed metals able to fuse at tempera-
tures which would generate steam of a dangerous nature. When these
plugs fuse, the water escapes, and consequently puts out the fire;
they do not, however, dispense with safety-valves.
A great number of formulæ have been proposed for the purpose of
calculating the relation between the elastic force of vapour and the
temperature of the water producing it; such are the formula of Laplace,
Ivory, Poisson, Lubbock, De Prony. The simplest of them is un-
questionably the one given by Dr. Young, F=(1+0.0029t); or, as
given by Arago and Dulong for the centigrade scale, r=(1+07153t);
and Regnault found that the results it gave corresponded very nearly
with those obtained by actual observation, when the vapour was given
off from water heated beyond 212°, but that below that temperature
the results no longer agreed. Regnault adopted, therefore, another
formula proposed by Biot, and discussed at length by that philosopher
in his Traité de Physique,' 1816: but, as this formula contains no
less than five constants, and the indications given by the simpler
formula of Arago are admitted to be correct for all the pressures dealt
with in practice, there can be little reason for adopting the former.
It is important, in calculations with respect to the use of steam as a
motive power, to ascertain whether the latent heat of the steam
remains the same at all temperatures; and M. Regnault has added to
the other services he has rendered to science by going through a
series of direct experiments for the purpose of verifying the laws of

783
STEAM AND STEAM-ENGINE.
Watt and of Southern upon this subject which had previously been
received. Regnault found that at the ordinary atmospheric pressure it
required 540 thermal units of the French scale to convert 1 gramme of
water into steam (971,636 English thermal units to convert 1 pound
avoirdupois); and thus far his experiments (recorded in the 'Mé-
moires de l'Académie des Sciences,' vol. xxi.) agreed with those of
other observers. Watt, however, had laid down the law "that the
quantity of heat necessary to vaporise a given weight of water was the
same at every degree of the thermometer ;" and Southern had stated
"that the latent heat of vaporisation was the same under every degree
of pressure; " De Pambour's observations appeared also to show that,
up to a pressure of about 65lbs. on the superficial inch, Watt's law
was substantially correct. Regnault, on the contrary, found that
Watt's law was not exact, and that Southern's was still more falla-
cious; for he found that when the temperature increased, the total heat
also increased, but the latent heat diminished. The results of his
experiments were given in the following formula, λ=6065 +0.305t;
in which λ is the total heat (on the centigrade scale), and t the tempe-
rature of the steam; the coefficient 606-5 being the value assigned by
him as the latent heat of vapour at 0°, and 0.305 the specific heat of
steam. Regnault ascertained at the same time that between the
limits of 0° and 392° there was hardly any difference in the specific
heat of water, so that there was no occasion to take that difference
into account. In the Mémoire wherein these observations are recorded
a table is inserted, showing the tensions, and the total heat of the
vapour given off at temperatures increasing by equal increments of 10
degrees centigrade, between 0° and 230°. The table in question is also
given in Daguin's 'Traité de Physique,' t. i., part 2, p. 965. It may be
as well to add that the laws of the latent heat of steam are practically
applied when buildings are heated by means of it; in these cases the
heat absorbed, or rendered latent in one place, is distributed by the
pipes which enable the steam to circulate over other parts of a
building.
The following table of the densities of vapours is extracted from
Daguin's work; it is based upon the experiments of MM. Gay-Lussac
and Dumas, and the density of air is taken as unity.
STEAM AND STEAM-ENGINE.
78-1
been the nature and date of its origin, it has been reared to its present
gigantic stature by the fostering care of different countries, and, with-
out detracting from or underrating the efforts of others, England may
be justly proud of her share of the glory, a share readily conceded by
our competitors.
Considering therefore dispute as unprofitable, and the discussion of
dates of patents and improvements as uninteresting, we shall incorpo-
rate all that is requisite of the history of the engine with our account
of it.
A steam-engine may be defined generally as an engine by which the
forces arising from the properties of elasticity and of instantaneous
condensation possessed by steam are transmitted to produce a con-
tinuous rotatory motion, either of a fly-wheel designed to constitute a
reservoir of power for the purposes of driving machinery, or for any
other uses that force may be put to.
Admitting this definition, the earlier steam-engines, as they are
commonly called, those of the Marquess of Worcester (1663), and the
improved forms contrived or suggested by others, and even Captain
Savery's (1698), which was long employed in this country, were only
pumps for raising water: a partial vacuum was formed in close vessels
by the condensation of steam within them, the atmospheric pressure
raised the water to a certain height; from whence it was forced higher
by the elasticity of the steam admitted to act on its surface.
Passing over all these therefore as foreign to our subject, the first
engine which it is necessary to describe is that of Newcomen (1705);
it constitutes the connecting link between the steam-pumps alluded to,
and the modern engine, of which it contained the germ, and into which
it was converted by the genius of Watt. [WATT, JAMES, in BIOG.
Div.]
In the subjoined diagram, a represents a cylinder open at the upper
Fig. 1.
Substances.
Density of
vapours.
Point of
ebullition.
Substances.
Density of
vapours.
Point of
ebullition.
Water
Hydrocyanic acid
Alcohol
Hydrochloric ether 2.219
Centi-
grade.
100°
Sulphuric ether
•
G
Centi-
grade.
2.5860
36°
0.6235
0.9476 26.5 ||Sulphide of carbon 2.6447 47
1.6138 11 Essence of turpentine] 5.0130 157
36 Hydroiodic ether 5.4749 65
H
K
Compared with water at its greatest degree of condensation, the
density of steam at 212° Fahr. is exactly 1695 less than that of the
water, or nearly 1700, as was before stated; or in fact, one volume of
water yields nearly 1700 volumes of steam. This is worthy of remark;
for the volumes of the oxygen and hydrogen, contained in a given
volume of water, occupy under atmospheric pressure a space equal to
2500 times the volume of the latter. It has been suggested that the
condensation which thus appears to have taken place during the conf-
bination of the permanent gases referred to, may be explained by some
change in their electrical state; and it is well known that the evolution
of steam, under high pressures, does give rise to electrical phenomena
of a very remarkable but hitherto only partially studied description.
Messrs. Armstrong, Faraday, Schafthoentl, and Becquerel have, indeed
observed that when steam, charged with water in suspension, escapes
in such a manner as to exercise friction against a substance opposed to
its passage, a development of electricity takes place, and that generally
the water or the vapour is positive, and the opposing substances
negative. The form, the nature, and the temperature of the orifices
affect the development of the electricity to a great extent, and
especially does heat retard it; at the same time the amount of elec-
trical action depends on the purity of the water, for a small quantity of
salt or acid destroys the property, and a very small proportion of the
essence of turpentine causes the nature of the electricity to change;
the steam in this case becomes negative. Becquerel evidently attri-a pump-rod at its other extremity, loaded so as to counterpoise the
butes the development of the electricity, by the passage of steam under
the circumstances recorded in the experiments of Mr. Armstrong, to
the friction of the globules of water contained in the steam; but this
interesting question has not yet been examined with sufficient accuracy
to allow the formation of any absolute opinions on the subject.
Steam-Engine. In conformity with the plan of this Cyclopædia
a general outline of the principles of the engine will be here given, the
reader being referred to different articles connected with the subject,
or to works written specifically on the steam-engine, for more detailed
information.
The claim to the invention of the steam-engine has been made a
subject of national contention; but the conclusion, arrived at from the
discussions which this contention has originated, seems to be, that, in
common with all other important applications of physical principles,
no individual can lay claim to the invention. Whatever may have
end, fitted with a piston B, and rendered air-tight by having water on
it to the depth of several inches: the piston rod was suspended by a
chain from the arched end of a beam c, turning on an axle, and having
weight of the piston, and to raise it to the top of the cylinder. This
cylinder was placed over the boiler D with which it communicated by
a steam-pipe E, furnished with a cock F to open or close the passage:
a is a cistern fixed above the cylinder, to the bottom of which a pipe
H passed, also provided with a cock I.
When the piston was depressed to the bottom of the cylinder, it
drove out all the air before it, which escaped at the orifice of a pipe K
into the water of a smaller cistern L: the cock F being next opened,
the steam from the boiler filled the cylinder as the piston rose again
from the action of the counterpoise; as soon as it arrived at the top,
the cock F was closed and I opened, a jet of cold water from the cistern
G rushed into the cylinder, condensing the steam, and thus forming a
partial vacuum beneath the piston, the pressure of the air on its upper
surface forced it downwards, and caused the pump at the other end of
the beam to raise an equivalent weight of water to a height equal to
1


735
780
STEAM AND STEAM-ENGINE.
STEAM AND STEAM-ENGINE.
-
that through which the piston moved: the injected water and con-
densed steam-water flowed off into the cistern L through K, as the air
had previously done. The cock I was now closed, and F opened, and
the action was repeated, and when this engine was first introduced, it
was the duty of an attendant to open and shut these cocks alternately;
but subsequently lever handles to open and shut the cocks were acted
on by pins or cams, carried by a rod suspended from a beam; and the
engine became self-acting. This improvement was rudely made in the
first instance by a boy named Potter, for the purpose of saving himself
trouble; it was subsequently perfected by an engineer named Beigh-
ton in 1718.
Newcomen's engine was successively improved upon by Smeaton,
Brindley, and other engineers, previous to Watt's time, and from its
intrinsic merits it remained in general use under the appropriate name
of the "atmospheric engine" during the greater part of the last cen-
tury, but was only used for pumping water.
The first and most important of Watt's improvements on the engine
consisted in effecting the condensation in a separate vessel, termed the
condenser, which communicated with the cylinder. This condenser
being filled with steam from the boiler at the same time with the
cylinder, the jet of cold water, admitted into the former only, effected
the condensation of the whole volume of steam, both of that in the
cylinder as well as of that in the condenser, in conformity with the
well-known principle in physics, that an action originated in any
part of a homogeneous fluid is almost instantaneously communicated
throughout its mass.
To effect still further the object of this separate condensation, Watt
placed his condenser in a cistern, the temperature of which was kept
constant by a fresh supply of cold water, brought from a well by a
pump, to be presently mentioned; for otherwise, the heat given out
by the condensing steam would, by heating the vessel and the water
surrounding it, have prevented the rapid or almost instantaneous
condensation necessary to the efficient action of the engine.
To comprehend the necessity for a rapid condensation, it must be
remembered that the effective power of the engine depends on the
pressure on the piston minus any resistance it encounters and on the
space through which it moves. If the steam could be instantly con-
verted into water, and so entirely removed,* a perfect vacuum would
be formed beneath the piston, in which case, there being no resistance
from this source to overcome, a maximum of power would be obtained;
but if the condensation be slow, or only partial, since the piston will
begin to move the instant there is any inequality in the pressures
exerted on its opposite surfaces, its motion will be retarded, or the
power diminished, by the resistance to compression offered by the
uncondensed steam; and although that resistance would tend to
diminish as the condensation proceeded, yet the space occupied by the
steam diminishing in consequence of the descent of the piston in
nearly the same proportion, the resistance would be nearly constant
through the whole of that descent.
On the other hand, to maintain the temperature of the cylinder as
high as possible, Watt, at first, cased it in wood to retard the radiation,
and subsequently surrounded it by a second iron cylinder, admitting
steam from the boiler between the two. This casing, or "jacket," as
it is termed, is not used in most modern engines made since Watt's
time, for reasons which will hereafter appear; and the effects of
radiation from the surface of the cylinder are now chiefly guarded
against as much as possible by keeping that surface bright and
smooth.
The second of Watt's improvements on Newcomen's engine consisted
in closing the cylinder at top, the piston-rod being made to pass through
a cylindrical neck in that top, termed a stuffing-box, from the passage
being rendered steam-tight by a stuffing of tow saturated with grease,
which by its lubrication diminished the additional friction resulting
from this arrangement. The object of this alteration was to admit of
the elastic force of the steam being employed to impel the piston
downwards, instead of simple atmospheric pressure.
For this pur-
pose, the steam was admitted from the boiler above the piston at the
same moment the condensation took place in the condenser; the
steam-passage being made double for the purpose, so that the communi-
cation with the condenser could be cut off when that with the cylinder
was opened, alternately. When the piston had descended to the bottom
of the cylinder, the counterpoise at the pump-rod raised it again, as in
Newcomen's engine; but to allow of this upward motion, it was neces-
sary to remove the steam which was above the piston, and this was
done by allowing it to pass under the piston, and into the condenser
through a passage opened at the proper instant for this purpose.
Such is the general principle of Mr. Watt's single-acting engine, which
hence became a steam-engine, and was no longer an atmospheric one.
By a further improvement, the counterpoise at the pump-rod was
done away with, which obviously had been so much added to the
unproductive work of the engine, since this weight had to be raised in
addition to that of the water. The upward stroke of the piston was
now produced by admitting the steam below it, to act by its elasticity,
as it had previously done above when causing the piston to descend:
* One cubic inch of water occupies 1711 cubic inches of space, in the form of
steam at 212°; consequently, the space occupied by the water after the con-
densation may be neglected in the computation.
ARTS AND SCI. DIV. VOL. VII.
thus the engine became double-acting, and assumed that essential.
general principle which it has ever since maintained, although all the
details of its construction have been improved upon by successive
engineers.
The changes in the engine introduced by Watt created the necessity
for two pumps, and commonly three, which are worked by rods attached
to the beam: the first of these is the hot-water or air pump, intended
to remove the air, condensed water, and steam from the condenser, in
which they would otherwise accumulate, and finally stop the action;
for this water cannot flow away into an open cistern, as it had done in
Newcomen's engine, since by Watt's principle it is essential that the
condenser should be as steam-tight and as perfectly closed as the
cylinder, or else the steam could not exert a pressure greater than that
of the atmosphere, as it is intended to do in order to increase the
effective force of the engine. The second is a force-pump, required to
return the water drawn from the condenser by the first back to the
boiler, as will be hereafter explained; and the third, termed the cold-
water pump, is that alluded to in a preceding paragraph as supplying
the cold-water cistern which contains the condenser.
Having thus explained the general principle of the engine, some of
the details of its construction must now be considered, and the piston
[HYDRAULICS] may claim our first notice, both from its paramount
importance and the practical difficulties to be overcome in its forma-
tion. In hydraulic machines, all vessels, pipes, valves, &c., must be
made water-tight: in Bramah's pump, for example, the efficiency of the
engine entirely depends on the accurate fitting of parts moving in
contact, which must be perfectly water-tight, though subjected to a
pressure of many hundred pounds on each square inch of surface ;-
the utmost perfection of skill in workmanship is requisite to ensure
this object, and the difficulty is obviously considerably increased when
steam or gases are the fluids to be dealt with. Now the piston of a
steam-engine must be steam-tight, and yet move with a minimum of
friction in the cylinder; and as this latter, from defective workman-
ship, can never be a perfectly true one, the cylindrical periphery of the
piston must be so contrived as to be capable of adapting itself to every
inequality in the surface against which it slides: this is effected in
common pistons by their being made two inches or more less in
diameter than the cylinder, leaving a projecting flange at the bottom,
which, together with a top plate bolted to them, accurately fits the
cylinder. Tow or soft rope, saturated with grease, is carefully wound
round the cylindrical body of the piston, between the upper plate and
lower flange; the former is then drawn up by screws, compressing the
intervening packing till it perfectly fits the cylinder, and yet by its
elasticity allows of its adapting itself to the inequalities in the surface.
The first (fig. 2) of the annexed figures will explain the details of the
construction of the ordinary piston.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 4.
Fig. 3.



But as the friction of this common piston is necessarily very con-
siderable, the better class of engines have usually what are called
metallic pistons, of which there are different kinds, invented by Cart-
wright, Jessop, Barton, and others. The body of these pistons is
metal, made in pieces or segments, acted on by springs radiating from
a centre; so that while the friction is diminished by both surfaces
being metallic, the piston, owing to its construction, can adapt itself to
the irregularities of the cylinder. It is found in practice that these
metallic pistons wear for a long time, and do not of course require the
frequent repacking necessary to those with tow or hempen stuffing.
Figs. 3 and 4 represent a plan and elevation of an improved form of
Barton's piston, to explain the principle.
In Newcomen's engine the steam was admitted to the cylinder, and
the communication again cut off by means of a cock of the common
construction; but a more efficient contrivance is requisite when the
steam is to be admitted alternately both above and below the piston,
and to the condenser, as it is in engines since the introduction of
3 E
}
787
STEAM AND STEAM-ENGINE.
Watt's improvements. This can be accomplished by a four-passage
cock, originally invented by Leupold in 1720, and since improved by
Bramah and others. The principle of a four-way cock will be under-
stood by the annexed figure (fig. 5) of the plan of one employed by
Messrs. Maudslay and Field in their small engines.
Fig. 5.
B
Fig. 6.
STEAM AND STEAM-ENGINE.
758
munication with the upper part of the cylinder by means of the tube
T of the slide.
Fig. 8.

R


CD
E
A
Ջ
D
A is a portion of the cylinder; B, the steam-pipe; C, D, E, three
passages, one communicating with the top, another with the bottom of
the cylinder, and the third with the condenser; F is the four-passage
cock, which, by turning alternately to the right and left, establishes a
communication between one of the former with the latter passage.
Fig. 6 represents the conical valve with its side apertures, and that
at the top, by which the steam enters.
Watt employed flat conical valves for the purpose under considera-
tion, which were raised or depressed by cranks acting on a guide-rod at
right angles to the plane of the valve, which therefore did not turn on
a hinge like the common clack-valve of a pump. In some of his
engines the valves were raised or depressed by toothed sectors acting
on a rack in the guide-rod, so that the valve might rise from its seat
without altering the parallelism of its plane. Two such valves were
mounted in one box, one above the other, the guide-rod of the lowest
passing through that of the upper.
Fig. 7 shows the valves of this construction, of the large engine
erected by Messrs. Maudslay for the Chelsea Water-Works. c, part
of the cylinder; P, the piston; T, the "plug-tree;" G, the gearing
handles, which are struck by the tappets on the plug-tree, and thus
open and close the valves v; s, the steam-passage to the upper and
lower parts of the cylinder; D, the passage to the condenser.
Fig. 7.
V
C
S
V
ન
T
G
In most engines of the present day, however, the slide-valve, as it is
termed, has superseded the use of the others, excepting in large
pumping-engines: a perfectly flat surface slides on another, termi-
nating the orifices which are to be opened and shut; such is the
general principle, but the forms and arrangements are too numerous to
be mentioned. Fig. 8 shows a part of the cylinder of an engine with
box-slide valves, now much used.
s, the orifice of the steam-pipe; the steam passes to the upper part
of the cylinder at D, the lower passage E being shut off in the position
of the valve shown and shaded in the figure; the slide is moved by
the rod R, and it is shown in its second position in dotted lines, in
which position it will be seen that the steam can then enter beneath
the piston, while the passage P to the condenser is in turn in com-
E
P
The characteristic and most valuable part of this principle is this, of
making part of the slide act as a pipe to connect the two parts of the
cylinder alternately with the condenser. The steam, by pressing on
the slide in the common form of slide, enormously increases the friction
with the surface against which it acts, and also produces rapid wear of
the parts; this defect is remedied in the box-slide and all others which
possess this peculiarity.
Slide-valves were proposed by Murray, in 1799, but were abandoned,
till improved workmanship allowed of their being more perfectly made;
they have been successively improved in principle by Murdoch, Bramah,
Millington, Maudslay, and Seward, the slides of the last-named being
now much used in marine engines.
It has been mentioned that the alternate action of the valves in the
atmospheric and Watt's engines was produced by pins, or tappets, ad-
justed on a rod called the plug-tree, suspended from the beam; as the
plug-tree moved up and down with the beam, the tappets struck the
ends of bent levers or cranks, which raised or depressed the valves in
proper succession: some of these levers were so formed that the tappet
by pressing against them might keep the valve closed during the
greater part of the stroke * of the piston, and others required an inter-
mediate shorter lever, or claw, to act on the valve-rod; so that the
whole arrangement was inevitably complicated and cumbrous. But
when the slide-valve superseded Watt's double conical valves, and the
steam passages could be opened and closed by the motion of one rod
only, connected with the slide, this motion could be readily produced
by what is termed an excentric, which for this purpose usually consists
of a circular plate of metal, keyed excentrically on the shaft of the fly-
wheel, and working within a ring attached to the end of a frame in-
tended to move a crank directly connected with the slide-rod at its
other extremity. As the shaft revolves, the excentric plate imparts
an alternating motion to the frame, which, transmitted by the crank,
alternately raises and depresses the slide-rod. The principle of the
excentric is one of the most valuable of those mechanical contrivances
by means of which a continuous circular can be converted into an alter-
nating rectilinear motion.

>>
The "beam so frequently alluded to, was obviously the readiest
mode of connecting the alternating motion of the piston with the
pump to be worked, in the atmospheric engine; and owing to the
facilities it offers of working the plug-tree and the three pumps neces-
sary in Watt's condensing engines, continued to form a part of the
arrangement whether the engine were intended to pump a mine or to
drive machinery. The beams of the first engines were made of two
or more trees, bolted together to obtain the requisite rigidity, and
further strengthened by a kind of truss, as is seen in the diagram of
Newcomen's engine. But when the art of making heavy iron-castings
was perfected, that metal was substituted for wood, to the manifest
improvement of the engine in every respect. Watt also removed the
cumbrous arched heads, which had been previously employed for the
purpose of causing the piston-rod to move up and down in the same
right line, though connected with the end of the beam, which neces-
sarily described an arc of a circle, as turning on a fixed centre; this
arrangement implied the use of a flexible chain, to suspend the piston,
which might wind round, and unwind from, the arch, but a chain
* The term stroke is technically used by engineers to express the whole
motion of the piston from the top to the bottom of the cylinder and back again.
789
790
STEAM AND STEAM-ENGINE.
STEAM AND STEAM-ENGINE.
could not be used when the piston had to raise the beam, as it had to
do in Watt's engine, instead of being raised by it, as in Newcomen's.
The object of these "arched heads" is attained in modern engines
Fig. 10.
I
Fig. 9.
D
P
H
D
by a system of simple rods or levers, so combined that one point may
move in a straight line nearly. There are a variety of combinations
by which this may be effected, but that termed the "parallel motion,"
invented by Mr. Watt for the purpose, is the only one which need be
here noticed, as being that most commonly used.
The geometrical principle of this motion is shown in figs. 9 and 10 as
well as the whole arrangement when the piston is near the top of the
cylinder: D D are rods fixed by one end to the frame supporting the
beam, while the three other pair of levers being jointed together and
to the beam, must obviously, in every position, form a parallelopipedon,
whence the name is derived; P is the piston-rod attached to H; Q that
of the hot-water pump connected with the parallel motion at I in the
centre of that side.
When the engine is employed to drive machinery of any kind, a fly-
wheel becomes a necessary adjunct to it. A fly-wheel is one in which
the principal quantity of the matter is distributed in the periphery;
when such a wheel revolves on an axis perpendicular to its plane, the
greatest quantity of matter moving with a maximum velocity, the
momentum of the whole is a maximum, while its inertia, if it be large,
causes it to control, or equalise, the motion of the machinery through
which it receives its own. It is the momentum of such a wheel which
constitutes the disposable force available for the multifarious purposes
to which machinery can be applied; so that in the case of the steam-
engine, although the elasticity of steam is the original source of power,
the immediate one by which the work is executed is the momentum
of the fly-wheel.
It is consequently necessary to adapt some contrivance to the end
of the beam, which shall convert the alternating circular motion of the
latter into a continuous one of the fly-wheel; this is effected by the
rod and crank, a piece of mechanism of such frequent occurrence that
it is unnecessary to describe it; the treadle of a lathe is a familiar
instance of its application, and for a similar purpose, that of connecting
the alternate motion of the turner's foot with the continuous one of
the wheel of the lathe; the principle of the treadle, or rod and crank,
is in fact the only one by which an alternating can be converted into
a continuous circular motion; it must therefore be employed, notwith-
standing the variation in the power transmitted by means of it, conse-
quent on that of the angle formed by the rod and crank with each
other. Thus, for example, when the rod and crank are in the same
direction, which occurs twice at every rotation, no force whatever is
transmitted by it, and the primary one is entirely suspended or held
in equilibrium by the resistance of the fixed centres on which the
crank and rod turn.
In the steam-engine the rod and crank are so adjusted that these
two neutral positions occur when the piston is at one or the other end
of the cylinder, and the valves are so arranged that, both steam passages
being closed, all communication between the engine and the boiler is
cut off; otherwise the steam, which could not under these circum-
stances move the piston, would exert its force to the detriment of the
machine; as soon, however, as the momentum of the fly-wheel has
carried the crank past these positions, the motion reciprocally imparted
through it to the piston and valves admits the entrance of the steam
from the boiler into the cylinder again. It is one of the important
details in the construction of the engine, that the piston should be in
that point of its course when the steam exerts its maximum of effect
on it, at the time when, the rod and crank being at right angles
to each other, the maximum of force may be exerted to turn the
fly-wheel.
Since the diameter of the circle described by the crank must be
equal to the length of the stroke, or to the distance through which the
piston moves, it might be thought advantageous to increase the length
of the stroke, as admitting of a longer crank; but there are limits
to this length, determined by a variety of circumstances, some of which
will be hereafter explained.
When Watt substituted the elastic force of steam for the pressure
of the atmosphere, he introduced a source of power which might be
increased to an indefinite extent, provided it were found advantageous
to employ it; and the question naturally suggests itself, what is the
elastic force or pressure at which the maximum of useful effect can be
produced with a minimum expenditure of fuel? Unfortunately no
direct answer can be given; in mathematical language, the unknown
quantity is a function of too many variables to be capable of deter-
mination, except by repeated experiments for every specific engine,
this quantity varying with the principle of its construction, even with
the details. The results of such experiments seem to show, that
generally it is more advantageous to employ steam of a comparatively
high elastic force; accordingly the pressure was increased, in engines
constructed by Watt, from 4 to 8 or even 12 lbs. on the inch, the appre-
hension of danger from the explosion of boilers in which steam of high
pressure was generated constituting the chief limit to a further
extension of the practice; at the present day condensing engines are
even worked as high as from 25 to 30 lbs. pressure. The nature of
those improvements in the construction of boilers will be briefly
explained hereafter, by which steam of 200 lbs. on the inch may be
generated, if requisite, with nearly as much security as that of 4 lbs. in
the earlier boilers; but at present, simply stating that such is the case,
we proceed to explain some important changes which have been con-
sequently made in the principles of the engine.
When the steam is first admitted into the cylinder, the total space
filled by the steam is immediately augmented by that through which
the piston moves; and if the capacity of the boiler were not several
times greater than that of the cylinder, the consequence would be a
gradual diminution of the pressure, supposing the total quantity to
remain the same but the moment the pressure in the boiler tends to
diminish, an additional quantity of water passes into the state of
vapour, of the same tension as that previously generated, provided the
temperature be maintained; hence the pressure on the piston may be
regarded as sensibly the same throughout the whole of its stroke,
provided that pressure be somewhat greater than that of the atmo-
sphere, and the communication with the boiler remain open. It must
not, however, be supposed that the pressure on the piston is the same
with that of the steam in the boiler; all that is here asserted is that
the pressure on the former will be uniform.
But if the pressure be considerably greater than that of the
atmosphere, the steam, even when separated from the water, while
expanding in the enlarging space formed by the motion of the piston,
will exert sufficient force to continue that motion, till at last the
pressure diminishing inversely as the space increases, and directly as
the temperature, according to Mariotte's and Gay-Lussac's laws, that
pressure will finally be not in equilibrium with the resistance, and all
motion will cease. This is the important principle of working engines,
originally proposed by Watt, though not employed by him, but
which now, from the improvements in boilers above alluded to, is
becoming general under the name of that of expansion. In the
common engine, if the pressure on the piston continue uniform
during the stroke, as it would do if the communication with the
boiler remained open, the piston would move with an accelerating
velocity till it arrived at the end of the cylinder, when the motion in
that direction being suddenly stopped, the momentum must be ex-
pended on some of the fixed points of the machine, to its manifest
injury, and with the useless expenditure of so much power; accord-
ingly the communication with the boiler is now always cut off when
the piston has arrived at a certain point, and with a momentum
sufficient to carry it to the end of its stroke without any useless ex-
penditure of force, while the steam behind it, which was originally of
but a few pounds pressure above that of the atmosphere, thus limited
in quantity, rapidly declines in force, and ceases to urge the piston on.
But on the "expansion principle," when the steam possesses con-
siderable elastic force, the communication with the boiler may be cut
off much sooner, and the piston is urged forward by the expansive
force of the steam, which, although decreasing as the space increases,
is yet sufficient to carry the piston to the end of the stroke.
If it be asked how it is advantageous to use half the quantity of
steam at twice the pressure, when it takes perhaps twice the quantity
of fuel to raise the steam to the double pressure, the answer is, that it
can be shown analytically that the total force exerted by steam acting
expansively is greater than that which would be exerted by steam of a
constant pressure, equal to the mean of those exerted, first, at the
moment the steam-valve is closed, and, secondly, when the piston
arrives at the end of its stroke; consequently, as less steam may be
used to produce the required effect, a saving of fuel is the result, or in
other words, the quantity of steam may be much less than half, at
double the pressure, or the pressure much less than doubled, to pro-
duce the same effect,

5
791
STEAM AND STEAM-ENGINE.
As long as a continued force of any kind produces a continued
motion with a constant velocity in any body, the force must be in
equilibrium with the resistance it has to overcome; for if the force
were greater than the resistance, it would produce an accelerating
motion, which is contrary to the supposition and if the resistance
became greater than the force, the velocity would retard till the equi-
librium were produced: as long, therefore, as a steam-engine is moving
with a constant velocity, the pressure on the piston must be equal to the
resistance to be overcome, consisting of the net work to be done,
together with the friction of the various parts, the resistance of the
uncondensed steam, of the air on the opposite side of the piston, and
of other sources of resistance, which all concur to produce the gross
resistance to be overcome. Putting P′ for the pressure of the steam
on each unit of surface of the piston, and R for the resistance for the
same unit, or for the quotient obtained by dividing the total resistance
by the number of units of surface, we have
(A)
P'
= R
as the first equation of condition; but since the velocity of the motion
must be taken into consideration, when the power or force of the
engine is to be determined, we must consider the velocity with which
this pressure is applied, or, in other words, the rate at which the
steam is applied to the cylinder; and it is obvious that when the
engine is moving with a constant velocity, the supply to the piston
must be exactly that produced in the same time by the evaporation
going on in the boiler. If, therefore, s expresses the volume of water
evaporated in a unit of time and transmitted to the cylinder, and m
the ratio of the volume of steam, formed under the pressure P in the
boiler, to the volume of water which produced it, ms would express
the volume of steam generated in each unit of time under the pressure
P: by passing into the cylinder this steam assumes the pressure P', and,
neglecting the further change produced by the variation in the tem-
perature of steam in changing from pressure P to pressure P', the
volume of that quantity of steam would be inversely as the pressures
by Mariotte's law; consequently the volume ms, when transferred to
P
the cylinder, would become ms; and putting v for the velocity of
the piston and a for its area, av will be the volume of steam expended
in each unit of time; hence we get
P
av = ms p
eliminating p' between equations (A) and (B), we obtain
ms P
α R
MSP
R =
8
av
av R
MP
(B)
for the velocity, resistance, and evaporation, when the other quantities
are known; it must be observed, however, that the element neglected
in these general deductions, namely, the change produced by the
variation in temperature, has an important influence on the result, and
must therefore now be taken into account.
1
μπ
n + q P
(C)
is the general expression for the steam during its action in the engine,
μ being the volume, and p the pressure, and n and q constants,
determined by experiments, for different kinds of engines.*
*It can be shown that the density and relative volume of a vapour, whether
or not in contact with the liquid, may be deduced, if its pressure and tempera-
ture are known; and that when in contact with the liquid, the temperature
varies directly with the pressure. In deducing formula for the steam-engine,
it is necessary to be able to determine an expression for the relative volume of
the steam in contact with the water, or the volume of the steam at the maximum
of density and pressure at any proposed temperature. Now this cannot be done
from the existing formula for analytical reasons, and it becomes necessary to
adopt some empirical formula, for determining this relative volume of steam at
its maximum of density, in terms of its pressure only; this formula must be
tested by its conformity with experiment. The late M. Navier proposed for this
purpose,
1000
μ 0·09 + 0·0000484 p
in which is the ratio of the volume of steam to an equal weight of water, and
p the pressure; but this formula, though true within certain limits of pressure,
is not consistent with experiments at pressures lower than the atmospheric, and
the following is propounded by M. de Pambour, as more correct and compre-
hensive :-
fl
μ
for condensing engines;
10000
0.42270.00258 p
10000
for non-condensing engines;
1·421 + 0·0023 p
p being the pressure in pounds on the square foot. These formulæ in general
terms therefore are expressed by
1
as in the text.
n + qp
STEAM AND STEAM-ENGINE.
792
Let a certain volume of water, s, be converted into steam of the
pressure p, and let м represent the volume of steam produced, then—
μ
M
1
8 n + qp':
if M' and p' stand for the volume and pressure of steam from the same
volume of water s, under other conditions, then—
μ'
M'
1
S n + gp';
and therefore the ratio of the volumes of steam produced under these
different conditions from the same volume of water will be-
¤|
0
+ p
M
q
+ q
q
M'
2
(D)
that is, the volumes will not be inversely as the pressures simply,
according to Mariotte's law; but inversely as the pressures augmented
by a constant.
From the above equation we get-
Let P =
P'
=
T=
Z
-
で
​-
入​=
M'/n
p =
+ p
M \q
)-
n
g
. (E)
pressure of the steam in the boiler.
pressure of the steam in the cylinder; P'<P generally.
pressure at any instant when acting expansively in the
engine.
length of the stroke.
the length of that part of stroke performed before the com-
munication between the boiler and cylinder is cut off.
the length of that portion of the stroke performed when the
pressure is become π.
a = area of piston.
C =
clearage, or space in the cylinder at each end left between
the piston and the ends of the cylinder, including the
part of the steam-pipe between the slide-valve and the
cylinder, which space is necessarily filled with steam at
each stroke.
When the piston has performed λ of its course under the expansive
force of the steam, let d. λ be the differential of this length, then the
corresponding force or effect will be rad.λ: and at the same instant
the space a (l+c) occupied by the steam before the expansion will
become a (λ+c). Hence from (E)—
and
2012
n
π
(~1 + ')
入​+ C
α.λ
Tad.λ=a (l' + c) (~ + r') x + C
(l'+c)
c
Integrating between the limits l' and 1, we obtain
1 + c n
N
210
214
ad.λ.
a (l' + c) ( + P′) log 7 + − 27, a (l—1)
Չ
for the value of the total effect produced by expansion from the
moment when the communication with the boiler is cut off, to the end
of the stroke. By adding to this therefore the effect p'al', produced
previously, we get
a (l' + c) ("~/ + x') [e + log +
Չ
+
+c
c
7+ C
N
q
al=aRl.. (F)
If in this expression, l'=l, which is equivalent to supposing the
engine to be working without expansion, we get P'R, as it ought
to be.
S
n+ qe"
which expresses the volume of steam
Resuming the equation
at the pressure P' furnished by the boiler in the unit of time, and
a (l'+c) being the volume of this steam expended at each stroke;
then if there are K strokes in that time, the expenditure of steani
will be
Ka (l'+c);
and if v be put for the velocity of the piston, we have v=Kl, or
K= hence, by substitution, the expenditure will be
V
va (l' + c)
9
N + q P
(C)
by equating the expenditure to the volume furnished by the boiler,
which, as has been above stated, must be the condition when the
7ǝ3
794
STEAM AND STEAM-ENGINE.
STEAM AND STEAM-ENGINE.
motion is uniform. Eliminating r' between (F) and (G), we get for the force most consonant with the action of steam in any specific
the final general equation—
v =
1
α n + q R
•
[170 + 108 7+ €]
c
. . . (H)
+ c
The resistance expressed by R in this formula is the total pressure
on each unit of surface of the opposite side of the piston, and is
composed of three parts. First, of the load, or work to be moved or
done, which we will denote by r. Secondly, of the resistance arising
from the friction of the engine, which may be expressed by f+dr;
f being the friction when there is no load, and dr the increment due
to the additional friction for each unit of the load r. And, lastly, of
the pressure on the opposite surface of the piston, which will be the
atmospheric pressure in non-condensing engines, or that of the uncon-
densed steam and residue of air in condensing ones; this we shall
call p. ƒ+dr,
All these, '', ƒ + d₁', and p, refer only to each unit of surface of
the piston, or
R = (1 + d) r + p + f,
by substituting this value for R in (H), and putting & for
we obtain
で
​c
[ife + 108 / +0]
+ c
S
k
α
S
log
c
n + q [(1 + d) r+p+f]
• (K)
Now the quantity it will be seen (C) is the total space occu-
n + q R'
pied by the steam (in contact with the water), under the pressure R :
hence to deduce the velocity v, the volume of steam corresponding to
the volume of water s, supposed to be converted into steam under a
pressure equal to R, must be calculated; and this volume being divided
by a, the area of the piston must be multiplied by k.
engine, the load is regulated so as to be that most advantageous for
that pressure: this last constitutes the absolute maximum of useful
effect for that machine.
The three fundamental problems for solution in the calculation of
steam-engines consist in determining the velocity, the load, and the
rate of evaporation in the boiler, since the useful effect, or net avail-
able power, is a function of these three quantities; and this net avail-
able power may be expressed in six different ways:-
First, by the number of pounds raised to a unit of height in a unit
of time.
Secondly, by what is termed the "horse-power" of the engine.
Thirdly, by the weight raised by the consumption of 1lb. of fuel.
Fourthly, by the weight raised by the evaporation of a cubic foot of
water.
Fifthly, by the number of pounds of fuel, or of cubic feet of water,
for each horse-power.
Sixthly, by the number of horses-power which is furnished by each
pound of fuel, or by each foot of water.
For the various formulæ by which all these problems may be nume-
rically solved for different kinds of engines, and for the investigations
by which those formulæ are deduced, we must refer to more compre-
hensive works; contenting ourselves here with deducing the general
equations for the other unknown quantities of evaporation, useful
effect, and horse-power, as we have done for velocity.
From (K) we obtain
s=av
n+q[(1+d)r+p+f]
k
(M)
as the expression for the evaporation of which an engine must be cap-
able to overcome a given resistance", with a proposed velocity v,
s being the quantity of water which is to be converted into steam and
transmitted to the cylinder in each unit of time.
av
1+8
n
The useful or net force of the engine generated in the same unit of
The equation thus deduced shows the relation between all the
time is obviously arv; since v, the velocity, is in fact the space moved
quantities, known or sought, that enter into the mechanical theory of
the engine in its most general form: it should be observed how-through by the piston in that time; by multiplying therefore both
sides of (L) by v we obtain
ever that to preserve homogeneity, the dimensions a, l, l', should
sk
be expressed in the same unit as the volume s of the water
Useful force = ar=
+ x + f]
evaporated; and the pressures P, r, and p referred to the same unit
(1+8)9
(N₁) or by
multiplying both sides of (K) by ar, we obtain an expression for the
same quantity in terms of the load
Useful force=arv=
as s.
When this formula is used for computation, it must be understood
that the quantity s expresses the effective evaporation; that is, the
volume of water which really passes to the cylinder in the form of
steam, and which acts on the piston, and does not allow for any loss.
by leakage or from any peculiarity in the structure of the engine.
If the engine be a condensing one, acting expansively, must be
made equal the length at which the steam is cut off; if expansion be
not employed, l' must be made equal to l, or to the whole length of
the stroke, in which case the quantity k becomes and the expres-
sion for the velocity becomes
p
S
7
จ
1
α n+qR* l + c'
l+c²
srk
n+g[(1+d)r+p+f]
(N.)
It will be noticed that for any proposed engine this force does not
depend on the pressure of the steam in the boiler, P not entering into
these expressions; but on the evaporation s effected in the boiler in
each unit of time.
What is termed a "horse-power" is estimated as 33,000 lbs. raised
one foot in a minute [HORSE POWER]: by dividing therefore the equa-
tions last obtained by 33,000, we get
Useful Force
33000
Useful force in horse-power=
The part y of the quantity R must be made equal the pressure of and if during the unit of time N lbs. of coals are used in the
the uncondensed steam, &c. If the engine be a non-condensing one,
then will be equal the atmospheric pressure.
P
Since from (K) we obtain
sk
ar (1+8) qv
α
178 (+p+f)
•+ƒ) · · (L)
it might be supposed that when v=0, the resistance would be infinite,
a paradox which would appear to vitiate the correctness of the formula.
But it must be borne in mind that when v=0,s=0; for s is the
quantity of steam which passes through the cylinder in each unit of
time and since no quantity of steam, however small, can pass with-
out moving the piston, as long as s has any real value, v will have one
too: when therefore v=0, s=0 also; and then
0
ar and not ∞;
that is, the formula becomes indeterminate, but not the less direct, as
will appear by considering the other quantities it involves, and the
consequences of putting v=
= 0.
By supposing the velocity zero, it is, in the first place, evident that
no steam can pass to the cylinder, as has been stated; consequently
there can be no expansion, that is, ll. Again, the velocity being
zero, the piston at rest becomes equivalent to the fixed sides of the
boiler, and the pressure it sustains is equal to that in the boiler.
The working of an engine may be considered under three condi-
tions: first, when it is working with a given pressure of steam, and
with any, whatever, load or velocity. Secondly, when it is working
with a given pressure, and with that load or velocity compatible with
the production of a maximum of useful or net force with that
pressure: this may be termed the relative maximum of useful effect.
And thirdly, when the pressure having been determined to furnish
furnace,
Useful force
Useful force from 1 lb. of fuel-
=
N
We must now return to our general description of the engine and of
its modifications.
In 1781 an engineer named Hornblower proposed using the expan-
sive principle by means of a double cylinder, but was prevented from
carrying out his plan by the comprehensive and jealously guarded
patents of Watt and his partners. In 1804, however, Woolf brought
this principle of the double-cylinder engine into use. The annexed
figure (fig. 11) will explain the mode of its action with an improved
slide-valve.
The steam enters through the passage p above the piston in the
smaller cylinder a, at a considerable pressure: while the piston is des-
cending under its influence, the steam from beneath passes through
the tube r above the piston in the large cylinder B, which is impelled
downwards by its expansion, the steam which was previously under
this piston having passed to the condenser by the passage t. When
the stroke is completed, the slide is moved downwards by its rod o.
The small plugs or pistons v and w pass below the openings and
t, and the slide below the orifices p and q, and the action is
reversed.
But though possessing considerable advantages, the double-cylinder
engine has not become common, unless in the case of large pumping
engines, probably owing to the complication of its structure, and the
increased effects of radiation from so large a surface, more than com
pensating its merits; and the expansive principle, equally applicable to
a single cylinder, is now principally employed in engines of the com-
mon construction.
To reduce the compass and weight of the engine sufficiently to
795
STEAM AND STEAM-ENGINE.
render it portable, the cumbrous apparatus of the condenser, and its
attendant pumps and cisterns, had to be discarded; and since the
A
Fig. 11.
W
Tex
QURUSULIEN
B
was
principle of condensation was consequently renounced, it
necessary to raise the steam to a pressure sufficient to overcome that
of the atmosphere on the opposite side of the piston. To allow the
steam to act alternately on both sides of the piston, that which had
just acted on one side to drive the piston was expelled into the open
air through an orifice, corresponding to that which would have con-
nected the cylinder with the condenser in an engine of the usual
construction; but unless this orifice were as large as the diameter of
the cylinder, which obviously it never can be, the steam, retarded in
its escape by the contraction of the passage, must diminish, by its
resistance to compression, the effective force of that which is acting to
impel the piston.
Such is the simple principle, and such the greatest defect, of the
non-condensing engine; but the saving in original cost and the
paramount advantage of portability more than compensate for this
defect; so that the use of this kind of engine has become general, not
only for the purposes of locomotion, but for a variety of others where
the engine is stationary, and probably in many instances where its
advantages are imaginary.
Since the pumps of the condensing engine are dispensed with in the
non-condensing one, the beam may be so likewise; the piston-rod is
made to move in a straight line, by having a cross-piece attached at its
top, which slides between guides fixed on each side of the cylinder, the
rod which works the crank of the fly-wheel being attached to the end
of this cross-piece. A still further simplification is effected by con-
necting the piston-rod directly with the crank on the shaft of the fly.
wheel, the cylinder being mounted so as to oscillate as the wheel
revolves on the steam passage, and thus alternately to open and close
the_communication between the top and bottom of the cylinder.
Such engines are termed vibratory, and are successfully used where
space must be economised, as with marine engines, but the weight of
the cylinder thus moved is so much to be deducted from the power of
the engine, and further causes a rapid wear of the centres on which it
turns, which consequently cannot be long preserved steam-tight, and
require frequent renewal.
Steam-engines are properly classed, according to the principle on
which the physical properties of the steam are employed in them,
into-
1. Condensing
1. Atmospheric engines, acting by
2. Double-acting engines
Engines.
Condensation only.
Pressure and condensation.
Pressure, expansion, and
condensation.
3. Double-acting engines .
2. Non-condensing Engines.
1. Engines worked by
2. Engines worked by
Pressure only.
Pressure and expansion.
The form of the engine, the arrangement and construction of its
parts, its power, &c., depend entirely on the purpose to which it is to
be applied, and may be indefinitely diversified, but those most in use
may be artificially classed thus—
1. Condensing engines, with beams and parallel motions.
1. Without a fly-wheel, for pumping in mines, &c.
2.
""
Marine engines.
3. With a fly-wheel, for working machinery.
STEAM AND STEAM-ENGINE.
2. Non-condensing engines, without a beam.
1. Stationary, with a fly-wheel for working machinery.
Rotatory engines.
2.
3. Locomotive engines, without a fly-wheel.
790

Marine engines, or those used for propelling vessels, are in this
country generally condensing engines, their situation admitting the
abundant use of cold water. The principal peculiarity in the arrange-
ment of the marine engine is the position of the beam, which, for the
purpose of economising room, is placed lower than the cylinder, and is
double, there being one on each side; a rod from one end of each of
these is connected with a cross-piece at the top of the piston-rod, the
rectilinear motion of which is produced either by guides, or by a crank-
arrangement, analogous in its action to the parallel motion. The other
ends of the double beam are connected by a cross-piece, carrying in its
centre the "rod" to work the crank on the shaft of the paddles. In
all vessels of any magnitude, there are two engines complete, so
arranged that while the rod and crank of one are in their neutral
position, those of the other are in that of greatest effect. Two engines.
are necessary to equalise and continue the motion of the wheels; for
in the marine engine, the paddles, instead of performing the part of
fly-wheels to continue and control the motion of the piston, require the
whole force of the engines to maintain their own motion, owing to the
resistance they have to overcome. There is also this further advantage
derived from two engines, that if one should be injured, the vessel
may be still propelled by the other, and not be entirely dependent on
her sails, as she would otherwise be.
It has been mentioned that there is a limit to the proportion between
the diameter and length of the cylinder; the advantage that would
accrue in gain of power by a long stroke being diminished by the
greater radiation of heat from the larger surface diminishing the force
of the steam in the cylinder; here therefore, as in every other calcula-
tion connected with the steam-engine, it is hardly possible to arrive at
any formula or rule that can be invariably used. If the surface of the
cylinder were to be made a minimum, with a maximum of capacity,
we could readily determine that the length should be twice the
diameter; * but we find that this proportion is not adhered to by the
best makers; it varies from 3: 1 to 2: 1; but in the marine engine it
is usually shorter; in some instances the proportion is 1 : 1.25.
The diameter of the cylinder of a marine-engine is usually greater,
in proportion to its length, than it is in others, in order to obtain, by
an increased surface of piston, that power which is unattainable by a
long stroke, owing to the limited space which can be appropriated to
the engine. Formerly, the apprehension of danger, where so many
lives were at stake, prevented the use of steam of more than 4 to
6 lbs. on the inch in marine engines, and the expansion principle conse-
quently could not be had recourse to. At present, the economy of
using this principle has outweighed the apprehension in the minds of
the owners of vessels, while the public, contented with the information
that the engine is a condensing one, seldom inquire further, and con-
ceive that the steam is at a low pressure in all marine engines, although,
where the expansion principle is used, which it now extensively is, the
pressure in the boiler is at about 30 lbs. on the inch above the pressure
of the atmosphere.†
Engineers have always been induced, by the obvious advantage of a
continuous over an alternating motion, to aim at contriving a steam-
engine in which the steam should act directly to produce such a
motion. It does indeed appear at first sight that, where the object of
the engine is to produce a continuous circular motion of a fly-wheel, or
of wheels of some kind, it would be desirable that the steam should be
applied directly to impel the wheel, instead of having its force trans-
mitted through a series of levers, necessarily increasing the friction and
the cost of the engine. Watt accordingly patented more than one of
such rotatory engines, and many others since have from time to time
brought forward arrangements for the purpose, but none have come
into permanent and general use. The fact is that, as can be easily
shown, the employment of steam in this way is productive of a greater
waste of power, with a greater increase of friction, than can be com-
pensated by any real advantages. In all rotatory steam-engines
* Let /= length, the diameter, c = the capacity of the cylinder; since
the concave surface is only gradually brought into contact with the steam, by
the motion of the piston, its effects on the temperature may be considered as
about half what it would be if the whole surface were at once exposed. Then
the whole surface, including the two ends, being
παι+2
πX2
4
and c-
πlx2
4
we have for the surface affecting the temperature of the steam
Txl+πx² 2c πx2
therefore
+
2
X
2
Txdz-
2cdx
22
- ງ
0
and by substituting the value of c, and reducing 2x=1.
On the Mississippi the boat-engines are worked with steam of from 100 lbs.
to 130 lbs. on the inch; but the latter enormous pressure is rarely exceeded,
except," as an American commander said, "on extraordinary occasions."
...
797
793
STEAM AND STEAM-ENGINE.
STEAM AND STEAM-ENGINE.
hitherto proposed, the principle has been to admit the steam to act
on a fan or fans revolving round an axis of the cylinder; and, by
ingenious excentric movements, the surface of these fans is made to
increase as the steam diminishes in elastic force from the enlargement
of the space it occupies. Many such engines have been used for a
time, but commonly after a few years' trial they have been abandoned,
and the reciprocating principle substituted, thus proving that experience
confirmed the deductions from theory.
In all mechanical combinations, the object to be effected necessitates
a certain characteristic form of the machine, which it retains, whatever
improvements may have been successively introduced either in its
principle or in the details of its construction. We can recognise in a
modern Sussex plough the general form of that used by the subjects
of the Pharaohs to till the banks of the Nile; and Newcomen would
acknowledge a marine engine made by Maudslay and Field as a
descendant of his atmospheric one: but he would for some time be at
a loss to tell the object of a locomotive engine of Stephenson's, if he
could see it at rest only, and the connection between it and its tender
would be beyond his comprehension. The reason of this is, that a
locomotive engine is a perfectly new application of the power, having
no other analogy to an ordinary engine except that steam is the source
of power in both; but all locomotive engines will hereafter possess a
family likeness.
The principal causes of this novelty of form are, that great velocity
being the object, the boiler must constitute the greatest part of the
bulk, in order to supply a sufficient quantity of steam to meet the
demands of the two pistons making 200 strokes per minute, and even
then it requires a tender to accompany it to carry a supply of fuel and
water to keep up the quantity. The locomotion is usually produced
by a pair of driving-wheels made to revolve by the engine by means of
cranks on their axle, receiving motion almost directly from the piston-
rods; the adhesion which takes place between these wheels and the
edge-bars or rails, causes the carriage to move on, just as the paddle-
wheels of a steam-boat propel the vessel by the resistance of the water
to the float-boards. The driving-wheels of a locomotive engine do not,
any more than the paddle-wheels of a steam-boat, act as fly-wheels to
regulate the velocity of the engine; this is effected in the former by
the inertia of the whole mass; the great velocity consequently ensures
the steady action of the engine. In the steam-boat this great velocity
of the paddles is unattainable, and consequently two powerful engines
are requisite to maintain even a moderate velocity; but air being the
medium in which the driving-wheels of a locomotive engine act, almost
any velocity can be imparted to them, and for obvious mechanical
reasons is best attained by steam acting with a force almost amounting
to impact on small pistons through a short stroke, two alternately
acting cylinders being necessary, as in the steam-boat, to equalise the
action of the cranks.
The two internal cylinders are most conveniently placed under the
boiler in nearly a horizontal position; intermediate cranks preserve the
rectilinear motion of the piston-rods, and connect them with the cranks
on the axle; while excentric frames on this axle actuate the simple
slide-valves required in a non-condensing engine. The steam which is
driven out of the cylinder at each stroke, instead of escaping directly
into the open air, passes into the funnel of the furnace, and thus
increases the draught; but as the action of the engine cannot be
understood independently of the boiler, it becomes necessary to turn
our attention to that subject, without a general description of which,
any account of the steam-engine would be incomplete.
Upon the South-Western Railway of England, and on the Chemins de
Fer de l'Ouest of France, the engines employed are made with external
cylinders, and the piston-head is connected with the crank fixed on the
driving-wheel by a link or connecting-rod. There are great advantages
in this system, so far as economy of construction is concerned; for the
cranks are simply keyed on the ends of the axles of the driving-wheels,
instead of being forged upon the axles themselves, and the whole of
the machinery is of a simpler and more efficient character; but at the
same time the condensation in the cylinders is far more serious than it
would be in the case of internal cylinder engines, on account of the more
exposed position of the external cylinder engines. The latter engines, it
may be added, present the advantage of having a smaller dead weight, per
horse-power exercised, than is the case with internal cylinder engines.
Since some of the principal objects to be kept in view in the con-
struction of boilers are incompatible with each other, one or more must
be dispensed with in order to secure the rest. The specific purpose
for which the engine is constructed must determine the general prin-
ciple of the boiler: thus, rapid generation of steam, security, compact-
ness, and lightness must be aimed at in boilers for marine or locomotive
engines, even at the cost of a comparative waste of fuel; while for those
intended for pumping or driving machinery, economy of fuel must be
the paramount object, the weight, form, and space occupied by the
boiler being secondary considerations. And whenever steam of a high
elastic force is to be used, that form of boiler should be adopted which
will most nearly equalise the strain on it. The following requisites are
therefore to be understood as being those which it would be desirable
to combine, though, united, they are unattainable in practice.
First, the boiler should have the greatest capacity with the least
surface, to save material, diminish the weight, and increase the strength:
hence a spherical form would be best in this respect, but it is incom-
patible with an economical application of the heat to a great extent of
surface, which is essential to the rapid generation of steam.
Secondly, the form should be as simple as possible, both for the
sake of reducing the expense of construction and most readily admitting
of repair. Boilers are made of iron or copper plates riveted together
at their edges; and if one of these is cracked, or has been burnt, that
plate can be taken out and another put in without pulling the whole
to pieces, which must be done when the boiler is of a complex form;
added to which, all angles are sources of weakness, owing to the
inequality of the strain on the adjoining surfaces, and the injury done
to the metal by bending it to form the angle.
The form of boiler used for Savery's, Blakey's, Newcomen's, and
other engines of the 17th and 18th centuries, up to the time of Watt,
was that of an inverted frustum of a cone, with a spherical top, and its
bottom slightly concave. This boiler was set in brick-work like a
common copper, the flame playing round the whole of the lower part.
The steam-pipe was connected in the usual way to a flange of a collar
in the spherical head. Watt adopted a long rectangular form, with a
semi-cylindrical top; the ends were flat and upright, the sides slightly
curved inwards, as was also the bottom. From this form it is termed
the waggon-head boiler. It is set in a rectangular mass of masonry,
the cylindrical head alone projecting above the level of the brick-work;
the fire-place was underneath one end of the boiler, and extended
backwards for one-third of its length; the flue, after proceeding to the
further end, returned along one side, across the end, over the furnace,
and along the other side into the chimney-shaft, the boiler itself every-
where forming one side of the flue, and consequently having the flame
and heated air directly in contact with it at the bottom and sides. In
some cases, when the boiler was very large, a cylindrical iron flue was
formed through the boiler longitudinally, opening at each end into and
forming a continuation of the brick one, thus increasing the surface to
be acted on by the heat.
The next important modification in form was that of making the
boiler entirely cylindrical with hemispherical ends, which is probably
the form best fitted to combine as many requisites as possible. With
this form the furnace is often placed in a second cylinder within the
boiler, and forming the first part of the flue: thus the fuel being
entirely surrounded by the water, little or no heat is lost by radiation;
but there are serious objections to this practice on the score of acci-
dents, as well as the deficiency in draught, owing to the confined space
in which the combustion takes place.
When an engine is of such a size as to require more steam than one
boiler of the ordinary magnitude can supply, it has two or more, set
side by side, communicating with a common steam-pipe. Since the
extent of surface exposed to the pressure of the steam, and therefore
the liability to bursting, increases in a greater ratio than the capacity,
there is obviously a limit to size, which can never safely be surpassed,
while the security is proportionally increased by diminishing that capa-
city: hence the necessity for using two or more small boilers instead
of one large one; and the principle, carried to its limit, constitutes
that of the tubular boiler, in which the steam is generated in a series of
independent metal pipes of small diameter, all communicating with a
common steam-chamber or reservoir, itself small, and strong enough to
resist great pressures.
These tubular boilers, however, have not come into general use, not
only on account of their complexity, and consequent liability to derange-
ment, but because, unless in the case of locomotives, or steam-boat
engines, there does not exist any demand for steam of such high
pressure as they are intended to generate.
Since, in accordance with the general hydrostatic law, every unit of
surface of the boiler has to sustain the same pressure, if a small portion
of that surface can be opened by the pressure of the steam, when it
has attained that which the boiler was only intended to withstand, by
the escape of a quantity of the vapour at this orifice, the elasticity of
the remainder is again reduced below the limit. This is the object of
the safety-valve, which is such an aperture, kept closed by a valve
retained in its seat by a weight calculated to yield to, or be raised by,
the pressure the moment the steam exceeds its proper elastic force.
The safety-valve was first contrived by Papin, and used in his digester
and boilers, and has ever since constituted an essential appendage to
every boiler. In its simplest form it is an obtuse conical valve, kept in
its seat (which is at the end of a short collar, standing up from the
surface of the boiler) by a weight acting at the end of a lever, resting
on the spindle of the valve, and having its fulcrum or hinge at the
other extremity. The effective weight by which the valve is kept
down may be varied by shifting the position of the weight on the arm
of the lever; and as this alteration might be unintentionally made by
carelessness or accident, the valve should be inclosed in a box under
lock and key, to prevent its being tampered with. A chain attached to
the valve, and accessible to the engineer, should be provided, to enable
him to raise the valve, to ascertain that it is in efficient order, and has
not become fixed in its socket. But the best mode of applying the
weight is directly on the valve, so that it cannot be increased, as long
as it is inclosed, by any accidental alteration in its position. In loco-
motive engines the weight would be liable to derangement by the
motion, and a spiral spring is employed to keep down the valve.
The safety-valve is perfectly effective as long as it is free to rise in
its seat, and is loaded with a constant weight, which ought never to be
769
STEAM AND STEAM-ENGINE.
more than one-third the pressure the boiler is just capable of with-
standing. The rapid diminution in the number of accidents from
explosions, notwithstanding the increased employment of steam, suffi-
ciently proves that they are nine times out of ten caused by gross
negligence or culpable recklessness; but to obviate as much as possible
the recurrence of explosions, every boiler should have at least two
safety-valves, both secured from access, and yet both capable of being
raised by hand from time to time: one should be loaded with a less
weight than the other, that by the escape of the steam from it the
engineer may be warned to reduce the quantity of steam generated, by
damping" his draught; and the other safety-valve should be only
loaded with a weight equivalent to one-third the pressure which, by
computation founded on actual experiments, would burst the boiler, if
made with metal of a given thickness; for, however carefully the boiler
may have been made, it is impossible to ensure equal strength of it in
every part.
A plan was originally suggested by Trevithick for insuring safety
from a boiler by inserting in it a plug of metal, which, melting at the
temperature attained by the steam when its tension became dangerous,
might open an exit for it. This plan is adopted in France, but besides
that it is repugnant to our ideas of mechanical fitness, it is liable to
many objections; none of the pure metals melt at a temperature suffi-
ciently low to be available, and all the fusible alloys soften long before
they melt, and vary in these respects with minute differences in the
proportion of their ingredients, so that the plug might be driven out
before the proper time.
The boiler, besides the danger of bursting from over-pressure of the
steam within it, is also liable to injury by the external pressure of the
air, if the steam within be condensed, as it must be on cooling, when
the fire is let out, thus causing a comparative vacuum in the boiler.
To guard against this, there should be a safety-valve to act in the direc-
tion opposite to the usual one, which, yielding to the pressure of the
atmosphere, would allow of the entrance of the air, when this pressure
exceeded the one exerted by the steam to keep the valve closed.
Another source of accident, which should be guarded against most
sedulously, is the formation in the boiler of a deposit of the earths, &c.
chemically united with the water or held suspended in it, and which
are deposited from all water when long kept boiling in any vessel, as is
illustrated and proved by the furring of old tea-kettles. This deposit
is intensely hard, and adheres so closely to the metal, that it requires a
chisel and hammer to detach it when accumulated to any thickness.
Being a bad conductor of heat, it prevents the rapid generation of
steam, and by not allowing the water to be in contact with the metal,
so as to carry off the heat imparted to the latter, the metal gets red-hot
and is burnt, or, in chemical language, becomes oxidised by long
exposure to a high temperature. If, under these circumstances, a
fissure should be produced in the earthy crust, the water, suddenly
admitted to contact with the red-hot iron, is converted instanta-
neously into steam of such high pressure as to risk the bursting of the
boiler.
It is one of the advantages held out as an inducement to their
adoption by the inventors of tubular boilers, that, owing to the in-
equality of the temperature of the liquid at different distances from the
source of heat, a circulation is continually going on, which mechanically
prevents the formation of a deposit, while in large open boilers no such
cause can operate to any extent. In these the remedy appears to be
the frequent cleaning out of the boiler, to prevent the accumulation of
the deposit, and the admission of the water which supplies the waste
to the part not over the furnace, which should be separated from the
rest by a partition extending upwards nearly to the level of the water;
the fresh water is thus allowed to deposit its sediment in the part
where it can be least productive of the evils alluded to, and whence it
may be removed collectively from time to time.
To indicate the actual pressure at any time of the steam within the
boiler, this is furnished with a gauge (fig. 12), consisting of a bent tube,
open at both ends, one orifice A opening into the boiler. This tube con-
tains mercury, which will obviously be at the same level in both branches
when the steam in the boiler is of the same pressure as the atmosphere,
but will rise in the longer leg as the pressure of the steam increases,
and will thus by its altitude indicate that pressure. If the longer leg
be of a certain length, the mercury would flow over, or be blown out;
altogether, if the steam were suddenly to increase in its elastic force,
the gauge would in this case act as a safety-valve. The loss of the
mercury may be guarded against, under these circumstances, by a
cistern placed round the orifice of the gauge to receive it, as shown in
the figure.
A water-gauge is often used instead of a mercurial one, to save the
expense of this metal; but then the tube must be long enough to
allow a sufficient column of water to balance the pressure of the
steam; and by making the tube of sufficient diameter, this water-gauge
then constitutes an efficient safety-valve. As these gauges cannot, for
obvious reasons, be made of glass, to allow of the height of the fluid
within them being directly observed, this height is indicated by a light
wooden rod projecting beyond the end of the gauge, which floats on,
and therefore rises and falls with, the mercury or water.
In locomotive-engines, where the use of a mercurial and still more
of a water-gauge is impracticable, the same end is attained by a ther-
mometer, on the well-known principle that the temperature of steam
STEAM AND STEAM-ENGINE.
800
is always in a constant relation to its pressure; or by Bourdon's steam-
gauge, in which the steam acts upon à diaphragm, as in the aneroid.
a
Fig. 12.

If there be not water in contact with that part of the boiler exposed
externally to the direct action of the flame and hot air in the furnace
and flues, the iron would become red-hot, and so suddenly increase the
pressure of the steam in contact with it, that an explosion would pro-
bably ensue; and if not, the iron in that part would be more oxidised
or burnt. To prevent this it is necessary that there should be always
water in the boiler above the level of the highest part of the flues; and
to enable the engineer to ascertain whether this is the case, there are
in all boilers two pipes with cocks, one of which dips down into the
water, while the other reaches only to within a few inches of its surface
when at the right height in the boiler; the consequence of this arrange-
ment is, that if the cock of the shorter pipe be opened steam will issue
from it, and water from the other when that is opened in its turn; but
if steam escapes from both cocks, the engineer is warned that there is
not sufficient water in the boiler, and therefore directs his attention to
remedy the deficiency.
The boiler is always supplied with water by the action of the engine;
the hot water, pumped out of the condenser, is raised into a cistern
placed at a sufficient height above the boiler, by the force-pump men-
tioned in the general description of Watt's engine; from this cistern a
pipe passes through the top of the boiler, and reaches nearly to the
bottom, where it is bent at right angles; the upper orifice in the cistern
is closed by a valve connected by a spindle-rod with one end of a simple
lever, from the end of the other arm of which a wire is suspended, sup-
porting a stone float in the boiler, the valve being weighted just to
counterbalance the specific gravity of the float; as the water subsides
in the boiler in consequence of its evaporation, the float falls and raises
the valve, allowing sufficient water to descend into the boiler till the
float, rising again, causes the valve to close; the weight of the column
of water in the pipe prevents the steam from escaping in that direction
during the action of the valves; hence the necessity for the feeding-
The bend at the
cistern being raised sufficiently above the boiler.
bottom of the feeding-pipe is intended to cause the water, when issuing
near to the bottom of the boiler, to wash away the sediment which
would otherwise collect there.
The locomotive-engine, as has been stated, requires a boiler of a form
and principle totally different from those of an ordinary one.
The boiler a (fig. 13) is a cylinder made of wrought-iron plates, riveted
together in the usual way, but it is covered with a wooden casing, to
prevent, as far as possible, the great waste of heat which would radiate
from a metal surface moving through the air with great velocity. At
one end of the boiler is the furnace B, consisting of a double case, the
outer one of iron with a semi-cylindrical head, but quite open at
bottom; within this is an inner square case of sheet copper, riveted all
round the bottom edge to the outer one, but leaving on its three sides
a space of three inches between them, which is filled with water, and
indeed forms a continuation of the boiler. The bottom of this inner.
case is the grating on which the fuel is laid. F is the feeding door in
front, opening of course through both cases, which are therefore riveted
together, so as to be steam-tight all round. A series of upwards of
100 brass tubes of small diameter pass from the back of the furnace to
801
£02
STEAM AND STEAM-ENGINE.
STEAM AND STEAM-ENGINE.
the further end of the boiler, where they open into the chimney. These
tubes, which are entirely immersed in the water, constitute the flue,
Fig. 13.
cylinder, or in other words to adapt the force it has to transmit to the
resistance it has to overcome.
Fig. 14.


T
CA
S
.0
О
b
and thus increase considerably the heated surface in contact with the
water, and therefore promote the rapid generation of steam. The
introduction of these tubes forms an epoch in the construction of
boilers, and was the suggestion of Mr. R. Stephenson, and simultaneously
of M. Seguin, in 1829. [RAILWAY.]
The cylinders of the engine, of which one only can be seen in the
section, are fixed at the bottom of the chimney. The steam passes to
the slide-valve by the pipe s, s, while the waste steam escapes up the
funnel at T. The cylindrical vessel with the spherical head v, is called
the steam-chest, the steam-pipe terminating in it at s. The object of
this arrangement is to prevent the water, which is agitated by the
motion, from passing through the steam-pipe to the cylinder, where it
would be highly detrimental; the main steam-pipe divides into two
branches in the chimney, one passing to each cylinder.
The boiler is supplied with water from the tender by two force-
pumps worked by the engine, and has a gauge, try-pipes, safety-
valves, &c., in common with other engines, though all peculiar in their
construction.
This brief account of the boiler, and of its various arrangements,
will hardly be considered complete without some notice of the explo-
sions to which it is liable.
The bursting of boilers presents very different phenomena, being
sometimes a simple rent in the metal, allowing the harmless escape of
steam and water; and at others accompanied by an explosion in its
violence equal to that produced by gunpowder; it has hence been
conjectured that on these occasions some explosive gases are formed in
the boiler; but this does not appear probable, nor is it reconcileable with
any known physical laws, while the elastic force of steam is capable of
indefinite increase, and is quite adequate to produce any mechanical
effect whatever. It is always difficult to get any satisfactory evidence
as to the facts of an explosion of a boiler; the terror of the moment
prevents the survivors from accurately recalling the phenomena imme-
diately antecedent, while those who from their proximity would be
best capable of affording this evidence, are either killed, or are too
interested in exculpating themselves to be impartial witnesses. With
regard to the formation of explosive gaseous compounds in the boiler,
it is generally admitted that hydrogen gas is the only ingredient of
such that can be formed; and that is obtained by the decomposition
of the steam when in contact with the red-hot iron; but pure hydrogen
is not explosive; and to render it so it must be mixed with oxygen or
atmospheric air. It has been suggested that the latter may be intro-
duced along with the water by a defect in the feeding-pump; but the
proportions of the air and of the hydrogen must be definite to produce
an explosion; and it is difficult to suppose that in such a situation
either should continue to accumulate till the quantity is exactly that
necessary to produce an explosion. In short this explanation of the
subject is beset with difficulties which have not yet been removed,
though the attention of scientific men both in Europe and America
has been frequently directed to it.
Whenever the steam-engine is employed to execute any work which
is variable in its quantity or intensity, there must be some means of
adjusting the force of the engine to this varying resistance it has to
overcome: if the engine were suddenly relieved of half that resistance,
as, for example, would be the case if half the machinery it was driving
were suddenly stopped or thrown out of gear, the engine, if impelled
by the same quantity of steam, would immediately move with a rapidly
accelerating velocity, till that velocity were doubled, which would be
prejudicial to the engine itself and to the rest of the machinery it was
working, as well as be a useless expenditure of force or fuel. The
object of that beautiful piece of mechanism termed the governor, is to
enable the engine to regulate the supply of steam admitted to the
ARTS AND SCI, DIV. VOL. VII.
で
​The governor, the form and principle of which will be better under-
stood from the figure (fig. 14) than from any description, is made to
revolve on its vertical axis a, by a band passing round a pulley and round
one on the axle of the fly-wheel, or else by bevilled wheels, as shown in the
figure; so that its velocity of rotation varies with that of the fly-wheel.
If this velocity increase, the heavy balls b b diverge by the increased
centrifugal force, and cause the collar c to slide up the axis; this by
means of the intermediate cranks partially closes the valve at 2,
v, in the
steam-pipes, termed the throttle-valve, and consequently diminishes
the quantity of steam passing to the cylinder: if, on the contrary, the
velocity of the fly-wheel is diminished by an increase in the resist-
ance, the balls of the governor collapse, and the throttle-valve is opened
so as to admit more steam to the cylinder to augment the force in
proportion to the increased resistance.
The effect on the governor is equivalent to varying the diameter of
a second fly-wheel, the circumference of which is represented by the
balls bb, consequently the governor itself, independently of its action
on the throttle-valve, has a tendency to effect the adjustment required;
since a portion of the surplus force of the engine, on the first supposi-
tion, is absorbed in overcoming the increased inertia of the governor;
while, on the second supposition, that inertia, being diminished, relieves
the engine of a portion of resistance. This accounts for the prompt
action of the governor in effecting the adjustment, which it does with-
out those fluctuations in the velocity of the piston which would be
prejudicial to the effect of the machinery actuated by this prime-
mover.
In the marine engine no governor is requisite; the resistance being
so great compared to the force, that the velocity can never be exces-
sive, and all the power the engine is capable of exerting is required to
turn the paddle-wheels; added to which the resistance is nearly uni-
form, only varying with the draught of the vessel or the state of the
weather, but never diminishing below that originally calculated on and
provided for by the power of the engines; an increase of the resistance
accordingly produces a diminution in the velocity of the vessel, but
the engine can never work so fast as to be injured by its own velocity.
The governor is equally unnecessary to the locomotive engine, since
the attendant must constantly have the engine under his control, and
be watching its action; he can therefore regulate the throttle-valve by
hand-gear placed within his reach; and in this case also, as with the
marine engine, the resistance is nearly constant, consisting chiefly in
the weight of the engine and the train of carriages to be moved, a
weight not liable to any sudden change during the transit, while the
momentum of the whole mass acts as a fly-wheel or regulator to
equalise the motion of the pistons.
We have not entered into any investigations of the formule for
determining the dimensions of an engine and of its boiler, the pressure
at which it must be worked, the velocity of the piston, &c., in order to
produce any proposed available or net force; or into the account of
the experiments by which the amount of friction, the effects of the
uncondensed steam, the quantity of caloric obtained from different
kinds of fuel, &c., all of which must be taken into account in these
investigations, and have been approximatively determined.
3. F
S03
STEAM-CARRIAGES.
(In the preceding article the formulæ expressing the physical and
mechanical properties of steam will be found, and for the others the
following works among others may be consulted: Tredgold, T., On the
Steam-Engine; Farey, J., On the Steam-Engine, 4to.; De Pambour,
- F.M.E., Chev., Théorie de la Machine à Vapeur, 8vo., Paris; Galloway,
On the Steam-Engine, and others.)
STEAM-CARRIAGES on common roads have for many years occu-
pied the attention of engineers and mechanicians, on account of the
evident economy which would result from the use of a road surface
adapted to, and previously constructed for, ordinary traffic; but, up to
the present time, none of the systems which have been proposed for
the construction of these engines can be considered to have entirely
overcome the practical difficulties attending the transport of the
weights required in the machinery and boilers, or the variable resist-
ances encountered. Some of the more recently introduced traction
engines seem, however, to contain, in germ, the elements of the success-
ful solution of the problem of steam locomotion, by engines of small
power, running on roads possessing an inferior degree of theoretical
perfection than well maintained railways; and the introduction of the
street railways certainly justifies the belief that, ere long, steam-
engines may be used upon them between points which would not
require, or justify, the construction of regular railroads. A short
notice of the most celebrated attempts to adapt steam-carriages to
common roads may, therefore, be desirable, accompanied by a few
remarks on the characteristic distinctions between the resistances to
be overcome in the respective cases of rail, or of common, roads.
When steam-carriages work upon railroads. they traverse a surface
of uniform hardness and rigidity; and it is easy to distribute the load
over a number of carriages drawn by the engine, because the rails
maintain the various parts of the train in the desired positions with
respect to one another. No difficulty either occurs, in this case, on
the score of the guidance of the engine or of the load; nor is it neces-
sary to provide for avoiding obstacles in the road, or on account of
sharp curves or bends. On common roads, however, the yielding
nature of the surface imposes a limit to the weight brought upon the
driving-wheels; and the state of the surface as affected by wet, by the
addition of fresh metal, or by other accidental causes, must materially
increase the irregularity of the resistance. The rates of inclination
adopted on common roads, and the small radii of curvature frequently
met with upon them, are far more unfavourable than those met with
in railways; and it is found in practice that there are serious objections
to the use of more than two carriages in immediate connection with
one another on common roads; so that forcedly the space devoted to
the reception of the machinery, boiler, combustible, &c., is confined
within very narrow limits, in order to leave any space available for the
conveyance of passengers or of goods. The irregularity of resistance
of the road surface renders it necessary also to adopt great precautions
in the construction of the parts of the engine designed to transmit
motion from the piston-head; and the constant changes of inclination
require that there should be provided, in steam-carriages designed to
run on common roads, means for varying at will the amount of power
exercised. In all locomotives it is desirable that the machinery should
be of the simplest construction, and that it should be susceptible of
easy examination and repair; but this is essentially the case with
steam-carriages, on account of the variety of action required of them.
The consequences of these peculiar conditions are that steam-carriages
must be made to combine great power within small compass, and with
small dead weights; they must be constructed so solidly as not to be
deranged by the shocks, or the bad state of the roadway; and lastly,
they must be able to work without producing any nuisance, or any
interference with the ordinary horse traffic of the public thoroughfares.
Hitherto it has not been found possible to secure these conditions, and
to secure economy of traction at the same time; and the substitution
of steam for animal power is still confined to railways, notwithstanding
the enormous amount of capital they require to be expended on their
construction.
It appears that as far back as 1786 attempts were made by William
Symington, in Scotland, and Oliver Evans, in Philadelphia, to introduce
steam carriages, or waggons, on common roads; and Mr. Murdoch, the
well-known associate of Boulton and Watt, is said in 1782, or 1792, to
have made a similar attempt. In 1802, Trevethick and Vivian pro-
duced an engine for the same purpose of much greater value than
those previously made. After their trial, some years elapsed before
other parties took up the question, and it was not until 1821 that
Griffith patented his steam-carriage. In 1822 David Gordon began
his public essays on the subject, and in the succeeding years he took
out several patents connected with it. He was, in 1824, followed
by many other inventors, such as Hancock, Summers and Ogle,
Dr. Church, Sir J. Anderson, Sir C. Dance, Mr. J. Scott Russell, &c.
The success of these experiments was, as might have been expected,
of a varied character; but they seem to have roused a singular amount
of local opposition, which finally assumed so violent a character as to
lead to the nomination of a select committee of the House of Commons
to inquire into the "present state and future prospects of land carriage
by means of wheeled vehicles propelled by steam or gas on common
roads. The report of this committee was published in October 1831.
Although this report was favourable to the new application of steam-
power, and although Mr. Hancock in 1831 produced a steam-carriage
"
STEAM NAVIGATION.
801
which, like the one proposed about the same time by Mr. Goldsworthy
Gurney, answered to a great extent the anticipations of their inventors,
the difficulties attending this mode of locomotion were considered to
be so great, that about 1832 the conviction in the minds of practical
engineers had become almost universal that "every attempt then made
to render steam-carriages the means of economical and regular inland
communication had totally and absolutely failed." The success of the
railway system, then first applied on a large scale, served likewise to turn
public attention from the avowedly inferior system of steam locomotion
on common roads; and it was not until the recent application of steam-
machinery to agricultural purposes had rendered it desirable to intro-
duce some mechanical traction-engines of great power, that engineers
were again induced to study this particular problem. In the Great
Exhibition for 1851 there was only one plan of a locomotive for
common roads; but between 1858 and the end of 1860 as many as
nine varieties of those engines were submitted to the public, of
sufficient importance to merit the attention of the professional journals
and occasionally of the various departments of the government. Of
these, Boydell's, Clayton's, Burrell's, Bray's, Giles's, and Stirling's
traction-engines, Lord Caithness's steam-carriage, Aveling's self-pro-
pelling agricultural engines, and the engine made by Mr. Creswell for
the English and Continental Traction-Engine Company, have attracted
the greatest amount of notice, and some of them have actually per-
formed good work. Bray's traction-engine, for instance, has been
usefully employed in our dockyards. Lord Caithness reports that
with his carriage, having cylinders of 3 inches diameter and 7 inches
stroke, he was able to attain on the level a speed of 19 miles an hour,
and to ascend inclines of 1 in 7, working at an average expense of from
a halfpenny to a penny per mile; the weight, with water for a run of
12 miles. and coals for 20 miles, is only two tons; but the carriage
only conveys (in the form represented in the Engineer' for Oct. 19,
1860) three passengers. Creswell's engine is said on one occasion to
have drawn two waggons containing 10 tons of earth each up Pentonville
Hill, a long incliue of about 1 in 70; but on a repetition of the experi-
ment it broke down. There seems, therefore, to be some reason for
the belief so confidently expressed by Lord Caithness, that ere long
steam may be substituted for horse-power on common roads; and
as the prejudice against its use has, since 1831, been considerably
diminished, the most bitter source of opposition has disappeared. The
application of the expansion gear, and the introduction of street
railways, must however be considered to have effected the greatest
service towards the introduction of steam locomotion without the
construction of special roadways. With all their modern improve-
ments, steam-carriages are nevertheless still but imperfect substitutes for
railway travelling, and it may almost be a subject for regret to witness
the amount of energy, skill, and money expended upon them.
C
The best information on the construction of steam-carriages is to be
found in Gordon's Treatise upon Elemental Motion; Hancock's
'Narrative;' the 'Mechanics' Magazine;' the Engineer;' and the
Reports of the Select Committees of the House of Commons in 1831,
and 1834 and 1835, upon Steam-Carriages and upon Goldsworthy
Gurney's clains.
STEAM NAVIGATION. It would seem that navigation, being
founded on the bases of geometry and astronomy, would be but one
system, practicable alike by the commander of a sailing ship or of a
steamer; that practice attained in navigating one class of vessels would
be equally available for the safety of the other; but it is not so. As
well may we compare the driving of a spirited horse in a light gig to
the driving of a waggon team: there are points of skill in each, and
proficiency is also attainable in each, but interchange the drivers, and
it is probable that neither of the vehicles would be so well conducted
as before-and thus it is with steam navigation. The sailor of the
old school (for there is specifically a new one), is accustomed to have
his eyes aloft; and the trim of his sails, and the steadying of a bowline
here, and the pulling upon a brace there; the habitual look to wind-
ward for coming weather, &c.; these form the main sources of that
unceasing vigilance without which no one can be fit to command.
The navigation of a ship (in its abstract meaning), is with the sailing
commander a mere routine. A course of measured attentions to
certain established customs, handed down from generation to
genera-
tion, and performed at definite periods, leaves his mind, after those
periods have passed, nearly free from the duties of calculation alto-
gether. But in the new school, things are far different, and it will be
useful in this place to illustrate the present state of the subject, by
examining into what really constitutes this difference, for it becomes a
question of training and qualification.
We have only to refer to our article COLLISIONS AT SEA, to show
that fearful innovations have followed the introduction of steam into
our sea services-affecting in a high degree the safety of life; and we
also refer to SHIPS and SHIPPING to show what laws are found necessary
in preventing such insecurity. Fearful then must be the increased
responsibilities of a commander of a steam vessel. Nor does this
admit of limitation, for the very causes of all this are in themselves
progressive.
Very much may be attributed to the increase of speed in steamers;
yet there are other influences which affect steam navigation with
peculiar force: among these may be noticed the wide prevailing
interest that owners, of steamers in particular, feel in the rapidity of
}
ኑ
+
805
808
STEAM NAVIGATION.
STEAM-VESSEL.
their voyages. Hence, every advantage which can be taken to accom-
plish this, is considered part of a commander's duty-and his position,
therefore, depends much upon his habitually making a quick passage.
The following will explain the work of each kind of navigator. In
the sailing ship, the master daily at 1 bell in the forenoon watch (half-
past 8 a.m.) takes his sextant upon deck to obtain an altitude of the sun,
in readiness for working his time at ship: he defers this work till noon,
at which he will have obtained his ship's latitude from a meridian altí-
tude. During the forenoon, or from nine o'clock, his only work con-
nected with navigation-proper, is an occasional glance over the side of
the ship, in order to estimate the ship's "way" (velocity), and also at
times at the binnacle compass to get an opinion as to the accuracy of
the course about to be marked on the log-board. [DEAD-RECKONING.]
The ship's position at noon having been pricked off upon a chart, and
the log duly written up as soon after noon as convenient, the remainder
of the day calls for no further computations,-unless, as it occasionally
happens, sights for the time were not procurable in the forenoon, and
are taken at about 3 p.m, it being better to obtain them when the sun
is about three hours from the meridian. Occasionally, a sailing navi-
gator may see fit to try a lunar for his longitude, but this is entirely
optional; or, perchance, in the evening an intelligent merchant captain
may desire to verify his position by observation of a star, &c. So then
as regards routine observation, the work of a sailing commander is
very light. For even, if in addition to his daily routine he be approach-
ing land, it entails no serious loss or labour to "lie-to" for a few hours
lie-to" for a few hours
till daylight.
But with a commander of a steamer, navigation is quite another
thing; for in the first place, where a sailing commander deems it
advisable not to close in with the land towards nightfall, because he
depends upon the wind only, a change in which might suddenly place |
him on a lee shore; the steam commander would, as a matter of duty,
It
take the shortest route, in whatever direction that might lie.
will then be evident that with a vessel of greater comparative speed,
often using the more dangerous passage along a coast, her commander
should be a man of increased nautical skill, and of special proficiency
in navigation-the latter attainment being the more needed as he has
scarcely the discretionary power to "lay-to," except under special
circumstances. The stranding of a sailing ship may often be the
result of sheer accident of wind or weather, while that of a steamer,
which is locomotive, and can steer readily in any direction (in moderate
weather), has been in too many instances found to have its cause in at
least error in judgment. -
3.
To make the distinction between steam navigation and sailing
navigation the plainer, we will suppose a case, as applicable to the
following imaginary chart and track:
:
7
a
Scalo of Miles
*
590
e
Two vessels, the one sailing and the other steaming, are bound round
the headland, g, of a continent. There are several outlying dangers
near it, such as the island b, the rocks at d, the shoal at e, and in
addition, rocky spits run off the points e and g. Suppose the two
vessels to be in company at a, and each desirous of reaching the
position h the steamer would, as a matter of course, take the inner
passage, in whatever direction the wind might blow, while if the wind
were as indicated by the arrow in the diagram, the sailing ship could
not venture, but must take the outer passage-and as a square-rigged
ship can only sail within about six points of the wind, her track in
working to windward or "tacking," would in this case between a and
h be about thirty miles, while the steamer's would be about twelve.
Now if we compare the two tracks it will be evident that the mind of
the sailing master might well be free from care, except when approach-
ing e, or the weather side of f; while during the whole passage, through
a slight mistake or inattention on the part of the steam commander,
he might lose the ship. Suppose farther, that just as the steamer
reached her position near d, the weather became hazy or foggy,
obscuring the land: the master of the sailing ship in the offing could
without a care lay-to with the ship's head off the land, while the
steamer must push on, if possible; because anchoring would incon-
veniently delay her passage. He would have in such case to prick off
his actual position on his chart by hasty bearings, subject to the delay
of correction for local attraction, &c., and indeed his work of navigation
would form a perfect contrast to that of the ship-master outside.
Farther investigation will even heighten the contrast, for in a passenger
steamer, the commander finds the necessity of verifying his position as
often as possible, by night as well as by day. He takes a larger
number of observations, and needs every accomplishment which
nautical astronomy offers him.
If then such disparity exist in the duties of certain maritime com-
manders, and if, moreover, no amended system of training have been
yet perfected under authority, calculated to meet the increased in-
telligence called for by the exigence of steam navigation, the subject is
worthy of most earnest attention.
An impression is gaining ground among experienced commanders
themselves, that whereas other professions have their training based
upon principles which are carefully explained to them, the navigatór
is consigned to work with formulæ of which he has no comprehension
beyond their mere adaptation to his work. Trigonometry, plane and
spherical, is the foundation of all his calculations, but neither are its
principles explained in schools of navigation generally, nor is even
the projection of its figures deemed important. In the Royal Naval
School, and one or two others, this great defect has been of late
attended to, and their example cannot, for the good of the community,
be too soon followed by those who have had the training of nearly
50,000 of our population whose profession is that of the sea officer.
That our sea captains are successful in their voyages as a general rule,
depends on their perseverance and intelligence as a body: they com-
plain that they owe little to science and teaching.
With regard to spheric trigonometry, circumstances already ex-
plained under GREAT-CIRCLE-SAILING have strangely driven it from
even the " Manual" of the Navigator. [SPHERICS; SPHEROGRAPH.]
(Raper's Treatise on Navigation; Jean's Works on Trigonometry ;
The Calculation and Projection of the Sphere, Longman & Co.)
STEAM-VESSEL, a vessel moved by the power of a steam-engine
acting upon paddle-wheels or other mechanism for propelling it through
the water. Under SHIP, SHIP-BUILDING, &c., were explained the prin-
ciples on which vessels are constructed; and under STEAM, STEAM-
ENGINE, PROPELLER, &c., have been described the means of propulsion.
Before entering upon the construction of steam-vessels, we give a brief
notice of the rise and progress of the application of steam to navigation.
A curious claim has been brought forward on behalf of Blasco de
Garay, a sea captain, who is stated to have exhibited in Spain, in 1543,
an engine by which ships and vessels of the largest size could be pro-
pelled, even in a calm, without the aid of oars or sails. The documents
relating to this claim, which, if correct, gives Spain the priority by a
long period in experiments on steam navigation, were discovered in the
royal archives at Simancas, and were published in 1826, by Thomas
Gonzales, director of the archives.
Stuart, in his 'Anecdotes of Steam-Engines,' endeavours to establish
something like a claim to the invention of steam navigation by the
Marquess of Worcester. The author alludes to a little engine, or great
model, which he had "already erected" at Lambeth; and among many
other purposes to which his invention might be applied, states that it
may be used "to draw or hale ships, boates, &c. up rivers against the
streame; to draw carts, wagons, &c. as fast without cattel; to draw
the plough without cattel, to the same despatch if need be," &c.

+
The project to be next alluded to is that of Papin, who proposed an
apparatus somewhat like that subsequently patented in England by
Jonathan Hulls. Those who have endeavoured to establish a claim
to the invention of steam navigation on behalf of France, have
pleaded Papin's suggestion in favour of their views; but none, so
far as we know, have asserted that he put his scheme to the test of
experiment.
On December 21, 1736, a patent was granted to Jonathan Hulls for
a machine which may be designated a steam tug-boat; of which a full
description was published in the following year, in a sensible pamphlet,
entitled A Description, and Draught of a new-invented Machine for
carrying Vessels or Ships out of or into any Harbour, Port, or River,
against Wind and Tide, or in a Calm.' Hulls proposed to place an
atmospheric steam-engine in the tug-boat, and to communicate its
power by means of ropes to the axis of a kind of paddle-wheel mounted
in a frame-work projecting from the stern of the vessel. A contrivance
is added for continuing the motion of the paddles by the descent of a
counterbalance-weight, in the intervals between the strokes of the
piston. To guard against the injury of the fans or paddles by the
violence of the waves, Hulls proposed to lay pieces of timber so as to
swim on each side of them. The objections likely to be brought
against the scheme are anticipated and answered by the writer, who
expresses his opinion that it would be found better to place the
machine in a separate vessel than in the ship itself, because the
-
807
STEAM-VESSEL.
machinery would be cumbersome in the ship, and, if in a separate
vessel, it might lie at any port to be ready for use, &c.
<
STEAM-VESSEL.
808
posed applying the power of a steam-engine to long poles, which were
to force the boat forward by reaching the bed of the river, when it had
to move against a rapid current. Rumsey, as well as Fitch, was backed
by a company; and their respective friends did not confine their rivalry
to America, for the adherents of Rumsey addressed themselves to
Boulton and Watt in opposition to the statements of Fitch. After all
their conflicting pretensions, however, neither succeeded in the practical
establishment of steam navigation. Rumsey came to England after the
failure of his projects in America, and commenced a steam-boat on the
same principle as that he had used on the Potomac, which was in
some respects like the much older plan (1730) of Dr. John Allen. He
died before the completion of this vessel; but it was finished by the
persons associated with him, and was brought to trial in February, 1793.
This steam-boat performed several times on the Thames, against wind
and tide, and attained a speed of four miles an hour. This method of pro-
pelling a boat was subsequently tried by Mr. William Linaker, ma ter-
shipwright in Portsmouth dockyard, who obtained a patent for it in
1808. His experiments had, as appears by his papers, been commenced
as early as 1793. Stuart states that a similar apparatus was tried on
the Thames after Linaker's death, the engine used being on the prin-
ciple of that invented by Savery.
While Fitch and Rumsey were making their experiments in America,
other experiments were in progress in Scotland, which tended, more
than any previous trials, to the useful application of steam to the
purpose of propelling vessels. Of the highly interesting experiments
made in 1788 and 1789, under the auspices of Patrick Miller, Esq.,
of Dalswinton, in Dumfriesshire, many accounts are extant, differing
indeed very slightly from each other, yet tending, by the colouring
given to minor details, to attribute different degrees of honour to the
three individuals by whom they were carried out. It is not likely
that this question will ever be thoroughly set at rest; for the degree
in which each contributed to the success of the experiments will ever
be estimated differently, according to the peculiar mode of judgment
adopted by the inquirer. Without desiring to throw any slight upon
those who differ from him, rather in his deductions than in the facts
upon which they are based, our narrative will be condensed from that
of Mr. Russell, who has evidently taken much pains to produce a satis-
factory account of the whole course of proceedings.
The next circumstances which claim notice in the history of the
invention of steam navigation afford the principal reasons for attri-
buting, as some of their writers have done, the origin of the art to the
French. In 1774, the Comte d'Auxiron, a French nobleman of scien-
tific attainments, constructed a steam-boat, and tried it on the Seine,
near Paris. It appears that the engine had not sufficient power to
move the wheels efficiently, an error into which many of the early
experimenters fell; and consequently the result was unsatisfactory,
and the persons who had united to enable the Comte to construct the
machine, abandoned the project. In the next year, 1775, the eldest of
the ingenious brothers Perier, who had assisted in d'Auxiron's experi-
ment, resumed the attempt, and placed a very imperfect engine, of
about one-horse power, in a boat on the Seine, connecting the engine
with two paddle-wheels. He also laboured under the disadvantage of
having too little engine-power, and therefore failed to obtain any satis-
factory result; his boat moving but slowly against the current of the
Seine. Fortified by the favourable opinion of the Marquis Ducrest,
who perceived the cause of his disappointment, Perier did not,"
observes Stuart, "altogether abandon the subject; and in succeeding
years he made a few attempts with other propelling mechanism instead
of paddle wheels, which he thought were defective substitutes for oars,
and which, in his view, occasioned his failure." He did not, however,
accomplish anything important; nor did his attempts, according to the
author just quoted, excite much attention in France, or any at all in
England. In an Historical Notice on Steam-Engines, by M. Arago,
in the French Annuaire' for 1837, it is stated, probably from inad-
vertence, that M. Perier was the first to actually construct a steam-
vessel. From this paper we learn that trials were made on a larger
scale, in 1778, at Baume-les-Dames, by the Marquis de Jouffroy,
who, in 1781 or 1782, tried a boat of considerable dimensions upon the
Saône, at Lyon. Several English authorities give the dimensions
of this boat as 140 feet long and 15 feet broad; but Arago says
it was 46 metres long and 4 broad. Colden's Life of Fulton,' in an
extract from the Journal des Débats' for March 28, 1816, states the
dimensions to have been 130 feet long and 14 broad. The vessel had
a single paddle-wheel on each side, and the machinery appears to have
been constructed with some skill, although it was not sufficiently After stating that it has been very usual to attribute the invention
strong. The experiments of the Marquis were eventually stopped by of steam navigation to Miller, and that two competitors have contested
the political disturbances of the country. After a long exile, he his claim, Mr. Russell observes, "We shall soon see that to no one
returned to his country about 1796, and found that M. des Blancs, a of the three can the palm be awarded. The creation of the steam-ship
watchmaker of Trevoux, had obtained a patent for a steam-vessel, appears to have been an achievement too gigantic for any single man.
which, it has been supposed, was constructed chiefly on the informa- It was produced by one of those happy combinations in which
tion which he could collect respecting that of the Marquis. Jouffroy individuals are but tools working out each his part in a great system,
appealed to the government, but nothing important resulted from his of the whole of which no single one may have comprehended all the
doing so, or from the experiments of M. des Blancs, which, like those workings." The persons who have contested the title of inventors of
of Jouffroy, were made on the Saône. While M. des Blancs was steam navigation, or rather, they for whom the title has been contested
engaged in his steam-boat project, Fulton, who was then in France, by others, are Patrick Miller, James Taylor, and William Symington;
was also experimenting upon the same subject. It appears, indeed, and, after a long and patient examination of their respective claims,
that both tried the scheme of propelling by means of paddles or float- and of the papers, published and unpublished, of the parties who
boards attached to an endless chain stretched over two wheels project- advocate the cause of each, as well as of the personal testimony of such
ing from each side of the vessel. Fulton abandoned this plan, and individuals as could throw light on the case, our author gives it as his
adopted paddle-wheels in its stead; but during his experiments, conclusion that the art of steam navigation was the joint invention of
M. des Blancs complained of his operations as an infringement upon the three. It will be seen from the history given above, that if the
his patent right, and remonstrated with Fulton upon the subject. mere suggestion of applying a steam-engine to the propulsion of a
The narrative must now return a few years, in order to notice the vessel, or even the actual construction of a steam-boat, be considered
attempts making in North America to solve the problem of propelling sufficient to entitle a person to the name of inventor of steam naviga-
vessels by mechanical power. Without noticing mere vague suggestion, that name belongs to some earlier projector, Hulls for instance,
tions of its possibility, of which some have been mentioned of earlier and not to any of the three individuals just mentioned; and if, on the
date, we find that two individuals named Fitch and Rumsey were other hand, the honour be due to those who produced the first
early in the field as experimentalists. Stuart goes into their claims very
Stuart goes into their claims very successful steanı-boat, it cannot be applied with propriety to any
minutely; but it may be briefly stated that as early as 1783 Fitch had individual, seeing that the superiority of the boats of Miller, Taylor,
succeeded in moving a boat on the Delaware by means of paddles (not and Symington was attributable to a happy union of talent and
paddle-wheels) set in motion by a steam-engine; and that in 1785 he enterprise.
presented a model and description of his apparatus to Congress. He
was supported for some time by an association of wealthy persons,
and was so sanguine as to the success of his project, as to send draw-
ings and descriptions of his machinery to Messrs. Boulton and Watt,
in order that they might procure an English patent for it. Nothing
was accomplished by Fitch and his friends in England, and but little
in America. It is worthy of notice that Fitch expressed his belief
that the time would come when steam-power would be employed for
crossing the Atlantic. Rumsey, the rival of Fitch, had exhibited a
model of a contrivance for moving a boat, to General Washington, as
carly as 1784; but Fitch alleged that it was merely an apparatus for
enabling a boat to stem the current of rapid rivers, by means of
wheels, cranks, and poles; and that it had been tried some years
before by another person on the Schuylkill, and had failed. In 1787,
Rumsey made some short voyages on the Potomac, with a boat about
fifty feet long, propelled by the re-action of a stream of water drawn in
at the bow and forced out at the stern by means of a pump worked by
a steam-engine. This boat moved, it is said, at the rate of three or
four miles an hour, when loaded with three tons, in addition to the
weight of her engine, which was about one-third of a ton. The boiler
held only five gallons of water, and the whole machinery did not occupy
more space than four barrels of flour. The fuel consumed was from
four to six bushels of coals in twelve hours. Rumsey afterwards pro-
Mr. Miller, of Dalswinton, had been engaged in attempts for the
improvement of naval architecture, proposing to build ships of much
greater length than usual, in proportion to their breadth, and, in order
to enable such narrow vessels to bear sail, to unite two or even three
boats or hulls, side by side, so as to form a double or triple boat. He
had also experimented upon the application of paddle-wheels, turned
by a power within the vessel, instead of, or rather as auxiliary to, the
force of the wind. Russell observes, that he does not find that Miller
anywhere claimed absolute property in the invention of paddle-wheels,
which, as has been already stated, had been often tried. Having thus
prepared a form of vessel suitable for the purpose of steam navigation,
and provided it with an apparatus for propelling it through the water,
it only remained to apply the steam-engine itself. This, it appears,
was done subsequently, in consequence of the suggestion of Mr.
Taylor, who, in 1785, went to reside in Mr. Miller's family as tutor to
his younger sons, and, in 1786 and 1787, frequently assisted in his
experiments with paddle-wheel boats. In one of these, in the latter
year, one of Miller's double boats, sixty feet long, propelled by two
wheels, each of which was turned by two men, was matched against
a Custom-house boat, which was reckoned a fast sailer; and on this
occasion the want of a sufficient moving power to turn the wheels was
sensibly felt. Both Miller and Taylor perceived this; but when the
latter suggested the steam-engine, Mr. Miller, for a time, questioned
800
810
STEAM-VESSEL.
STEAM-VESSEL.
its applicability. In 1787 he published an account of his experiments,
in which he observed, after describing his paddle-wheels, "I have also
reason to believe that the power of the steam-engine may be applied to
work the wheels, so as to give them a quicker motion, and consequently
to increase that of the ship. In the course of this summer I intend to
make the experiment; and the result, if favourable, shall be commu-
nicated to the public." This project formed the subject of much con-
versation at Dalswinton in the summer of 1787, and was mentioned
by Taylor to his intimate friend Symington, who was then engaged
as a mining-engineer at the Wanlockhead lead-mines, but had devoted
much attention to the improvement of the steam engine, and had
recently constructed a model of a steam-carriage [STEAM-CARRIAGES], in
which he had provided simple means for converting the reciprocating
motion of the pistons into a rotatory motion. Thus, while Miller had
been preparing a proper vessel and propelling apparatus, and Taylor
had been recommending the agent required to work it, Symington had
been effecting those modifications in the structure of the engine which
were necessary to adapt it to the purpose required. There is some
reason, indeed, to believe that he had conceived the possibility of this
particular application of the steam-engine; for, in a letter to Taylor,
dated August 20, 1787, apparently in answer to one just received from
him, Symington says, "I must make some remarks upon your summer's
inventions, which, if once made to perform what their author gives
them out for, will undoubtedly be one of the greatest wonders hitherto
presented to the world, besides its being of considerable emolument to
the projector. Great success to you, although overturning my schemes.”
In December of the same year the Dalswinton experimenters were in
Edinburgh, where they met Symington, and, at the house of his
patron, Gilbert Meason, Esq., saw his steam-carriage model. The
result of this meeting was, that Symington, in conjunction with
Miller and Taylor, constructed a small engine in the following summer;
the castings being, by a curious coincidence, executed by a founder of
the name of Watt. In October, 1788, this engine was placed in a
small double pleasure-boat belonging to Mr. Miller, and was tried upon
Dalswinton lake. The engine was placed on one side, the boiler on the
other, and the paddle-wheel in the middle. With all the disadvantages
of a first experiment, and with cylinders of only four inches diameter,
the boat moved with a velocity of five miles an hour. After repeated
satisfactory trials, the engine was removed from the boat, and kept for
many years as a trophy in the library at Mr. Miller's.
Had the experiments of Miller and his fellow-labourers stopped here,
it might have been conceived that their success was in some degree
attributable to accidental circumstances. The result of a second
experiment, in the following year, is sufficient to dispel any such idea.
In 1789 an engine of about twelve-horse power (or twelve times the
power of the first) was made by the same parties at the Carron works.
This was mounted in the large double boat which had formerly run
against the Custom-house boat at Leith. Except in size, this machine
resembled the former model. The engine was commenced in June,
and near the end of the year the boat was tried on the Forth and
Clyde canal. Some difficulty was at first experienced from the weak-
ness of the fastenings by which the float-boards or paddles were secured
to the arms of the paddle-wheels; several of them being broken off by
the severe strain to which the power of the engine subjected them.
When this matter was set right, the boat performed very successfully,
and attained a speed of nearly seven miles an hour, "being," observes
Mr. Russell," about as great a velocity as it has been found possible to
obtain by steam-boats on canals, even at the present day." The vessel
having been built for a different purpose, and being much too slight
for permanent use as a steam-boat, or for taking out to sea, was, soon
after the trial, dismantled. Mr. Miller, having thoroughly proved the
practicability of the plan, and having expended a large fortune in his
enlightened pursuits for the public benefit, relinquished the experi-
ment, leaving its great results to be worked out by others. That he
should have done so need excite no surprise, when the difficulties
attending the introduction of any great improvement are considered.
Taylor was still less likely to take any effective steps for carrying out
the grand design; and Symington was not in a situation to do so
immediately, although he was subsequently engaged in further experi-
ments to that end.
Satisfactory as was the result of these experiments, they did not
immediately lead to the introduction of steam navigation; and several
other unsuccessful schemes were tried in this country and in North
America before it was effected. One of these, that of Rumsey, the
American, on the Thames, has been already mentioned. About this
time Dr. Cartwright contrived a steam-barge, and explained it to
Fulton. Some authorities state that it was shown to Fulton in 1793,
when he was studying painting under West; but others date it a few
years later, stating that he was introduced to Dr. Cartwright during
his journey to Paris in 1796. However this might be, it is evident
that Fulton's attention was directed to the subject about this time.
Colden, his biographer, states that he made drawings of an apparatus
for steam-navigation in 1793, and soon afterwards submitted them to
Lord Stanhope. In 1795, Earl Stanhope himself made experiments
with a steam-vessel propelled by duck-feet paddles placed under the
quarters, like those recommended in 1759 by Genevois, a Swiss pastor.
Notwithstanding the ingenious folding of the paddles, in order to
diminish the resistance of the back-stroke, the apparatus required so
much power that, with a powerful engine, he could not obtain a speed
greater than three miles an hour.
In 1801 Symington commenced a satisfactory series of costly experi-
ments on steam-navigation, under the auspices of Thomas, Lord
Dundas. The object immediately aimed at was the introduction of
tug-boats instead of horses for drawing boats upon canals. After
several minor trials, one of the boats built on this occasion by Syming-
ton drew, on the Forth and Clyde canal, in 1802, two loaded vessels,
each of seventy tons burden. On this occasion, it travelled with its
load a distance of nineteen miles and a half in six hours, although
there was so strong a wind ahead that no other vessels in the canal
could move to windward on that day. The tug-boat was a rather
short vessel, with a single paddle-wheel in the stern, impelled by a
horizontal cylinder of twenty-two inches diameter and four feet stroke,
working, by means of a connecting-rod, a crank on the axle of the
wheel. The rudder was double, on account of the situation of the
paddle-wheel, and it was moved by means of a tiller-wheel in the fore-
part of the vessel.
part of the vessel. A complete model of this boat may be seen at the
Royal Institution of London. In this case, though the object aimed
at was fully attained, as far as the successful performance of the vessel
could go, the project was abandoned, in consequence of an idea that
the undulation of the water occasioned by the paddle-wheel would
prove injurious to the banks of the canal. The speed attained by this
steam-boat, when unimpeded by having any others to draw after it,
was about six miles an hour.
While the experiments of Symington, under the patronage of Lord
Dundas, did not lead to the immediate adoption of steam-vessels for
commercial purposes, they probably tended, in no unimportant degree,
to their subsequent profitable establishment in America and in Great
Britain; for among the numerous individuals who inspected his vessel
with interest were Fulton and Bell. It has been shown that projects
for steam-navigation had been early tried in North America. After
Fitch and Rumsey, the chancellor Livingstone attempted to build a
steam-boat on the Hudson, and in 1797 he applied to the legislature of
the State of New York for an exclusive privilege to navigate boats by
a steam-engine. Though his project excited much ridicule, the privi-
lege was granted in 1798, on condition that he should, within twelve
months, produce a steam-vessel which should attain a mean rate of at
least four miles an hour. This he failed to accomplish, although
assisted, it is said, by an Englishman named Nesbit, and by Brunel
(afterwards Sir Mark Isambard), and consequently his grant or patent
became void. Shortly afterwards, being at Paris as minister from the
United States, Livingstone conversed with Fulton on the subject of
steam-boats, and intimated his intention of resuming the experiments
on his return to America. Fulton then commenced, under his auspices,
the experiments which have already been alluded to as exciting the
jealousy of M. des Blancs. After several preliminary measures, Fulton
and Livingstone completed a boat of considerable size on the Seine,
near Paris, early in 1803; but, being too weak to bear the weight of
her machinery, she broke through the middle, in a gale of wind during
the night, and went to the bottom. To this discouraging accident Mr.
Russell attributes one of the excellences of American steam-boats,-
the strong and light framing by which, though slender, they are ena-
bled to bear the weight and strain of their large and powerful engines.
To remedy this evil, Fulton had to reconstruct his vessel almost en-
tirely, after her shattered hull was raised; and in August of the same
year he had her in trying order. This vessel was 66 feet long and
8 feet wide. The speed attained was much less than had been hoped
for; but the result of the experiment was such as to induce the pro-
jectors to order an engine of Boulton and Watt, with a view to further
trial in America. As the boat into which it was fitted was the first
regularly established steam-packet, it will be noticed in the second part
of our history; but before closing this narrative, allusion must be made
to the proceedings of Fulton between the time of these French experi-
ments and his successful enterprise on his return to America. During
this time he visited England [FULTON, ROBERT, BIOG. Div.]; and while
here he introduced himself to Symington, from whom he asked for
particular information respecting what he had done in steam navigation.
This brief sketch of what may be termed the preliminary history of
steam navigation would be incomplete without referring to the ex-
periments of John Stevens, of Hoboken, near New York, who was
connected with some of the earliest attempts of Livingstone to introduce
steam navigation in North America. Stuart describes a small boat,
twenty-five feet long and five feet wide, impelled by a steam-engine
with a cylinder of four inches and a half diameter and nine inches
stroke, which he tried about New York in 1804. The boiler, which
was only two feet long, fifteen inches wide, and twelve inches high,
consisted of eighty-one tubes of an inch diameter. This little steam-
boat had a velocity of about four miles an hour, or, for short distances,
of seven or eight miles an hour. The subsequent vessels of Stevens
and his son will be hereafter noticed. About the same time (1804)
Oliver Evans, another early American improver of the steam-engine,
constructed his " Orukter Amphibolos," or machine for removing mud
from docks, with a steam-engine to work the buckets. It was a heavy
flat-bottomed boat, thirty feet long and twelve feet broad. Evans
constructed this machine at a distance of a mile and a half from the
river Schuylkill, and exhibited his long-cherished project of steam
locomotion on land by mounting it upon wheels, and connecting them
811
STEAM-VESSEL.
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812
steam-boat.
with the engine. After doing this to his satisfaction, he fitted a paddle-establishing steam-boats in that country. In the minute and interest-
wheel to the stern of the machine, and launched it on the river as a ing narrative of Russell, who, from residing in the neighbourhood, had
peculiar facilities for obtaining correct information respecting the history
of steam navigation upon the Clyde, it is stated that Bell was a house-
carpenter in Glasgow for many years, and was rather fond of what are
called schemes.
called schemes. In the year 1808 he engaged in an undertaking some-
what of this character, by becoming proprietor of an establishment of
the nature of an hotel, or bath-house, at Helensburgh, a watering-place
on the Clyde, opposite to Greenock. To increase the facilities for
reaching this place, and thereby to induce a larger influx of visitors
from Glasgow, Bell endeavoured to introduce passage-boats moved
by paddles impelled by manual labour; but his experiments failed,
and at length he determined upon the construction of a steam-boat to
meet the difficulty. Thus his connection with an undertaking of very
different character, combined with his correspondence with Fulton, led
him to take this important step.
The Comet, built by Bell in 1811, was a vessel of forty feet keel,
and ten and a half feet beam; of about twenty-five tons burden,
and three-horse power. This vessel began to run regularly between
Glasgow and Helensburgh, in January, 1812, and continued to ply
successfully during the following summer; her rate of motion was
about five miles an hour. The second steam-boat established on the
Clyde, the Elizabeth, was commenced as early as March, 1812, and was
ready for use about twelve months after. She was the property of
Mr. Hutchison, a brewer; but she was built under the direction of an
engineer named Thomson, who had been engaged in some of Bell's
first experiments. She was of longer proportion than the Comet,
being fifty-eight feet long aloft, fifty-one feet keel, twelve feet beam,
and five feet deep; and her proportion of power to tonnage was much
better, her burden being about thirty-three tous, and her engine of
about ten-horse power. The Elizabeth performed the passage of twenty-
seven miles, between Glasgow and Greenock, twice a day; and, accord-
ing to her owner's account, made the voyage in something less than
four hours, with a hundred passengers on board, and, in favourable
circumstances, in two hours and three-quarters. She accomplished, it
would appear from the same statement, a distance of eighty-one miles
one day, at an average rate of nine miles an hour.
It is not pretended that the above account embraces every project
brought forward, or even every public experiment made respecting
navigation by steam; but enough has been related to show that its
possibility had long been contemplated, and that many persons had
expended much time and money upon the scheme before a single
steam-vessel was regularly used for the purposes of commerce. Upon
the subsequent history of steam navigation it is needless to treat at
length; but, before entering upon it, it may be well to state that
besides the claims to the invention which have been put forth on
behalf of Spain, France, England, Scotland, and North America, one
has been made also for an Italian, named Serapino Serratì, in a work
published at Florence in 1796, in which it is stated that Watt was
the inventor of steam-engines in England in 1787, but that Serrati was
"the first not only to conceive the design of a steam-boat, but also to
place one upon the river Arno, which runs through Florence." Russell
observes that he had no means of testing the truth of this statement,
but that, like the narrative of Garay's performances, it may be either
true or untrue, without affecting the history of steam navigation; since
it is evident that our present system of steam navigation has been in
no way derived from either of them.
Fulton returned to America towards the latter end of 1806, and
immediately commenced building a steam-boat for use upon the
Hudson. This vessel was built at New York, and was launched in the
spring of 1807. The engines were mounted and ready for trial by
August in that year, engineers from Soho assisting in the work, and
when the vessel started, its success became immediately evident. Soon
afterwards this vessel, which was named, from Livingstone's residence,
the Clermont, made her first voyage from New York to Albany, a
distance of about a hundred and forty-five miles; which distance it
accomplished at the rate of about five miles an hour.
Satisfactory as was the performance of the Clermont, she did not,
owing to the want of proper proportion in the wheels, attain so great a
speed as Fulton had anticipated. The dimensions of the boat, which
was of a hundred and sixty tons burden, were one hundred and thirty-in
three feet long, eighteen feet wide, and seven feet deep. Her cylinder
was two feet in diameter, and four feet stroke; and the paddle-wheels
were fifteen feet in diameter, with paddles four feet long, dipping two
feet into the water. These dimensions probably refer to the improved
paddle-wheels used subsequent to the first trial, those originally used
being too large, so that they dipped too deep into the water. The
wheels were of cast iron, and had no supportˇbeyond the sides of the
vessel, and consequently some trouble was occasioned by their frequent
breakage in the earlier experiments. Until his death in 1815, Fulton
continued to be actively engaged in building steam-vessels, and at that
time he had just completed a large steam-frigate or floating battery,
supported by two hulls, with a canal fifteen feet wide between them,
in which the paddle-wheel worked. So highly were his services then
appreciated, that besides other testimonies of respect, the members
of both houses of the legislature wore mourning on occasion of his
death.
Fulton had scarcely launched the Clermont before a rival appeared.
Stevens of Hoboken had a steam-vessel ready for trial in a few weeks
after the triumph of Fulton; but, as the monopoly of steam navigation
in the state of New York was secured to Livingstone and Fulton, he
could not employ it upon the Hudson, and therefore took it round by
sea to the Delaware, thus becoming the first (unless the case of Garay
be an exception) to venture to sea with a steam-vessel. To R. L.
Stevens, his son, American steam navigation is deeply indebted. He,
according to Russell, improved the form of the American vessels, by
substituting a very long proportion, with a fine entrance and a fine run,
for the full round bows and sterns of Fulton, whose boats were, he
says, mere boxes sharpened a little at both ends, which drove before
them so large a heap of water as to limit their speed to about nine
miles an hour. The improvements of Stevens enabled him to rise to
a velocity of thirteen miles an hour. He also adopted a different form
of engine from that of Fulton; using cylinders of very long stroke,
with upright guides, instead of the old parallel motion, to ensure the
accurate motion of the piston, and placing the working beam above
the deck, instead of altering the usual arrangement of the machinery
in order to keep it below the deck, as done in Fulton's engines and in
those commonly used in British steam-vessels.
The practical application of steam navigation in Scotland, though
attributable to the experiments of Miller, Taylor, and Symington, at
least as distinctly as were the operations of Fulton upon the rivers of
North America, did not take place till a few years later, and was in
some degree suggested by them. Henry Bell, of Helensburgh, on the
Clyde, the individual by whom steam-vessels were first used in Britain
for commercial purposes, had been well acquainted with the experi-
ments at Dalswinton and on the Forth and Clyde canal; but he did
not take any step for carrying into effect the important scheme of
which they proved the practicability, until the proceedings of Fulton,
combined with peculiar circumstances in his own case, urged him to
do so. Owing to some misapprehension, it was erroneously stated in
the Fifth Report of the Select Committee on the Roads from London to
Holyhead, in 1822, that Bell went over to America to assist Fulton in
Stuart relates that while Bell was engaged in establishing his
steamers on the Clyde, a person named Dawson was making similar
experiments in Ireland; and that he had, according to his own
account, built a steam-boat of fifty tons burden, worked by a high-
pressure steam-engine, as early as 1811; which, by one of those
singular coincidences frequently met with in the history of inventions,
he named the Comet. În 1813, it is added, Dawson established a
steam-packet on the Thames, to ply between Gravesend and London,
"which was the first that did so for public accommodation, although
Mr. Lawrence of Bristol, who introduced a steam-boat on the Severn,
soon after the successful operations on the Clyde, had her carried to
London (through the canals) to ply on the Thames; but from the
opposition of the watermen to the innovation, he was in the end
obliged to take her to her first station." If this be correct, the
Gravesend steam-packet alluded to must have been overlooked by the
author of a pamphlet published in 1831, entitled 'An Account of the
Origin of Steam-boats in Spain, Great Britain, and America; and of
their Introduction, and Employment upon the river Thames, between
London and Gravesend, to the present time;' by R. P. Cruden, of
Milton by Gravesend, who repeats the statement in his History of
Gravesend,' (8vo, 1843,) p. 484. He states that the first steam-boat
which plied between London and Gravesend was the Margery, of seventy
tons burden, and fourteen-horse power; a vessel originally used on the
Clyde, where she was built in 1813, by Messrs. Wood of Port-Glasgow,
the builders of the Comet and the Elizabeth. She was, it is stated,
brought to London from Leith early in 1815, and on the 23rd of
January in that year she began to ply between London and Gravesend.
This vessel was, in the following year, removed to France, for use upon
the Seine; and that tried on the Thames by Dawson was, according to
Cruden
Stuart, sent to Spain, to ply between Seville and San Lucar.
states that the Richmond packet had been employed between London
and Richmond in the year preceding the use of the Margery on the
Gravesend station.
Among the enterprising individuals by whose exertions steam-boats
were established upon the Thames, the name of George Dodd deserves
a prominent place, although his history is a melancholy instance of
the poverty which often attends the most ingenious inventors. He
was, it would appear, the first to undertake a considerable voyage by
sea in a steam-vessel. The boat with which this voyage was accom-
plished was built on the Clyde by Messrs. Wood, and was launched in
1813, under the name of the Glasgow; but was subsequently altered,
and called the Thames. She was of seventy-four or seventy-five tons
burden, and about fourteen or sixteen horse-power, with paddle-wheels
nine feet in diameter. Dodd brought her round to the Thames by
steam and sails, experiencing some very rough weather on the way,
especially in the Irish Sea. A detailed account of the voyage was
published in the Journal des Mines' for September, 1815, and
It is
subsequently at the end of Dodd's work on steam-boats.
needless to follow minutely the extension of steam navigation in the
British dominions and elsewhere subsequent to the success of Bell and
his immediate followers. Bell himself said, "I will venture to affirm
j
819
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STEAM-VESSEL.
STEAM-VESSEL.
}
that history does not afford an instance of such rapid improvement in
commerce and civilisation as that which will be effected by steam-
vessels;" and probably there are few at the present time who would
not fully acknowledge the truth of his prediction, but it may be
interesting to give, from Dodd, an enumeration of the principal steam-
vessels in use in Great Britain and Ireland at the date of his work
(1818). He states that there were then eighteen steam-boats on the
Clyde, two at Dundee, two on the Tay, two on the Trent, two on the
Tyne, four on the Humber, two on the Mersey, three on the Yare, one
on the Avon, one on the Severn, one on the Orwell, six on the Forth,
two at Cork, and two intended to navigate from Dublin to Holyhead.
In another part of his work he describes the vessels then in use upon
the Thames, of which two, the Richmond and the London, plied
between London, Richmond, and Twickenham, and had, he says,
carried not less than ten thousand passengers within the last four
months. These were built under Dodd's superintendence; and in
consequence of having to pass under the bridges, they were made with
an apparatus of his invention for lowering their chimneys. These
boats experienced much but ineffectual opposition from the watermen,
who deemed their use an invasion of their rights. A third steam-
vessel designed by Dodd, the Sons of Commerce, intended for use
between London and Gravesend, had been used, in the season pre-
ceding the publication of his work, between London and Margate, and
had once performed the journey, about eighty-eight miles, in seven
hours and thirty-five minutes. Her speed, when unassisted by wind or
tide, was ten miles an hour. Another boat, the Majestic, plied
between London and Margate in 1816. This vessel had been to Calais,
and had often towed vessels of seven hundred tons burden down the
river. The Regent, one of the early Thames steamers, was accidentally
burnt off Whitstable, in July, 1817. Besides these, Dodd mentions
the Caledonia, with two engines of fourteen-horse power, which had
been from Margate to Flushing, and also on the Rhine; the Eagle,
which had a single paddle-wheel in the centre, and failed, he argues,
for want of room for the escape of the water agitated by the paddles;
the Hope, a small vessel, built at Bristol, which proved a failure; and
the Thames, the vessel which Dodd himself brought from the Clyde.
In addition to British steam-vessels, it is stated that there were at that
time steam-packets and steam luggage-vessels used in Russia, the
Netherlands, France, and Spain; and that one was building in the
East Indies. In order to give an approximate statement of the
progress of steam navigation in the United States about the same
period, a few facts may be quoted from the evidence of Seth Hunt,
Esq., formerly commandant of Upper Louisiana, before the select com-
mittee of the House of Commons appointed in 1817 to consider the
means of preventing the mischief of explosion on board steam boats.
This gentleman stated that there were then ten steam-vessels running
between New York and Albany, two between New York and the State
of Connecticut, and four or five to New Jersey, besides the ferry-boats,
of which there were four. On the river Delaware there were also a
number of boats, which plied between Philadelphia and Trenton in
New Jersey; and others hetween Philadelphia and Newcastle, and
Philadelphia and Wilmington, besides ferry-boats. Some of these were
worked with high-pressure engines. There were steam-boats from
Baltimore to Norfolk, which passed a part of the Chesapeak, several
miles in width; and steam-vessels had been to New London, which is
still more exposed; and also up to New Hertford. The Powhatan
steam-boat, which was built at New York, had been exposed to a
severe gale of wind in the open ocean for three days, after which it
arrived at Norfolk, and thence proceeded up the James river to
Richmond. The largest steam-boats in America were those upon the
Mississippi, plying between New Orleans and Natchez. These vessels,
the Etna and Vesuvius, were of four hundred and fifty tous burden,
and carried two hundred and eighty tons of merchandise, one hundred
passengers, and seven hundred bales of cotton.
-
The introduction of steam-packets upon the open sea was a favourite
object with Dodd. He observes particularly the great importance of
their establishment between Dublin and Holyhead, as the intercourse
by sailing packets was liable to great delays. They were sometimes, it
is stated, more than seventy-six hours at sea, although the distance is
only about sixty miles. The use of steam-vessels upon this station was
advocated for several years before they were regularly established; and
expense
of two packets for making the experiment, provided the Post-office
authorities would guarantee to him the conveyance of the mails, in the
event of those packets fully auswering his representations; but his
offer was not accepted. It has been shown that some sea-voyages
were performed at an earlier date; but the regular establishment of
ocean steam navigation may be considered to have commenced with
the Rob Roy, a steamer of about thirty-horse power and ninety tons
burden, which commenced running in 1818 between Greenock and
Belfast. This vessel was established by Mr. David Napier, who, says
Russell, from the year 1818 until about 1830, "effected more for the
improvement of steam navigation than any other man." This gentle-
man must be distinguished from his cousin, Mr. Robert Napier, of
Glasgow, who is also honourably known for improvements of the same
kind, but of a somewhat later date. David Napier, according to the
interesting narrative of the progress of steam navigation in Britain,
given by the above-mentioned writer, ventured at once to establish
Dodd had, on behalf of himself and friends, offered to bear the
regular communication between Britain and the neighbouring countries,
Ireland and France, by steam-vessels plying even during the stormy
months of winter; though, previous to the time of his improvements,
such vessels had scarcely ever ventured to sea except in fine weather.
In order to make himself well acquainted with the difficulties to be
overcome, he took passage, at the worst season of the year, in one of
the sailing vessels which formerly plied between Glasgow and Belfast,
and which often required a week to perform a journey that is now
done by steam in nine hours. After anxiously watching the effect of
the waves when the vessel was tossed in a storm, and satisfying him-
self that there was no insuperable difficulty, he retired contentedly to
his cabin, leaving the captain of the vessel puzzled at his strange
curiosity respecting the effect of rough weather. He subsequently
tried experiments upon the best form of hull for getting through the
water with the minimum of resistance; and these led him to adopt a
fine wedge-like form for the fore part of his vessels, instead of the
round full bow common in those propelled by sails. The Rob Roy,
after plying two winters between Greenock and Belfast, was removed
from that line, and employed as a packet between Dover and Calais.
In 1819 he employed the Messrs. Wood to build the Talbot, of one
hundred and fifty tons burden, into which he fitted two engines of
thirty horse-power each. This fine vessel, the most perfect of her
time in all respects, plied between Holyhead and Dublin; and she was
soon followed, on the same line, by another excellent vessel, called the
Ivanhoe. In 1821 steam-vessels were regularly established as Post-
office packets on that important station. They had been intended
merely as auxiliaries to the sailing packets; but they soon superseded
them. From the evidence given before the Holyhead Roads Com-
mittee in 1822, it appears that even then the intercourse between the
two countries had been reduced almost to a certainty; and that while,
in the year preceding their adoption, exactly one hundred mails
arrived in London after the proper time, there were only twenty-two
cases of delay in the first nine months in which the steam-packets
were used, although this period included the winter season, during the
early part of which the weather was worse than had been known for
more than sixty years. The vessels which were built expressly for
this purpose were strengthened by diagonal framing upon the plan of
Sir Robert Seppings.
The next important stage may be considered to be the build-
ing of the "Great Western" at Bristol in 1838, a larger steamer
than had then been built, being nearly 1400 tons; and the first
voyage by steam across the Atlantic. The tonnage of the Great
Western equalled that of the largest sailing merchant ships which
had been constructed. She left Bristol, and entered New York
harbour under full steam in the extraordinary period of 15 days
having on board a surplus of 148 tons of coal. It is true that the
Sirius, a smaller steamer, had sailed from Cork before the Great
Western left England, and had arrived in safety at New York just
before her; but there was this important difference between the two
voyages, the Sirius had performed much of her's under sail, while the
Great Western had been propelled by steam only. Fourteen years
later a large ship called the Australian, built of iron, on the Clyde,
left Plymouth (June, 1852) for Melbourne touching for coals at
St. Vincent, St. Helena, and the Cape, and anchored safely in King
George's Sound, West Australia, on the 20th of August, having per-
formed the whole voyage (including stoppages for fuel) in 76 days.
This was the first attempt to reach Australia by steam, and led to the
construction of such ships as the celebrated Great Britain, the ill-fated
Royal Charter, and other ships of greater perfection. In 1854 a fine
American paddle-wheel ship called the Golden Age, astonished our
Liverpool builders by her size and power, and gave the first intima-
tion of a change in form likely to become general among ocean
steamers. The total omission of a bowsprit and the relief afforded the
fore part of the ship as a floating bulk, by the removal of the usual
dead wood about the stem and figure-head, was a change deduced from
scientific experiments becoming more and more followed. The Golden
Age had taken in at one port alone (Tahiti) about 1200 tons of coal,
an enormous weight, double that which only 15 years before had been
the supply to the Great Western.
Another memorable event in the history of ocean steamers was the
voyage of the steam screw ship Argo of 1850 tons, which at about this
period circumnavigated the globe, the duration of her actual voyage
being only 124 days.
Since this period a number of gigantic oceau steamers have been
built for the companies known as the Peninsular and Oriental, the
Royal West India Mail, the Cunard, &c. Among these the Persia
is the largest of paddle steamers. Some of these magnificent vessels
are of about 3500 tons, fitted with exquisite taste and elegance. But
the greatest triumph of naval architecture, and the most extraordinary
as to size is the Great Eastern, built in 1859 by Mr. John Scott
Russell, on the Thames, from the joint designs of himself and Mr.
Brunel. This stupendous vessel is of the length of 691 feet on
deck, has a breadth of 83 feet and depth of 58 feet, having a gross
registered tonnage of 18,914, but said to be capable of carrying
25,000 tons!
The most prominent events in the history of steam vessels having
been thus mentioned, a few general remarks will show the actual
position of this important subject.
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18
11
18
15
16
816
;
It is, perhaps, impossible to over-estimate the importance of the the dimensions of the framing, plates, &c., of iron vessels. As an
building of the Great Eastern as an iron ship. In many prior cases example, no vessel of 3000 tons, built of iron, is allowed to have a keel,
steam ships had been saved from foundering by being built of metal. stem, or stern-post less than 12 inches by 3. The upright ribs, which
The writer was one who encountered the fearful hurricane of correspond with "timbers" in the wooden ships, must be 18 inches
September, 1853, in the Ravensbourne in the North Sea, and long apart, and be formed of angle iron of 6 in. x 4 x . The thickness of
previous experience of the sea enables him to declare that no vessel plates for garboard strakes to stand as A 1 for six years, 1 in.; for nine
built of wood could have braved such a prolonged tempest with years, 1 in.; for twelve years, 1 in. Plates between garboard strakes
impunity, inasmuch as the twistings of the frame of the ship must and bilge and the sheer-strakes, for six years, 1 in.; for nine years,
have started trenails and butt ends, to her inevitable destruction, and 15 in.; and for twelve years, 1 in. Thickness of plates for beams, in.
that of the crew and passengers. The well-known instance of the for bulkheads, in. Angle iron for beam and stringers, or keelsons,
Great Britain lying a whole winter on shore in Dundrum Bay, exposed 6 in. × 5 × g. Thickness of wood for upper decks, &c., 4 in.; while
to the action of heavy surf, is a powerful fact in favour of iron ships. even the sizes of the rivets are determined in proportion to the thick-
The introduction of water-tight compartments has also long been a ness of plates: as an example, gin. plates must have rivets at least in.
consideration. Steam vessels are greatly strengthened by means of these in diameter; in. plates, in.; in. plates, in.; and 1 in. plates, in.
water-tight bulkheads or transverse partitions in the hull, the general thick. So important an item of the building of an iron ship has the
adoption of which, more than any other improvement, increases the use of rivets been found to be, that very elaborate experiments were in
safety of steam navigation. In a vessel of the ordinary construction a 1857 undertaken by the committee of Lloyds, under the direction of
small local injury from striking upon a rock, from collision, or from their surveyor, Mr. Mumford, to discover a system of joining iron
any other cause, may occasion the sinking of the vessel, because the plates by iron rivets which, while they secured sufficient strength, had
water has free access to every part of it. Fire also, wherever it may no tendency to facilitate the rusting of the plates at the rivet-holes.
commence, is pretty sure to spread through the whole length of the A piece of iron plate in. thick was subjected to a strain in the
boat. The adoption of water-tight bulkheads, to confine the effect of hydraulic press, and its breaking strain was found to be about 65 tons
an accident to the particular division of the vessel in which it origin- to the foot breadth of the plate. Riveted plates were afterwards sub-
ates, was suggested by Dodd as early as 1818. He mentions them injected to strain in the same machine, each rivet being ğin. in diameter,
p. 220 of the treatise which has been alluded to in the former part of and the rivets were in each plate varied in position. We give the
this article, proposing to use them between the engine-room and the following as illustrations; the whole particulars of each experiment
cabins; and he states that he intended to introduce them in two boats may be seen in the surveyor's report, as published in full in the
which he was then building. Whether he did so or not we are 'Transactions of the Institute of Naval Architects in 1860':-
unaware; but the adoption of this excellent precautionary apparatus
Solid plate.
appears to be due to Mr. C. W. Williams, managing director of the
City of Dublin Steam-packet Company. A minute description of his
bulkheads, and a very satisfactory statement respecting their import-
ance and their efficiency, are given in a communication from that
gentleman to the commissioners on steam-vessel accidents in 1839,
which is printed in the appendix to their report. He therein states
that he first applied water-tight bulkheads in an iron steamer called the
Garryowen.
Many instances have occurred in which water-tight bulkheads have
saved life and cargo. One of our largest paddle-steamers, in March,
1857, struck an iceberg with such force as would have shivered a
wooden ship (or a badly-built iron one) to pieces. As it was, extensive
damage to the forefoot caused the fore compartment to fill with water,
but so little did it affect the duration of the voyage, that the passengers
were unconscious of anything beyond the concussion; nor did the
public ever hear of anything beyond the shock, as the next voyage was
performed without thorough repair.
In the Great Eastern, not only has a complete system of water-tight
compartments been carefully arranged, but these have been longi-
tudinally crossed by fore and aft bulkheads, in such a manner that
neither one nor several perforations of her bottom would disable her;
and, in addition to these, a considerable portion of her is doubled, so
that the outer skin of plates, separated above two feet from a complete
water-tight inner bottom, renders her not only the safest, but the
strongest ship in the world; for these two separate bottoms are so
broad and stayed, and the whole is so contrived, that her construction
may be called cellular or tubular. She is a ship perfect on Scott
Russell's wave principle [SHIP-BUILDING], with 120 feet of midship
portion, the sides of which are perfectly parallel; but with this portion
the lines of the stem and stern portions are so gracefully combined,
that her form is considered the finest afloat.
Rivets 4 diameters apart.


Lapped plates.
Plate 13 in. broad.
Breaking strain 42 tons.
Strain upon 12 inches 38.03 tons.
Fracture through the counter-
sunk plate.;
Plate in. thick by 123 in.
broad.
Breaking strain 67 tons.
Strain upon 12 inches 65 63
tons.
If we now turn our attention to the arsenals of war, a like series of
novelties in steam-shipping awaits us. The question of iron armour for
our wooden ships, for ships built entirely of iron, or built partly of iron
is at
and partly of wood, or of iron entirely with heavy plate armour,
the present time an exciting subject. Under the presidency of Sir
John Pakington, the Institute of Naval Architects has already con-
sidered the question of a screw fleet with advantage; and the veteran
Sir Howard Douglas, the Earl of Hardwicke, Captain E. P. Halsted,
R.N., &c., have entered upon the subject with characteristic earnest-
ness and professional zeal. To detail what is doing would be premature.
It is enough to say that the question of steam-ships was never one of
such importance to England as at present. Much might be said of an
experiment made by France in building ships coated with heavy
armour, like La Gloire. Opinions, however, are so conflicting on
various vital points, that, having touched briefly the prominent out-
lines of the subject, it must be left to the future to chronicle the
ultimate success or failure of such experiments.
Two noble vessels called the Warrior and the Black Prince, the one
built recently on the Thames and the other on the Clyde, will bear
prominently on the future history of steam shipping; a brief descrip-
tion, therefore, of one of these will be interesting, and the more so as
a sort of rivalry between ourselves and another country exists in the
question which is likely to influence very materially the nature of
It is difficult for non-nautical persons to comprehend the disparity
in size between the Great Eastern and all that preceded her. The best
mode of comparing her with other vessels is by noticing that the
engine-room of the Great Eastern occupies a cubic space of 5571 tons.
Now the Duke of Wellington, a splendid three-decker of 121 guns, is
of 3826 tons. Not only, therefore, would the Duke of Wellington
stow in the Great Eastern's engine-room, but there would remain
surplus space for one of our fine frigates-say, for example, the Orestes,
of 1702 tons; and as regards the remaining portions of the Great
Eastern, she could, in addition, stow away H.M. ships Waterloo, of
91 guns, with the Goliath, Meanee, and Vanguard, each of 80 guns. future naval warfare.
And again, whereas the Great Western carried 600 tons of coal as fuel,
the Himalaya 1000 tons, and the Golden Age 1200 tons, the Great
Eastern carries 10,000 tons. And further, the Great Eastern, when
immersed to her load water-line, requires 95 tons to be placed on
board her in order to sink her one inch deeper, while the Persia
requires only 30.
The great inducement for increasing the size of merchant ships, and
which has led in particular to the building of the Great Eastern, is
that large ships alone are fit to carry fuel sufficient for a long voyage;
coal, when supplied at intermediate stations, being often much aug-
mented, perhaps quadrupled, in cost.
It would be impossible to enter upon the merits of various kinds of
vessels now afloat, a large number of which are either fitted with screw
or paddle; but we remark that so many vessels are now built of iron,
that it has been thought necessary by the committee of Lloyd's,
London, to keep a check upon their mode of construction, in defence
of the interests of underwriters, by instituting a few regulations as to
And first, the La Gloire is a fine wooden ship, having a length of
252 feet between perpendiculars, her breadth is 55 feet, and her draft
at load water 27 feet. She is steamer-rigged, having square sails only
on her foremast. Her masts are small in proportion to the hull. It is
supposed that her ports are only between 6 and 7 feet above water, in
consequence of the weight of her defensive armour, which consists of
plates of iron about 2 feet wide and 4 inches thick, extending from
stem to stern, and for a distance below water. Her horse-power is
supposed to be 900, with screw propeller, and she carries 34 fifty-four
pounders on her main deck, and 2 screened heavy shell guns forward.
Her ports are 114 feet apart on the main deck, a formidable arrange-
But the
ment as compared with every ship that preceded her.
Warrior is a greatly superior ship, as the following dimensions will
prove. (The Black Prince is of the same size and build as the
Warrior.)
The length of the Warrior is 380 feet between perpendiculars (420
feet over all), she is of 58 feet beam, 414 feet depth from spar-deck to
1
817
STEARANILIDE.
keel, 26 feet draft of water, and of the burden of 6177 tons, builder's
measurement; fitted with screw propeller, and her engines, constructed
by Penn and Sons, are of 1250 horse-power. She is built of iron, but
her great peculiarity is that 205 feet of her length is protected by 4-
inch plates of solid iron, backed with two layers of teak timber, one of
10 inches next the armour, and another within that of 8 inches. Her
armour extends to 9 feet below load-water line; and at the extremities
of the armour-clad portion of her hull, and quite across the ends of
the ship at those parts, iron bulkheads of strength equal to the sides
(being 4-inch iron backed with 18 inches teak timber), protect the
engines and stores from shots which might enter obliquely from head
or stern; and this inclosed space is divided into six water-tight com-
partments, her two boilers being each in its own separate compartment.
In addition to this arrangement inner bulkheads extend all round the
protected portion of her hull, leaving passages 34 feet wide, so that
any leakage-water runs below, and this affords room for necessary
repairs if injured by shot, &c. Her main deck-ports are about 8 feet
above water (at load-water line), while her ports are 15 feet apart;
thus ample space is given for working her guns, and for warlike opera-
tions. With the spars and sails of an 80-gun ship (but barque-rigged,
having no crossjack yard), she will be immensely superior to the
La Gloire.
The Warrior is nominally a 36-gun ship, but her guns will be
68-pounders, 95 cwt., for the main deck, 10 Armstrong (70-pounders)
on the spar-deck, and 2 pivot 100-pounders (Armstrong's also), one at
each end-in all 48 guns; and the number can easily be increased.
As a comparison, the Warrior's superiority to the La Gloire may be
thus briefly stated :-
Ports much higher out of the water, therefore could fight her guns
in bad weather when La Gloire could not open her ports.
Her deck is much higher, to facilitate boarding.
Has more space in which to work her guns.
Draws 18 inches less water than La Gloire.
Is less dependent on steam, being nearly full rigged.
Has greater speed, perhaps of 2 knots per hour.
Has heavier armament.
Besides having very superior accommodation for her officers and
crew.
In closing this important detail it should be remarked, that early in
1859 Sir John Pakington, the first lord of the Admiralty, invited the
naval architects from the coast to furnish plans for a mail-clad ship, and
although numerous plans were forwarded (from Mr. Scott Russell,
Mr. Samuda, Mr. Laird, Mr. Napier, &c.), the design adopted originated
entirely in the office of the late Controller of the Navy, Sir Baldwin
Walker, it being conceived by the Admiralty that such design con-
tained the average proportions and qualifications of all the others.
The last suggestion as to steam vessels for war purposes is that by
Captain Cowper P. Coles, R.N., who proposes certain sloping armour
plates which shall throw off shot; and also certain modifications in
the mode of arming men-of-war so constructed; inasmuch as he would
have only one row of guns on the upper deck placed amidships, but
placed on revolving, powerfully screened platforms. His highly in-
genious proposals have already been well received by the Admiralty,
and experiments on a ship fitted by him have been ordered, and will
probably commence in a few months.
The following outline sketches, drawn accurately to a scale of 240
feet to an inch, give an illustration of the relative sizes of the Great
Eastern, H. M. S. Duke of Wellington, the Warrior, La Gloire, the
Himalaya, and the Great Britain, some of the most noted among
English steam vessels.
2
Great Eastern, 691 feet.
H.M.S. Duke of Wellington, 121 guns, 211 feet,
Himalaya, 341 fect.
| T T
H.M.S. Warrior, 380 feet.
oorcro
La Gloire, 253 feet.
STEARANILIDE. [STEARIC ACID.]
STEARENE. [STEARIC ACID.]
Great Britain, 300 feet.
STEAROPTEN.
819
constituent in all solid fatty substances. It exists in them in the state
of stearin, a combination of stearic acid with the basis of GLYCERIN,
The relation which stearic acid bears to other acids, that occur in fats
and oils, will be readily seen on perusing the article on FATTY ACIDS.
Stearic acid is sometimes met with under the name of bassic acid and
stearophanic acid, and under the name of anamirtic acid occurs in the
seeds of the anamirta cocculus.
Stearin is, for experimental purposes, generally prepared from
mutton suet, from a solution of which in hot ether it crystallises out
on cooling. By one or two recrystallisations it is perfectly purified.
Thus prepared stearin forms white, pearly, lamellar crystals. When
quite dry it is not greasy to the touch, and is easily pulverised. It
melts when heated to about 144° Fahr., but by repeated fusions
becomes more and more dense, and requires an increased temperature
for its liquefaction. It is almost insoluble in water and only slightly
soluble in cold alcohol or ether. Seven times its weight of boiling
alcohol dissolves it, and less than that proportion of hot ether. By
destructive distillation it yields oily and fatty hydrocarbons, acetic
acid, acrolein, margaric acid, &c. By heating stearic acid with glycerin
in closed vessels Berthelot succeeded in obtaining artificial stearins,
containing one, two, or three equivalents of stearic acid united with
glycerin. [GLYCERIN, Monostearin, Distearin, Tristearin.]
Stearic acid. Obtained by saponifying stearin with caustic potash
and then precipitating the stearic acid by the addition of hydrochloric
or tartaric acid to the hot solution of the resulting soap. It may be
purified by washing with cold alcohol and recrystallising from hot
alcohol. It may also be prepared directly from mutton suet by saponi-
fying and decomposing, as above described, and then submitting the
product to strong pressure; the greater part of the oleic acid is in this
way removed and the remaining stearic acid obtained pure after one or
two crystallisations.
Stearic acid crystallises from hot ether in transparent, colourless,
lamellæ, having a rhombic outline. Its fusing point is about 167°
Fahr.; but it does not resolidify until the temperature falls to about
158° Fahr. At higher temperatures it volatilises and is partially
decomposed. It is insoluble in water; its alcoholic solution reddens
pletely on being boiled with them. A mixture of stearic and palmitic
litmus paper; it slightly decomposes carbonates in the cold, but com-
acids melts at a lower temperature than either acid does alone; thirty
parts of the former and seventy of the latter fuse nearly 20 degrees lower
than the mean melting point of the two. Chlorine and bromine act
upon stearic acid, especially when they are heated together, giving rise
to chlor- and brom- derivatives.
containing HO,C,Hs CloO3. Nitric acid oxidises it to suberic, pimelic,
Such a body is chlorostearic acid,
adipic, succinic, capric, oenanthylic, caproic, and other acids. Anhydrous
phosphoric acid removes from stearic acid the elements of two
equivalents of water, and leaves a brittle, obscurely-crystalline mass,
having the composition (C,,H,.02). Perchloride of phosphorus also
acts energetically upon stearic acid. A mixture of stearic acid and
glycerin maintained at 212° Fahr., and saturated with hydrochloric
acid gives rise to stearochlorhydrin, a crystalline body containing
(CH, C10).
10
Stearone, stearene, or margarone, is a colourless crystalline body
produced on distilling stearic acid with one fourth its weight of quick
lime. It fuses at 171° Fahr. and resolidifies at 162° Fahr. Its com-
position has not been satisfactorily determined.
Stearates are combinations of stearic acid with bases, and the com-
pounds, like those of the other FATTY ACIDS, are termed soaps.
Stearates are mostly fusible and decompose when strongly heated.
Those of the alkalies are readily formed on heating stearin with the
alkali, as in the ordinary method of making soap. From the alkaline
stearates other stearates may be formed by precipitation with a soluble
salt of the metal whose stearate is required; the alkaline stearates
being soluble in water, the stearates of other metallic oxides being
insoluble. The neutral stearate of potash contains (KO,C,H3503) the
acid stearate (KO,HO,2CH3503). Stearate of lime (CaO,C,H3503).
Stearate of silver (AgO, С¸¡H3503). Stearate of ethyl (stearic ether)
(C,H,O,C6H350g).
Stearanilide or phenyl-stearamide is obtained on distilling stearic
acid with excess of aniline. It crystallises in needles and contains
[C30H350,

N, C₁₂H
'12
H
2
For the economical applications of stearic acid, see CANDLE Manu-
FACTURE; Soar.
STEARIN. [STEARIC ACID.]
STEAROCHLORHYDRIN. [STEARIC ACID.]
STEARONE. [STEARIC ACID ]
STEAROPHANIC ACID. [STEAROPHANIN.]
STEAROPHANIN. (CH30.). Anamirtin. A fatty matter des-
cribed by Francis as existing in the Anamirta Cocculus. By saponifica-
tion it yields anamirtic or stearophanic acid, which Hanitz considers
to be identical with stearic acid.
STEAROPTEN. Volatile oils, as obtained
Volatile oils, as obtained by distillation from
plants, appear, like expressed oils, to consist of two substances; one
solid, which has received the name of stearopten, and the other liquid,
called elaopten: the former generally crystallises when the oil has
8 a
STEARIC ACID (HO,CH3503). This body is the most abundant been long kept.
ARTS AND SCI, DIV. VOL. VII.
1
810
STEEL.
Camphor is the most remarkable substance of the class of stearoptens.
It is obtained by distillation with water, and in the plant is mixed
with camphor-oil, from the gradual oxidation of which it appears to
be produced. [ESSENTIAL OILS.]
STEEL. [METALS, Iron.]
STEEL ENGRAVING. [ENGRAVING.]
STEEL MANUFACTURE. Iron possesses qualities which render
it applicable to innumerable purposes in the arts; but there are
some uses for which it is not sufficiently hard, and this defect is
supplied by converting it into steel.
At Eisenärzt in Styria the manufacture of steel has been carried on
ever since the 8th century, and yet the exact nature of the operation
is perhaps even now imperfectly understood. It is generally admitted
that steel is an intimate compound of iron and charcoal; for soft iron
contains a considerable portion of charcoal, and it is by no means clear
that the quantity is increased in the process of steel-making. There-
fore we must conclude that some more intimate union is effected
between them when iron is converted into steel. On this point we
shall touch again after describing the manufacture.
Hitherto Swedish and Russian bar-iron have been almost exclusively
employed in the manufacture of the best steel; the preference given to
this iron is decided, though from what cause it arises has not been
satisfactorily made out. We may, however, remark that the foreign
iron used is made from magnetic iron-ore with charcoal; while British
iron is obtained mostly from the impure carbonate of iron, called
argillaceous iron-ore, or from hæmatite, which is a peroxide of iron,
and both of these are reduced by employing coal, or coke prepared
from it.
Bar-Steel is made, with few exceptions, from the Swedish and
Russian iron, the bars of which are marked hoop l (1), gl (2), and
double bullet (3); these are the best kinds. Iron of lower quality is
also used, such as (4), which is a Russian iron, and c and crown (5),
d and crown (6), which are Swedish irons. There is a medium quality,
namely, w and crowns (7), b and crown (8); these also are Swedish.
1
W ww www
GOO CC ND C D W B
2 3
4
These steel irons are imported almost exclusively by English merchants
residing in Hull. The limited quantity of the fine iron allowed to be
produced from the mines of Danemora in Sweden accounts in some
degree for the high price at which they are sold.
STEEL MANUFACTURE.
820
A converting furnace contains generally fifteen tons of iron; and
there are some large enough to hold eighteen to twenty tons. The
bar-steel, when discharged from the furnace, is partially covered with
small raised portions of the metal; and from the resemblance of these
to blisters, the steel is called blistered steel. It has been found by the
experiment of placing a bar of Swedish and one of Staffordshire bar-
iron in the same furnace, that the former was much blistered, while
the latter had scarcely any blisters larger than a pea. At one time it
was common for the steel-maker to receive orders for steel well blistered.
This arose from a mistaken ideá regarding the perfection of the steel;
it being supposed that the more it was blistered, the more it was
carbonised, and consequently that its quality was indicated thereby;
now, however, manufacturers are better informed, and steel so blistered
is complained of.
Bar-steel as it comes from the converting furnace is used for various
purposes without refining; those parts which are free from flaws and
blisters are broken out and hammered or rolled to the sizes required
by the manufacturer for files, edge-tools, table knives and forks, coach-
springs, and a great variety of common agricultural implements. It is
also manufactured into what is called single and double sheer steel; for
this purpose the converted bar is selected of an equable degree of hard-
ness, and broken into pieces of about two feet in length; these are
taken to the forge, heated to a full cherry red, and hammered into
bars two inches by three-quarters of an inch in thickness; six of these
pieces are put together and kept firmly so by a hoop, which is fixed at
the end of a handle, thus—
They are then placed in a hollow fire urged by a soft blast, and heated
gradually up to a full welding heat, during which the workman covers
the surface with clay beaten very fine; this runs over the surface, and
to some extent prevents oxidation. When fully heated, they are
placed under the hammer, carefully welded together, and drawn into a
bar of about two inches square at the same heat; the other end is then
put into the fire and welded in the same way. This is termed single
sheer steel. It is made double by nicking the bar in the middle and
doubling it together, giving a second welding heat, and drawing it out
as before to a bar of about two inches square; it is then hammered,
tilted, or rolled to the size required; by this process bar-steel becomes
more homogeneous, of a finer texture, and any instrument made of it
will receive and retain a finer edge; the steel is also rendered much
tougher, which condition is supposed to arise from the abstraction of a
small portion of carbon, and the mechanical elongation of the fibre by
these doublings, &c.
In Sheffield, where the steel manufacture is carried on to a larger
extent than in any other town in the world, many manufacturing firms
confine their operations exclusively to those above described: namely,
making bar steel, in the two forms of blister and sheer, without in-
cluding the making of cast-steel, or the fashioning of steel goods. The
sheer-hammers, employed in the production of sheer steel, are very
massive machines, having iron heads of twenty ewts. or more, faced
with steel. The blows of these hammers, acting on heated bars of
steel, greatly change their character; the blistered steel loses all its
blisters and flaws, acquires a uniformity of character throughout, and
becomes much more malleable and tenacious. According to the degree
in which it is welded or sheered, so does the steel become applicable to
a large number of practical purposes.
Bar-Steel. The usual operation in large steel-works is first to cut
the bar-iron into certain lengths. The closed vessels in which the
bars are heated are usually twelve feet in length, and divided into two
cells or troughs, on the bottom of which the workman strews charcoal
to the thickness of about an inch. Upon this he places on their flat
side a layer of bars; then about three-fourths of an inch more of
charcoal is added; on this another layer of bars; and so on till the
troughs are filled. These are then covered with a ferruginous earth
coming from the grinding-stones, called wheelswarf, to the thick-
ness of about eight inches. All the apertures of the furnace are
closed with loose bricks and plastered over with fire-clay. The fire is
then lighted, and in four days and nights the furnace is at its full heat;
at which it is kept for several days, according to the degree of hardness
required. In order to be able to test the progress of the carbonisation,
a hole is left in one of the troughs near the centre; three or four bars
are placed in the furnace in such a manner that the ends come through Cast Steel is the steel employed for the best goods. Cast-steel was
this opening, and after the sixth day one is pulled out. If the iron be first made by Mr. Huntsman, at Attercliff, near Sheffield, in 1770;
then not sufficiently carbonised, the heating is continued from two to since which time the manufacture of it has very much increased. It
four days longer. A bar is drawn every two days; and when the iron is steadily superseding the use of bar or sheer steel, on account of the
is completely converted, the fire is heaped up with small-coal, and the equality of its temper, and the superior quality as well as beauty of
furnace is left to burn out. It requires from this period fourteen days' the articles which are made of it. The process adopted is that of
time to cool sufficiently to allow a person to go in and discharge the taking bar steel converted to a certain degree of hardness and breaking
steel. The cells or troughs must be kept completely air-tight; the it into pieces of about a pound each; a crucible charged with these is
smallest crack will open when the furnace is hot, and admit the air: placed in the melting-furnace, similar to that used by brass-founders.
this of course frustrates the object of the operation, and any steel The furnaces are 20 inches long by 16 inches wide, and 3 feet deep. The
which has thus suffered is placed aside to be reconverted. It is of the
It is of the most intense heat is kept up for two hours and a half or three hours,
greatest importance to give the iron the exact quantity of carbon coke being used as fuel. When the furnace requires feeding, the
required and no more. For coach-springs, the iron must not be con- workman takes the opportunity of lifting the lid of each crucible
verted to the centre. For common cutlery, sheer steel, and for pur- and judging how long the charge will be before it is completely
poses where steel has to be welded to itself or to iron, the conversion melted. All the crucibles are usually ready about the same time.
should be low, and gradually disseminated throughout the whole They are taken out of the furnace, and the liquid steel is poured into
thickness of the bar. For double sheer steel, the conversion should be ingots of the shape and size required: the crucibles are immediately
somewhat harder than the preceding. For files, and all instruments returned into the furnace; and when the contents of all have been
where resistance or fine cutting-edges are required, the conversion poured into the moulds, the crucibles are again charged. They are
should be hard, and the iron fully carbonised throughout the bar. used three times, and then rejected as useless. The ingots are taken
No definite rules can be laid down to enable the uninitiated to judge to the forge-tilt or rolling-mill, and hammered into bars or rolled into
of the temper or degree of hardness of a bar of steel; but by habit sheets, as may be required. The celebrated wootz, or Indian steel, is
workmen soon acquire the means of distinguishing between the dif- cast-steel; but it is generally so imperfect as to resemble cast-iron
ferent degrees of hardness of two pieces of steel. This knowledge of rather than cast-steel. It is, however, made of iron obtained, as the
the degree of temper is of great importance to the steel-maker; for a Swedish is, from the magnetic ore. Wootz is made by the natives
file, made from soft steel which would be valuable for welding purposes, from malleable iron, packed in small bits with wood in crucibles,
would be useless in the arts; while a coach-spring made from steel which are then covered with some green leaves and clay: about two
hard enough to make a file could not be applied to its intended dozen of these crucibles are packed in one furnace; they are covered
with fuel, and a blast given for about two hours and a half, which
purpose.
821
822
STEEL MANUFACTURE.
STEEL MANUFACTURE.

terminates the operation. When the crucibles are cold, they are
broken, and small cakes of steel are obtained in the form in which it
comes to England.
This making of cast-steel is a remarkable operation. The heat of the
furnaces is believed to be higher than any other known in English
manufacturés. The ingots weigh from about 40 to 200 lbs. each,
according to the purposes to which they are to be applied. No less
than four to five tons of coke are needed for smelting one ton of steel.
The tilting of steel is a process of hammering, mostly for cast-steel.
The steel is heated to a certain temperature, and hammered all over
for a considerable time; this closes the pores, and renders the metal
as close and compact as possible. The steel for the best articles is both
cast and tilted. Case-hardening is an operation whereby articles made
of malleable iron or cast-iron are superficially converted into steel by
heating them with charcoal in a crucible.
Relations of Steel to Iron.-The steel manufacture is just now in a
transitionary state; several new processes of a highly curious nature
have been introduced by Heath, Clay, Bessemer, Uchatius, and others,
not fully successful, perhaps, but significant of the future. Most of
these depend on a study of the relations between iron and steel, in a
way which we shall briefly describe.
With respect to the composition of steel and the nature of the
mixture necessary to constitute it, differences of opinion have long
existed. The question even now is considered by some as hardly
decided, whether carbon is indispensably necessary to its formation,
and whether certain substances or metals, especially silicon, may not
give rise to it; and it is generally admitted that phosphorus is always
present. Berzelius mentions iron containing manganese as particularly
eligible, and yet analyses show that this metal is not present in steel
in most cases. An experiment performed by Mr. Pepys in 1815, seems
not only to prove the necessity of carbon, but also that the diamond is
capable of producing the same effect. In order to get rid of the objec-
tion that the carbonaceous matter of a common fire might supply
carbon when iron and diamond were heated by means of it, he placed
diamond-powder in a piece of pure soft iron wire; and having properly
secured it, he heated it by means of voltaic electricity after a few
minutes' heating, the diamond had disappeared, and the interior surface
of the iron was converted into perfect blistered steel, which, being
heated to redness and plunged into cold water, became so hard as to
resist the file and scratch glass. Some years since a method was dis-
covered by Mackintosh of converting iron into steel by means of the
carbon of carburetted hydrogen gas. Gay Lussac found that during
fusion steel loses much silicon and a little carbon. Brande has found
that when the carbon has fallen short of one per cent., the steel was
deficient in hardness; and when it has exceeded this proportion, the
dies have split or not stood their work. He states, at the same time,
that minute quantities of other bodies appear to influence the quality
of steel; and that unless it contain phosphorus it cannot be depended
on for the manufacture of dies in coining. Dr. Thomson examined
some cast-steel furnished him by Mr. Buttray, a steel-maker near
Glasgow. The general result of his trials gave him a composition
which approaches 20 atoms of iron + 1 atom of carbon; and this he
thinks likely to be the constitution of cast-steel, an opinion corrobo-
rated by the fact above stated by Mr. Brande. Mr. Faraday and Mr.
Stodart published in the Phil. Trans.' for 1822 a valuable series of
experiments on alloys of steel, from which it appears that by combining
steel with other metals its quality is improved. A very minute addi-
tion was found sufficient to produce a good effect: thus one 500th of
silver gave an alloy harder than cast-steel; one 100th of nickel gave
a very hard alloy, susceptible of a fine polish; alloys of rhodium and
platinum were also formed; and these, with the alloys of iridium,
osmium, and palladium, formed the most valuable compounds.
Mr. Binks, in a paper read before the Society of Arts in 1857, on the
nature and properties of steel, described the experiments which had
led him to the following conolusions: That the substances whose appli-
cation to pure iron convert it into steel, all contain carbon and nitro-
gen; or that nitrogen has access to the air during the process. That
carbon alone added or applied to pure iron, does not produce steel; and
that neither does nitrogen alone produce it. That it is essential for
both carbon and nitrogen to be present. That both exist substantially
in steel after its conversion. That such presence is the real cause of
the distinctive physical properties of steel from those of iron. That
presumptively, though not demonstratively, the form of combination is
that of a triple alloy of iron, carbon, and nitrogen.
It has for many years been believed in England, that Swedish iron
derives some of its valuable steel-making properties from the presence
of a small quantity of manganese; hence the question-might not
manganese be profitably added to English iron? Mr. Heath took up the
subject, spent a fortune upon it, greatly enriched Sheffield, and died
broken-hearted. In 1839 he devised a mode of combining carbon with
manganese, to produce a carburet, which converted English iron into
very good steel. The manganese appeared to him to act as a sort of
detergent, taking away certain impurities from the iron. Unfortunately
for his interests, he improved the process; he put into the furnace the
elements of the carburet (carbon and manganese) instead of the carbu-
ret itself, thereby lessening the expense. He neglected to obtain a
second patent for this improvement; the Sheffield manufacturers saw
the flaw, made the new steel without paying him any royalty and
defied him. The suit of Heath v. Unwin, carried on for eleven years,
in all the various forms known to English law and equity, ruined Mr.
Heath, who died in 1850. His widow succeeded in obtaining a small
interest arising out of the patent, but quite disproportionate to the
importance of the invention. Mr. Webster has stated that, between
1839 and 1855, buyers of Sheffield cast-steel goods benefited to the
extent of two millions sterling by the lowering of prices due to Mr.
Heath's process.
Steel is of a lighter gray than iron. It is susceptible of receiving a
very high polish, and this is greater as the grain is finer. When steel
is hardened its volume is increased. When heated to redness, and
slowly cooled, it is scarcely harder than iron; but by very rapid cooling
it becomes hard, and so brittle as to be readily broken. The fracture
is usually fine grained. In ductility and malleability it is much infe-
rior to iron, but exceeds it greatly in elasticity and sonorousness. It
may be subjected to a full red heat, or 2786° Fahr., without melting,
and is therefore less fusible than cast-iron, but much more so than
wrought-iron. Pieces of steel which have not been cast may be readily
welded together or with iron; but after casting, the operation is more
difficult. In order to give to steel the different degrees of hardness
required for various purposes to which it is applied, it is subjected to
the process of lempering. The higher the temperature to which it is
raised, and the more sudden the cooling, the greater is the hardness.
Thus when immersed in mercury the hardness is greatest, on account
of the good conducting power of the metal, and its consequent ready
abstraction of heat. After this comes acidulated water, salt water,
common water, and lastly oily or fatty bodies. It is found that,
according to the degree to which steel is tempered, it assumes various
colours, and formerly these colours served as guides to the workman;
now, however, a thermometer, with a bath of mercury or of oil, is
employed, and the operation is performed with a much greater degree
of certainty. Into this bath the articles to be tempered are put, with
the bulb of the thermometer graduated up to the boiling-point of
mercury. The tempering heat varies from 430° Fahr. (for lancets) to
600° (for pit saws).
Puddled and Bessemer Steel.-Arising out of the inquiries concerning
the relations between iron and steel, several new modes of making steel
have recently been introduced or proposed. Hitherto, most English
steel has been made by the converting process, already described; but
on the Continent it is more usual to adopt what is called the raw
method, puddling the metal in a charcoal furnace. The English
method raises the amount of carbon in or with bar-iron up to about
1 per cent.; the Continental method lowers the amount of carbon in or
with pig-iron from 4 to 1 per cent. Riepe's method, patented in
1850, and worked some time by the Low Moor Iron Company and the
Mersey Steel Company, is for making a kind of steely iron by the
puddling process, good enough for most common purposes-hard and
unyielding, or soft and silky, according to the extent to which the
process is carried. To produce this steel, pig-iron is thrown into a
puddling-furnace [FURNACE; IRON MANUFACTURE], together with a
little iron slag, salt, clay, and oxide of manganese; the molten metal is
worked or puddled beneath the scum, and is worked up into balls or
blooms at a certain stage. Captain Uchatius, engineer of the Imperial
Arsenal at Vienna, has devised a method of making steel in which (as he
thinks) English iron would suit as well as Swedish or Russian. He brings
the iron to a granular state, by running it from a furnace into agitated
cold water.
|
These grains are mixed with some cheap oxygen-yielding
material, such as spathose iron-ore, put into a crucible, and melted
in a cast-steel furnace. The pig-iron gives up some of its carbon and
its earthy impurities to the oxygen, and becomes steel. The smaller
the granules, the softer the steel. Uchatius produces 25 lbs. of steel
from 24 lbs. of granulated iron, 4 lbs. of spathiose ore, 4 lbs. of oxide
of manganese, and a little clay. Sir F. Knowles has introduced a
method in which a retort instead of a crucible is used; while the crude
iron is mixed with hot gases rich in carbon. The processes of Uchatius
and Knowles seem better adapted for the laboratory than for large
manufacturing operations. Other modes of producing steel directly
from the crude iron have been introduced, with varying success, by
Clay, Saunderson, Plant, Nasmyth, Mortier, and others.
But of all the novelties connected with the steel manufacture, those
by Mr. Bessemer have attracted the most notice within the last few
years. He has taken out five or six patents on the subject. In his
hands the difference between iron and steel is simply one of degree, for
it is not easy to say where Bessemer iron ends and Bessemer steel
begins. It was at the Cheltenham meeting of the British Association,
in 1856, that the process first attracted attention. Mr. Bessemer con-
ceived that pig-iron might be converted into malleable iron, and then
into steel, without any additional consumption of fuel. Pig-iron
contains more carbon than the others; and if oxygen could be made to
burn a portion of this away, the object would be accomplished. How,
then, to expose molten pig-iron to the action of oxygen? He decided
that a blast would best effect this. He formed a fire-brick furnace of
small size, with tuyère holes near the bottom, and two larger holes
half-way up. Molten pig-iron flowed at once from a blast-furnace to
this small furnace or cylinder, and a blast was driven into the cylinder.
A violent commotion ensued, and an intense heat resulted from the
combination of the oxygen in the blast with the carbon in the molten
mass. Volumes of flame and a few sparks were produced, and then a
}
823
STEELYARD.
sort of eruption of slag. Flames again appeared; for some of the
oxygen formed an oxide with some of the iron, and acted as a kind of
solvent for sulphur and earthy matters. The pig-iron lost about
12 per cent. of its weight during this process. The rich slag thrown
out might be afterwards treated with carbon gases, and made to yield
more iron.
When the flames and sparks had subsided, a plugged
hole was opened, and the metal poured into an ingot-mould, without
leaving any cinder or oxide. The process took little more than half an
hour, and no fuel was used. While in the cylinder, the metal was not
a mere pasty mass, it was a boiling fiery fluid. At a certain stage, the
At a certain stage, the
iron became crude steel. By continuing the boil, more carbon was
driven out, and purer steel resulted. In short, any medium between
the softest iron and the hardest steel might be produced by varying
the duration of the process. One kind, called by Mr. Bessemer semi-
steel, is more elastic, harder, and stronger than bar-iron, but not so
hard and fine as steel; it is useful for light and strong purposes; it is
more difficult to roll than iron, but is stronger and more durable, and
is therefore considered to be cheaper in the end.
In the three years next following this announcement of Mr. Bessemer's
invention, the comments took the whole range between the highest
praise and the most marked disapproval. The inventor and his friends
claimed for the novelty a diminution of labour, time, and cost; the
production of a metal more homogeneous than by the common method;
no residue of wasteful slag; and the power of producing ingots of any
weight from one to seven or more cwts. The Llanelly Tin-Plate Works
supplied Mr. Bessemer with some pig-iron such as they used for producing
the best sheet-iron: he converted it into a soft ingot, which was wrought
at a white heat into a slab by the force of a steam-hammer, and then
rolled into very good sheet-iron for tin-plate. Mr. Adams stated that
an amateur might easily make a bit of steel, by melting 4 ozs. of cast-
iron in a crucible, pouring it into the bowl of a large tobacco-pipe, and
using the stem as a blow-pipe. On the other hand, most of the manu-
facturers found fault with the Bessemer process. Some of them said
that, although the process removes the carbon and silicon more com-
pletely than the ordinary method, and the sulphur about as well, it
leaves the phosphorus untouched, which they regarded as a fatal blot.
Others made trial of the process, and declared the iron or steel
produced to be bad.
In 1859, after patenting several modifica-
tions of his plan, Mr. Bessemer described his process, in a some-
what altered form, before the Institute of Civil Engineers. He had
been endeavouring to get rid more completely of the sulphur and
phosphorus. He used Swedish iron instead of English for the best
steel, poured the molten metal into cold water instead of into a large
mould, re-melted it, and finally poured it into small moulds. Other
changes had been made in the apparatus and the process. Some of
the ingots exhibited possessed wonderful tensile power. A bar 3 inches
square was bent round until the outer curve was lengthened from 12
to 162 inches, and the inner lessened from 12 to 7 inches, cold, and
without a flaw. Four iron rods, 1 inches diameter, were twisted cold
into a cable; the rods stretched one foot in four during the process, and
thinned out in inverse proportion. A steel bar, 2 inches square, was
twisted cold into a spiral at an angle of 45°. A round steel bar was
hammered cold into the form of a horse-shoe.
At the present time, the Bessemer process is under probation.
Works have been erected at Sheffield to put it in operation; and
similar establishments have been founded in several Continental states.
By this means the system will obtain that which alone can determine
its value-a fair trial on a large scale. Persons of moderate views
believe that the semi-steel will become useful for railway purposes, as
being harder than bar-iron, and for marine engine-work, because it is
lighter than iron for equal strength. How far fine steel can be profit-
ably produced, without the converting process, is still a disputed
point.
In 1853, Sheffield had 160 steel-converting furnaces, and 1495 cast-
steel "holes"-about 16 holes to a casting-furnace. Of the 20,000 to
40,000 tons of Swedish iron annually imported, nearly all goes to
Sheffield to be converted into steel. Including Russian and English
iron, it is supposed that about 50,000 tons are annually made into steel,
of which 30,000 tons are cast-steel. The value of this quantity is
roundly estimated at about 1,500,000l. yearly.
STEELYARD, MERCHANTS OF THE.
824
the League, and the whole of the German merchants resident in London
probably belonging to one or other of the Hanse towns. At least, after
1475, they had but one factory in London, which was the Steel-yard,
or Steel-house, as it was sometimes called, situate a little east of
Dowgate, between Thames Street and the river. The Thames-street
front was fortified with three portcullised gateways; and the whole
was inclosed by strong walls, within which, more than once, and
especially on the irruption of Wat Tyler's mob in 1381, the Hanse
merchants saved themselves, while the Flemings and other foreigners
fell victims to the national prejudice. In the interior was the great
hall, adorned with pictures by Hans Holbein, in which the corporation
held their councils and partook of their feasts. On the west side of
the hall was a garden, adorned with vines and rare fruit trees. The
Thames front was a quay, with all the conveniences then known for
embarking or disembarking goods. The remainder of the area was
occupied by lofty warehouses and streets of booths for the reception
and display of the necessaries and luxuries imported from the north,
south, and east,-fine cloths, wines, silks, dried fruits, spices, with
hemp, tallow, furs, salt-fish, and iron. Strict order was preserved in
the building, whose gates were shut at nine in the evening; and to the
corporation was entrusted the care and repair of Billingsgate; every
master being under an obligation to provide harness for war, the same
as a native. The old building was destroyed in the fire of London in
1666. That which succeeded differed little from the other erections in
its neighbourhood. The Steelyard was in the parish of Allhallows,
at which church the members attended, and which they embellished
with painted windows. After the fire of London, on the rebuilding of
the church, they contributed the carved oak screen which still sepa-
rates the choir from the nave. In 1673, the inconvenience of attend-
ing a service in a foreign language induced them to petition for one of
the abandoned churches, and that in Little Trinity Lane was granted
to them, which has thenceforward been used by the German residents
in London for divine service in their own tongue. In 1475, Edw. IV.
entered into a treaty with the Hanseatic League, by which the privi-
leges of the London factory were placed on a more secure foundation,
instead of being granted only for a short period, and being at times
curtailed, and even occasionally suspended. By way of settling former
disputes, it was thought worth while to pay them 10,000l., or rather to
remit customs duties on their goods to that amount. The king was to
appoint two or more judges to act without the ordinary legal formalities
in all civil and criminal cases between the Hanse merchants and English;
and similar regulations were to be adopted in reference to English sub-
jects residing at the Hanse towns. The fee simple of the Steelyard
was conveyed by this treaty; also the Steelyard at Boston, and a house
at Lynn. Under this treaty and their old charters, the Hanse merchants
of the Steelyard were enabled to monopolise certain branches of trade,
in which they were exempted from duties payable by other traders;
and by their combination and capital, they were doubtless formidable
competitors in other branches of foreign trade; but though the activity
of foreigners might be tolerated while native capital was wanting, yet a
trade from which English merchants were virtually excluded could not
possibly be permanent. The industry and energy of the English trader
made him a formidable competitor. He not only, in spite of the
troubles of the wars of the Roses, exerted himself to supply domestic
wants, but he actually, as is noticed above, had pushed himself into
the traffic of the Baltic. In addition, the requirements of commerce
had introduced the use of larger vessels; which could not well be
adopted by the Hanse merchants, as they could not come above
London Bridge. All things were working against the interests of the
Steelyard.
In 1505 a rival interest was created, by a charter granted to the
Company of Merchant Adventurers for trading in woollen cloth to the
Netherlands. The merchants of the Steelyard were bound in heavy
penalties not to interfere with the trade of this new incorporation,
which soon became a powerful rival, not only to the German merchants,
but to the merchants of the staple. In 1551, various allegations of the
Merchant Adventurers, with the counter-statements of the merchants
of the Steelyard, were put into the hands of the solicitor-general and
the recorder of London, upon whose report the council-came to a reso-
lution that the Steelyard merchants had forfeited their privileges, their
charters being contrary to the laws of the realm. The council reported
that no particular persons or towns being mentioned in these charters,
the corporation had extended their privileges to whomsoever they
pleased; that English subjects had not enjoyed reciprocity of privileges
in the Hanseatic towns; that their English trade was no longer confined
to the Hanse towns; that they had engrossed almost the entire trade
carried on by foreigners in the kingdom; lastly, that they had reduced
the price of wool, and also of corn by their importations of foreign
grain. The articles which they imported, besides grain, are stated to
have been cordage and other naval stores, flax and hemp, linen, cloth,
and steel. The English Merchant Adventurers flourished on the ruin
of the older incorporation, which however continued to linger until
1597, when the Emperor Rudolph having ordered the factories of the
English Merchant Adventurers in Germany to be shut up, Queen
Elizabeth directed the Lord Mayor of London to close the house occupied
by the merchants of the Steelyard. The buildings and site of the
Steelyard, however, remained in possession of the towns of Hamburg,
Bremen, and Lübeck, as representatives of the old Hanse corporation,
STEELYARD. [WEIGHING MACHINE.]
STEELYARD, MERCHANTS OF THE, a body of aliens who
enjoyed various commercial privileges in England from an early period
to the middle of the 16th century. "The emperor's men," mentioned
in some ordinances of Ethelred II. (A.D. 978-1016) as trading to England,
were the predecessors of the merchants of the Teutonic Guild. In 1220
the merchants of Cologne had a hall or factory in London, for the legal
possession of which they made an acknowledgment to the king. "It
seems that this Gildhall, by the association of the merchants of other cities
with those of Cologne, became in time the general factory and residence
of all the German merchants in London, and was the same that was
afterwards known by the name of the German Gildhall (" Gildhalla |
Teutonicorum"). (Macpherson, Annals of Commerce,' i. 383.) In
1235, Henry III. gave them permission to attend fairs in any part of
England, and also to buy and sell in London, saving the liberties of
the city; and they were exempted from several customs and payments.
In the 15th century we find the Hanse merchants engrossing the privi-
leges of the above ancient incorporation, Cologne being a member of
825
826
STEERING APPARATUS.
STENOGRAPHY.
till 1853, when, having no use for them, they sold the property, for
which it is said they obtained 72,000l.
improvements in it, and is said to have been likewise the first person
who applied it to the purpose of taking down public speeches. Euse-
(Strype's Eccles. Mem., iii. 77; Anderson's Commerce; Macpherson's bius attributes the invention to Tiro. The oration of Cato relative to
Commerce; Dr. Reinhold Pauli's Bilder aus alt England, which con- the Catilinarian conspiracy was preserved by means of shorthand.
tains an essay on the Steelyard.)
The art was subsequently improved, and stenography became a fashion-
STEERING APPARATUS. Various contrivances have been madeable accomplishment with the Romans. There is extant a work on the
of late years, some of great ingenuity, to remedy the inconveniences shorthand (note of the Romans) attributed to Tiro and Seneca, and
of the steering wheel so long in use. Larger vessels requiring more printed in Gruter's Collection of Inscriptions.' Most of the writers of
powerful apparatus for moving the rudder, many patented inventions that age allude to the stenographic art in their works. Horace points
have appeared which have introduced the use of cogs and screws; but out its brevity; and Ovid mentions its advantages in point of secresy.
no one has yet succeeded in effecting such results as would warrant its It is also commended by Ausonius, Martial, Manilius, and others.
general adoption. One, however, that by which the steering-wheel is [NOTARY.] The Roman shorthand was very different from our own:
situated in the fore part of the vessel, its motion being communicated the abbreviations, in general, appear to have resembled those adopted
to the rudder by ropes, chains, or rods, was used by Symington in his in ordinary writing, and which frequently occur in ancient manu-
tug-boat upon the Forth and Clyde Canal, about 1802; but whether its scripts, as well as in early editions of Latin works. A very large
subsequent adoption in North America is in any degree to be attributed collection of manuscript abbreviations is printed at the end of Göschen's
to that circumstance, we are not aware. The peculiar arrangement of edition of Gaius; and specimens of ancient Roman stenography are
the river steamers of America, which have the engines and some of the given in Lewis's Historical Account of Shorthand.' Some passages in
cabins on deck, combined with their great length, renders it impossible the Roman writers, which have been supposed to refer to shorthand,
for the steersman, if in the situation usual in the steam-vessels of this appear to refer to writing in cipher,
country, to see his course; and, therefore, he is usually elevated on a
platform near the bow.
STELE, the name of any upright column, or tablet, on which were
engraved decrees, funereal and other inscriptions, sometimes decorated
with subjects in relief. The Egyptian steles, called hutu, placed
in the tombs, have, during the 6th and 12th dynasties, scenes of family
worship; but under the 18th and subsequent dynasties adorations to
deities are represented at all periods they have hieroglyphical
inscriptions, dedications to sepulchral deities entreating certain benefits
for the deceased, and other religious formulæ, or even family registers.
Some are dated in the reign of the king under whom the deceased
died. Other steles, dedications of temples, or invocations to deities on
behalf of different monarchs, were placed in the adyta of temples.
Granite, basalt, and calcareous stone were chiefly used. The Assyrian
steles have generally a bas-relief of the monarch by whom erected, and
a long account of his conquests, in cuneiform characters. The Greek
sepulchral steles are often ornamented with figures of various deities
to whom they were dedicated, scenes of family repasts, or last adieus,
representations of the deceased, or floral and architectural ornaments,
and inscriptions commemorative of the deceased. Public acts, treaties,
and religious dedications, were often registered on steles. They are
generally made of white, although occasionally of coloured, marbles.
Some Carthaginian steles have dedications to Baal Hammon and Tanath,
and representations of this goddess. (Layard's Nineveh; Stackelberg,
Die Gräber der Hellenen; Hincks, On the Egyptian Stele.)
STELLIONATE, a word derived from stellio, the name of an animal
of the lizard kind, mentioned by Pliny ('Hist. Nat.', 1. 3, c. 10), and by
Virgil ( 4 Geor.', 243), is a term used in the Roman law to denote all
such crimes, in which fraud is an ingredient, as have no special names
to distinguish them, and are not defined by any written law. In
general, wherever a civil action might be brought on the ground of
fraud, there might be a criminal prosecution for stellionate. The term
however is chiefly applied to cases where a person sells, exchanges, or
transfers to one, property with respect to which he has already entered
into a contract with another. It is also applied to cases of pledging
another man's property, substituting base for precious metals, dealing
in counterfeit or adulterated goods, and generally to the practice of
any species of imposture. The punishment of stellionate was of
necessity discretionary. Where the criminal was a person of distinc-
tion, the ordinary punishment appears to have been temporary
banishment and degradation from his rank; and where he belonged to
the lower orders, it seems to have been competent to inflict any
punishment short of condemnation to work in the mines. (Dig.', 47,
tit. 20; Hellfeld, Jurispr. For.', s. 2067.) The term stellionate is
used in the law of Scotland in nearly the same sense as in the Roman
law. (Ersk., Inst.', 4, tit. 4, s. 79.)
STENCILLING is a mode of transferring a coloured pattern or
design to the surface of cloth, paper, or other material. The pattern
is cut through a stencil plate, usually a piece of sheet metal; and liquid
or pasty colour is brushed over the plate, in such a way as to pass
through the perforations, but not to reach those parts of the paper or
cloth on which the uncut portions of the plate rest. Examples of the
process will be found noticed under CARD-MAKING and PAPER-
HANGINGS.
STENOGRAPHY, or the art of short-writing, is a term com-
pounded of two Greek words, σTevós, contracted, and ypapew, to write.
The invention of stenography among the Greeks is generally assigned
to Xenophon the historian; but it is said that the art was first practised
by Pythagoras, and that the poet Ennius was the first who adopted a
system of short writing by which a person was enabled to follow a
speaker. It is said, though upon no very certain testimony, that he
commenced by employing eleven hundred marks of his own invention,
and increased the number as circumstances required.
There are also writers who ascribe the invention of the art to
Cicero; and it was certainly practised by him on account both of its
brevity and secresy. He reminds (Ad. Att.,' xiii. 32) his friend
Atticus that he wrote (did onμelwr) by signs. The art was com-
(διὰ σημείων)
municated by Cicero to Tiro, his freedman, who made considerable
<
The first English treatise on Stenography was published in 1588, by
Dr. Timothy Bright, and dedicated to Queen Elizabeth. It was en-
titled 'Characterie, or the Art of Short, Swift, and Secret Writing;'
and consisted exclusively of arbitrary characters, each of which repre-
sented a word. Two years afterwards appeared 'The Writing School-
master,' in three parts, by Peter Bale. The system of Bale, like that
of his predecessor Bright, was formed of arbitrary characters, instead
of a combination of elementary marks or signs. Both systems were
exceedingly crude, and difficult of attainment; requiring, as they did,
for their practical application, a remarkable tenacity of memory; but
they displayed great ingenuity as first attempts. The earliest effort to
form a regular shorthand alphabet appears to have been made by John
Willis, who in 1602 published 'The Art of Stenographie, or Short
Writing, by Spelling Characterie.' The work went through numerous
editions. The alphabet was formed of the most difficult and complex
characters, which were ill adapted for joining, their formation con-
suming treble the time required for forming the characters in any of
the modern systems of moderate celebrity. Willis was followed by a
host of imitators, none of whom, however, effected any material
improvement. In 1618 appeared a treatise upon Stenography by
Edmond Willis, which was followed in 1630 by that of Witt; in 1633
by that of Dix; and by a great number of others at short intervals.
That of Rich, published in 1654, was praised by Locke. In 1753 was
published the system of Mr. Thomas Gurney, which has since been so
very extensively practised by various members of his family and others,
in the houses of parliament, the courts of law, &c.
Among the more recent systems, that of Dr. Byrom deservedly
occupies a very prominent position. He succeeded in forming an
alphabet at once simple, precise, and practicable, as well as in rendering
the general details of his theory exceedingly clear and intelligible.
His system was incomparably superior to any which had preceded it.
Although the treatise was completed by the year 1720, it was not
published till 1767, after the death of the author, who, as he depended
for support principally upon private tuition, obtained an act of par-
liament for the security of his invention. The doctor, in 1749, printed
fifty copies of his work for the use of his particular friends. Since its
publication it has been edited by several persons. Mr. Thomas Moli-
neux, of Macclesfield, published an edition which he entitled 'An
Introduction to Mr. Byrom's Universal English Shorthand,' which was
popular for many years; and some years later, Mr. William Gawtress,
of Leeds, published a 'Practical Introduction to Shorthand' upon the
general principles of Byrom, which is one of the cheapest and most
useful manuals of shorthand which ever appeared.
The system next deserving of notice is that of Taylor, which made
its appearance in 1786, and is entitled 'An Essay intended to establish
a standard for a universal System of Stenography or Shorthand
Writing.' This author's system is superior to that of Byrom in several
particulars; but principally in a greater brevity and simplicity of the
alphabet, and the facility with which the various characters may be
joined to each other; all points of the utmost value and importance.
Some useful practical improvements upon Taylor's system have been
made in Mr. Harding's treatise on the art. Dr. Mavor's system, though
it obtained considerable popularity, is inferior to that of Taylor, on
account of his alphabet requiring a greater number of strokes of the
pen, and the characters being more difficult of junction. Since the
publication of Dr. Mavor's treatise, many others of various degrees of
excellence have been published, but it is needless to enumerate them;
those who desire further information as to the history of the art will
find much valuable matter in Mr. Lewis's Historical Account of
Shorthand.' The alphabets on the next page will in some measure
illustrate a portion of the foregoing remarks as to the improvements
which have from time to time taken place.
To shorthand writers we owe full reports of the proceedings of par-
liament, of public meetings, and of the courts of law. The newspaper
press has indeed given a powerful stimulus to the cultivation of the
art, by affording a respectable livelihood to a numerous body of in-
dividuals. In addition to what it has done for the daily and weekly
press in particular, shorthand is used for taking down sermons, scientific
1
627
STENOGRAPHY.
il
STEREOGRAPHIC.
826
lectures, &c.
By students of divinity, medicine, law, or others, who scientific or other subjects, shorthand may be studied with great
may wish to preserve the whole or parts of discourses or lectures on advantage. The art, however, is not to be acquired without the
a b c d e f g
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E. Willis, 1618.
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Gurney,. 1753.
Byrom,. 1767.
Taylor,*. 1786.
Mavor, 1789.
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We shall now give a brief summary of the principles of stenography,
according to the system of Taylor, as improved by Harding.
C.
C
PONI
650
diligent application of many months, and it also requires considerable | writer may readily, and with much benefit to himself, increase the
manual dexterity, though worthless treatises and travelling teachers of number of these marks as occasion may require. For instance, the in-
stenography occasionally assert the contrary.
dividual who acquires the art of writing shorthand for the purpose of
its practical application in a court of law, may readily assign arbitrary
marks for such technical terms or lengthy words as are of most
frequent recurrence. In the same manner the student of medicine or
divinity may also form such characters to suit his own peculiar
pursuit; and those persons who practise shorthand for a variety of
purposes may in like manner adapt them to the several subjects on
which they may have occasion to take notes. The great capabilities of
arbitrary characters in these respects have not, we believe, been
pointed out as they might have been, either by Mr. Harding or any
other author into whose system we have looked.
Of the Alphabet.-The vowels are represented by points, a period
standing for a, e, and i, and a comma for o and u. The single con-
sonants of the shorthand alphabet amount only to sixteen, c and z
being rejected as unnecessary, the former having both a hard and a
soft sound, similar to k and s, as in the words "command" and "sen-
tence;" s is therefore always substituted for c, where the letter has a
soft sound, and k where it has a hard sound: ƒ and v, being similar in
sound, are both represented by the same character. For the same
reason, g and j are represented by one character, as are also k and q.
Characters are also assigned to double consonants, such as ch, sh, and
th. These double consonants conduce to both perspicuity and ex-
pedition. The vowels are distinguished from each other by their
position. For instance, should the period be placed over the top of
a consonant, it signifies a; if placed against the side, or opposite the
centre of the consonant, it becomes e; if placed at the bottom i. The
personal pronoun I is represented by a mark similar to the top part of
à note of admiration. The comma is o when placed in the same
situation as the dot or period for a, and u when in the same situation
as the dot for e. Where vowels have been generally omitted, either
through the haste of transcribing remarks on any subject, or for
expedition in following a speaker, they ought, where such a course is
rendered necessary, to be supplied immediately afterwards, while the
subject written is fresh in the recollection of the writer. In all words
which have neither incipient, terminative, nor long vowels, no middle
vowel should be expressed unless some peculiarity may render it
expedient or necessary to deviate from this general rule. A word of
more than one syllable, having a long vowel in it, must generally have
that vowel expressed, because the long vowel being found in that
syllable which is most distinctly heard in pronunciation, affords the
greatest help in reading; at the same time, however, when a word of
more than one syllable consists of several consonants, even the long
vowel may be frequently omitted. The various characters of the
alphabet represent, when placed by themselves, a number of small |
words. For example, the a or an is written by dot; the and also and by
a comma, the former being written above the line, and the latter below.
The consonant b represents the word be, by, been; d, do, did, done; f,
off, of, if; g, God, give, go, good; h, have, he; k, know, known; 1, Lord,
all, will, and so on throughout the alphabet. For the attainment of
practical proficiency in the art, it is necessary that the alphabet should
be acquired so perfectly as to be written correctly four times in a
minute. It is necessary also in this place to explain that d and,
which in the alphabet appear to be precisely the same in form, are
distinguished by the former, when joined to another consonant, being
written downwards, and the latter upwards.
7-
Of the mode of Spelling.-The great aim of shorthand being to
represent words by the fewest simple characters possible, all letters
which are not distinctly sounded in any word must be omitted, except
in cases where their retention may seem necessary. If words are
written as they are pronounced, every silent letter will of course be
omitted. In following a speaker, however, it is necessary that all
vowels should be omitted, or otherwise it will be impossible to take
more than the substance of his remarks. Where, however, proper
names occur, they should either have the vowels inserted or be written
in longhand: the latter method is most advantageous, as the names,
when so written, serve as rallying-points to the eye in deciphering
shorthand notes. Where the vowels are omitted in general writing,
the rule is to write such of the consonants as are sounded in the pro-
nunciation of any word.
Of Miscellaneous Modes of Abbreviation. As in following a speaker
all the vowels require to be omitted, and the consonants only written,
so all the small words in a sentence are likewise left out. In some
cases, however, where the speaker is deliberate and the writer is expert,
nearly all the words may be expressed. In the abridgement of sen-
tences of course the writer is guided by his own judgment and the
necessities of the case. The different tenses and moods of the verbs
are generally expressed in the English language by the help of other
verbs, as shall, have, had, can, could, may, must, be, &c. These being
written by their first consonant, may be joined together; but a point
should be inserted over the characters, to signify that they are the first
letters of words in the sentence. The radical part of a word too may
often be sufficient to denote the whole word, as exp. for expenses, pos.
for possible, and so forth. A mode of contraction much used in
common writing is to express the first and last consonants of a word,
inserting a dash in the middle to show that it is deficient. This plan
may be adopted in shorthand writing, or the common letters may be
occasionally used. If the characters cannot be distinguished by the
plan first pointed out, the termination may be written under the first
consonant. The usual abbreviations in longhand can be adopted in short-
hand. If a part of a sentence is to be repeated, a line may be drawn
under it, and a caret placed where the repetition should be read.
As our object is not to supply a manual by which the art of short-
hand may be acquired, but rather to afford some information concern-
ing its leading principles, we have omitted explanations of minor
importance.
STEPPES. [PLAINS.]
Of Prepositions and Terminations.-Prepositions and terminations
are the letters or signs by which the first and last syllables of words
are represented. The whole of the single and double consonants of
the alphabet are employed in denoting the beginnings or endings of
words; in which situations the letters are not joined to the other part
of the word, but placed so close as to show their connection and STEREOGRAPHIC. This word, which is derived from σrePEÓS,
prevent their being mistaken for separate and independent words."solid," and ypápew, "to draw," and which therefore ought to be
The letter b represents the prepositions abs, obs, &c.; and the termina- applied to every method of representing a solid in a plane, has never-
tions ble, ible, bly; the letter d, the prepositions de and des, and the theless a limited technical sense, being applied to that projection of a
terminations dom, end, ened, &c.; the letter f, the preposition for sphere in which the eye is at a point in the sphere, and the plane of
and the termination ful; and the other alphabetical characters are projection is the great circle of which the eye is at the pole, or a plane
appropriated in a similar manner. Besides the consonants several parallel to it. This mode of projection was known to Hipparchus, and
arbitrary marks are also used to denote the endings of words. In was first described in the work on the planisphere attributed to
many cases a preposition and a termination together are all that are Ptolemy.
necessary to represent a word.
Of Arbitraries.—In the system of Taylor very few arbitraries are
employed. They do not exceed twenty in number and may generally
be employed with advantage, which is more than can be said of the
arbitraries of several other systems. The experienced shorthand
As improved by Harding in the positions of the vowels.
The stereographic projection has two remarkable properties. The
first is, that all circles are projected either into straight lines or circles.
Those which pass through the eye are of course projected into straight
lines; in every other case the projection is the SUBCONTRARY section
of a cone, which has its vertex at the eye, and the circle to be projected
for its base; consequently the projection is a circle. As much of the
circle as lies below the plane of projection (the eye being considered as
829
830
STEREOSCOPE.
STEREOSCOPE.
above it) is projected inside the great circle on which projection is
made; and all the rest outside: when this projection is employed in
maps, it is usual to place all the part of the globe to be projected
below the plane of projection.
The second property is, that the angle made by two circles which
meet on the globe, is equal to the angle made, at the point of meeting,
by the two circles which are the projections of those circles, the angle
made by two intersecting circles being always that made by their
tangents. This property is easily proved as follows: Draw through
the point of intersection of the two circles (A and B) which are to be
projected, two other circles (A' and B'), which have the same tangents,
and pass through the eye. Then the tangents of A' and B' at the eye
make the same angle as those at the other point of intersection;
that is, as the tangents of A and B at the point to be projected. But
these tangents of A' and B' at the eye are parallel to the projections
of the tangents of A and B at the point to be projected: whence the
projections of these tangents of A and B make the same angle as the
tangents themselves.
The first property was known to Hipparchus and Ptolemy: the
history of the second is rather curious. The first writer who seems to
have looked attentively for a discoverer was Delambre (Mém. Inst.',
vol. v., p. 393), who could not find it in Clavius, Stoffler, nor in any of
the writers of the middle ages, who have treated pretty voluminously
on the astrolabe, which word, as used by them, merely meant a stereo-
graphic projection. That it was mentioned (without demonstration)
in the French Mathematical Dictionary of Savérien (1753), in an
article which was copied word for word into the Encyclopédie,' was
all that Delambre could then say of its origin. He afterwards, in
writing his History of Astronomy in the Middle Ages,' found the
proposition demonstrated in the 'Compleat System of Astronomy,' by
Charles Leadbetter, London, 1728; but, judging from the rest of the
work, he presumes that Leadbetter could not have been the discoverer.
No claim was, however, at the time put in for any one else, and
Savérien's article, which appeared in the Encyclopédie,' first called
general attention to the property, and this can be traced to Lead-
better's work nearly. For we find that Savérien translated his article,
word for word, from the second edition (1743) of Stone's Mathematical
Dictionary.' Stone was a contemporary of Leadbetter, and several
times refers to his writings.
On consulting the third edition of Dr. Harris's 'Lexicon Technicum'
(1716), and feeling sure, with regard to that work, that such a
proposition as the one called Leadbetter's would be stated, if it were
then known, we turned to the article Spherick Geometry,' and there
we found it, with a demonstration, enunciated as follows:-"All
Angles made by Circles on the Superficies of the Sphere are equal to
those made by their Representatives on the Plane of the Projection."
The claim of Leadbetter is therefore overthrown. In the preface,
Harris says that under (among others) 'Spherical Geometry' will be
found entire treatises, which, if he mistakes not, are as short and plain
as any extant. If this proposition had been new, he would probably
have noted it here, particularly if it had been his own. We find how-
ever, finally, that the property has been shown (Encyc. Brit.', 'Pro-
jection') to have been demonstrated by Halley in No. 219 of the
'Philosophical Transactions,' and is attributed by him to De Moivre or
Hook.
The consequence of this theorem is, that any small portion of
the sphere is projected into a figure very nearly similar to itself, so
that any not very large portion of the earth preserves its figure with
tolerable accuracy in the map. Hence some writers have said that
there is no distortion in the stereographic projection, which is not
absolutely true, though nearly so of countries which bear no greater
proportion to the whole earth than most of them.
The mode of laying down the stereographic projection is briefly
stated, and a diagram given, in the article MAP; it will be found at
greater length in the memoir of Delambre above cited, or in any good.
work on the construction of maps.
σKOTÉW,
STEREOSCOPE, from σTepeós (solid), and σkоTÓя (а view, ог σкоTéw,
to view), an instrument by which two pictures of any object, taken
from different points of view, are seen as a single picture of that object,
having the natural appearance of relief or solidity.
The theory of the stereoscope is sufficiently discussed under SIGHT.
The reflecting stereoscope was first described in a paper by Professor
Wheatstone, entitled Contributions to the Physiology of Vision:
Part I. On some Remarkable and hitherto Unobserved Phenomena of
Binocular Vision,' read before the Royal Society, June 21st, 1838, and
printed in the Philosophical Transactions' a few months later. The
refracting stereoscope is described by Sir David Brewster in a paper
'On the Law of Visible Position in Single and Binocular Vision, and
on the Representation of Solid Figures by the Union of Dissimilar
Plane Figures on the Retina,' which he communicated to the Royal
Society of Edinburgh in January, 1843. He further explained and
defended his views in subsequent papers, which, like the former,
appeared in the 'Edinburgh Transactions' of that and following years.
The opinions of Sir David Brewster are further set forth in his work
The Stereoscope' (8vo, 1856); those of Mr. Wheatstone must be
sought in the paper already referred to, and in another which formed
the Bakerian Lecture of the Royal Society for 1852, being 'Part II. of
Contributions to the Physiology of Vision, and on Binocular Vision.'
The dissimilarity of the pictures, as seen by each eye separately, does
not appear to be a modern discovery. It was recognised by Euclid
2000 years ago, and minutely described by Galen. The idea was
revived by Baptista Porta in 1593; also by Leonardo da Vinci; by
Aguilonius, in a work on the vision of solids (1613); by Harris, in
1775; by Dr. Smith, Dr. Porterfield, and others. Thus, as Brewster
remarks, writers in every age knew the two facts that the pictures on
the retina of the two eyes were dissimilar, and that by the union of
these two flat distinct pictures we obtain the vision of solids. But in
order to obtain accurate pictures of objects as seen by each eye, and
the method of uniting them, photography and the binocular camera
were required. The first was already sufficiently advanced, and the
latter was introduced by Brewster; while, in order to view the pictures
with effect, the lenticular stereoscope was contrived. The first instru-
ment of this kind was constructed by the late Andrew Ross for the
inventor, and was exhibited to the British Association in Birmingham
in 1849. It did not, however, attract attention until the French
optician Du Boscq showed his remarkable collection of stereoscopic
views in the Great Exhibition of 1851, after which the demand for the
stereoscope warmed into a passion which has scarcely since cooled
down. The lenticular stereoscope, as described by the inventor,
"consists of a pyramidal box of wood or metal, or any other opaque
material, blackened on the inside, and having a lid for the admission of
light when the pictures are opaque. The box is open below, in order
to let the light pass through the pictures when they are transparent.
Another lid is sometimes added, so as to open externally on the bottom
of the box, for the purpose of exhibiting dissolving views in the stereo-
scope.
scope. The bottom of the box is generally covered with ground-glass,
the surface of which ought to be very fine, or very fine-grained paper
may be used. The top of the box consists of two portions, in one of
which is the right eye-tube, containing a semi-lens, or quarter-lens, and
in the other the left eye-tube, also containing a semi-lens or quarter-
lens. These two portions may be advantageously made to approach or
recede, in order to suit eyes at different distances from one another;
and the tubes containing the lenses should draw out, in order to suit
long- and short-sighted eyes." The two dissimilar pictures (which, for
convenience, are mounted on a thick card, forming the universally,
known "slide") are placed in a groove in the bottom of the box, when,
on looking through the eye-tubes, they are seen united into a single
picture, and the object or objects, if a proper amount of light is
obtained, stand out with an almost magical appearance of relief and
solidity. For opaque slides, a mirror may be used, and made to move
on a hinge, so as to throw light into the instrument. The employment
of photography for the stereographs has wonderfully extended the
range of the instrument.
The quarter- or semi-lens may also be used in the binocular camera.
And here we may state the advantage of dividing the lenses. Whole
lenses were originally used; but as the outer half of each lens is useless,
as the eyes only look through the inner halves; moreover, as it is
impossible to give two lenses precisely the same focal length and
magnifying power, it was found to be more accurate, and even cheaper,
to cut each lens into halves or quarters, and to shape each half or
quarter into a round disc, with the thin part of each turned inwards
in the instrument. In this way a single lens could be made into one
semi-lens or two quarter-lens stereoscopes. It is evident that these
portions, cut from the same lens, must have the same focal length and
magnifying power. It is by means of these semi- or quarter-lenses that
the stereoscopic effect is produced, though they do not themselves pro-
duce that effect. What they accomplish is the transference of the two
dissimilar pictures or stereographs to a middle point. The union of
these two pictures, or their superposition on that middle point,
produces the stereoscopic effect. [SIGHT.] The half- or quarter-lenses
are placed 2 inches apart, corresponding to the distance between the
24
eyes.
Among the various forms of the instrument, we may mention
Smith and Beck's achromatic stereoscope; the reflecting stereoscope;
Claudet's stereomonoscope; and Skaife's pistolograph, consisting of a
combination of lenses of small size (one inch in diameter, and the
focal length of the combination one inch). In this last instrument
the thickness of the glass through which the light passes is small, and
hence the actinic rays are so powerful that a photograph may be taken
almost in an instant, and is not liable to the errors which the use of
large lenses occasions. The small pictures, or pistolograms, as they are
called, may be magnified by an enlarging camera. The small picture
may also be inclosed between two plates of glass, and raised to a ten-
perature sufficient to fuse the three glasses into one, effectually pro-
tecting the picture from the presence of the air, and forming what is
called a chromo-crystal.
From what has been said, it will be gathered that the truthfulness
of the stereoscopic picture must depend mainly on the character of the
dissimilar pictures or stereographs. Stereographic portraits are usually
taken with cameras contrived for the purpose. In order to take stereo-
graphs of landscapes, buildings, statuary, &c., the ordinary landscape
camera is employed; the camera being removed, after the first picture
is taken, to a position parallel to that just occupied, and at an equal dis-
tance from the principal object, but more or less distant from the first
position in proportion to the distance from the object to be repre-
sented. The stereoscopic angle, as it is called, has been laid down at 1
831
STEREOTYPING.
in 25 for objects 50 feet or more distant; some have even recom-
mended that the camera should be removed to a distance of 4 feet in
order to take views of an object only 20 feet distance. But the effect
of such an arrangement is obviously to make one picture represent
much more of the right side, the other more of the left side, of an
object falling within the field of vision, than could be seen by a person
standing, say midway, between the two positions. And the two pic-
tures so taken must, when united in the stereoscope, present an exagge-
rated and therefore untrue representation. In fact there will be, what
is so commonly seen in the stereoscope, an unnatural appearance of
separation between the chief object and the accessories. You see
round the figure in fact, just as in life you see round a statuette or
small model; and hence there arises that detached model-like appear-
ance which is often, and very properly, objected to in stereoscopic repre-
sentations. What the stereoscope ought to show is, the representation
of an object or objects in nearly the same relative solidity, relief, and
separation as the reality possesses; and that is what the stereoscope
would exhibit if the stereographs were taken, as they ought to be, and
as the most successful (though not the most popular) are taken, from
positions little, if at all, exceeding that of the eyes apart. The great
importance of strict accuracy in views of countries beyond the reach of
the ordinary traveller, of antiquities, objects of special scientific and
archæological interest, &c., will be at once acknowledged; and the
value of the stereoscope for affording such representations in their
greatest attainable perfection is daily becoming more apparent.
STEREOTYPING. [PRINTING.]
STERLING, a word applied to all lawful money of Great Britain.
In Ruding's work on 'Coinage,' vol. i., p. 13, 4to. edit., the various
supposed derivations of the word are given. Ruding says, "its origin
and derivation are still unsettled;" but he inclines to attribute it to an
abbreviation of Esterlings people of the north-east of Europe, some of
whom were employed in the 12th century in regulating the coinage of
England. But, looking at the facts that sterling meant a penny, not a
species of coinage; that it was used in Germany, and in Scotland
before Eastern coiners were employed in England; that it is spelt
starling by some, as by Spelman, and estellin by some of the French
writers, we reject the derivation above, and agree with Polydore
Vergil and Bishop Nicolson in deriving the name from the little stars,
which were very common on the penny coins. (See the Companion
to the Almanac for 1856.)
STIMULANTS.
832
when the proceedings are closed, breaks his wand, and dissolves the
court; but if the trial take place during the session of parliament,
though a lord steward is appointed, it is not considered as his court, he
having none of the functions of the judge, only voting with the rest as
a peer, although he presides.
STIBDIAMYL. [ORGANOMETALLIC BODIES.]
STIBETHYL. [ORGANOMETALLIC BODIES.]
STIBMETHYL. [ORGANOMETALLIC BODIES.]
STIBTRIAMYL. [ORGANOMETALLIC BODIES.]
STILBENE. (C₂,H12) A crystalline hydrocarbon produced by the
distillation of the hydride of sulphobenzoyl. Thionessale (C5₂H18S2),
another white crystalline body, is also produced at the same time.
STILBESOUS ACID. A product not fully investigated, obtained
by the action of chlorine upon essence of bitter almonds.
STILBIC ACID. [STILBYL.]
28
STILBYL. (C₂,H110). The hypothetical radical of a small group
of organic compounds of which the following are the names and
formulæ :—
Benzoin or hydride of stilbyl
Benzile
Benzilic acid, stilbylic acid, or stilbic acid
Chloride of stilbyl
STILBYLIC ACID. [STILBYL.]
STILL. [DISTILLATION.]
C28H1104
H
C28H100+
C28H1104
0
H
C28 H1104
C1
STILLISTEARIC ACID. A crystalline organic acid obtained by
the saponification of the vegetable fat expressed from the fruit of the
Stillingia sebifera.
STIMULANTS or Excitants (in medicine), agents which increase
vital action, first in the part to which they are applied, then of the
system generally, and perhaps ultimately of some particular organ;
and when this organ is a gland or secreting organ, a renewed or
augmented secretion is observed. The nervous system seems to be
the part which they chiefly influence, and through it the vascular,
and in many cases the muscular. This is well seen in the simple effect
following the employment of ammonia in a fainting fit, where the
application of the vapour of ammonia, or its carbonate (smelling salts)
STERLING'S RULES (or Simpson's Rules). Useful formulæ used to the nostrils, stimulates the brain, and so restores the heart's action,
principally in estimating the "displacement" of a ship when afloat. by which the circulation is resumed, and all parts dependent on it
beat,
They are derived from the equation to the parabola, and have been vivified. Aromatic vinegar, electricity, galvanism, and the sudden
already noticed under SHIP.
application of cold, especially alternated with heat, and chloric ether,
have a like effect.
STERN. [SHIP.]
STERNUTORIES, called also Ptarmics, agents which cause sneezing.
The most familiar are snuffs of different kinds, many of which cause
likewise a flow of the natural secretion from the nose, when they are
termed errhines. [ERRHINES.] Sternutories are chiefly employed to
occasion a violent succussion of the frame, either to restore suspended
respiration, as in some cases of fainting, or to dislodge some foreign
body from the nasal passage or windpipe, or more rarely to cause the
bursting of abscesses in the tonsils. They are also used to avert
impending fits of hysteria or epilepsy, or to terminate prolonged hiccup.
Their use requires caution in individuals disposed to apoplexy or
affected with rupture. They are generally improper for pregnant
women and young children. They occasionally excite too violent and
continued sneezing, which may be controlled by creasote; breathing
'diluted carbonic acid; putting a sinapism round the throat; or
inhaling chloroform.
STETHOSCOPE. [AUSCULTATION.]
STEWARD, LORD HIGH, OF ENGLAND, one of the ancient
great officers of state. Under the Norman kings and the early kings
of the Plantagenet line it seems to have been an hereditary office.
Hugh Grentmesnil held the office in the reign of Henry II., and it
passed with his daughter and co-heir in marriage to Robert de Bello-
mont, who was Earl of Leicester. Robert's son held it, on whose death
without issue it passed to the husband of his sister, the elder Simon
de Montfort, who had also the dignity of Earl of Leicester. From him
it passed to his son, the second Simon de Montfort, who was slain at
the battle of Evesham in 1265. This high dignity then reverted to
the crown, but was immediately granted to Edmund, king Henry the
Third's younger son, together with Montfort's earldom of Leicester, in
whose descendants, the earls of Lancaster and Leicester, it continued,
and in the person of Henry the Fourth, who was duke of Lancaster,
was absorbed into the regal dignity.
From this time no person has been invested with this high dignity
as an heritable possession, or even for his own life, or quamdiu se bene
gesserit; but only for some special occasion, the office to cease when
the business which required it was ended; and this occasion has usually
been when a person was to be tried before the House of Peers.
Before this court a peer may be impeached for treason, felony, mis-
prision of treason, and misprision of felony; but a commoner only for
high misdemeanors, and not for any capital offence. The lords are
summoned to appear, and the decision is by a majority, but no con-
viction can take place unless the majority consist of twelve or more.
The spiritual lords may be present at the trial, but cannot vote. On
such occasions there is a lord high steward created, who presides, and
The agents which constitute this class, though often confounded
with others, are perfectly distinct; differing from all by their sensible
qualities, their chemical composition, the nature of their physiological
effects, and of the therapeutic indications they are calculated to fulfil.
They are often confounded with tonics [ANALEPTICS], antispasmodics,
and even narcotics, to all of which they have relations of affinity, but
are not identical with any. In so far as they both act on the nervous
system, they have most affinity with antispasmodics [ANTISPASMODICS],
but differ from them inasmuch as stimulants increase the actions
which are natural to the different organs of the body; while antispas-
modics allay or diminish inordinate or abnormal action. Nearly the
same may be said of the distinctions between them and narcotics
[NARCOTICS], for though the increased action excited by an agent of
this class, if extreme or long continued, is followed by a greater or less
degree of collapse, still this is very different from that which follows
the employment of a narcotic, which is much greater, as well as more
speedy. Certain articles, such as opium and alcohol, may be made to
act in either way; but while opium is not unfrequently used to stimu-
late, alcohol is never used medically as a narcotic, though the coma
and stupor which ensue from an excessive dose of it are as profound,
and often as fatal, as from an overdose of opium.
Above all, stimulants are most frequently confounded with tonics;
but independently of the consideration that stimulants operate
directly on the nervous system, while tonics affect the muscular and
sanguiferous systems, their operation, as well as the nature of their
Stimulants render the movements
effects, is entirely different.
generally more frequent; tonics render them stronger; stimulants too
freely or too often used, exhaust the excitability; tónics, within a
certain limit, maintain it. The action of the one is immediate and
transient; that of the other slow, scarcely perceptible, and progressive,
but permanent. This is best seen in their effects on the stomach.
Tonics render the digestion more perfect; stimulants quicken it:
moreover, most tonics must be themselves digested before the system
can benefit by them; while stimulants display their effects as soon as
they touch the lips or reach the stomach. In many fevers cinchona
bark produces no abatement of the symptoms for which it is usually
prescribed, as the stomach is too weak to digest it; but capsicum or
cayenne pepper given along with it, so rouses the stomach that the
febrifuge power of the bark is then manifested.
Stimulants are of two classes: one comprising medicinal sub-
stances; the other, warmth, cold, electricity, galvanism, and mental
agents, such as music (when lively), joy, hope, &c. Many of the latter
class have been already treated of [BATHING; ELECTRICITY; GAL-
1
833
83-1
STIVER.
STOCKS.
VANISM]; of the others, the effects are too familiar to require notice,
except to recommend the practice of encouraging the hope of a favour-
able issue to his complaint in the mind of a patient, in all cases not
desperate, as cherishing this feeling greatly increases the chance of
recovery. The former class is divided into permanent stimulants
and diffusible stimulants, the effect of the permanent being slower
but more lasting, that of the others quick but transient. The first are
used where a considerable and enduring power is wished to be
imparted to the system, as in the convalescence from acute diseases,
the other where some great and impending danger is to be obviated, as
in cases of fainting fits, or when sedative poisons are to be antagonised.
In these latter instances, ammonia, alcohol in some form, or sulphuric
ether, are commonly had recourse to. Permanent stimulants are
generally volatile or essential oils, pure, or in the combinations in
which they exist in roots, barks, or flowers, and are often highly
aromatic; malt liquors may also be classed with permanent stimulants.
The precise stage in the progress of fevers and other acute diseases,
when antiphlogistic or reducing measures should be abandoned, and
stimulants substituted, is the nicest point that a medical attendant is
ever called upon to decide; and nothing more clearly distinguishes the
judicious practitioner than his correct determination of this point.
It may be safely asserted that more cases are lost by a premature use
of them than by delay, as the numerous relapses in fever testify.
All persons recovering from severe diseases are almost in the condi-
tion of newly born children, in whom the irritability and excitability
are very great. These should not be violently acted upon, but on the
contrary they should be treated with the utmost gentleness and care.
Sleep is a more useful restorative than any other. Stimulants are more
necessary during the night than during the day, and as more persons
die during that period, the use of stimulants becomes more urgent at
that time. But the best and most harmless is a very strong infusion
of tea, especially green, given in small quantities, every hour or two,
as the danger of the case may point out.
A useful stimulant is furnished by coca, the leaf of Erythroxylon
coca (Lamarck), a shrub native of South America. Its power of enabling
the Indians to sustain prolonged fatigue, either on journeys or while
working in mines, has been long known. It has only lately been
tried in Europe. Its utility seems manifest in cases of nervous
exhaustion from over-study or long fasting. A few grains chewed, or
an infusion of varying strength according to the necessity of the case,
wards off fatigue and assists respiration. But too much caution can-
not be observed, lest a habit should be acquired, not less pernicious
than the abuse of opium or alcohol. (See Pöppig's Travels in Peru,
an extract from which is in Companion to Botanical Magazine vol. i.,
p. 161, and with fig. vol. ii., p. 25; Weddell's Voyage dans le nord de
la Bolivie; Johnston, Chemistry of Common Life, vol. ii., p. 137, and
The Technologist, vol. i., p. 255.)
STIVER. [MONEY.]
STOCKADE, in Fortification, is the name given to a wall constructed
by planting upright in the ground squared trunks of trees, or rough
piles of timber, so as to enclose an area which is to be defended. The
trunks or piles are planted close together; and at intervals of three
feet from one another loopholes are cut through them, or notches a
few inches long are cut down, vertically, from the top, through
which the defenders may direct a fire of musketry on the assailants.
An inclosure of timber so planted is sometimes called a Palanka,
from a name which is said to have been given by the Turks, when
they first entered Europe, to their field-redouts or small entrenched
Stockades are still frequently constructed as temporary fortifications
in countries which abound with timber, as in North America and the
East Indies; and among uncivilised nations, these, and rude parapets
of earth, are the only kinds of fortification which have been executed.
They were also, in general, the means employed by ancient armies
while besieging towns, to protect themselves or to prevent the escape
of the garrison. The walls with which the Peloponnesians surrounded
Platea during the siege and the blockade of that city were stockades,
consisting of palisades planted close together in a double line with a
certain interval between the lines. (Thucydides, ii. 75.)
camps.
The description of the pahs, or hippahs, of New Zealand, given in
the accounts of Captain Cook's voyages, would nearly serve for the
stockades within which the natives of that country have on several recent
occasions resisted the assault of a British force. It is stated that the
works consisted of trunks of trees planted close together, with a small
inclination towards the interior space; and that at intervals from one
another, particularly at the angles of the works, there were scaffolds
whose heights from the ground were three feet less than that of the
top of the wall, so that the defenders were able to see the ground at
the foot of the wall while they were concealed from the view of the
enemy. In the interior there was usually a hollow place, in which the
women and children, with the provisions, were deposited. The pahs
are generally on the summits of heights, and they are sometimes
strengthened by outworks of a similar nature. Those of most recent
construction are usually so placed as to allow of a ready retreat into
"the bush."
On the frontiers of the United States of North America, during a
war, stockades consisting of roughly-hewn trunks of trees planted close
together in upright positions and pierced with loop-holes for musketry,
ARTS AND SCI. DIV. VOL. VII.
--
are very frequently constructed for the purpose of inclosing an area
which is to be defended; and at each of the angles of the inclosure a
sort of blockhouse, serving as a bastion to flank the stockade, is con-
structed with very thick logs of timber placed horizontally: these
block-houses are sometimes formed with an upper story, the angles of
which project over the sides of the lower one, so that by loop-holes in
the projecting part of the floor a fire of musketry may be made upon
the enemy when at the foot of the wall.
STOCKINGS. [HOSIERY MANufacture.]
STOCKS, a term applied to the various "Funds" which constitute
the national debt. Each proprietor of stock may transfer his interest
to others by sale. When the transfer is effected by a broker he must
be authorised by a power of attorney from his principal, the stamp-
duty on which is 21s. 6d. ; and the document may be so drawn as to
empower him both to buy and sell stock and to receive the dividends
for the person by whom he is commissioned. Few persons buy or sell
stock except through the medium of a broker, but the general practice
is to receive their dividends themselves. The purchaser acquires the
dividend due upon the stock for the current half-year, and thus at one
point there will be a sum of 29s. 4d. due on three per cent. stock, and
a fortnight afterwards only 1s. 8d. On the bargain being completed,
"For this pur-
the parties repair to the Bank to transfer the stock.
pose the seller makes out a note in writing, which contains the name
and designation of the seller and purchaser and the sum and descrip-
tion of the stock to be transferred. He delivers this to the proper
clerk, and then fills up a receipt, a printed form of which, with blanks,
is obtained at the office. The clerk, in the mean time, examines the
seller's accounts; and if he find him possessed of the stock proposed
This is signed in the books by
to be sold, he makes out the transfer.
the seller, who delivers the receipt to the clerk; and upon the pur-
chaser's signing his acceptance in the book, the clerk signs the receipt
as witness. It is then delivered to the purchaser upon payment of the
money, and thus the business is completed." (Dr. Hamilton, 'History
of the National Debt.')
Bargains in stock are transacted in the Stock Exchange, in Capel-
court. All the more respectable brokers are members of the Stock
Exchange, into which association they are elected annually by ballot;
but many of the jobbers, who are not members and carry on their
transactions outside the exchange, are said to be persons of wealth.
The governing body consists of a committee of twenty-four, also elected
by ballot. The established rate of brokerage is one-eighth per cent.
(or 2s. 6d. in the 1007.) upon the amount of stock transferred.
The dividends on all descriptions of stock are due half-yearly, either
on the 5th of January and 5th of July, or on the 5th of April and
10th of October, and are paid about a week afterwards; and for about
six weeks previously, the books at the Transfer Office being closed,
The transfers on each stock are
transfers cannot be regularly made.
effected at other times only on certain days in the week, which may be
any
ascertained by a reference to almanac.
The bargains for time form a very important portion of the business
of the Stock Exchange. They are bargains to deliver stock on a cer-
tain day at a certain price, the seller of course believing that the price
will fall, and the buyer that it will rise. When the period for com-
pleting the bargain has arrived, a settlement is usually effected without
any payment of stock, the losing party simply paying the difference.
"These bargains are usually made for certain days fixed by a com-
mittee of the Stock Exchange, called settling days, of which there are
about eight in the year, namely, one in each of the months of January,
February, April, May, July, August, October, and November; and
they are always on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday, being
the days on which the commissioners for the reduction of the national
debt make purchases. The settling days in January and July are
always the first days of the opening of the bank books for public
transfer; and these days are notified at the bank, when the books are
shut to prepare for the dividend. The price at which stock is sold to
be transferred on the next settling day is called the price on account.
Sometimes, instead of closing the account on the settling day, the
stock is carried on to a future day on such terms as the parties agree
on. This is called a continuation." (Dr. Hamilton.) A defaulter, in
the language of the Stock Exchange, is termed a "lame duck," and his
name is posted for a certain time in the great room. The sellers of
time bargains are also technically called " bears," and the buyers
" bulls;
the interest of the former being to beat down prices, and of
the latter to raise them.
Stock of a high denomination may usually be bought cheaper than
that of which the nominal interest is lower; and it is therefore the
most advantageous for temporary investment. There is always a pro-
bability that the stock bearing the highest rate of interest will be
reduced by the government when a favourable occasion presents itself;
but the price of any one stock may be taken pretty nearly as an indi-
cation of the prices of the rest. The fluctuation in the price of stocks
generally may be traced to an almost infinite variety of causes-to the
abundance or scarcity of money, and the opportunities of employing it
to advantage in mercantile speculations; to the rumours of a new
loan, or of the imposition of a fresh tax, or even the repeal of a tax;
to rumours of war; and to innumerable other circumstances relating
to the trade, finance, and other domestic affairs of the country. In
1797 the Three per Cents. were reduced to the lowest point which
·
3 H
835
STOCKS.
they have ever reached (473) by the success of the French armies,
combined with adverse circumstances at home.
Besides the English funds, shares in many descriptions of foreign
stocks, which have been created by loans raised in this country, are
constantly for sale in the money-market, as are also shares in railway,
canal, mining, and numerous other similar speculations.
STOCKS, in Horticulture, are young trees which are designed for
the reception of the grafts or buds from other trees. The process by
which a part of one tree is transferred to another is called grafting or
budding [GRAFTING], and the object attained by it in gardening is the
securing the continuance and multiplication of an individual plant
that may possess peculiarities deemed worthy of preservation. It is
by this process that the great number of varieties of cultivated fruits
are preserved with remarkable integrity, and by which a constant
improvement may be ensured.
Stocks are for practical purposes divided into three kinds : crab
stocks, free stocks, and dwarf stocks. Crab stocks are those which are
grown from the seeds of wild and ungrafted trees, as the cherry, plum,
apple, &c. These stocks are commonly used where a large and hardy
growth is desirable. In the selection of wild stocks, those which grow
cleanest, and are freest from irregularities of the stem and defects in
the bark, should be chosen. Free stocks are those which are raised
from the seeds or layers of fruit and orchard trees which have been
grafted. These stocks are found desirable when the object of grafting
is to obtain choice varieties of apples, peaches, nectarines, apricots, or
plums. Dwarf stocks are those which are raised from low-growing
shrubby trees. They are used in the grafting of low-standards for
small gardens, also for wall-trees, and espaliers.
Stocks are raised in nurseries from seeds, suckers, layers, and
cuttings. When raised from seeds, they should be sown in the
autumn, in beds of common light earth: all lateral branches should
be cut off as they grow up; and, according to circumstances, they will
be fit for grafting in one, two, or three years. Stocks may be used
when they have attained the size of a goose-quill, up to that of a man's
finger. When stocks are wanted expeditiously, they may be produced
from suckers taken up and planted in the autumn, when they will be
ready for use the following July or August. They are not often raised
from layers and cuttings.
In the selection of stocks, not only is care required that they be of
the same kind as the graft or scion, but that there is a proper relation
between the rapidity of their growth according to the objects wished
to be attained. When the growth of the scion is more rapid than that
of the stock, it will sometimes die. This is the case with peach-trees
budded on plum-stocks and pears on the hawthorn. At the same
time, when trees are naturally too luxuriant in leaves and branches,
they may be dwarfed in their growth and made fruitful by placing a
scion from them on a stock that grows slower than themselves. In
this way apples may be dwarfed by being grown on paradise, pear,
or quince stocks.
It is frequently desirable to select those stocks which are hardier
than the scion, for the purpose of ensuring the growth of the latter.
Not that the stock has any power of communicating hardiness to the
scion; but those stocks that are accustomed to colder latitudes will
supply a sufficient quantity of sap, and be able to resist the influence
of a decrease of bottom heat. The kind of soil in which a stock grows
has also much to do with its being adapted for the growth of certain
scions. Thus the crab has been found best for the apple, the wild
pear for the cultivated pear, the almond for the plum, and the mahaleb
for the cherry, on chalky soils. But the stock also has the power
of deteriorating the fruit; the austere plum and the crab will not im-
prove the peach or the apple of the scion which may be grafted on
them. Some gardeners therefore recommend stocks of what they
term an ennobling character; that is, of a species as good as that of
the scions they are to bear. Apricots, currants, and gooseberries are
stated to have been greatly improved by this process.
STOCKS, a wooden machine formerly much used for the punishment
of disorderly persons by securing their legs. The time when they were
first used in England does not appear; but in the second Statute of
Labourers, 25 Edw. III., 1350, in the octave of the Purification, it is
enacted that refractory artificers shall be put in the stocks by the lords,
stewards, bailiffs, or constables of the towns where their offence has
been committed, by three days; or sent to the next jail, there to
justify themselves; and that stocks be made in every town for such
occasion between that time and the feast of Pentecost. (Rot. Parl.,'
ii., 234.) In 1376 the commons prayed the king for their establishment
in every village. (Ibid., 341.)
In 'King Lear,' act ii., sc. 2, Shakspere has introduced the stocks
upon the stage. Farmer, commenting upon the passage, says: "It
should be remembered that formerly in great houses, as still in some
colleges, there were moveable stocks for the correction of the servants."
The stocks are still to be seen in some country places, and are not
wholly disused.
STOLE, originally a long vestment, a matron's robe, from the Latin
stola, and that from the Greek OTOλh. Pitiscus, in his 'Lexicon
Antiquitat. Roman.,' has a long article upon the stola, as worn by the
ancients.
In later times stola was the term more particularly applied to a
broad strip of cloth or stuff, with three crosses upon it, worn by priests
STOMACH, DISEASES OF THE.
830
of the Romish church as a sacerdotal vestment, with whom it was
also called Orarium. "Orarium est stola," says Lyndwood, in his
'Provinciale,' qua sacerdos in omni obsequio divino uti debet, et suo
collo imponitur ut significet se jugum Domini suscepisse."
The stole or orarium, according to Palmer ('Origines Liturgicæ,'
vol. ii.) has been used from the most primitive ages by the Christian
clergy. It is spoken of by the first council of Braga, A.D. 563; by
Isidore Hispalensis, A.D. 600; the Council of Laodicea, in Phrygia,
A.D. 360; Severianus Gabalitanus, in the time of Chrysostom; and
many others (see Bingham's Antiq.,' b. xiii., c. 8, § 2; and Gerberti,
Liturg. Aleman.,' tom. i., p. 240); and it has been continually used
by all the churches of the west and east, and by the Monophysites of
Antioch and Alexandria. "The stole," says Palmer, "always called
'npápiov by the Greeks, was fastened on one shoulder of the deacon's
albe, and hung down before and behind. The priest had it over both
shoulders, and the two ends of it hung down in front. The Eastern
churches call the stole of the priests Tiтpaxhλov. Thus simply were
the dresses of deacons and priests distinguished from each other in
primitive times."
The pall of the metropolitans was originally only a stole wound
round the neck, with the ends hanging down behind and before.
That the word 'stole,' in the sense of a sacerdotal vestment, was of
early adoption into the English language, appears from the Saxon
Chronicle' under the year 963, when Archbishop Dunstan, at the time
of personally confirming King Edgar's grant of lands to the monastery
of Peterborough, added that he himself gave, among other vestments,
his stol to St. Peter.
STOMACH, DISEASES OF THE. The tissues of the stomach may
be the seat of various pathological states, producing symptoms which
are often referred to the general head of dyspepsia. [DYSPEPSIA.]
This diseased condition is, however, but a general term for the expres-
sion of a variety of symptoms arising from the pathological conditions
of the organ. The morbid states of the stomach have been recently
studied with great care, by the medical men both of this country and
the continent. The principal structural morbid conditions of the
stomach to which attention need be drawn are: 1. Softening. 2.
Degeneration. 3. Congestion. 4. Inflammation. 5. Ulceration.
Cancer. At the same time a variety of symptoms come on indicative
of a change in the functions of the stomach, and which may occur
quite independent of any of the above structural derangements.
Amongst the most remarkable of these functional derangements are the
following:
6.
1. Vomiting, which may come on from a disordered state of distant
organs, as of the brain, liver, lung, uterus, testicle, and other parts.
This symptom is produced by the reflex action of the nervous system.
In the majority of instances in which vomiting occurs, it is produced
by the morbid condition of some other organ. It should, therefore,
always lead to the investigation of other organs, as attempts at arrest-
ing it will not be successful till the cause is removed.
2. Deficient secretion of Gastric juice.-Many dyspeptic symptoms
are directly traceable to this cause. It is accompanied with a sense of
weight and oppression at the pit of the stomach. The food remains
undigested in the stomach, and frequently decomposes, giving to the
breath an unpleasant smell. This state requires for its treatment the
administration of stimulants of the gastric function. Hydrochloric
acid increases the secretion of the gastric acid, and pepsine, the active
principle of the gastric juice, has been recommended as a remedy.
3. Fermentation of the Food.-The food may be variously decomposed
according to the state of the stomach, and sometimes one change comes
on and sometimes another. Without any apparent cause in the
stomach itself, a fermentation comes on in the food, attended with the
development of a large quantity of carbonic acid gas, and which is
also accompanied with the presence of a minute plant, first discovered
by Professor Goodsir of Edinburgh, and called by him the Sarcina
Ventriculi. This state comes on when distant organs are affected, or
in a general state of the system which must be attended to for cure.
4. Indigestion, or any derangement of the function of diges-
tion, dependent on morbid states of other organs, either connected
with the stomach, as the salivary glands, the liver, the pancreas, or the
bowels, or upon derangement of organs more distant, as the kidneys,
brain, &c., or upon gluttony or drunkenness. This functional derange
ment is cured by the removal of the cause. [DYSPEPSIA.]
The general characters of the structural diseases of the stomach are
as follows: Softening of the mucous membrane of the stomach
may occur during life as the result of the action of the gastric acid
upon the membrane, or it may occur from the same cause after death.
The latter form is very frequent, and was formerly regarded as an
indication of structural change during life. Softening of the stomach
occurs during life in wasting diseases, in which there is a great depres-
sion of the vital powers, as in typhoid fever, cancer of the womb,
peritonitis, and tubercular disease of the brain. It more frequently
occurs in the latter disease among children, than in any of the diseases
of adults. This disease is accompanied with great disorder of the
digestive functions, pain and tenderness of the epigastrium, loss of
appetite, thirst, vomiting, and nausea.
Degeneration occurs in the glandular structure of the proper mucous
substances of the stomach, and is the most common of the structural
diseases of the stomach. In these cases either the gastric follicles are
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STONE.
STONE FOR BUILDING.
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entirely destroyed, or the cells in their interior become changed, or the
tissue between the follicles is charged with fibrinous and other deposits.
This state is attended with severe dyspeptic symptoms, nausea or
vomiting in the morning, oppression after food, and frequently
anæmia and general debility. This morbid state may prevent
altogether the digestion of food in the stomach; but the digestive
functions of the intestines may become more active, and the general
nutrition of the body must suffer. It is not however unfrequently
the case that the intestinal mucous membrane is affected in the same
way as the stomach, and then the general symptoms become more
severe. In the treatment of these cases the object should be to
relieve the stomach of its digestive duties as far as possible. Albu-
minous food should be taken in small quantities and frequently.
The carbonates of soda and potash may also be advantageously
employed so as to facilitate the passage of the food out of the stomach
before digestion commences.
Congestion of the blood-vessels of the stomach occurs as the result
of any mechanical impediment which prevents the blood returning from
the stomach towards the heart. It occurs in disease of the liver and
spleen, and leads to the deposit of melanic matters in the mucous
membrane, and to degeneration of the tissue. One of the consequences
of such congestion is the effusion of blood into the stomach, and its
ejection by vomiting. This disease is called hematemesis. In the
treatment of this form of disease efforts must be made to remove its
causes. Astringents, as sulphuric acid, tannic acid, and acetate of lead
with opium may be given. Sometimes congestion of the stomach
occurs as the result of the suppression of some natural discharge.
Inflammation of the stomach or gastritis is a very rare disease.
It is commonly seen as the result of the introduction of poisons
into the stomach, and also from the excessive use of alcoholic
beverages. When it occurs it is accompanied with congestion. It
is attended with vomiting, excessive thirst, and the ejection of a
fluid like that found in pyrosis. [PYROSIS.] In treating this form of
disease all stimulants must be avoided. Food of the mildest and most
easily digested kind must be administered, and leeches may be applied
to the epigastrium. Iced water and lumps of ice should also be freely
given.
Ulceration of the mucous membrane of the stomach occurs both in
congestion and inflammation. Ulcers may however exist without the
symptoms of these diseases. The ulcer is generally solitary, deep, well-
defined, of a circular or oval shape, and is about the size of a shilling.
It is a dangerous condition and may end fatally by perforating the
membranes of the stomach, or by producing hæmorrhage, or excessive
exhaustion. Ulceration is accompanied by pain of a gnawing and
burning kind a few minutes after the taking of food. There is also great
tenderness over the epigastrium, and frequently pain in the back. Vomit-
ing is also a common symptom after taking food. The treatment of
cases should be more dietetical than medicinal. Food must be taken
in small quantities and of the most digestible kind. Milk with prepara-
tions of wheaten flour are to be commended. Astringent medicines
should be administered, and the salts of iron may be prescribed with
astringents should hæmorrhage supervene.
Cancerous ulceration of the stomach is not easily distinguished from
simple ulcer during life, and requires the same treatment. It is not
so frequent as is sometimes supposed. Dr. Brinton states that not
more than one per cent. of fatal cases of ulceration of the stomach are
Cancerous ulceration is most frequently seated at the
due to cancer.
orifices of the stomach.
(Aitken, Handbook of the Science and Practice of Medicine;
Chambers, On Digestion and its Derangements; Watson, Lectures on
the Practice of Physic; Bennett, On the Principles and Practice of
Medicine.)
STONE. [CALCULUS.]
STONE FOR BUILDING. There are few practical questions
belonging to the building arts of more importance than those connected
with the nature of the stones used in them; for not only does the
character of the architecture adopted materially depend upon the faci-
lities the stones present for artistic expression, but the durability of
the buildings, and the retention of their original effect must be regu-
lated entirely by the powers of resistance of those materials to the
causes of decay which are always at work upon them. Where stone of
large dimensions, and of great transverse strength, is used habitually,
architecture assumes an imposing palatial effect, with a tendency to
prefer the horizontal to the vertical line: where stone of small dimen-
sions is used, vaulted construction, heavy piers, and the minute style
of ornamentation (which always accompanies the use of the rendering
coats, almost necessarily used on such stones,) may be as distinctly
traced as the external characteristics of the architecture adopted; and
the horizontal line habitually disappears in favour of the arch, or of
the vertical line: where stones are easily worked, florid ornamentation
is adopted; where they are hard, and comparatively unmanageable,
massive, and sometimes clumsy forms are adhered to. The durability
of the stones, and their capacity of supporting fine sculpture, moreover,
must materially affect the decision of the architect with respect to the
amount of decoration to be employed on them, and to the choice of
the mode in which they are to be treated; for it must evidently
be absurd to spend time and money on the decoration of materials
which are susceptible of rapid or of unequal decay. The resistances of
stones to crushing forces have likewise a marked influence upon the
style of building they are capable of receiving; for that style is often
light, or massive, in proportion to the resistance, provided always that
the labour in the conversion of the stone should offer little resistance
to what may be called its plastic treatment. The colour of stones has
also an influence upon the aesthetical effect of a building; and it,
therefore, becomes in its turn a matter of importance to the architect,
both on account of the original colour, and of its possible modi-
fications.
A good building stone must possess, then, great powers of resistance
to crushing, and breaking, weights; it must be even in its grain, and
able to furnish large blocks; it must not contain elements which
are susceptible of decomposition by reason of the atmospheric action
upon them, or of their mutual reactions upon one another; it must be
non-absorbent of water, or of vapour, to a certain extent (but only to
a certain extent, as will be shown in the sequel); and, as far as
possible, be of a homogeneous nature. As a general rule, the denser
stones are more durable than the lighter ones; but this law only holds
good when their structure is of a permanent and of a crystalline nature.
The stones which are of a massive character from top to bottom of the
quarry-bed are usually more durable than the foliated, or fissile materials
of the same description; and the crystalline stones are almost always
superior to the amorphous ones, both in appearance and durability.
The granites, quartz rocks, and transition marbles furnish the most
lasting building stones, though even they are occasionally subject to
destructive actions of peculiar natures; the sandstone conglomerates,
and the sandstones partially metamorphosed by the vicinity of plutonic
rocks, are usually more durable than the limestones; whilst of the
latter, the stones presenting a regular crystallisation are far superior to
the saccharoid marbles, or to the amorphous earthy-textured stones.
The clay slates, which perhaps can hardly be considered to be building
stones, present singular powers of resistance to atmospheric agents,
after they have been exposed to the action of plutonic rocks; and the
magnesian limestones, when selected from the crystalline varieties, are
of great practical value. When stones are mainly composed of organic
remains united by a more or less crystalline cement, or when they are
composed of materials having different rates of expansion, there are
great probabilities of the occurrence of rapid decay, and materials of
this description should be avoided for external uses.
In the article ATMOSPHERIC INFLUENCE will be found a short review
of the present state of our knowledge with respect to the resistance of
building_stones to the particular causes of decay presented by that
agent. There are other causes occasionally at work, however, to which
it may be advisable to call attention, for the stability of a building may
often depend on their action. Thus in bridges, it is found that some
stones do not satisfactorily resist exposure to tidal immersion, though
they may stand, as workmen say, very well when kept constantly either
wet or dry; the Portland stone is an illustration of this remark. Other
stones again may stand well in fresh water, but they disintegrate in
salt water; others may stand well in the atmosphere of the interior of
a country, and yet yield rapidly on the sea shore, or in certain towns.
Some stones resist the action of fire, such as the commonly-called fire-
stones of the subcretaceous series; whilst the limestones, and the
ordinary sandstones, are very injuriously affected by great heat; and
are either partially calcined, or split and cracked by it in a manner to
destroy their powers of cohesion. Where the stones employed are
intended to receive heavy crushing loads, they must be selected from
amongst the denser varieties; and the portions of the stone work
of a building which might take up water by capillary action must
be executed of such materials as should limit its range and its
chemical effect. And here it may be as well to remark that, although
in positions of this kind, the non-absorptive powers of a stone are great
recommendations for its use, yet that in the plain wall spaces of the
upper structures externally, and in floors and wall linings internally,
there is a disadvantage in the use of the decidedly non-absorbent
stones. They are in fact rapid conductors of heat, and if any moisture
should exist in the atmosphere it condenses on their surfaces in a
manner which is unsightly, and often injurious to the health of the
inhabitants of the building wherein this phenomenon occurs. Some
stones are exposed to a very disagreeable action from the efflorescence
of the salts they may contain; others again part with their consti-
tuents in a manner to compromise the solidity of the mass, and even
to produce injury to the materials around them, as for instance, in the
case of the magnesian limestone, which under the action of London
rain parts with the sulphate of magnesia in such quantities as to
destroy, upon its subsequent efflorescence, the materials into which it
filters. It would seem, moreover, that some of the limestones are
liable to chemical changes of a peculiar nature; for the marbles,
such as the Carrara marble, pass from the subcrystalline to the
saccharoid state on exposure to gentle heat, or to the effects of
the atmosphere; whilst on the other hand, the Portland stone, and
other varieties of the carbonates of lime, which have not been affected
in situ by plutonic agencies, harden by exposure. It may be that in
the former case, the water of crystallisation evaporates; and thus
allows the base to resume an amorphous character; and that in the
latter, the hardening proceeds from the change in the proportions of
carbonic acid present, the stones being originally protocarbonates of
lime, and subsequently passing into the percarbonates. The best sand-
}
839
STONE FOR BUILDING.
stones also harden by exposure to the weather; and it may be observed
that this indurating process takes place the most rapidly when the
water taken up by the sandstones may contain any lime in solution.
The resistance of building stones to physical forces depends greatly
upon the homogeneous nature of their grain, and the direction of their
planes of stratification and cleavage; the resistance to disintegration
and decay depends also very much on the same causes, especially when
the stones are employed in buildings. Thus the stones which have
been produced by the deposition of diluvial, or alluvial currents,
present distinct traces of bedding, in consequence of the inequalities in
the transporting powers of those currents at particular periods; and if
those stones should be used in such a manner as to leave the planes of
bedding vertical, and parallel to the exposed face of the building, they
would be exposed to exfoliation of a very dangerous character. The
stones which have been produced by the deposition of substances in
suspension in former oceans, such as the oolites, the chalk, and the
freshwater, or marine limestones of the tertiary series, often have
planes of bedding produced by the periodic abundance of the animal
remains they may contain; or they may have distinct laminations in
consequence of their mode of crystallisation. In either of these cases the
stones would be exposed to crush with greater ease in the direction of
the divisional planes, and the effects of the atmosphere would be most
energetically exercised when those planes were placed in a direction to
favour the absorption of moisture by capillary action, or to allow the
stone to exfoliate in a direction parallel to the face. In fact, the most
important rule to be observed in the practical use of stone is to place
it "in the natural way of the bed," as workmen say; and though there
may be some stones in which it is very difficult to distinguish the bed,
and others in which there is less reason than usual for adhering to this
law, yet even in them it is preferable to place the bed of the stones in
its natural position.
A very elaborate report was drawn up in 1839, by a commission
named for the purpose of selecting the building-stone to be employed
in the Houses of Parliament; but in consequence of the marked failure
of the material then selected, the recommendations of that report have
lately been treated with neglect. This is unfortunate; because there
is much information of value in the report, and the methods of exami-
nation it was based upon are substantially correct; and, as it now
appears that the stone actually used in the Houses of Parliament, was
not the one recommended by the commissioners, the latter ought not to
be blamed for the failure which has occurred. The errors which,
however, do exist in the report consist in these points:-1. The resis-
tances to atmospheric action were appreciated by the state of the stone
in certain ancient buildings, which were mostly in the neighbourhood
of the quarries from whence those stones had been extracted. 2. In
the attempt to judge of the durability of both new and old stones by
what is known as Brard's test, or exposing them to the effects of the
efflorescence of a solution of the sulphate of soda. Now it is notorious
that the atmospheres of large towns contain many elements which do
not exist in the atmosphere of the country, and nothing but a long
exposure to the former would justify an absolute opinion as to its
possible effects; even the Caen stone itself resists tolerably well in
Lower Normandy, but it decays rapidly at Hâvre, and more rapidly
still in London. The objections raised by the French engineers to
Brard's test have already been referred to under ATMOSPHERIC IN-
FLUENCE; and it may suffice here to observe that practically it has
been shown to be of very little use as an indication of the durability of
a building-stone.
Before closing these remarks, it may be as well to state that some
classes of stones are known by the name of freestone, when they are
susceptible of being worked freely by the axe, or by the mallet and
chisel; the ordinary sand and lime stones are of this description, but
the granites, whinstones, slates, and basalts, cannot be worked in this
manner. Another technical distinction in the mode of conversion
arises from the description of saw used; the softer stones are cut by
the toothed saw,
the harder ones are cut by the plate saw and grit.
The marbles are susceptible of receiving a polish; the ordinary sand
and limestones remain dull whatever labour may be expended on their
faces. The stones which strike fire (or the silicious ones) are usually
harder and more durable than the calcareous stones; but the labour
upon them is much more expensive; and it is almost always the case
that the stones which present on the surfaces of their fracture, a
number of asperities and sparkling facettes are more difficultly worked
than are the stones which present even, dull faces. Of materials of
this description the lighter coloured ones are generally softer than the
darker ones, and it may be considered a safe rule in judging of new
stones, that if they absorb water easily they are not fitted to resist the
action of the atmosphere. If the stones should yield a clear ringing
sound, they may be considered to be of a fine uniform texture, and
free from flints, earthy nodules, vents, or shakes; and if in working
they should emit a sulphurous smell they would usually prove to be
durable. One of the simplest and best precautions to be observed in
the use of building-stones, is to quarry them some long time previously
to their application, and to expose them to the weather, in order that
they may lose gradually what workmen call their "quarry damp." In
buildings, the denser and harder stone should be used in the lower
courses, the lighter ones in the superstructure; the non-absorbent
stones should be used in the ground and in plinths, cills, string courses,
STONE WORKING.
8:0
and weather beds of cornices, &c.; the softer and more absorbent
stones may be used for plain walling.
Mr. Hodgkinson found that the resistance of stone columns to crush-
ing weights was nearly uniform when their heights were less than
12 times the dimension of their sides; when their heights were 15
times their sides, the resistance was manifestly diminished; when
their heights were 24 times their sides, the resistance diminished in
the ratio of 138 to 96 nearly; when they were 30 times the side, the
resistance became reduced from 138 to 75; and when they were 40
times their side, the resistance was reduced from 138 to 52. Stone
columns are considered by Mr. Hodgkinson to yield first at the ends,
in consequence of the tendency of rigid bodies to split into wedges,
with sharp points at their apices, under the action of superincumbent
weights. The weights stone-columns can bear depend at all times on
their smallest section.
Mr. Adie published in the Transactions of the British Association
for the Advancement of Science,' 1834, some interesting observations
on the expansion of stone under the influence of heat. From these it
would appear that within a range of 180° Fahr., the expansion of the
Craigleith stone is 0.0011758 of its length, or the same as the expan-
sion of glass, and very nearly the same as the expansion of cast-iron,
as ascertained by Lavoisier. The expansion of the black Galway
marble was found to be 0.00043855 of its length; that of white marble
seems to have been rather less. [HEAT; RESISTANCE OF MATERIALS.]
(Consult Rondelet, l'Art de Bâtir; Claudel, Formules à l'usage des
Ingénieurs; Dumanet, Cours de Construction; De la Beche's Geological
Observer; Report on Building Stones, 1839; les Annales des Mines, and
les Annales des Ponts et Chaussées, passim; les Annales des
Publiques de la Belgique; Transactions of the British Association;
Builder (journal ), passim; Transactions of the Society of Arts, 1860.)
STONEWARE. [EARTHENWARE; POTTERY AND PORCELAIN.]·
STONE WORKING. Under QUARRY AND QUARRYING a descrip-
tion is given of the mode of detaching and shaping blocks of stone at
the quarries. A few lines will suffice to convey an idea of the subse-
quent operations.
Travaux
Until within a comparatively recent period, few other tools than the
saw and chisel were employed in this work; but now machinery,
moved by steam-power, is extensively adopted. The working of marble
for ornamental purposes was the chief cause of this change; seeing
that the highly-wrought surfaces might suitably be produced by labour-
saving expedients. The sawing by hand of blocks of stone for build-
ings, or slabs for pavements, is familiar to every one. The workman
employs a kind of blunt knife, which is converted into a species of saw
by the presence of sand and water; the action of this blade, by a pro-
cess something between cutting and grinding, severs the block of stone
into two. The shaping by hand of blocks of stone is equally familiar;
chisels, of various shapes, urged by a mallet, do the whole work. But
it is of more elaborate contrivances that we here treat.
Some of the marble-sawing machines are of the kind shown in the
annexed cut. Several saws are fixed parallel in a frame, at any distance

Fig. 1.-Marble Sawing Machine.
CHUMBIE
The frame
part according to the thickness of the slab to be cut.
lides in vertical grooves; and it is so balanced that the saws are kept
at a height corresponding to the part of the block which is being cut,
and descend as the cut deepens. These so-called saws are blades of
soft iron, used with sand and water; the sand being varied in quality
according to the kind of stone to be cut. An apparatus is placed over
the frame, whereby a little stream of sand and water is made to flow.
Not only does the use of such a
continuously into each saw-cut.
machine save much labour, it saves material also; for in hand-sawing
the workmen never succeed in keeping the saw in a true plane; and,
as a necessary result, great waste is occasioned in subsequent grinding.
Mr. Stewart has recently invented a machine for cutting large masses
of stone; a series of chisel-cutters follow each other in the same cut,
and are fixed to a frame travelling on a kind of railway. The action of
841
812
STONE WORKING.
STRAIGHT, STRAIGHT LINE, PLANE.
t
each cutter is that of a forcible blow; the machine being intended to
operate upon the harder kinds of stone. Messrs. Hunter, of Manches-
ter, have devised a machine for cutting pavement-slabs. Twenty or
thirty cutters are fixed to the periphery of a revolving disc ten or
twelve feet in diameter. These machines are in use in Dean Forest;
some of them will cut 250 square feet of pavement, 1 inches thick, in
ten hours.
When marble or other stone has been cut into slabs, its further
working is effected by machines of various kinds. To reduce it to
narrow slips, it is exposed to the action of small circular cutters,
ranged parallel on one common axis; the distances between the cutters
are made equal to the intended widths of the strips; the marble is
slowly brought up to the revolving cutters by the action of pulleys and
weights.
Circular pieces are cut from slabs by ingenious machines. Large
circles are cut by means of four cutters placed at the ends of the arms
of a horizontal cross; the size of the cross determines the diameter of
the circle to be cut, and the curvature given to each cutter is made
correspondent thereto. When the frame or cross is made to rotate,
the four cutters follow one another in the same path, and speedily cut
out a circular piece. Smaller circles are cut by means of a hollow
cylindrical tool, something like a punch; but it acts by continual rota-
tion, and not by blows. By a modification of this apparatus, round
pillars and hollow cylinders or tubes of stone may be cut.
To produce mouldings, or similar symmetrical cuttings in stone,
various machines are employed. The turning-lathe is used for circular
objects. Iron cutters, with sand and water, are not used here; but the
workman acts upon the stone with long, sharp-pointed instruments of
steel; and when the shape has been thus roughly produced, it is finished
by gouges and other tools. Strips of stone or marble, such as those
used for chimney-pieces, have mouldings formed upon their surfaces
by different means. The cutters here are in fact grinding tools. They
consist of masses of iron, whose surfaces are circular, and have been
wrought into various forms, such as hollows, beadings, ogees, &c.; the
tool rotates rapidly in contact with the stone, which is brought up
close to it by a weight and pulley; and thus a moulding is formed on
the surface of the strip of stone, a counterpart of that on the iron tool.
A workman applies sand and water to the iron tool. The apparatus is
shown in the annexed cut.
Fig. 2.-Marble Moulding Machine.
The smoothing, grinding, and polishing of marble and stone are
effected by machines variously arranged. Large slabs are ground by a
plate of cast-iron. The slab, placed horizontally, has a reciprocating
motion given to it; the iron plate, resting upon it, has a kind of spiral
motion; and the two motions together enable the iron to act equally
on all parts of the stone. Sand and water are let down between the
two surfaces, through holes in the iron plate. Smaller surfaces of
stone or marble are ground by being held down by hand upon the sur-
face of a revolving iron table, kept moistened with sand and water.
The Earl of Caithness has recently devised a machine for dressing the
surface of Caithness rag slabs, a stone well fitted for street pavements.
About 30 iron bars are ranged parallel and vertical, each with jagged
teeth at the bottom; a crank movement lifts them all to a certain
height, one after another, and lets them fall heavily; the slab slowly
moves beneath them, so as to be subjected all over to an equal
amount of jagging or chipping. This produces a surface level but not
smooth.
The polishing of marble requires tools different from those used in
grinding or smoothing. The tools are made of lead or some other
heavy substance, and are faced with a peculiar kind of felt, which,
when wetted and rubbed to and fro by any convenient machinery,
polishes the marble. For smoothing and polishing of carved marble,
or of small pieces shaped in any irregular way, small pieces of cast-
iron, gritstone, smooth stone, slate, &c., are used in various ways.
STOP. [ORGAN.]
STOPPAGE IN TRANSITU is the seizure by the seller of goods
sold on credit during the course of their passage (transitus) to the
buyer. This principle is said to have been established about 1690 in
the Court of Chancery (2 Vern., 203); and it has since been acknow-
ledged in the courts of common law. The transitus is defined to be
the passage of the goods to the place agreed upon by the buyer
and seller, or the place at which they are to come into the possession
of the buyer. This definition does not mean that the term tran-
situs implies continual motion: goods are in transitu while they
are at rest, if they are still on the road to the place to which they-
have been sent. This doctrine of stoppage in transitu entitles a seller,
who is empowered to stop the goods before they come into the buyer's
possession. The right is not confined to cases of buying and selling.
A factor either at home or abroad, if he consigns goods to his principal
by the order of the principal and has got the goods in his own naine
or on his own credit, has the same right of stoppage in transitu as if
he were the seller of the goods. Questions of stoppage in transitu
sometimes involve difficult points of law. The right of stoppage
implies that the goods are in the possession of the seller or factor when
he exercises this right. The exercise of the right is excluded in the
case of a bill of lading which has been endorsed over; for here the
endorsement passes the property in the goods absolutely to the
endorsee.
STORAX. [STYRAX]
STORMS. [TORNADO; WHIRLWIND.]
STOVE [COOKING APPARATUS; SMOKE, CONSUMPTION OF; WARM-
ING AND VENTILATION.]
STOVE-PLANTS. [HOTHOUSE.]
STRABISMUS. [SQUINTING.]
STRAIGHT, STRAIGHT LINE, PLANE. There is no occasion
to define a straight line as matter of information; so that we have
here only to consider the definitions which have been given and their
relative merits, taking them as attempts to produce a mathematical
description of straightness.
There are three attempts at definition of a straight line; by Plato
(or one of his immediate school), by Archimedes (as is said), and by
Euclid. The moderns have repeated these various forms, but have
not, to our knowledge, ever succeeded in producing a definition entirely
new which did not contain the defects of one or other of the three just
mentioned.

T
The Platonic definition, according to Proclus, is as follows:- A
straight line is that of which the middle parts hide (époσbeî) the
extremities;" a physical definition, owing its truth to the circumstance
of the rays of light proceeding in straight lines, and involving the
notion of straightness as a part of its own explanation. This defini-
tion has been little if at all used by geometrical writers,
Archimedes defines a straight line as the shortest distance between
two points, or at least this definition is often attributed to him, but
not correctly. It is one of his postulates in the book on the Sphere
and Cylinder, that of all lines drawn between two points the least is
that which is straight: but he is too well judging a geometer to assign
such a property as a definition. The Arabs substituted the shortest-
distance description for the definition in Euclid, and accordingly our
earlier editions of Euclid do the same; nor was this flaw removed
until 1505, when Zamberti translated Euclid from the Greek. It has
often been supposed that this shortest-distance definition is good as a
definition, though not proper for a pupil in geometry, an opinion from
which we must dissent: for how is it known to those who are yet to
learn what a straight line is, whether there can be a shortest distance?
That is, how is it known that there are not many distances between
two points, on different lines, which are severally shorter than any
other distance, and equal to one another? The answer is, no doubt,
that the mind has a perfect conception of the impossibility of such a
thing; and the rejoinder is-yes, because the mind has a perfect con-
ception of a straight line that is to say, the definition is only saved
from causing confusion by its own uselessness. Again, the supposition
that measurement of distances on all manner of curves is to be a pre-
liminary to one of the definitions of a science which treats no curve
but the circle, and does not succeed, by reason of certain limitations of
process, in measuring distance even on that one, is an incongruity.
Euclid defines a straight line to be that which lies evenly (ẻ toov
Keira) between its extreme points. The words et toou have been trans-
lated ex quo by Barocius, ex æquali by Zamberti, equally by Billingsley
(taking some of the oldest translations as specimens). The definition
wants precision, but the meaning is obvious. Two points being given,
the surrounding space may be viewed in all manner of reiations to
those two points, as above or below, right or left, &c. The straight
line which joins the two points is that which is not more related to
one of these notions than to any other; and throughout its whole
length takes an even course, without a possibility of being claimed, so
to speak, by any one of the surrounding parts of space rather than by
any other.
4
813
STRAIGHT, STRAIGHT LINE, PLANE.
In making such a definition Euclid is well aware that he cannot rest
any conclusion upon it, and that in the postulate that two straight
lines cannot inclose a space lies all his power of producing a theorem.
Why then, it may be asked, does he introduce a definition at all? Why
not give the reader to understand that a straight line is a notion uni-
versally understood and incapable of definition in simpler terms? To
these questions the answer may be twofold. In the first place, he is
not answerable for the genius of any language but his own, and it is
very possible that to a Greek commencing geometry, eveéîa might be
a hard word, and loov Keiraι a real explanation; in which case his
definition is defensible until it can be shown that he might have chosen
a better one. We are not to judge of the force of the last-quoted
words from the ex aequo of the middle Latin, or the evenly or equally
of the English. Secondly, he is evidently, in some of the first defini-
tions, recalling, and not instilling, notions: he is proceeding with his
reader as by words to which both attach a conception, and he tries
these words for use by ascertaining that both parties agree on such
circumlocution as can be substituted for them.
The greatest defect of Euclid's definition, since it applies even to the
view just taken of its intent, is the want of words signifying that
toou refers equally to all adjoining parts of space: Euclid is thinking
too much of a plane before he has defined a plane. Suppose, for in-
stance, a sphere, and that lines on a sphere only are contemplated:
the line which joins two points toou with reference to all adjacent
parts of that sphere is not a straight line, but an arc of a great circle.
Is it possible, taking such allowances as Euclid sanctions in the use
of figure, to give what shall be, whether difficult or not difficult,
capable of use or not capable, a just definition of a straight line? We
think it is, as follows:-The Greek geometer implicitly allows (i. 4) a
TRANSLATION of figure without change of form or properties: from
this, by first defining the plane, a definition of the straight line may
be proposed, which we bring forward, not for any value which it has,
but because the stipulations of geometry are better understood by
consideration of cases proposed for acceptance or rejection, than by
any other method.
1. Let two points (A and B) be said to be at the same distance from
a third (c), when a and c being joined by any line, the line ca can be
translated, o remaining fixed, so that a shall be brought to coincide
with B.
2. A plane is a surface any point of which is equally distant from
two given points.
3. A straight line is the intersection of two planes.
|
STRATEGY.
811
tion there is the serious objection that though a plane may be as easily
conceived as a straight line, yet it is actually capable of definition by a
straight line. For a plane is the surface any two points of which can
be joined by a straight line which lies wholly on the surface. Neither
this definition (nor Euclid's) precludes the necessity of a postulate
demanding the possibility of drawing a plane through any straight
line. Objections might be made to the first part of Euclid's eleventh
book, which would require for their answer that another postulate
should be granted, similar to that required for a straight line, namely,
that if two planes coincide in any portion of surface, they coincide
altogether. Euclid does in fact assume a postulate which is not ex-
pressly laid down, namely, that a finite straight line can be produced
in every plane in which it lies, but we think it may be fairly doubted
whether the first three propositions of the book in question are as
perfect as they might be made.
STRAIN. [SPRAIN.]
STRAIN AND STRESS. [MATERIALS, STRENGTH OF.]
STRAMONIN. A crystalline body contained in stramonium seeds.
STRAMONIUM, botanically the Datura Stramonium, or Thorn
Apple, an introduced but now frequently self-sown and consequently
wild plant, found particularly wherever a garden once has been. The
leaves and seeds are officinal. The leaves during drying diffuse a
stupifying odour, and become deep grayish green, and then scarcely
possess any odour: the taste is disagreeable, saline, and strongly bitter.
The seeds are kidney-shaped, flat, about the size of linseed, uneven,
nearly black when bruised the smell is disagreeable and repulsive ;
taste bitterish and oily; by expression sixteen ounces of fresh seeds
yield two ounces of clear fat oil, which has neither taste nor odour.
The seeds of the other species of datura are often substituted, perhaps
without any great disadvantage. They are also confounded with the
seeds of Nigella Sativa, which, though black, are smaller, nearly three-
cornered, and have an acrid aromatic taste, and in considerable quantity
are poisonous like those of stramonium.
:
The seeds are used to form the extract; they, as well as the unripe
capsules, yield the alkaloid called datura, which crystallises from its
solution in alcohol or water in colourless shining aggregated prisms;
without odour when pure, but when impure possessing a strongly
narcotic odour; taste at first bitter, then very acrid, and like tobacco.
This is extremely poisonous: one-eighth of a grain can kill a sparrow
in less than three hours; and the smallest quantity applied to the eye
causes very lasting dilatation of the pupil.
Stramonium in small doses causes slight convulsive action about the
In the debates of the normal school, which were taken down in throat, with dryness of the tongue, disposition to vomit, and general
shorthand, and published in 1800, is a discussion on this subject. diminution of sensibility, with slight increase of secretion of the skin,
Lagrange presiding, Fourier, then one of the pupils, proposed the pre- mucous membranes, and kidneys; but if the dose be larger, the brain
ceding second and third definitions, but without assigning a definition becomes affected, and vertigo, indistinctness of vision, with dilatation
of equi-distance independently of the straight line. He also proposed
He also proposed of the pupil, disposition to sleep, or coma, but more frequently
as the definition of a straight line the locus of a point which is equi- delirium, are added. The delirium is always peculiar, and the indi-
distant from three given points; which is faulty, inasmuch as the three vidual manifests a disposition to perform ridiculous actions, or assume
given points should not be in one straight line, which cannot be sup- absurd positions. If the dose be still larger, and produce fatal effects,
posed until the straight line is defined. Lagrange admitted the rigor the brain is usually found to be much congested, the vessels being
of the definition, but considered that it failed in presenting a sensible gorged with blood. Large bleedings generally save the patient;
image of the thing defined. Another of the pupils however insisted emetics can rarely be made to act, as is observed when other narcotic
that the idea of distance involved that of a straight line, which is true poisons have been taken. Stramonium is most useful in cases of
of distance as a quantity, though not necessarily so of equi-distance as increased sensibility, particularly in local affections of the nerves; it is
a relution.
decidedly useful in allaying pain of the sciatic nerve, particularly when
General Thompson proposes to define a straight line as one which combined with ipecacuan. It has been recommended in mania,
being turned about its extreme points suffers no change of place. especially when accompanied with lucid intervals, in epilepsy, and
Lagrange, in the debate above alluded to, suggested the same notion. hysteria; but with very variable success, probably to be accounted for
This definition, we think, offers the most tangible illustration of that by the careless preparation of the medicine. It is popularly used for
of Euclid. Let the two extremities of the intended straight line be smoking, to allay paroxysms of asthma, but its employment in this
situated in a solid; and let them remain fixed in space while the solid way is quite empirical, and regulated by no clear principle. By the
takes such motion as, under that condition, it is capable of. The action of heat during smoking, an empyreumatic oil is found, similar in
straight line, the line which lies toov with regard to the extreme properties to that of hyoscyamus.
points, then remains fixed. For if any part of it moved, there would
be in every position a relation to adjoining parts of space, which would
be in a state of continual change. The connexion between this defini-
tion by rotation and that of Euclid might require more development
to render it as clear as possible but we think the student's own
reflection will lead him to make it satisfactorily. But whatever may
be thought of the endeavour to exercise the discrimination of which
geometry points out the possibility by framing or arguing on defini-
tions, we do not remember to have seen one so well calculated for the
mere beginner as the following:-" A straight line is a straight line."
The postulates relative to a straight line demanded by Euclid (we
do not speak of his translators) are: 1. That such a line can be drawn
from any one point to any other. 2. That when terminated, it can be
lengthened indefinitely. 3. That two such lines cannot inclose (un
πEρiéxεI) a space. It is also tacitly assumed that every part of a
straight line is a straight line: that every straight line, infinitely pro-
duced, divides a plane in which it lies into two parts, and will be cut
by any line drawn from a point on one side of it to a point on the
other. It might also have been assumed that two straight lines which
coincide in two points, coincide when produced beyond those points;
but here Euclid has preferred to assume that all right angles are equal.
[RIGHT ANGLE.]
The definition which Euclid gives of a plane, is that of a surface
which lies evenly between its bounding straight lines. To this defini-
STRATEGY (from the Greek σrparnyla, which may be translated
στρατηγία,
generalship") is, properly, the science of combining and employing
the means which the different branches of the art of war afford for the
purpose of forming projects of operations and of directing great
military movements: it was formerly distinguished from the art of
making dispositions, and of manœuvring, when in the presence of the
enemy; but military writers now, in general, comprehend all these
subjects under the terms of grand and elementary tactics. [TACTICS.]
The general principles of strategy and tactics have been and must be
the same in all ages. To overcome the enemy, it is necessary to be
superior to him at the point of collision, not necessarily numerically,
for number only does not always represent the strength or relative
strength of an army, but superior when due allowance is made for
other advantages or disadvantages. The object then of all strategical
combinations should be to bring the mass of the forces in collision with
fractions of the enemy; and secondly, to act as much as possible on
his communications or lines of operations without exposing one's own.
The roads on which an army, or portion of an army, marches, are
termed strategical lines, and the belt of ground containing two or more
strategical lines, if lying close together, is termed a line of operations.
In order then to bring, and always to have the power of bringing, the
mass of the forces in collision with fractions of the enemy, it is neces-
sary to choose such lines of operations as are interior; interior, that is,
with respect to those on which the enemy acts. That is to say, that
845
816
STRAW-PLAIT MANUFACTURE.
STRAW-PLAIT MANUFACTURE,
these lines must be, relatively to those of the enemy, such that the
portions of the army moving on them may be more easily or rapidly
united than the enemy can be, moving on his, so as to be superior at
any particular point to the enemy. As a general rule, then, disregarding
the relative rates of marching of armies, cross roads, &c., interior
lines are such as are closer together.
Strategy consists, therefore, chiefly in making choice of convenient
bases (fortified places or strong positions) in order to place there in
security the military establishments of an army; such as the barracks,
hospitals, and magazines of ammunition and provisions, previously to
commencing offensive operations, or in contemplation of the army being
compelled to act on the defensive. In the former case, it may be
necessary to decide on undertaking the siege of some fortress on a
frontier, should there be none such in possession, for the purpose of
holding the neighbouring district in subjection, and commanding the
roads by which it may be thought convenient to penetrate into the
enemy's country, or by which the provisions and warlike stores may be
brought up to the immediate seat of the war. In the latter case,
choice is to be made of positions strong by nature, or which may be
made so by art, for the army to retire to while disputing the ground
gradually, harassing the enemy by frequent skirmishes, or preventing
him from receiving supplies by intercepting his convoys on the roads.
Thus, after the battle of Vittoria (1813) the allied British and
Spanish armies being at a great distance from the original base of
operations in Portugal, and it being intended to carry the war into
France, Lord Wellington undertook to besiege St. Sebastian and to
blockade Pampeluna, in order, by the possession of those places, to
have secure stations for his recruits and magazines while the army
advanced into the mountainous districts between St. Jean Pied-de-Port
and the sea.
On the other hand, the conviction, in 1809, that the
British army would be compelled to act entirely on the defensive,
induced the English general to take measures for a retreat into Por-
tugal, and to commence, many months before the retreat took place,
two chains of strong redouts on the north of Lisbon, in the expecta-
tion of being able there to resist effectually the very superior forces of
the enemy.
The project formed by Marshal Soult, in 1813, in opposition to that
of Lord Wellington, affords also a good illustration of the nature of
strategical operations. The French general decided to advance towards
Pampeluna in the hope of being able to succour that place, and after-
wards to unite his army with that of Suchet in Aragon: he expected
also to command the road along the Spanish frontier, by which he
might have got to the rear of the allies in a fertile country, where his
army could have found subsistence. (Napier, vol. vi.) This project
failing, and the battles of the Pyrenees having forced the French army
to act on the defensive, Marshal Soult took measures for protracting
the war to the utmost.
In the defence of an extensive territory, since it is generally impos-
sible to cover the whole, the principles of strategy indicate that the
army should be kept in force on a few of the most important positions.
By securing these, the designs of the enemy may be more effectually
frustrated than if it were attempted to occupy every post in the coun-
try; for the different divisions of the army being in the latter case
weak and ill supported, they are liable to be cut off in detail, whereas
the difficulty of dislodging a large body of troops from one strongly
intrenched position may deter the enemy from attempting it at the
same time the occupation of that position by the defending army may
paralyse his movements by rendering it dangerous for him to leave in
his rear a force which might prevent him from drawing supplies from
his magazines. The evils attending the dissemination of troops over a
great extent of country are strongly exemplified in the surprise of the
Austrians by Marshal Turenne. The French general caused the several
corps of his army to be drawn together towards Befort in such a manner
as not to excite notice; and from thence suddenly penetrating into
Alsace, in the midst of the enemy's quarters, he defeated the troops
before they had time to unite.
STRAW-PLAIT MANUFACTURE. The domestic character of
this branch of industry, which renders it peculiarly important as a
means of affording employment to women and children, especially in
agricultural districts, may probably account for the circumstance that
very little is known of its history. It is not known when the
manufacture of hats or bonnets of plaited straw first became important
in Italy, where it has long formed one of the leading pursuits of the
agricultural population; but it appears from Coryat's Crudities,'
published in 1611, that "delicate strawen hats" were worn at that time
by both men and women in many places in Piedmont. Coryat states
that many of these hats had at least a hundred seams, from which it
is evident that very fine plait was made at that time. The straw-plait
manufacture does not appear to have been followed in England for
more than about a century. The wives and daughters of the farmers,
before that time, used to plait straw for making their own bonnets,
before straw-plaiting became established as a manufacture. Gipsy
straw-hats were worn by ladies in this country about 1745-6. When
Arthur Young visited Dunstable, in 1768, the straw-plait manufacture
appears to have been established, though not very extensively. In
Macpherson's 'Annals of Commerce,' published in 1805, Dunstable is
described as a town in the neighbourhood of which the women and
children are employed in making hats, baskets, and many fancy articles,
CC
of straw, which in their hands assumes a vast variety of figures and
colours, and produces considerable emolument, especially since the
straw hats have been in general request among the ladies."
The large size of the wheat-straw used in this country for plaiting
prevented the home manufacture from entering into competition with
that of Italy in articles of fine quality; the straw grown for the
purpose in Tuscany being much smaller, as well as superior in colour.
This difficulty was in some degree overcome by the expedient adopted
in England towards the end of the last century, of splitting the straw,
and using the narrow splints, or slips of straw, in lieu of whole straws.
The operation of splitting is performed by small cutting instruments
called machines, which have a number of sharp edges so fixed as to
divide the straw, by a motion in the direction of its length, into four,
five, six, or more equal parts. Before machines were invented, straws
were occasionally split with knives by hand; a process which was both
tedious and unsatisfactory, since it gave no security for the uniform
width of the splints, upon which the beauty of the plait greatly
depends. Mr. Corston, in a letter addressed to the Society of Arts in
1810, observes that " by the mere invention of the splitting of a straw
a source of employment has been discovered, which has increased the
returns in that branch not less than from 300,000l. to 400,000l. annually."
Greatly as the British straw-plait manufacture had been encouraged
by the use of split straw, by improvements in bleaching, and by
increased care in the selection of straws of uniform size and colour, it
was found, when the re-establishment of peace allowed the free
importation of Italian straw hats, that the home manufacture was
unable to compete with the foreign, notwithstanding the heavy pro-
tective duty levied upon hats or bonnets of straw imported from
other countries. The Society of Arts therefore, for a long series of
years, offered encouragement to attempts for the improvement of the
British straw manufacture, which called forth many interesting com-
munications, and has led to great improvement. As early as 1805, the
Society presented a gold medal to Mr. William Corston, of Ludgate
Hill, for a substitute, of his invention, for Leghorn plait. His plait
was formed of rye-straw. More recently rye-straw has been tried for
the same purpose by Messrs. J. & A. Muir, of Greenock, who attempted
In plait
to establish the straw-plait manufacture in the Orkneys.
made of split straw, unless two splints are laid together, with their
inside surfaces towards each other, as in the plait called "patent
Dunstable," it necessarily happens that the face of the plait exhibits
alternately the outer and inner surfaces of the straw, which differ from
each other in colour and gloss. Articles made of split straw are also
inferior to those of whole straw of equal fineness, in pliability and
durability. Another circumstance which greatly increases the beauty
of Leghorn plait is the mode of joining it, so as to form, by the com-
bination of several narrow strips, an extended sheet of plaited work.
British split plait is usually joined by making the several rows of plait
overwrap each other a little, and then stitching through the two over-
wrapping pieces with a needle and thread. The surface of a hat or
bonnet formed in this manner consists of a series of ridges; and part
of each row of plait is concealed by that next above it, so that to form
a band one inch wide, with a plait a quarter of an inch wide, it will be
necessary to use five pieces of plait; at least a fourth part of the width
of each being absorbed by the overwrapping joint. Leghorn plait is
formed in such a manner that it may be joined without this loss; the
edge of one row of plait being, as it were, knitted into the edge of the
other, in such a way that the pattern may appear uninterrupted, and
the line of junction be almost invisible.
The home manufacture of Italian straw was introduced by Mr.
Parry in 1822. The ears are cut off with a knife, and the straws are
then carefully sorted to obtain uniformity in length, thickness, and colour.
The plait, of which an engraving is given below, consists of thirteen
straws. These are tied together at one end, and then divided into two
portions; six straws being turned towards the left side, and seven to
the right, so that the two portions of straw may form a right angle.
The seventh or outermost straw on the right-hand side is then turned
down by the finger and thumb of the right hand, and brought under
two straws, over two, and under two. This being done, there will be
seven straws on the left and six on the right side of the angle; and
the next operation is to turn down the outermost of the seven with the
left-hand finger and thumb, and to pass it under two straws, over two,
and under two. The right side will again have seven, and the left
Fig. 1.

side six straws; and the plaiting must be continued in the same
manner, alternately doubling and plaiting the outermost seventh straw
817
STRAW-PLAIT MANUFACTURE.
from side to side, until it becomes too short to cross over so as to
double on the other side of the angle. The plaiter then takes another
straw, and puts it under the short end at the point of the angle (the
middle of the plait), and, by another straw coming under and over the
joined one from both sides of the angle in the operation of plaiting,
it will become fastened; the short end being then left out underneath
the plait, and the newly fastened straw taking its place on that side of
the angle to which the short one was directed. The plait thus formed
is represented in the cut fig. 1, about double the real size. The plait
is formed in pieces of great length, which are adjusted in spiral coils,
with their adjacent edges knitted together, so as to form the large
circular pieces of plait which, under the name of hats, or flats, are so
extensively exported from the north of Italy. The mode of effecting
the junction may be explained by the help of the annexed cuts. Fig.
2 represents, about four times the real size, the two adjacent edges
when knitted together; the dotted lines indicating the edges of each
piece of plait, and showing how far the angular folds, or eyes, of one
piece are inserted into those of the adjoining piece. The thread by
which the two rows of plait are held together is here straight, and is
Fig. 2.
Fig 3.
entirely concealed in the plait. The joint is, indeed, only to be
detected on either side by the slightly increased thickness of the plait
where the angles are inserted into each other, and the thickness of the
thread itself. The mode of junction may perhaps be better under
stood from fig. 3, which represents the pieces of plait drawn a little
asunder, and shows the course of the thread, which is indicated by
dotted lines where it is covered by the straw. The operation is
performed by pushing a needle through the folds in the required order,
and, after passing it through as many as can be conveniently done at
once, drawing it through in the manner of a bodkin, leaving its place
to be taken by the thread. Sometimes, for the sake of expedition,
only every alternate fold is threaded. In arranging the plait in a
spiral coil, as in making a hat, it is necessary, in a few places, to force
two loops of the smaller circle into one of the larger circle adjoining it,
to allow for their different diameters.
Specimens have been produced in England even finer than real
Leghorn; but such extreme fineness can only be attained by a sacrifice
of strength, and an increase of work,
STRAWBERRY.
848
beneath the cask, and upon this is placed an iron dish containing
pieces of brimstone. The brimstone soon takes fire, and the sulphur-
ous acid gas evolved during its combustion fills the cask, and bleaches
the straw in three or four hours. After bleaching, the straw is aired
and softened by spreading it upon grass for a night, and it is then
ready for splitting. Chloride of lime is also employed as a
bleacher.
Straw may be dyed, for ornamental purposes, of many different
colours. Blue is given by a boiling-hot solution of indigo in sulphuric
acid; yellow, by decoction of turmeric; red, by boiling hanks of
coarse scarlet wool in a bath of weak alum-water containing the straw;
or directly, by cochineal, salt of tin, and tartar. Brazil wood and
orchil are also employed for dyeing straw.
The splints, or pieces of split straw, being curved in a way which
would impede the operation of plaiting, require to be flattened
between rollers. These, as well as the whole straws used in other
kinds of plait, are moistened with water to render them easy to work.
It need hardly be observed that cleanliness is indispensable to the
beauty of the plait. Hence the Italian plaiters find the spring to be
the most favourable season for the work, as the plait is not then
exposed to the smoky atmosphere of the huts as in winter, nor to the
dust and perspiration of summer. The Italian plait is dressed and
polished by passing it forcibly between the hand and a sharp piece of
wood.
The British straw-plait district comprises Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire,
and Buckinghamshire; those counties being the most favourable for
the production of the wheat-straw commonly used for English plait.
The manufacture is also followed in a few places in Essex and Suffolk;
but very little in other counties. The principal markets are Luton,
Dunstable, and St. Alban's. In Italy the manufacture is chiefly
followed in the neighbourhood of Florence, Pisa, Siena, and the Val
d'Arno, in Tuscany; and it is also established in Venice and other
places. There, as in England, the manufacture is purely domestic.
The chief market is Florence; and the demand is principally from
England, France, Germany, and America.
There are many kinds of straw-plait made in England, known by
the names of whole Dunstable, patent Dunstable, split straw, Devonshire,
Luton, Bedford, Leghorn, Italian, backbone, lustre, wave, diamond, &c.,
-differing one from another in the straws being whole or split, in the
thickness of the straws, in their number, or in other particulars.
There has also, within the last few years, been a great extension given
to the trade, by the combination of lace, whalebone, mohair, and
other substances with the straw, leading to the production of very
beautiful fabrics.

In the Companion to the Almanac' for 1861, is an article by Mr.
Charles Knight, describing many of the features in the English
straw-plait manufacture of the present day. A few of the chief facts
will here be given in a condensed form. The census of 1851 showed
that 28,000 females of all ages were engaged in Great Britain in this
manufacture; of whom 10,000 were in Bedfordshire, 9000 in Hert-
fordshire, 3000 in Buckinghamshire, and the rest scattered in other
counties. When seasons are favourable, and fashion tends to the
wearing of straw hats and bonnets, many girls and women turn
their attention to this trade, who would otherwise seek engage-
ments as domestic servants. Such was the case in 1859, when
Luton, Dunstable, and St. Alban's were very busy with the
straw-plait trade. During that season, one single firm, Messrs.
Vyse, purchased as much plait as 3000 persons could prepare, and
made up 9000 straw hats and bonnets weekly. Men are engaged
in cutting and sorting the straw, drying and brushing the plait,
and stiffening and blocking the hats and bonnets when made; the
other processes are undertaken by females. Taking all the branches,
The material commonly used for plait in Tuscany is the straw of it was estimated in 1851 that 70,000 persons were thus employed in
Triticum turgidum, a variety of bearded wheat, which seems to differ in Great Britain, and that the yearly returns were 900,000l.; it is sup-
no respect from the spring wheat grown in the vale of Evesham and posed that in 1859 these numbers were doubled. The manufacture of
in other parts of England. It is grown in Tuscany solely for the Brazilian grass hats is one of the peculiarities of the St. Alban's dis-
straw, and not for the grain; and the upper joint of the straw is that trict. In the country places surrounding the three chief towns for
chiefly used for plaiting. The straw is pulled while the ear is in a the manufacture, straw-dealers buy straw from the farmers, sort and
soft milky state; the corn having been sown very close, and-conse- cut it, bleach it, and make it up into bundles. Weekly markets are
quently produced in a thin, short, and dwindled condition. It is then held in the towns, at which the plaiters buy the straw. The women
dried by spreading it thinly upon the ground in fine hot weather, and and girls make up the straw into plaits of various kinds and widths,
afterwards tied up in bundles and stacked, for the purpose of enabling which are either sold at once to itinerant dealers or middlemen, or are
the heat of the mow to drive off any remaining moisture. After taken to market. The bundles of plait are bought by hat and bonnet
remaining in the mow for about a month, it is spread out in a meadow makers, who either work at their own houses, or are employed in
and exposed to the action of dew, sun, and air, in order to bleach it. large establishments by the chief firms. These straw and straw-plait
The straw is frequently turned during this operation; and after it is markets are held in the open streets of the three towns. No plaiters are
completed, the lower joint of the straw is pulled off, leaving the upper employed by the manufacturers; the straw is bought already plaited,
joint, with the ear attached to it, for use. This part is then subjected and ready to be made up into hats and bonnets. Much taste and skill
to the action of steam, and to fumigation with sulphur, in order to are shown in the making of the better kinds of straw bonnets, and the
complete the bleaching, after which it is ready for use.
It is tied up
weaver occasionally earns high pay. The manufacturers attend to all
in bundles, and imported to England in this state.
the fluctuations of fashion; and the workpeople have to adapt them-
Bleaching with sulphur is commonly practised in this country. The selves to frequent changes in form, material, and manipulation.
apparatus for this process usually consists of a cask open at both ends,
with its seams papered. It is set upright on the ground, having a
hoop nailed to it inside, about 6 inches beneath the top, to support
another hoop with a net stretched across it, upon which the straw is
laid loosely. The cask is then covered with a tight overlapping lid,
stuffed with lists of cloth. A brazier of burning charcoal is inserted
A small import duty, formerly imposed on foreign straw-plait, was
repealed in 1860.
STRAWBERRY. The botanical characters of the strawberry have
been given in the NAT. HIST. DIV. Of the cultivated strawberry, the
varieties are almost endless, and nearly every season something new is
produced. In the Fruit Catalogue of the London Horticultural
813
850
STRENGTH OF BEAMS.
STRONTIUM.
2
Society, upwards of sixty varieties are named as worth cultivating, and
there are as many, or perhaps more, which are reckoned worthless.
Strawberries may be propagated either by means of their suckers or
runners, or by sowing seed. The young plants will generally bear the
year after they have been planted or sown. In order to obtain the
fruit in perfection, they should be planted where they have access to
abundance of light and air. Plants grown from runners are best for
new beds, and should be planted out in March, in beds with three or
four rows, leaving an alley between each bed. The alleys should be
wide, the beds kept clear from weeds, and the runners cut at least
three times in the season. In the autumn the rows should be dug
between, and in the spring some straw or dung should be laid between
the rows.
If the manure produces too luxuriant a growth of the
plants, it should not be employed. The rows of the beds should be
two feet apart, the plants eighteen inches asunder, and the alleys three
feet wide between each bed. The duration of the plants is about three
years. As they are diœcious, care should be taken that there are male
plants in the bed in the proportion of about one to ten. The wood-
strawberry is best produced from seed, which should be sown as soon
as it is obtained from the fruit, and should be planted in beds in
March, in the same way as the others. The alpine strawberry is best
grown from seeds, which should not be sown till the spring, and may
be planted in July or August, in rows at the back of hedges or walls,
in a rich or moist soil. The duration of these and of the last seldom
exceeds two years.
Strawberries, when ripe, may be eaten in almost any quantity with-
out injury. They are frequently eaten mixed with sugar and cream,
or wine. When ripe and well grown, they hardly require such additions;
but when their sugar is deficient, this ingredient may be safely added;
and the addition of wine under these circumstances should be preferred
to cream, as the latter is very liable to disagree with disordered
stomachs.
OF.]
STRENGTH OF BEAMS, PILLARS, &c. [MATERIALS, STRENGTH
STRING-COURSE, a projecting course of masonry forming a string
or horizontal line on the face of a wall, and consisting of a series of
mouldings, as in Gothic, or of a flat surface (either plain or enriched),
as in Italian architecture. In both styles, string-courses admit of great
variety, and contribute very much to decoration, while they are in
themselves essential members, inasmuch as they serve to define the
internal division of the building, corresponding with the floors of the
several stories; and by separating one tier of windows from another,
to mark each as a distinct portion of the general composition, complete
as regards itself, though secondary to the other. While they separate,
they serve also to connect and combine the successive stages of a
building; and to produce a due admixture of horizontal with per-
pendicular lines.
STRONTIA. [STRONTIUM.]
STRONTIUM (Sr). A peculiar metal found in combination with
oxygen and carbonic or sulphuric acid, and forming the carbonate and
sulphate of strontia. From the very considerable resemblance existing
between baryta and strontia they were once supposed to be identical.
Crawford and Sulze noticed a difference between them, and in the year
1792 Dr. Hope established sufficient differences to prove that they were
completely distinct bodies, and the newly discovered body was named
Strontia or Strontites, from Strontian in Scotland, the place in which
it was discovered.
Strontium was procured from the carbonate of strontia by Davy in
1808; the method adopted is that which we have described for obtain
ing barium [BARIUM] from the carbonate of baryta. It is a malleable
metal of a pale yellow colour, is heavier than sulphuric acid, fixed,
difficultly fusible, and not volatile. When exposed to the air it attracts
oxygen, and becomes converted into strontia; when thrown into water,
it decomposes it with great violence, producing hydrogen gas, and
forming with the water a solution of strontia.
Oxygen and Strontium, as just mentioned, readily unite, constituting
the protoxide, or strontia (SrO), which in combination with acids exists
largely in nature, and the peroxide, which is entirely an artificial pro-
duct. The simplest mode of procuring the protoxide, or strontia,
when required to be free from water, is to dissolve the native carbonate
in nitric acid, and to decompose the crystallised nitrate obtained at a
red heat; or the sulphate of strontia, which is a much more common
substance, may be converted by the well known means first into sul-
phide and then into nitrate. The properties of strontia are, that it
has a grayish-white colour; its specific gravity is between 3 and 4; it
is very infusible, not volatile, has an acrid taste, and has an alkaline
reaction on vegetable colours. On comparing these properties with
those of baryta, it will be observed that there is considerable resem-
blance between them, but they differ in one remarkable respect,
namely, that strontia, unlike baryta, is not poisonous. When exposed
to the air it attracts carbonic acid, and is reconverted to the state of
carbonate.
Strontia and Water combine to form at least two compounds: when
a small quantity of water is poured upon strontia, it slakes, gives out
heat, is rendered white, and becoming a hydrate, it is fusible at a
white heat, but does not part with its water. Its formula is SrOHO.
According to Davy, strontia is soluble in about two. hundred times
its weight of water at common temperatures. The solution is called
ARTS AND SCI. DIV. VOL. VII.
Strontia Water, and is occasionally employed as a chemical reagent;
it acts energetically as an alkali on vegetable colours and in saturating
acids. In boiling water strontia is much more soluble than in cold.
As the solution cools, crystals, the primary form of which is a square
prism, are deposited, and these appear to consist of SrO, 9HO.
Peroxide of Strontium (SгO₂) may probably be obtained, as the per-
oxide of barium is, by passing oxygen gas over strontia at a red heat,
or by heating it with chlorate of potash.
Neither nitrogen nor hydrogen unites with strontium.
Chlorine and Strontium combine to form only one compound, con-
sisting of (SrCl).
The best mode of procuring this salt is to dissolve carbonate of
strontia in dilute hydrochloric acid, and to evaporate the solution to
its crystallising point, the chloride containing water then separates in
long slender crystals, which consist of one equivalent of chloride and one
equivalent of water. When exposed to heat the water is expelled, and
a solid white chloride remains. The crystals deliquesce in a moist
atmosphere, are soluble in twice their weight of water at 60°, and still
more so in boiling water; this salt is soluble also in alcohol, and the
solution when burning exhibits the peculiar red flame characteristic of
the compounds of this metal
Chloride of strontium may be more directly, but less eligibly, pre-
pared than in the mode now described, by passing chlorine gas over
heated strontia; oxygen gas is expelled, and chloride of strontium
remains.
Fluoride of Strontium (SrF) is an insoluble pulverulent compound.
Sulphide of Strontium (SrS) may be formed either by heating the
native sulphate with charcoal, or by fusing strontia and sulphur in a
green glass tube. It dissolves in hot water, and as the solution cools
crystals of sulphide of strontium are formed. They appear to contain
water.
This compound is used for the preparation of the salts of strontia,
the sulphate being a much more common substance than the carbon-
ate, which is preferable however when obtainable.
We shall now describe three oxisalts of strontia, two of which exist
in nature, and the third is occasionally employed in chemical re-
searches.
Carbonate of Strontia; Strontianite.-This was the first discovered
compound of strontia; it occurs crystallised and massive. Primary
form, a right rhombic prism. Cleavage, parallel to the lateral faces of
the primary form. Fracture, uneven. Hardness, scratches carbonate
of lime, but is scratched by fluor-spar. Colour, white, greenish, gray-
ish, and brown. Streak, white. Lustre, vitreous. Transparent, trans-
lucent. Specific gravity 3-605.
Before the blow-pipe it fuses, and gives a purple light. It dissolves
with effervescence in dilute nitric acid, and the solution is precipitated
by sulphuric acid.
Massive Varietics.-Amorphous, globular. Structure fibrous, some-
times granular.
Found at Strontian in Scotland, Braunsdorf in Saxony, and in Peru.
Analysis by Klaproth :-
Carbonic acid
Strontia
Water
30.
69.5
0.5
100'
Stromnite, or Barystrontianite, or Barytiferous Carbonate of Strontia,
is a mineral found at Stromness in Orkney. It occurs massive. Struc-
ture fibrous. Hardness 3.5. Specific gravity 37. Lustre somewhat
white. It is soft and brittle. Effervesces with acids, but does not
pearly. Translucent on the edges. Colour grayish and yellowish
melt before the blow-pipe.
According to Dr. Traill, who discovered this substance, it con-
sists of—
Carbonate of strontia
Sulphate of baryta
Carbonate of lime
Oxide of iron
Loss
68.6
27.5
2.6
0.1
1.2
100.
Carbonate of Strontia (SrOCO,) may be artificially obtained by
several processes; as by exposing strontia water to the air, or by
adding an alkaline carbonate to it; or by decomposing any soluble salt
of strontia, by means of an alkaline carbonate, &c. In whatever mode
obtained, it is a colourless insipid powder, quite insoluble in water,
decomposed by acids with effervescence, and by exposure to a high
temperature. It is used for preparing the various salts of strontia.
Sulphate of Strontia; Celestin.-Exists largely in nature. It occurs
crystallised and massive. Primary form a right rhombic prism.
Cleavage easy, parallel to the base of the primary form, but less so
in the direction of the lateral faces. Fracture conchoidal, uneven.
Scratches carbonate of lime, but it is scratched by fluor-spar. It is
brittle. Colour white, bluish, reddish-white. Transparent; trans-
lucent. Lustre vitreous. Specific gravity 3.858.
The Massive Varieties are nodular, tabular, and amorphous. Struc-
ture columnar, fibrous, granular.
3 I
£51
STROPHE,
It is not acted upon by acids. Before the blow-pipe it decrepitates
and fuses into a white friable enamel. The powder becomes phos
phorescent on a hot iron.
According to Klaproth it consists of-
Sulphuric acid
Strontia.
42
58
100
This substance occurs near Bristol, in Sicily, at Bex in Switzer-
land, &c.
Sulphate of Strontia and Baryta; Grunerite.-This mineral is found
in Hanover. It occurs massive. Its structure is radiated. Hardness
3.0 to 3.5. Colour white, with sometimes a shade of blue. Translucent.
Lustre vitreous. Specific gravity 3.76.
It is a
Sulphate of Strontia (SrOSO,) may be obtained artificially, by adding
sulphuric acid, or a sulphate, to any soluble salt of strontia.
colourless, insipid, heavy powder, insoluble in water, and dissolved
only by strong sulphuric acid, from which it is precipitated by water.
Nitrate of Strontia (SrONO,) is procured by dissolving the carbonate
in dilute nitric acid, or by decomposing the sulphide of strontium with
that acid. The solution is colourless, and by evaporation it crystal-
lises in octohedrons, which are soluble in five parts of water at 60°,
and in half a part at 212°. It is insoluble in alcohol, but when finely
powdered and mixed with it, the alcohol burns with a beautiful red
flame.
Under peculiar circumstances a hydrated nitrate of strontia is
formed, containing four equivalents of water. The form of this is an
oblique rhombic prism.
The salts of strontia are occasionally used in chemical investigations,
and in giving a crimson flame to fire-works.
STRYCHNOS NUX-VOMICA.
8:2
generally assumes a severer form: one or two extensive patches appear
on the arms, shoulder, or neck, the papulæ in each being hard, large,
and set so closely, that the whole surface of the skin seems bright red.
These usually continue for a fortnight, spreading slowly from one part
to another, and then fade, leaving the part, after the exfoliation of the
cuticle, rough and discoloured for a week or two longer. A similar,
but more obstinate and painful form of eruption, sometimes appears
on the lower extremities and the lower part of the trunk. It is never
advisable however to adopt any active treatment for the remedy of
this variety of the disease. It commonly continues during the whole of
the early period of dentition; but it affords in some measure a safe-
guard against more serious disorders, and disappears soon after the first
teeth have cut through the gums.
4. S. volaticus is characterised by small circular clusters of from six
to twelve bright-red papulæ, which break out successively in many
different parts of the body, remaining in each for about four days, and
then becoming brown and disappearing with scurf. The complaint
generally lasts three or four weeks, and passes in successive eruptions
over a considerable part of the body. It is attended by slight fever
and general disturbance of the system, and is most common in children
of from three to six months old.
5. S. candidus is distinguished by the papula being larger than in
any other variety. Their surfaces are smooth and shining, and, their
bases not being inflamed, they seem paler than the adjoining skin:
they usually last for about a week, and disappear in the same manner
as those in the preceding forms. An eruption of this kind is most
common in children a year old, who have shortly before its appearance
suffered from some acute disease. It requires no active treatment :
like all the other varieties of the disorder, it ceases with the irritation
from which it has its origin.
STRUMA. [SCROFULA.]
STRYCHNIC ACID. [Nux VOMICA, ALKALOIDS OF.]
STRYCHNINE. [NUX VOMICA, ALKALOIDS OF.]
STRYCHNOS NUX-VO'MICA, Medical Properties of. The genus
Strychnos, consisting of about twelve species, is remarkable for con-
taining among these some which possess only mild or beneficent pro-
perties, while others are endowed with more potent and destructive
This extraordinary difference is presumed to be owing to certain species
containing only an extractive, which is tonic and febrifuge, while others
contain one, two, or three alkaloids, which are extremely poisonous.
This is true as far as the S. Nux-vomica, S. Ignatia, S. Colubrina, and
S. Tieuté are concerned, all of which contain either Strychnia or Brucia,
and some both of these alkaloids; S. Sancti Ignatii contains an alkaloid
called Igasurine [NUX-VOMICA, ALKALOIDS OF]; but it does not
apply to the S. toxifera (Schomburgk), in which no alkaloid has been
detected. It must be admitted, however, that the S. toxifera, though
equally fatal with the others, produces death in a different way. Those
possessed of an alkaloid destroy life by exciting tetanic spasms, while
the wourali, or worary, or urari (prepared from the S. toxifera), pro-
duces diametrically opposite effects, as the muscles of voluntary motion
are paralysed by it. The only species strictly officinal is the nux-
vomica, poison-nut, or ratsbane, of which the seeds are employed, and
to this our attention will be at present confined.
STROPHE (σTроph) is a set of verses composed according to a
certain system of metres. The word is derived from στρέφω, "to
turn," as in the lyric, especially the choral poetry of the Greeks, this
part of a poem was sung during the movements and dances of the
chorus. In modern times such a combination of verses, written either
in the same or in different metres, is commonly designated by the
Italian name stanza. The division of a poem into strophes was how-powers than almost any other members of the vegetable kingdom.
ever applied by the ancients only to lyric poetry, and here one strophe
seldom exceeded the number of four verses, with the exception of the
dramatic and other choruses, in which a strophe sometimes contains a
considerable number of verses. However different the metre of the
several verses may be, there is always a unity of rhythm in them which
characterises a strophe as an artistic whole. The various kinds of
strophes were designated by the ancients by various names which
either indicated the number of verses they contained, such as disticha,
tristicha, tetrasticha, &c., or were derived from the name of their
inventors, or from the characteristic metre in which they were com-
posed, such as the Alcaic, Sapphic, Choriambic strophe, &c. Again,
strophes in which all the verses are of the same inetre are called
monocola; and those consisting of verses of two, three, or four different
metres, are called dicola, tricola, or tetracola. The choral poems of
the Greeks generally consisted of three main parts, strophe, antistrophe,
and epode. The antistrophe always corresponds in its metre with the
strophe, and thus forms a second stanza, equal to the first; the epode
differs from both, and forms the concluding stanza of a chorus.
(G. Hermann, 'Elementa Doctr. Metr.')
STRO'PHÚLUS is an eruption of pimples upon the skin, which
frequently occurs in infants whose health is disordered by the irritation
of teething or any other cause. Dr. Willan describes the following
forms of the disease:
1. S. intertinctus, of which the vulgar name is Red-gum or Red-gown.
The eruption in this form consists of vivid-red distinct papula,
scattered in varying numbers over the cheeks, the arms, the backs of
the hands, or, in some cases, the whole body. After an uncer-
tain duration the papulæ disappear, the cuticle separating in scurf;
but very frequently the fading of one eruption is rapidly followed by
the appearance of another, which passes through similar stages, and
generally spreads further over the skin. A few of the papulae in each
eruption sometimes assume the character of small pustules, a little
fluid being formed in their apices: but this commonly disappears with-
out bursting. The origin of the eruption may usually be traced to
disorder of the digestive organs, by a gentle correction of which it may
be cured. A sudden repulsion of it by exposure to the cold, or any
injudicious remedies, may bring on diarrhoea, and even severe general
illness. In itself it is a disease of no importance.
2. S. albidus differs from the preceding only in the colour of the
papulæ, which consist of minute whitish specks, slightly elevated, and
usually surrounded by a pale ring of red. They appear in the same
situations as those of the first variety, are referrible to a similar origin,
and require no other treatment.
3. S. confertus is often called the Tooth-rash, and the Rank Red-gum.
It occurs only during the process of teething, and consists (in children
of three or four months old) of small closely-set papula, less vivid but
more permanent than those in S. intertinctus. Their usual seat is on
the cheeks and sides of the nose; sometimes they extend to the fore-
head and the arms, and sometimes large papulæ appear upon the loins.
If the eruption occurs when the infant is eight or nine months old, it
Strychnos Nux-vomica is a native of Coromandel, Malabar, Ceylon,
and other parts of India, growing in sandy places, and attaining the
size of a tree, but short, crooked, and sometimes twelve feet in circum-
ference, flowering in the rainy season. The fruit is about the size of a
St. Michael's orange, with a bitter astringent pulp, and containing from
three to five seeds. The pulp may be eaten, but the seeds are poison-
ous and officinal; each seed is flattish or very slightly concave on the
side of the umbilicus, convex on the other, thickened at the margin,
peltate, about three lines in thickness, and clothed with dense grayish,
silky, or velvety hairs, which towards the umbilicus are arranged in
concentric circles. The testa or coat is thin, the nucleus white or
grayish, hard, horny, or cartilaginous, bipartite or divided by a cavity
in the centre; the embryo is near the margin of the seed, and its
position is often indicated by a prominent point.
Owing to the hard cartilaginous nature of the seeds, they are
extremely difficult to reduce to powder or to slice. Different expe-
dients are adopted to accomplish this. The entire seed is devoid of
odour, but the powder has a peculiar one, somewhat resembling
liquorice; the taste is nauseously bitter. Nux-vomica should never
be purchased in the state of powder, as it is frequently adulterated
with common salt or even emery-powder.
An oil is expressed from the fresh seeds, which is used for burning.
Nux-vomica seems to exert a deleterious influence alike over vege-
tables and animals; there is, however, a difference of susceptibility to
its action in different classes of animals, since a much larger quantity
is necessary to destroy herbivorous than carnivorous animals.
The degree of effect varies with the quantity employed, but it seems
to be the same in kind, being confined to the ganglionic system of
nerves and the spinal cord, extending as high up as the medulla
oblongata, and, according to Flourens, influencing even the cerebellum,
but certainly not directly affecting the cerebrum. Hence in fatal cases
the intellect is not disturbed till the extinction of life. The decapita-
tion of animals does not hinder the characteristic action of nux-vomica,
while, on the other hand, the removal of the spinal-marrow com-
A
853
834
STRYCHNOS NUX-VOMICA.
-
STRYCHNOS NUX VOMICA.
-pletely prevents its peculiar agency, even though artificial respiration
be maintained. "From some experiments of Segalas, it appears also
to exhaust the irritability of the heart; for in animals he found that
organ could not be stimulated to contract after death, and life could
not be prolonged by artificial breathing. Nux-vomica differs from all
narcotic poisons, by not exhausting the sensibility. During the inter-
vals of the fits the sensibility is on the contrary heightened, and the
faculties acute." (Christison.)
Three distinct degrees of action may be observed from the use of
nux-vomica. In small doses the ganglionic system appears chiefly to
be affected, and this so slightly, that any phenomena are observed only
in cases of disease, particularly in hysterical and weak persons. The
secretions are increased, both of the intestinal canal, the liver, the
kidneys, and of the skin, accompanied with an increase of appetite and
improved digestion. Hence, in small doses it is a useful adjunct to
aperient and diuretic medicines.
It is in the second degree of action that the characteristic effects of
nux-vomica begin to appear. The patient experiences a feeling of
weight and weakness in the movements of the limbs, inducing him to
remain at rest; while his mind is restless, sad, depressed, and anxious
for solitude and darkness, as he is peculiarly sensitive to light, noise,
or the movement of the surrounding objects. With an augmentation
of the dose, these phenomena are increased, and the contact of any
external body causes a feeling like an electric shock, the voluntary
muscles are no longer under the control of the will, and the individual
staggers on the least attempt at walking. At the beginning of these
occurrences the pulse is hard and quickened; the gums, cheeks, and
eyes reddened, and the respiration more frequent; but when the
nervous system is more affected, the hardness of the pulse subsides,
the countenance becomes of an ashy paleness, the eyes appear sunken,
articulation is difficult and indistinct, breathing is laborious, and
accompanied with violent spasms of the larynx, and the other muscles
of respiration are irregular in their action. After these symptoms
have lasted six or twelve hours, they subside, and a great increase of
the secretions is observed to follow; itching of the skin, with much
perspiration, even accompanied with an eruption of vesicles or large
blebs; the secretions of the serous membranes, of the kidneys, and of
the mucous membranes, are sensibly increased, those of the latter some-
times becoming bloody. During this period the patient complains of
heat in the stomach and throat, of thirst, of foul taste, and rancid
eructations, with nausea, and occasionally even vomiting. While the
augmented secretions are taking place, the more prominent nervous
symptoms disappear; and in a few days the sufferer recovers entirely
from the debility and excessive sensibility.
The third degree of action manifests itself by tetanus and asphyxia,
occurring in single paroxysms, alternating with paralytic torpor. The
paroxysms become longer, and the remissions shorter, in which how-
ever, till death close the scene, the intellect remains unaffected. While
the voluntary muscles are entirely withdrawn from the control of the
will, the pulse sinks and becomes slower, the breathing more and more
laborious ("the external muscles of the chest may be felt during the
fits as hard almost as bone; and, according to an experiment of
Wepfer, the diaphragm partakes of the spasm of the external muscles:"
Christison). The belly swells and exhibits blue marks, the countenance
is livid, and in a paroxysm of tetanic rigidity the breathing ceases,
though the heart's action and the peristaltic motion of the intestines
continue for some time; and, if an artery be opened, black carbonaceous
blood issues. Death, however, does not always take place by tetanus:
in some cases the departure of the convulsions has been followed by a
fatal state of general and indescribable exhaustion." (Christison.) Thus,
after the spasms have lasted twelve, sixteen, or twenty-four hours, and
completely disappeared, the individual has nevertheless died, after
being apparently in a state of safety. This has been ascribed to the
depressing effect on the heart's action, through the medium of the
nervous system, of long-continued pain. Or the individual may suffer
an attack, after the primary symptoms have subsided, of inflammation
of the stomach and intestines, which may or may not prove fatal.
Vomiting does not always occur, though the name would seem to
imply the frequency of this symptom.
Nux-vomica is important not only for its formidable properties, but
for the illustrations it furnishes to certain physiological doctrines.
Thus, when used in cases where a portion only of the body is paralysed,
it excites convulsions in the paralysed part before any action be observed
in the sound parts. "The paralysed parts are the seat of tetanic
shocks, of a prickly sensation, and of a perspiration, which is not
observed elsewhere. In hemiplegia the sound side of the body remains
tranquil, while the affected one is the seat of extreme agitation; the
tetanic attacks succeed each other rapidly, and an abundant exudation
takes place. Even an anomalous eruption has been observed, while
the healthy side has been perfectly free. One side of the tongue is
sometimes sensible of a decidedly bitter taste, which is not perceptible
on the other. If the dose be augmented, both sides become the seat
of tetanic action, though not equally so." (Magendie.) It is also very
remarkable that the contact of any external body with any part of the
frame of an individual under the influence of nux-vomica which is
supplied with nerves originating from the spinal cord, immediately
excites convulsive actions. In persons poisoned by nux-vomica, whether
the seeds or bark (false Angustura bark), the mere act of touching the
skin to feel the pulse has excited again the convulsive motions. Of
these two phenomena, namely, the action of strychnia on the paralysed
limbs previous to causing any obvious effect on the sound organs, and
of the contact of an extraneous body exciting the tetanic throes, the
following explanation has been given by Mr. Grainger :-" Strychnia
acts by preference on the paralytic limb or limbs, because the cerebral
control is removed from the paralysed limb. If the cord be divided,
the pure spinal power remaining, when the skin is touched the limb is
retracted, and must be retracted, because the cerebral control is wanting.
So when the spinal cord is stimulated by strychnia, it must act on the
limb or limbs from which the cerebral power is withdrawn."
Nux-vomica acts most rapidly when introduced into a vein, and in
other instances in the ratio of the absorbing power of the part; but it
produces no effect when applied directly to a nerve or to the brain.
In fatal cases the morbid appearances vary according to the period
at which death occurs. When death results from asphyxia, the brain
is gorged with blood, and the texture softer than natural. When
death takes place at a late period, sometimes appearances of inflamma-
tion are found in the stomach and intestines; but frequently these are
absent. A tetanic stiffness remains in the corpse till decay commences :
this state of rigidity, however, does not invariably occur.
The powerful properties of nuc-vomica, and the rapidity of its action
when administered in the state of a pure alkaloid, strychnia, or its
salts, have deterred medical men from making so extensive a use of it
as its therapeutic qualities entitle it to. The necessity for care in its
administration is manifest from the facts, that death resulted in one
instance merely from a woman grating cheese with a file which had
been previously used to rasp seeds of nux-vomica; and in another
instance death ensued from three grains of the alcoholic extract being
taken at once. The consequence of a salutary dread of it being enter-
tained has been that it is generally employed only as a last resource,
instead of being used at an earlier period. It might, however, be bene-
ficially used, with due caution and careful superintendence, in many
cases of hysteria and hypochondriasis, dependent on irregular action of
the nerves of the ganglionic system. In cases of hysterical paralysis,
accompanied with greatly impaired sensibility, it would be more
influential than any other agent in a disease at once tedious and
distressing.
In paralysis it has been found more uniformly beneficial than most
other remedies, though success has not always attended its employ-
ment. It is certainly better suited for some forms of paralysis than
for others.
It is most serviceable in cases of paralysis of parts which derive their
nerves from the ganglionic system or spinal cord. Hence it is more
serviceable in paraplegia than in hemiplegia, in palsy of the bladder, of
the rectum, and even in some cases of chronic diarrhoea dependent on
atony of the intestines.
atony of the intestines. It is more serviceable in the palsies which
follow fevers, rheumatisms, repelled eruptions, habitual drunkenness,
and exposure to noxious metals, such as lead or mercury, and merely
depressed nervous power, than in those which result from effusion of
blood. Its use is altogether improper immediately after an apoplectic
seizure, and indeed whenever vascular fulness or organic disease of the
brain is supposed to exist. Though less useful in affections of the
nerves which arise from the brain, it has nevertheless proved beneficial
in some cases of amaurosis, in which the endermic method of applica-
tion has been employed, rather than the internal administration of it.
Deafness has also been cured by it. When employed in paralysis of
any of the limbs, an auspicious sign of its beneficial influence is a
feeling of formication, and often of sweating, with or without an erup-
tion, and spasmodic twitchings in the limb, while the rest of the body
is unaffected.
It was conjectured by Batka, and it has since been proved by Dr.
O'Shaughnessy, that the false Angustura bark [GALIPEA] was the bark
of the Strychnos nux-vomica; so that in case of poisoning by that
article, the same mode of treatment is to be pursued as in poisoning bý
nux-vomica or strychnia. "Nux-vomica bark (kuchila) is commonly
sold in Calcutta for rohun, the harmless bark of Soymida febrifuga-a
most dangerous substitution. (Pereira.)
>>
Notwithstanding the "Act to regulate the Sale of Poisons" in this
country, nux-vomica, compounded in various ways, is too freely sold,
and used for nefarious purposes.
In cases of poisoning by nux-vomica, the most prompt treatment is
necessary, and still more so if any of the soluble salts of strychnia
have been taken. "Nux-vomica is occasionally made the instru
ment of voluntary death, although no poison causes such torture."
(Christison.) The stomach-pump should instantly be had recourse to,
when nux-vomica has been taken in powder; and as it adheres very
obstinately to the coat of the stomach, it must be perseveringly used,
with plenty of water. Emetics are too tedious in their action to be
depended upon. M. Donné has recommended, when strychnia or any
of its salts have been taken, to endeavour to form an insoluble salt;
and for this purpose proposes chlorine, bromine, or iodine. The
tincture of iodine may be procured promptly, but if ten minutes
elapse before it be administered, it is unavailing. When the quan-
tity of strychnia taken is not large, nor the symptoms very
urgent, vital stimulants or sedatives are often sufficient; and for
this purpose, wine, brandy, or a mixture of acetous ether and laudanum,
or laudanum alone, will remove the present danger. Chloroform is
£55
STRYCHNOS NUX-VOMICA.
sometimes successful, as is also ice applied along the spine. Conium
or its tincture offers probable means of antagonising the action of
strychnia, as suggested by Dr. Pereira. It is said that the leaves of
the Feuillea cordifolia furnish an antidote to nux-vomica and several
other vegetable poisons. It must ever be remembered that the danger
is not entirely removed, though the spasms may have subsided, and
the respiration become easy. Inflammation of the stomach may super-
vene, which will require the usual treatment, or secondary asphyxia
may steal on, and destroy the patient. To prevent this last occurrence,
great watchfulness is necessary, especially during the night, and the
patient should be frequently awakened, and made to drink freely of
green tea. But perhaps the most potent and efficient antidote to the
other poisonous strychnias would be the urari poison of South America,
as suggested by Mr. Morgan. (See Morgan's 'Lecture on Tetanus,'
p. 31.) The preparation of this substance, which has been an object of
curiosity and interest since the time of Sir Walter Raleigh, has been
fully detailed by Sir Robert Schomburgk. ('Annals of Natural History,'
vol. vii.) It is an article of much importance to the natives of Guiana,
as much of their means of subsistence depends upon their possessing
this poison, in which to dip their arrows for the chase. The chief, if
not the only, active ingredient is the Strychnos toxifera (Schom.), and
perhaps, in some places, Strychnos cogens (Bentham), the other ingre-
dients (most of which are obtained from climbing plants, lianos, or
nebbees," except one bulbous plant, a cissus, and another supposed
to belong to the Xanthoxylece) are used only to bring the juice to a
proper degree of consistency and adhesiveness. Arrows dipped in it
have been known to retain their poisonous properties for twenty-seven
years. (Iliff, in 'Medical Gazette,' vol. xx., p. 261.) The poison when
inspissated may be rendered liquid by heat, and is soluble in water, in
alcohol, in hydrochloric acid, and in volatile alkaline spirit. It unites
with acids without commotion or change of colour. If it be united
with alkalies, no ebullition is observable, but it changes its colour from
a dark brown to a yellowish-brown. It possesses a remarkable influence
over the blood after it is taken from a vein. "A few grains, mixed
with as many ounces of human blood warm from the veins, entirely
prevents a separation of serum and crassamentum, and the whole mass
continues in a state of fluidity similar to that in which it was drawn,
until, after some days, it putrifies." (Bancroft.) This property seems
to point out the propriety of employing it in cholera, in which the
separation of the serum from the crassamentum, while the blood is
yet in the body, is one of the most remarkable symptoms of that
disease. Dr. Hancock is of opinion that it is one of the most potent
sedatives in nature, and, could it be safely managed, he had no
doubt it might become a valuable remedial agent in the treat
ment of spasmodic or convulsive disorders. Its taste is an agreeable
bitter, and it has a tonic and febrifuge effect, frequently proving a
valuable cure in intermittents. It, as well as the venom of the viper,
seems to be disarmed of its virulence by undergoing the process of
digestion.
¡ On account of the difficulty of preparing the alcoholic extract of
nux-vomica of uniform strength, strychnia, or some of its soluble salts,
is now generally substituted for it, as these admit of easy subdivision
of the dose. Sulphate of strychnia has been used in some cases with
great advantage (See Gaskoin, in 'Med. Gaz.,' vol. x., p. 316); so also
the acetate; but a form of preparation which has proved of service in
some long-standing and almost hopeless cases of paralysis, is the hydrio-
date of strychnia. (See Magendie, Formulaire.') Phosphate is also
used; and in Germany nitrate is much used.
Care must be taken that the strychnia be pure, as a spurious article
is vended in France, which contains no trace of strychnia. Bichloride
of mercury is a good test for strychnia, but it causes no precipitate
from the solution of the acetate of strychnia; but the addition of
hydrochloric acid causes a white crystalline precipitate. Sulpho-
cyanodide of potassium appears to be the best test for strychnia. (See
'British Annals of Medicine,' vol. i., p. 190.)
Strychnia is prepared either from the nux-vomica seeds, in which
case it is difficult and expensive to separate it from the brucia, or it is
obtained from the St. Ignatius bean, in which it exists in about three
times larger quantity than in nux-vomica. It is also, but rarely, pro-
cured from the Strychnos Colubrina. The purest and most easily
obtained is furnished by the Strychnos Tieute, but the rarity of this
substance is a practical obstacle to its employment. Igasurina will
probably be found to act like the others, but more mildly.
Snake-wood.-Many substances, in countries infested with serpents,
are reputed to be efficacious in counteracting the poisonous bites of
these reptiles: one of the most celebrated of these is the root of the
Strychnos Colubrina. The strychnia probably acts as an antagonist to
the stupifying effects of the poison of the snake, just as arsenic does to
the poison of the Coluber carinatus of the West Indies. [ARSENIC.]
Strychnos potatorum, called also S. Tettan Cottay, or Clearing-nut, is a
native of India, and is a larger tree than any other species. It is devoid
of noxious properties. The fruit, though when very young it is made
into a preserve, and eaten, is reckoned emetic by the native doctors.
The chief use made of it is to rub the seeds hard round the inside
of an earthen pot, into which water is poured, and in a short time
it becomes clear, tasteless, and wholesome, however muddy, brackish,
or putrid it may have been: hence its name of clearing-nut. Officers
and soldiers, before setting off on a march, provide themselves with a
|
|
STURM'S THEOREM.
850
store of these, as water purified by such means is deemed more whole-
some than that clarified by alum.
of Brazil (St. Hilaire, 'Plantes Usuelles de Brésil,' t. 1), and is devoid
Strychnos pseudo-china, Quina do Campo, or Field China, is a native
of strychnia or brucia. It is a remedy of the Sertaneias, being pecu-
liarly fitted for those cases to which the true cinchonas are unsuitable.
The taste is at first faintly aromatic, then astringent, and at last
slightly bitter. It has no odour. In its properties it resembles quassia,
menyanthes, or gentian more than the true cinchonas, with none of
which, except the humalia bark, could it readily be confounded in its
physical characters." Mr. Burchell says, however, that even in the
proper localities of the cinchonas many strychni are collected.
[CINCHONA, in NAT. HIST. DIV., col. 1081.]
STUCCO. A name sometimes, though incorrectly, applied to all
descriptions of lime or cement renderings on masonry, whether
external or internal, but which is really given by builders to a species
of plastering, in ordinary cases worked up by hand to a fine face
adapted to receive paint; or in superior buildings made by the addition
of other materials than the lime, or plaster, usually employed, in order
to resemble marble. Common stucco, in fact, is nothing more than
plastering which has received an additional amount of manipulation;
marble stucco is made with fine lime (composed of the pure hydrate
of that base) mixed with calcareous powder, chalk, or other analogous
substances in such proportions and worked in such manner as to pro-
duce a hard, uniform surface, which admits of being coloured, painted,
and polished so as to represent valuable marbles. It is employed in
decorative architecture to cover columns, pilasters, walls, cornices,
plinths, &c., in sheltered or covered positions: in external works, the
natural or the artificial calcareous cements, or the oleaginous cements,
are employed for this purpose-a distinction unknown by the Italians
who first used the "stucca tura," from whence we have derived the
art, and the name, of the fine plastering used by us exclusively for
decorative and internal works.
Uniform marble stucco is prepared by mixing pounded white
Carrara marble, or gypsum in the form of the white alabaster, with
rich lime carefully slaked and run through a sieve, and the mixture
is trowelled on to a rough rendering coat until the surface is perfectly
even and homogeneous. Different colours are communicated by the
addition of the metallic oxides, and when very delicate tints are
required plaster mixed or gauged with water containing size, fish-glue,
or gum arabic, is substituted for the hydrate of lime. The polishing
is only commenced when the surface is perfectly dry, and it is effected
by the use of fine grits, tripoli powder, chalk, and oil; very much in
the same manner that marble is polished. Scagliola is executed with
the same class of materials as the marble stuccos; but small splinters
(or scagliole) of the marble desired to be imitated, should the latter
present much variety of effect, are introduced in the finishing coats.
Of late years the Keene's and the Parian cements have been exclusively
used in London, instead of the ancient marble stuccos.
STURM'S THEOREM. There is a branch of the theory of
equations, containing the celebrated theorems of Descartes, Fourier,
and Sturm, which it is advisable to place in an article by itself, and the
present heading has been chosen because Sturm's theorem is at once
the most conclusive and the latest of the three. It has long been a
problem of much interest and notoriety to find, in a given equation,
how many roots, if any, are contained between two given limits; how
many roots are positive, how many negative, how many imaginary.
The first step towards the solution of the preceding problem was
made by Descartes, though it is asserted by Cossali and Libri, that
Cardan came very near to the same step. Cossali, after collecting
a table of Cardan's cases, and putting them in a form which Cardan
did not use (an equation with 0 on the second side), then says that an
analyst who should look at this table would be able to rise to Des-
cartes's theorem. This is true enough, but it does not prove that
Cardan either could or did make the invention, but the contrary. All
the world knows that mathematical discoveries are recognised often
enough by analysts of a later day, in rudiments from which the fabri-
cators of them could evolve nothing.
The theorem of Descartes, expressed in his own words, is as follows
('Geometria,' lib. iii.): "Ex quibus etiam cognoscitur, quot veræ et
quot falsa radices in unaquaque Equatione haberi possint. Nimirum,
tot in ea veras haberi posse, quot variationes reperiuntur signorum +
et - ; et tot falsas quot vicibus ibidem deprehenduntur duo signa +,
vel duo signa -, quæ se invicem sequuntur." That is, that an
equation may have as many positive roots as there are changes of
sign in passing from term to term, and as many negative roots as
there are continuations of sign; but not more of either kind. It
has been doubted whether Descartes knew the true meaning of his
own theorem as to the case of imaginary roots; this doubt is as early
as the time of Descartes himself, who replies in a letter which we
cannot find by means of Rabuel's reference to it. This is however of
little consequence, as the following sentence (also from the Geometry)
shows in what manner Descartes understood his own words:
"Cæterum radices tam veræ quam falsæ non semper sunt reales, sed
aliquando tantum imaginaria; hoc est, semper quidem in qualibet
Equatione tot radices quot dixi, imaginari licet; verum nulla inter-
dum est quantitas quæ illis, quas imaginamur, respondet." It would
seem then that Descartes not only remembered the limitation of the
837
858
STURM'S THEOREM.
STURM'S THEOREM.
theorem arising from the possible existence of imaginary roots, but
proposed to divide those last roots themselves into two classes
corresponding to the true and false (or positive and negative) of the
real roots. The next step was made by De Gua (1741), who showed
that the roots of an algebraical equation x=0 are never all real,
unless the roots of the derived equations 4' x=0, p" x=0, &c. be also
all real; p' x, p" x, &c. being the derived functions, or differential
coefficients, of o x. He also showed how to determine the conditions
of the reality of all the roots. (Lagrange, 'Res. des Equ. Numer.',
note viiii.; Peacock, Report,' &c., p. 327.)
C
Descartes's theorem would be perfect if the roots of equations were
always real. For example, take 2-13x+40=0. If the foots be real,
hey are both positive; write +6 for x [INVOLUTION AND EVOLU
TION], and we have x²-x-2=0, of which the roots are less by 6 than
those of the former equation. But in the second equation, one root is
negative and one positive; consequently the roots of the first equation
are one greater and one less than 6. In the same manner a more com-
plicated case might be treated.
The theorem of Descartes, and the notion derived from it, that the
order of signs of coefficients regulates the signs of the roots; with the
step made by De Gua, and the notion derived from it, namely, that
the derived functions must be consulted upon the question whether
the roots of an equation be real or not; and the common theory of
equal roots, namely, that when x=0 has m equal roots, m−1 of its
derived functions (neither more nor fewer) vanish at the same time, or
with the same root, were the hints on which FOURIER [BIOG. DIV.]
was able to make an advance upon his predecessors. The coefficients
of the equation are themselves nothing but the divided derived functions
on the supposition that x=0. Thus, if px = 3x³- 7x² + 11x + 4, we
have
"0
$110
1.2
1.2.3
40=4, 9'0 =11,
1
-7,
3.
Let px, ò̟¸x, „x, &c. be the function in question, and its divided
derived functions. If we make a great enough and negative (say
infinite and negative), the signs of these functions are all alternate,
that is, the series yields nothing but changes of sign in passing
from term to term. But if we make a great enough and positive (say
infinite and positive), the series yields nothing but permanences of
sign. Thus, in the preceding expression we have
function or differential coefficient of (4x)2, a positive quantity. Now
if ya=0, (4x)2 must diminish (being positive) from x=a—h to x=a,
and increase from x=a to x=a+h. But a differential coefficient
is negative when its function diminishes with an increase of the variable,
and positive when its function increases with an increase of the
variable. Consequently 'xxx is negative from =a—h to x=a,
and positive from x=a to x=a+h; as asserted. We now proceed to
the proof of the theorem.
1. When x=-∞, the criterion is + − +
&c. or + + &c.;
and when x= +∞, it is +++ &c. or
&c. This follows im-
mediately from the nature of the functions px, x, &c., in which,
when is numerically great enough, the sign is always governed by
that of its highest term. Thus, in some place or places, so many
changes are certainly lost as there are units in the dimension of px,
neither more nor fewer, unless changes be gained and afterwards lost.
2. When a passes through a root of ox, as many changes are lost as
there are roots of px equal to that root. Let there be only one root
equal to a, so that p₁a does not vanish. We have then one or other of
the following:-
x=a—h I=α z=a+h
Фох . (+) 0 (-)
One change lost.
x=a-h x=0 z=a+h
ФХ (-) 0 (+)
$200 +
+
+
One change lost.
ቀ
The signs in parentheses are those which follow from the theorem
above proved. x cannot change its sign in the process, for by hypo-
thesis it does not vanish when x=a, and we take h so small that there
shall be no root of 4, between a-h and a+h. At x=a-h, we must
have ¸¤×¤ negative, and at x=a+h we must have it positive, by
the theorem; which gives the signs in parentheses as marked.
Now let there be, say five roots equal to a, or let pa, o,a, „ɑ, Ò¸ª,
a all vanish, p,a not vanishing. We must have then one or other of
the following:-
+ 1+1+
x=a-h 2=& x=a+h
z=a-h x=α
x=a+h
ФХ
0
фіс.
0
+
0
Флох
0
+
Pail
0
Фох
0
+
P3X
0
Pził
0
+
0
Флох
+
Фох
$500
+
+
Five changes lost.
1 + 1 + 1 +
2=
x=0
x=+∞
ФХ
Фіх
+
Фос
| ++
+
+
+
P3X
+
+
+
no
nothing
but changes.
two
changes.
changes.
px=3x³-7x²+11x+4, 4,x=9x³-14x+11, 4₂x=9x-7, 43x=3.
Now Descartes's theorem tells us that there may be one negative and
two positive roots, and we see that in passing from x= ∞ to x= =0,
or through the whole range of negative quantity, there is one change
of signs lost; while in passing from x=0 to x=+∞, or through the
whole range of positive quantity, two changes of sign are lost.
Fourier's theorem would suggest itself as highly probable to any one
who put Descartes's theorem in the preceding form: it is as follows:
When x=a, let the signs of pa, p₁a, p₂a, &c. be ascertained, and let
this be called the criterion series, or simply the criterion. Then in
passing from x=a, the less, to x=b, the greater (greater and less being
understood in the algebraical sense), the criterion never acquires
changes of sign, though it may lose them. When m changes of sign
are lost to the criterion in passing from xa, the less, to x=b, the
greater, it follows that there are either m real roots of the equation
lying between a and b, or some number, p, of pairs of imaginary roots,
and m-2p real roots lying between a and b. If m be odd, there must
be at least one real root lying between a and b. And if no changes of
sign be lost in passing from a to b, there is certainly no root lying
between a and b. For example, examine the preceding function and
its derivatives when x= 1 and x=+1. In the former case the
criterion is + +(three changes), and in the latter + + + + (no
changes). Three changes then are lost to the criterion in passing
from -1 to +1: so that there are either three real roots, all lying
between 1 and +1; or one such real root and two imaginary roots.
Again, in passing from-1 to 0, one change is lost there is certainly
then one negative root between-1 and 0. The remaining roots are
then either both imaginary, or positive and lying between 0 and 1:
the least consideration of the equation will show that the former is
the case.
-
Fourier's theorem is proved as follows :-changes of sign take place
only when quantities become nothing or infinite; those before us
cannot become infinite, and therefore the criterion can never be
disturbed except when one or more of the set px, px, &c. vanish.
Now when any function 42, vanishes, say at x=a, its previous sign
must have been the contrary of that of its derived function, and its
subsequent sign the same; that is, fin passing from a-h to a + h,
h being very small, 'xx must pass from negative to positive. An
algebraical proof may be given of this, but none which in brevity
comes near to the following. The function axa is the derived
•
Five changes lost.
All the signs except those in the lowest line are dictated by the
preliminary theorem. Thus p., in the first case, is negative by
hypothesis; now ò̟x is '÷5, so that ¸¤× 4x must be negative
before x vanishes, and positive afterwards. Hence p, continuing
negative, 4, must change from positive to negative. Again, xx
4,2 makes a similar change. The least consideration will show that,
the signs in the lowest line being given, those in all the upper ones
must be as written.
3. When intermediate functions vanish, changes of sign are never
gained, but only lost; and are never lost but in even numbers.
Suppose, for instance, that a vanishes, but not pa nor pa. We
have then one of the four following:
z=a+h
x=a-h
px +
x= a
+
x=a+h
+
z=a—h
ФХ
+
0
+
Фох
No change lost.*
Two changes lost.
фах
фх
+
+
+
0
+
Pric
0
+
Pail
+ +
+
No change lost*
Фоё
+
+
+
Two changes lost.
The signs in the middle lines are dictated by the preliminary
theorem. Next let p¸ª‚ ò̟¸ª, ò̟¸ª, ò̟.a vanish, but not a nor pc.
We have then, by the preliminary theorem, one or other of the four
following :—
P3.X
$512
Фуг
0,x
Фух
Фух
+ 1 + 1 + 1|
x=α-h
第二​期 ​x=a+h
z=α-h 2=0
x = a + h
+
+
Фдог
Флё
0
0
+
0
Филё
φ.τ
+
Фуё
Four changes lost.
Four changes lost.
$8+2 +
+
+
0
Фл
0
+
0
+
0
0
+
0
+
0
+-
Фох +
+
+
Фусг
+
+
+
Four changes lost.
Four changes lost.
40120
| + 1 + 1
+++
| + 1 +
Observe that in these cases a change is removed to a higher place in the
series, nearer to the head of the criterion.
85)
STURM'S THEOREM.
The same conclusions will be found from other cases, and we have
now examined every way in which the criterion can undergo an altera-
tion in the order of the signs of which it is composed. And since, the
function being of n dimensions, there are altogether n changes, and n
only, to lose, it follows that every pair of signs lost by the vanishing
of any of the derived functions, in any internal part of the criterion,
shows that there must be two imaginary roots: for there must be n
roots only, every real root must be accompanied by a change lost at
the head of the criterion, and every loss of changes which takes place
anywhere else diminishes the number which can take place at the
head. Again, since losses other than at the head of the criterion must
take place in even numbers, it follows that of any odd number of
losses, one must have been effected at the head, or must have risen
from a real root; or if not one, some other odd number.
STURM'S THEOREM.
SCC
V, and V,, for instance, vanished together, the third equation shows
that v, would also vanish, the fourth that v, would vanish, and so on;
consequently V,, a given constant, also vanishes, which is absurd.
Secondly, when any one after v vanishes, the preceding and following
must have different signs; for v₁=0 gives v=-V₂, V=0 gives v₁=
V., &c. Now call the signs of V, V,, &c., the criterion, and let v=0
sign in passing from xa-h tọ x=a+h.
when a = a, there being only one root of that value, so that v changes
with v, we have one of the four cases following:-
h tọ x=a+h. Since v, does not vanish
▼
V₁
1
v,
x=a-h x=α
x= a + h
0
+
▼
V₁
+
3
+
+
+
5
1
x=a-h
+
x= a
x= a+h
+
0
+
+
+
The manner in which the changes of sign take place is as follows :—
When x=-∞, or even when it is numerically greater than any
negative root, the criterion presents nothing but changes. Alterations
of the criterion consist in: 1, Loss of one or more changes at the head
If v, be the derived function of v, only the second or third cases
of the criterion (showing real roots); 2, loss of changes in even article; so that a change of sign will be lost at the head of the criterion
can happen, by the theorem so often used in the preceding part of this
numbers in the middle of the criterion (showing imaginary roots); 3, for every single root of v=0.
elevation of changes, or alteration of their place in a direction towards gained or lost in any other manner; for suppose x=a gives V₁=0
Nor will any change of sign ever be
the head of the criterion. This last takes place only when an odd for instance, then V, and V, have different signs, and in passing from
number of derived functions vanishes, the including functions (pre-xa-h to x=a+h, if each be so small that no root of V¸ or V5
ceding and following) having different signs. So soon as a root has lies between a+h and a-h, we must have one of the following
been passed, there is a permanency ++ or -- at the head of the
criterion; before another root is arrived at, this permanence must
have become a change, since a change there must then be at the
head to be lost in passing through the root. Hence it follows that
'between two roots of px=0, there must lie a root of p'x=0; and
this root is either single, triple, quintuple, &c., but not double,
quadruple, &c.
For example, let px=x-7x³+15x³-10x+2,
₁x=4x³- 21x²+ 30x-10, 2x=6x²-21x+15,
Фах=4x-7,
₁x=1.
There are no negative roots, as is obvious from their being nothing
but changes among the co-efficients; if we construct the criteria for
a=0, 1, 2, 3, and 4, we find the following results :-
0
1
ФС +
+
+
P₂x +
Pził
Prix +
0
+
2
3 4
+
+ + | | + 10
∞ | 1 + + +
+
+
+
+
When x=0, the criterion shows four changes; at x=1, it is inde-
finite, owing to 4,1=0. But immediately before x=1, pc must, by
the preliminary theorem, have the sign contrary to that of pc, or the
sign+; consequently, for x=1-h, however small h may be, the
criterion must be ++++. Two changes of sign are therefore
lost in passing from x=0 to x=1, and there are either two real roots
between 0 and 1, or two imaginary roots. To try this further, let
x, the criterion of which is ++ +; so that there is one root
between 0 and 2, and another between and 1. When x=1+h, the
criterion is + + —— +, so that there is no root between 1 and
2. Lastly, there is one root between 2 and 3, and one between 3
and 4.
The theorem of Fourier, though very convenient in practice, is
defective in theory, as requiring an indefinite number of trials. If two
roots were very nearly equal, it would require very minute subdivision
of the interval in which they are first found to lie, to distinguish them
from a pair of imaginary roots. This theorem was not published till
1831, in Fourier's posthumous work, but its author had made his
methods known, and among others to the late M. Sturm, a young
Genevese, employed in the bureau of M. de Férussac, editor of the
bulletin which bore his name, afterwards a member of the Institute,
who died a few years ago. Sturm applied himself to the detection of
functions which should stand in the place of px, p,x, x, &c., in such
manner that the criterion formed from them, in the same way as in
Fourier's theorem, should never lose a change of signs except in pass-
ing through a real root. In this he signally succeeded; and thus,
though his theorem presents great practical prolixity of detail, he fur-
nished a complete solution of the difficulty which had occupied
analysts since the time of Descartes. This theorem may be proved
as follows:-
v,
Let there be any number of functions v, V₁, V₂,.... Vr, the last of
which is a constant independent of x, and all but the last are functions
of x.
Let them be connected together by the equations-
V = P₁V₁ = V2
=P,V
V₁ = P.V. V.
1
37
P₁V3
-
V
Vr-Pr-1Vr−1 — Vr.
P,P,, &c., being any functions of x, which do not become infinite
when V,V,, &c., vanish. From this it follows, first, that no two con-
secutive functions of the set V, V,, &c., can vanish together; for if
1
cases :-
3
x=α-h x=α
x = a + h
x=a-h x=a x=a+h
+
+
VA
+ 0
+
+
+1+
1. 1+ +
0 ±
In no one of these is any change of sign lost, or anything except a
change and a permanence when x-a-h, and a change and a perma-
nence, in a different order perhaps, when x=a+h. Consequently, if in
passing from x=a, the less, to x=b, the greater, it appear that no
changes of sign are lost, it is certain that there must have been no real
roots of v=0 between x=a and x=b.
1
1
2 2
•
:
Now, v, being the derived function of v, it remains to find V₂, V,
&c. Divide v by v₁, which is of one dimension lower, and we have a
quotient, say P₁, and a remainder R. Then V=P, V+ R or V₂——R.
V,
2
Again, divide v₁ by V₂, giving a quotient P₂, and a remainder R, we
have then v₁=P₂ V₂+ R₂ or V-R₂; and so on. It appears, then,
that v,, being the derived function of v, we must proceed as in finding
the greatest common measure of v and v₁, only changing the sign of
every remainder as fast as it is obtained. In order that the last, Vr,
may be a finite constant, it is requisite that there should be no equal
roots. We must then suppose the equal roots to be separated before-
hand, as in the usual method. In fact, this very process of finding the
greatest common measure, with or without change of sign in the
remainders, will first detect the equal roots, if any. It is important
to remark, that at any step multiplication by any positive quantity is
allowable, the signs (the only things we have to do with) not being in
any case altered by such multiplication.
In INVOLUTION AND EVOLUTION a method of performing the
operations required in Sturm's theorem was proposed, which avoids
useless writing. Mr. Young (Math. Dissertations,' p. 143) pro-
posed another, of much the same degree of abbreviation. Sturm's
theorem however requires so much operation, that there can be little
doubt of that of Fourier being a more easy mode of working any
solution of equations that either of these theorems must be viewed:
particular case. It is not however as a key to the mere numerical
the insight which they give into the nature of equations, and still
than a germ), will render them both important steps in the progress of
more that which they are likely hereafter to give (for neither is more
algebra.
Since it is sufficient to the theorem that the last function v, should
retain one sign, and not vanish, we may stop in the process when
we arrive at any function of which all the roots are known, or can
by Sturm himself, that even when there are equal roots, so that the
be discovered, to be impossible. And it is easily shown, as was done
last, Vr, is neither constant nor always of the same sign, the theorem
still remains true, so far as to give the number of different roots
which lie between any two given limits, without any information as
to the number of times which each root should be repeated.
For instance, in the article cited we find
V = x¹ — 3xx³-2x² + x−3
v₁ = 4x³ — 9x² — 4x + 1
1
V₁ =43x²+ 45
2
G
We need not go further, for v₂ has none but imaginary roots. Now,
when x∞, the criterion is + — +; when = 0, it is
++; and
when x +∞, +++. Consequently there is one negative root, one
positive root, and a pair of imaginary roots.
The following example is from Mr. Young (p. 191): it is an instance
given by Fourier in illustration of his own method, and Sturm's is
applied to it by Mr. Young, to show (the 'superior certainty of the
latter. Of that certainty no one can doubt, but the process exhibited
661
STYLE.
STYLE.
in the page cited is such as will never come into general use unless the excite impressions of the grand, the pathetic, or the humorous, whether
work can be made more easy:-
v = x7—2x5 - 3x³ + 4x²-5x+6
V₁=7x5 — 10x¹-9x²+8x-5
-
v₂ = 2x³ + 6׳ —10x²+15x-21
2
V₂-62x¹--70x³ +123x²—163.x+10
4
V -4403x3+8862x²-19810x + 20531
v¸=200865x² + 489790x-1169472
v₁=187355x - 270632
V₁ = a positive constant.
7
Here the criteria for x=-∞,x=0,x=+∞ are
x=0
+
+
+++
++
-
+ five changes
+ four changes
x= +∞ + + + + − + + + two changes.
There are then one negative root and two positive roots, and there
fore four imaginary ones. The reader will easily find that the positive
roots lie between 1 and 2, and the negative root between 1 and −2.
The exhibition of the process, leaving out the actual performance of
multiplications, has 400 figures in Mr. Young's work. Fourier has
merely written down the derived functions, which is done at sight, and
formed the criteria for x=-10, x=-1, x=―h, x=0,x=+h, x=1,
x=10, which may all be done at sight also. From this he finds that
there must be one negative root between 1 and -10, that there may
be two roots between 0 and 1, and two more between 1 and 10. All
this might be done before V, could be found and written down as
above. It is to be hoped either that Fourier's theorem will be com-
pleted by the addition of a test for imaginary roots, or that Sturm's
functions will be exchanged for others of less complicated opera-
tion. But, in the meanwhile it must be remembered that Fourier,
Sturm, and Horner have completely changed the aspect of the
solution of numerical equations at the beginning of the period men-
tioned, it would have been thought too good to expect that any certain
method of predicting, or easy one of calculating, the roots of such
equations, should be found, after the failure of all analysts from Des-
cartes and Newton down to Euler and Lagrange, the best heads of
France and England, Germany and Italy. It is a lesson against de-
spairing of the attainment of any result, however illustrious the
investigators who have not succeeded, and also against imagining that
the hints of preceding ages are exhausted. All the contents of the
present article arise out of a new mode of looking at the theorem which
Descartes gave more than two hundred years ago.
STYLE, used for manner of writing, from the Latin stylus, the same
word with the Greek σrúλos, a "pillar," or "column." The Romans
gave that name to an iron bodkin having a sharp point, with which
they were accustomed to write by exaration, or scratching, on their
wax-covered tablets or note-books; and from the instrument of
writing, the term was transferred to the writing itself, and that too
considered in reference not to the form of the characters (which would
have been the more immediate transition), but to the mode of
expression. Among the Romans, however, the term, in this figurative
application of it, retained always considerably more of its antecedent
meaning than it does with us. We say not only style of writing and
style of speaking, but style of painting, style of architecture, style of
dress, style of anything in which form or manner is conceived to be, in
however slight a degree, expressive of taste or sentiment-if even this
much of distinction still remains between what is called style and
mere manner in the widest or loosest sense,
Style, in writing or speaking, may of course mean a bad style as well
as a good style. Yet when the word stands alone, we always under
stand it in the latter sense-just as when we speak of expression in
painting or in music we mean just or forcible expression. Thus, Swift
has said, "Proper words in proper places make the true definition of a
style." This, however, is merely to tell us, what is sufficiently obvious,
that the art of expressing thought by language consists in two things:
first, the selection of words; second, their collocation or arrangement.
That to constitute a good style, both this selection and this collocation
must be proper, there can be no doubt; the only question is, what
constitutes propriety as to such matters. Style has been sometimes
considered as nothing more than the image or outward expression of
thought, as its produce or creation in the same sense in which it may
be said that the impression upon the wax is the creation of the seal;
and it has hence been assumed that all that is necessary for the
ensuring of a style of any degree of excellence is the possession of a
corresponding power of thought. But a little reflection will satisfy us
that this is an insufficient explanation. Of two men equal in powers
of mind, and equally in possession of a subject, nothing is more.
common than that the one should be able to expound it much more
clearly and effectively than the other. Language is an instrument the
use of which must be learned like that of any other instrument. Style
is rather the vehicle than the mere expression of thought; and the
thought may be present where the vehicle is wanting. To some
extent, also, it may be said to be the dress of thought, or that which
ornaments and sets off thought, not only by the added charms of
sound, but by other powers which are inherent in words, and of which
unexpressed thought knows nothing. As there are thoughts that
breathe," so there are "words that burn "-that by their associations
|
they are addressed to the ear or merely to the eye. And great effects
are also to be achieved by the arrangement of words, not only in the
production of melody and cadence, but in a higher kind of gratification
or excitement as by the luminous disposition of all the parts of the
sentence, by the presentment of every term at the plice best fitted to
bring out its whole import, by all the resources of what the gramma-
rians call inversion, ellipsis, and other figures of speech; which, indeed,
wherever they are properly used, are no deviations from natural syntax at
all, but, on the contrary, the most natural forms that can be employed.
For, while writing is an art, it is nevertheless most true that, like all
the other arts the purpose of which is to give expression to mind, the
guiding and controlling principle of its exercise, its life and being, as
we may say, must ever be as exact and sympathetic a conformity as
possible to the thoughts or emotions of the writer. Whatever more
style is than the mere expression of thought, that much it must be at
the least. A powerful thinker may not always be a powerful writer,
but no man can be a powerful writer who is not a powerful thinker.
Even the humblest quality of style, mere perspicuity, cannot be
attained without a corresponding degree of clearness of thought. We
sometimes meet with a perspicuity which is little more than gram-
matical, and hardly belongs to style at all; but even that implies
distinct conceptions so far as they go-a limpid stream of thought,
however little depth or spaciousness of intellect. And as for all higher
attributes, it is manifest that they cannot be found in the style, if they
do not exist in the mind of the writer. The only fountains from which
a man's words can derive the animation of true passion, or poetry, or
wit, must be his own head and heart.
The lowest kind of writing that deserves the name of a style at all
(unless it is to be called a bad style) ought, as we have observed, to be
perfectly perspicuous-that is to say, readily and completely intelli-
gible in so far as the understanding of it depends merely upon a
knowledge of the language. The subject may be a difficult one; but
that is only a reason for more pains being bestowed to make the style
clear and easy, by a lucid arrangement and the avoidance of all
ambiguities of expression. But although this rule may be justly
insisted upon where nothing beyond such perspicuity is desirable, it
will not bear to be so rigidly enforced in regard to the higher kinds of
style. Here some sacrifice even of perspicuity is at times to be sub-
mitted to, for the sake of appropriate effects which could not be
otherwise attained. Eschylus, no doubt, might have made his cho-
russes, Pindar his odes, Tacitus his historic pictures, more easily
comprehensible, better fitted for the use of such readers as would
always run while they read, by greater diffuseness and dilution of
style; but much more, certainly, would have been lost than gained by
the attempt. What is to be desired in the highest kinds of writing, as
in the highest creations of all the fine arts, is not perfect compre-
hensibility at a glance, but rather that fulness and profundity of
meaning which can never be wholly comprehended, but supplies
inexhaustibly something new to be seen and felt every time we return
to the work.
In every cultivated language, however, the progress of style is
decidedly towards more and more of first-sight intelligibility, in so far
as that depends upon precision of phrase, and the use of words in
certain limited meanings. This has been remarkably the history of
the English language, at least for the last two hundred and fifty years,
during which we have been fixing both our grammatical forms and our
rules of syntax to an extent that would surprise most persons if the
evidences of it were stated in detail. Whether all that has been done
in this way has really improved the language,-whether it has been
thereby rendered more expressive, more flexible, more fitted for the
various ends which a language ought to subserve, may perhaps be
questioned. The gain in point of precision may possibly be more than
balanced by the loss both in ease and in variety of style.
In another respect, however, English prose eloquence has undergone
a change of character in an opposite direction, by the greater infusion
which it has received of a colloquial tone and phraseology within the
last century and a half. Till towards the close of the 17th century,
the language of books, except in the comic drama and other light com-
positions of a kindred character, generally preserved a formality of gait
and manner which distinguished it nearly as much from living con-
versation as the critics have held that the language of verse should be
distinguished from that of prose. Among the most eminent of the
writers who first broke through this species of restraint were Cowley,
in his Essays; Dryden, in his prefaces and other prose discourses;
Sir William Temple; and the third Earl of Shaftesbury. The example
set by them was followed by Swift, Addison, Steele, and their associates
and imitators, till, in the earlier part of the last century, the colloquial
ease and liveliness, which had thus become fashionable, threatened to
degenerate into a slovenliness, or shambling fluency, alike without either
elegance or precision. It must be admitted, that of all the writers of
the second quarter of the 18th century, Lord Bolingbroke, whatever
opinion may be entertained of his depth of thought or weight of
matter, wrote the best style, at once the most flexible and idiomatic,
and the purest, most refined, and most musical. But probably the
writer who on the whole did most to restore measure and emphasis to
our prose style was Johnson: his manner has not been much copied in
all its peculiarities or in its entire character, but yet more or less of its
і
863
STYLE, OLD AND NEW.
At
influence may be detected in the style of nearly every one of the more
remarkable writers who have subsequently appeared among us.
the same time, however, examples of altogether a different character
were also producing their effects; and the rude vigour of Warburton,
the naïveté of Sterne and Goldsmith, and, above all, the rapidity,
variety, and imaginative splendour of Burke, have all operated power-
fully in forming the greatest of our later writers. Finally, with all
these influences have mingled and co-operated two others which have
also been impulsive and generative to a considerable, though not both
to the same, extent: on the one hand, the revived study of our
old Elizabethan literature; on the other, the new life and spirit that
has been put into literature, as into all things else, by the political and
social convulsions of the last fifty years. These two influences, though
thus apparently opposite in origin, have proved rather mutually assistant
than contradictory.
Purity of style is more intimately connected with many apparently
higher things than is commonly supposed. When it is considered,
indeed, what the wrong use of a word springs from and implies, the
mischief it is apt to occasion is easily understood. It is produced by a
confusion of thought, which is propagated wherever the vicious mode
of expression prevails, and which, besides the injury done in the par-
ticular case, helps generally to impair the habit and the faculty of clear
and correct thinking. Yet words, for obvious reasons, have a strong
tendency to shift their signification; if a language were to be merely
spoken, and not written, this would be constantly taking place to a
very great extent; the only thing that can check it, that can furnish a
practically available standard of the language, is the employment of it
in writing. Originally, indeed, the principles upon which it is written
must be taken from its spoken form-from the usus et norma loquendi;
but afterwards commonly the spoken language both will be and ought
to be rather regulated and controlled by the written language. If it
should continue to be otherwise, the language would not improve, but
would degenerate towards barbarism; for there could be no progress
in any other direction, in this or in anything else, where the com-
parative slovenliness and incorrectness of extemporaneous precipitation
were allowed to carry it over the best efforts of deliberation and care.
STYLE, OLD AND NEW. By the Old Style is meant the mode
of reckoning time anterior to the Gregorian reformation of the
calendar; and by the New Style, that adopted since. The adoption of
the reformation at different times by different countries renders it
necessary to remember the difference of their reckonings, as follows:
The reformation took place in 1582: from thence to the end of
February, 1700, new style is ten days in advance of old style. Thus
January 1 (0. S.) is January 11 (N.S.), and so on.
From and after March 1, 1700, to the end of February, 1800, new
style is eleven days in advance of old style: thus January 1 (O. S.) is
January 12 (N. S.).
The new style was adopted in England by 24 Geo. II. (1751), which
enacted-1, that the year 1752 should begin on the 1st of January
instead of the 25th of March, which was then the legal commencement;
2, that the 3rd day of September, 1752, should be called the 14th, or
that the days from the 3rd to the 13th inclusive should have no
nominal existence. Accordingly, the year 1751 had no January,
February, nor March up to the 24th inclusive; and September wanted
eleven complete days.
According to Sir Harris Nicolas, the new style was adopted as
follows:-By Denmark, France, Holland, and most of the Low
Countries (some towns excepted), most of Italy, Lorrain, Portugal,
and Spain, in 1582; by German and Swiss Catholics in 1584; by
Poland in 1586; by Hungary in 1587; by German and Swiss Pro-
testants, and the remaining parts of Holland, &c., in 1700; by Tuscany
in 1749 or 1751; and by Sweden in 1753. It is not yet adopted in
Russia.
18
28
1618
9.
STYRONE.
STYPHNIC ACID. [PHENYLIC GROUP.]
864
STYPTICS (from σTUTTIKÓS, "astringent"), agents which check the
στυπτικός,
flow of the fluids, generally of blood, rom a relaxed or ruptured
vessel. They are a kind of astringent, and the principle of their mode
of action has been already detailed. [ASTRINGENTS.] The only point
requiring notice here is to enforce the necessity of their prompt em-
ployment, as the natural disposition of the blood to coagulate becomes
less and less as it continues to flow, till fainting be induced, and a
cessation of the current results, after much injury is done to the
system. The bleeding may be spontaneous, as is frequently the case
with young persons, from whose nose blood frequently flows, even
when perfectly quiet, but still more frequently when running or lifting
some heavy weight, or it may be the consequence of a wound, such as
a leech-bite, or of the extraction of a tooth, or caused by some cutting
instrument. Those astringents are alone entitled to be called styptics.
which can be applied directly to the bleeding orifice; and of these some
act chemically, others vitally, and others merely mechanically. Of
chemical styptics, a saturated solution of alum, or sulphate of zinc, or
creasote, are the best. Strong acetic acid acts both chemically and
vitally. When blood continues to ooze from the socket of a tooth,
it is a useful plan to plug it with a sponge-tent, which, as it expands,
quite fills up the socket, and restrains the hæmorrhage.
A few drops of collodion upon a leech-bite, or the nap from a hat, or
a spider's web, may be used.
STYRACIN. [STYRONE.]
STYRACONE. [STYRONE.]
STYRAX OFFICINALIS is the source of the officinal storax,
although an article is occasionally vended under this name, which is
obtained from the Liquidambar styraciflua, and perhaps other species
of Liquidambar, yet in the London Pharmacopoeia, it is said to be the
produce of an unknown plant. Of genuine storax there are several
varieties, and of those known to the ancients many are now altogether
unascertainable, while of those mentioned by even recent writers
several are very rare, and not of commercial importance. The tree
grows in Greece and Asia Minor. Asiatic Turkey supplies whatever is
met with in commerce. It is procured by incisions in the bark, or
perhaps from the punctures of insects. What flows from these openings
is a liquid resinous substance, which concretes into small tears, about
the size of peas; these, aggregated into masses, constitute the styrax
albus, which is of extreme rarity. Another form is that called amyg-
daloides, also of great rarity and extravagant price. It is sometimes
termed calamita vera. The commercial article is of various degrees of
purity and excellence. One kind is called storax calamita vulgaris, or
Scobs storacina. This always contains more or less sawdust, mixed
with variable quantities of resin. It is generally in large round cakes,
of a brown colour, verging to red or black, with fragrant odour, brittle,
and friable, but softens in the mouth, and has a bitter taste. It burns
with a light flame. It is considered to be an artificial compound,
prepared chiefly in Venice and Trieste. Liquid storax contains-
volatile oil (styrol), a trace only; resin, both soft and hard, from 32
to 53 per cent. in different specimens; benzoic acid, from 1 to 2 per
cent.; gum, 7 to 14; woody fibre, 20 to 27; ammonia, an inappreciable
quantity; cinnamic acid and styracin.
Storax is stimulating in a degree dependent on its purity. For
medical purposes it is directed to be purified by solution in alcohol,
straining, and afterwards distilling off the spirit. The residuum is
then used in a few preparations, such as tinctures and pills. It
formerly entered into a multitude of compounds, but it might be
altogether supplanted by benzoin. It is much used to form pastilles,
and for fumigations. The bark is called cortex thymiamatis, or cortex
thuris, from which, by boiling, liquid storax is procured, as well as from
the Liquidambar. There is a storax from Bogota, but its source is
unknown, though Geiger ascribes it to a styrax.
It was at one time sometimes the mode to express the date in both
styles. We have an old letter written from France to Holland in 1619,
as we should now call it, the date of which is Février
[PERIODS OF REVOLUTION.]
STYLOBATE. In its general meaning this term signifies any sort
of basement upon which columns are placed to raise them above the
level of the ground or floor; but in its technical meaning it is applied
only to a continuous unbroken pedestal, upon which an entire range of
columns stand-in contradistinction from pedestals, which are merely
detached fragments of a stylobate placed beneath each column. The
Greeks very rarely employed the stylobate, but placed their columns
immediately upon the floor of the elevated platform of the gradini, or
deep steps, which served as the basement of the temple, and which
were generally continued on every side. [GRECIAN ARCHITECTURE.]
The Romans, on the contrary, broke up their stylobates into distinct
blocks or pedestals placed beneath each column: and most followers
of that or the Italian school have considered pedestals of that kind to
be almost essential to an entire order, and have laid down proportions
accordingly, which are in themselves exceedingly faulty, being much
too high. At the best, columns upon detached pedestals always look
as if placed upon stilts, and where such pedestals are as high as they Pervine, Cinnamyl-styrone or styracin, or metacinnamene (
STYROL (CH). An essential oil existing in the gum resin, or
balsam, of storax. [BALSAMS.] It is obtained on distilling a mixture
of three parts of storax and one of carbonate of soda with water; and
is purified by rectification after drying over chloride of calcium. It is
colourless and limpid, has a persistent aromatic odour, and boils at
293° Fahr. It is isomeric with cinnamol or cinnamene, but is dis-
tinguished by being entirely solidified when "heated suddenly to 400°
Fahr. The solid is a polymeride of styrol and is termed metastyrol, or
draconyl, the latter in allusion to another source, namely, dragon's
blood resin (Dracaena draco).
are sometimes made, the columns seem to stand very insecurely, and
the effect is very much like that of a round column immediately placed
i pon a dwarf square one.
Chlorine and
Styrol is miscible in all proportions with alcohol or ether; is neutral,
and has a density of 0.924. Sulphur and phosphorus are soluble in
it. Nitric acid converts it into benzoic and nitrobenzoic acids; oily
and resinous bodies being simultaneously formed.
bromine form with styrol chloride and bromide of cinnamene.
Metastyrol is insoluble in water or alcohol, is only slightly soluble in
ether, and has neither colour, odour, nor taste. It softens on the
application of heat, and at a high temperature is reconverted into
styrol. Nitric acid transforms it into nitrometastyrol.
18
STYRONE (C₁₂HO, CO₂). Cinnamic alcohol, Styracone,
18 10 2
H
181
2
}0₂)
is found in liquid storax and in balsam of Peru. On distilling either
of the latter with strong caustic potash or soda, the styrone passes
885
866
STYX.
SUBLIMATION.
SUBERAMIDE. [SUBERIC ACID.]
SUBERANILIC ACID. [SUBERIC ACID.]
SUBERANILIDE. [SUBERIC ACID.]
16 12
over along with water. On adding common salt to the water, a cream-
like matter rises to the surface and gradually solidities to an acicular
mass of styrone. It melts when heated and boils at 482° Fahr. Its
vapour has an agreeable odour resembling that of hyacinths: it rapidly SUBERIC ACID (CH,,0,2 HO). An organic acid produced by
attacks india-rubber. By peroxide of lead and caustic potash, or by treating rasped cork with diluted nitric acid; the cork is slowly dis-
chromic acid, styrone is oxidised to cinnamic acid. Under the in-solved, and a fatty substance is formed, which floats on the surface of
fluence of platinum black it is converted into the aldehyd of cinnamic
or hydride of cinnamyl, identical with the essen-
15-
alcohol (CisH₂O₂
})
tial oil of cinnamon.
Styracin, or cinnamyl-styrone, is obviously polymeric with the
hydride of cinnamyl just mentioned:-
C18H₂O
}
2(C1 H})
STYX (Σrú§ or Σrvyòs üdwp). In the ancient mythology the Styx
(Στύξ Στυγός
was believed to be the principal river of the lower world, round which
it flowed nine times. (Virg. Æn.,' vi. 439.) It was believed to be
an arm of the river Oceanus, which flowed round our earth, and the
river Cocytus was thought to be a branch of the Styx. When the
gods of the ancients took a great oath, they always swore by the water
of Styx, and awful punishment awaited him who swore falsely. The
divinity of the river Styx was a nymph of the same name, daughter of
Oceanus and Tethys, who dwelt at the entrance of the lower world in
a spacious grotto supported by silver columns. (Hesiod, 'Theog.,'
778.)
SUB. A prefix applied in chemistry to a basic salt or to an oxide
containing a less proportion of oxygen than a protoxide.
SUBCONTRARY. This word is particularly applied to the sections
of a cone, in a manner which, without interfering with that application,
would allow of its definition being generalised as follows:-When a
figure or solid is symmetrical, so that equal lines or polygons can be
drawn on two different sides, those equal lines or polygons may be
called subcontrary. Thus, in Euclid, i. 5, the equal lines which are
obliquely deflected from the two ends of the base of the isosceles
triangle, are subcontrary. In a right cone every section has its sub-
contrary, except only the circle which generates the cone, and its
parallels. Let v be the vertex of an oblique circular cone, and ABCD
the circle on which it is described. Let the plane VA C be that which
passes through the centre of the circle perpendicularly to its plane.
Then the cone is exactly the same on one side of the plane V AC as on
the other; and if a plane AGF be drawn through a perpendicular to
the line which bisects the angle AVF, the section AGF is such that
either half would take the place of the other, if it were to make a half
revolution about A F. It is then an ellipse of which AF is one of the
principal axes; and the middle point of AF, falling in the line which
bisects AVF, is the centre. Consequently every section of this cone
has a subcontrary section, except only those which are parallel to AGF.
Hence the generating circle ABCD has a subcontrary circle EBFD,
made by taking the line E F subcontrary to AC, and drawing through
EF a plane perpendicular to the plane AVF. The angles VEF and
VOA are equal, as also v A C and VFE.
A
L
-----
G
C
F
In the limited use of the word subcontrary, no sections are considered
in this light except the two circular sections of an oblique cone. Con-
sequently, when subcontrary sections are mentioned, these circular
sections are understood. The proofs given of the existence of these
subcontrary sections usually conceal the fact of all cones described
upon a circle being symmetrical when produced in every direction, and
seem to make the existence of a second circular section a sort of accident
of the circle, as if no other section had its subcontrary.
Since all parallel sections of a cone are similar, it follows that through
every point of the surface two subcontrary circles can be drawn. The
surfaces of the second order generally have the same property. [SUR-
FACES OF THE SECOND ORDER.]
SUB-DOMINANT, in Music, the fourth of the koy, mode, or scale.
Thus, in the key of c, F is the sub-dominant.
SUBDUPLICATE, SUBTRIPLICATE. [RATIO.]
ARTS AND SCI. DIV. VOL. VIL
the fluid. The solution is slowly evaporated till it thickens, and the
residue is treated with about eight times its weight of water, by which
an additional quantity of fatty matter separates. When the solution
is filtered, suberic and oxalic acids separate, the former in the state of
a white powder; this is to be saturated with ammonia, and the suberate
of ammonia formed being decomposed by an acid, the suberic acid
precipitates in the state of a white powder, which is to be washed with
cold water. Suberic acid may also be obtained by treating margaric,
oleic, or stearic acid with nitric acid. The properties of this substance
are, that its acid powers are but feeble; it is very soluble in boiling
water, and the greater part of it is deposited from the solution on
cooling in the form of a white powder; it is soluble also in anhydrous
alcohol; fuses at about 300°; and sublimes in acicular crystals.
The suberates are not an important class of salts; we shall therefore
mention them briefly. Suberate of ammonia is soluble in water; the
suberates of potash and soda are deliquescent, and fusible without
decomposition: those of lime, baryta, strontia, magnesia, alumina, and
manganese are more or less soluble; protosuberate of iron is a white
precipitate; the persuberate is a brown one: the suberates of tin, zinc,
mercury, and silver are white insoluble substances: that of cobalt is
red, of copper blue-green, and uranium yellow.
By the distillation of suberic acid with excess of quicklime, a body
termed suberone or hydride of suberyl (CH₁₂O.) is produced. The
following bodies are also derived from suberic acid :-
Suberamide
Suberanilide
•
Suberanilic Acid
12
40
•
C16H16N20
C+0H2+N2O+
C23H19 NO6
SUBERIC ETHER. [ETHYL.]
SUBERIN is a peculiar substance so named by Chevreul, as obtained
from common cork, the epidermis of the quercus suber. When ten
parts of cork have been treated with water, alcohol, ether, hydrochloric
acid, potash, &c., there remain seven parts, which are suberin, possess-
ing the following properties:-it is very inflammable; by distillation
it yields water, a colourless oil, and afterwards a yellowish one, all of
which are acid; then ammonia and a fatty crystallised substance are
produced, and various gases are disengaged, while charcoal equal to
one-fourth of the suberin remains in the retort. [CELLULOSE.]
SUBERONE. [SUBERIC ACID.]
SUBJECT, SUBJECTIVE. These words, with their correlatives
Object and Objective, are now again restored to English philosophical
language, through the medium of the German writers. The Subject
is in philosophy invariably used to express the mind, soul, or per-
sonality of the thinker-the Ego. The Object is its correlative, and
uniformly expresses anything or everything external to the mind
everything or anything distinct from it-the non-Ego. The universe
itself, when considered as a unique existence, is an object to the
thinker; and the very subject itself (the mind) can become an object,
by being psychologically considered.
The distinction is most important. The exact distinction between
the terms subject and object was first made by the schoolmen for by
the Greeks the word inоkeiμevov was equivocally employed to express
either the object of knowledge (the materia circa quam) or the subject
of existence (the materia in qua). These correlatives, subject and
object, correspond to the first most important distinction in philo-
sophy, namely, the original antithesis of self and not-self. These
terms, in their substantive and adjective forms, passed from the
schools into the scientific language of philosophers.
SUBLIMATION, a chemical operation effected by the application
of heat to certain bodies; it is essentially similar to distillation in
principle, but differs from it in the nature of the substances to which
it is applied. In distillation liquids are converted into vapour, and
condensed into the same form by the cooling agency of water; whereas
in sublimation solid bodies are vaporised, and afterwards reassume the
solid state, in general merely by the cooling power of the air, without
the assistance of cold water.
Sublimation is usually conducted in one vessel, the product being
deposited in the upper part of it in a solid state, while the impurity
remains in the lower. In small experimental researches a Florence
flask answers perfectly well, and a good exemplification of the process
is that produced by heating iodine in it: a purple vapour rises, which
almost immediately condenses in small brilliant dark-coloured crystals
in the upper part of the flask, the impurity remaining in the lower.
Sublimation is extensively employed, and for two different purposes ;
the simplest case is that of using it for purifying a substance, camphor
for example, in which the pure camphor is vaporised, and condenses
in the upper part of the vessel, while the impurities remain in the
lower part.
In preparing corrosive sublimate and calomel, these substances are
formed and sublimed by the same operation: in general large green-
glass vessels, called boltheads, are used for calomel and corrosive subli-

3 K
867
SUBLIME.
mate; while for camphor very thin flint-glass vessels are used, which
are called bombolos, from the Italian bombola; in both cases a vessel is
broken after each operation, to obtain the product. Among other
substances procured by sublimation is benzoic acid, formerly called
flowers of benjamin. This acid is sublimed in much larger vessels, and
not usually made of glass; while the vapour of sulphur is condensed
in a large chamber, or sulphur-house, and adheres to the walls in the
form of a fine powder, known by the name of sublimed sulphur, or
flowers of sulphur. [DISTILLATION.]
SUBLIME (Geometry). It may be worth while to state in few
words, and to prevent a reader of the older mathematicians from
imagining that they spoke rhapsodically, that the term sublime geometry
was technical, meaning the higher parts of geometry, in which the
infinitesimal calculus or something equivalent was employed.
SUBLIMITY has two significations: one, that of the quality or
circumstance in objects, which raises the emotion named sublimity;
the other, that of the emotion itself. The nature of the sublime,
that is, those conditions of objects which invariably excite in us certain
emotions, to which we give the common name of sublimity, is a subject
of great interest and importance in psychology, and has always been a
favourite subject of speculation. We shall briefly notice the more
celebrated theories which have professed to embrace and explain all
"those conditions which excite the emotions," and endeavour to point
out their failures.
Longinus, whose work (Пepl yous) is the most ancient, treats only
of the sublime in writing. His treatise was meant as a supplement
to the work of Cæcilius on the 'Sublime,' in which he says Cæcilius
brought a number of instances to show what is the sublime, as if every
one did not know that well enough.
Burke's Inquiry into the Sublime and Beautiful' was the first
attempt to give philosophical precision to our notions of the sublime.
His theory is, that the essence of the sublime consists in terror operat-
ing either openly or latently; and the delight which is caused by this
terror is referred to those principles of human nature which he calls
"passions of self-preservation," and which turn on pain and danger.
These passions are simply painful when their causes immediately
affect us; they are delightful when we have an idea of pain and danger,
without being actually in such circumstances: this delight I have not
called pleasure, because it turns on pain, and because it is different
enough from any idea of positive pleasure-whatever excites this
delight I call sublime." (Inquiry,' part i., sect. 18.) "Whatever, there-
fore, is terrible, with regard to sight, is sublime too, whether this
cause of terror be endued with greatness of dimensions or not." (Ibid.,
part ii., sect. 2.) Nothing can be more explicit than these two pas-
sages, nor more accurately exhibit the truth and error of his theory.
The error is glaring in the second passage. Terror is often one feeling,
exciting, in conjunction with other feelings, the emotion of sublimity,
but not always. The stars are sublime, yet there is no terror in the
emotion they excite. On the other hand there is a terror in a surgeon
about to operate, or in a pedagogue about to flog-but no sublimity.
The gallows is very terrible, but not at all sublime. Yet Burke was
so chained down by his theory of terror being the ruling principle of
the sublime, as to write-"There are many animals who, though far
from being large, are yet capable of raising ideas of the sublime,
because they are considered as objects of terror-as serpents and
poisonous animals of all kinds." (Ibid., part ii., sect. 2.) Now, when
a man asserts that a serpent is sublime, because it is terrible, it is
evident that he uses the word sublime in a different sense from
the rest of the world; otherwise we say a serpent is in no case
sublime.
That the terrible is often a constituent of the sublime there can be
no doubt, and Burke's error consists in seizing this occasional con-
stituent, and declaring it to be the "ruling principle." And further,
we must observe, that whenever a feeling of terror is found to be a
constituent of the sublime, there will also invariably be found another
feeling of security, correcting this terror. Thus, when we stand
bencath a rock, the terror consists in a natural apprehension of its
falling down and crushing us, which apprehension is instantly checked
by our feeling of security and confidence of its not falling. If this
feeling of security did not momently check the feeling of terror, the
effect would be terror only, and not sublimity, and we should escape
from it as swiftly as possible. So universal is this accompaniment of a
feeling of security correcting the feeling of danger in every case of
sublimity wherein terror is a constituent, that we are as much justi-
fied in asserting that "a feeling of security, either operating openly or
latently, is the ruling principle of the sublime," as Burke was in his
theory of terror. If terror had been found to be an invariable element
of the sublime, the correct statement of the theory would have been-
"The sublime is the effect of the concurrence of the two feelings of
danger and security." But unfortunately there are many cases in
which no feeling of danger can be found to exist. Infinity and eternity
are sublime; but although, as he says, "infinity has a tendency to fill
the mind with that sort of delightful horror which is the most
genuine effect and truest test of the sublime," yet it does not
necessarily fill the mind with horror; it may or may not, but in
either case it is sublime.
Helvetius says,
"When God said, 'Let
there be light,' and there was light this image is sublime.
But
should such an image inspire fear? Yes; because it is necessarily
'
:
SUBLIMITY.
868
associated in our minds with the idea of the Creator of such a prodigy;
and being then seized in an involuntary manner with a dread of the
author of light, we feel the sensation of a commencing terror." ("On
Man,' vol. ii.) Now we contend that although fear would arise
from such a train of thought, yet this train of thought is by no
means a necessary sequence to the image-"God said, Let there
be light, and there was light."
mind, but the sublimity produced by the image is not at all dependent
It may or may not arise in the
upon it.
Lord Kames has a chapter in his Elements of Criticism,' on the
sublime. He says, "A beautiful object placed high, appearing more
agreeable than formerly, produces in the spectator a new emotion,
termed the emotion of sublimity; and every other emotion resembling
this emotion of elevation, is called by the same name." He has here
the mere etymological notion of sublimity as something elevated,
(See Dr. Parr's observations on the derivation of sublime from supra
limum, in the Appendix to Dugald Stewart's 'Philos. Essays.') That
there is little to be learnt from such an inquiry is evident.
Mr. Payne Knight, in his ' Analytical Inquiry into the Principles of
Taste,' puts forth the theory that the sublime is the effect of the influ-
ence of mental energy exciting a sympathetic energy in the mind of the
spectator or reader. The objections to this are the same as those to
Burke's theory, namely, that it embraces a portion of the truth, which
it would substitute for the whole truth. We have only to reflect an
instant, and numberless instances of the sublime arise in which no
mental energy is implied. Solitude, for example, is certainly sublime;
so are infinity, eternity, Mont Blanc, &c. Mental energy is perhaps a
more comprehensive formula for sublimity than terror, but it is still
incomplete; and if one instance of sublimity can be quoted which does
not contain the element asserted to be its 'ruling principle,' it is
obvious that the theory must be erroneous.
Dugald Stewart's Essay on the Sublime' is entirely philological,
and as such alone worthy of attention.
Dr. Thomas Brown combats the notion of a universal sublime, but
avoids the real question altogether. All that is positive in his lecture
on the subject is that the sublime and beautiful are not two distinct
classes of emotions, but the same class, differing only in degree. "It
is," says he, " as in the thermometric scale, by adding one portion of
caloric after another, we arise at last, after no very long progress, from
the cold of freezing to the heat at which water boils; though our feel-
ings at these two points are as different as if they had arisen from
causes that had no resemblance; certainly as different as our emotions
of sublimity and beauty." (Lectures on Philos. of Mind,' lvii.)
Nothing can well be more erroneous than to take an analogy as a proof.
Misled by his analogy, Dr. Brown has falsified the whole nature of the
sublime, which, according to him, is but a larger or intenser form of
the beautiful, whereas it differs essentially and antagonistically.
takes the instance of a stream gently gliding through fields rich with
all the luxuriance of summer, overshadowed at times by the foliage
that hangs over it from bank to bank. This is beautiful. He then
traces it on to a majestic river, which flows on and deposits itself in
the ocean. Here it becomes sublime. And this sublimity he thinks
merely the last in the progressive series of emotions, as the boiling-
point is the last in the progressive series of ascending heat.
were to contemplate this continued progress, we should have a series
of emotions which might at each moment be similar to the preceding
emotion, but which would become at last so different from our earliest
feelings that we should scarcely think of them as feelings of one class.”
(Ibid.)
He
"If we
The answer to this is, that upon a similar principle of analogical
reasoning, you might trace the "progressive series" of feelings which
the man underwent from his earliest childhood; and when this series
had conducted him to the gallows, you might say that his feelings at
that moment were so different from his earliest feelings, that we should
scarcely think of them as feelings of one class. Probably not. Nor
should we, in our ethical philosophy, class the crimes which brought
him to the gallows, with the innocence which commenced the “ pro-
gressive series " of his emotions.
The whole of Dr. Brown's lecture on this subject is trivial or con-
fused; and because he is unable to analyse the feeling itself, he boldly
pronounces it not to be analysed. "It is the vain attempt to define
what cannot be defined," he says, "that has led to all the errors and
supposed mysteries in the theory of sublimity. Sublimity is not one
emotion, but various emotions, that have a certain resemblance-the
sublime in itself is nothing; or at least it is only a mere name, indica-
tive of our feeling of the resemblance of certain affections of our mind,
excited by objects material or mental, that agree perhaps in no other
circumstance, but in that analogous undefinable emotion which they
excite." We maintain, on the contrary, that sublimity is one emotion,
not various similar emotions.
not various similar emotions. It is itself complex, made up of various
feelings; but it is one specific feeling, which preserves its characteristic
throughout the various shades of difference in the objects which
excite it.
Mr. Alison's Essays on the Principles of Taste' avoid the real ques-
tion of sublimity, and the same must be said of his reviewer, Francis
Jeffrey, who sums up his theory in these words: "The emotions which
we experience from the contemplation of sublimity or beauty are not
produced by any physical or intrinsic quality in the objects which we
869
870
SUBLIMITY.
SUBSIDIARY.
contemplate, but by the recollection or conception of other objects
which are associated in our imaginations with those before us, and con-
sequently suggested by their appearance, and which are interesting or
affecting, on the common and familiar principle of being the natural
objects of love, or of pity, or of fear, or veneration, or some other
common and lively sensation of the mind." (Edin. Rev.,' vol. xviii.,
and 'Essays.')
The first part of this passage is either a truism or an absurdity. A
truism, if it be meant to state that as a mere sensation (without any
respect to all the sentient being had previously undergone, and which
that sensation would necessarily excite) an object in itself is not sub-
lime (a truism however which Mr. Alison asserts to be the conclusion
on which his speculations rest: chap. v., sec. 6); an absurdity, if it
be meant to state that an object has no intrinsic quality capable of
exciting that emotion. The size of a rock, for instance, is the condition
of its sublimity; so with the cataract-make it a waterfall, and it
ceases to be sublime; yet this difference of size is surely an intrinsic
quality in the object which excites the emotion?
The fundamental principle of Mr. Alison's theory is "that all objects
are beautiful or sublime which signify or suggest to us some simple
emotion of love, pity, terror, or any other social or selfish affection of
our nature; and that the beauty or sublimity which we ascribe to
them consists entirely in the power they have acquired by association
or otherwise, of reminding us of the proper objects of these familiar
affections." (Ibid., and Alison's 'Essays,' i.)
This theory is in the highest degree vague. It does not discriminate
what constitutes the sublime it does not analyse that complex emo-
tion, and draw forth its characteristic; and, moreover, in its sweeping
generality includes much that it cannot apply to. All objects which
excite terror are not beautiful nor sublime; neither are all objects
which excite pity beautiful; and so of the rest. To discriminate those
which are from those which are not, is impossible on this theory. To
resolve the emotion of sublimity into association of ideas, is to say that
this special emotion is resolvable into the general law of the human
mind, but to avoid an analysis or characteristic statement of this special
emotion altogether. It is saying that theft is a crime, and referrible
to the general law of criminality, without once demarcating what con-
stitutes theft as a crime, distinguished from murder as a crime.
'Attraction is the law which regulates the descent of an apple, and
association of ideas in like manner is the law which regulates the
operation of memory and the flights of imagination; yet as memory
and imagination are distinct from the general law, as well as from each
other, so also is the emotion of sublimity distinct from the emotion of
hatred or beauty. Burke, Knight, Kames, and Price endeavoured to
ascertain this distinction. Brown overlooked it, and Alison evades it.
Had the special law of sublimity been found, and it was then attempted
to be classed in its relation to the general law of the mind, the efforts
of Alison and Jeffrey would have been of great importance; but in the
meanwhile it was assumed.
It appears to us that the true method of attaining the knowledge of
this special law of emotion, is the method of all psychological inquiries,
namely, induction. Before attempting to detect the law which regulates
it, we must collect all, or a vast number of instances of the sublime,
and analysing the elements of each case, endeavour to discover one
primal element which is invariably a constituent of the emotion, and
without which all the other constituents would not be able to form
that special emotion of sublimity.
In noticing the theories of former writers we have found their
inductions imperfect; they have selected too few instances, and con-
sequently when we came to select others, these theories were sub-
verted by the mere statement of them. It was sufficient to disprove
the theory of terror, to quote one instance wherein the terrible had no
place, and the same with the theory of mental energy. But these
theories, though incomplete, contain much that is true in their
analyses.
In proposing a new theory, founded on a wider range of induction,
we may observe that if any one instance of the universally acknow-
ledged sublime can be found in which no such element (as the one we
assert to be the ruling principle) be detected, then that single instance
is a proof of the incompleteness of our theory, and a more extensive
induction will be necessary.
It will be necessary for the sake of clearness to make use of purely
mental distinctions in treating this subject, though they are liable to
be misinterpreted as real distinctions; accordingly we divide the
question of the sublime into three -1. The material sublime—or the
sublime of nature. 2. The moral sublime
2. The moral sublime--or the sublime in human
actions and ideas. 3. The emotion of sublimity, which these external
things excite in us-or that feeling in the mind which gives to certain
phenomena of nature, or deeds of man, the attribute of sublimity.
Speaking objectively, the exciting cause of sublimity is vastness; speak-
ing subjectively, the emotion excited is a sense of insignificance.
I. The material sublime. Examine every case of material sub-
limity, and the most primitive fact will be found to be vastness;
whatever feelings may simultaneously concur, this of vastness is in-
variable. Mere vastness is sublime. Vastness either of form or of
power. Hampstead Heath is not sublime, but Mont Blanc is. The
Thames is not sublime, but the ocean is. Solitude is sublime-because
it is vast, that is, indefinite. But solitude in a room or garden is not
sublime. A cataract is sublime, but not a waterfall, yet the one is
only larger than the other. Longinus has remarked that the light of a
small fire produces no emotion, but that the boiling furnaces of Etna,
pouring out whole rivers of liquid flame, is sublime. Burke remarks
that all general privations are sublime because terrible, such as vacuity,
darkness, solitude, and silence. But they are sublime because vast,
not because terrible; for they are not necessarily terrible, and they are
necessarily vast, indefinite.
These instances are sufficient to illustrate the principle. It will be
observed that there are some which seem more naturally to derive
their sublimity from terror than from vastness, as Etna for example.
But our object was to show that vastness was always a constituent,
even when other emotions came into play; and as we have already
seen instances where terror does not form one constituent, and that
when it does form one, it is still accompanied by vastness, so we prove
thereby that vastness is the more general fact. Vastness is sublime as
vastness; but terror is not sublime as terror. The difference between
a shower and a storm is purely quantitative, yet the storm alone is
sublime.
II. The Moral sublime. It is obvious that the moral sublime must
differ from the material sublime in proportion as mind and matter
differ. Hence vastness, which in the external world is superficial (in
extenso), in the moral world becomes intense (in intenso). Intensity of
will equals vastness of form or power. Mere intensity is sufficient to
produce the sublime. Edipus is sublime. Lear, who appeals to the
heavens, "for they are old" like him, is sublime, from the very in-
tensity of his sufferings and his passions. Lady Macbeth is sublime
from the intensity of her will, which crushes every female feeling for
the attainment of her object. Scævola with his hand in the burning
coals exhibits an intensity of will which is sublime. It will be difficult
to find terror as an element of these cases of the sublinie. Mr. Knight's
"mental energy" has here more truth; but though a satisfactory ex-
planation of the moral sublime, yet it will not apply to the material
sublime. The intensity of power as a source of the moral sublime,
has been adopted by Mr. R. Blakey, in his 'History of the Philosophy
of Mind,' 1848.
Such appear to us to be the objective qualities of sublimity, but the
peculiar emotion they excite has hitherto been thought undefinable :
we shall nevertheless attempt it.
III. The emotion of sublimity. As in considering objectively every
case of material or moral sublimity, we found as the primary and
invariable fact vastness or intensity, so in considering subjectively
every case of sublimity as an emotion, we shall find the primary and
invariable fact to be a sense of our own insignificance; of our inferiority
to the object, or to the will which prompted the deed; and this sense
of inferiority has guided mankind in the employment of a word ex-
pressing elevation for sublimity. Mere vastness excites this emotion
by exciting a corresponding sense of our smallness. Mere intensity
excites this emotion by exciting a corresponding sense of our feeble-
ness. Vary the objects-vary the emotions as you may, there will
invariably be this one feeling of comparative insignificance. Take as
an example the sublime words of Scripture, "I am the High and the
Lofty One, who inhabiteth eternity." Nothing can exceed the grandeur
of that idea, and he who conceives it conceives also, at the same time,
the corresponding idea of his own small and finite nature. In the
violent dashing of a cataract, in the roar of the ocean, in the violence
of the storm, or in the majestic quiet of Mont Blanc preserving its
calm amidst all the storms that play around it, or in the concentrated
will of a Scævola, Horace, Brutus, or Edipus, in all these cases we are
moved by a vivid feeling of some greater power than our own, or some
will more capable of suffering, more vast in its strength than our feeble
vacillating will. It is from this reason that an imaginative mind
experiences more emotions of sublimity than another. In proportion
as we comprehend the majesty of nature, or the amount of self-sacrifice
in an heroic action, we comprehend our own inferiority to them.
In conclusion we may thus sum up our theory. The invariable
condition of sublimity in objects, either material or moral, is vastness
or intensity. The invariable condition of the emotion of sublimity-
that which distinguishes this emotion from every other emotion-is a
comprehension of this vastness with a simultaneous feeling of our own
comparative insignificance, together with a concomitant sense of pre-
sent security from any danger which might result from this superior
power. The antithesis to the emotion of sublimity is the emotion of
contempt.
SUBMARINE DESCENT. [DIVING BELL.]
SUB-MULTIPLE. [ALIQUOT PART.]
SUBORNATION OF PERJURY. [PERJURY.]
SUBPOENA. [WITNESS.]
SUBPOENA, WRIT OF, ÎN PLEADING. [PLEADING IN EQUITY.]
SUBSALTS. [SALTS; CHEMICAL NOMENCLATURE, Nomenclature of
Salts.]
SUBSIDIARY. A quantity or symbol is so called when it is not
essentially a part of a problem, but is introduced to help in the solution.
The term is particularly applied to angles, since the trigonometrical
tables give a great power over their management, which causes their
frequent introduction, even in problems in which there is no question
of angular quantity. For example, suppose it is required to calculate
ax+b √(1 − x²), where a=29164, 6=3·0018, x=
z=11316. Assume
871
SUBSIDY.
SUBSTANCE.
872
x= cos 0, a=r cos 4,b=r sin 4, which gives 6 from the tables, and the third year of the reign of Edward I., when the ancient or grand
and r from the tables and from
customs were fixed at the sums already stated.
b
tan =
=
α
The quantity to be calculated is
1'=
α
cos
r cos o cos 0+r sin on e, or r cos (p—6),
a cos (0–0)
or
Cos
and the final result is found from the tables in much less time than
ax+b√(1−x) could be calculated by ordinary means. There is, of
course, no rule for the most convenient introduction of subsidiary
angles every case must be treated according to the circumstances it
presents.
SUBSIDY, from subsidium, a Latin word signifying aid or assistance.
Subsidies," says Lord Coke, "were anciently called auxilia, aides,
granted by act of parliament upon need and necessity; as also for that
originally and principally they were granted for the defence of the
realm and the safe keeping of the seas," &c. The word used in its
general sense was applied to aids of every description; these were of
two kinds, one perpetual, the other temporary. Those which were
perpetual were the ancient or grand customs, the new or petty customs,
and the custom on broad-cloth. The temporary included tonnage and
poundage; a rate of four shillings in the pound on lands, and two
shillings and eightpence on goods, aliens paying double; and the
fifteenths or tenths, &c., of moveable goods. The limited sense, which
is also the more common sense, of the word subsidy, attaches only to
the rate on lands and goods.
The grand customs were duties paid on the exportation of wool,
sheepskins, and leather, at the rate of, for every sack of wool weighing
thirty-six stone, half a mark, or six shillings and eightpence; for every
three hundred sheepskins, half a mark; for a last of leather, a mark,
or thirteen shillings and fourpence. The petty customs were payable
by merchant strangers only, and consisted of an excess of one half over
and above the grand customs payable by native merchants. The
custom on broadcloth was first given to the king in the 21st year of
Edw. III., to indemnify him for the loss he incurred in consequence of
the practice, then beginning to prevail, of making up the wool into
cloth in this country previous to its exportation. There were also two
species of customs payable on wines: one called butlerage, payable by
foreigners importing wines, at the rate of two shillings for every tun of
wine; the other, called prisage, payable by natives at the rate of, for
every vessel importing ten tuns of wine, one tun; for every vessel
importing twenty or upwards, two tuns; taken one tun from before,
the other from behind the mast. This was compounded for by the
payment of 20s. for each tun to which the king was entitled.
The origin of these customs seems uncertain; Lord Coke is very
auxious to prove that they were in the first instance established by the
common consent of the realm in parliament assembled. In support of
this he cites Philip de Comines, lib. v., fo. 233. Before and during Lord
Coke's time, as well as immediately after it, the origin and nature of
this kind of subsidy were most fully and ably discussed. Besides what
may be called the private property of the crown, the king had a right
to require contributions from the inhabitants of particular districts
towards the expense of repairing bridges and the walls of towns, which
contributions were called pontage and murage; and to grant by charter
to any city the right to levy tolls upon all vendible things coming into
the town. There were also other sources of revenue, the temporalities
of vacant bishoprics, the forfeitures arising from felonies, &c. In the
earlier periods these seem to have been considered sufficient to main-
tain the royal state, the courts of justice, &c., and also the ordinary
expenses of any wars in which the king might be engaged. In the
sixth year of Richard II., the commons petitioned the king that he
would live upon his own revenues, and that wards, marriages, releases,
escheats, forfeitures, and other profits of the crown might be kept to
be spent upon the wars for the defence of the kingdom. In addition
however to these duties of defending the kingdom by foreign wars, the
king was bound to protect the merchants at sea from pirates, &c., and
for this purpose a practice prevailed twice in the year "to scour the
narrow seas." To defray the expenses of the royal navy, the king
collected at the ports of his kingdom certain sums upon all merchandise
imported or exported. These sums were called customs, a word which
in itself indicates the earliness and uncertainty of their origin. In
process of time however, the ordinary sources of the king's revenue
being continually diminished by the alienation of crown lands, &c.,
while the expenses of the crown were increased, the kings imposed of
their own authority such sums as varied from the original amount
collected, and were complained of as unreasonable by the people. The
earlier parliamentary history is full of remonstrances and petitions
against grievous and unaccustomed impositions, maltolts (evil tolls), &c.
There was an instance also of a petition by the merchants that they
might pay no toll, but be allowed to protect their ships themselves.
Ultimately the kings were driven by their necessities, the difficulties
of the collection of irregular duties, and the circumstances of their
position, to have recourse to parliament to fix and authorise the sums
to be collected as customs. The first statute on the subject occurs in
It is observable that in no instance was the right of the king to
collect some duties disputed; all that is complained of is the excess
and unreasonableness of the sum recently imposed. Many statutes
occur on the subject, but their provisions were frequently violated,
down to the reigns of Elizabeth and the Stuarts. In these later times,
however, such infringements were not passed over lightly. In the
reign of James I. the question as to the right of the king to increase
the customs upon merchandise, without assent of parliament, was
raised on the occasion of his imposing 5s. per cwt. on currants.
The
court of exchequer decided that the king had such right, on the
grounds, 1st, that his extraordinary and absolute prerogative was not
bound by the statutes restraining him from increasing the customs
without assent in parliament; 2nd, because the extra duty" was not a
burden to the commonwealth, but to delicate mouths." This decision
however raised great discussion in parliament, who pronounced it to
be illegal. The writs for ship-money in the time of Charles I. created
a similar ferment, and notwithstanding the petition of rights, the
question cannot be said to have been entirely set at rest till up to the
period of the Revolution.
The petty customs were originally founded on a bargain between
the foreign merchants and king Edward I., by which they agreed to
pay him the amount of them, in consideration of certain privileges
granted them, and a release to them of all other prises and takings.
Butlerage has the same origin, but is perhaps of an earlier date. Pris-
age is stated by Lord Coke himself to be due to the king by prescrip-
tion, and the right of the king to it seems to have stood upon that
alone; that right must have been one of inheritance, since by royal
charters it was granted to the city of London and to the Cinque Ports
for ever.
Tunnage and poundage was a duty varying in amount at different
times from 1s. 6d. to 3s. upon every tun of wine, and from 6d. to a ls.
upon every pound sterling of merchandise coming into the kingdom.
The object in granting it was said to be, that the king might have
money ready in case of a sudden occasion demanding it for the defence
of the realm or the guarding of the sea. In the course of the argu-
ment in the case of ship-money in 13 Charles I., the king's duties are
said to amount to 300,000l. This probably was the aggregate of the
customs and tunnage and prisage.
The taxes called tenths and fifteenths were the tenth or fifteenth
part of the value of moveable goods. Other portions, such as the fifth,
eighth, eleventh part, were sometimes, but rarely, also levied. These
taxes seem to have had a parliamentary origin. Henry III. received
a fifteenth in return for granting Magna Charta and the Charta de
Foresta. In the earlier periods never more than one subsidy and two
fifteenths were granted. About the time of the expectation of the
Armada (31 Eliz.), a double subsidy and four fifteenths were granted.
Subsidies and fifteenths were originally assessed upon each individual,
but subsequently to the 8 Edward III., when a taxation was made
upon all the towns, cities, and boroughs, by commissioners, the
fifteenth became a sum certain, being the fifteenth part of their then
existing value.
existing value. After the fifteenth was granted by parliament, the
inhabitants rated themselves. The subsidy, never having been thus
fixed, continued uncertain, and was levied upon each person in respect
of his lands and goods. But it appears that a person paid only in the
county in which he lived, even though he possessed property in other
counties. Certain it is that the subsidy continually decreased in
amount. In the eighth year of the reign of Elizabeth it amounted
to 120,000l., in the 40th to 78,000l. only. Lord Coke estimates a
subsidy (probably in the reign of James I. or Charles I.) at 70,000l.;
the subsidy raised by the clergy, which was distinct from that of the
laity, at 20,000l.; a fifteenth at about 29,000l. Eventually the sub-
sidy was abolished, and a land tax substituted for it.
¿
(2 Inst.; 4 Inst.; Bate's Case,' &c., 2 State Trials, 371, ed. 1809;
The Case of Ship Money,' 3 State Trials, 826, ed. 1809; Venn's
Abrt., tit. Prerogative;' Comyn's Dig., tit. 'Parliament,' 'Preroga-
tive,') [CUSTOMS.]
In
SUBSTANCE. In general usage substance means a solid.
philosophical speculations it has undergone the fate of most general
terms, and has been tortured into all possible shades of meaning. lu
physical speculations it has usually been taken as an equivalent to
matter; but in metaphysical speculations its meaning, as sanctioned
by the highest authorities, has remained true to its etymon (sub-stans,
that which stands under phenomena). This meaning will be rendered
intelligible by the notion of some Hindu philosophers, who supposed
the world to rest on the back of an elephant, and that the elephant
stood on the back of a tortoise; what supported the tortoise, they
omitted to explain. In adopting their theory, we may add that that
which the tortoise stood upon was substance.
As we know that all phenomena must depend upon noumena, of
which they are only the manifestation; or, to use the language of the
schoolmen, as all accidents must be accidents of something, and must
depend on that something for their existence, so in pushing our
analysis to its limit, we must finally arrive at a point to which we can
give no antecedent, which we are forced to assume as final, and as
standing under or supporting the whole, and this we call substance.
It is the fundamental fact of all existence. We can never know it, for
673
874
SUBSTANCE.
SUBSTITUTION.
we only know phenomena, which are its appearances. We can never
conceive it, for the first attempt to conceive it brings it within the
sphere of our ideas, which are only those of phenomena. We can
never imagine it; but we are compelled to assume it. It is to us a
logical fact, not a noumenal one. Necessary as the basis of all specula-
tion, as the "point" in mathematics, but, like the point, for ever a
mere logical distinction. It is needful for all men to know that this
substance is, with respect to the mind, a merely logical distinction
from its attributes; and it is needful also to know that as the mind
can never transcend the sphere of its action, and consequently never
know more than the attributes, all that it can predicate of substance
must be false, for substance is to it a mere negation; if it would affirm
anything of substance, it must inevitably affirm it by its attributes,
which it alone can know positively.
It is from inattention to this latter fact that metaphysicians have
blundered and misunderstood each other so constantly. You cannot
conceive a point which has neither length nor breadth; you must
assume it. You cannot conceive substance shorn of its attributes,
because those attributes are the sole staple of your conceptions; but
you must assume it. Analyse as you will, you can never get beyond
a vague and negative conception of a certain substratum, which,
whenever you attempt to realise it, you must invest with attributes.
Glass is a substance, at least is called so in common language. Analyse
it, and you will find that it is no substance that it is merely the co-
existence of flint and alkali. Your substance then has vanished with
the analysis. It was found to be flint and alkali, nothing more; no
distinct element, no substratum was discovered. Where then was your
glass substance? The glass was a mere mode of existence of two
particles of flint and alkali; it was in itself nothing, it had no existence
apart from those particles, it had no substratum. Analyse the flint in
the same way, and you will find the flint to be in itself no substance,
but a mode of existence of some other particles. And yet the mind
refuses to admit that this analysis could be so continued ad infinitum,
thus reducing everything to mere phenomena; it is impelled to stop
somewhere, and to ask, "attributes of what?" and there where it stops
it recognises substance. Hence Spinoza's definition of substance being
existence itself.
Fichte, the most scientific expositor of idealism, has denied all sub-
stance except that of the Ego, and he says, "Attributes synthetically
united give substance, and substance an ilysed gives but attributes; a
continued substratum, a supporter of attributes is an impossible con-
ception." (Wissenschaftslehre.') Granted an impossible conception,
but not therefore an impossible fact. Fichte assumes that the sub-
jective conception-the idea-is the complete correlation and adequate
comprehension of the whole objective fact; and if this point be
admitted, his system is irrefutable, for attributes being obviously
mental conditions, and as beyond them we are conscious of nothing,
so nothing but what they affirm can exist. Interrogate consciousness,
and you will get no answer that will apply to a substance. It knows
only attributes.
If we dissent from these conclusions, and maintain that there is
substance apart from its attributes (though we insist on this distinc-
tion being purely logical), it is because the idealists have not proved
the fundamental position on which all such speculations rest,
namely, the truth of the correlation between the conception and the
object, so that the one should be taken as the entire expression of the
other.
In 'our analysis of substance it is impossible to get beyond
attributes; and therefore, subjectively speaking, substance is nothing
more than the synthesis of attributes: but does this entitle us to
assume that it is equally the case objectively? Not until the subject
has been proved to be the complete expression of the object.
as we are of our own existence. Hence the universality of the belief
of an external world-hence the impossibility of the idealists' conceiv-
ing for an instant the non-existence of substance.
In conclusion we may observe, that substance is the unknown, un-
knowable substratum on which rests all that we experience of the
external world; it is the hidden noumenon whose manifestations
as represented in perception we call matter and the phenomena of
matter, and of which every positive predicate must necessarily be false,
and consequently all inquiry into its nature baseless.
SUBSTITUTION. One of the most important methods of forming
chemical substances, and of ascertaining the constitution of com-
pounds, is that known as substitution. The term substitution, as thus
chemically applied, simply means the replacement of a body already in
combination by another body not in combination, and of course
includes all processes of single or double decomposition. Thus, in a
compound AB, substitution of B for c may be effected by simply
bringing c into contact with AB, the new compound a c being pro-
duced: this case of substitution is one very frequently performed in
chemical research and manufacture, and is known as single decom-
position or single elective affinity. Again, in a compound à B, substi-
tution of B by c may be effected by bringing a compound CD, contain-
ing c, into contact with AB, thus producing the required substance
A C; this method of substitution is fully as important as the other
just mentioned, and is known as double decomposition or double
elective affinity, because there are, so to speak, two elections or choices.
going on, namely, A for c, and в for D, whereas in the former illustra-
a B
tion only one occurs. By using varying amounts of a substituting
body, C, and bringing forces other than the chemical to his aid, the
chemist can sometimes produce several distinct compounds of the
same bodies, thus :—A B + C₁ = A Br−2 C₁₂+ B₂ or A B₂+C5 =A C3 + B5.
C:
I
Frequently the body substituted unites with one half of the sub-
stituting body, thus:-AB+ CAC+BC.
a
Although, strictly speaking, single and double decomposition are
processes of substitution, it is found convenient to restrict the
term substitution to cases in which organic compounds are being
operated on, while the phrases single decomposition and double decom-
position are conventionally applied to inorganic transformations only.
[CHEMICAL AFFINITY.]
The simplest examples of substitution occur when chlorine, or either
of its analogues, bromine and iodine, is made to act upon an organic
compound.
compound. Thus chloride of ethyl (C,H,, Cl), by the action of chlorine
suffers replacement of its hydrogen by chlorine; hydrochloric acid
being formed and the following bodies successively produced :—
Chloride of chlorethyl
•
Ja
II 3
C12 J
bichlor-ethyl
•
C₁
C+
( II
Cl
"
trichlor-ethyl
C
quadrichlor-ethyl
99
•
IL 2
Cl₂
Cl
Ja
CL
c.{a}a
perchlor-ethyl or sesquichloride) c.C1,Cl
of carbon
The constitution or construction of the original compound from
which such a series of derivatives is obtained seems to alter but little.
As might be expected from the nature of the elements, the boiling
point of a body containing chlorine in the place of hydrogen is higher
in direct proportion to the amount of hydrogen replaced. Specific
gravity also undergoes relative increase; while vapour volume remains
constant. Only when complete substitution of one body by another
has taken place does the molecular arrangement of the original com-
The substitution of chlorine for oxygen, and of oxygen by hydrogen,
is frequently performed by chemists. Peroxide of nitrogen (NO),
also, may be introduced into organic compounds by acting upon them,
under certain conditions, with nitric acid; in these cases hydrogen is
displaced and forms water with the fifth equivalent of oxygen, while
peroxide of nitrogen takes the place of the hydrogen.
But the truth is, attributes themselves are but the conditions
excited in us by objects. The Ego acted on by the non-Ego under-pound appear to give way.
goes certain affections: these mental affections are variously extension,
colour, weight, hardness, &c., and these are all the effects of the action
of the non-Ego upon the Ego, and as a consequence these are all we
know, and all we know of the non-Ego. To call substance therefore
the synthesis of attributes, is to say that in the synthesis of our
mental affections is contained all that constitutes the non-Ego, instead
of saying that in the synthesis of our mental affections is contained
all we can positively know of the non-Ego; it is saying that we include
all existence, and that beyond our conceptions nothing exists; it is
taking the human mind as the measure of the universe.
We maintain therefore, that inasmuch as what we call attributes
are not vague abstractions, but positive effects of matter acting on the
sensory (and we, assume the existence of matter because Idealism
has failed in disproving it); so there must be substance or cause to
produce those effects; and although we can only know these effects
and by these effects, yet we are necessitated to assume an inconceivable
cause or substance. We do not know this substance: we only know
what sensations it excites in us.
SUBSTITUTION, a very common algebraical process, being, as its
name imports, the substituting for any quantity another which is
equal to it.
A method of approximation, which is frequently used and of great
importance, has obtained the name of successive substitution. Let any
equation be reduced to the form
x = a + cpx,
where e is less than unity, and pe a function of .c.
If we make x = a,
the error thereby committed is less than pr, being cpr, in which e is
less than unity. Take this value = a, and substitute it on the
second side, giving a = a + cpa: this value is nearer than the last in
most cases, for it should be
x = a + ep (a + cḍx)
æ
The stronghold of Idealism is consciousness. In consciousness
there is nothing but transformations of itself-no substance, no
external world is given; it knows, it feels, it is conscious of nothing
but itself. But consciousness is equally the stronghold of realism;
for we are as conscious that what we call substance, or the world, is where p'a is the differential coefficient of pa.
= a + cpa + c²p'a. pr nearly,
The last error was
not ourselves, and does not depend upon us, and is a distinct existence, | cox, and the present error is less, if ep'a be less than unity. Gene-
1
875
SUBTANGENT.
SUCCINIC GROUP.
876
rally, if for x we write a+p, and if p be erroneous by a quantity of the bonorum possessio, or bought the whole property, or adopted
the order e², we shall have, by one more substitution,
another by adrogation, or married the woman. An instance of singular
succession is the taking of a legacy under a man's will.
to the value of .
x = a + cp (a + p).
Now the error of (a+p) will be of the order e", and that of
ep (a+p) of the order en+. There is then a continual approximation
Beginning with x=a+epa, in which the error is of the order c2, we
x= a + cp (a + epa),
have
The term Succession is used in our language. We speak of the
succession to the crown or the regal dignity, and the term implies that
the successor in all things represents the predecessor. Indeed, the
king, as a political person, never dies, and upon the natural death of a
king the heir immediately succeeds. The English heir-at-law takes
the descendible lands of his ancestor as universal successor; and the
executor takes the chattels real and other personal property of his
The general assignee or assignees of a
in which the error is of the third order. Rejecting terms of the third testator as universal successor.
order, we have
x = a + cpa + eªpap'a.
Substitute this again, and we have
x = a + cp {a + epa + e²pap'a},
in which the error is of the fourth order. Rejecting terms of the
Rejecting terms of the
fourth order,
p"a
2
x= a + epa + c²pap'a +&³ { (p'a)²¾pa +
{ (p'a)²pa+ ¹³« (pa)² }
and so on: the development being made by TAYLOR'S THEOREM. This
would lead in effect to the celebrated theorem of Lagrange; but the
actual method of substitution is sometimes preferable.
SUBTANGENT, SUBNORMAL. [TANGENT.]
SUBTENSE, means any line, angle, &c., opposite to or subtending a
line or angle spoken of. Thus the chord of a circle is the subtense of
the arc and of the angle at the centre. The term is now not much
The term is now not much
used.
SUBTRACTION, SUBTRAHEND, MINUEND. The process of
subtraction is the removal of a part equal to the less from the greater.
The quantity to be diminished (minuendum) was called the minuend;
the quantity to be withdrawn (subtrahendum), the subtrahend; and the
remaining part, the remainder. The terms subtrahend and minuend
are almost out of use, though often very convenient.
The operation of subtraction is often described in a way which
might be practised, but is not; and the explanation of the possible
mode applied to the actual mode makes confusion. It is obvious
enough that if parts of a be subtracted severally from greater parts of
B, the remainders put together make up the whole remainder. Thus,
24 can easily be taken from 76, for 7 tens exceeds 2 tens by 5 tens,
and 6 exceeds 4 by 2, so that 52 is the remainder required. But when
we come to take 48 from 93, the preceding mode of partition is use-
less. To remedy this, it is proposed in the explanation to borrow 1 of
the 9 tens in 94, and to put it on to the 4: then 8 from 13 leaves 5.
Now take the 4 tens of 48, and subtract from the remaining 8 tens of
93, and 4 tens are left: the answer then is 45. The process would be
successors
""
suc-
bankrupt or insolvent take by universal succession.
Blackstone says that "corporations aggregate consist of many persons
united together into one society, and are kept up by a perpetual
succession of members, so as to continue for ever." It is true that
when members of a corporate body die, others are appointed to fill up
their places, but they do not succeed to the others in the Roman sense
of succession-they simply become members of the corporation. But
it has been established in some cases that the use of the word "
cessors" implies that the legislature meant to establish a corporation;
and yet it is certain that a feoffment of land to a corporation aggregate
without the word "
is a valid grant. In a feoffment to a
corporation sole the word "successors" is necessary. The succession
in the case of a corporation sole follows the nature of the Roman
succession. In the case of a corporation aggregate there is no suc-
cession, and the rule that a corporation may be established by the use
in a statute is founded on an erroneous
of the word "successors
understanding of the term "successors.'
SUCCESSION DUTIES. For many years persons succeeding to
personal property (including leaseholds) whether they took by will as
executors or legatees, or merely as administrators or next of kin, were
charged with Legacy Duties, which were payable over and above the
stamp duty, then and still levied in the first instance, on the grant of
probate or letters of administration, according to the estimated sworn
value of the personal property of the deceased. The legacy duty was
chargeable after the estate of the deceased had been realised and
administered, on the property distributed among the legatees or next
of kin, as the case might be; and varied in amount, according to the
consanguinity of the next of kin, or the absence of any relationship
from this species of taxation long complained of as creating an undue
between the legatee and the testator. The exemption of real estate
preference in favour of the holders of landed property, has at last been
removed. By the Succession Duties Act, 1853, duties are imposed on
every succession to property, whether real or personal, according to
the value and the relationship of the parties to the predecessor.
Where the successor is the lineal issue or lineal ancestor of the
predecessor, ll. per cent.; where a brother or sister, or a descendant of
a brother or sister, 31. per cent. ; where a brother or sister of the father
or mother, or a descendant of the brother or sister of the father or
mother of the predecessor, 5l. per cent. ; where a brother or sister of
the grandfather or grandmother, or a descendant of the brother or
sister of the grandfather or grandmother of the predecessor, 61. per
cent.; and where the successor is in any other degree of collateral con-
This process is actually used on the Continent; but with us, as all sanguinity to the predecessor, or is a stranger in blood to him, 107, per
the world knows, there is a different process, as follows:-
cent.
The value of the succession, if it be to real property, is
ascertained by considering the interest of the successor as of the value
of an annuity equal to the annual value of the property, estimated as
the act directs; and the duty may be paid by eight equal half-yearly
instalments, or at once, according to the wish of the party liable
as follows:-
93 8 from 3, impossible; borrow a ten from 90; 8 from 13 leaves
5. Take 4 tens from the remaining 8 tens, one of the 9
tens having been borrowed, and 4 tens remain.
48
45
93
48
45
8 from 3 impossible: take 8 from 13, and 5 remains. Carry
one to 4, giving 5, and subtract 5 tens from 9 tens, giving 4
tens.
There is quite a different principle in this process, which is as
follows-If two numbers be equally increased or equally diminished,
the difference remains the same. Having arbitrarily increased the 3
in the upper line by 10, the lower line must be somewhere or other
increased by 10, in order to keep the difference (which is all that is
wanted) unaltered.
The object in view is attained by increasing the upper line by ten
units, and the lower line by one ten.
For further detail, see COMPUTATION.
SUCCESSION. This is a legal term derived from the Roman
"Successio," which signifies a coming into the place of another, and
Successor is he who comes into such place.
The Roman term signifies a coming into the place of another so as
to have the same rights and obligations with respect to property which
that other had. There might be successio either by coming into the
place of a person living, or by becoming the successor of one who was
dead. Gaius (iii. 77, &c.) gives instances of successio in the case of
persons living, one instance of which is the Bonorum Cessio according
to the Lex Julia. Succession was again either Universal or Singular.
The instances of universal succession (per universitatem) which Gaius
(ii. 97) enumerates, are the being made a person's heres, getting the
possessio of the bona of another, buying all a man's property, adopting
a person by adrogatio, and admitting a woman into the manus as a
wife; in all of which cases all the property of the several persons
enumerated passed at once to the person who was made heres, or got
The student may well ask from where? The term " carry " is not the
proper one.
thereto.
SUCCESSIVE SUBSTITUTION. [SUBSTITUTION.]
SUCCINAMIC ACID. [SUCCINIC GROUP.]
SUCCINAMIDE. [SUCCINIC GROUP.]
SUCCINAMILIC ACID. [SUCCINIC GROUP.]
SUCCINALIDE. [SUCCINIC GROUP.]
SUCCINANILE. [SUCCINIC GROUP.]
SUCCINIC ACID. [SUCCINIC GROUP.]
SUCCINIC ETHER. (ETHYL.]
SUCCINIC GROUP. The generic name of succinic acid and its
derivatives.
8
Succinic acid (2 HO, C, H, O.) exists naturally in AMBER (succinum),
from which resin it was first obtained as one of the products of de-
structive distillation. In combination with potash it also occurs in
the milky juice of the leaves and stems of wormwood (Artemisia
absinthium). It may be artificially prepared from stearic acid or other
fatty matter by oxidation with nitric acid in this reaction, pimelic
and adipic acids are also formed, as well as a body that was at first
thought to be a distinct acid (lipic acid), but which has since been
shown to be identical with succinic acid. The most advantageous
method of forming succinic acid is that known as Dessaigne's, and con-
sists in fermenting crude malate of lime with eight or nine per cent. of
The mixture
decayed cheese and three times its weight of water.
must be kept at a temperature of 100° Fahr. for about a week, when
the malate will be found to be changed to a crystalline sediment of
succinate and carbonate of lime, acetate of lime remaining in solution.
The precipitate decomposed by boiling dilute sulphuric acid, and the
solution evaporated and treated with animal charcoal furnishes the acid
in rhombic prisms or tables.
677
878
SUCCINIMIDE.
SUFFICIENT REASON.
Succinic acid is inodorous and colourless, has an acid taste, and is
very stable. It is very soluble in hot water, moderately so in cold
water or alcohol, and only slightly soluble in ether. When heated it
fuses at a temperature somewhere about 450° Fahr.; and above that
point sublimes and condenses in a beautifully white crystalline mass
of succinic anhydride (CHO); complete dehydration can, however,
only be effected when the succinic acid has been previously mixed
with phosphoric anhydride. Succinic acid is not acted on by nitric
acid, chromic acid, chlorine, or even a mixture of hydrochloric acid
and chlorate of potash. Heated with caustic potash it yields oxalate
of the base and a carburetted hydrogen; and furnishes acetic acid by
distillation with peroxide of manganese and acetic acid.
Succinates are, for the most part, either neutral salts (2 MO, CH,O)
or acid salts (MO, HO, C,H₂O). They are tolerably stable, and are
characterised by giving a red-brown precipitate with persalts of iron.
Neutral succinate of potash contains (2 KO, CH¸O+4 Aq.); acid
succinate of potash (KO, HO, C,H40¸+4 Aq.) The latter is the salt
contained in wormwood; it crystallises in regular six-sided prisms, and
is prepared by saturating a given quantity of succinic acid with car-
bonate of potash, and then adding a second quantity of the acid.
Succinate of ammonia (2NH,O, C,H,O) is sometimes employed to
separate iron from nickel, cobalt, and manganese; the solutions must
be perfectly neutral. Succinate of soda has been electrolysed by Kolbe;
carbonic acid and oxide of methyl are evolved at the positive pole.
Double succinate of magnesia and potash contains (KO, MgO, C,H,O,+
5 Aq.).
Succinate of ethyl (succinic ether) (2 C,H,O, CHO) is a liquid of
specific gravity, 1036; boiling point, 417.2° Fahr.; it is obtained on
distilling succinic acid with alcohol and sulphuric acid; chlorine con-
verts it into white acicular crystals of perchlorosuccinate of perchlorethyl
(chlorosuccinic ether) (2 C,C1,0, C.C1.0). The last-named body, by
distillation, yields chlorosuccide (CC1¸0); and by action of alkalies
gives a salt containing chlorosuccic acid (CHCL,O?).
3
Sulphosuccinic acid (3 HO, C,H,05, 2 SÖ₂+ 2 Aq.) is produced when
anhydrous sulphuric acid and succinic acid are brought into contact.
When pure it occurs in granular crystals, very soluble in water, alcohol,
or ether; it is deliquescent, and requires three equivalents of base to
saturate it.
Succinic oxychloride, or chloride of succinyl (CH¸O,Cl), is a colourless
highly refracting oil, obtained on distilling equivalent quantities of
succinic anhydride and oxychloride of phosphorus. It fumes strongly,
has a suffocating odour, boils at about 374° Fahr., and has a specific
gravity of 1.39.
N₂
{
H
'").
32- 10
2
12
Succinyl (CHO)" may be assumed to exist not only in the above
compound, but also in all the other members of this group. If it
exists it is diatomic, and plays the part of two equivalents of hydrogen.
Succinic amides are three in number. 1. Succinamide (C,H,N₂O,
This substance is slowly formed, in colourless
H₂
crystalline grains, on exposing a mixture of succinate of ethyl with
twice its volume of strong solution of ammonia. It is insoluble in
alcohol or ether, and almost insoluble in cold water; boiling water
readily dissolves it, and the solution does not precipitate metallic salts.
C₁H₂O,"
Succinanilide, or diphenylsuccindiamide ( CH₁N₂O=N₂ (Č₁₂H¸)₂
H₂
is the insoluble product of the action of succinic acid upon aniliue.
2. Succinamic acid (C,H,NO,) seems to have been obtained as a silver
salt, but has not yet been isolated. Succinanilic acid, or phenylsuccina-
mic acid, contains (C₂,,,NO,NCH, HO). 3. Succinimide,
or bisuccinimide (С¸Н¸ÑO̟¸+2 Aq.), is a product of the transformation
of succinamide by heat. It crystallises in beautiful rhombic tables, is
very soluble in water, less so in alcohol, and slightly so in ether. It
melts at 410° Fahr. It is isomeric with succinamic acid, but does not
combine with potash. Chlorosuccinimide, or chlorozosuccic acid (C,HCI,
NO), results from the action of ammonia on chlorosuccinic ether. It
may be easily separated from other bodies that are simultaneously
formed, and then occurs in prisms; it is volatile, soluble in alcohol or
ether, and decomposes carbonates with effervescence. Succinanile or
phenylsuccinimide (C,H(CH)NO,), is that part of the product of the
action of succinic aeid upon aniline that is soluble in hot water.
Purified by recrystallisation from alcohol, it forms beautiful colourless
needles, insoluble in cold water, and volatile without decomposition.
SUCCINIMIDE. [SUCCINIC GROUP.]
20 11
12-
SUCCINUM is a bituminous substance of a peculiar kind, the
natural history of which has been already detailed. [AMBER, in NAT.
HIST. DIV.] It is not now used in the crude state in medicine, but is
employed to yield the oleum succini, or oil of amber. This is pro-
cured by the destructive distillation of amber, which is put into a
glass, copper, or iron retort, fitted with a glass alembic properly luted.
A gentle heat is applied by means of a sand-bath, by which the amber
is melted, and a little volatile oil passes over; after this the amber
swells greatly, and the distillation proceeds rapidly. By this process
three very distinct products are obtained, namely, impure succinic acid,
which adheres to the neck of the retort; an acid liquid (called spiritus
volatilis succini), in which succinic and acetic acids exist mingled with
empyreumatic oil; and, lastly, the volatile oil of amber, which is to be
separated from the acid liquid by careful pouring off. What remains
in the retort is colophony of amber, which is used to make varnish.
The volatile oil thus obtained is impure, containing various pyrogenous
ingredients, and requires repeated distillations to purify it. If in the
third or fourth of these the process be interrupted when about two-
thirds only of the oil has passed into the receiver, there is obtained a
volatile oil of a light yellow colour, a peculiar bituminous odour, and of
the specific gravity 0-880. If the distillation be continued too long, an
empyreumatic oil is evolved, which gives to the other a coffee-brown
hue; and this is the general appearance of rectified oil of amber. By
some writers freshly prepared charcoal is directed to be put into the
retort when the impure oil is to be distilled, but that is very improper,
as by its means the pyrogenous principles, which it is the object of the
rectification to separate, are very abundantly generated. The purest
oil has a sharp burning taste, an acid re-action, and on exposure to the
air becomes brown and inspissated. Various resinous matters sub-
stituted for amber may all be detected by the absence of succinic
acid.
Volatile oil of amber probably contains a large portion of creasote,
as may be inferred from the analogous action of nitric acid on it and
on creasote. One part of rectified oil of amber, and three parts of
moderately strong nitric acid, form a magma, which has the odour of
musk, and is called artificial musk. Rectified oil of amber is sti-
mulating, anti-spasmodic, and rubefacient. It is now little given
internally, except in combination with ammonia, in the celebrated cau-
de-luce, for which the tinctura ammonic composita of the Pharma-
copoeia was a substitute, but now omitted. This is to be applied to the
nostrils in fainting, hysteria, and epilepsy, or a very few drops diluted
with water may be taken internally. Oil of amber is beneficially
rubbed along the spine in the later stages of hooping-cough.
ounce of rectified oil of amber, with half an ounce of tincture of
opium, forms a good embrocation in tic-doloureux; its disagreeable
odour is an obstacle to its employment when the face is the seat of
the disease; but it proves a most valuable application when the limbs
begin to lose their tone and swell in advanced life. It is extremely
efficacious against the cramps of the limbs in Asiatic cholera, but which
may be prevented by pressing the foot against a board or other firm
body at the foot of the bed, when the patient feels cramp coming on.
SUCCINYL. [SUCCINIC GRoup.]
One
SUCCISTERENE. A white crystalline matter formed during the
distillation of amber.
SUCROSE. [SUGAR.]
SUDORIC ACID (C,H,NO,4), Hydrotic Acid. In addition to
lactic acid, there is contained in human perspiration the soda salt of
another acid to which the above names have been given. Sudoric acid
and its salts are uncrystallisable. The sudorate of silver has the
formula C,H,AgNO,,. This salt is insoluble in alcohol; with this
exception all the salts of sudoric acid are soluble in alcohol.
10
SÜET is a variety of the fatty or adipose tissue of animals, accu-
mulated in considerable quantity about the kidneys and the omentum,
or caul, of several of the domestic quadrupeds. There are several
kinds of it, according to the species of animal from which it is procured,
such as that of the hart, the goat, the ox, and the sheep (ovis aries).
This last, which is whiter than beef suet, is officinal. It belongs to the
class of saponifiable fats. In the recent state it is white, easily broken,
being solid at the ordinary temperature of the air, subdiaphanous,
scarcely possessed of odour, or only of a slight peculiar one, due to the
hircine, which in the process of saponification evolves a volatile strong-
smelling acid (hircinic acid of Chevreul), but possessing a very
disagreeable one when putrifying. It readily spoils on exposure to the
air, becoming rancid and yellow, but may be restored again to white-
ness by chloride of lime or chloride of
ness by chloride of lime or chloride of magnesia. For this purpose, for
each hundred parts of suet from two to four parts of chloride of lime
are to be dissolved in from four to eight times its weight of water, and
to be mixed warm, and as much dilute sulphuric acid is to be added as
is necessary to decompose the chloride.
Suet consists of about three-fourths of stearine, with some elaine,
and a little hircin and margarin; the preponderance of stearin
renders it the most solid of animal fats, a circumstance which con-
tributes to render it more indigestible than other fats.
with a gentle heat, and the prepared suet of the Pharmacopoeia is
It liquefies
obtained by melting it over a slow fire, and straining it, to separate the
membranous portion. It is used as an ingredient in cerates, plasters,
and ointments.
After being melted, it is little prone to spoiling, and by pouring it
over various articles, such as potted char, minced collops, and mush-
rooms, from which it thoroughly excludes the air, it assists greatly in
preserving them.
It has been employed also by M. Ludensdorff for preserving the
fleshy fungi, or mushrooms, for botanical museums, by boiling them in
it (which thus filled their pores and cells, and penetrated the very
substance), and then covering them with a coat of varnish. It does
not however always succeed in preserving the colour and form. (See
Klotsch, in Hooker's 'Botanical Miscellany,' ii. p. 159.)
SUFFERANCE. [TENANT.]
SUFFICIENT REASON. (Mathematics and Physics.) The prin-
ciple which is connected with these words might be, and frequently is
จ
879
SUFFICIENT REASON.
called the want of sufficient reason; and even this term may appear
inaccurate, for it should be the want of any possible amount of reason.
Since, however, all that takes place must have a sufficient reason
(whether we know it or not) for its happening, and everything which
is asserted must be capable, if true, of being shown to have a sufficient
reason, there is no objection to our using the words" want of sufficient
reason in the sense of absolute want of reason, in all matters connected
with the exact sciences. If A be equal to B, there must not only be
reason, but reason enough for it: anything short of reason enough is no
reason at all, and anything short of proof enough is no proof at all.
The use of the word reason in the statement of this principle may
itself be fairly objected to. We are in the habit of speaking of mathe-
matical consequences in the same manner as of those to which the
notion of cause and effect applies. When one proposition is made to
subserve the proof of another, we call the first, one of the reasons of
the second, just as we should say that the reason of a flood was the
preceding heavy rain. But this mode of speaking must be objection-
able if the word reason be used in the same sense in both places. For,
first, we are at liberty to deny the effect on denying that cause; if the
rain had not fallen, the flood would not have taken place. But when
we say that one mathematical proposition is the reason of another, in
which position do we stand if we make an hypothetical denial of the
first? Simply in that of persons who assert a contradiction of terms,
and try to make rational consequences. Thus, the equality of the
angles at the base of an isosceles triangle is one of the reasons (so
called) why the tangent of a circle is at right angles to the radius;
rationally, the first is one of the simpler propositions, the necessity of
which, when seen, helps us to see the necessity of the second and more
complicated one. But the necessity of the first is not previous to that
of the second, except in the order of our perceptions, when we follow
Euclid. Suppose we were to ask, if the angles at the base of the
isosceles triangle had not been equal, what effect would that circum-
stance have had upon the position of the tangent of a circle? We
might as well inquire what would our geometry have been if two
straight lines had been capable of inclosing a space? We remember a
book of arithmetic in which it was gravely asked, by way of exercise
for the student, "If 6 had been the third part of 12, what would the
quarter of 18 have been?" a question which can only be paralleled by
"If a thing were both to exist and not to exist at one and the same
moment, how many other non-existences would therefore become
existences?"
Secondly, the term reason, in the sense of previous cause, is wrong
as applied to mathematical propositions, because when any one is made
to prove the second, it generally happens that the second, when
granted, may be made to prove the first. Thus [RIGHT ANGLE] of the
two propositions, "all right angles are equal," and "two lines which
coincide between two points, coincide beyond them," one must be
assumed, and the other will then follow: but either may be the one
assumed; the other will follow. Now it is absurd to say that of two
things each is the previous cause of the other. The whole of this con-
fusion may be remedied by any one who will remember that one pro-
position is not the cause of another, but it is our perception of the one
which is made the instrument of bringing about our perception of the
other. The constitution of our faculties is the previous cause of the
necessity of mathematical propositions, but not of one before another,
though in arriving at the perception of this necessity our cognisance of
the necessity of one is made the previous cause of that of the necessity
of another. To say that B is the consequence of A, is only to say that
our knowledge of the truth of B is the consequence of our knowledge
of that of A.
Taking care to use the word reason in the sense just alluded to, we
assume that whatever is necessary has a possibility of being shown to
be necessary, and that whatever is true has a possibility of being shown
to be true. If this be a legitimate assumption, it then follows that
whatever it is impossible to show to be true, must be false. But can
there be such a thing as a proposition of which there shall be seen, not
its falsehood, but the impossibility of demonstrating its truth? Can
there arise a case in which we shall be so completely cognisant of all
that may possibly be said for or against an assertion, as to affirm a
necessary incapability of demonstration of one side or the other?
Such cases are universally admitted by mathematicians to exist; and
the final assertion which is made on the known impossibility of proving
a contradiction, is said to be made on the principle of the want of
sufficient reason. But this very dangerous weapon is never put into
the hands of a beginner, in mathematics at least. And when we call
it a dangerous weapon, we do not deny its utility, but we only state
what is well known to every mathematical teacher, that a student who
is allowed to proceed one step by this principle will soon ask per-
mission to make it the universal solvent of difficulties, and will be
quite ready to urge that a proposition cannot be shown to be false, in
preference to seeking for or following the demonstration that it is true.
A beginner can easily admit a sound use of this principle, but can
hardly distinguish it from the thousand inaccurate applications which
his ignorance will make, if it be left in his own hands.
But we can imagine we hear it said that this principle, though some-
times employed in pure physics, is never introduced into mathematical
reasoning except after direct demonstration, in order to confirm the
mind of the learner by making him see how difficult it would have
SUFFICIENT REASON.
880
been to imagine the possibility of any contradiction being successfully
maintained against the proposition just proved. We believe, indeed,
that this principle is seldom employed, and always without necessity,
so that we could wish its use were entirely abandoned. But we can
show that a tacit appeal to it is sometimes made; and this is the worst
possible mode of employing it. If the principle be dangerous, and
liable to be unsoundly used, it should be most carefully stated when
it is used. Whenever we see a proposition assumed, not as an express
postulate, but in a definition for instance, or as a self-evident truth, we
may trace the operation of this principle on our minds. For instance,
take the proposition which is, if there be such a thing in any one pro-
position, a digest of all the methods of mathematics, namely, that if the
same operations be performed on equal magnitudes, the resulting mag-
nitudes are equal. Try to imagine this not true, and want of sufficient
reason interferes to prevent success. What can make a difference? In
this question the principle claims to be applied.
Now, first, in examining the definitions of Euclid, we find an asser-
tion of theorems which we can hardly suppose that Euclid overlooked,
though it is very possible that the impossibility of imagining other-
wise may have been his guide. For instance, the assertion of the
equality of the two parts into which a diameter divides a circle, follow-
ing immediately upon the definition of a circle; and the definition of
equal solids as those which are contained by the same number of
plane figures equal each to each. These and such little matters have
been, or may be, corrected; but we will now point out a use of the
principle which exists in our elementary works of the present day in an
unacknowledged form.
In proving the celebrated proposition of Albert Girard relative to
the dependence of the area of a spherical triangle upon the sum of its
angles, it is assumed that two spherical triangles which have their sides.
and angles equal, each to each, are equal in area. Now it is easily
shown [SYMMETRY] that there may be two such triangles of which it
is impossible to make one coincide with the other, nor is any process
ever given for dividing each into parts, so that the parts of one may
be
capable of coinciding with those of the other. Let the angular points
of one be placed upon the angular points of the other (which is always
possible), and the triangles will not coincide; in common language,
they will bulge in different directions. When the triangles are so
placed, and the common chords drawn, there is no difficulty in seeing
that if ever a want of sufficient reason can be granted upon perception,
it is for there being any inequality of the areas of the two triangles.
And the equality of these areas is accordingly assumed: for instance,
in the proposition above alluded to, a pair of unsymmetrically equal
triangles always occurs, except when the given triangle is isosceles.
And thus the appeal to this principle may be avoided; for it is easy to
make the given triangles into the sum or difference of isosceles triangles,
in which each of one set is capable of being actually applied to one of
the other.
Leaving the subject of pure mathematics, let us now consider the
application of this principle in physics. We have observed [STATICS]
that the line of separation between pure mathematics and the more
exact parts of mathematical physics is very slight indeed this means
as to the clearness and fewness of the first principles, and the rigour of
the demonstrations. If we cut the link which ties the sciences of
statics and dynamics to the properties of the matter which actually
exists around us, we may go farther, and say that we have not only
pure sciences, but pure sciences in which the principle of the want of
sufficient reason is strictly applicable, because it is our own selves who
have, by express hypothesis, excluded sufficient reason.
In propo-
sitions of pure mathematics, we have seen that we cannot invent or
deny for any hypothetical purpose; is and must be, is not and cannot
be, are synonymes, in all the truths which these sciences teach. But
the properties of matter which are not also those of space, are not, in
our conceptions, necessary: we can imagine them other than they are,
without any contradiction of ideas.
We shall now proceed to consider the point mentioned in STATICS,
namely, the character of the axioms of that science. Are they "self-
evidently true," and "not to be learnt from without, but from within ?”
We will not here inquire whether the first must be the second, not
being sufficiently clear as to what is meant by knowledge “from
without " and knowledge" from within," to enter upon any such inves-
tigation. It will do for our purpose to take knowledge " from within ”
to be a phrase descriptive of such truths as that two straight lines can-
not inclose a space, and knowledge "from without" another phrase
indicating such truths as are found, say in the facts of political history
or geography. Let us separate from the rest one axiom of statics, say
equal weights at the ends of equal arms of a horizontal straight lever
balance one another." First, " equal weights" is a synonyme for equal
and parallel pressures. We have no objection to placing the idea of
pressure on the same footing as that of a straight line, for be the name
we give the former conception what it may, it is probable that those
powers of communication with the external world which are certainly
necessary to the development, at least, of pressure, are not less
necessary to that of straightness. Nor are equal pressures difficult of
definition; let them be those which are interchangeable, so that
either may be put in the place of the other. The rest of the terms of
the axiom are geometrical, and to balance each other is to produce no
motion,-motion, independently of producing causes, being, we think,
881
882
SUFFIX.
SUGAR.
as much an idea of geometry as any other. Let A and B be the two
ends of a lever (a rigid bar without weight), and c its middle point,
which is the pivot; that is to say, the middle point cannot move, the
only possible motion of the lever being revolution, in the plane of the
pressures, about that middle point. On these hypotheses, we may
certainly say that the axiom is self-evident, for want of sufficient
reason, that is, of a possibility of sufficient reason for anything in con-
tradiction of it. We have, before the pressures are applied, no cause
of motion, by hypothesis: we are to conceive a lever, which, if it move
- at all, does so by reason of the pressures. We have made these
pressures equal, and applied them symmetrically: there is then, and
can be, no reason why one should predominate, which does not hold as
much of the other. In the very notion of equality of pressures there
is interchangeability; that is, each may be substituted for the other
without alteration of effect. Suppose then the left-hand pressure to
predominate it will do so if the pressures be interchanged. But
after the interchange the same reasons which made the left hand pre-
dominate, will make the right hand predominate or both ends will
move in the direction of the pressures, which is impossible.
We believe the preceding to be as legitimate a use as can be made
of the sufficient-reason principle; but before statics can be established
on axioms, there is another of them required, which we have never
been able to satisfy ourselves comes "from within." It must be
assumed that the pressure on the pivot is equal to the sum of the
pressures on the ends, whatever the length of the arms may be this
we believe we learn from existing matter in quite a different sense from
that in which we speak when we say that we learn the conception of
pressure or of a straight line from our communication with the exter-
nal world by our senses: to us it more resembles the assertion that
the sea is salt, or that a horse has four legs. It certainly does not
arise from the sufficient-reason principle; for there is a reason why
difference of pressures on the pivots may arise in levers which only
differ in the arms, namely, that very difference of the arms. In fact,
there is a presumption against the truth of the proposition à priori,
derived from a principle the frequent and usual truth of which may as
well be called knowledge " from within," as the conception of pressure
or of a straight line: this principle is, "differences generally make
differences, but not necessarily." The beginner in geometry has this
in his mind when he feels that he has learnt something in finding out
that the sum of the angles of a triangle is always the same, whatever
the triangle may be: he would have expected it to be otherwise.
Triangles of different sides have generally different areas, different per-
pendiculars, different inscribed and circumscribed circles, and different
angles: why not different sums of angles? In truth it is a constant
and latent assumption throughout the exact sciences that "differences
are to be supposed to make differences, except where the contrary is
proved." And the assumption that the pressure on the pivot of a
lever is independent of the arms, is either in defiance of this general
principle, or a result of experience.
Thinking, then, that the sciences of pure mechanics can be founded
upon few and incontrovertible postulates, in such a manner as to entitle
them to the name of pure sciences, or some other which shall mark the
real distinction between them and the other sciences of matter, we
cannot yet be of opinion that their postulates are all derived from their
own evidence, or obtainable from the sufficient-reason principle. There
are, however, many points connected with this part of them which are
difficult of exposition for want of acknowledged terms.
SUFFIX, a term lately employed in mathematical language to de-
note the indices which are written under letters, as in a, a, a, a,, &c.
Though these sigùs have been so long used, we never saw a distinctive
name given to them before the publication of Professor Hall's
'Differential Calculus.'
SUFFRAGAN. [BISHOP.]
SUGAR. Referring to SUGAR in the NATURAL HISTORY DIVISION
of this Cyclopædia for an account of its distribution in the organic
kingdom, and to a separate article [SUGAR CULTURE AND MANUFAC-
TURE] for information concerning the extraction from the sugar-cane,
and purification of common or cane-sugar, we shall at present only con-
sider sugar from a chemical point of view.
the cold, and readily at 212° Fahr.; by the reducing action on potas-
sio tartrate of copper; and by the circumstance that when dried in a
water-bath the members of this group are isomeric, having the formula
CH12012. The members of the glucose group differ from each other
in their crystalline form; in their rotatory power on polarised light
[SACCHARIMETRY]; in the modifications they undergo when exposed
to the influence of heat or acids; in the nature of their combinations
with water, bases, and chloride of sodium; and in the manner of
their conversion into mucic acid, &c. Under the sucrose group,
Berthelot includes all sweet principles analogous to cane-sugar; they
with difficulty ferment under the influence of yeast; are scarcely
changed by alkalies, or by potassio-tartrate of copper, even at a tem-
perature of 212° Fahr.; are, by the action of acids, readily converted
into new sugars belonging to the glucose group; and are isomeric only
when heated to 266° Fahr., having then the composition C₁₂H₁1
The members of the sucrose group are distinguished from each other
by their crystalline form; rotatory power; unequal resistance to heat,
acids, and ferments; in their behaviour to bodies with which they
combine; and in the formation of mucic acid, &c. Sugar of milk
(lactose), however, stands in a position intermediate between the above
groups; resembling the glucose series in the action of alkalies and
copper-salts upon it, it is nevertheless analogous to sucrose in resisting
the action of heat and ferments, and capability of being converted into
a fermentible sugar.
12
24
12
O
11°
The four chief varieties of sugar differ slightly from each other in
composition, and very widely in appearance and sweetening power.
Sucrose has the formula C₁₂H11011, or possibly double that (C2H2O);
its appearance and taste are well known. Glucose, or grape-sugar
(C₁₂H12012+2Aq.) has considerably less than half the sweetening
power of cane-sugar, and is generally met with as a somewhat soft
and granular, rather than crystalline mass. Fructose (chularicose)
(C12H2013) is also less sweet than sucrose, and is, moreover, uncrystal-
lisable. And finally, lactose (C,H240) occurs in hard, gritty, mam-
millated crystalline masses, and is considerably inferior in sweetness
to any of the other sugars.
12 11
12
Cane Sugar (C,,H₁,0,1)-is colourless, inodorous, of a purely sweet
taste, moderately hard, and brittle. The crystals, when rapidly formed,
as in common refined sugar, are small; but when obtained by the
slow evaporation of a strong solution, they are of considerable size
(sugar candy). The specific gravity of sugar is about 1·6: it under-
goes no change by exposure to the air; and, when moderately heated,
loses only a little hygrometric moisture: it is soluble in one-third of
its weight of cold water, and in all proportions in hot water: a solution
saturated at 230° forms, on cooling, a mass of small crystals. It is
soluble in alcohol, but much less so than in water; absolute alcohol
takes up only 1-80th of its weight, even when boiling, and this sepa-
rates in small crystals as the solution cools: spirit of wine, of specific
gravity 0.830, dissolves nearly one-fourth of its weight. Sugar is
phosphorescent when two pieces are rubbed together in the dark.
Heated to about 320° Fahr., sugar melts into a viscid colourless liquid,
which, cooled suddenly, becomes a transparent mass (barley-sugar); by
keeping, it becomes opaque. At 400° to 420° sugar is converted into
Caramel, or burnt sugar (С₁₂H,O,), two equivalents of water being set
free. When exposed to a higher temperature, sugar undergoes decom-
position, yielding various gaseous products, and leaving a large pro-
portion of charcoal. Acids produce very different effects upon sugar:
thus nitric acid decomposes and is decomposed by it, the principal
products being nitric oxide, carbonic, oxalic, and saccharic acids:
sulphuric acid, when concentrated, attacks sugar itself, or even a strong
solution of it, sulphurous and carbonic acid gases being formed and
evolved, and a large quantity of carbon set free; 1-100th of a grain
of sugar, on account of the large proportion of carbon which it
contains, is capable of imparting colour to an ounce of sulphuric acid.
When sugar, dissolved in dilute sulphuric acid, is kept for a long time.
at a high temperature, it absorbs oxygen from the air, formic acid is
produced, and there is deposited a brown insoluble matter termed
ulmin. Ulmin is sometimes formed when recently expressed cane
juice is heated, a small portion of lime, however, neutralises the acid
in the juice, and prevents its formation. Hydrochloric acid dissolves
sugar, and forms with it a thick black resinous paste.
A simple
solution of sugar in water undergoes change slowly when exposed to
the air, but on the addition of yeast it undergoes rapid fermentation,
and is converted, first into grape-sugar, and then into alcohol.
Sugar-in Persian, shukkur, and originally sarkara (Sanscrit)—may be
defined as a body having a sweet taste, and which, under the influence,
direct or indirect, of ferments, splits up into alcohol and carbonic acid.
As few plants are wholly destitute of sugar, and as many contain it in
considerable proportions, it is not surprising that many so-called Sugar in many cases combines with the alkalies, earths, and metallic
varieties of sugar should have been described from time to time. Thus oxides, and, in some cases, forms definite compounds with them
we read of sugar of starch, sugar of raisins, sugar of milk, sugar of called saccharates, or saccharides. With ammonia, according to Ber-
gelatine, cane-sugar, grape-sugar, manna-sugar, &c. &c. Many of these, zelius, sugar combines to form a compound of one equivalent of each;
however, have been shown to be identical, and at present nearly all but by exposure to the air the ammonia escapes, and leaves the sugar
may be included under four varieties, namely: Sucrose, or cane-sugar, unaltered: potash and soda appear also to combine with
sugar, and
including sugar from the beet-root, turnip, carrot, maple, birch, palm, they destroy its sweetness; this is restored when the alkalies are satu-
Indian corn, and many fruits of tropical plants; Glucose, including grape-rated with an acid: but if they be left long in contact, the sugar
sugar, starch-sugar, and the sugar generally found in dried fruits; becomes changed into a substance resembling gum.
Fructose, the state in which sugar exists in recently plucked fruits; and
Lactose, the sweet principle found in the milk of animals.
Berthelot divides the whole class of sugars, properly so called, into
two fundamental groups, of which sucrose and glucose are the respec-
tive types. The glucose group is characterised by fermenting directly
in contact with yeast; by being destroyed by strong alkalies, even in
ARTS AND SCI. DIV. VOL. VII.
Lime, baryta, and oxide of lead dissolve in considerable quantity in
a solution of sugar: when the first-mentioned of these bodies, in the
state of hydrate, is digested at a moderate heat in a solution of sugar,
a bitter alkaline solution is obtained, in which the sugar is combined
with an equivalent of lime (CaO, C₁₂H,,O,). Professor Daniell obtained,
by the action of these bodies, gum and crystals of carbonate of lime.
12
3 L
883
SUGAR CULTURE AND MANUFACTURE.
The compound of sugar and baryta is similar. When hydrated oxide
of lead is digested in a solution of sugar, a yellow alkaline liquid is
formed, which yields a tough deliquescent mass by evaporation; but
when excess of the oxide is boiled in a solution of sugar, and the
liquor is filtered hot, it deposits eventually a tasteless insoluble com-
pound, containing 2 PbO, C₁₂H10010
12-
Sugar dissolves carbonate and diacetate of copper, forming green
solutions which are not decomposed by the alkalies, and this is also
the case with the salts of iron. A crystalline compound of sugar and
common salt may be formed by the spontaneous evaporation of a solu-
tion of four parts of the former and one part of the latter. According
to Peligot it contains NaCe, HO, C₁₂H,O,+C₁₂H11011
Distilled with eight times its weight of quicklime, sugar furnishes
METACETONE. Chlorine transforms sugar into a brown substance
partially soluble in water.
9
12
For the action of solutions of sugar on a ray of polarised light, and
estimation of the strength of a solution of sugar, see SACCHARIMETRY.
The uses of cane sugar are too well known to require much notice:
on account of its antiseptic power, it is employed to preserve various
vegetable products: it is used as a sweetener of many kinds of food,
and is in these cases nutritious; but being destitute of nitrogen it is,
like other substances similarly constituted, incapable of supporting life
for any length of time.
Maple Sugar, when refined, is equal in appearance and sweetening
power to refined cane-sugar; and in composition they are similar.
Beet-root Sugar is exactly similar to cane-sugar.
Grape-sugar, or glucose (C12H2012, 2Aq.), or starch-sugar. Besides
the sources previously mentioned, this variety of sugar has been lately
shown to be a constituent of healthy urine. Under the name of
diabetic sugar it occurs in abnormal quantities in the urine of patients
afflicted with diabetes; under these circumstances it is readily detected
on adding to a small quantity of the urine contained in a test-tube,
first, solution of potash or soda, next a few drops of solution of sulphate
of copper, and then gradually heating to the boiling point, when an
abundant deposit of red suboxide of copper will be formed if sugar be
present in abnormal quantity. The same test may, of course, be
applied to any other solution suspected to contain glucose.
Grape-sugar is produced in quantity by allowing a cream of starch
and water to flow into water containing one per cent. of sulphuric
acid, at a temperature of 130° Fahr. The whole is ultimately boiled
for a short time, the sulphuric acid neutralised by chalk, and the solu-
tion evaporated down and set aside to crystallise.
Glucose forms combinations with bases which are rapidly decom-
posed, yielding GLUCIO ACID. When heated, they yield uncrystallisable
MELASSIC ACID. Combinations of glucic acid with certain crystalline
principles occur naturally; several are described under GLUCOSIDES.
Heated to about 140° Fahr., grape-sugar softens, and at 212° Fahr.
melts, and loses two equivalents of water. At a higher temperature it
is converted into caramel. Water dissolves less of grape than of cane-
sugar, the solution is less viscid, and it is not so sweet; hot alcohol,
however, dissolves more of it, but it is deposited again on cooling in
crystalline grains. With sulphuric acid, instead of being charred, as
cane-sugar is, it forms a compound acid called sulphosaccharic acid,
sulphoglucic, sulpholignic, vegeto sulphuric, or sulphamidonic acid, which
gives no precipitate with the salts of barium.
-
Honey contains both fructose, or uncrystallisable sugar, and glucose-
sugar. The two may be separated by strong alcohol, which dissolves
the fructose and leaves the grape-sugar behind.
Manna Sugar. [MANNITE.]
Mushroom Sugar. [MANNITE.]
Liquorice Sugar, so-called, is not a true sugar. See GLYCYRRHIZIN.
Sugar of Milk, Lactine, or Lactose (C2H2,024), is obtained by evapo-
rating the whey of milk to its crystallising point; it forms colourless
four-sided prisms, which are soluble in about six parts of cold water
and two and a half parts of hot: the taste of this sugar is not very
sweet, it is unalterable in the air, and is insoluble in alcohol and ether.
Boiled with dilute acids, it is slowly converted into glucose. It forms
two insoluble compounds with oxide of lead; and reduces boiling solu-
tions of salts of copper, mercury, or silver.
Melitose, trehalose, and melezitose, are three varieties of sugar lately
discovered by M. Berthelot. They are closely allied to cane-sugar.
Melitose is contained in Australian manna, a product of the Eucalyp
tus; by fermentation it yields a non-crystalline body, termed Eucalyn
(C₁₂H₁₂O12, 2HO). Trehalose, is contained in Turkish manna, a sub-
stance formed by an insect (Larimus nidificans) at the expense of a
plant of the genus Echinops; it seems to be identical with the mycose
of Mitscherlich, a sweet principle contained in ergot of rye. Melezitose
occurs in Briançon manna, an exudation from the larch tree.
Sorbin (C₁₂H₁2012) is a sugar contained in the berries of the mountain
ash (Sorbus ancuparia). Heat transforms it into a deep red matter,
termed sorbinic acid.
SUGAR CULTURE AND MANUFACTURE. Sugar is a sweet
crystallised substance, most commonly prepared from the expressed
juice of the sugar-cane, of which there are several species; but some-
times from beet-root, from the sap of one or more species of maple,
and from other vegetable productions. Saccharine matter is indeed
one of the most common of vegetable secretions, but it is only from
the above-mentioned substances that sugar has been extracted to any
SUGAR CULTURE AND MANUFACTURE.
884
great extent as an article of commerce; and of these the sugar-cane is
by far the most extensively used. The sensation of sweetness is
indeed produced not only by many vegetable and animal substances,
but also by some of purely chemical character. The muscular parts of
all quadrupeds, birds, and fishes, if boiled or roasted soon after death,
have a decided though slight degree of sweetness; which sweetness
disappears on the commencement of the spontaneous change which
ends in putrefactive decomposition. Glycerin is a sweet substance
obtainable from most of the fats or expressed oils, whether animal or
vegetable, by the process of saponification. The sweet taste of new
milk is occasioned by a saccharine substance called sugar of milk.
Honey-dew, or aphis-sugar, and the honey of the bee, are intermediate
between animal and vegetable sugars; because, though derived from
vegetable juices, they are modified by digestion in the stomachs of
insects. Among vegetables which contain sugar ready formed (though
not in a crystallised or separate state), there are several trees from the
sap of which it may be obtained in sufficient quantity for human use.
Two of these-the sycamore and the birch--are natives of Britain;
but the sugar which they yield is not sufficient to repay the expense
of manufacture. The sugar-maple, which abounds in some parts of
North America, yields sugar in such abundance as to be of considerable
importance. Many trees of the palm family afford a sweet sap, which
may be boiled down to a tolerably solid viscid sugar. Saccharine
matter exists in many ripe fruits in great abundance, as is evident not
only from their sweet taste, but also from the circumstance that it
exudes from some, such as the fig and the grape, in the process of drying.
Several roots, particularly of the tuberous or fleshy kind, contain
sufficient saccharine matter to be commercially important, either for
separating it in a pure state, or in the form of an extract of all the
soluble ingredients of the root. Of the latter class liquorice is one
of the most important. For the former purpose, attempts have been
made upon several fleshy roots employed as food. Marggraf (in 1747)
tried the skirret (a variety of parsnep), the white beet, and the red beet
His experiments were resumed some years afterwards by M. Achard, at
the desire of the Prussian government. Probably these and some other
early experiments led, in some degree, to the subsequent introduction
of the manufacture of beet-root sugar in France under M. Chaptal.
The above details show how many sources there are from which
sugar might be obtained. None of them, however, as far as experi-
ment has shown hitherto, will bear comparison with the sugar-cane in
point of cheapness; beet-root sugar indeed has entered into com-
petition with that from the cane, but only successfully when aided by
fiscal regulations.
History of Cane Sugar-Unless we suppose the sacred writers
to have alluded to it, Herodotus is probably the earliest author
who mentioned sugar. Theophrastus describes three kinds of
honey-from flowers, from the air (apparently honey-dew), and from
canes or reeds; and in another place he describes a reed or cane that
grew in moist places in Egypt, which was sweet even to the roots.
From some passages in early writers it would seem that the juice of
the cane was used as a drink. The term "honey of canes," which
appears to indicate a fluid or semi-fluid consistency, was used by
Avicenna, as late as the tenth century. Dioscorides, about the period
of the reign of Nero, is said to be the first writer who uses the word
Saccharum (oaкxароv), or sugar; but though he gives an accurate
description of it, he was evidently unacquainted with the process by
which it was prepared. He says "it is in consistency like salt, and it
is brittle between the teeth like salt." Seneca speaks of sugar as honey
found on the leaves of canes, which is produced by the dew, or the
sweet juice of the cane itself, concreting; thereby showing the like
ignorance of its real character. Pliny speaks of sugar as brought from
Arabia, and better from India. "It is," he says, "honey collected
from canes, like a gum, white, and brittle between the teeth; the
largest is of the size of a hazel-nut. It is used in medicine only."
Galen, in the second century, gives a description of sugar almost
identical with that of Dioscorides, excepting that he says nothing of
its brittleness and resemblance to salt. These qualities are however
again mentioned by Paulus Ægineta, in the 7th century, who, following
Archigenes, an earlier writer, describes sugar as the Indian salt, in
colour and form like common salt, but in taste and sweetness like
honey."
Such notices might be extended much further; but enough has
been stated to show that sugar was known, and was an article of
commerce, at least as early as the commencement of the Christian era;
and also to prove that its origin was very imperfectly understood by
ancient Greek and Roman writers. Although more than one writer
speaks of sugar as coming from Arabia as well as India, it was probably
not made in the former country. Indeed the early Arabian writers
themselves speak of sugar as coming from India. It appears probable
that the white sugar-candy of China, which has been very long cele-
brated for its excellence, was the Indian salt of the Roman authors.
The historians of the crusades describe the sugar-cane as met with by
the Crusaders in Syria. One of these, Albertus Agnensis, about the
year 1108, says that "sweet honied reeds," which were called Zucra,
were found in great quantity in the meadows about Tripoli. These
reeds were sucked by the crusaders' army, who were much pleased
with their sweet taste; and our author gives the oldest description
extant of the process of extracting sugar from the cane. Another of
}
.885
886
SUGAR CULTURE AND MANUFACTURE.
SUGAR CULTURE AND MANUFACTURE.
these historians, Jacobus de Vitriaco, in 1124, says that in Syria reeds
grow that are full of honey; by which he understands a sweet juice
which, by the pressure of a screw-engine, and concreted by fire,
becomes sugar.
About the same time William of Tyre speaks of
sugar as made in the neighbourhood of Tyre, and sent from thence to
the farthest parts of the world. As early as the time of the emperor
Frederick Barbarossa, sugar was produced in great quantity in Sicily,
and used in two states; either boiled down to the consistence of honey,
or boiled further, so as to form a solid body of sugar. About 1306,
sugar was made in the countries subject to the Sultan, and also in
Cyprus, Rhodes, Amorea, Sicily, and other places belonging to the
Christians. The progress made in introducing the sugar-cane, and the
process of extracting sugar from it, into the islands of the Mediter-
ranean, into Italy, and into Spain, were derived from the Arabs, and
were in some degree connected with the increased communication with
the East occasioned by the Crusades. It is stated by Venetian histo-
rians that in the 12th century. Venice could import sugar cheaper from
Sicily than from Egypt. The manufacture of sugar was probably
introduced into Spain by the Moors. About 1420 the Portuguese took
the sugar-cane from Sicily to Madeira; and probably during the 15th
century, it was carried from Spain to the Canaries. From these
sources, the cultivation of the sugar-cane, and the art of making sugar,
were extended by different nations of Europe to the West Indian
islands and the Brazils. Wherever the sugar-cane may have been
indigenous, there is no reason to question the fact that the manu-
facture of sugar, derived originally from China and India, was intro-
duced into the western world by the Spanish and Portuguese. In
Hispaniola, or St. Domingo, there were, as early as 1518, twenty-eight
sugar-works, established by the Spaniards. Peter Martyr, who gives
this information, remarks on the extraordinary growth of the cane in
that island; which, for a long period, afforded the principal supply of
sugar to Europe. Antwerp, about 1560, received sugar from Spain,
which had it from the Canaries; and also from Portugal, the latter
country deriving it from S. Thomé and other islands on the African
coast, and from Madeira. Sugar was also an article of import from
Barbary.
Whatever may have been the precise period of the commencement
of the English sugar-manufacture in Barbadoes, Anderson states that
in 1627, and for several years later, the Portuguese supplied most
parts of Europe with Brazil sugars. About 1650 the British planters
in Barbadoes appear to have been realising property very rapidly by
the raising of sugar; they having obtained a few years before, valuable
information from Brazil respecting the culture and process of extracting
sugar from the cane. In 1676 the sugar trade of Barbadoes is said to
have attained its maximum, being then capable of employing 400
vessels, averaging 150 tons burden.
Cultivation of the Sugar-Cane. The botanical characters of the sugar-
cane are given under SACCHARUM, in NAT. HIST. DIV., where also the
principal species are mentioned. The height attained by the canes,
their colour, the length of their joints, and many other particulars,
vary with different species, with the character of the soil, and with the
modes of culture adopted. The stems vary in height from eight feet
up to twenty feet, and are divided by prominent annular joints into
short lengths. Long narrow leaves sprout from each joint; but as
the canes approach maturity, all the leaves from the lower joints fall
off. The outer part of the cane is hard and brittle, but the inner
consists of a soft pith, which contains the sweet juice; this juice is
elaborated separately in each joint, independently of those above and
below it. The canes are usually propagated by slips or cuttings, con-
sisting of the top of the cane, with two or three of the upper joints,
the leaves being stripped off. These are planted either in holes dug
by hand, or in trenches formed by a plough, from eight to twelve
inches deep. Three feet between the rows, and two feet between the
holes in the rows, are about the minimum distances; but when the
horse-hoe is used to keep the ground clear from weeds, the distances
are usually increased to five feet and two and a half feet respectively.
Two or more slips are laid longitudinally at the bottom of each hole,
and covered with earth from the banks, to the depth of one or two
inches. In about a fortnight the sprouts appear a little above the earth,
and then a little more earth from the bank is put into the hole; and
as the plants continue to grow the earth is occasionally filled in, by a
little at a time, until, after four or five months, the holes are entirely
filled up. From August to November is generally considered the best
time for planting in the British West Indies; and about March and
April is perhaps the most generally approved time for cutting the canes,
although that operation is sometimes performed through a great part
of the year. The maturity of the cane is indicated by the skin be-
coming dry, smooth, and brittle; by the cane becoming heavy; the
pith gray, approaching to brown; and the juice sweet and glutinous.
The canes which grow immediately from the planted slips are called
plant-canes; but it is usual, in the West Indies, to raise several crops
in successive years from the same roots; the canes which sprout up
from the old roots, or stoles, being called rattoons. The rattoons are
not so vigorous as the original plant-canes; but they afford better sugar,
and that with less trouble in clarifying and concentrating the juice.
Some planters have, under favourable circumstances, raised rattoon
crops for more than twenty years successively, from the same stoles.
The canes should be cut as near the ground as possible, because the
|
richest juice is found in the lower joints. One or two of the top joints
of the cane are cut off, and the remainder is divided into pieces about
a yard long, tied up in bundles, and carried immediately to the mill.
The upper branches of the cane are used as food for cattle; the
remainder of the waste forms a valuable manure, for which purpose
the trash or waste from the mill is admirably suited, though much of it
is usually consumed as fuel.
Preparation of Raw Sugar.-The operation of cutting the canes is so
adjusted as to keep pace with the action of the mill by which the
juice is to be pressed out; so that the canes may be crushed or ground
while quite fresh. In the East Indies mills of very rude and imperfect
construction are used; some of them resembling mortars, formed of the
lower part of the trunks of trees, in which the canes are crushed by
the rolling motion of a pestle, moved by oxen yoked to a horizontal bar.
The expressed juice runs off by a hole bored obliquely from the lower
part of the mortar-like cavity, and is conducted by a spout to a vessel
placed to receive it. In order to make such a mill effective, it is neces-
sary to cut the cane into very small pieces. Other mills are capable of
being moved from place to place, so that they may accompany the move-
ments of the cane-cutters. One of these consists of two vertical rollers
of hard wood, having, near their upper ends, endless screws, or spiral
ridges, so fitting into each other that both rollers may revolve when
rotatory motion is applied to either. The axis of one of the rollers is
prolonged vertically above the framing, and carries a beam to which
oxen are yoked to turn the mill. This appears to be the prototype of
the vertical mill long used in the West India colonies. Another, still.
simpler, consisting of two grooved rollers placed horizontally in contact
with each other, and turned by the power of men applied to levers at
their ends, appears, in like manner, to be the rude original of the
improved horizontal mills introduced of late years. The common
vertical cane-mills of the West Indies consist of three rollers, usually
of wood, with narrow strips of iron attached to their faces, so as to
form, by the spaces left between them, straight grooves extending from
end to end of the rollers. The moving-power is applied to the middle
roller, and communicated from it to the others by cogged wheels. Of
late steam-engines have been adopted with good effect in some of the
sugar-works in the West Indies. In using the mill, a negro applies
the canes in a regular layer or sheet to the interval between the first
and second rollers, which seize and compress the canes violently as they
pass between them. The ends of the canes are then turned, either by
another negro on the opposite side to the feeder, or by a framework of
wood called a dumb returner, so that they may pass back again between
the second and third rollers. As these are placed nearer together than
the first and second, they compress the canes still more, so that on
leaving them they are reduced to the form of dry splinters, which are
called cane-trash. Channels are added to receive the liquor expressed
from the canes, and to conduct it to the vessels in which it is to
undergo the succeeding operations.
The construction of this mill is very defective. A better form is
that of placing the rollers in a horizontal position, and feeding the mill
by sliding the canes gradually from an inclined board. The rollers,
made very accurately of cast-iron, and fluted or grooved on the surface,
are not placed in the same plane, but are arranged in a triangular form,
the periphery of the upper roller being very nearly in contact with the
two lower rollers, which are also very near together. The two lower
rollers, which are called respectively the feeding and delivering rollers,
have small flanges at their ends, between which the top roller is placed,
so that the pressed canes may not be able to escape from the rollers
and clog the machinery. The feed-board is an inclined plane, com-
monly of cast-iron, the edge of which is nearly in contact with the
feeding roller. The delivering board, which receives and conducts
away the trash of the cane, is also of cast-iron, sloping downwards from
the delivering roller. In some cases the liquor is raised from the
gutter of the mill-bed by pumps connected with and worked by the
machinery of the mill. Where circumstances render such an arrange-
ment practicable, labour may be saved by placing the crushing-mill on
a high level, so that the liquor may run from it to the vessels in which
it is to be purified, by inclined gutters. In Demerara a well-constructed
engine and mill will produce about a hundred gallons of liquor per
hour for each horse-power.
Cane-juice, as expressed by the mill, is an opaque, slightly viscid
fluid, of a dull gray, olive, or olive-green colour, of a sweet balmy taste,
and of a specific gravity varying from 1033 to 1106. It holds in
suspension particles of solid matter from the cane, a considerable
portion of which is separable by filtration or repose. The juice is so
exceedingly fermentable, that in the climate of the West Indies it
would often run into the acetous fermentation in twenty minutes after
leaving the mill, if the process of clarifying were not immediately
commenced.
We have next to treat of the extraction of the sugar from the juice.
As practised in the East Indies, the liquor, after being strained so as
to separate the coarser feculencies, is boiled down in open boilers into
a thick inspissated juice; the scum which rises during the operation
being removed. When it is sufficiently evaporated, it is removed into
earthen pots to cool, and in these it becomes a dark-coloured, soft,
viscid mass, called goor, or jagery. Much of the molasses or un-
crystallisable part of the juice is then separated, by putting the goor
into a coarse cloth and subjecting it to pressure. The sugar is further
887
SUGAR CULTURE AND MANUFACTURE.
purified by boiling it with water, with the addition of an alkaline solu-
tion and a quantity of milk. When this has been continued until
scum no longer rises upon the liquor, it is evaporated, and sometimes
strained, and afterwards transferred to earthen pots or jars. After it
has been left for a few days to granulate, holes in the pots are unstopped,
and the molasses drains off into vessels placed to receive it. The
sugar is rendered still purer and whiter by covering it with the moist
leaves of some succulent aquatic plant, the moisture from which drains
slowly through the sugar, and carries with it the dark-coloured
molasses. A similar process to the above is said to be practised in
Cochin China.
The separation of the sugar from the cane-juice is effected in a much
simpler manner in the West Indies. The juice is conducted by gutters
from the mill to large flat-bottomed pans, called clarifiers. Each of
these is placed over a fire, which may be regulated or extinguished by
a damper; and each is supplied with a stop-cock or siphon for drawing
off the liquor. When the clarifier is filled with juice, a little slaked
lime is added to it; the lime, which is called temper, being, in most
cases, previously mixed with a little cane-juice to the consistence of
cream. As the liquor in the clarifier becomes hot, the solid portions
of the cane-juice coagulate, and are thrown up in the form of scum.
The proper heat is indicated by the scum rising in blisters and break-
ing into white froth, which commonly happens about forty minutes
after the fire is lighted. The damper is then closed, and the fire dies
out; and after an hour's repose, the liquor is ready for removal to the
first of the evaporating pans.
From the clarifier the purified juice, bright, clear, and of a yellow
wine colour, is transferred to the largest of a series of evaporating
pans, three or more in number. These evaporators are placed over a
These evaporators are placed over a
long flue, heated by a fire at one end, over which the smallest of the
coppers, called the teache, is placed. In the process of boiling, impuri-
ties are thrown up in the form of scum, which is carefully removed.
In the teache, the liquor is boiled down to as thick a consistency as is
considered necessary for granulation; this point being most commonly
ascertained by observing to what length a thread of the viscid syrup
may be drawn between the thumb and finger. This trial by the touch,
whence the teache is supposed to derive its name, is very imperfect;
for it sometimes happens that the syrup may have the required tenacity,
and yet not be in a good state for crystallising. The latter point may
be better ascertained by observing the incipient granulation of the
syrup on the back of a ladle dipped in the teache. The thermometer,
though useful, will not be a sure guide in determining the proper
moment for striking, or emptying the teache; because a viscous syrup,
containing much gluten and sugar, altered by lime, requires a higher
temperature to enable it to granulate than a pure saccharine syrup. The
concentrated syrup is ladled, or skipped, froin the teache, either imme-
diately into open wooden boxes called coolers, or into a large cylindrical
cooler, from which it is afterwards transferred to the granulating vessels.
In these the sugar is brought to the state of a soft mass of crystals,
imbedded in thick, viscid, but uncrystallisable fluid. The separation
of this fluid is the next process, and is performed in the curing-house.
This is a large building, the floor of which is excavated to form the
molasses reservoir. Over this cistern is an open framing of joists,
upon which stand a number of empty potting-casks; each of these has
eight or ten holes bored through the lower end, and in each hole is
placed the stalk of a plantain-leaf. The soft concrete sugar is removed
from the coolers into these casks, in which the molasses gradually drains
from the crystalline portion, percolating through the spongy plantain-
When it leaves the curing-house the sugar is packed in hogsheads
for shipment as raw, brown, or muscovado sugar; and in this state it is
commonly exported from our West Indian colonies. As the molasses
is very imperfectly separated from the crystallised sugar, a considerable
diminution of weight takes place subsequent to the shipment, by
the drainage from the hogsheads. This waste has been estimated to
amount to no less than 12 per cent. The loss upon French colonial
sugars used to be much greater even than this. Means have, however,
been adopted of late years in some colonial sugar-works for reducing
this loss.
stalks.
Clayed sugar, also called Lisbon sugar, is raw sugar that has been
subjected to a peculiar operation. The sugar is removed from the
coolers into conical earthen moulds called formes, each of which has a
small hole at the apex. These holes being stopped up, the formes are
placed, apex downwards, in other earthen vessels. The syrup, after
being stirred round, is left for fifteen or twenty hours to crystallise.
The plugs are then withdrawn, to let out the uncrystallised syrup;
and, the base of the crystallised loaf being removed, the forme is filled
up with pulverised white sugar. This is well pressed down, and then
a quantity of clay mixed with water is placed upon the sugar, the
formes being put into fresh empty pots. The moisture from the clay,
filtering through the sugar, carries with it a portion of the colouring-
matter, which is more soluble than the crystals themselves. When
the loaves are sufficiently purified to be removed from the formes,
they are dried gradually in a stove, and crushed into a coarse powder
for exportation. Claying is little practised in British plantations, from
an opinion that the increase of labour and diminution of quantity of
Įroduce occasioned by it are not compensated by the improved quality
of the sugar. It was however very generally practised by the French in
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SUGAR CULTURE AND MANUFACTURE.
889-
St. Domingo. Hague's process consists in submitting the raw sugar,
after being cured in the usual way, to the action of a vacuum filter.
The apparatus consists of a shallow vessel, beneath which is a cavity
connected with an air-pump. The bottom of the vessel is perforated
with a number of small holes; and when a quantity of muscovado
sugar, mixed with a little water into a pasty mass, is laid in it, upon a
piece of haircloth, the air is withdrawn from the cavity beneath the
sugar. The pressure of the superincumbent atmosphere upon the
surface of the sugar then drives the moisture, and with it much of the
colouring-matter, through the holes in the bottom of the vessel. When
the sugar is sufficiently whitened, the air-pump is stopped, the sugar
and molasses are removed, and a fresh charge of muscovado is applied.
Another means of avoiding the loss consequent on the drainage from
raw sugar during its voyage to this country, is the importation of
sugar for the use of the refiner, in the form of concentrated cane-juice,
containing nearly half its weight of granular sugar along with more or
less molasses, according to the care taken in the boiling operations.
Before proceeding to the subject of sugar refining, it may be well to
make a few observations on suggested improvements in the West
Indian treatment of raw sugar. Chemists, and the better class of
sugar-growers, have long known that a large amount of sugar is wasted
by an imperfect management of the operations at the plantations. It
is believed that 25 per cent. of the juice lodges in the cells of the
megass or trash, and is lost; it ought to be extracted, but is not.
Even if not, the trash might form a better fuel for the boiling-houses
(where it is now used) if first dried by the surplus heat of the
chimneys, &c. Dr. Scoffern, in 1847, ascertained that, in various ways,
no less than two-thirds of the sugar is in some instances lost. In 1849
he introduced certain improvements, intended, by the use of new
defecating agents, to increase the quantity of juice obtained from the
cane, and of sugar obtained from the juice. Some of the agents used
by him are poisonous however in their natural state, though innocuous
in the process; and this seems to have retarded the acceptance of his
method. Some inventors say that the weight of juice extracted is
only 50 per cent. of the weight of the original cane, whereas it ought
to be 90 per cent.; and they have devised a mode of treating the
megass with hydraulic pressure, after the mill has done its work; by
this means the megass becomes a flattened mass of trash, as hard and
nearly as dry as a deal board. It is also believed that, by a better con-
struction and management of apparatus more sugar and less molasses
[MOLASSES] might be obtained from a given weight of juice.
.
Sugar-trash has been tried in England as a material from which to
make paper, but without much success.
Sugar-refining.-Raw or muscovado sugar, as brought from the
colonies, forms the common moist or brown sugar of the shops. The
saccharine particles are always mixed with other matter, which imparts
to the sugar a dark colour, a moist clammy feeling, and an empyreu-
matic odour. The object of the sugar-refiner is to remove these
impurities, so as to obtain the sugar in the hard white semi-transparent
state known as loaf-sugar.
The art of refining sugar, as well as that of extracting it from the
cane, is supposed to have been brought to Europe from the East,
probably from China; but at what time is uncertain. The Venetians
are believed to have been the earliest sugar-refiners in Europe; and it
is known that they practised the art before the discovery of America.
The Venetians originally operated upon the coarse black sugar brought
from Egypt, and followed the Chinese practice of converting it into
sugar-candy before they made loaf-sugar. Stow (Survey of London')
states that sugar-refining was commenced in England about 1544.
There were then two sugar-houses in London, but they yielded little
profit, because there were many sugar-bakers in Antwerp who could
supply refined sugar to England better and cheaper than it could be
made at home. Subsequently, the commerce between England and
Antwerp being stopped, these two sugar-houses supplied all England
for twenty years, and became so profitable, that many other persons
embarked in the business.
Few manufacturing operations have undergone more important
changes than that of sugar-refining. As generally practised until
within a recent period, the process commenced by mixing the raw sugar
in a large open copper with lime-water, and adding to the mixture when
warm a quantity of bullock's blood. The heat occasioned the serum of
the blood to coagulate, and in so doing to collect most of the impuri-
ties floating in the liquor, and to raise them with it to the surface of
the syrup in the form of a thick scum, which was carefully removed.
This clarifying process was sometimes repeated with a fresh quantity
of blood, or, as it is technically called, spice. When the liquor was
thus rendered tolerably clear, and was partially evaporated by boiling,
it was further cleansed by passing it through a filter of thick woollen
cloth, which detained any particles of scum that might have been
left after skimming the liquor. It was afterwards concentrated by
boiling in a smaller open copper till sufficiently thick for graining;
after which it was formed into loaves in the manner hereafter
described. For loaves of the finest quality a second refining followed
this. In the preceding section allusion has been made to the methods
of separating molasses from raw sugar by the vacuum-filter and the
hydraulic-press, both of which have been applied to the preparation of
sugar for refining; by the latter process sugar is now capable of
yielding loaves equal to double-refined by one process.
·
880
A.
SUGAR CULTURE AND MANUFACTURE.
890
SUGAR CULTURE AND MANUFACTURE.
Many improvements have been effected upon the old methods of
clarifying and concentrating the syrup. The raw sugar is transferred
from the casks into large circular blow-up cisterns, in which it is mixed
with lime-water. The mass is heated by steam, forced by its own
pressure through small apertures in copper pipes, which are laid along
the bottom and sides of the vessel; and the perfect solution of the
sugar is aided by stirring with long poles. The liquor is allowed to
flow from the blow-up cistern to a range of filtering-vessels in a room
beneath. The filters are tall vessels six or eight feet high, of cast-iron
or wood, having cisterns at top and bottom; and a number of cloth or
canvas tubes, closed at their lower ends, but communicating at their
upper ends, by which they are suspended, with the upper cistern.
Within each of these tubes is a bag of thick close cotton-cloth, which,
being much larger in diameter than the tube in which it is enclosed,
is necessarily folded together. By this device a very extensive filtering
surface is obtained in a small compass; and, as the liquor from the
upper cistern cannot escape from the bags except by percolating
through the meshes of the cloth, it becomes, as it drops into the
lower cistern, very clear and transparent; most of the solid impuri-
ties remaining in the bags. On leaving the filter, the syrup, though
clear and transparent, is of a reddish colour; and the removal of this
tinge is effected by filtering the syrup through a mass of powdered
charcoal. The application of the bleaching power of charcoal to the
purification of sugar is one of the great improvements effected by
modern science. Powdered animal charcoal is placed in a large square
vessel, which has a perforated false bottom, to the thickness of nearly
three feet. The syrup is conducted by pipes from the bag-filter to the
surface of the charcoal, through which it percolates slowly; it then
drops through the holes into the cavity beneath, where it is found
almost colourless. In some cases, before the sugar is placed in the
blow-up cistern, it is partially purified by mixing it into a pap with
hot water or steam, and exposing it to drain in large sugar-moulds,
similar to those used in the preparation of clayed sugar. In this case
the purification may be rendered more complete by the filtration of
moisture from a magma of sugar (a mass of wet sugar in a state
resembling mortar), applied in the same way as that of clay in the
claying process.
Sometimes also a little blood is mixed with the
sugar in the blow-up cistern; or, instead of it, a mixture of gelatinous
alumina and gypsum, called finings. Other refiners use both the blood
and finings.
-
In the concentration of the clarified syrup, which forms the next
process, improvements of the greatest importance have been effected.
In the old plan of concentrating the syrup in open pans, they were
heated by fires to a temperature of from 230° to 250° Fahr. Many
plans were contrived for rendering the application of heat more
regular and controllable. It is well known that fluids will boil at a
much lower temperature in a partial vacuum than when exposed to
the ordinary pressure of the atmosphere; and by the happy applica-
tion of this principle, Mr. Howard removed the chief difficulties
attending the evaporation of saccharine syrup. The accompanying cut,
which represents one of the vacuum-pans constructed on Howard's
principle, may assist in the explanation of this admirable contrivance.
The apparatus consists of a copper vessel, a, b, the several parts of
which are united by flanges, with packing between the joints to render
them perfectly air-tight. The middle portion, a, is cylindrical, from
six to seven feet in diameter; and the upper part, b, is convex or
dome-shaped. The bottom is also convex, but in a less degree. The
bottom is double, the cavity between the inner and outer casings
forming a receptacle for steam. The best kinds of pans have also a
spiral coil of copper pipe a little above the inner bottom, by which
steam may be made to circulate through the body of syrup in the
pan, and thereby assist evaporation. The bottom cavity is supplied
with steam generated at a low pressure; but the spiral pipe contains
be
steam of high pressure, and consequently of great heat. There is a
short broad pipe called the neck, rising from the dome, from which
a communication is formed with an air-pump, by which the pan may
partially exhausted of air. A communication is also formed between
the interior of the pan and a vessel containing clarified syrup. A
quantity of liquid sugar is admitted. The air-pump continues at
work during the boiling of the syrup, motion being communicated to
it from a steam-engine; and by this means the sugar is enabled to
boil at a temperature of only 130° to 150°, or 100° lower than that
required in open vessels. To ascertain when the syrup is sufficiently
evaporated, the pan is supplied with a very ingenious appendage called
the proof-stick, the handle of which is shown as held by an attendant.
It consists of a tube extending into the pan, and terminating in a
peculiar kind of valve, so formed that, by turning a rod inserted in
the tube, a sample of sugar may be drawn out without admitting air
into the vessel. The sample thus obtained is tried by the touch, as
described in explaining the process of evaporation in the West Indies;
and when it appears to be in a satisfactory state, the sugar is allowed
to flow, through an opening in the bottom of the pan, into a granu-
lating-vessel in a room below.
The practice of boiling the syrup at so low a temperature has occa-
sioned a curious difference in the next process, which is that of granu-
lating the concentrated liquor. In the West Indies, the vessels used
for this purpose are called coolers, because the syrup is brought down
to a lower temperature than in the boiling-coppers. The corresponding
vessels used in refining sugar upon the old plan were similar to these,
and were called by the same name; but when the method of boiling
at a low temperature is adopted, the granulators become heaters instead
of coolers; the sugar, when placed in them, being raised to a tem-
perature of 180° or 190°. This is done by the admission of steam
into a cavity surrounding the granulating-vessel, a shallow open
copper or pan, in which the thick pulpy mass is stirred quickly to
promote the granulation.
From the granulators the sugar is transferred, by means of copper
basins or pans, into moulds of a conical form, usually of iron. These
moulds have orifices at their points, which are stopped up before they
are filled with sugar. They are arranged with their open bases upper-
most; and immediately after the sugar is poured in it is stirred round,
to diffuse the crystals equally through the semifluid mass. They are
then left for several hours, that the sugar may become solid: after
which they are removed to another room; and, their points being
unstopped, they are set in earthen jars, that the uncrystallised fluid
may drain from them; or the same purpose is effected by placing them
in racks, with gutters to receive the syrup. This syrup is re-boiled
with raw sugar, so as to yield an inferior quality of sugar; and when
all the crystallisable matter has been extracted from it, the remainder
is sold as treacle. It was formerly usual to "clay" the loaves in order
more thoroughly to remove the molasses; but this process is aban-
doned by most refiners for the superior method introduced by Mr.
Howard of cleansing the loaf by causing a saturated solution of sugar
in water to percolate through it. When the loaf of sugar is thoroughly
purified by the repetition of this process, and is sufficiently dry, it is
turned out of the mould; the base being scraped to an even surface,
and the apex applied to a kind of lathe, in which any part that may be
slightly discoloured is cut off, leaving the end clean and smooth. The
loaves are finally dried in an oven heated by steam-pipes to a tem-
perature of 130° or 140°, and then wrapped up in paper for sale.
It is needless to follow the processes by which the syrups and other
refuse of the best sugar are converted into sugars of inferior quality,
which are either sold as cheap loaf-sugar, or formed into large coarse
loaves called bastards, which are crushed into powder for sale. It has
been asserted that about two-thirds of the molasses found in the moulds
under the old system were formed by the intense heat employed in
concentrating the syrup; a loss which is now, in a great measure,
obviated. The effect of these improvements in diminishing the price
and consequently increasing the consumption of refined sugar, is also
very important; the cost of refined sugar being now only about 20 per
cent. greater than that of raw sugar, although formerly the difference
of price was as much as 40 per cent.
In the preparation of refined sugar, as in that of raw, many improve-
ments have recently been introduced; but none equal in importance
to Howard's capital invention of the vacuum pan. The chief of them is
the draining of the sugar-loaves by centrifugal motion, on the system
now so largely adopted in many branches of manufacture. [DRYING
MACHINES.] Several sugar moulds, with crystallised wet sugar in
them, are arranged in a horizontal circle, each with its open apex out-
wards; the frame containing them is made to rotate 800 times in a
minute, and the centrifugal force thus generated drives all the moisture
out of the sugar and out of the mould. Or the wet mass may be put
at once into a centrifugal machine, and whirled round until it becomes
a nearly dry white powder. In either case there is a great saving of
time over the old method. Van Goethem, a Belgian sugar refiner, has
been the chief agent in bringing about this improvement.
Sugar-Candy. This is the only kind of refined sugar made in China
and India; and is made of the finest quality by the Chinese, who
export it in considerable quantities. Two sorts are met with at Canton,
called, respectively, Chinchew and Canton; the former being the
produce of the province of Fokien, and the latter of that of Canton.

1
891
SUGAR CULTURE AND MANUFACTURE.
Of these, the former is by far the best. Chinese sugar-candy is con-
sumed, to the almost total exclusion of other sugar, by the Europeans
at the settlements in the East. The process of making it is briefly
described under CANDY.
Beet-root Sugar.-The process of manufacturing sugar from beet is
described under BEET. The manufacture was commenced in Europe
chiefly through the high price of colonial sugar, owing partly to war
and partly to taxation. The early attempts were disastrous: but
within the last few years the manufacture has greatly extended.
Stollé, of Berlin, estimated the quantity of beet sugar exported from
the countries where it was made, at about 2,300,000 cwt. annually;
but this affords no index to the quantity made and consumed in those
countries. It is known that 20,000,000 centners of beet-root have been
used for the manufacture in Germany alone in one year. In France,
also, the number of beet-sugar manufactories is very large. The
relative advantages and disadvantages of beet-sugar have long been,
and still are, a matter of controversy. Stollé claims for beet-sugar
made in Europe, over cane-sugar made in slave countries, the following
advantages superior intelligence and skill of the operatives; supe-
riority and easy repair of machinery; ready intercourse of the manu-
facturers with chemists and mechanical inventors; the presence of
the owners instead of entrusting the management to agents; a ready
supply of labour and skill of various kinds; and a climate less likely
than that of tropical countries to produce fermentation in the saccha-
rine juice. Very favourable balance sheets have frequently been put
forth by beet-sugar makers; but these, like many other kinds of
balance sheet, require to be received with caution.
We may here add a few words concerning sugar from the maple and
the Sorghum saccharatum.
Maple-sugar is made in Canada and the United States. The sap is
obtained by boring holes in the trunk of the maple-tree, in a direction
inclining upwards, with an augur about three-quarters of an inch in
diameter; the depth of the holes being such that they may penetrate
about half an inch into the alburnum, or white bark, as the sap is
found to flow more freely at that depth than at any other. Tubes of
elder or sumach are inserted in the holes, so as to project a few inches
from the trunk; their outer ends being cut so as to form small troughs,
along which the sap trickles into receptacles placed beneath them,
The season for collecting the sap extends from the beginning of
February to the middle of April. Though collected in frosty weather,
the tendency of the juice to fermentation renders it desirable to
boil down the sap within two or three days at furthest from the time
of its extraction. This is done in very rude apparatus, which is carried
to the encampment formed by the sugar-makers. The syrup is thus
brought to about one-third of its original bulk, the scum which rises
being removed. White of egg is sometimes used as a clarifier; and
occasionally a little butter or fat is thrown in during the last boiling.
The molasses are separated, though mostly in a very imperfect manner,
by filtration. The concreted sugar is said to be equal in taste to cane-
sugar, and to sweeten as well. It is seldom refined, but is capable of
being made equal to loaf-sugar from the cane.
The Sorghum saccharatum, or Sugar Grass, has lately become an object
of attention. Seeds were brought from China, and distributed in France,
Belgium, Germany, England, and the United States. Some were sown
in a market-garden at Streatham, in October, 1858; the plants grew to
a height of 10 feet; and the juice was said to contain 13 per cent. of
saccharine matter. Dr. Scoffern even asserted that every acre of
inferior sandy land in England might be made to yield 4 tons of sugar
from this source; that in bad years the plant might be sliced in
November, dried, and used for fodder, instead of turnips; and that it
is superior to the white beet and the sugar-maple as a source for sugar.
This high encomium, however, has not been verified.
The plant,
nevertheless, is more easily cultivated than the sugar-cane, and over a
wider variety of soil; and as the juice is contained in stems capable of
being sliced, there is no occasion for a sugar-mill. On the other
hand, Dr. Hayes, of the United States, from experiments made in
1857, found that the syrup would not crystallise properly whence he
inferred that the plant secretes, not true sugar, but a semi-fluid glucose.
At any rate, the plant is worthy of further attention in Europe. It is
said that the first seeds were brought from Shanghai to Paris in 1851,
that all died but one, and that all the plants of the Sorghum now being
grown for this experiment in Europe and America are the produce of
this rue seed.
:
Sugar-Trade.-It is not known how much sugar is made in the
world. Stollé, in 1853, put down the quantities of cane-sugar exported
from the several countries as follows:
95
East and West Indies (British)
French colonies
•
•
•
•
•
7,030,000 cwts.
1,290,000
1,300,000
6,650,000 ""
150,000
4,000,000
""
Dutch colonies
Spanish colonies
Danish colonies.
Brazil
United States
•
2,730,000
23,150,000
To which he added about an equal quantity consumed in those same
countries. He also put down in his tabulation, 3,300,000 cwt. of beet-
sugar, 2,000,000 of palm-sugar, and 400,000 of maple-sugar. If these
SUGAR, PROPERTIES OF.
892
over 50,000,000 cwts. Mr. M'Culloch has expressed an opinion that, in
estimates are approximately correct, the total sugar product would be
1858, the produce of cane-sugar all over the world was 1,250,000 tons,
equal to 25,000,000 cwts.-an estimate so much lower than that of
Stollé for 1853, as to show that the authorities rely on very different
data. Mr. M'Culloch credits Cuba with one-third of all the cane-sugar
grown in the world.
In 1661 a duty amounting to 1s. 6d. per cwt. was imposed on the
importation of British plantation sugar in England; and in 1669 the
duty was doubled. This gradually rose to 30s. early in the present
century, from which it fell to 24s. in 1833.
century, from which it fell to 24s. in 1833. From 1793 to 1803, the-
duty on East India sugar was 37 and 38 per cent. ad valorem, and
afterwards was 11s. and 8s. the cwt. higher than the duty on West
India; but by an act passed in 1836, the duties were assimilated by
the reduction of East India sugar from 32s. to 24s. the cwt. The duty
on foreign sugar varied from 60s. to 63s. until about 1844.
Fluctuations in price, and the domestic circumstances of the country,
occasion great diversities in the consumption of different years. Thus,
with the low price of 1831, the consumption was greater than in 1839,
notwithstanding the population of Great Britain had increased nearly
2,000,000. The annual consumption averages above 20 lbs. per head
for England and Scotland, and would probably be 50 lbs. if a great
reduction were to take place in the price. In France the annual con-
sumption averages 5 lbs. per head; in the states of the German League,
above 4 lbs.; and in the whole of Continental Europe, about 2½ lbs.
The quantity of sugar produced in the West Indies has fluctuated
greatly since the emancipation of the slaves. The equalisation of the
duty on East India sugar in 1836 gave a stimulus to the cultivation of
the sugar-cane in the East Indies, and the import of 1840 exceeded all
expectation, being 1,066,032 cwts., or above 53,000 tons. The scarcity
of 1840 was so great that 2316 cwts. of foreign sugar were entered for
home consumption, paying a duty of 63s., or 39s. the cwt. more than
sugar from British possessions. The sugar of Brazil, Cuba, and other
foreign countries is chiefly exported to the Continent, where the price
is on an average from 10s. to 20s. the cwt. lower than in this country.
In 1844 a great change was effected in the sugar duties, whereby
foreign sugar might, under certain circumstances, be imported at a
duty of 34s. instead of 63s., and in some favoured instances (to
encourage free instead of slave labour) as low as 23s. 6d. Sugar from
foreign slave states was still to pay 63s. Sugar from British possessions
and 1848, the duties on British and foreign sugar were gradually to
was to pay 14s. to 21s., according to quality. By acts passed in 1846
approach equality, the equalisation to be completed in 1854, at which
date all sugars would pay from 10s. to 13s. 4d. per cwt., according to
quality. Between 1854 and 1858 the duties were slightly raised, to
meet a war expenditure; during this interval, the lowest duty on the
lowest kind was 11s.; and the highest duty on the highest kind, 17s. 6d.
By the tariff of 1860, the duty was still again slightly raised, ranging
from 12s. 8d., for common moist, to 18s. 4d., for best refined; cane-
juice paid a duty of 10s. 4d.
juice paid a duty of 10s. 4d. These duties are
These duties are the same, whatever
country the sugar may be brought from.
Without taking note of the quantity re-exported, the following gives
the quantity of sugar imported for home consumption, and the duty
raised from it, in six different years, situated respectively five years
apart:-
1833
1838
1843
1848
1853
1858
+
Entered for Home
Consumption.
3,600,000 cwts,
3,900,000",
4,000,000,,
6,100,000,,
7,300,000
8,500,000,,
Amount of Duty.
£1,400,000
4,700,000
5,100,000
4,600,000
4,100,000
5,800,000
The above quantities are given in round numbers; but to illustrate
the present state of the trade, the figures for 1860 will here be given
in more detail :—
Imported.
86,516 cwts.
3,743,286
Home Consumption.
48,505 cwts.
3,464,999
5,184,093
""
Unrefined, 1st quality
2nd quality
•
""
3rd quality
Total unrefined
Refined and candy sugar
Cane juice
Molasses
4,977,784
8,807,586
345,041
13,286
606,765
9,777,678
>>
8,697,597
19
**
""
266,064
12,026
559,953 ""
9,535,640,
""
""
It will thus be seen that the home consumption of sugar very nearly
equals the imports, leaving only a small quantity for re-exportation.
The computed real value of the whole (minus the duty) was about
13,000,000l.
SUGAR, PROPERTIES OF. Sugar is a proximate principle,
chiefly of vegetables, but also sparingly of animals of the class Mam-
malia. It presents considerable varieties, according to the source
whence it is obtained, and is distinguished into those which are capa-
ble of undergoing the vinous fermentation, and into those which are
not; also into those which can assume a definite crystalline form, and
those which cannot; but sometimes these two kinds co-exist in the
893
8P4
SUGAR, PROPERTIES OF.
SUGAR, PROPERTIES OF.
same sort, as in the sugar from the sugar cane, which yields both the
finest crystals and likewise molasses or treacle. It almost invariably
exists in a dilute and liquid state in plants, but it occasionally exhibits
a crystalline form in the flower of certain plants, such as the Rhododen-
dron ponticum, the Strelitzia Reginæ, and Eucomis punctata. Sugar is
the great principle by which rapidly-growing succulent parts of plants
and seeds, when they germinate, are nourished. Hence it is produced
in large quantities in such seeds as contain starch, when excited to
germinate, as may be observed in the process of malting, which up to
a certain stage is exactly that of the germination of the seed. Under
these circumstances, seeds which are insipid from the bland nature of
the starch which they contain become sweet. By this means many
seeds which are regarded as little suited for the nourishment of man
may be made to contribute to his support, by merely steeping them in
water till they sprout. A similar transformation of starch into sugar
takes place in the ripening of many fruits. Thus the fruit of the
banana, or plaintain, which, when gathered green, abounds in starch,
if allowed to ripen on the stalk is destitute of starch, and yields much
gummy and saccharine matters. The same happens when the palms
are about to flower, as all the starch in their lofty stems is rapidly
transformed into sugar; and hence the sago-palm (Sagus Rumphii,
&c.) and the Mauritia flexuosa (sago-palm of the Orinoco) are cut down
just when the flower-buds begin to appear, to obtain the sago they
contain. In other palms the flower-buds are allowed to protrude, and
a wound being made in the spatha, a large quantity of a sweet fluid
distils, which may either be concentrated by boiling, when sugar is
deposited, or the liquid may be fermented, and so yield the toddy
called palm wine. If these, or the sugar-cane, maize, or our common
esculent roots, parsnep, skirret, carrot, or beet, are allowed to flower,
all the gummy and saccharine matters disappear from the roots or
stem. The transformation of starch into gum and sugar is effected by
a principle called diastase [FERMENT], which is so powerful, that
part of it is sufficient to render soluble the interior portion of two
thousand parts of starch, and convert it into sugar." Wherever buds
are lodged, there the elements of diastase are placed, to come into play,
when they begin to sprout, and supply them with food in a state of
solution, as is the case with the buds or eyes of potatoes.
<<
one
Many seeds, before they are ripe, contain a saccharine substance,
which is changed into starch when fully ripe, but which again becomes
sugar in germinating, such as the garden pea. Many stems of grasses
are sweet at an early stage of their growth, but become insipid at a
later period. This influences greatly the nutritive powers of these
grasses, according to the stage of growth when they are cut down and
made into hay. (See appendix to Davy's 'Agricultural Chemistry.')
Those which have been allowed to become too ripe are often restored
to a proper state by the fermentation (heating) which occurs after the
hay is stacked; but this is sometimes so violent as to consume the
rick.
The starch lodged in the stem of certain trees in autumn is con-
verted, by the ascending sap in spring, into sugar, with great rapidity.
This is the case with the Acer saccharinum, or sugar-maple, and many
other species of that genus which are tapped in February.
The same is the case with the ascending sap of the birch-tree, but
this does not contain sufficient sugar to permit the concentration of it;
there is enough however to undergo the vinous fermentation, and
thereby furnish the agreeable beverage called birch wine.
Next to the sugars from the cane and beet-root, among those which
are crystallisable and capable of fermentation, the most important is
the granular sugar obtained from a great variety of sources. It exists
in considerable quantity in the juice of grapes, and hence the name
grape sugar, which should be limited to this particular variety, is
sometimes extended to the whole class of krummel sugars. It forms
a constituent of a great many fruits, not merely fleshy, such as pears,
cherries, peaches, melons, dates, figs, grapes, on which last two it
forms a white incrustation when these are dried, but in chesnuts,
when produced in warm regions. It exists in the nectaries of many
flowers, and is collected by the bees; hence honey is only one of the
kinds of this sugar. Though harmless in probably all instances to
the bees, from whatever plant collected, it not unfrequently has a
poisonous influence over human beings, when it has been collected
from poisonous plants, such as Rhododendrons and their allied genera.
Granular sugar is readily formed by the action of dilute sulphuric
acid on starch, or sugar of milk, or the bastard sugar which remains
after the finest refined sugar has been procured from the cane or beet-
root sugar. Lignin, or anything containing or formed from it, such as
saw-dust, linen-rags, or paper, may be likewise transformed into
granular sugar. It is likewise the kind of sugar formed during the
germination of seeds. Lastly, it is that kind of sugar which is formed
by a perverted action of the digestive and assimilating organs in the
disease termed diabetes mellitus. [DIABETES.] All these varieties taste
less sweet than the cane-sugar, and also differ among themselves; thus
grape and honey sugar are sweeter than that from starch, while starch
sugar is sweeter than that obtained from juniper berries. All of them
contain less carbon and more water than the cane sugar, and may
be regarded as hydrates of sugar.
Sugar, which, though with difficulty crystallised, is referred to this
section, exists in many fungi or mushrooms, especially of the genus
Agaricus. While it contributes to their nutritive properties, it most
|
|
likely proves one source of the poisonous qualities they sometimes
possess, as it is occasionally transformed into oxalic acid. Masses of
crystals have been observed on the cap of a mushroom, some of which
were sugar, while others were oxalic acid. Free oxalic acid is found in
the Polyporus sulphureus, Bull., which is most likely formed at the
expense of the sugar.
The only uncrystallisable sugar which is capable of fermentation is
the syrup which remains after the refining of the cane and other sugars.
It receives the name of molasses, and is used in medicine under the
name of Sacchari faex, which is preferable to that of theriaca, as
this might lead to confusion with a poisonous compound which bears
a similar name. Molasses are largely employed for the distillation
of rum.
The kinds of sugar unsusceptible of fermentation are, the sugar
of milk and mannite; yet sugar of milk, when by the action of
dilute sulphuric acid it is converted into granular sugar, is as
susceptible of fermentation as any of the above-described. In other
respects it conducts itself like common sugar, except that with nitric
acid, besides oxalic acid, it forms saclactic acid. It is procured from
whey, either simply by evaporating to dryness (saccharum lactis inspis-
satum), or by crystallising it. It is frequently separated from the
curd by the addition of a great many substances, which can coagulate
this, such as alum, vinegar, tamarinds, and mustard, and in certain
diseases these medicated wheys are much recommended.
Sugar of milk has little sweetness, but a hot solution of it
tastes much sweeter than the dry sugar. Sugar of milk is much
used by the followers of homoeopathy as the material of their dynam-
ised globules.
Manna sugar constitutes the greater portion of the manna which
flows from the Ornus europaea and other ashes in the south of Europe,
the bark of the olive-tree, many species of pines, the root and leaves
of celery, the bulb of the common onion, and in the rhizome of the
Triticum repens, or couch-grass. The sweet juices of many plants,
such as beet, carrots, &c., when long exposed to the air, generate
manna sugar by a partial fermentation. To prevent this is one of the
great objects in the manufacture of beet-root sugar; hence the neces-
sity for speedily concentrating and purifying this juice. To this variety
of sugar probably belongs Cynodon, which exists in the root of
Digitaria (Cynodon) Dactylon. And also the principle called canellin,
obtained from canella alba.
The principle called glycyrrhizin, obtained from the liquorice-plants,
and the analogous principle from the leaves of the abrus precatorius,
and the root of the common polypody fern, probably belong here, as
well as sarcocollin, which exists both in Penca mucronata, P. Sarco-
colla, and in the polypody. Picromel, or the sweet principle which
exists in the bile of mammals and birds, is probably a variety of sugar,
though unsusceptible of fermentation, and ought to be considered in
conjunction with it, from the share it may have in augmenting the
sugar in diabetes. (See Experiments of Claude Bernard.)
In treating of the dietetical properties of sugar, it is necessary to view
it in a variety of conditions. In temperate climates sugar is regarded
as a luxury, one indeed which is nearly indispensable; but in tropical
countries it is a universal article of subsistence, partly as real sugar,
and partly, and more generally, as it occurs in the cane, which is either
simply chewed or sucked, or softened by previous boiling. In this
state it is eminently nutritious. It has been called "the most perfect
alimentary substance in nature," and the results, in the appearance of
the negroes, during the cane harvest, notwithstanding the increased
severe toils of that season, seem to confirm the statement. They
almost invariably become plump and sleek, and scarcely take any other
food while the harvest lasts; even the sickly revive, and often recover
their health. The crude plant, or the newly expressed juice, contains
water, sugar, gum, green fecula, extractive, gluten, acetic and malic
acids, acetates of lime and potash, supermalate and sulphate of lime,
and lignin. It is the object of the various processes to which the
juice is subjected, both in the countries where it is produced and
where it is refined, to separate the sugar from the other ingredients,
some of which dispose it to ferment and spoil, and others are obstacles
to its crystallising. (See a valuable paper by Messrs. Guynne and
Young, in 'British Annals of Medicine,' vol. i., p. 778; and ii., p. 42,
where they enumerate tannic acid and oxide of iron among the ingre-
dients of raw sugar). By the removal of such of these principles as
contain azote, especially the gluten and green fecula, the nutritive
power of sugar is sensibly diminished.
However harmless the use of saccharine vegetables may be to per-
sons in health, there cannot be a doubt but that in some instances
they are extremely hurtful. "The derangement or partial suspension
of the converting the saccharine principle in man into the albuminous
or oleaginous, not only constitutes a formidable species of dyspepsia,
but the unassimilated saccharine matter in passing through the
kidneys gives occasion to the disease termed diabetes." The blood
of a perfectly healthy individual contains no appreciable quantity of
sugar; but in diabetes, sugar has been repeatedly ascertained to exist
in the sanguiferous system, a fact unequivocally demonstrating that
the assimilating organs had failed to convert the saccharine aliment
into the constituent principles of the blood. Oxalic acid is neither
found in the blood nor in the urine in a state of health; but in certain
forms of disease probably exists in both fluids. Lactic acid, when in
γ.
895
SUICIDE.
excess, which forms one of the most troublesome kinds of acidity in
the stomach, and the frequent concomitant of bilious attacks, is like-
wise the result of such mal-assimilation generally of the saccharine
matter, though occasionally of albuminous matters. The prohibition
of articles of a decidedly saccharine nature from the diet of diabetic
patients becomes absolutely necessary. Not only sugar in its crystallisa-
ble states must be prohibited, but those fruits which contain it. A
single peach or pear has occasionally brought back the disease in all its
severity. Even those-starchy or farinaceous matters which we have
seen to be convertible into sugar must be avoided, especially potatoes,
the starch of which is, of all others, the most easily transmuted into
which is of the same nature as the diabetic sugar.
sugar
The abuse of sugar is to be avoided by persons disposed to the
oxalic acid diathesis; and persons of a bilious habit should use it with
great moderation, as also those with tendency to rheumatism.
(See Prout.)
Sugar, though prone to fermentation when in a dilute state,
possesses when concentrated great antiseptic properties, and is exten-
sively employed to preserve both animal and vegetable substances
from decomposition. Sometimes the sugar existing naturally in many
fruits is sufficient to ensure their preservation, as in figs, raisins, and
other dried fruits; especially if the season has been bright and warm,
when more sugar is elaborated. In other cases sugar is added, as in
many preserves and jellies. Sugar added to meat, fish, &c., renders
less salt necessary for keeping them, and preserves more of the natural
taste and flavour. Many medicinal substances, as well as flavours and
colouring principles, are preserved by means of sugar. [SYRUPS.]
Sugar, from the readiness with which it reduces to a metallic state
those bases which have a weak attraction for oxygen, has been proposed
as an antidote in cases of poisoning with copper, corrosive sublimate,
&c. It is to be doubted whether syrup is adequate to effect the reduc-
tion at the temperature of the stomach. On the other hand, sugar
yields oxygen to those substances which attract it strongly, such as
phosphorus; hence nothing so quickly and certainly revives a fire
nearly extinct as throwing a little brown sugar on the embers. Sugar
burnt at a low temperature constitutes caramel; one part of this
dissolved in four parts of water constitutes the liquor (improperly
called tinctura) sacchari tosti, which is employed as a colouring-
matter for many liquids, especially for the dark-coloured sherries and
other wines.
Refined sugar is much employed for the administration of volatile
oils, constituting oleo-saccharums. Finely powdered white sugar
sprinkled upon ulcers with unhealthy granulations acts
escharotic.
as
an
The term sugar has been applied to some substances on account of
their sweet taste, which are widely different from real sugar, and
possess even poisonous properties, such as acetate of lead, or sugar of
lead. Oxalic acid, another very poisonous substance, is often called,
from being prepared from sugar, acid of sugar, and therefore thought
to be harmless. Fatal accidents frequently result from this mistake.
[OXALIC ACID.]
SUICIDE is the term usually applied both to the act of self-
destruction and to him who commits it. As a subject of medical
investigation, the most important distinctions among cases of suicide
are founded on the circumstances which lead to its commission; and
of these there are two chief classes: in one, a man is led to disregard
his life for the sake of something for which his death is necessary; in
the other, he is depressed by an evil more intolerable than the act of
dying. But whichever of these be the motive, it may act in two
different ways, and the suicide may be, as M. Esquirol has said, either
acute and involuntary, or chronic and prepense. Or, again, suicides of
all kinds may be divided (and this is probably the most practical
method) according to the condition of the mind which has preceded
the act, and which in each case constitutes the disposition to self-
destruction.
In many cases this disposition is only a part of the general perversion
of the judgment in complete insanity: it thus exists in certain maniacs
in combination with many other signs of a diseased mind. Some are
merely melancholy; some are carried on by illusions which lead them,
as if unintentionally, to suicide; some have sensations which they
imagine may be cured by such violence as proves fatal; some are
driven to the act by commands which they imagine they have received;
some destroy themselves at the commencement of insanity, when they
are conscious of the malady which threatens them; others, in their
convalescence, in horror at the excesses which they have committed, or
at the mere thought of having been deranged.
There are also cases of monomania in which almost the only indica-
tion of insanity is the desire for self-destruction, excited by an illusion
respecting some melancholy event, or by some fancied command.
A peculiar and very terrible variety of this monomania, is that in
which the desire for destruction leads the patient to take the lives of
others, against whom he bears no ill-will, before he attempts his own.
Many instances of this homicidal monomania, as it is called, are
recorded.
There are conditions of the mind which are not called insanity (in
the ordinary acceptation of the term), but which do not less strongly
predispose to suicide. Such is especially that named ennui, or tædium
vite for which, though it is thought by foreigners to be so common in
|
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SUICIDE.
69€
England that Sauvages has called it "melancholia Anglica," we have in
our language no term except the very inexpressive one, spleen.. - Many
circumstances give rise to this state of mind; most commonly it is the
consequence of a want of occupation, or of a sudden transition from a
state of active exertion in business or in pleasure, to one of voluntary
or compelled repose; or it results from the difficulty which those who
have long lived in the excitement of frivolous pursuits find in main-
taining it by new objects of desire.
The state of the hypochondriac, though of somewhat the same kind,
is less dangerous. He is persuaded indeed that his sufferings are irre-
mediable, and that death would be a great relief to him; he even often
talks of committing suicide; but he is as irresolute in the use of the
means of death as he is anxious in the use of those for prolonging life;
and if he do at last, after repeated postponements, attempt to destroy
himself, the attempt is generally, through want of determination,
abortive, and he again sinks into the same despondency and inactivity.
In all these cases the suicide is of the chronic or prepense kind; and
in all, the condition of mind which precedes it is connected with a
perversion of the judgment so obvious, that no reasonable person could
hesitate to regard it as insanity. Whatever ingenuity of plan may
have been shown in the preparation for the act, very few persons would
deny that, under similar external circumstances, it would not have
been committed by a sane man; and this is true of the great majority
of prepense suicides in the present day.
In the acute or involuntary suicides, the predisposing condition of
the mind is the result of circumstances which act rapidly, and pervert
a judgment which, before their occurrence, might be deemed sound.
Suicides of this kind are probably less frequent than those of the pre-
ceding; but they are usually more shocking, and attract more atten-
tion; they are especially common in large towns, or wherever men pursue
great objects at great hazards. For instance, a loss of money or of
honour, the failure of an ambitious enterprise, jealousy, and many
afflicting events, are enough at once to deprive a man of tender sensi-
bility of the power of just reflection, and to make him think that death
is not so bad as the misery which he must undergo. On the spur of
the moment of anguish he destroys himself. Similar circumstances
impel a man of colder temperament, or of a braver disposition, more
slowly to the same end. The one may for a time endure passively
his disgrace; the other may have courage at first to bear up against
it; but at length the judgment is in both alike perverted, and the
same state of mind is produced which urges others to immediate self-
destruction.
Lastly, there are examples in which suicide is committed with perfect
coolness, being adopted, after due deliberation, as the most judicious
course which, in the circumstances of the case, and as far as the know-
ledge of the individual enabled him to judge, could be followed. Such
are many of the cases in which men, finding themselves afflicted with
incurable and painful diseases, have shortened that which they believed
would be a miserable life; and of the same class are the suicides com-
mitted in accordance with national custom, or superstition, or from
patriotic motives. The cases of this class are not proper subjects for
medical consideration, for in these there is no disorder of the mind.
The act is committed either without deliberation, in obedience to
custom or authority; or, when deliberation is used, the conclusion is
only the necessary result of the error in the premises.
Such are the states of mind which most commonly predispose to
suicide, and the circumstances which produce them. The character of
the act itself usually corresponds closely with that of the mind by
which it is urged. By those who commit it after deliberation, the
means employed are almost always successful; so they are when men
But
who have endured affliction for some time, at last sink under it.
when suicide is attempted under the sudden impulse of the fear of
disgrace, the endeavour is often abortive; the means chosen are insuffi-
cient, or they are awkwardly employed; and it deserves notice, that
the attempt generally seems to be the acme of the frenzy; for if it be
unsuccessful, it is very rarely repeated, and often he who has made it,
in the next minute seeks assistance, and bitterly repents his folly.
It is a generally received opinion that cold foggy climates favour the
development of the suicidal disposition; but in Holland, the climate of
which is very similar to that of Great Britain, the proportion of suicides
is lower than in any other countries with milder climates; and that
many circumstances are capable of counterbalancing whatever influence
climate may have, is proved by the number of suicides in the same
country having varied considerably in different periods. It has also
been shown that the number of suicides, in proportion to the popula-
tion, is greater in France than in England. In the year 1858, in
England and Wales the total number of suicides was 1257, of whom
921 were males, and 336 females, or 16 in 20,000 of the whole popula-
tion, or 1 in 450 of the deaths.
In accordance with the same general opinion, it is commonly said
that suicides are more frequent in the latter part of the autumn than
in any other season; but statistical inquiries would seem to indicate
that the kind of weather which is most favourable to the suicidal dis-
The
position is rather that of long-continued heat and drought.
tendency to suicide varies greatly among persons of different stations
and occupations. In a letter from Mr. Farr to the registrar-general,
this tendency was shown to be "least among persons who carry on
occupations out of doors, and greatest among artisans who are weakly
£97
803
SUICIDE.
SUIT.
from birth, are confined in-doors, have their rest disturbed, or have
little muscular exercise."
From what has been said of the variety of causes which may engen-
der or encourage the disposition to suicide, it must be manifest that
no general account can be given of the morbid conditions of the body,
or of the brain, which accompany the mental disturbance. Many facts
relating to this part of the subject have been related; but as yet they
are unconnected by any generalisation. We may therefore proceed at
once from the causes to the treatment of the suicidal disposition.
Here also what has been said of the one may serve for a guide to the
knowledge of the other. With respect to the treatment of those
among the insane who exhibit a tendency to self-destruction, there can
be no other deviation from the ordinary treatment of insanity than
that which consists in the careful removal from them of all means by
which their intentions may be accomplished. Both for these and for
those who show no other sign of insanity than their desire for death,
the most successful remedy is the giving full occupation for the time;
this is indeed essential to the safety of all who show any disposition to
suicide. The occupation moreover should be one which will carry the
mind as far as possible from the subjects on which it is morbidly sensi-
tive, or on which it has been accustomed to dwell too intently. Above
all, a person suspected of an intention to commit suicide, should be
kept carefully from the contemplation of histories of self-destruction.
Numerous instances have proved that the tendency to imitate the acts
of others operates as forcibly in producing suicides as in encouraging
the most trivial fashion. For all cases of imitative suicide there
is a plain preventive means which should never be neglected, namely,
the fear of being disgraced after death; and that this operates
forcibly in deterring men from suicide, is a sufficient proof of the
imprudence of the opinion which regards suicide as affording by itself
sufficient evidence of the insanity and irresponsibility of those who
commit it.
SUICIDE, in Law, is death caused by the act of the party dying.
A rescript of Hadrian expressly directed that those soldiers who,
either from impatience of pain, from disgust of life, from disease,
from madness, from dread of infamy or disgrace, had wounded them-
selves or otherwise attempted to put a period to their existence, should
only be punished with ignominia (Dig.,' 49, tit. 16, s. 6, ' De Re
Militari'); but the attempt of a soldier at self-destruction on other
grounds was a capital offence; and those who, being under prosecution
for heinous offences, or being taken in the commission of a great
crime, put an end to their existence from fear of punishment, for-
feited all their property to the Fiscus. ('Dig.,' 48, tit. 21, s. 3.)
Suicide was not uncommon among the Romans in the later republican
period; and it became very common under the emperors, as we see
from the examples in Tacitus, and in the younger Pliny, who mentions
the case of Corellius Rufus ('Ep.,' i. 12), Silius Italicus (iii. 7), Arria
(iii. 16), and the woman (vi. 24) who succeeded in persuading her
husband, who was labouring under an incurable disease, to throw him-
self, tied to her, into a lake. [SILIUS ITALICUS, in BIOG. DIV.]
Except in the cases mentioned in the two titles of the 'Digest' above
cited, suicide was not forbidden by the Roman law; nor was it dis-
countenanced by public opinion.
Suicide, by the law of England, is a crime attended by some of the
consequences attached to felony. It is called, in law, though incor-
rectly, felonia de se. A felon de se then is a person who being of years
of discretion and in his senses, destroys his own life, either intending
to do so, or intending to do some other act of a character both
unlawful and malicious; the legal effect of which is a forfeiture to the
crown of all the personal property which the party had at the time he
committed the act by which the death was caused, including debts
due to him. Though the crime is called felony, it was never attended
with forfeiture of freehold, and never worked any corruption of blood.
But formerly the crown was entitled to the year, day, and waste of the
freehold lands of a self-felon; as we find that in 1289 the widow of
Aubrey or Albert (Alberici) de Wytelesbury gave 300l. to the king
(Edw. I.) to have all the goods and chattels of her husband, a felon
by drowning himself," saving to the king the year, day, and waste of
Aubrey's lands and tenements. (2 Madox,' Exch.,' 347.)
such grant being made, acquires the ordinary rights, and becomes sub-
ject to the ordinary liabilities of a personal representative.
It was formerly usual for the crown to make grants to its servants
and favourites of the property arising from these and other forfeitures.
These grants were either of particular forfeitures, or of forfeitures
accruing within a particular district. Grants of the latter description
were usually made in fee simple, and many such grants are still in
force in various parts of England.
The finding of the jury is not conclusive either as to the fact of
self-felony or as to the property of the deceased; and all persons
interested in controverting any part of the finding may plead to the
inquisition, and contest its insufficiency by a demurrer, or deny its
truth by a traverse. The issues, of law or of fact, raised upon such
pleadings, are disposed of as in other cases. Formerly coroners
returned their inquests into the court of King's Bench, in order that
process might issue against those who made seizures, set up claims, or
withheld property or debts in derogation of the rights of the crown.
But since the 4 & 5 Will. and Mary, c. 22, that practice has been dis-
continued; and the course now is, for any party who considers him-
self aggrieved by the finding of the coroner's jury, to remove the
inquisition by Certiorari into the court of Queen's Bench, when if in
consequence of some legal defect the inquisition cannot be supported,
the court will quash it without putting the party to the expense of a
demurrer. If however the inquisition be good in substance, the
coroner may be ordered to amend defects in form.
Neither self-felony nor any other crime can be committed by a child
who has not attained years of discretion; nor can it be committed by
a person who, by disease or otherwise, has lost, or has been prevented
from acquiring, the faculty of discerning right from wrong. A ten-
dency to self-destruction is common in several species of insanity, and
the connection between the morbid affection and the act of violence
which occasions death may often be very distinctly traced. It not
unfrequently happens however that cases arise in which it is nearly
impossible to determine whether the act is to be ascribed to a diseased
state of the mental faculties, or to passions which are not under the
ordinary restraint.
At common law, which in this respect follows the canon law, a per-
son found by inquest to be felo de se is considered as having died in
mortal sin; and his remains were formerly interred in the public
highway without the rights of Christian burial, and a stake was driven
through the body: but by the 4 Geo. IV., c. 52, the coroner or other
officer by whom the inquest is held is required to give directions for
the private interment of the remains of any person against whom a
finding of felo de se shall be had, without any stake being driven
through the body, in the churchyard or other burial-ground of the
parish in which the remains of such person might by the laws or
customs of England be interred, if the verdict of felo de se had not
been found; such interment to be made within twenty-four hours
from the finding of the inquisition, and to take place within the hours
of nine and twelve at night, without performance of any of the rites of
Christian burial.
The Code Pénal of France contains no legislation on the subject of
suicide. Of the modern codes of Germany, some adopt the silence of
the French code, and others vary in their particular provisions. In the
Bavarian and Saxon codes suicide is not mentioned. The Prussian code
forbids all mutilation of the dead body of a self-murderer under
ordinary circumstances; but declares that it shall be buried without
any marks of respect otherwise suitable to the rank of the deceased;
and it directs that if any sentence has been pronounced, it shall, as far
as it is feasible, be executed, due regard being had to decency and pro-
priety, on the dead body. Besides which, the body of a criminal who
commits self-murder to escape the execution of a sentence pronounced
against him is to be buried at night by the common executioner, at
the usual place of execution for criminals. The Austrian code simply
provides that the body of a self-murderer shall be buried by the
officers of justice, but not in a churchyard or other place of common
interment.
SUIT is a legal term used in different senses. The word secta, which
is the Latin form, is from "sequor," to follow; and hence the general
meaning of the word may be deduced.
The fact that a self-felony has been committed is ascertained by an
inquest or inquisition taken before the coroner or other officer having
authority to hold inquests, upon view of the dead body, and examina-
examina-enforced
tion of witnesses in the presence of a jury, summoned, as in other
cases, to inquire into the cause of a sudden or violent death.
[CORONER.]
Where a self-felony is found by the inquisition, the jury ought also
to inquire and find whether the party had any, and, if any, what goods
and chattels at the time when the felony was committed. But an
omission in this respect may be supplied by an inquisition taken by
the sheriff under a writ De melius inquirendo, or "further inquiry."
The property in the self-felon's goods, upon being found in either of
these modes, is vested in the crown with relation to the time of the
felony, so as to make any intermediate dealing with the property void
as against the crown.
The crown takes the property of the felon subject to no liability in
respect of his debts or engagements. But upon a memorial presented
to the treasury by a creditor, a warrant is generally obtained, authoris-
ing the grant of letters of administration to such creditor, who, upon
ARTS AND SCI. DIV. VOL. VII.
1. A suit is a proceeding by which any legal or equitable right is
enforced in a court of justice. Where the remedy is sought in a court
of law, the term is synonymous with action; when the proceeding is
in equity, the term suit is alone used. It is also applied to proceedings
in the ecclesiastical and admiralty courts.
2. Suit of court, in the sense of an obligation to follow, that is, to
attend, and to assist in constituting a court, is either real or personal.
Suit-real, or rather suit regal, is the obligation under which all the
residents within a leet or town are bound to attend the king's criminal
court for the district, whether held before the king's officer and called
the sheriff's tourn, or held before the grantees of leets or the officers of
such grantees, and called courts-leet. [LEET.]
Suit-personal is an obligation to attend the civil courts of the lord
under whom the suitor holds lands or tenements; as in manors
[MANORS] where there are copyhold, that is, customary estates, the
custom imposes upon the copyholder an obligation to attend the lord's
customary court. In the case of freeholders attending as suitors the
county court or the court-baron (as in the case of the ancient tenants
3 M
809
SUIT AND SERVICE.
per baroniam attending parliament), the suitors are the judges of the
court, and the sheriff in the county court, the lord or steward in the
court-baron, only presiding officers with no judicial authority. But in
the criminal jurisdiction of the tourn and leet, the sheriff and the
grantee of the leet, or his steward, are the judges; and the suitors act
only a subordinate part.
3. Besides suit of court, secta ad curiam, there are other species of
personal suit, which, like suit of court, are divisible into suit-service
and suit-custom. Of these the most usual is suit of mill, secta ad
molendinum, which is where, by tenure or by custom, the freehold or
customary tenant is bound to grind his corn at the lord's mill.
SUIT AND SERVICE. [SUIT.]
SULPH, or SULPHO. A prefix used in chemistry in naming a
large number of substances containing the element sulphur. Most of
these bodies will be found described under their respective names;
but others will be found under the name to which the prefix is added,
thus sulpholeic acid is described under OLEIC ACID.
SULPHACETIC ACID (C,H,S,0,0). An organic acid formed by
the action of anhydrous sulphuric acid upon monohydrated acetic acid.
It crystallises in very deliquescent needles. It is bibasic.
SULPHAMETHYLANE. [METHYL, sulphamate of.]
SULPHAMYLIC ACID. [AMYL.]
12
SULPHANILIC ACID (C₁₂H,NS,O). An unimportant derivative
of aniline.
SULPHANISOLIC ACID. A synonyme of methylsulphophenic
acid. [METHYL; PHENYLIC GROUP.]
SULPHANISOLIDE. [PHENYLIC GROUP.]
SULPHATAMMON. [SULPHUR.]
SULPHATES. [SULPHUR, Sulphuric Acid.]
SULPHETHAMIC ACID (CH23NS,O,). An ammoniacal deri-
vative of sulphate of ethyl. In its most concentrated form it is a
liquid. Ebullition decomposes it.
SULPHETHYLIC ACID. [ETHYL.]
SULPHUR.
800
SULPHO-SALTS, or SULPHUR-SALTS. [SAlts.]
SULPHOSINAPIC ACID (C,H,NS). Allyl-sulphocarbamic Acid.
An organic acid produced by the action of an alcoholic solution of
potash upon sulphocyanide of allyl. The potash salt of the acid is
thus obtained; the acid itself has not been isolated.
SULPHOSINAPISINE. [SINAPINE.]
SULPHOTOLUENIC ACID. [TOLUENIC GROUP.]
SULPHOVINIC ACID. Ethylsulphuric Acid [ETHYL.]
SULPHOVIRIDIC ACID. [INDIGO.]
SULPHOURETHANE. [CARBAMIO ACID.]
SULPHUR (S), commonly called brimstone, is a solid elementary
non-metallic body, which has been known from the most remote
antiquity. The former term is derived from sal salt, and up fire; the
latter brennestone or burnstone, both in allusion to its well-known pro-
perty of ready inflammability. It is met with in the pure state and in
various forms of combination thus it is found combined with
numerous metals and in immense quantity with iron, forming the
sulphide and bisulphide; with copper, lead, antimony, &c., constituting
the principal ores of these metals: it is also found largely combined
with oxygen, forming sulphuric acid, which is generally united with an
earthy base, as with lime, constituting sulphate of lime, or gypsum;
and with baryta, strontia, and magnesia, giving rise to the sulphates of
those bases. It occurs also, but in smaller quantity, and principally
in mineral waters, such as those of Harrowgate,-combined with
hydrogen, the compound being sulphuretted hydrogen gas, or hydro-
sulphuric acid. Sulphur is a constituent of some animal substances, as
albumen, urine, &c. It is found also in certain plants: in the natural
order Liliacea, as in garlic; Cruciferce, as in mustard; and Umbelliferæ,
as in Asafoetida.
The chief source of this element is native sulphur, the most remark-
able deposits of which occur in Sicily, whence an immense quantity is
imported into this country. It occurs also in the fissures of lava near
the craters of volcanoes, in Italy, Guadaloupe, Nevis, Iceland, and the
SULPHETHYLOLIC ACID. Synonymous with ethylsulphurous volcanoes of the Cordilleras. [SULPHUR, in NAT. HIST. Div.]
acid. [ETHYL.]
SULPHIDES. [SULPHUR.]
SULPHINDIGOTIC ACID. [INDIGO.]
SULPHINDYLIC ACID. [INDIGO.]
SULPHION. [SULPHUR.]
Sulphur is separated from the grosser impurities by crude processes
of fusion and distillation, performed soon after it is collected. That
sent to Great Britain is, however, finally purified in this country, and
has different forms given to it according to circumstances. What is
called refined sulphur is that purified by distillation in a large cast-iron
SULPHISATANOUS ACID (C,H,,NO, §,0). A crystalline acid still, and condensed in a receiver kept cool. When the vaporised
of no importance derived from indigo.
SULPHISATHYD. [INDIGO.]
11
SULPHITES. [SULPHUR, Sulphurous Acid.]
SULPHOAMIDONIC ACID. [SUGAR.]
SUPHOBENZIDIC ACID. [PHENYL-SULPHUROUS ACID.]
SULPHOBENZIDE. [PHENYLIC GROUP.]
SULPHOBENZOENIC ACID. [TOLUENIC GROUP.]
SULPHOBENZOL (CH.S₂). A white crystalline organic sub-
stance isomeric with hydride of sulphobenzoyl. It is obtained by
acting upon hydride of chlorobenzoyl with sulph-hydrate of potash.
SULPHOCARBONIC ACID. [SULPHUR.]
SULPHOCARBONIC ETHER. [ETHYL.]
SULPHOCARBOMETHYLIC ACID. A synonyme of methyldi-
sulphocarbonic acid. [METHYL.]
SULPHOCETIC ACID. [CETYL, Cetyl-sulphuric Acid.]
SULPHOCHOLEIC ACID. [CHOLEIC ACID.]
SULPHOCYANHYDRIC ETHER. [ETHYL.]
SULPHOCYANOGEN. [CYANOGEN, Cyanogen and Sulphur.]
SULPHOFORM. [METHYL.]
SULPHOFLAVIC ACID. [INDIGO.]
SULPHOFULVIC ACID. [INDIGO.]
SULPHOFURETHANE. [CARBAMIC ACID.]
SULPHOGLUCIC ACID. [SUGAR.]
SULPHOGLUTINIC ACID. [NAPHTHALIC GROUP.]
SULPHOHAMATHIONIC ACID. An acid of problematical
existence, said to be derived from Purree, or Indian Yellow.
SULPHOLIGNIC ACID. [SUGAR.]
SULPHOMESITYLIC ACID (C,H12S2O). A crystalline acid pro-
duced by dissolving mesitylene in fuming sulphuric acid.
SULPHOMETHYLIC ACID. A synonyme of methyl-sulphuric
acid. [METHYL.]
SULPHOMETHYLSULPHURIC ACID. A synonyme of methyl-
sulphurous acid. [METHYL.]
SULPHOMOLYBDIC ACID. [MOLYBDENUM, sulphides of.]
SULPHOMORPHIDE. [OPIUM, ALKALOIDS OF.]
SULPHONAPHTHALIDAMIC ACID. [NAPHTHALIC GROUP.]
SULPHONAPHTHALIDE (C₂H₁0SO₂?). A derivative of naphtha-
lin is said to possess this formula, but it is probably a mixture of
naphthalin and sulphonaphthalin.
SULPHONAPHTHALIN. [NAPHTHALIC Group.]
SULPHONARCOTIDE. [OPIUM, ALKALOIDS OF.]
SULPHOPHENIC ACID." [PHENYLIC GROUP.]
SULPHOPHENICIC ACID. [INDIGO.]
SULPHOPHENYLAMIDE. PHENYLIC GROUP.]
SULPHOPHENYLIC ACID. [PHENYL-SULPHURIC ACID.]
SULPHOPINIC ACID. [OPIUM, ALKALOIDS OF.]
SULPHOPURPURIC ACID. [INDIGO.]
SULPHORUFIC ACID. [INDIGO; SALICYLIC GROUP.]
sulphur is condensed in a large chamber, it has the form of powder,
and is called sublimed sulphur or flowers of sulphur; but as the walls of
the chamber get hot, the sulphur melts, collects on the floor, and is
run off into wooden moulds, the product being roll or stick sulphur.
The residue in the retort still contains sulphur, and, under the name
of sulphur vivum or black sulphur, is occasionally used as a cattle
medicine and for dressing mouldy hops.
Precipitated sulphur or milk of sulphur, is a finely divided form of
the element thrown down on adding a strong solution of polysulphide
of calcium, sodium, or potassium to dilute hydrochloric acid; sulphuric
acid is sometimes used instead of hydrochloric, sulphate of lime being
thereby precipitated along with the sulphur, and the weight of the
latter thus fraudulently increased. This adulteration may readily be
detected on heating a little of the suspected specimen, when the
sulphur being volatile will be expelled, and the sulphate of lime left
behind. The microscope also will at once detect the falsification, for
the sulphur has a fine granular appearance, while the gypsum is in
well defined crystals.
Sulphur is sometimes prepared from iron pyrites (FeS), by distil-
lation. One third of the sulphur present in the ore is volatilised and
condensed in the usual way, while magnetic pyrites (Fe,S,) remains in
the retort. Sulphide of copper is also a source of sulphur, the latter
being a sort of bye-product, although an important one, in the pre-
liminary roasting operations connected with copper smelting.
Sulphur has already been referred to [ALLOTROPY] as existing in
three allotropic states. The first form (Sa) is that of an octohedral
crystal with a rhombic base, and is the condition in which it occurs in
nature. It is artificially obtained in the same form, but more trans-
parent on allowing its solution in chloride of sulphur or bisulphide of
carbon to evaporate spontaneously; its specific gravity is 2.05, and it
fuses at 239° Fahr. The second form (Se) occurs in transparent
acicular crystals of dark yellow colour. To obtain it, a quantity of
sulphur is melted and slowly cooled; when the outer portions have
solidified, holes are made in the crust, and the still liquid sulphur in
the interior is poured out; on breaking open the shell its inner surface
will be found to contain the needles in question. They are not per-
manent, but soon change into the light yellow semi-opaque sulphur (a);
the acicular form is, however, still retained, although each needle is a
congeries of minute rhombic octohedra. Much heat is evolved during
the transformation. The third state (Sy) is very peculiar, and is
brought about as follows:-The fusing-point of sulphur is 239°, and
between this and 280° it possesses the highest degree of fluidity: at
320° it begins to thicken, and at 482° is so tenacious, that it will scarcely
flow from an inverted vessel; from this to 600°, which is its boiling-
point, it again becomes liquid, but not so perfectly so as at 280°. If
now it be poured into water it becomes a brown pasty mass, which
readily receives and retains any form given to it, and hence is employed
in taking casts. Magnus has shown that this deepening in colour is
901
602
SULPHUR.
SULPHUR.
due to a fourth modification of sulphur, which is black; it is formed
on many times repeating the process of heating a quantity of sulphur
to 600° Fahr., and suddenly cooling in cold water.
Sulphur is insoluble in water, but dissolves in alcohol, if both sub-
stances are exposed to each other in the state of vapour: on the
addition of water, the sulphur is precipitated. It is dissolved by boil-
ing oil of turpentine; the solution has a reddish-brown colour, and,
on cooling, minute crystals of sulphur are deposited. It is readily
taken up by chloride of sulphur, and is soluble in about three times its
weight of bisulphide of carbon; the elastic variety is, however, not so
soluble. Sulphur is also soluble to a small extent in ether and in
chloroform.
Sulphur is a bad conductor of heat; it is very volatile, and when it
is rubbed in the dark on a brick, or any other substance by which it is
heated, though not sufficiently to inflame it, an extremely weak blue
flame arises, exhaling a peculiar odour; this flame is not, however,
occasioned by combustion, it merely accompanies the evaporation of
the sulphur, for a cold body held over it is covered with flowers of
sulphur. When sulphur is heated, it begins to vaporise before it
fuses; at 600° Fahr. it is rapidly volatilised, and in close vessels is
condensed without change. The specific gravity of the vapour of
sulphur is 6.617 at 900° Fahr., but at 1900° Fahr. it is 2.2. Its com-
bining volume below 1500° Fahr. is, but at 1900° Fahr. it is 1. It
unites directly with some metals to form sulphides.
When heated in the air sulphur quickly takes fire and burns with a
pale blue flame, generating much heat.
The equivalent of sulphur is 16.
Compounds of Sulphur and Oxygen are seven in number, namely :—
Sulphurous acid
Sulphuric acid
Hyposulphurous acid
•
Hyposulphuric acid
Trithionic acid
Tetrathionic acid
Pentathionic acid
•
Sulphur
per cent.
Oxygen
per cent.
·
: SO₂
50.00
50.00
2
SO 3
40.00
60.00
S202
66.66
33.34
2
S.05 44.45
55.55
$305
54.55
45.45
$.05 61.53
$505
38.47
66.66
33.34
•
Sulphurous acid (SO2) Sulphurous anhydride.-This gas escapes, in
the gaseous state, from fissures in the ground in the neighbourhood of
volcanoes. It is artificially obtained in the pure state on heating
about two parts of mercury with three of strong sulphuric acid :—
+ 40 + 2803
Water. Sulphurous
acid.
Hg4(HO, SO3)
Mercury. Sulphuric
acid.
HgO, 2SO3
Bisulphate of
mercury.
Copper clippings may be economically substituted for mercury, but
as met with in commerce they generally contain matters that affect
the purity of the gas. On the large scale, solution of sulphurous acid
is preferable to the gas itself, and is manufactured directly from
sulphur. The latter is burnt in a furnace, and the sulphurous acid
produced cooled by passing through earthenware tubes surrounded by
cold water. It is then made to ascend through a tall and wide wooden
column packed with pumice-stone that has been digested in hydro-
chloric acid and well washed. In ascending the sulphurous acid meets
with a stream of water, the flow of which is so regulated that a
saturated solution shall flow off at the bottom of the column. It is
stored for use in a closed reservoir.
solution; by exposure to the air it attracts oxygen, and becomes
sulphate of ammonia. When, however, dry sulphurous acid gas and
dry ammoniacal gas are brought into contact, deep yellow-coloured
crystals are formed, which have been termed sulphitammon, or im-
properly sulfamide; they contain the elements of sulphurous acid and
ammonia combined, but in a different mode to that which forms
anhydrous sulphite of ammonia. By exposure to the air sulfamide
becomes white, deliquesces, and gradually becomes sulphate and hypo-
sulphate of ammonia.
The alkalies potash and soda, the alkaline earths, and several metallic
oxides, may be combined with sulphurous acid, and they form sulphites;
but these compounds are not of much importance, except perhaps that
of soda. [SODIUM, sulphite of.] In contact with air they are slowly
converted into sulphates.
Sulphuric Acid (HO, SO,).—This acid has been long known, and is
very extensively employed, 100,000 tons being annually consumed in
Great Britain alone. When combined with water, in which state it is
best known, it was originally, and still is frequently, called oil of
vitriol: first, because it is an oily looking liquid; and secondly, on
account of its being obtained from green vitriol, or copperas, now
called sulphate of iron.
The process just alluded to was first followed at Nordhausen in
Germany, and the peculiar compound of sulphuric acid and water pro-
duced by it is still called Nordhausen oil of vitriol, to distinguish it
from common oil of vitriol, a different compound as regards the water
which they contain, and obtained by a different process. We shall
first describe the original process and product.
Iron pyrites is a well known and very abundant natural substance :
it is correctly termed bisulphide of iron, and consists of two equivalents
of sulphur and one equivalent of iron. When certain varieties of this
compound are exposed to air and moisture, both the sulphur and iron
are oxidised at the expense of the oxygen of the air; and though
sulphur by itself is incapable of undergoing this change, yet, when
combined with iron, it acquires from the air sufficient oxygen to
become sulphuric acid, and the iron attracts enough to become
protoxide; and these combining together, and with water, constitute
the well-known crystalline body, hydrated sulphate of protoxide of
iron, usually called, for brevity's sake, merely sulphate of iron, and
originally green vitriol. This consists of one equivalent of sulphuric
acid, one of protoxide of iron, and seven equivalents of water. Sul-
phuric acid consists of three equivalents of oxygen and one equivalent
of sulphur. In order to procure the acid from it, the salt is mode-
rately heated, so as to expel the greater part of the water: in this
state it is put into earthen retorts, and subjected to a very high tempe-
rature, during which there comes over and condenses in the receiver a
dark-coloured dense fluid, which is the Nordhausen oil of vitriol; the
cause of the colour has not been ascertained, but it appears to be an
accidental and not a necessary accompaniment. This liquid emits a
white vapour when exposed to the air, and hence it is called fuming
sulphuric acid. It is composed of two equivalents of sulphuric acid
and one equivalent of water (HO, 280¸).
Now it happens that anhydrous sulphuric acid is more volatile than
that combined with water, so that when the above acid is heated in a
retort, there first comes over and condenses in the receiver anhydrous
sulphuric acid, and there remains in the retort hydrated sulphuric
acid.
We shall first and briefly state the properties of the anhydrous acid.
It is a colourless crystalline solid, is tough and elastic, liquefies at 66°,
and boils at a temperature between 104° and 122°, forming a trans-
Sulphurous acid gas is colourless, and permanently elastic; that is, parent vapour, provided no water is present; it unites with moisture
not condensed into a fluid or solid by exposure to common degrees of when exposed to the air, and formas with it dense white fumes. It is
cold under the ordinary pressure. It condenses to the liquid state, sometimes prepared as a matter of curiosity, but is hardly applied to
however, on being passed through a tube surrounded by a freezing any use. Though called an acid, it in reality possesses no acid pro-
mixture of ice and salt. In this condition it may be preserved in her-perties, and may be moulded in the fingers, like wax, without injuring
metically sealed tubes, on the interior of which, at 60° Fahr., it exerts the skin. When thrown into water it hisses as red-hot iron would do,
a pressure of two and a half atmospheres. At-105° Fahr. it freezes and then has the usual powerful properties of common hydrated
to a colourless, transparent, crystalline solid.
sulphuric acid.
Sulphurous acid gas has a pungent and suffocating odour, being that
experienced whenever sulphur is burned; its taste is disagreeable and
acid; it extinguishes burning bodies, is not inflammable, and is fatal
to animals. Water at 60° Fahr. dissolves from 33 to 37 times its
volume of this gas; by heating the solution it is evolved unaltered.
The solution possesses the smell of the gas itself; and, like it, has the
property of bleaching some vegetable and animal substances: hence
the employment of the vapour of burning sulphur in whitening hops,
silk, wool, and straw.
One hundred cubic inches of sulphurous acid gas weigh 68.8 grains;
its density therefore is about 2:22. Being so much heavier than air
it may be collected in vessels by displacement. [GASES, COLLECTION OF.]
The aqueous solution of sulphurous acid, when exposed to oxygen,
slowly combines with it, and the result is sulphuric acid; but
unless moisture be present, no combination takes place between these
two gases.
Sulphurous acid combines with various bases to form salts, which
are called sulphites. When, for example, this gas is passed into an
aqueous solution of ammonia, they readily combine, and the resulting
salt is sulphite of ammonia, which may be obtained in prismatic
crystals. It is very soluble in water, and produces much cold during
The hydrated sulphuric acid, commonly called oil of vitriol, or simply
sulphuric acid, is the compound which is so largely employed in nume-
rous chemical operations and manufactures. It is, however, and has
indeed for many years been, prepared in a much preferable mode to
that described by the decomposition of sulphate of iron. The process
consists in oxidising sulphurous acid through the agency of nitrous
acid.
First, nitrate of potash or soda is decomposed by the addition of
sulphuric acid, in the same mode as that employed for preparing nitric
acid.
Sulphur is then burned in a furnace so contrived that the current
of air which supports the combustion conducts the gaseous products,
including the nitric acid fumes and excess of air, into large leaden
chambers, the bottoms of which are covered to the depth of a few
inches with water. The nitric acid of the nitre, composed of oxygen
and nitrogen, is here decomposed, yields oxygen to a portion of the
sulphurous acid formed by combustion, and converts it into sulphuric
acid. The nitric acid, on losing oxygen, is converted into nitric oxide,
which, by mixing with the air at the moment of its separation, com-
bines with its oxygen, and gives rise to red nitrous acid vapour. The
gaseous substances present in the leaden chambers are therefore
813
vescence.
SULPHUR.
sulphurous and nitrous acids, atmospheric air, and watery vapour.
Now, when dry sulphurous acid gas and dry nitrous acid gas are mixed
together, no action occurs between them; but when a little moisture
is added, a white crystalline compound of sulphuric acid, hyponitrous
acid, and water is formed; and when this falls into the water of the
chamber, or comes into contact with steam, which is for this purpose
blown into the chamber, it is instantly decomposed, the sulphuric acid
is dissolved, and nitrous acid and nitric oxide gases escape with effer-
The nitrous acid thus set free, as well as that reproduced
by the nitric oxide uniting with the oxygen of the atmosphere, is again
intermixed with sulphurous acid and moisture, and thus gives rise to
a second portion of the crystalline body, which undergoes the same
change as the first; and this operation is repeated until the water at
the bottom of the lead-chambers is sufficiently acid to be removed for
ulterior operations. The amount of nitric acid required in this ope-
ration is of course exceedingly small, inasmuch as the nitric oxide
contained in it is not consumed, but acts only as a carrier of oxygen
from the air to the sulphurous acid. Some nitric oxide is, however,
conveyed out of the chambers by the escaping nitrogen of the air, and
is in most works lost. A few manufacturers cause the escaping gases
to pass over strong sulphuric acid that is trickling through a coke
column, by which the nitric oxide is dissolved and subsequently
recovered from the liquid by exposure to a stream of sulphurous acid
in a second similar coke column.
It thus appears that sulphur during combustion can combine only
with sufficient oxygen to become sulphurous acid; but what is curious
is, that sulphurous acid becomes sulphuric acid by taking oxygen
from nitrous acid, the nitric oxide of which appears nevertheless to
have a stronger affinity for oxygen, since it can take that element
rapidly from the air, which sulphurous acid cannot. The first attempt
at explaining the mode in which nitric acid acts in this operation was
made by MM. Clement and Desormes: it was subsequently further
explained by Davy and other chemists.
Of late years also sulphuric acid has been made from iron pyrites, the
sulphurous acid being formed by combustion, and converted into
sulphuric by the agency of nitrous acid, in the manner already
described.
When the sulphuric acid in the chambers has acquired a density of
about 16, it is drawn off and further concentrated in open leaden
vessels by heat; after this it is again removed either to glass or platina
retorts, and heated till it has acquired a density of about 1.846. This
is then the sulphuric acid, or oil of vitriol, of commerce, composed of
one equivalent of sulphuric acid and one equivalent of water (HO,
SO₂).
This acid is a limpid, inodorous, colourless fluid, of an oily con-
sistence. It boils at about 620°, and distils over unchanged; the
boiling-point diminishes with dilution: thus, when of specific gravity
1.78 it boils at 435°, and when 1.65 only at 350°, the concentrated acid
freezes at -15°, but when it contains two equivalents of water instead
of only one, and has a specific gravity of 1.78, it freezes at -40°.
|
Sulphuric acid is intensely caustic and acrid, and readily decomposes
animal and vegetable fibre; even when diluted to a very great extent
it has an extremely sour taste, and turns vegetable blues strongly red:
on the other hand, when concentrated, it turns turmeric-paper of a
brownish colour, as the alkalies do; but the effect is not permanent, for
it is removed by water. Its affinity for water is very great, attracting
it so readily from the air that in moist weather three parts increase to
four in 24 hours, and by longer exposure the quantity is increased.
When suddenly mixed with water, much heat is evolved, and, on
cooling, condensation is found to have taken place, the two fluids occu-
pying less space than before mixture.
than before mixture. When sulphuric acid is mixed
in certain proportions with snow, heat is given out, or cold generated,
according to the quantities employed: thus four parts of acid and one
of snow evolve heat, but four of snow and one of acid occasion cold.
Sulphuric acid is employed for a vast number of purposes: thus, on
account of its great chemical power, it is used for the purpose of sepa-
rating other acids from bases, as in preparing nitric, hydrochloric,
acetic, phosphoric, and carbonic acids, &c. It is also used in preparing
sulphates, a class of salts we shall presently again refer to. Perhaps
the greatest consumption of sulphuric acid is in the decomposition of
salt at alkali works where carbonate of soda is manufactured.
The strength of sulphuric acid is readily ascertained by taking its
specific gravity and referring to such a table as the following, con-
structed by Ure :-
SULPHUR.
SO, in
3
SOL
Percentage
Specific
gravity.
SO 3
in
Percentage
100 parts.
of HO, SO3.
Specific
gravity.
100 parts.
of HO, SO3.
1.3697
39.14
48
1.1549
17.94
22
1.3530
37.51
46
1.1410
16.31
20
1.3345
35.88
44
1.1246
14.68
18
1.3165
34.25
42
1.1090
13.05
16
1.2999
32.61
40
1.0953
11.11
14
1.2826
30.98
38
1.0809
9.78
12
1.2654
29.35
36
1.0682
8.15
10
1.2490
27.72
34
1.0544
6.52
8
1.2334
26.09
32
1.0405
4.89
6
1.2184
24.46
30
1.0268
3.26
4
1.2032
22.83
28
1.0140
1.63
2
1.1876
21.20
26
1·0074
0.815
1
1.1706
19.57
24
With
sulphates, sesqui-sulphates, or bi-sulphates, &c., according to circum-
The salts which sulphuric acid forms with various bases are termed
stances. They are a very important class of saline bodies, and those of
most use will be found described under their respective bases.
sulphuric anhydride, dry ammoniacal gas forms large transparent
crystals, containing NH,, SO,, and termed sulphatammon; by long
boiling with water, it is converted into sulphate of ammonia
(NH,Ŏ, SO₂).
According to the binary theory of the constitution of salts, sulphates
are not combinations of the basic oxide and sulphuric acid, but of a
hypothetical body, sulphion (SO), with the metal, or radical, of the
base: thus, sulphate of soda (ÑaO,SO,) is sulphionide of sodium
(Na, SO,), and sulphuric acid (H, SO) sulphionide of hydrogen.
of sulphates.
There are, however, several objections to this view of the constitution
Sulphuric acid in its concentrated state, and at common tempe-
heated together, the acid is generally decomposed, sulphurous acid and
ratures, acts only slightly, if at all, on the metals; but when they are
a sulphate of metallic oxide being produced: thus, when copper is
equivalents of oxygen to the copper, which becomes protoxide; while
heated in concentrated sulphuric acid, the acid yields one of its three
the sulphur combined with two equivalents of oxygen is given off in
the state of sulphurous acid; and this, as already indicated, is one of
the best methods of procuring sulphurous acid. When, on the other
hand, sulphuric acid is diluted, it has no action, even when heated, on
copper; but on zinc, iron, and such other metals as readily decompose
water, it acts with great readiness: the metal, being oxidised by the
oxygen of the decomposed water, is dissolved by the acid, while the
hydrogen of the water is given out in the gaseous state; by this
operation, then, we procure a metallic sulphate and hydrogen gas.
baryta and of lead, minute quantities either of the acid or soluble salts
Sulphuric acid and all sulphates are decomposed by the salts of
being rendered evident by the formation of a dense white precipitate
parts of the latter sulphate, when dry, indicate 40 parts of anhydrous
either of sulphate of baryta or lead; 116-5 parts of the former or 115.6
sulphuric acid.
from the vessels used in its manufacture; it is nearly all precipitated
Commercial sulphuric acid generally contains sulphate of lead derived
as a white powder on diluting the acid with water. It frequently also
sulphuretted hydrogen gives a yellow precipitate when passed through
contains traces of arsenic derived from the pyrites; in this case,
the diluted acid, or the contamination may be detected by Marsh's
test. Small quantities of nitric and sulphurous acids are also sometimes
present in common sulphuric acid. If required to be purified and
concentrated, it is boiled and distilled. As lead would melt at the
heat here employed, and as most other common substances would be
corroded, platinum is often employed as a material for the still, at a
heavy expense. Glass is another material employed for sulphuric acid
stills. When the acid has been condensed to a specific gravity nearly
double that of water, it is ready for sale.
Hyposulphurous Acid (HO,S,O). Dithionous acid. In 1817 Dr.
Thomson inferred the existence of an acid of sulphur in the salts called
sulphuretted sulphites: this acid and its compounds have been particu-
larly examined by Sir John Herschel.
Hyposulphurous acid has not been obtained in a separate state, but
its composition has been determined to be in accordance with the
above formula.
This acid is procured by dissolving zinc or iron in close vessels in an
aqueous solution of sulphurous acid: solution is effected in this acid
without the evolution of any gas, which hardly happens in any other
case the metals thus dissolved form crystallisable salts, which, when
Percentage
100 parts. of HO, SO,. decomposed by other acids, yield sulphurous acid and sulphur, pre-
So, in
3
Specific
gravity.
SO, in
3
Percentage
100 parts. of HO, SO..
1.8460
81.54
100
Specific
gravity.
1.6415
60.34
74
1.8415
79.90
98
1.6204
58.71
72
1.8366
78.28
96
1.5975
57.08
70
1-8288
76.65
94
1.5760
55.45
68
1.8181
75.02
92
1.5503
53.82
66
1.8070
73.39
90
1.5280
52.18
64
1.7901
71-75
88
1.5036
50.55
62
1.7728
70-12
86
1.1860
48.92
60
1.7540
68.49
84
1.4660
47.29
58
1.7315
66.86
82
1.4460
45.66
56
1.7080
65.23
80
1.4265
44.03
54
1.68€0
63.60
78
1.4073
42.40
52
1.6624
61.97
76
1.38S4
40.77
50
viously existing in the proportions above stated, and constituting
hyposulphurous acid: this acid is also formed when sulphites are
digested in close vessels with sulphur, in which case the sulphur takes
half the oxygen of the sulphurous acid; when iron is dissolved in
sulphurous acid, it takes half the oxygen of the sulphurous acid, which,
by this loss becomes hyposulphurous acid, and, combining with the
oxide of iron formed, they constitute hyposulphite of iron.
Most of the salts containing hyposulphurous acid, or the hyposul-
phites, are unimportant; the acid undergoes decomposition when they
are strongly heated or acted upon by an acid.
2
Hyposulphite of soda (NaO, SO₂+5 Aq.), in solution, is largely used
in photography to "fix," or render permanently unalterable the photo-
905
900
SULPHUR.
SULPHUR.
graphic picture. This it does by dissolving the aqueously insoluble
silver salts, with which it forms double compounds having an intensely
sweet taste. Hyposulphite of soda is made by dissolving sulphur in
sulphite of soda, NaO, SO, + S becoming NaO, SO₂-
with sulphur, the uncombined portion yields a little free hydrogen
with the hydrosulphuric acid; but this, in most cases, is of no con-
sequence. Although hydrosulphuric acid is soluble in one-fourth its
bulk of water, yet the gas may for most purposes be received by dis-
placement in vessels filled with that liquid.
Hyposulphuric Acid (HOS,O,). Dithionic Acid. This acid was dis-
covered in 1819 by Gay-Lussac and Welter. It is prepared by sus- Hydrosulphuric acid is colourless, and gaseous at common tempera-
pending finely-powdered binoxide of manganese in water, and passing tures and pressures: it has a peculiarly nauseous and fetid odour,
sulphurous acid gas into the mixture: if this be not kept cold, sul-resembling that of putrid eggs; its taste is also extremely disagreeable.
phuric acid is formed: but otherwise the oxide of manganese is dis- Its specific gravity is about 1192. 100 cubic inches weigh about 38
solved and hyposulphate of its protoxide formed: to the filtered solu- grains. It is composed of one equivalent of hydrogen and one equiva-
tion sulphide of barium is to be added, by which sulphide of manganese lent of sulphur, as indicated in the above formula. It reddens moist
is precipitated, and hyposulphate of baryta remains in solution: when litmus-paper, but not strongly, and is soluble in about one-third of its
the proper quantity of sulphuric acid is added to this, sulphate of bulk of water. At a temperature of 50°, and under a pressure of about
baryta is precipitated, and the hyposulphuric acid is liberated, the 17 atmospheres, it is rendered a limpid liquid, of specific gravity about
filtered solution of which is to be evaporated in vacuo over sulphuric 09: this does not congeal till cooled down to 122° Fahr. It is ex-
acid till it acquires a density of 1·347: if it be carried further than tremely poisonous to animals: air containing 1-1500th of its bulk
this, it is decomposed into sulphurous acid, which escapes, and sul- immediately killed a bird, and 1-1000th a middle-sized dog. When
phuric acid, which remains dissolved.
mixed and detonated with oxygen gas, the results are water and sul-
phurous acid.
This acid has not been obtained free from water: the aqueous
solution is sour, inodorous, and reddens vegetable blues: if heated to
212°, it is decomposed into sulphurous and sulphuric acids; and when
exposed to the air, it slowly absorbs oxygen; and becomes sulphuric
acid. Unlike sulphuric acid, it forms soluble compounds with lime,
baryta, strontia, and oxide of lead; but, like diluted sulphuric acid, it
acts upon and dissolves zinc, with the evolution of hydrogen gas, and a
solution of hyposulphate of zinc is formed; its salts are decomposed at
a high temperature, yielding sulphurous acid and sulphates remaining.
Trithionic acid (HO, S¸05). Sulphuretted hyposulphuric acid. As a
potash salt this acid is formed when sulphur is digested in bisulphite
of potash for several days, or until all yellow colour has disappeared.
The resulting solution gives a black precipitate with subnitrate, and a
white with pernitrate of mercury. From the trithionate of potash the
acid may be liberated by tartaric acid, and obtained in unstable pris-
matic crystals by evaporation. By heat the trithionates split up into
sulphur, sulphurous acid, and sulphate of the base.
Tetrathionic acid (HO, SO,). Bisulphuretted hyposulphuric acid. Two
equivalents of hyposulphite of baryta and one of iodine yield iodide of
barium and tetrathionate of baryta. The latter may be purified by
recrystallisation, and the acid liberated by the cautious addition of
sulphuric acid. It is somewhat unstable.
Pentathionic acid (HO, S¸О). Trisulphuretted hyposulphuric acid.
When sulphurous and hydrosulphuric acids come into contact, the
following decomposition occurs :—
5SO 2 + 5HS
Sulphurous
acid.
HO, S505 + $5 + 4HO
Sulphur. Water.
Pentathionic
acid.
Hydrosul-
phuric acid.
Pentathionic acid is very unstable. Its baryta compound may be
obtained in silky scales.
Chlorosulphuric acid or chloride of sulphuryl (SO, Cl). A colourless
liquid of pungent odour and powerful eye irritating properties, formed
on bringing together dry sulphurous acid and chlorine gases in bright
sunlight. It is volatile without decomposition, but water instantly
breaks it up. It does not appear to combine with bases.
Nitrosulphuric acid (HO, SO,NO₂). If nitric oxide (NO) be passed
through a cold solution of sulphite of ammonia containing large excess
of ammonia, white crystals of nitrosulphate of ammonia (NH,O,SO,NO)
are deposited. Other nitrosulphates may be formed, but they are very
unstable, and the acid cannot be liberated from them.
Sulphazotised acids, discovered by Fremy, form with potash, but not
with soda, a remarkable series of salts. They are derived from basic
nitrite of potash, sulphurous acid and water, as indicated in the follow-
ing equations:-
Sulphazite of potash
from 3KO, NO, +350, +3110.
Sulphazate of potash
→
from 3KO, NO, +4SO₂+3HO.
+зно.
Sulphazotate of potash
3KO, S,NH3013
12
3KO, S,NH3014
•
3KO, S,NH3010
-зпо.
Sulphammonate of potash
•
•
4KO, S,NH,028
+3110.
from 3KO, NO3+5SO ¿+3110.
from 4KO, NO3+SSO, +31
Nitrogen and Sulphur. [NITROGEN.]
Hydrogen and Sulphur combine in two proportions, forming hydro-
sulphuric acid (HS), frequently called sulphuretted hydrogen, and per-
sulphide of hydrogen (HS, ?).
:
Hydrosulphuric acid, formerly known by the name of hepatic gas,
exists in sulphurous waters, such as those of Harrowgate. It may be
formed, to a certain extent, by heating or subliming sulphur in hydro-
gen gas. It is usually produced by the action of hydrochloric acid on
sulphide of antimony, or by acting upon protosulphide of iron with
dilute sulphuric acid in the former case the hydrogen of the hydro-
chloric acid unites with the sulphur of the sulphide, chloride of anti-
mony being also formed; while in the latter, the decomposed water
yields hydrogen to the sulphur and oxygen to the iron, which latter,
being then dissolved by the acid, constitutes sulphate of iron. As
it is difficult to combine the whole of any given quantity of iron
The aqueous solution of hydrosulphuric acid is employed as a test
of metals, and, more especially, for the discovery of minute portions of
lead, with which it gives a dark-coloured precipitate of sulphide of
lead: with the salts of antimony it gives an orange precipitate, and
with arsenious acid a yellow one.
Hydrosulphuric acid forms salts which are termed hydrosulphates,
and these are probably formed when it is combined with ammonia,
potash, soda, and the alkaline earths; but by metallic oxides, properly
so called, it is decomposed, the results not being hydrosulphates of
metallic oxides, but water and a metallic sulphide: this is the case
with oxide of lead, silver, &c.
Persulphide of Hydrogen (HS, ?). This compound cannot be formed
by direct combination. To prepare it, equal weights of sulphur and
recently slaked lime may be boiled in three times their weight of
water for half an hour. The result is a deep reddish-yellow coloured
solution of persulphide of calcium, which, when clear and cold, is to
be added to an excess of hydrochloric acid diluted with about twice
its weight of water: by their mutual action sulphur is precipitated,
accompanied by a yellow oil-like fluid, which is the persulphide of
hydrogen. It is a viscid liquid, of a yellow colour, and of specific
gravity about 1.77; its smell is similar to, but not so powerful as that
of hydrosulphuric acid; its elements are held together by a feeble
affinity, so that even in the cold it is gradually converted into hydro-
sulphuric acid and sulphur, and this change is immediately produced
at 212°.
Chlorine and Sulphur appear to form two compounds, the chloride
and di-chloride. According to Dumas, when sulphur is acted upon by
excess of chlorine, a neutral chloride is obtained, which consists of one
equivalent of chlorine and one equivalent of sulphur (SCI).
It usually contains some di-chloride, from which it is to be purified
by repeated distillation at about 140° Fahr.
It may be formed either by heating sulphur in excess of dry chlorine
gas, or, at common temperatures, by passing excess of chlorine through
a tube containing powdered sulphur.
Chloride of sulphur is liquid, has a reddish-brown tint, and a density
of 1.62; that of its vapour being about 3.7. Its boiling-point is 147°.
Di-chloride of Sulphur (SCI).-This substance was first obtained by
Dr. Thomson. When chlorine gas is passed over powdered sulphur,
gently heated, it gradually disappears, and the di-chloride is formed by
direct combination: the liquor obtained is to be distilled, and then
possesses the following properties:-It is liquid, and is red by reflected,
and yellowish-green by transmitted light: it emits acrid fumes when
exposed to the air; its density is 1.628, that of its vapour being 47 ;
it is volatile below 200°, and boils at 280°. Dry litmus-paper is not
altered by it. It is energetically decomposed by and decomposes
water, the results being hydrochloric and hyposulphurous acids. It
does not combine with alkalies.
Sulphur and Bromine. [BROMINE.]
Carbon and Sulphur.-These form by direct action bi-sulphide of
carbon (CS₂) or sulphocarbonic acid.
It may be obtained either by passing the vapour of sulphur over
charcoal heated to redness in a porcelain tube, or distilling a mixture
of bi-sulphide of iron and one-sixth of its weight of charcoal. It may
be condensed by being passed into cold water, and to free it from
uncombined sulphur and moisture it should be rectified from chloride
of calcium at a low temperature.
It is a colourless transparent liquid, of density 1.272, that of its
vapour being 2447; it has an acrid pungent taste, and a very fetid
odour; its refractive power is very high; it is insoluble in water, but
combines with alcohol and ether, from which water precipitates it; it
is extremely volatile, boils at 118.5°, and is not rendered solid at
the lowest obtainable temperature: owing to its great volatility, it
produces sufficient cold under the exhausted receiver of the air-pump
to freeze mercury it is extremely inflammable, the results of its com-
bustion being carbonic and sulphurous acid gases, attended with a
brilliant greenish-white flame. It combines with metallic sulphides to
form a class of sulphur salts termed sulpho-carbonates; for example,
sulpho-carbonate of potassium (KS, CS).
It is a remarkable circumstance that so volatile a liquid should be
907
SULPHUR.
produced by the combination of two solid bodies. It was discovered
by Lampadius in 1796.
Phosphorus and Sulphur. [PHOSPHORUS.]
Iodine and Sulphur. [IODINE.]
Selenium and Sulphur. [SELENIUM.]
Boron and Sulphur. [BORON.]
Sulphur Salts.-These are certain double sulphides, so designated by
Berzelius the electro-negative sulphides constituting sulphur acids;
and the electro-positive sulphides, sulphur bases. Among the sulphur
acids are the sulphides of arsenic, antimony, tellurium, tin, &c.; and
in this class are also included sulphuretted hydrogen, bisulphide of
carbon, and selenium and sulphocyanogen: the sulphur bases include
the protosulphides of the metals of the alkalies and alkaline earths.
Compounds formed by the union of sulphur acids with sulphur bases
are the sulphur salts.
The close chemical analogy between sulphur and oxygen is further
seen on considering the constitution and properties of the following
compounds of the two elements.
CO 2
ΚΟ
KO, CO
AsO 3
As05
•
CS2
KS
•
KS, CS2
•
AsS 3
As$5
KO, ASO,
KO, ASO
FeO
Fe2O3
•
KS, ASS3
•
KS, ASS
•
FeS
Fe2S3
F30 (magnetic). FeS (magnetic)
SULPHUR (in medicine) is an elementary principle which occurs in
great abundance in the mineral, sparingly in the vegetable, and still
more sparingly in the animal kingdom. In the vicinity of volcanoes
sulphurous fumes issue copiously from the ground, and many mineral
waters owe their peculiar odours and much of their virtues to
sulphurous impregnations. Plants which contain it have often an
offensive smell, to which most probably it contributes, constituting the
allyl oils, such as asafoetida, garlic, and mustard, in which last it
occurs as a constituent of myronic acid, a portion of which probably
attaches to the volatile oil of mustard, the odour of which is stronger
and more offensive than that of garlic and asafoetida combined. In
animals it occurs in conjunction with albumen, and hence white of egg
blackens silver egg-spoons.
For medical purposes, it should be as pure as possible, but in the
two forms in which it occurs it is seldom perfectly free from admixture.
Sublimed sulphur (flowers of sulphur) generally contains some
sulphurous acid, which renders it slightly pungent; and precipitated
sulphur, or milk of sulphur, mostly contains sulphate of lime. Of the
two forms, precipitated sulphur, owing to the extremely fine state of
subdivision in which it exists, is in equal quantities more powerful
than the sublimed when freed from the large portion of sulphate of
lime.
Sulphur is insoluble in water, very sparingly in alcohol, but soluble
in oils, both fixed, such as linseed, and volatile, such as turpentine;
with the former of which it forms the balsamum sulphuris simplex,
with the latter the balsamum sulphuris terebinthinatum.
Though devoid of any marked sensible qualities, sulphur acts as a
stimulant to the living tissues. Applied to the sound skin, it seems to
have no effect upon it, but placed in contact with an ulcerated surface,
it irritates and excites an inflammatory action. Large doses, such as a
pound, given to horses, prove fatal by producing violent inflammation,
recognisable during life by the symptoms, and after death by the
morbid appearances. These may not have been due entirely to the
sulphur, but to the tersulphide of arsenic (orpiment) with which
sulphur is often contaminated. Hence the increased redness and
sensibility of parts affected with cutaneous eruptions when sulphur is
applied to them. It is clear therefore that it is by exciting to new
action the unhealthy structures that it effects a cure of these diseases,
and not by causing a repulsion or transfer of it to some other quarter,
though this not unfrequently follows the too rapid healing of such
complaints, if they have been spread over a large surface. Taken
internally, sulphur gives rise to two distinct orders of effect: the one,
its action on the intestinal canal; the other, upon the system generally.
Small doses, if they do not increase the digestive power, at least do not
disturb it; but larger cause a disagreeable sensation in the epigastric
region, followed by alvine dejections, which are generally gentle, and
without colic or griping. When it causes alvine evacuations, it does
not produce marked general effects; but when given in small doses,
with a sufficient interval between each to favour its absorption, its
general action is commonly very apparent. The pulse becomes more
frequent, the animal heat and perspiration are increased, and the
presence of sulphur may be recognised in all the excretions of the body,
or a transudation of it in the form of hydrosulphuric acid (sulphu-
retted hydrogen). In this way silver worn in the pocket of a person
using sulphur becomes blackened.
The long-continued use of it gives rise to still more obvious
stimulant effects. General excitement of the system takes place,
increased arterial action leads to hemorrhages, &c., accompanied by
restlessness, sleeplessness, and thirst. The appearance of these
symptoms should point out the propriety of suspending its further use
till they can be removed by antiphlogistic means.
SULPHUR TRADE.
963
Internally sulphur has been given in chronic catarrhs and humid
coughs, as well as in some of the forms of asthma. From the power
which sulphur undoubtedly possesses over mucous membranes,
especially the bronchial, it is often serviceable; but in the asthmatic
affections complicated with organic disease of the heart or great vessels,
nothing can be more hurtful.
Sulphur should not be used for very plethoric individuals, or those
inclined to high vascular action, till those states have been lessened by,
diet and other means,
In chronic rheumatism sulphur, from its diaphoretic properties, is
of much utility either alone or with antimonials. In those forms of
dysentery which may be regarded as rheumatism of the intestines,
sulphur is perhaps the best aperient in combination with
ipecacuanha. It is also beneficial in those forms of paralysis which
have resulted from rheumatism. It is stated to effect a cure of inter-
mittents, and considering its power of rousing the vascular system, and
its subsequent diaphoretic action, it may be used in those cases where
arsenic fails and quinine is too expensive.
Sulphur is given as a laxative in hæmorrhoids, stricture of the
rectum, and habitual constipation. For these cases it is usually com-
bined with bi-tartrate of potash, or magnesia, or electuary of senna.
A small quantity of the compound cinnamon-powder, or aromatic con-
fection, is a valuable addition, as it lessens any tendency to griping,
and also restrains the disposition to the disengagement of sulphuretted
hydrogen gas, which is often a distressing consequence of the use of
sulphur. The dose varies much in different individuals, but in all
cases it should be ample, as an inefficient quantity is most prone to
generate flatus. Persons of a sedentary habit, afflicted with con-
stipation, find this combination of unspeakable service, as, unlike many
others, it is not followed by greater constipation than before, but keeps
the bowels moderately open for a considerable time. It is one of the
most appropriate medicines for children or pregnant females.
Sulphur is generally given internally at the same time that it is
used externally for the cure of cutaneous diseases. For one of these
(scabies) it is regarded as almost a specific. Sulphur ointment is the
form generally employed for this disease. It should never be applied
to more than a fourth part of the body at one time. The compound
sulphur ointment is more powerful, but requires still more caution in
its employment from the veretrine it contains. In workhouse practice,
the preferable mode of employing sulphur is by uniting it with soft-
soap, which not only does not stain and grease the clothes, but assists
in cleansing them as well as the patients when washed. Besides, the
potash of the soap aids the cure. Many cutaneous diseases are more
readily cured by a combination of sulphur with potash than by either
singly. This combination, called Potassii sulphuretum, or liver of
sulphur, may be applied in various ways, particularly in baths, forming
artificial Harrowgate-water. The natural waters of Harrowgate,
Moffat, and other sulphurous springs, owe their peculiarities to it.
Sulphur in combination with iodine, forming iodide of sulphur,
when made into an ointment with a large quantity of lard or cerate, is
a valuable agent in some cutaneous diseases. Sulphur sprinkled over
the leaves of the vine is almost a certain preventive of the oidium
Tuckeri or vine scourge. It is useful also for hops. See Gardeners'
Chronicle,' March 30, 1861, p. 293, nor is it powerless against the
potato disease. See 'Gardeners' Chronicle,' March 16, 1861, p. 241.
Sulphur in a state of combustion evolves sulphurous acid gas.
This is sometimes employed as a fumigation in some obstinate cuta-
neous affections, especially psoriasis inveterata, which often continues
about the joints, especially the elbow, when it has been cured in every
other part. The employment of this requires caution, and on no
account must the face be exposed to it, as it is irrespirable.
SULPHUR TRADE. Sulphur exists in Sicily, Iceland, Teneriffe,
St. Vincent's, and some other places; but the expense of obtaining it
from most of those countries is so great, that Sicily is almost the only
source of supply. From that country England and France take more
than 90 per cent. of the whole quantity exported. The average con-
sumption of England in the five years, from 1820 to 1824, was 7080
tons. In 1825 the duty was reduced from 157. to 10s. a ton, and in the
following ten years the annual consumption averaged 15,140 tons; in
1837 it amounted to 37,486 tons. The Sicilian sulphur-mines are the
property of individuals, and several English firms settled in Sicily are
engaged in the trade. In 1836 M. Taix, a Frenchman, laid before the
Sicilian government a project for establishing a company which was to
have the exclusive right during ten years of purchasing Sicilian sulphur
at fixed prices, on condition of spending 10,000l. a year in constructing
roads, and exporting one-third of the quantity produced in Sicilian
vessels. The British merchants becoming alarmed, the Sicilian govern-
ment, in reply to the British ambassador, stated that no such project
would be adopted. It would have been in direct contravention to certain
commercial treaties between the two governments. The Sicilian govern-
ment did, however, enter into a contract with M. Taix; and on the 4th
of July, 1838, notice was given at Palermo that the monopoly would
come into operation on the 1st of August ensuing. The negotiations
respecting this monopoly were conducted with great secresy, and it
came into operation so suddenly that twenty-four vessels lost their
cargoes. The British lessees of mines, and all others, were compelled
to produce only a fixed quantity of sulphur; prices rose from 67. 10s.
or 71. to 131. and 147. per ton, and contracts could not be completed.
At length the British government took very decided steps to put an
end to a monopoly established in the face of commercial treaties: the
coasts of Sicily and Naples were blockaded by our ships of war; and
£09
910
SULPHURATION.
SUM, SUMMATION.
the Sicilian government, no longer daring to uphold the monopoly,
accepted the mediation of the king of the French in adjusting the
dispute with the British government. The monopoly was abolished in
July, 1840, and a mixed English and Sicilian commission was appointed
in November to investigate the claims of British subjects whose inte-
rests had been injured by it. The claims amounted to 65,6102., of
which 21,3077. was awarded; and as it was stipulated that the awards
should bear interest at the rate of 6 per cent. so long as they remained
unsettled, the Sicilian government agreed, in January, 1842, to pay
them without any delay. The sulphur trade was thereupon placed on
the same footing as before the date of the contract with M. Taix.
A correspondent of the Times newspaper, while noting and recording
the exploits of Garibaldi in Sicily in 1860, turned aside to visit the
principal sulphur district, and to give an account of the present mode
of conducting the trade. The chief mines are at Villarosa, Santa
Catalda, and Terra di Falco. The sulphur lies imbedded in tufa, gyp-
sum, or limestone, mostly at the sides of mountains. Sometimes the
vein is so thick as to require pillars of sulphur to be left to support
the roof of the mine. The smelting, or preparation for market, used
to be conducted in the open air; but as this injured the quality, and
moreover tainted the air of the neighbourhood, another plan is now
adopted. A round space is cleared on the side of a mountain, about
sixty feet in diameter, with a high wall to bound it on the outer or
lower side. An orifice in this side is formed, temporarily plastered
over. The sulphur-stone is placed in regular layers on the open space,
heaped up conically very high, and is well covered with the rubbish
resulting from former smeltings. Fire is applied through a small
opening, which is then closed up; and the stone burns for about three
weeks, as much excluded from the air as possible. When the whole of
the sulphur in the stone has become liquefied, the hole is tapped, and
a black pitchy liquid runs out into troughs; this liquid cools to a
yellow solid, clean or dirty according to its quality. The price of the
sulphur thus obtained is greatly increased by the difficulty of transport.
There is no road from the mines suitable for vehicles. Mules carry
the sulphur to the nearest town, whence it is conveyed in two-horse
carts to Girgenti.
SULPHURATION, or SULPHURING, is the process of bleaching
employed to give whiteness to silk and woollens by exposing them to
the fumes of burning sulphur. For this process a detached chamber,
without a chimney, is made use of; but so constructed that, when
required, a current of air may be passed through it. In sulphuring
silk, about 100 pounds, stretched on perches, are placed at a height of
nearly seven feet; and about two pounds of sulphur, reduced to coarse
powder, are put into an iron pot containing a small quantity of ashes;
the sulphur is fired in several places, and the chamber well closed to
prevent the loss of sulphurous fumes; afterwards the windows are
opened to let them escape and to dry the silk. In winter, after the
smell of the sulphurous vapour has ceased, the windows are shut, and
charcoal is burnt in the chamber, in order that the silk may be dried.
By this operation the silk becomes perfectly white, and is rendered fit
for subsequent operations. Woollen cloths are treated nearly in the
same manner. Straw hats and bonnets are also sulphured.
SULPHURETTED HYDROGEN. [SULPHUR.]
SULPHURIC ACID. [SULPHUR.]
SULPHURIC ACID, Medical Properties of. This, which is
regarded as the most potent of the mineral acids, is never taken
internally in a concentrated state except by accident, or with the
intention to commit suicide or murder. In such cases it acts as a
violent corrosive poison, causing complete disorganisation of the tissues
it comes in contact with, its course being obvious from the black and
charred state of the parts. This effect it is thought to produce from
its strong affinity to water, depriving the tissues of its elements, and
leaving the carbon free. This peculiarity distinguishes poisoning by it
from the other mineral acids. Notwithstanding the extensive destruc-
tion of important organs, such as the stomach, immediate death rarely
results from it, but the patient lingers sometimes for days, and in
some cases ultimately recovers.
Sulphuric acid is sometimes employed in an undiluted state as a
caustic application to the bites of rabid animals, or to destroy warts or
portions of the eyelids in entropium and ectropium.
In a considerably diluted state, if it be applied to the skin, it
occasions a painful impression, followed by numbness and a contraction
of the parts, and even whiteness, owing to the diminished calibre of the
capillaries. But shortly the afflux of blood to the part recurs, and
soon increases, so that the action of the vascular system appears to
become more developed than before. As it is presumable that a
similar series of actions takes place when received in a diluted form
into the stomach, by bearing these phenomena in mind it is possible to
explain its therapeutic influence in many of the cases where it is
used.
|
and itching, a solution of sulphate of magnesia, with an addition of
dilute sulphuric acid, quickly relieves them. It has also been given at
a late stage of typhus in some mild diluent, such as barley-water. In
combination with cinchona, it is of decided utility in purpura hæmor-
rhagica. Nothing save oxide of zinc so certainly checks the colliquative
sweats which attend hectic fever as the compound infusion of roses.
In chronic diarrhoea and dysentery it is also sometimes of service.
Hæmorrhoidal fluxes are often restrained by its use. In some forms
of dyspepsia it is a valuable tonic, and may be longer persevered with
than any other mineral acid except phosphoric. In calculous diseases
with a phosphatic diathesis, it is much to be commended, from the
length of time it can be used. In such cases it is best given in
infusion of camomile made with cold water. It is employed largely
diluted as a gargle in the sore-throat of scarlet fever. Many cases of
cutaneous diseases have been cured by the internal use of sulphuric
acid. The aromatic sulphuric acid, called elixir of vitriol, has more
tonic properties than the simple acid. A few drops of it, ten or
twelve, in a cup of cold water, relieve very certainly the squeamishness
of the stomach which is felt in the morning after an excess of wine.
In case of poisoning by sulphuric acid, lime-water, calcined magnesia,
or plaster from the wall, or a solution of soap, should instantly be
given.
The unguentum acidi sulphurici is a most effectual application in
obstinate cases of itch.
obstinate cases of itch. It chars the linen.
SULPHURIC ETHER.
SULPHUROUS ACID. [SULPHUR.]
[ETHYL.]
13
SULTA'N, an Arabic word meaning "a despotic ruler, or a man
who is the arbiter of the life and property of a set of men. It is the
usual title of royalty among the Arabs and Turks. From sultán the
Italians have made their soldano, and the Spaniards have their sultán.
The lawful wife of a sultán, who has children by him, is called by us
a sultana.
SUM (in the sense of integral). Before the organisation of the
formal integral calculus, the isolated operations of integration which
were attained were expressed in words borrowed apparently from the
notion of indivisibles. [CAVALIERI, in BIOG. DIv.] Thus the title of
one of Halley's papers is An Easy Demonstration of the Analogy of
the Logarithmic Tangents to the Meridian Line or Sum of the Secants.'
Here the sum of the secants means what we should now denote by
sec x.dx.
SUM AND DIFFERENCE. There is no need to define the
arithmetical meaning of these terms: a few words only are necessary
to put them in their proper position in algebra. When quantities
receive their proper algebraical signs, and those signs their interpreta-
tions [ALGEBRA; SIGN; &c.], they are said to be added to a quantity
when they are allowed to produce their effect, and subtracted when
they are allowed to produce a contrary effect. And when quantities
are put together so that each produces its simple effect, they are said
to be added together; while any parcel which is either withdrawn, or
compensated by others of equal and opposite effects, is said to be sub-
tracted. We are not here discussing principles, but settling terms;
and it is enough if the notions appended to them be proper founda-
tions for clear and good deduction; and an additional advantage if
common ideas and received phraseology be also suited, provided that
nothing be assumed from such ideas and phraseology to the prejudice
of the dependence of the deduction upon the prescribed definitions.
To form a just idea of the property of any person, we take the sums
which he owes away from his assets; that is, we take away, not his
debts, but sums out of his assets equal to his debts. To say that this
is taking away his debts would not be correct; for taking away his
debts would be merely destroying his liabilities, without making his
assets answerable: a person who himself pays another's debts takes
them away. A court of justice which decides a claim against the
assets of any one, annexes or puts on a liability; and this is in algebra
adding: if the decision should be reversed on appeal, this liability to
pay is removed, and this is in algebra subtracting. In the phrase "to
gain a loss," the word "gain" is used in the preceding sense of simple
adjunction: if it were as common to talk of losing a loss, the verb to
lose would be used in the sense of to remove or to get rid of: the
other form of the word would be less of a bull, for to loose a loss would
be to detach it. In a third form, the idiom is still plainer; to release
[from] a loss would be precisely the idea of algebra, answering to sub-
tracting a loss.
SUM, SUMMATION. In the articles INTEGRATION, FINITE, and
PROGRESSION, some ideas and rules are given upon the subject of the
summation of a finite number of terms of a series; and in SERIES
will be found examples of the inverse process of development. In the
present article we are to give some account of the methods of actual
summation which are in use in the higher branches of mathematics;
Taken internally in a diluted but still strong state, it makes a referring for the demonstrations to the Differential Calculus in the
powerful impression on the stomach, followed by an instantaneous Library of Useful Knowledge' (cited by the letters D. C.). We shall
sympathetic chill of the whole system: hence its power in checking dwell upon this at greater length than would appear to be altogether
hæmorrhage long before its particles can be received into the circula- in keeping with the extent of the articles above cited; the reason being
tion and constringe the vessels by immediate contact with their sides. that many persons to whom the following rules may be practically
From the same cause it acts as a useful refrigerant in fevers and other useful never hear of them because they are locked up in Treatises on
inflammatory diseases when the animal temperature is too high. In the Differential Calculus, or in works which are not generally read.
many of the transient diseases of the skin attended with much heat | The merest elements of differentiation and integration are enough to
4
911
SUM, SUMMATION.
enable a beginner to use results the proof of which must be reserved
for a more advanced stage of his progress.
1. When the terms of a series are alternately positive and negative,
as in do
&c., the sum of the series ad infinitum may thus
a₁ + az
be expressed [DIFFERENCE] (D. C., pp. 556–560) :—
M
--
+
Δα A²α%
4
8
дзо
16
•
which is frequently more convergent than the series itself; in fact, the
less convergent the series is, the more convergent is the transformation.
Dr Hutton's method of obtaining the transformed series is as follows:
-Take a number of the successive sums a。, a
&c., and let
&c.
=
So 0, S1
αo, S₂ = α o
a1, S3
=00
1
-
au
SUM, SUMMATION.
=
0.
912
where a, a function of a, generates the several terms by making
x = 0, 1, 2, &c., in succession, and a', a a, &c., mean the values of
the odd differential co-efficients of a when x is
This trans-
formation is useful when the values just mentioned are not con-
siderable. Another form, which is sometimes more convenient, is-
3α
2 [6]
ao
ao
2
ao
///
+
2 [4]
+
17a vii
2 [8]
&c.
where [m] means 1.2.3.....m. In the instance before us, and that
we may begin from the same term as before, let
1
1
ax
a
'+ '
Co
1
72
[3]
8'
[5]
&c.
[7]
სა
76, a vil
78;
74, a
Take the half sum of s。 and s₁, the half sum of s, and s₂, the half sum
of s, and s., &c. Let these be To, T₁, T₂, &c. Repeat the process:
take the mean of T。 and T₁, that of T, and T,, &c., which call U。,
U₁, &c. Take the mean of U, and U,, that of U, and U,, &c., which whence the series required from and after 4 is-
call v¸, V₁, &c. Then the set S, T, U, Vo, &c., will severally approach
nearer and nearer to the series required; in fact
1
1
1
+
14 4.72
+
3
2.4.7¹ 2.6.76
17
2.8.73.
Το
2,0%
ao
2
Δύο
4
0 2
Δυο Δια
4
8
+
&c.
Call these terms (1), (2), &c., and begin with +
we have then-
−ž, or ·616666....:
It would however be somewhat easier to proceed as follows:-having
formed differences as far as may be thought necessary, say up to
▲ a。, take half Ana。 from A-la, half the result from ▲˜-²ɑ。
Aao
half the result from A-3a, and so on until a has been used: after
which halve the result again. In either case we need not begin at the
beginning of the series: if it be more convenient to begin after a let
agao, and calculate this separately: then
calculate a11
from the rule, and we have A10 (11
a12+...) for the series required. The following is an instance from Dr.
Hutton (Tracts,' vol. i., p. 191), the series being 1 } + {} ~ } +
A10
α12
Sums.
+
• •
|| 12
+
·
9
1
0.5
833333
583333
The several orders of means.
783333
616666
688095
759524
692560
607024
693056
634524
693552
693131
690080
693205
745635
692858
693158
695635
693110
693144
693150
693147
645635
693362
693142
691090
693173
736544
692984
694878
653211
l
The result is 693147, which is correct to the sixth place, and is
more than could be got from the series itself by actual summation
of a million of its terms. Dr. Hutton begins in forming the means
with 1
+: we shall therefore try the other method,
beginning with .
•
•6166666667
(1) 0714285714
•6880952381
(2)· ·0051020408
•6931972789
(3)-0000520616
*6931452173
(4) 0000021250
6931473423
(5)-0000001843
•6931471580
True Answer 6931471806
The result of this comparatively easy process is as correct as the
summation of fifty millions of terms of the series.
3. The sum of any large number of terms of a series may be found
by summing the whole series ad infinitum, then doing the same with
the terms following the last term which is to be retained, and sub-
tracting the second result from the first.
4. The sums of such series as are included under 1-" + 2−” + 3¬”+
&c., such as
1+
1
+
9
1
+
+...,1+
1
27
+ &c.
continued ad infinitum, may be given for reference in the following
table. The first term will presently be explained. More will be
found in D. C., p. 554.
Sum of Series.
Terms.
Orders of differences.
•142857
2)-179
+
17857
•125000
3968
+
13889
1190
89.5
•111111
2778
432
11111
758
179
432
•100000
2020
253
9091
505
14234
*5772156649015329 + log ∞
1.6449340668482264
1.2020569031595943
1.0823232337111382
•090909
1515
7576
2)521.5
5
1.0369277551433700
⚫083333
1 − 1 +
− = 6166666
260.8
-1190
2)-1450-8
6
1.0173430619844491
7 1.0083492773819227
⚫0764795
-725-4
3968
•6931461
8
1.0040773561979443
9
1·0020083928260822
10
1.0009945751278180
11
1.0004941886041194
12
1.0002460865533080
2)4963.4
2346.7
-17857
2)-20203.7
-10101.9
142857
2)152958 9
76479.5
The first line means that the sum of the series is infinite, but that
the expression for a large number of terms contains the logarithm of
that number, which being removed, the rest of the expression
approximates as the number of terms increases, to 577215
-
5. The series 1-
the following simple law :-
•
2-n +
is connected with 1ª + 2″ + ... by
•
• •
1
(1 — 2 1 -1 ) (1—* +2 -* + 3 — * + . . .)
1-"-2-3-^-... =
6. The sum a。 + α¸ + α₂ + . . . ad infinitum may be thus trans-
formed :-
♡
This last process will be found on trial the easier of the two.
2. The sum of the series a
thus expressed (D. C., p. 555)
a₂ + un
&c. ad infinitum may be
a dx + 54-32 + 30 [4]
1 a
6
I do
1 ao
42 [6]
+ &c.
do
+
+
2
4
48
480
17α vil
80640
&c.
1 1
where the notation is as previously explained, and &c, are the
6' 30'
series of NUMBERS OF BERNOULLI. To apply this, for example, to
913
914
SUM, SUMMATION.
SUN.
-2
-2
1−2+2−2+3−2 ÷
·
• •
it will be convenient to begin from some term which vanishes when x=0, whence
which will make the series more convergent. Let az
Let ax = (10+x)−²: we
have then for 10-2 + 11-2 + the following:-
0+
1 7.6.5.4.3.2.1
30 2.3.4.5.6.7.8
0,
1 1 1
+
1
1
1 1
+
10 2 102
6 103
1 1
+
30 105 42 107
&c.,
and the rest may be reduced to
8 +
2
+
7x6
12
7xA
x²
+
24
12,
which may be easily calculated, and the preliminary series 1-1+...
+9-2 may then be added.
1
2
7. The finite series a。 +α₁+ɑ₂+ ... +αx-1 (x terms) is thus trans-
formed (D. C., p. 266):—
}}}
S
0
1
160
1 ar
από
ax dx
2
(α x − αo) +
2
vii
do
1 ax
+
42 [6]
vii
1 ax
30 [8]
+ &c.,
1 ar
30 [4]
in which the detached coefficients are again the numbers of Bernoulli.
Or, if the sum of the series ad infinitum be known, s, the preceding
may be expressed as follows:-
S
S
· axdx
1
2
1 ax
ax +
6 2
1 ax
30 [4]
But when the complete series is divergent,
ɑ₁ +α₁+...+a-1 may be thus expressed :-
axdx
1 ax'
6
+ √ a dx = 1/2 a₂ + 1 = 2
0+
0
ax
where c must be determined
ax = (1 + x)-¹ we have for 1+2
c+log* (1+x)
-
+ &c.
or
(3x8 + 12x7 +14x6 - 7x¹ + 2x²) ÷ 24.
SUMACH, or SWAMP SUMACH (Rhus Toxicodendron), a North
American shrub, possessing peculiar properties, from which it has
been named also the Trailing Poison Oak. The leaves, which are
trifoliate, thin, shining when fresh, of a dark-green colour, are the only
parts officinal in this country. But the leaves, branches, and flowers
contain a milky juice which blackens on exposure to the air, and may
be used as an indelible ink when applied to cotton or linen. Besides
this very acrid milk, the plant, when not exposed to the sun's rays, by
growing in the shade, or during the night, exhales a hydrocarburetted
gas, which acts very potently on persons of a peculiar susceptibility,
when exposed to it. In two or three days after touching or being
very near the plant, the skin inflames and swells, being attended with
the set of terms intense burning pain. If the face be affected, the eye-lids are so tume-
fied as to close up the eyes; and the whole head is swelled and covered
with little blisters containing serum. Occasionally the whole body is
enormously swollen and covered with similar vesicles.
inflammation and swelling have subsided, the skin desquamates, and
an intolerable itching is felt for several days afterwards.
symptoms closely resemble erysipelas, and are moderated by treatment
suited to that complaint. Professor Barlow states that the best appli-
cation is a weak aqueous solution of bichloride of mercury. All
persons however should avoid touching any sumach which has milky
juice.
1 ax
+ &c.,
30 [4]
by an instance. Thus if we make
+ . . . +x-1 the following series :-
1
1
1
1
1
1
-
21+x 12 (1+x)² 120 (1+x)*
+
&c.
When the
These
Add (x+1)−¹ to both sides, and write x-1 for x, which gives for been recommended in several diseases, particularly herpes, paralysis,
1-¹+...+x-1=
1
c+log x +
1
1
2x 12x² 120x¹
+
&c.
To determine c, choose such a number for x as shall make this series
convergent, say x=10. Calculate 1-¹+ ... + 10-¹, term by term,
which is easily done, and equate the sum to
c+2·302585093 +
1
+
1
1
20 1200 1200000
&C.,
which gives c=5772156..., the number mentioned at the head of
the table for series of inverse powers already given. With the value
of c thus determined, and a sufficient table of logarithms, the larger
the number of terms in 1−1 + +x-1, the more easily is its approxi-
mate value calculated.
• • •
8. The series log 1 + log 2 + + log x is of sufficient importance
to have an article to itself. Make a₂ = log (1+x), and proceed as in
the last example, which will give for log (1.2.3... a) the following
series:-
1
c+logx.x−x + 2 log x+
1
12x
1
360x3
+
o might be determined as before, but a particular mode of investigation
shows it to be log (√2″), where π= 3.14159. as usual. This gives
1.2.3...x=√/2«x x*. €
+*-
• •
1
1
12= 3.0x3
+ &c.,
a result of the greatest use, particularly in the more complicated
applications of the theory of probabilities.
9. The series 0"+1" + 2" + . . . +, in which a₂ =x^
x, n being
integer and positive, is by the case of § 7, and adding " to both sides,
xn+1
1 nx"-1 1 n(n−1) (n−2)xn−s
c+
+
n+1
xn
2
+
6 2
30
2.3.4
+ &c.;
but this vanishes when x=0, whence c must be taken accordingly in
every instance.
To take an example which shall require a little
extension of the series beyond the terms used above, let it be required
to find 07+17 + +x7. Looking at the article NUMBERS OF BER-
NOULLI, we find a supply of coefficients in
•
•
1 1 1 1 5 691
6 30 42 30 66 2730'
and the sum required is
x7
0+
8
2
1 726
6 2
1 7.6.5x4 1 7.6.5.4.3x3
+
30 2.3.4 42 2.3.4.5.6
1 7.6.5.4.3.2.1
30 2.3.4.5.6.7.8'
The Naperian logarithm, which is always used in mathematical investi-
gations, unless the contrary be expressed. It is 2.302585093 x comm. log.
ARTS AND SCI. DIV. VOL. VII.
The leaves, or an extract of the inspissated juice of this plant, have
and consumption. It is little used in this country, but it appears
entitled to some confidence in local paralysis, such as that of the jaw.
It must be given with caution, as large doses act like narcotico-acrid
poisons.
SUMBUL, written also Sunbul, is a generic term applied to many
fragrant roots, one or more of which have been already noticed under
SPIKENARD. What is now to be noticed is a root recently introduced
into medical practice, of which there are two, perhaps three varieties,
the source of none of which is accurately known, though conjectured
to be the produce of some umbelliferous plant, to which the name of
Angelica moschata has been given. One is designated Russian sumbul,
another, Indian sumbul; while a third is called Cathayan sumbul,
which perhaps scarcely differs from the first kind, which is said to
rhubarb. The Russian is the most powerful in odour, which is more
reach Moscow through Kiachta, the same channel as the Russian
shows it to contain a volatile oil, two balsamic resins, one soluble in
or less musky. The taste is bitter and slightly acrid. The analysis
ether, the other in alcohol, with wax, starch, &c., and a peculiar acid
termed sumbulic. It yields its properties to alcohol or ether; it is
also given in powder, watery infusion, decoction, or extract. The
balsamic resins and oil impart a stimulating power to it, which renders
it useful as an antispasmodic, and it is especially available in hysterical
affections; and like other medicines of the same class, it would appear
to be sedative, as it calms nervous restlessness and procures sleep.
has also been recommended in dropsy and atrophy.
SUMBULIC ACID. [ANGELIC ACID.]
SUMMARY CONVICTION. [LAW, CRIMINAL.]
SUMMARY JURISDICTION. [JUSTICES OF THE PEACE.]
SUMMER. [WINTER, &c.]
It
SUN (Latin, sol; Greek, Aios, Helios). In the present article we
confine ourselves to the astronomical characters of the sun's orbit, and
to what we know of its physical constitution. For more particulars on
the measurement of time, see TIME; on chronology as dependent on
this body, and on the more common characters of its motion, see YEAR.
ZODIACAL LIGHT; TWILIGHT; &c.
See also MOON; SEASONS; ASTRONOMY; ZODIAC (on mythology);
It is needless to say that if the utility of the subject of an article
were to determine its length, the one we are now commencing ought
in justice to occupy several volumes of the work: were we, however,
seriously to mete out the importance of the sun in columns of a
Cyclopædia, our panegyric would not be more quaint than that of Sir
John Hill, who says that this luminary is "enough to stamp a value on
the science to which the study of it belongs." In relation to astronomy
this is particularly true; for it would be possible to preserve life on
the earth, and to keep order, without any knowledge of the moon,
planets, or stars; but to do this without any acquaintance with the
sun's motions would be absolutely impossible. The source of light and
heat, and through them of the alternations of the vegetable world, is,
in the highest secondary sense, the giver and sustainer of life; but this
very importance ensures names to so many results of solar phenomena,
that the present article is stripped of details, by their entering more
appropriately into others.
3 N
915
SUN.
The motions of the sun are in fact those of the earth, written in the
heavens. If the diurnal motion of the earth were stopped, the sun
would appear to move slowly among the stars, from west to east, at
the rate of about twice its own diameter in twenty-four hours by the
clock. This [MOTION] is the consequence of the orbital motion of the
earth, which is communicated in appearance to the sun. If the earth's
orbital motion were stopped, the diurnal motion continuing as usual,
the sun would appear to move round daily, from east to west, as at
present; but since there would then be no motion of that body among
the stars, those stars which are at any one time hidden by the daylight
would always be hidden, and the face of the heavens at any given hour
of night would be the same at all times of the year. The effect of the
orbital motion of the earth combined with the diurnal motion is that
the solar day, or the interval between two meridian passages of the
sun, is a little longer than the sidereal day (about four minutes), or
than the actual revolution of the earth; so that all the stars have their
turn, and every star in the course of the year comes on the meridian
at every period of the natural or solar day. [SYNODIC; TIME.]
The great phenomena of day and night are attended with very
different circumstances in different parts of the globe. We are not
speaking now of the high polar regions, north and south, in which the
sun never sets for days together, but of those parts of the earth in
which there is actual appearance and disappearance of the luminary, or
real day and night. Let us take the day of the vernal equinox as a
specimen, when the sun is in the equator (we presume in our reader a
knowledge of the terms and notions in SPHERE, DOCTRINE OF THE).
If we take one fixed line to represent the horizon of different places, as
BAC, the sun will rise to a place on the equator so as to move along
the circle D A E, and to come directly up from the horizon; while at a
place near the pole it will move, relatively to the horizon (still B A C),
along the circle FA G. Now the first evidence which the sun gives of
E
+
Α
C
its approach is this (the diagram, though of very distorted dimensions,
may be of use): before it has risen above the horizon of a place, so as
to be visible, it can throw its rays into the atmosphere above the place,
which atmosphere reflects something both of light and heat to the
place itself. This period is called the twilight, and it is said that there
is more or less of twilight as long as the sun is not more than 15°
below the horizon; though certainly the twilight which saves candle-
light does not last so long. But be the number of degrees which are
allowed to twilight more or less, it is obvious that at the equator,
where the whole of the sun's way is made directly to or from the
horizon, the intermediate period of twilight must be much shorter
than at a place near the pole, where the motion towards the horizon is
very oblique, instead of being all ascent, as before rising, or descent, as
after setting. The consequence is well known in the tropics, the
warning is short, and soon after the light begins to break the sun
makes its appearance, and it is broad and hot day; while after the
setting the light as soon disappears, and it is dark night. With us, on
the contrary, and still more in higher northern latitudes, there is a
long warning of the approach of the luminary before the sunrise, and a
long remembrance of it after sunset. In all climates the transition
from day to night is broken by the two circumstances mentioned in
SEASONS. In the same article it is pointed out that the heat received
during the winter and summer halves of the year is the same over the
whole earth.
Immediately after sunrise, the form of the luminary appears some-
what elliptic, the horizontal diameter being longer than the vertical
one. This is the effect of REFRACTION, which varies so rapidly near
the horizon that the upper end of the vertical diameter is less elevated
than the lower end by a sensible quantity, while the two ends of the
horizontal diameter are equally elevated. The same phenomenon
occurs with the moon, when rising at the full, and would also be seen
in the planets, if they were large enough in appearance. It must also
be noted that both sun and moon appear larger when near the horizon;
but this, as to the sun, is delusion, since when measured with instru-
ments its apparent diameter is the same at all parts of the day. It is
true that both bodies, when in the zenith, are nearer to the spectator
SUN.
918
than when in the horizon, by what may be called without error a semi-
diameter of the earth; the moon is near enough to show the effect of
this in instrumental measurements of its diameter, but it is not so
with the sun.
Before looking at what we know of the physical appearances of the
sun, its distance from the earth must be mentioned, to which we may
add at once the other elements of its orbit. Its equatorial horizontal
PARALLAX, at its mean distance, is 8"-5776, and its apparent semi-
diameter 16′ 0″9. It is then distant from the earth by 24,000
semidiameters of the earth, or about 95,000,000 miles. Its diameter
is 111 times as great as that of the earth, or upwards of 880,000
miles; and its bulk is 1,300,000 times as great as that of the earth.
But its mass, as determined from its action on the planets, is only
355,000 times as great as that of the earth; whence its average density
is only one-quarter of that of the earth. But this last result takes into
the body of the sun all that is seen of it: if the surmise presently to
be mentioned, of its having a luminiferous atmosphere of considerable
extent, be well founded, the real body of the sun may have as much
density as the earth, or more. It revolves on its axis in 254 of our
mean solar days; according to Delambre, in 25 01154 days: the axis
being inclined to the ecliptic at an angle of 82°.
The ecliptic is the circle in which the sun appears to move, in
common language. In strictness, however, the earth does not move
round the sun in a true plane, though it does so very nearly. The
centre of gravity of the earth and moon (a point near the earth) does
much more nearly describe a plane; that is, à spectator situated at that
point would more nearly see the sun move in a great circle than we
do. But to us, the sun is sometimes on one side and sometimes on the
other of this mean ecliptic, and therefore generally has some latitude,
though a very small one: the column entitled "the Sun's latitude" in
The Nautical Almanac' is a puzzle to those readers whose astronomy
is drawn from the usual elementary writings: in truth, it is only a
fraction of a second, and the sun crosses the mean ecliptic twice in
every lunation. The obliquity of the mean ecliptic, for January 1,
1860, is 23° 27′ 27″-38, and it is diminishing yearly by 0"-457: thus
this same obliquity for January 1, 1842, is 23° 27′ 35″-60. If this
diminution could go sufficiently far, it would in time bring the ecliptic
and equator to coincidence, or equalise days and nights all over the
world; and if it could be held to have continued long enough, would
entitle us to presume that the poles were once in the plane of the
ecliptic, or that every part of the earth went through all gradations in
a year from equal days and nights to a polar day and a polar night.
theory of gravitation; and it is also known that, under existing causes,
But the cause of this diminution of the ecliptic is known from the
it cannot be permanent, but must diminish in quantity and finally
turn into an increase before its effect has amounted to many degrees.
Persons acquainted with the phenomena of the heavens, but not with
the results of the theory of gravitation, remembering the fact of
tropical productions being found buried in high latitudes, sometimes
imagine that they can look back to the time when the poles were so
near the ecliptic, that these same high latitudes were within the
tropics. This, however, is a pure fancy, and they had better imagine
another cause; the one they think of will not do.
The mean longitude of the sun, at Greenwich mean noon on the 1st
of January of the year 1800+t, may be determined from
280° 53′ 32" 75+ 27" 605844t+0001221805-14' 47" 083ƒ,
where ƒ is the remainder of t divided by 4, or 4 if the remainder be 0;
that is, the number of years after the Julian leap-year, or after the
Gregorian leap-year for all years after 1804. The mean motion in
longitude in a mean solar day is 59′ 8″-33.
The excentricity of the sun's orbit is 016783568 (according to
Laplace, 01685318), or the greatest and least distances of the sun from
the earth are in the proportion of 1.017 to 983, or as 30 to 29, or more
nearly as 91 to 88. The greatest equation of the centre [TIME] is
1° 55' 27"-3. The excentricity diminishes by 00004163 in a century.
The mean longitude of the perigee, at noon, January 1, 1801, was
279° 30′ 5″·0. It has a real yearly increase of 118, which, with the
precession of the equinoxes, makes an increase of longitude of 61"9.
The appearance of the sun is simply that of a ball of intense light,
such as the human eye cannot bear, unless a hazy atmosphere or a dark
glass be used as a screen. This light is so strong, that the brightest
flames which human art can produce, when held before the sun,
disappear, and ignited solids become dark spots. "The ball of ignited
quicklime," says Sir J. Herschel, "in Lieut. Drummond's oxy-hydrogen,
lamp, gives the nearest imitation of the solar splendour which has yet
been produced. The appearance of this against the sun was however,
as described," merely a dark spot, "in an imperfect trial at which I
was present. The experiment ought to be repeated under favourable
circumstances." A very small portion of the rays collected into one
spot [BURNING-GLASSES] is sufficient to melt metals. On examining
the face of the sun with a telescope (of course with a dark glass before
the eye), two circumstances are observed. The disc is not uniformly
bright. "The ground is finely mottled," to use the words of the
observer just quoted, "with an appearance of minute dark dots, or
pores, which, when attentively watched, are found to be in a constant
state of change. There is nothing which represents so faithfully this
appearance as the slow subsidence of some flocculent chemical pre-


917
018
SUN.
SUNDAY.
cipitates in a transparent fluid, when viewed perpendicularly from
above; so faithfully, indeed, that it is hardly possible not to be
impressed with the idea of a luminous medium intermixed, but not
confounded, with a transparent and unluminous atmosphere, either
floating, as clouds in our air, or pervading it in vast sheets and columns
like flame, or the streamers of our northern lights." The mind is lost
in wonder at the idea of such a body of luminous material; but it is
important to remember that living, as we must, under an atmosphere,
we cannot positively assert anything as to what may take place beyond
it. It is possible, though not very probable, that we should neither
feel sensible of light nor heat, if we could meet the sun's rays before
they have entered the air.
The other circumstance which is noticed on the sun's disc is the
existence of black spots, by the regular motion of which the rotation
of the body on its axis has been determined. These spots are of
various irregular shapes, and are always surrounded by a border or
penumbra, not so dark as the spot. They are of various sizes, from
the least visible to the twentieth part of the sun in diameter. In
their neighbourhood are frequently observed streaks on the disc more
luminous than the rest, called faculæ, in which streaks spots frequently
begin their appearance.
The spots themselves alter in size, and
gradually vanish, lasting various times, from a few days to six or seven
weeks; the borders approaching each other in a manner which calcu-
lation shows must answer to hundreds of miles a day. Various theories
have been invented to account for them, but none which has any
appearance of probability except that of W. Herschel ('Phil. Trans.,'
1801). He supposes that the sun has an atmosphere of greater density
and depth than that of the earth; and that above this atmosphere, or
else mixed with the higher strata of it, is another atmosphere of self-
luminous clouds, of very variable depth, sometimes showing the lower
atmosphere uncovered, which last reflects the light of the luminous
atmosphere above it. A spot on the sun is a portion of the body of
the sun itself, laid bare by some commotion which removes both atmo-
spheres, or the greater portion of them: the penumbra round the spot,
its never-failing attendant, arises from the ridges of the lower atmo-
sphere, which form the banks of the opening. The faculæ, and general
mottled appearance of the sun, arise from the luminous atmosphere
having waves or ridges. From some measures of the light of different
parts of the sun, Herschel thought that the non-luminous atmosphere
reflects a little less than one-half the light it receives from the luminous
atmosphere, and the solid body of the sun less than one tenth. He also
supposed that the presence of spots and other disturbances indicated a
large formation of heat and light in the sun, and was a prognostic of hot
weather and fine seasons. This he imagined he had verified by such
comparisons as existed of the state of the sun at different times with the
prices of wheat immediately following: he found that, as far as his data
went (and he gives a proper warning as to their insufficiency), the price of
wheat always rose when the sun was without spots, and fell when they
began to re-appear. We have not heard of any extensive attempt to
verify or refute this theory; but so far as the hypothesis of the two
atmospheres is concerned, it is one of high probability: we could
hardly ask for a likely result of such a combination which does not
actually make its appearance. If it be correct, the sun may very
possibly be a globe habitable by living beings, perpetually illuminated
by its upper atmosphere, the lower atmosphere preventing too much
of either light or heat from reaching them,
The most important result connected with modern researches on the
solar spots is due to Schwabe, a German astronomer, who, by per-
severingly observing the sun on every day that he was visible between
the years 1826 and 1856, finally discovered that the number visible on
the disc in the course of a year is subject to a periodic variation,
passing through the cycle of its values in successive intervals of about
eleven years. Shortly afterwards M. Lamont, Director of the obser-
vatory at Munich, discovered that the diurnal variation of the magnetic
needle is subject to a corresponding period of equal duration. The
researches of Schwabe have been confirmed by Mr. Carrington and
other recent observers of the solar spots. Professor Wolf of Zurich,
having carefully compared all the recorded observations of the spots,
has also discovered unequivocal evidence of the existence of a law in
the frequency of their appearance on the solar disc. The duration of
the period, as might be expected from the imperfect nature of the
observations, is found by Professor Wolf to be subject to considerable
irregularities, but on the whole, the observations plainly indicate a
recurrence in successive cycles of nearly the same number of spots
visible on the disc in the course of a year. The following table, con-
structed by Professor Wolf from the recorded observations of the
spots, exhibits the relative number of spots visible during each of the
last 112 years :—
Year.
1749
Relative
Number of Spots
Visible.
Relative
Number of Spots
Visible.
8.8 Minimum.
Year.
63.8
•
1756
1750
68.2 Maximum.
1757
80.4
1751
40.9
•
1758
38.8
1752
•
33.2
1759
48.6
1753
23.1
1760
•
•
48'9
1754
13.8
1761
•
1755
6.0 Minimum,
1762
. 75.0 Maximum,
•
50.6
1768
1769 .
1770
1771
1772.
1776
1777
1779
Relative
•
Relative
Number of Spots
Visible.
5.4
20.0
35.0
45.5 Maximum.
53.5
59.1 Maximum,
38.8
Number of Spots
Year.
1763
1764.
1765
1766.
1767.
Visible.
Year.
•
37.4 Maximum.
1812
·
34.5
1813
•
• 13.7
23.0
1814
•
•
17.5 Minimum.
1815
33.6
1816
•
52.2
1817
43.5
85.7 Maximum.
1818
34.1
79.4
1819
22.5
.73-2
1820
8.0
1773
49.2
39-8
1821
4.3
1822
2.9
·
1774
47.6
1823
1.3 Minimum,
1775
. 27.5 Minimum.
1824
6.7
35.2
1825
•
17.4
63.0
•
1826
29.4
1778
94.8
1827
39.9
·
99.2 Maximum.
1828
·
52.5
·
1780
72.6
1829
•
1781
. 67.7
1830
1782
•
33.2
1831
•
•
1783
22.5
1832
•
22.5
1784
•
4.4 Minimum.
1833
7.5 Minimum.
1785
18.3
1834
11.4
·
60.8
•
1835
45.5
•
1787
92.8
·
1836
96.7
1788
•
90.6 Maximum.
1837
1789
. 85.4
1838
1790
. 75.2
1839
•
1791
. 46.1
1840
1792
52.7
1841
1793
20.7
1842
1794
. 28.9
1843
1795
16.5
1844
•
9.4
1815
D
33.0
·
5.6
•
1846
47.0
2-8 Minimum.
1847
•
. 79.4
5.9
1848
•
.100 4 Maximum.
•
. 10.1
1849
95.0
30.9
•
•
1850
•
64.5
1802
•
23.3
1851
61.9
•
1803
•
·
50.0
1852
52.2
1804
70.0 Maximum.
1853
37.7
•
• 50.0
1854
19-2
1806.
•
•
30.0
1855
6.9
•
10.0
1856
2.2
1857
4.2 Minimum.
21.6
0.8
1858
50.9
•
•
1811.
0.0 Minimum.
0.9
1859
. 96*4
1860
• 98.6
1786
1796
1797
1798.
1799
1800.
1801
1805 .
1807
1808
1809
1810
•
.111.0 Maximura.
82.6
•
68.5
. 51.8
·
29-7
. 19.5
S.6 Minimum.
13.0
A telescope of six inches aperture has been recently fitted up by the
Royal Society, at the Kew Observatory, under the superintendence of
Mr. De la Rue, for the purpose of taking daily photographic delineations
of the sun's surface. The experiment has been attended with complete
success, and important results may be expected from the comparison
of a series of such records.
"
The origin of the heat and light of the sun is one of the most obscure
points of astronomy. The most recent speculations on the subject
are due to Professor William Thomson of Glasgow, who supposes a zone
of meteors to circulate around the sun, within the orbit of Mercury, and
to be falling gradually upon his surface in consequence of the resistance
offered to them by the solar atmosphere. According to this theory,
the solar light and heat are generated by the mechanical impact of the
meteors on the sun's surface. The existence of a solar atmosphere may
be considered to be established
be considered to be established beyond all doubt by the corona seen
during total eclipses of the sun, and by the fact, that the red pro-
minences seen on such occasions have been observed in several instances
to be isolated from the moon's limb. That these prominences are
solar and not lunar phenomena has been satisfactorily proved by the
numerous observations of the total eclipse of 1860, and more especially
by the admirable photographs of the phenomenon taken by Mr. De la
Rue with the Kew photo-heliograph at Miranda del Ebro. [SOLAR
ECLIPSE.]
SUN, ECLIPSES OF. [SOLAR ECLIPSE.]
SUNDAY, the first day of the week. [WEEK.] Besides the name
of "Sunday" (dies solis), it was called by the early Christians "the
Lord's day" (ʼn Яµéрa Я kuplakh, dies dominicus, or simply кuрiaкh,
(ἡ ἡμέρα κυριακή,
dominica) from its being the day on which the resurrection of Christ
Κυριακή,
took place; and it was kept sacred in commemoration of that event.
[SABBATH.] The mode of keeping it appears to have varied with the
circumstances of the Christians. In the first ages it is very improbable
that they abstained entirely from worldly business, as the time of
many of them was not at their own command. They seem, however,
as far as it was practicable, to have devoted the day to religious
worship. For this purpose they were accustomed to assemble before
daybreak; and we may infer from passages in the Acts, Epistles, and
in Pliny's celebrated Letter to Trajan,' that singing hymns, reading
the Scriptures, prayer, preaching, and the celebration of the Lord's
supper, formed parts of these services.
We have a few notices of the mode of keeping the Sunday during
919
SUNDAY.
the first three centuries. As early as the end of the second century,
abstinence from worldly business seems to have been customary.
(Tertullian, 'De Orat.', c. 23.) It was accounted a day of rejoicing, a
feast and not a fast, and to fast upon this day was deemed unlawful.
Upon it the Christians prayed standing, instead of kneeling, to intimate
the elevation of their hopes through their Lord's resurrection. The
public worship of the Christians on the Sunday in the first two
centuries is described by Justin Martyr ('Apolog."), whose account is
particularly interesting, and by Tertullian (Apolog.', c. 39; compare
Euseb., Hist. Ecc.' iii. 3, and iv. 23).
As soon as the Christian religion came to be recognised by the state,
laws were enacted for the observance of the Sunday; Constantine
(in 321) ordered the suspension of all proceedings in the courts of law,
except the manumission of slaves, and of all other business except
agricultural labour, which was allowed in cases of necessity (Cod.
Justin.', iii., tit. 12, § 2, 3; 'Cod. Theodos.', viii., tit. 8, § 1, 3); and, as
Eusebius tells us ('Vit. Const.,' iv., 18, 19, 20), he forbade all
military exercises on Sunday. The laws of Constantine were repeated
by subsequent emperors, with additions, of which one of the most
important is that of Theodosius II. (in 425), by which the games and
theatrical exhibitions were forbidden on Sunday. (Cod. Theodos.'
xv., tit. 7, § 1, 5.) The most strict of these laws is that of Leo and
Anthemius. (460, Cod. Justin.', iii., tit. 12, § 8.) It should be
observed that the provisions of most of these laws extend to all the
principal sacred days observed by the Church.
In all Christian communities the Sunday has been observed with
more or less strictness, the degrees of which seem to depend on three
different views which are held respecting its character. Some regard
all the provisions of the fourth commandment as extending to it,
admitting however an exception in the case of "works of necessity
and mercy;
"others agree with these in abstaining from worldly
business and amusements, because they think that only thus can the
mind be fitted for the religious services which are observed on this
day; while others, viewing it as a day of rejoicing, a Christian festival,
devote a part of the day to religious worship, and the remainder to
recreation. To these views ought to be added a fourth, which, though
never adopted, we believe, by any church, has been the opinion of
many eminent theologians, namely, that there is no divine authority
for making a distinction between Sunday and other days. The whole
subject has been fully examined by Dr. Hessey in his 'Bampton
Lecture-Sunday, its Origin, History, and Present Obligations,' 1860.
SUNDAY, the first day of the week, a day kept holy by Christians.
The common law is silent as to the observance of Sunday, and it seems
once to have been the practice not only to exercise worldly callings on
that day, but also especially to devote some part of it at least to sports
and pastimes, such as now prevail in continental countries, both
Protestant and Roman Catholic. This practice continued till some
time after the Reformation. Plays are said to have been performed on
Sundays at the court of Elizabeth, and even of Charles I. The first
restriction that appears among the printed statutes is by the 27 Hen.
VI., c. 5, which enacts that all fairs and markets held on Sundays shall
cease (the four Sundays in harvest excepted), on pain of the forfeiture
of the goods exposed for sale. Immediately after the Reformation in
England the legislature regulated the observance of Sunday. The first
statute relative to the subject, the 5 & 6 Ed. VI., c. 3, recites that
there is not any certain time, or definite number of days, prescribed in
Scripture to be kept as holy-days, but the appointment of them is left
to the Church, to be assigned in every country by the discretion of the
rulers and the ministers thereof. The statute proceeds to enact that
certain days mentioned, such as Christmas Day, Good Friday, &c., and
all Sundays in the year, shall be kept holy-days; but it provides that
in harvest, or any other time when necessity shall require, any kind of
work may be done upon those days. No penalty is attached to the
infringement of this Act. It is said to have been drawn up under the
inspection of Cranmer. By the 1 Eliz., c. 2, all persons having no
lawful or reasonable excuse to be absent, are to resort to their accus-
tomed parish church or chapel on Sundays, or to forfeit twelve pence,
which was recoverable before justices. The party so offending is also
made amenable to ecclesiastical censure, but is only liable to one
punishment, be it ecclesiastical or civil. Soon after this time the
Puritans and other strict religionists attained political influence.
Entertaining a greater predilection for the history and economy of the
Jews, as contained in the Old Testament, than had hitherto been
exhibited in the Christian world, they began to style Sunday, a term
which they thought profane, as derived from Saxon idolatry, the
"Sabbath," or "The Lord's Day," nȧmes which are not used in the
statutes previous to that period. In accordance with this mode of
thinking, they seem to have been of opinion that the Christian Sunday
ought to be observed in the same manner as the Jewish Sabbath. It was
with a view to counteract such opinions, that, in 1618, James I. wrote
his 'Book of Sports,' in which he declares that dancing, archery, leap-
ing, vaulting, May-games, Whitsun-ales, and morris-dances were lawful,
and that no such honest mirth or recreation should be forbidden to his
subjects on Sundays after evening service. The 'Book of Sports' was
re-published by Charles I. in 1638. (5 Harleian Miscellany,' 75.) The
Puritans, however, becoming the stronger party, their opinions pre-
vailed, and there followed a rapid succession of enactments in further-
ance of them. But the most important statute on the subject is
SUNDIAL.
920
29 Chas. II., c. 7, which enacts (sect. 1) that no tradesman, artificer,
workman, labourer, or other person whatsoever, shall do or exercise
any worldly labour or business or work of their ordinary callings on
the Lord's day (works of necessity and charity only excepted); and it
prohibits the sale and hawking of wares and goods. Sect. 2 prohibits
drovers, horse-coursers, waggoners, butchers, higglers, and their servants
from travelling, and the use of boats, wherries, lighters, or barges,
except on extraordinary occasions. By sect. 3 the dressing of meat in
families, the dressing and selling it in inns, cook-shops, or victualling.
houses, and crying milk before nine and after four, are excepted from
the operation of the Act. By sect. 6 persons are prohibited from
serving or executing any process, warrant, &c. (except in cases of
treason, felony, or breach of the peace), on the Lord's day: the service,
&c., is made void, and the person serving it is made liable to damages,
as if he had acted without any writ, &c.
By the 10 & 11 Will. III., c. 24, mackerel are permitted to be sold
before and after divine service on Sundays, and forty watermen are
allowed to ply between Vauxhall and Limehouse. The 21 Geo. III.,
c. 49, enacts that no house, &c., shall open for any public entertainment
or amusement, or for publicly debating on any subject on Sundays.
The 7 & 8 Geo. III., c. 75, repeals that part of 29 Chas. II. which
relates to travelling by water. By 34 Geo. III., c. 61, bakers are
enabled, between nine and one o'clock on Sundays, to bake for persons
things which are brought to their oven. By 1 & 2 Will. IV., c. 22,
drivers of hackney-carriages may ply, and are compellable to drive on
Sundays. The 3 Will. IV., c. 19, empowers the court of aldermen, or
two justices, to regulate the route of stage-carriages, cattle, &c., on
Sundays. These two statutes relate to London only. The 3 & 4
Will. IV., c. 31, provides that the election of corporate officers,
&c., required to be held on any particular day, shall take place on
Saturdays or Mondays, when the day specified in the Act happens to be
a Sunday.
Under these enactments the courts have determined that a contract
or sale which, though made on Sunday, is not in the exercise of the
ordinary calling of the parties, is valid. Thus a contract of hiring
between a farmer and a labourer, and a bill of exchange drawn on a
Sunday, have been held to be good. The owner of a stage-coach is
not included within the provisions of any of the statutes on the subject;
the words "other person whatever," in 29 Chas. II., being restricted
in application to persons of the same classes as those enumerated by
name. An action, therefore, may be maintained against him for
neglecting to take a passenger. Only one offence can be committed by
the same party against the provisions of 29 Chas. II., c. 7, by exercising
his ordinary calling on a Sunday. Several statutes regulate the hours
within which public-houses and other places of refreshment may be
kept open on Sunday, the regulation thus made being enforceable by
penalties summarily recoverable before magistrates.
SUNDAY SCHOOLS. [SCHOOLS.]
SUNDIAL. Up to a comparatively recent period the science of
constructing sundials, under the name of Gnomonics, was an import-
ant part of a mathematical course. As long as watches were scarce,
and clocks not very common, the dial, which is now only a toy, was in
actual use as a timekeeper. Of the mathematical works of the 17th
century which are found on book-stalls, none are so common as those
on dialling. All that is now necessary is to give some idea of the
principles on which such instruments are constructed, as an illustration
of a leading fact in astronomy. If a person were to place a staff in the
ground, so as to point either vertically or otherwise, and to watch its
shadow at the same hour, on different days at some intervals from each
other, marking its direction at each day's observation, he would in all
probability find that the direction of the shadow, the hour being
always the same, varied from day to day. He might, however, find
that the shadow was always in one direction at the same hour, and this
might happen in two different ways. First, he might by accident fix
the staff in a direction parallel to that of the earth's axis, in which case
the direction of the shadow would always be the same at the same
hour, at all times of the year, and for every hour. Secondly, having
fixed the staff in a position not parallel to the axis of the earth,
he might happen to choose that particular hour, or interval between
two hours, at which the shadow of a staff in that one direction always
points one way. But if, as is most likely, he were to fix the staff in a
direction which is not that of the earth's axis; and if, as is again most
likely, he were to choose any time of observation but one, the shadow
would certainly point in different directions at different periods.
A sundial consists of two parts: the style, which is the staff above
mentioned, usually supplied to the edge of a plate of metal, always
made parallel to the earth's axis, and therefore pointing towards the
north; and the dial, which is another plate of metal, horizontal or not,
on which are marked the directions of the shadow for the several hours,
their halves and quarters, and sometimes smaller subdivisions. In the
accompanying diagram, the style is seen throwing its shadow between
the directions marked Ix and x, on the western side, and indicating
that it is about a quarter past nine in the morning. But there is one
prominent part of the figure which is never seen on a dial, namely, the
hour circles, which are represented as all passing through the edge of
the style. As the diagram stands, a skeleton globe of hour circles only
is made a part of the construction, to assist in the explanation.
Let us suppose the sun to move with an equable motion, so that it
021
922
SUNDIAL.
SUPRALAPSARIANS.
shows the same time as the clock. It does not do so in reality, but
the consideration of this point belongs to the article TIME. A large
sundial is frequently furnished with a table of the correction of sun-
time, to turn it into clock-time, engraved on its face; but this is
generally soon corroded. Nor is knowledge of the simplest elements
of astronomy so widely diffused as to make such a table of any great
A person who stations himself in any place of resort which has a
sundial, will soon find a lounger who looks in amazement at the
use.
QP
makes with the meridian (m), be given. From P, the pole, draw QF
perpendicular to the plane of the dial; and the line joining P with the
centre being the continuation of the style, that joining the centre with
C

P
IX
X
ΧΙ XI I
II
1JI
in
S
N
A

B
Vn
IV
V
VI
VI
V
IV
III
II
I
XII ΧΙ
X
IX
VIL
difference, perhaps a quarter of an hour, between his watch, which he
knows to be right, and the shadow. The church-clock and the sun, in
both of which he implicitly believes, are at variance, and he is hardly
able to resist the melancholy conclusion that his watch has gained or
lost a quarter of an hour in a ten minutes' walk. Neglecting the cause
of this, which is an irregularity of solar time, and has nothing to do
with any particular mode of reading the results, let us suppose that it
is nine o'clock in the morning, solar time. This means that the sun is
in that hour-circle which belongs to three hours before noon, or is 3 x 15
or 45 degrees from the meridian hour-circle towards the east. The
meridian hour circle is that which cuts the plate of the dial in the
line XII XII; and the hour-circle in question (the right-hand one of the
two which are not shaded) cuts the dial-plate in IX IX. Now when the
sun is in the continuation of any plane, the shadow of that plane is
only that of the edge presented to the sun. The upper edge of the
style is common to all the hour-circles; and its shadow is, therefore,
for the time, part of that of the hour-circle in which the sun is. Hence
at nine o'clock before noon the line orx will be the shadow of the
style, o being at the intersection of the edge of the style and the dial-
plate (marked by a large dot in the figure). In the diagram, the day
has moved on about a quarter of an hour after the time just described,
and the shadow has advanced accordingly. There is in it a trifling
error of shading (it was taken from De Parcieux's 'Trigonometry,' a
work which is very rich in well-drawn solid figures), which will serve
to illustrate the subject. The time being between nine and ten
o'clock, the sun ought to be looking directly into the crevice between
the hour-circles IX and X, in which crevice there ought therefore to be
no shadow; but the crevice which is entirely devoid of shadow is that
between the hour-circles VIII and IX, so that the sun is made to tell
one story on the north side, and another on the south, of the figure.
The reader will easily set this right, and will see that as far as the
whole hours are concerned, the crevices themselves might be made to
answer the purpose of a sundial.
Though the preceding figure was drawn for a horizontal dial, yet
any other plane might be substituted. The objections to a dial are,
that the shadow of the style is not sufficiently well defined to give very
accurate results, even for ordinary purposes: that refraction, which
always makes the sun appear a little too high, throws the shadow a
trifle towards noon at all times, that is, makes the time too fast in the
morning, and too slow in the evening; and that a correction is always
necessary in order to find mean or civil time. Even if the first objec-
tion could be got over, the corrections requisite for the two latter
would prevent persons in general from making use of the instrument.
If the edge of the style be not very narrow, it is necessary to have the
morning and evening halves of the dial separated by the breadth of
that edge.
Those who understand spherical trigonometry will easily see that
the general problem of a sundial consists in that of finding out where
the hour-lines cut a given circle, as follows. Let BQC be the circle
in which the plane of the dial produced cuts the heavens, and let the
angle CAS, which it makes with the horizon (h), and C B N, which it
Q is the continuation of what is called the substyle. Now in the right-
angled triangle ANB, we have
COS NB
cos h
sin m'
whence N B is found; to which add the latitude of the place, PN, and
PB is found. The equations
tan PB. cos m = tan QB, sin P B. sin m = sin P Q
show how to place the substyle with respect to B, the point answering
to noon; and also how to place the style with respect to the substyle.
To find the point v at which any given hour-line, PV, cuts the circle
C B, first find the angle Q P B from
cot Q PB tan m. cos PB;
and V PB, the hour-angle from noon of the sun (v being a point in the
shadow). The difference of these angles, Q PV, or their sum, is then
known; and Q v is found from
tan Qv = tan Q PV. sin P Q
It will be better for the beginner to verify these steps on a correctly-
drawn figure, or to modify them, than to make purely algebraical
alterations. Also it is to be remembered that the position of the dial
may require both sides of it to be graduated, and the style to extend
in both directions, to suit all times of the year and all hours of the
day.
SUNNAH. This is the name given by the Mohammedans to the
traditionary portion of their law; which was not, like the Korán, com-
mitted to writing by Mohammed, but preserved from his lips by his
immediate disciples, or founded on the authority of his actions. It
holds in Mohammedan theology the same place as the Mishna in the
Jewish doctrine, and the names agree in their derivation. The
orthodox Mahommedans called themselves Sunnites, in distinction to
the various sects which are comprehended under the term Shiites,
whose distinguishing characteristic is that they recognise as lawful
kalifs Ali and his descendants. The Turks as a nation are Sunnites,
and the Persians Shiites. Shiah, from which this latter name is
derived, signifies a party or troop.
SUPERCARGO. [SHIPPING, SHIPS.]
SUPERFICIES, the Latin form of the word surface, used in the
sense of surface, and sometimes of area. The quantity of an area is
called its superficial content, as distinguished from linear content or
length, and solid content or bulk.
Lime.]
SUPERPHOSPHATE OF LIME. [CALCIUM, Superphosphate of
SUPERSEDEAS, in law, the name of a writ used for the purpose
of superseding proceedings in an action. In its more general sense it
is used to express that which supersedes legal proceedings, although
no writ of supersedeas may have been used for that purpose. Thus if
a writ of certiorari be delivered to an inferior court for the purpose of
removing a record to a superior court, the writ of certiorari is said to
be a supersedeas of the proceedings before the inferior court.
SUPPLEMENT (Trigonometry). The defect of an angle from two
right angles. Also chords or arcs of a circle or other curve which have
a common extremity, and together subtend an angle of two right angles
at the centre, are sometimes called supplemental chords or arcs.
SUPPLY. [PARLIAMENT.]
:
SUPPURATION. [ABSCESS; INFLAMMATION.]
SUPRALAPSARIANS. In the discussions of the doctrines of
predestination and election, which arose out of the teaching of the
school of theologians at Geneva, two different views came to be taken
by the Calvinistic party. Some held that all the occurrences which
take place on the earth have been from eternity the subject of a special
decree of God: that God decreed to create man solely for his own
glory, and to display his glory in the eternal happiness of some and the
damnation of others that this decree respected not merely the end,
but all the means, direct or indirect, by which that end was to be
wrought out; and that sin, the fall of man, and the introduction of
evil into the world, were decreed by God to happen as necessary means
to the end proposed, and God therefore so constituted man, and
placed him in such circumstances, that he could not but fall.´ The
persons who held these views were called Supralapsarians (supra
lapsum), because, according to their system, the decrees of God
respecting the salvation of some men and the rejection of others were
923
SUPREMACY.
in no sense consequent or dependent upon the foreseen fall of man,
which itself (on the contrary) took place in consequence of a divine
decree.
The other party were called Infralapsarians. They considered the
decrees of God for fixing the eternal state of man as equally eternal
and unchangeable, but they maintained that God did not create man
in order that he night fall, but left him free to act for himself; and,
though foreseeing that he would fall, did not interfere to prevent him,
but decreed that the consequences of this foreseen fall should result
in increased glory to himself, and the eternal happiness of the greater
part of men.
The synod of Dort adopted the views of the Infralapsarians.
Modern Calvinists, generally, go no farther than Infralapsarianism,
and often not so far.
SUPREMACY is a term used to designate supreme ecclesiastical
authority; and is either papal or regal. Papal supremacy is the autho-
rity, legislative, judicial, and executive, exercised until nearly the
middle of the 16th century by the pope over the churches of England,
Scotland, and Ireland, as branches and integral parts of the Western
or Latin church, and which continues to be exercised de facto over
that portion of the inhabitants of those countries who are in com-
munion with the church of Rome. The extent of the legislative
authority of the pope was never exactly defined. Whilst it was
regarded as nearly absolute at Rome and at Madrid, it was, at Venice,
and still more at Paris, sought to be reduced within very narrow
limits.
The papal supremacy was abolished by the legislatures of the three
kingdoms in the 16th century. In order to ensure acquiescence in
that abolition, particularly on the part of persons holding offices in
England and Ireland, an oath has been required to be taken, which is
generally called the oath of supremacy, a designation calculated to
mislead, it being in fact an oath of non-supremacy rather than of
supremacy; since, though in its second branch it negatives the supre-
macy of the pope, it is silent as to any supremacy in the crown. This
oath was therefore taken without scruple by persons who were not
Roman Catholics, whether members of the Anglican church or not.
Roman Catholics might take an oath in which the civil and temporal
authority of the pope were abjured. By the 21 & 22 Vict. c. 48 (1858),
the oath was abolished, and another substituted which only pledges
the person taking it to temporal allegiance to the sovereign, and repu-
diates the jurisdiction of any foreign power, spiritual or temporal, of
whatever nature it may be.
Regal supremacy is not legislative, but judicial and executive only.
Henry VIII. was first acknowledged as supreme head of the church
by the clergy in 1528. This supremacy was confirmed by parliament
in 1534, when, by the statute of 26 Henry VIII., c. i., it was enacted
that "the king our sovereign lord, his heirs and successors, kings of
this realm, shall be taken, accepted, and reputed the only supreme
head in earth of the Church of England, and shall have and enjoy,
annexed to the imperial crown of this realm, as well the style and title
thereof, as all honours, dignities, pre-eminencies, jurisdictions, privi-
leges, authorities, immunities, profits, and commodities to the said
dignity of supreme head of the same church belonging and appertain-
ing; and shall have power from time to time to visit, repress, redress,
reform, order, correct, restrain, and amend all such errors, heresies,
abuses, offences, contempts, and enormities, whatsoever they be, which,
by any manner of spiritual authority or jurisdiction, may lawfully
be reformed, repressed, ordered, redressed, corrected, restrained, or
amended, most to the pleasure of Almighty God, the increase of virtue
in Christ's religion, aud for the conservation of the peace, unity, and
tranquillity of this realm; any usage, custom, foreign laws, foreign
authority, prescription, or any other thing to the contrary notwith-
standing."
SURD. This word has been used to signify an IRRATIONAL arith-
metical or algebraical quantity since the time of the introduction of
algebra into Europe; though why any term formed from surdus was
used in such a sense is not known; perphaps it was the supposed
translation of an Arabic term. In the article just cited we have said
as much as is necessary on the subject. We will only add that the
second volume of Cossali's History of Algebra' contains an account of
the tenth book of Euclid, with reference to the use made of it by the
earlier algebraists.
SURDITES. [DEAFNESS.]
SURETY. A surety is one who undertakes to be answerable for
another, who is called his principal. Such undertaking must be in
writing, and it may be either by bond or by simple writing. A con-
tract is not binding in law, unless made upon some sufficient considera-
tion; but in the case of a bond this consideration is inferred from the
circunstances of deliberation incident to its execution as a deed.
When the undertaking is not by bond, it is necessary that the con-
sideration should be capable of proof, and that the instrument should
be signed by the party who becomes the surety. The instrument
however may consist of several writings, if they are so connected by
reference to each other that they can be considered as incorporated.
The instrument by which the surety becomes bound, when it has
reference to civil matters, is generally called a guarantee, and ordinarily
consists of an undertaking to become answerable for the payment of
goods furnished to the principal, or for his integrity, skill, attention,
SURETY OF THE PEACE.
924
and other like matters. In such cases the consideration would pro-
bably be the furnishing of the goods to the principal, or his employ-
ment by the party guaranteed. In the construction of guarantees the
same rule of law prevails as in the case of all written instruments,—
that they shall be understood in the sense most unfavourable to the
party making them which the words will reasonably bear. The appli-
cation of the rule is very frequent in cases of guarantee where the
question arises whether or not the guarantee is what is called a con-
tinuing guarantee. Thus where the surety undertakes to be answer-
able to the amount of 100%. for goods supplied to his principal, this
may mean that he will be answerable for the first 100l. worth, and
cease to be answerable for any goods supplied afterwards; or, that he
will continue to be answerable to the amount of 1007. for any indefinite
period during which goods may be supplied, although the principal
has paid for the first 100l. worth. The latter kind of guarantee is
called a continuing guarantee. Observations of a similar character
may be made as to the application of payments by the principal.
The circumstances connected with the relative position of the
guaranteed and the principal are considered as embodied in the con-
tract between the guaranteed and the surety, and as forming part of
that upon which the undertaking of the latter is founded. If, there-
fore, these are substantially varied, so as to increase the risk of the
guaranteed, or to destroy or suspend his remedy against the principal,
the surety is thereby discharged. Thus, if the guaranteed has, at the
time the guarantee is given, a lien upon property of the principal in
his hands, which he afterwards parts with; or if he extends the time.
of credit, or after commencing an action against the principal gives
him time, the surety will be released. But the variation of circum-
stances must be substantial; a change which does not operate so as
to increase the risk or lessen the remedy will not have such an effect.
Neither can the surety discharge himself by a mere request or caution
to the guaranteed to abstain from trusting the principal, or to watch
his acts, &c. Nevertheless it is the duty, and perhaps an implied
undertaking, on the part of the guaranteed, against the consequences of
the neglect of which a court of equity might relieve the surety, to
employ a reasonable degree of prudence and attention in intrusting
his goods, or inspecting and checking the accounts of his clerks or
servants. The surety is entitled to the benefit of all the securities
which the guaranteed has against the principal.
With respect to the rights of the surety against the principal, Mr.
Justice Buller has distinctly laid down the law, "wherever a person
gives a security by way of indemnity for another, and pays the money,
the law raises an assumpsit," that is, implies a promise on the part of
the principal to repay to the surety all the money that he has expended
on his behalf, and this money may be recovered in an action against
the principal for money paid to his use. But in no case is the surety
entitled to more than an indemnity from his principal. Thus, if the
guaranteed is content with a less sum from the surety, instead of
exacting the full amount for which he is liable, the principal will be
bound to repay to the surety the less sum only. If the surety has
himself taken a bond or other security from the principal, he relin-
quishes his right to bring an action upon the promise implied in law,
and must have recourse to an
and must have recourse to an action upon his security.
Where more persons than one become sureties for the same principal,
they are called co-sureties.
they are called co-sureties. If one of these has paid the whole of the
debt due from the principal, he may recover in an action of assumpsit
from his co-sureties the amounts for which they were respectively
liable. A court of equity will also interfere to regulate the proportions
partly due from each. And in case any of them are unable to pay
from insolvency, &c., it will compel the others to contribute propor-
tionally the amount for which the defaulters were liable. The law is
the same as to co-sureties, whether all have been created by the same
instrument in writing, or each one by a distinct instrument.
SURETY OF THE PEACE is the acknowledging of a recog-
nisance or bond to the crown, taken by a competent court for keeping
the peace.
Magistrates have the power to take such recognisances,
which are generally done by the party acknowledging (recognising, and
hence the term recognisance) that he is indebted to the crown to a
certain amount, the condition of which bond is, that he or the party
for whom he becomes bound shall keep the peace during a term named
in the condition. Such recognisance may be obtained by any party
from another on application to a magistrate, and stating on oath that
he has just cause to fear that such other "will burn his house, or do
him a corporal hurt, as by killing or beating him, or that he will pro-
cure others to do him such mischief." Upon such application being
made to the magistrate, it is his duty to summon the party before him
and cause him to enter, either alone or with others, into such recog-
nisances as he thinks the case demands. The fear must be of a present
or future danger: no recognisances are demandable on the ground of
a past offence. Upon the neglect or refusal of the party so summoned
to enter into the recognisances demanded, he may be committed to
prison by the magistrate for a specified period, unless he sooner com-
plies. If the recognisance is forfeited by a breach of the condition, it
may be removed into one of the superior courts and there proceeded
upon.
Sureties also may be similarly required for the good behaviour of
parties who have been guilty of conduct tending to a breach of the
peace, abusing those in the administration of justice, &c.
925
920
SURFACE, SURFACES, THEORY OF.
SURFACE OF THE EARTH.
SURFACE, SURFACES, THEORY OF. For the mere definition
of surface, see SOLID, &c. We are here to speak of that branch of
algebraic geometry which considers the generation and properties of
curve surfaces following an assigned law.
If three planes, each at right angles to the other two, be taken as
the planes of Co-ORDINATES, the position of any point is determined
so soon as its co-ordinates, or distances from the three planes, are given
in sign and magnitude. If the co-ordinates of a point be x, y, z, and
if between these one equation exists, p (x, y, z) =0, any point may be
chosen in the plane of x and y, by means of given values of x and y,
and the corresponding value or values of z may be found from the
equation. The locus of all the points whose position can be ascertained
by determining one of the co-ordinates from this equation, the other
two being taken at pleasure, is a surface of which p (x, y, z)=0 is
called the equation, and the modes of proceeding are pointed out
in all works on algebraic geometry. The applications of the differ-
ential calculus depend on the principles explained in TANGENT: the
graphical use of the whole method depends mostly on descriptive geo-
metry, whether formally known under that name or not.
Surfaces are distinguished algebraically by the nature and order
of their equations. Thus we have surfaces of the first order, in which
the equation is of the first degree (this class contains the plane only);
surfaces of the second order, which will be classified in the next
article; and so on.
Surfaces are also distinguished by their mode of generation, and
some of the principal cases are as follows:-
1. Cylindrical surfaces are generated by a straight line infinitely
produced in both directions, which moves so as always to be parallel to
a given line, and to have one of its points on a given curve.
2. Conical surfaces are generated by a straight line infinitely pro-
duced in both directions, which always passes through a given point
or vertex, and has one point in a given curve. The common
CYLINDER and CONE would be described in this science as a right
circular cylinder and a right circular cone. The cylindrical surfaces
themselves are only an extreme case of the conical ones, being what
the latter become when the vertex is removed to an infinite
distance.
2. Surfaces of revolution are generated by the rotation of a curve
about an axis, relatively to which it always retains one position. The
common cone and cylinder, the SPHERE, and others of the greatest
practical use, are contained in this class.
4. Tubular surfaces are generated by a circle of given radius, which
moves with its centre on a given curve, and its plane at right angles to
the tangent of that curve. When the given curve is a circle, the
tubular surface is a common ring.
5. Ruled surfaces (the surfaces réglées of the French writers) are
those which are described by the motion of a straight line, which
neither remains parallel to a given line nor always passes through a
given point. This includes, among many others, the whole class of
conoidal surfaces, made by a straight line which moves parallel to a
given plane, and always passes through a straight line perpendicular
to that plane, and also through a given curve. The surface of a spiral
staircase, as it would be if there were no steps but only a gradual
ascent, is an instance.
6. Developable surfaces are those which can be unwrapped on a plane
without any doubling of parts over one another, or separation; that is,
without being rumpled or torn. The only familiar instances are the
cylinder and cone.
SURFACE OF ELECTRICTY. [POLARIZATION OF LIGHT.]
SURFACE OF THE EARTH. Geology, by teaching us to look
upon the form and distribution of land and sea, the features of hills and
valleys, and the various deposits of peat, silt, gravel, &c., as effects of
physical agencies, some of which are no longer in operation upon those
areas where once they predominated, confers upon the surface of the
earth an interest much greater than that which belongs merely to
pictorial combinations, or even to agricultural utility and commercial
adaptation. Uniformity, inequality, height, depth, and area, every the
least peculiarity of form, whatever is remarkable in any part of the
surface of the land or bed of the sea-these are effects of causes
which require to be traced out before the problem of the physical
history of the globe can be considered as resolved. Geology was pro-
nounced by Sir C. Lyell, early in his career of research, to be the
science of surfaces.
Superficial Deposits. If the stratified and unstratified rocks which
compose the skeleton of the earth were laid bare to our view, the
aspect of the globe would be far more rugged than it is now. The
valleys would in many cases lose their soft and easy curvatures and
accordant slopes, in angular fractures and irregular chasms; the
mountains and hills would lose those sloping buttress-like banks, com-
posed of fallen materials, which connect the broken ridges above with
the level expanse below; a sterner aspect would belong to the now
sinuous lines of sea-coast; and an almost general barrenness would
overspread the inland surface.
The soil gravel, clay peat, and other substances, which by their
accumulation mask the features of the interior rocks, constitute a
peculiar class of phenomena which have been much, and yet not suffi-
without a more exact
appreciation of the causes which have permitted the aggregation of the
ciently, studied by geologists. It is certain that and a
rr
superficial deposits" already named, our analysis of the processes
whereby the earth has been made fit for the residence of man, and
adapted to its present uses, must be very imperfect.
Soil is often supposed to be merely the disintegrated parts of the
subjacent rocks, and this is sometimes really the case; trap rocks, for
example, of which the felspar and the hornblende become decomposed
by the atmosphere, yield a soil often remarkable for fertility, and uncon-
taminated with foreign ingredients. But the soils which cover clays
and limestones and sandstones are seldom of this simple origin. The
bases of these soils may be generally derived from the subjacent strata,
but they usually contain foreign ingredients. The soil on the chalk
and limestone hills of England is often sandy, sandstones are covered
by loam, and clays overspread with pebbles. The effect of this
admixture of foreign substances with the disintegrated parts of the
native rock is usually favourable to fertility.
We may often understand the cause of these admixtures by consider-
ing the effect of rains and currents of water on the sloping surface of
the earth. These effects arrive at a maximum in particular vales and
plains, into which many streams enter after flowing over strata of
different kinds. In such vales the soil is in fact a mixture of
calcareous, argillaceous, and arenaceous parts, and its indigenous plants
are correspondingly varied, and include many which are not found
growing together on any one of the soils which are here mixed
together. [SOIL.]
To watery agency, acting under the actual circumstances of physical
geography, we may also ascribe many even extensive accumulations of
gravel and sand which lie along the sides of valleys and in hollows of
hills, or on the slopes of mountains; and it requires sometimes only
the postulate, that in particular valleys inundations have formerly
reached higher levels than at present, to apply the same explanation
to terraces of gravel and sand now considerably above the actual
flood-mark, but sloping parallel to the general inclination of the
valley.
The beds of old lakes, often consisting of layers of shelly marl, with
bones of existing or extinct quadrupeds, the surfaces of silt which lie
along the actual and ancient æstuaries of rivers, and often conceal
buried forests and subterranean peat, present no difficulty as to their
origin. For the processes by which peat grows and trees are buried,
and marshy land is saved from the sea, and lakes are filled up, are at
this day in action. To all such peat or turf moors, subterranean
forests, marsh and fen land, drained lake-beds, and sand and gravel,
the title of alluvial deposits is very commonly given. Generally, they
require no supposition of extensive changes of physical geography
produced by violent disturbances of nature, but seem to be clearly and
perfectly explicable by causes still in action, though perhaps not in the
same situations on the earth's surface. But there are other gravels,
sands, and clays, to which this explanation cannot be applied without
calling in aid great changes of physical geography, or physical processes
not seen in daily operation; such as extensive displacement and change
of level of land and sea; unusual floods of water; surprising altera-
tions of climate, or movement of glaciers in situations where now
the snow and ice of the coldest winter melt with the first breath of
spring. These phenomena were classed under the title of diluvial
deposits, at a time when their origin was very generally ascribed to
violent floods of water, and the title was retained even by geologists
who did not admit this hypothesis. They are now generally included
by geologists under the designations of boulder-clay, boulder formation,
and northern drift; the latter term having been applied to them,
because, in Europe and in North America, where only they have yet
been distinctly recognised, they have evidently been brought from
regions to the north of those in which they are now found.
same time, according to Sir C. Lyell," the bulk of the mass in each
locality consists of the ruins of subjacent or neighbouring rocks; so
that it is red in a region of red sandstone, white in a chalk country,
and gray or black in a district of coal or coal-shale." They belong
both to the newer pleiocene or pleistocene and to the post-pleiocene
series of present geological nomenclature.
At the
These so-called diluvial deposits are commonly admitted or assumed
to be of older date than those called alluvial, and, taken in a collective
sense, they are so, but this is the least important circumstance
characteristic of their history. The conditions of their accumulations
are remarkable.
1. It is often seen that thick deposits of clay, sand, and pebbles, or
large fragments of rock, lie on the very summits of hills (as abun-
dantly on the hills which adjoin the valley of the Thames).
2. Fragments of rocks quite unlike those of the vicinity lie in
valleys, on hills (as on the Salève near Geneva), and even on islands (as
on Staffa).
3. These fragments are found solitary, or buried in clay, sand, or
gravel, and sometimes in enormous abundance, as in Huntingdonshire,
near Birmingham, in Holderness, and other parts; and they are such
that no stones of like nature occur anywhere in the natural drainage of
the country where the gravel is accumulated, nor within 20, 50, or
even 100 miles of the spot.
4. The fragments (often called boulders, and also erratic blocks)
appear thus in several cases to have been transported from particular
parts of the country, over elevated ground, across the natural valleys
and ranges of hills, but yet are, in some cases, distributed in a manner
927
SURFACE OF THE EARTH.
which manifests a decided dependence on some of the greater features
of physical geography. Thus the abundantly spread detritus from
the Cumberland mountains crosses the island to Tynemouth, and
reaches the coast of Yorkshire, but does not cross the Pennine chain
of mountains, except at one point (Stainmoor), though it spreads along
the western side of it as far south as Manchester and the plains of
Cheshire and Staffordshire. In like manner the detritus from the
Western Alps has been carried on to the Jura, and lies in a strange
manner in all parts of the hollow of the Lake of Geneva, and on the
insulated Salève Mountains; yet it has been observed that the lines
followed by the boulders are those of the great valleys, so that each
great valley has been the direction in which were carried the blocks
from the head of that valley.
5. It is observed that often the largest blocks contained in a mass of
this detritus lie at the top, resting on the smaller gravel and sand; and
that below the whole mass the hard rocks are scratched by parallel
distinct small grooves or striæ, marks of the dragging movement to
which the stones were subject in their passage.
6. Though in some cases successive deposition can be traced in the
parts of such a mass, it is very often seen that the materials are
entirely unarranged, mere heaps of stones, and sand or mud; the
stones being often indiscriminately stuck in clay, large and small, heavy
and light, absolutely without any stratification, such as long suspension
in water must certainly have produced.
7. Finally, amidst such confused masses, bones of land quadrupeds,
mostly or entirely of extinct species, and even of extinct genera, occur,
and locally even in abundance. These are, however, more common
in laminated lacustrine deposits resting upon the diluvial masses, or
perhaps covered by them.
With the mammalian remains alluded to are not unfrequently
associated, as has recently (1861) been shown, flint implements of
human work; indicating, if not proving, the contemporaneity of some
of the now and long since extinct mammals with certain races of man.
(Prestwich, in Phil. Trans.,' 1860.)
It was thought possible to explain these characteristic phenomena
by many local inundations, or one general and overwhelming flood,
capable of overcoming many of the lesser inequalities of surface-level,
but modified in its course by the larger ranges of mountains and
valleys. And as in the northern zones of the world (which have been
much investigated in this respect) there is a very frequently observed
direction of the boulders to the south or south-east, it has been pro-
posed for consideration whether some great change of the level of land
and sea in the circumpolar regions might account for what seems a
general fact. But further, as the most abundant deposits of this
nature have been drifted from particular chains of mountains, as the
Cumbrian group in England, the primary mountains of Norway, the
Alps, &c., all which districts have undergone elevation at some time, it has
been thought that their upward movement may have been the cause of
the displacement and transport of the blocks. (Buckland, 'Reliquiæ
Diluviana;' Elie de Beaumont, Sur les Revolutions du Globe.')
It has, however, been proposed to account for the distribution of
the boulders by a more gradual action of the waters of the sea. If
the region of Cumbrian rocks, for example, and a very large portion
of the north of England, were supposed to be raised from the sea, by
a continual or intermitting movement, so as to bring successively
under the action of the breakers the whole country to the east and
south-east of the area now occupied by the Cumberland mountains,
this would allow of a continual drifting of the boulders to the east and
south, by the continual tendency of the tides and currents of the sea.
(Phillips, in Treatise on Geology, &c.;' Whewell in Murchison's
'Silurian System.') Floating ice has been represented as adequate to
carry off from the shore where it was formed masses of mud and
fragments of rocks, and, by melting or turning over, to spread them
on the bed of the sea. This sea-bed raised would show the accumu-
lations from such icebergs, often in narrow bands or insulated patches,
such as really occur, and have been long celebrated, among the heaps
of Norwegian detritus which lie on the sandy plains of North
Germany (Lyell, Principles of Geology,' 'Manual of Elementary
Geology;' Murchison, Silurian System.')
Finally, ice in another form has been appealed to for the explanation
of these phenomena. The formation of glaciers in mountain valleys
is such as to permit of their forward movement down a slope, and their
carrying with them in their progress fragments of rocks and heaps of
gravel and mud which by any cause fall upon their surface. These
heaps of "moraine" accumulate along the sides and at the lower termi-
nation of the glacier, and the arrangement, or rather confused
aggregation, of the materials in them resembles very much that of the
masses to be accounted for. The surface of the rocks below a glacier
is scratched, as we have before stated to happen in places where
boulders are noticed; and as in the Alps it is certain that glaciers
have formerly been extended much farther from the mountain-
summits than now they are [SNOW, PERENNIAL], it has been con-
jectured that anciently, in the times coincident with or preceding
the boulder or drift period, they were very much more extended, so as
even to have reached from the Alps to the Jura, from the mountains
of Norway to those of Bohemia, and from Shap Fells in Westmoreland
to the mouth of the Humber. Upon the subsequent contraction of
these glaciers, the moraines they had left would experience some
SURFACE OF THE EARTH.
928
changes by the action of water (melted ice), which might then run in
lines impossible for watery currents after the ice was fully removed.
(Agassiz, 'Etudes sur les Glaciers.') On the grooves and striæ on the
surfaces of rocks Mr. Jukes remarks ('Popular Physical Geology,'
p. 280), in considering the former action of ice, here alluded to, "In
addition to ice however, Mr. Mallet has acutely pointed out that many
of these appearances may be due to what he somewhat inappropriately
terms 'mud glaciers,' by which he means the sliding forward or
slipping of great masses of clay, mud, or sand, charged with pebbles
and boulders, along the inland surfaces of rock, either as the land rose
from the sea, or when they were subsequently loosened by the action
of rain and other water."
The examination of the boulders of certain parts of the Himalayan
range, and the application of the theory of glacier movement to explain
their distribution, has led Dr. Joseph D. Hooker to suggest some
modifications of that theory in respect of those localities. The banks
of the Great Rungeet river, near its junction with the Kulhait, consist
of mica-slate, cumbered, in a deep gorge through which the river flows,
with enormous boulders of that rock, of clay-slate, and of granite, some
fully 10 feet in diameter. But the latter rock is not common at eleva-
tions below 10,000 feet, whereas the absolute elevation of the river
here is only 1840 feet; it is not easy therefore to account for their
present position. They have been transported," Dr. Hooker infers,
"from a considerable distance in the interior of the lofty valley to the
north, and have descended not less than 8000 feet, and travelled fully
fifteen miles in a straight line, or perhaps forty along the river bed.
It may be supposed that moraines have transported them to 8000 feet
(the lowest limit of apparent moraines), and the power of river water
carried them further; if so, the rivers must have been of much greater
volume formerly than they are now." Another explanation was re-
quired by the enormous fractured boulders of gneiss frequent over the
whole of the mountain Mons Lepcha, in the Sikkim Himalaya, at
elevations of from 7000 to 11,000 feet. Contrary to those mentioned
above, they were of the same material as the rock in situ, and as unac-
countable in their origin, by received theory, as the loose blocks on the
Dorjiling and Sinchul spurs to the south, at similar altitudes, often
cresting narrow ridges. Dr. Hooker measured one angular detached
block, 40 feet high, resting on a steep narrow shoulder of the spur, in
a position to which it was impossible it could have rolled; "and it is
equally difficult to suppose," he observes, "that glacial [glacier] ice
deposited it 4000 feet above the bottom of the gorge, except we con-
clude the valley to have been filled with ice to that depth. A third
modification of or addition to the glacier theory of boulder distribu-
tion, is pointed to by the locality of the Jongri spur of the great
mountain Kinchinjunga [OROLOGY], over which are scattered blocks
of gneiss, many 20 feet in diameter. "It is not possible to account
for the transport and deposit of these boulders by glaciers of the ordi-
nary form, namely, by a stream of ice following the course of a valley;
and we are forced to speculate upon the possibility of ice having capped
the whole spur, and moved downwards, transporting blocks from the
prominences on various parts of the spur.' 'Himalayan Journals,'
vol. i., pp. 242, 253, 288.
The entire subject of the transport of erratic blocks, and of the
hypotheses which have been framed to account for it, has been criti-
cally examined by Mr. W. Hopkins, in a paper On the Elevation and
Denudation of the District of the Lakes of Cumberland and Westmore-
land,' in the 'Quart. Journ. of the Geol. Soc., vol. iv.
The great mass of diluvium from the Cumbrian mountains, already
alluded to, which covers the surface of Lancashire, rests on nothing
more recent than the new red sandstone, and Mr. Hopkins conceives
that its transport might have begun with the elevatory movements
which disturbed that formation, when the surface of the present moun-
tainous district began to rise permanently above the surface of the
ocean, and the valleys began to be formed. The spreading out of
diluvial matter-that term being now adopted in its broad physical
sense-may be regarded as the necessary consequence of wide general
currents, and that this has been the agency by which the mass of
diluvium in question has been transported to its present locality and
position, does not admit, in Mr. Hopkins's opinion, of the smallest
doubt. He accounts for the existence of currents diverging from the
centre of the district by a repetition of paroxysmal elevations of from
100 to 200 feet; and, affirming the entire adequacy of this cause to
transport all the erratic blocks derived from that region, concludes
that such has been the agency by which that transport has actually
been effected. He rejects the iceberg theory in its application to the
case investigated, but conceives that floating ice may probably have
been the most efficient agent in transporting the larger blocks of colder
regions from their original localities. Mr. Hopkins's paper may be
studied with great advantage with reference to the whole subject of
the distribution of boulders and of the northern drift.
We do not propose to investigate any of the hypotheses above
stated, preceding the facts and reasoning we have derived from Dr.
Hooker and Mr. Hopkins. Geologists have been remarkable for
eagerly adopting and as easily abandoning most of them; and others
might have been added merely as beacons to be avoided. It may be
proper however to point out three things which may be useful to
remember in further prosecuting this subject, and which, indeed, have
neither been forgotten nor neglected, by the geologist last named.
929
930
SURFACE OF THE EARTH.
SURFACE OF THE EARTH.
of the sea.
1. It must be determined by evidence whether the accumulation to
be explained happened on the land at its present level, or on the bed
2. It must be determined by evidence what was the probable
character of the climate in the countries where diluvial accumulations
excite attention.
3. In proposing a general cause, such for example as the movement
of glaciers, it must be shown to be adequate to satisfy all the minuter
details of the phenomena, and not inconsistent with general limiting
conditions established by extensive induction from facts observed in
the earth itself, or admitted as parts of general cosmical theory.
[REFRIGERATION OF THE GLOBE; and, in NAT. HIST. DIV., GEOLOGY
and SUBMARINE FORESTS.]
The determination of the cause of the diluvial accumulations is of
the highest importance in geological theory. It is impossible to doubt
that to the same cause must be ascribed many considerable modifica-
tions of the pre-existent surface of the land. If, abstracting our
attention from the accumulated deposits which conceal the stratified
and other rocky masses in the crust of the earth, we look at the actual
form of its surface, there appears little that is even difficult of explana-
tion by the application of known and real causes. The relative areas
of sea and land; the peculiarities of outline of continents and islands;
the directions of mountain-ranges, and remarkable vales and plains;
the individual features of hills and valleys; the degree in which the
land is wasted in some quarters and augmented in others; and the rate
of change which may take place in these respects;—all this may be
satisfactorily referred to subterranean and submarine disturbances of
different periods, to the effects of the sea upon the land when the land
was not at its present level above the water, and to the operation of
the atmosphere, rains, rivers, and inundations.
From this large field of research we shall select for brief illustration
the outlines of land and sea, the directions of high and low ground,
and the individual features of hills and valleys. The few examples
needed will be drawn from the British Isles, but the explanations are
of general application. To render the article, as reproduced in this
work, more accordant with the actual state of geology, illustrations of
other parts of the subject are now added, some from foreign countries,
but of general application equally with the former.
Much of the irregularity of outline, on a large scale, of the British
Islands depends on the form in which the ancient bed of the sea was
elevated into dry land. Thus the line of the Hebrides, the prominent
parts of Caithness, of Aberdeenshire, and of Argyleshire, are on axes of
upward movement of the primary strata; while the Great Caledonian
Valley, from Fort William to Inverness, and the great basin of the
Forth and Clyde, are in axes of depression of the strata. This latter
hollow is margined on the south by the great axis of elevation of the
Galloway and Lammermuir hills, reappearing beyond the Irish Channel
south of Belfast, as the Argyleshire chain is resumed in Donegal. The
Isle of Man, the promontory of Lleyn in Caernarvonshire, the east
and west ridges and hollows of the strata which reach the sea in South
Wales and North Devon, give to Pembrokeshire, Glamorganshire, and
North Devon remarkable and detailed alternations of promontory and
bay. The Isle of Wight is formed on an axis of elevation from the
Needles to Culver Cliff; while north of it are the axis of depression of
the Solent, the axis of elevation of the wealds of Sussex, and the axis
of depression of the estuary of the Thames.
Inland, the same ridges and hollows, and others of as great import-
ance, produce continuous chains of hills-the North-Western Highlands,
the Grampians, the Lammermuir range of hills, the Wicklow moun-
tains, the Snowdon mountains, the Berwyn, and Malvern hills, and mul-
titudes of other narrow tracts of elevated land. Great faults, elevating
or depressing one portion of a natural district, leave marks of inequality
on the surface. Thus the great Pennine faults, ranging from New-
castle to Brampton, and thence to Kirby Lonsdale and Settle, occasion
differences of level in the ground of 1000 and 2000 feet for a length of
100 miles.
In all cases, and in every country, it appears that, notwithstanding
the operation of later agencies, the main features of the surface of the
land are due to the positions in which subterranean movements left
the displaced masses of rocks. But the operation of subsequent
agencies is distinctly traceable in modifications of these features on the
sea-coast, and in the interior of every country.
The surface of the land has been wasted, and as the various stony
and earthy masses which come to the surface have unequal compact-
ness, and are unequally capable of resisting the chemical and mechanical
agencies which originate in the varying heat and moisture of the atmo-
sphere, we find in consequence a multitude of irregularities, both on a
large and small scale, directly related to the properties of the rocks.
On the sea-coast some parts are known to be wasted (as the coasts of
Sheppey, Dunwich, and Bridlington) even rapidly, one or several yards
annually on the average; others seem almost unchanged by a thousand
years of storm and tempest, as the "Worm's Head; and some
considerable tracts of new land have been added to the shores of
Lincolnshire, along the banks of the Thames, and by the side of the
Severn.
))
The line of coast from the Tyne to the Humber is instructive in
this respect. The prominences on the Durham coast, ending with
Hartlepool, are guarded by magnesian limestone, and the estuary of
ARTS AND SCI. DIV. VOL. VII.
the Tees is excavated in red marl and lias clays. The peak near Robin
Hood's Bay, Scarborough Castle Hill, Filey Brig, and Flamborough
Head, are all promontories of hard rocks; but Robin Hood's Bay,
Scarborough Bay, Filey Bay, and Bridlington Bay, are all excavated
and wasted in clays of the liassic, oolitic, and diluvial periods. The
interior of the country shows similar effects on a grander scale. The
great vales and plains of England, in parts the least influenced by
subterranean disturbances, are by no means the excavated paths of
rivers, nor are the great ranges of hills the separating summits
between such rivers. The plains and vales are lines of soft and
perishable strata, and the crests which divide these vales are ranges of
harder rocks. A transverse section of the English strata shows always,
both on a large and small scale, this important fact (see fig. 1), and
Fig. 1.
Fig.
9
8 7 6 5 4
3
2
1

1 shows the relatively prominent parts in a line of section across the
secondary strata. 1, being chalk; 2, lower green-sand; 3, coralline oolite
and calcareous grit; 4, cornbrash; 5, forest marble; 6, great oolite;
7, inferior oolite; 8, marlstone; 9, lias limestone. The intervening
hollows are uniformly argillaceous.
strates the extent of its application in explaining the irregularity of
every well-shaded topographical map, coloured geologically, demon-
surface. The chalk hills, oolitic hills, &c., alternating with vales of
clay, in all the southern and eastern parts of England, give to those
parts characters far more important than the undulations connected
with river channels.
resisting watery action appear, show the force and continuity of this
Similarly, hills and valleys, in which rocks of unequal power of
action by the prominence of the hard rocks and the excavated surfaces
of the softer masses. Thus, in fig. 2, we see on the breast and edges
Fig. 2.

ι
Fig. 2. Aspect of a mountain consisting of carboniferous limestone, shale, and
sandstone; the limestone bands (marked 7) project remarkably, and, where
they cross a valley, make waterfalls.
of a hill composed of limestones, sandstones, and shales, the especial
prominence of the limestones; and where these cross a valley, each
limestone edge is the place of a waterfall. By studying in such valleys
the manner in which the actual stream wastes the rocks, we can easily
assure ourselves of the truth of the general explanation offered above.
In fig. 3 is a section of a waterfall, showing the edge of limestone (a)

Fig. 3.
Fig. 3. The side view of a waterfall, where the stream falls free of the rock,
and causes excavation in the subjacent shales.
over which the water falls, and under it a bed of sandstone (b) little
wasted, but at the bottom a body of shale which has perished by the
dampness and spray, and is excavated in a remarkable manner.
Just such an action is observable on similar cliffs by the sea, and in
each case the same effect follows: the falling of the hard rock at top
from want of support below. Thus the situation of a waterfall is daily
displaced, and is moving up the stream, as the Falls of Niagara and
Hardrow Force are known to have done. (Lyell,' Principles of Geology.')
Into all these effects of waste on the earth's surface rain enters for
something important.
important. Few surfaces of rock are altogether exempt
from chemical changes dependent on atmospheric variations; all are
more or less liable to perish with rain, frost, and watery movements;
and thus the individual features of hills and valleys, the ranges of high
and low ground, and the outlines of land and sea, appear to be effects
impressed by subterranean movements and fractures of the earth's
crust, modified by the action of the sea on materials of unequal
resisting power, while they were below, and while they were rising
through its waters, and by the subsequent mechanical agencies of
rivers, rains, and chemical forces excited by atmospheric variations.
[GEOLOGY, in NAT. HIST. DIV.]
Mr. G. Poulett Scrope, M.P., F.R.S., the author of some precious
contributions to igneous geology, of the most original kind, but which,
30
931
SURFACE OF THE EARTH.
after the lapse of more than the third part of a century, are only
beginning to be duly appreciated, has urged, in his Geology and
Volcanos of Central France,' first published in 1826, and in a paper
on the excavation of certain valleys, communicated to the Geological
Society a few years after, the conclusive nature of the evidence of the
immense changes in the surface of the earth which have been effected
by the action of "meteoric agents"—that is, of the atmosphere, its
depositions, and its ever-varying temperature,-together with that of
the streams they produce, upon the different rocks and materials con-
stituting the land, and which, in his judgment, entirely supersede the
necessity for referring them to the agency of mighty overwhelming
floods and currents, however occasioned. Describing the volcanic
formations of the Velay, and in particular the position and actual state
of a current of lava, which has spread itself to the width of five, seven,
and nine miles, covering an extensive and elevated table-land formerly
called the Coiron, which consists of Jurassic or oolitic strata, he shows
that there cannot be the least doubt but that the whole of this lofty
tract of secondary strata has been solely preserved from destruction by
its volcanic capping. The remainder of the oolitic formation around,
forming the secondary district of the Rhône valley, has been eaten
into in all directions by various mountain torrents, and gnawed down
by meteoric abrasion to a far lower level. The immense quantity of
matter which must have been thus abstracted from the oolitic mass
since the epoch at which this lava was emitted from the now extinct
volcano of the Mont Mezen-an epoch proved to be but recent by the
fact that, beneath the salt which it has become, a vegetable soil is
found, containing tee trial shells of a species still existing in the
same country-" canro. at strike us with astonishment. There can
be no doubt," Mr. Scrope continues, "that the surface on which the
basalt of the Coiron rests was at that period the lowest of the neigh-
bouring levels, or these repeated currents of liquid [flowing] matter
could not have flowed in its direction; yet at present, this same surface
vastly overtops every other height of the same formation, and ranges
upwards of a thousand feet above the average level of the valley-basins
of the Ardêche and Rhône on either side. That a considerable pro-
portion of these was excavated by 'rain and rivers,'-in other words,
by meteoric agency such as is still in operation, and not by any diluvial
or general flood, is susceptible of direct proof. To attribute, there-
fore, the remainder to any other cause of an hypothetical nature
unsupported by evidence, would seem to be contrary to the rules of
analogy. But the conclusion that the greater portion of the valley of
the Rhône has been so recently excavated, and by such agency alone,
involves important consequences, since the same agents must have
been at work everywhere else, and produced results as stupendous
during the same comparatively recent period." (G. & V. of Central
France,' ch. viii.) In the second edition of this work, published in
1858 (ch. ix., pp. 207-208, note), the author expresses his opinion that
neither Sir C. Lyell (the most comprehensive advocate for the
sufficiency of existing causes) nor the bulk of geologists are "even
yet sufficiently impressed with the immense amount of excavation or
denudation effected on supra-marine land by the erosive force of the
pluvial and fluvial waters." "That story," he adds, "is yet to be
written."
·
There are, however, limitations to these changes in the present
condition of the earth's surface, some of which are ultimately imposed
upon them by their own operation. They were acutely urged by the
late Rev. Dr. W. D. Conybeare, a consummate geologist of his time, in
his introduction to the 'Outlines of the Geology of England and Wales,'
by himself and the late Mr. W. Phillips, and in some papers in the
Philosophical Magazine' consequent upon the first appearance of Sir
C. Lyell's Principles of Geology. From thirty to forty years have
elapsed since the publication of his views, which have been almost
forgotten, on which account we cite, from the publication first men-
tioned, some of the most apposite :-" Over a great part of the earth's
surface the influence of these wasting causes is absolutely null, the
mantle of greensward that invests it being an effectual protection.
The burrows of the aboriginal Britons, after a lapse of certainly little
less, and in many instances probably more, than two decades of
centuries, retain very generally all the pristine sharpness of their out-
line; nor is the slight fosse that sometimes surrounds them in any
degree filled up. Causes, then, which in two thousand years have not
affected in any perceptible manner these small tumuli, so often
scuttered in very exposed situations over the crests of our hills, can
have exerted no very great influence on the mass of these hills them-
selves in any assignable portion of time which even the imagination of
a theorist can allow itself to conceive; and where circumstances are
favourable to a greater degree of waste, still there is often a tendency
to approach a maximum at which farther waste will be checked: the
abrupt cliff will at last become a slope, and that slope become defended
by its grassy coat of proof. It should appear that even the action of
the sea, certainly the most powerful and important of all those we
have surveyed, has a similar tendency to impose a limit to its own
ravages." Dr. Conybeare also considers, in relation to the permanence
of the general surface of the globe, the possible effect on the level of
the sea of the quantity of materials carried into it, which he concludes
to be absolutely imperceptible--a conclusion amply justified by the
recent investigation of Mr. A. Tylor, as noticed in the article SEA,
cul. 418.
SURFACES OF THE SECOND DEGREE.
932
The relation of these and other limitations to the consequences of
the modern doctrine referring the mighty operations which have
formed and modified our continents to causes now in action, acting
also under their present conditions, and with only their present forces,
has not been adequately considered by subsequent geologists. Dr.
Conybeare's views on this subject, we conceive, in common with those
taken by him on other important points in the philosophy of geology,
have not received from his successors the consideration they deserve:
a circumstance of which the fact of his own withdrawal from the pur-
suits of science for many of the later years of his life, may afford
some explanation.
The subject of the preceding portion of this article is one of physical
geography and geology. But we may regard the surface of the globe
in a wider philosophical sense, not as confined to that of the land and
sea-bed, but as the limit of the extension of the matter constituting
our planet; and therefore, also, of a certain class of the actions which
maintain it, though not of all the forces to which that matter is
subject, some of them extending beyond that limit.
In this sense
the earth has two surfaces, that of the land and water taken together,
and that of the thin spherical shell of air that rests upon and
encompasses it. The latter is the termination in space of our planet;
the former, the termination of the solid and liquid matter of which the
earth, or at least its superficial crust, consists, whatever may be the
physical state of the more central interior, of which we know nothing.
These surfaces are the final results of the equilibrium which the
mutually acting and reacting forces of nature maintain in the globe.
Thus considered, the subject has an interest of its own, independent
of the geographical and geological importance of the surface of the
land or solid matter. Though the waters form only a residual film, as
it were, of certain materials of the crust which are liquid at the mean
temperature of the surface, a result of the final equilibrium of the
chemical and physical actions taking place below and above, yet their
portion of the surface, so much greater than that of the exposed solid
matter, or land, has a paramount influence on the constitution of the
terminal shell of matter-the atmosphere-with respect to its aqueous
constituent. The atmosphere, in like manner, is the resultant residue
of the physical and chemical actions taking place upon the terraqueous
surface, or below, within reach of the atmosphere, but consisting of
materials which are aëriform at the mean temperature of the globe;
some, indeed, at all known temperatures; others within a certain range
of them.
The definite surface of the terraqueous globe, there is reason to
conclude, is repeated in that of the atmosphere, the finite extent of
which we conceive to be demonstrated by that of the column of
meroury or water, or other gravitating fluid in the barometer. It
would appear, on first considering the subject, that the only changes
this surface can undergo will be extensive perpetual undulations of
the nature of tides, and disturbances occasioned by the entrance and
transit, and perhaps by the ignition, of the bodies which become
meteors. It may, however, be true, agreeably to the views of Poisson,
in particular respects anticipated by Graham and by Luke Howard,
and with which also harmonise certain inferences regarding the struc-
ture of the higher regions of the atmosphere originally drawn by
Mr. Brayley, and virtually adopted by the late Professor Daniell-that
the atmosphere has a terminal film of solid matter-frozen air-
forming upon a subterminal one of liquid matter-liquefied air-itself
passing below into a stratum of air-vapour, and that into a still inferior
one of dense air retaining its
one of dense air retaining its gaseous condition; the rarest stratum
of the air being thus beneath the summit of the atmospheric column,
and not constituting the upper surface, as long tacitly assumed, and as
indeed would follow from the law of elasticity of the air considered
by itself. In this case, in addition to the movements alluded to, the
surface of the atmosphere must be in a state of perpetual equilibrated
motion and change, the ultimate physical resultant of the continual
subversion and restoration of equilibrium, or at least, of the existing
tendencies to those conditions, arising from the antagonism of heat
and gravitation.
The complex superficial crust of our planet, of which the surfaces of
the atmosphere and of the terraqueous globe are the superior limits, is
the final result of the action of the sun upon those surfaces, reacted
to by the interior forces of the earth, which the sun, as it were,
governs, both by its direct action, gravitative, calorific, light-giving, and
magnetic; and also indirectly, through that of the waters and the air
upon the land, the solid, liquid, and aëriform elements of the crust
being thus all subject to its action; while a certain amount of action is
also exerted upon them by the radiation of the stars, the suns of other
systems. On the surface of the earth, therefore, in its most compre-
hensive sense, are inscribed the indelible and enduring records of all
the activities, terrestrial, solar, and celestial, which have produced, and
are perpetually reproducing it; and on that of the terraqueous globe,
thus maintained in equilibrium, organic nature and man exist, the
well-being of the latter being the end, or final cause, of the whole.
SURFACES OF THE SECOND DEGREE. This name is given
to all those surfaces of which the equation is of the second degree, or
can be made a case of
ax² + by²+cz² + 2a'yz + 2b'zx + 2c'xy
+2a″x+26″y +2c'z+f=0,
933
931
SURFACES OF THE SECOND DEGREE.
SURFACES OF THE SECOND DEGREE.
to which form any equation of the second degree between three
variables may be reduced. These surfaces hold the same place among
surfaces which is held by curves of the second degree, or conic sections,
among curves; and every section made by a plane with any surface of
the second degree must be a curve of the second degree. The following
article is intended entirely for reference, as the books which treat on
the subject hardly ever give the complete tests for the separation of
the different cases from each other.
1. The preceding equation may be wholly impossible, or incapable of
being satisfied by any values of x, y, and z. This happens when the left-
hand side can be resolved into the sum of any number of squares which
cannot vanish simultaneously.
2. It may represent only one single point. In this case the left-hand
side can be resolved into the sum of three squares, which vanish
simultaneously for one set of values of x, y, and z.
3. The equation may belong to a single straight line. In this case
the left-hand side can be resolved into the sum of two squares.
4. The two last cases have a particular case which is algebraically
very distinguishable from the rest, though it can only be geometrically
represented by saying that the point or line is at an infinite distance
from the origin.
5. The equation may belong to a single plane. In this case the
left-hand side is a perfect square.
6. Or to a pair of planes, either parallel or intersecting. The left-
hand side can then be resolved into two different factors of the first
degree.
In the preceding cases there is no other surface than can be repre-
sented by one or several equations of the first degree. We now come
to the cases in which new surfaces, not plane, are generated. But we
may first observe that the left-hand side of the equation has a property
much resembling a celebrated one of integer numbers. If it be the
sum of any number of squares exceeding four, it may be reduced to
the sum of four squares at most.
7. The equation may belong to a cone, having for its base any one
of the conic sections. But in every case the same cone may be
described by a circle only: that is, every cone of the second order is a
circular cone, right or oblique. In this case, the first side of the
equation takes the form P+Q-R², or p²-Q-R³, P, Q, and R being
expressions of the first degree, of the form ar + BY + Cz + E.
8. The equation may belong to a cylinder having for its base any
conic section. But the elliptic, parabolic, and hyperbolic cylinders are
perfectly distinct. In this case the first side of the equation can be
reduced to the form p²+mq+nq, P and Q being expressions of the
first degree, and m and n constants.
9. The equation may belong to an ellipsoid, a single hyperboloid, a
double hyperboloid, an elliptic paraboloid, or an hyperbolic paraboloid.
These five are the distinct surfaces of the second degree, answering to
the three distinct curves of the second degree-namely, the ellipsoid
to the ellipse, the two hyperboloids to the hyperbola, and the two
paraboloids to the parabola. They will presently be further described;
in the mean time the forms to which the left-hand side of the equation
may be reduced in these several cases are-
Ellipsoid r²+ Q² + R²—m³.
-
Single Hyperboloid p² + Qª— R² — m³.
Double Hyperboloid p² — qª—R³—m³.
Elliptic Paraboloid p² + Q²+mR.
Hyperbolic Paraboloid p²—q²+MR.
The conditions under which the several cases are produced are
exhibited in the following table. Let
3
1
V₁=a+b+c
V₁ = bc+ca + ab—a²—b²²— c¹²
2
V3=abc+2a'b'c' — aa²² — bb²² — cc¹²
a'
ון
V₁ = (bc — a²²) a¹¹² + (ca−b') b'² +(ab—c¹²) c″²
4.
+2 (v'd—aa') b″d" + 2 (c'a'—bb') c"a" + 2 (a′b¹ — cc′) a″b'.
4
W
+ f
V3
When v¸=0, V, is a perfect square: if V, also=0, the three expressions
ba"2—2c'′a"b" + ab"² ac"²-2b'c"a" +ca"² cb"? — 2a′b"c" +bc"2
ac C'2
ca-ba
bc-an
are all equal. Let either of them, with its sign changed, and increased
by f, be called w'. Again, when any three of the six quantities
bc-a¹², ca-b¹², ab-c'
b'c'-aa', c'a'-bb′, a'b' - cc'
vanish, the other three also vanish. Let these vanish, and also let a”,
U", " be in the proportion of a, c', l', or of c', b, a', or of b', a', c. When
this happens, the three following
a b"2
a
ō
>
are equal: let either, with its sign changed, and increased by f, be
called w". The table is then as follows, in which p means either of
the signs + or -, and n means the other; and a supposition put in
parentheses means that it is a necessary consequence of what precedes
or is not independent.

W V3 W
p
22
ལས
2222
8 8
0
010
n
222 2
(0).
(0)
222
(0)
p
p
8
0
0
010
V2
W"
V₁
+-+-
+1 +1
+1
1++
++ 1 @ | + 1
(0)
(0)
2208
22
Surface.
Impossible.
Ellipsoid.
22 Single Hyperboloid.
p
do.
do.
Double Hyperboloid.
do.
do.
22
p
2*
}
16
*
3
Elliptic Paraboloid.
Hyperbolic Paraboloid.
Point.
Cone.
do.
Impossible.
Elliptic Cylinder.
Hyperbolic Cylinder.
Parabolic Cylinder.
Straight Lines.
Intersecting Planes.
Impossible.
Parallel Planes.
Single Plane.
1
For example, it is the condition of an ellipsoid that w and v, should
be finite with different signs, that v, should be positive, and v₁ of the
same sign as V3: it is the condition of intersecting planes that w should
have the form 0÷0, or that v, and V, should both vanish: that w
should also vanish; and that V, should be negative. It is the condition
of a single hyperboloid, if v be positive, that w and v, should both
differ in sign from v,; but if v, be negative, it is enough that w and
v, should have the same sign. All that precedes is equally true
whether the co-ordinates be oblique or rectangular; but the following
is only true for rectangular co-ordinates: if the surface be a surface of
revolution, it is necessary that
V'e'—aa' c'a'-bb'
b'
a'b' — coʻ
3
conceived by means of the particular cases in which they are surfaces
The forms of the ellipsoid and of the two hyperboloids may best be
the circular sections be flattened into ellipses: the result will be an
of revolution. Let an ellipse revolve about one of its axes, and let all
ellipsoid, derived from its particular case, the spheroid. Let an hyper-
bola revolve about its minor axis; the two branches will generate only
one branch of a surface: let the circular sections be flattened into
ellipses, and the result is the single hyperboloid. Let the hyperbola
revolve about its major axis: the two branches will generate two
branches of a surface; and if the circular sections be flattened into
ellipses, the result is the double hyperboloid. For the elliptic para-
boloid, let a parabola revolve about its principal axis, and let the
circular sections become ellipses. The hyperbolic paraboloid has no
surface of revolution among its cases, but its form may be conceived
as follows:-Let two parabolas have a common vertex, and let their
planes be at right angles to one another, being turned contrary ways.
Let the one parabola then move over the other, always continuing
parallel to its first position, and having its vertex constantly on the
other its arc will then trace out an hyperbolic paraboloid.
:
The ellipsoid and the two hyperboloids have centres, but neither of
the paraboloids has one. The surfaces which have centres possess an
infinite number of triple systems of diameters having properties corre-
sponding to those of the conjugate diameters of an ellipse and hyper-
bola. These we shall not describe, but shall proceed to point out how
(that is, the system of conjugate diameters, each of which is at right
to determine the position of the centre and principal diameters or axes
angles to the other two) in either of the surfaces having a centre.
Resuming the original equation, and the co-ordinates being supposed
rectangular, the co-ordinates of the centre, X, Y, and Z, are thus deter-
mined. They are fractions whose denominator is V,, and whose
numerators are
(bc—a²²)a" + (a'b' — cc′)b" + (c'a'—bb')c"
(ca—b'¾)b" + (b′c′—aa')c" + (a'b' + coʻja"
(ab-c'²)c" + (c'a'-bb')a" + (b'c'-bb')";
and if the origin be removed to the centre, the axes retaining their
original directions, the equation of the surface becomes
ax² + by²+ cz² + 2a'yz + 26'zx + 2cxy+w=0,
where w is the expression already signified by that lotter, and will be
found to be also xa" + Yb" + Zc" +ƒ.
Let the three principal axes now make angles with the axes of x, y,
and z, as follows:-The first, angles whose cosines are a, B8, y; the
935
SURGEONS, COLLEGE OF.
SURGEONS, COLLEGE OF.
936
second, angles whose cosines are a', B', y'; the third, angles whose vice-presidents and all other the present members of the council of the
cosines are a", B", y". The equation
¿³ — V¸v² + √₂v—V₂=0
said college, and also such other persons, not being less than 250 nor
more than 300, and being members of the said college, as the council
of the college, at any time before the expiration of three calendar
months from the date of the charter, shall elect and declare to be
has always three real roots; let them be A, A', A". Then the directions fellows in manner by the charter directed; together with any such
of the principal axes are to be determined from
a²=
B²=
bc—a²² — (b+c)A + A²
(A—A') (A—A")
ca−b'² ~—(c+a)▲ + a³
(A—4′) (1—1″)
ab—¿² — (a+b)s+a²
(A-A') (A-A")
To find a², &c., interchange A and A' in the above; and to find a"2,
&c., interchange A and A". The principal axes being thus determined,
the equation to the surface, referred to the principal axes, is
Ꭺ?
Ax² + A'y² + A"z²+w=0,
a form which is fully considered in all elementary works on the sub-
ject, and from which the principal properties are derived. ('Algebraic
Geometry,' in the Library of Useful Knowledge.)
For the proofs of the preceding assertions, and their extension to
oblique co-ordinates, see a paper On the General Equation of Surfaces
of the Second Degree,' in the Cambridge Philosophical Transactions,'
vol. v., part 1. Under the form of considering the surface of the
second degree, we have in fact been treating the general properties of
the equation of the second degree, with three variables, and have
solved various other problems of geometry and mechanics. The
principles applied in this solution have been generalised in a paper
on Linear Transformations,' by Mr. Boole. (Cambr. Math. Journ.,'
vol. iii., p. 1.)
SURGEONS, COLLEGE OF. The present College of Surgeons of
England had its origin in the Company of Barber-Surgeons, which
was incorporated by royal charter in the first year of Edward IV. By
this charter of 1 Edward IV., the barbers practising surgery in
London, who had before associated themselves in a company, were
legally incorporated as the Company of the Barbers in London. Their
authority extended to the right of examining all instruments and
remedies employed, and of bringing actions against whoever practised
illegally and ignorantly; and none were allowed to practise who had
not been previously admitted and judged competent by the masters of
the company.
This charter was several times confirmed by succeeding kings, but in
spite of it many persons practised surgery independently of the com-
pany, and at length associated themselves as members of a separate
body, and called themselves the surgeons of London. In the 3rd year
of Henry VIII. it was enacted "that no person within the city of
London, or within seven miles of the same, should take upon him to
exercise or occupy as a physician or surgeon, except he be first
examined, approved, and admitted by the bishop of London or by the
dean of St. Paul's for the time being, calling to him four doctors of
physic, and for surgery other expert persons in that faculty." All who
under this act obtained licence to practise were of course equally
qualified, whether members of the company of barbers or not; and
in the 32nd year of Henry VIII. the members of the latter company,
and those who had incorporated themselves as the company of
surgeons, were united in one company, "by the name of masters or
governors of the mystery and commonalty of barbers and surgeons of
'London."
In the 18th year of George II. an act was passed by which the union
of the barbers and surgeons was dissolved, and the surgeons were con-
stituted a separate company; and in the 40th year of George III. a
charter was granted by which it was confirmed in all the privileges
which had been conferred upon it by the act of George II. By this
charter the title of the company was altered from that of the masters,
governors, and commonalty of the Art and Science of Surgeons to that
of the Royal College of Surgeons in London. Under this charter it
was governed by a council or court of assistants, consisting of twenty-
one members, of whom ten composed the court of examiners. Of
these ten one was annually elected president, or principal master, and
two were annually chosen vice-presidents or governors. By the bye-
laws which the council were empowered by the charter to make, the
members of the council were to be chosen for life from those members
of the College whose practice was confined to surgery, and were to be
elected by ballot at a meeting of the council. The examiners were
generally chosen in order of seniority from the members of the council:
the presidents and vice-presidents were chosen in rotation from the
court of examiners, the president for the current year having been the
zenior vice-president during the past year.
A new charter was granted to the College of Surgeons in the 7th
year of Victoria, by which it is declared, that the naine of the college
shall henceforth be The Royal College of Surgeons of England; and
that a portion of the members of the said college shall be fellows
thereof, by the name of The Fellows of the Royal College of Surgeons
of England. The charter declares that the present president and two
other persons as the council of the said college, after the expiration of
the said three calendar months and within one year from the date of
the charter, shall appoint in manner by the charter authorised, shall be
fellows of the said college. But no person, except as herein before
named, is to become a fellow, unless he shall have attained the age of
twenty-five years, and complied with such rules as the council of the
college shall think fit, and by a bye-law or bye-laws direct; nor unless
he shall have passed a special examination by the examiners of the said
college. Every person admitted as a fellow, as last mentioned, is to
become a member of the College by such admission, if he is not already
a member. Henceforth, no member of the College, who is not a
fellow, is to be eligible as a member of the council. There are also
(10) some other restrictions as to eligibility. The present members of
the council are to continue life members as heretofore; and the
number of members of council is to be increased from twenty-one to
twenty-four, and all future members are to be elective, and to be
elected periodically, in the manner prescribed by the charter (12)
when the number of elective members of the council shall be com-
pleted and made up to twenty-four. Three members shall go out
annually, but they may be re-elected immediately. The members of
council are to be elected by the fellows, including the members of the
council as such, in the manner prescribed by the charter (15); and the
election is to be by ballot (17). There are various special provisions as
to the eligibility of fellows, for which we refer to the charter. There
are to be ten examiners of surgeons for the college, and the present
examiners are to continue for life; and all future examiners are to be
elected by the council, either from the members of the council, or
from the other fellows of the college, or from both of them; and all
future examiners of the college shall hold their office during the
pleasure of the council. The charter contains other regulations, and
confirms the powers of the college and the council, except so far as
they are altered by the charter; and it declares that no bye-law or
ordinance hereafter to be made by the council shall be of any force
until the crown shall have signified its approval thereof to the college
under the hand of one of the principal secretaries of state, or other-
wise as in the charter stated (22). "The Bye-Laws and Ordinances of
the Royal College of Surgeons of England" contain the regulations as
to the candidates for the fellowship (sect. 1), for the examination of
candidates for the fellowship (2), admission of fellows (3), election of
members of council (5). By section 1, it is required that every
candidate for the fellowship, among other certificates, shall produce a
certificate, satisfactory to the court of examiners, that he has attained
a competent knowledge of the Greek, Latin, and French languages, and
of the elements of mathematics. The subjects of examination for the
fellowship are Anatomy and Physiology on the first day, and Pathology
and Therapeutics and Surgery on the second day. The examination is
to be by written answers to written or printed questions; but any
candidate may be interrogated by the examiners, on any matter con-
nected with the questions or answers. In the anatomical examination
the candidate must also perform dissections and operations on the
dead body in the presence of the examiners.
By a recent bye-law members are eligible to the fellowship by
election. Any member of the College, of fifteen years' standing, who was
a member on the 14th of September, 1843, desirous of admission to the
fellowship otherwise than by examination, must sign a declaration of
not selling or supplying drugs or medicines, which must be accom-
panied by a certificate recommending him to the fellowship, signed by
six fellows of the college. The signing of the certificate is subject to
some alterations for surgeons in the army and navy, and in the British
colonies.
Persons are admitted to examination for the membership of the
College on producing certificates of being twenty-one years of age; of
having been engaged four years in the acquirement of professional
knowledge, and of having attended lectures on anatomy, surgery, and other
branches of professional knowledge for four years; of having dissected
and attended hospital practice during three winter and two summer
sessions.
The examination for the diploma of member is divided into two
parts, the first relating to anatomy and physiology, the second relating
to pathology, surgery, and surgical anatomy. The latter examination
is partly written and partly oral. The examination on anatomy is on
the recently dissected subject. Students who have completed their
second session of anatomical studies are eligible for undergoing the
first part of this examination.
The College also gives an especial certificate of qualification for the
practice of midwifery. Members or fellows of the College previous to
the 1st of January 1853, are eligible to this examination at once.
Members or fellows admitted since 1853 have to produce a certificate of
having attended at least twenty labours. Members of other Colleges of
Surgeons, or graduates of universities, are also admitted to examination
for this certificate. Persons not having any diploma, but producing
evidence of having completed their professional education, and of
937
938
SURINAMINE.
SURVEYING.
having attended one course of lectures on midwifery, and of having
personally attended thirty labours, are also admitted to examination for
this certificate.
By the new medical act (21 & 22 Vict. c. 90, s. 48), it was enacted
that it shall be lawful for her Majesty to grant to the Royal College
of Surgeons power to institute and hold examinations for the pur-
pose of testing the fitness of persons to practise as dentists, who may
be desirous of being so examined, and to grant certificates of such
fitness. The college has since granted a large number of certificates to
persons practising as dentists alone.
The Licentiates of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, of the
Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, and of the Faculty of
Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow are admissible to the membership
of the College under the bye-laws relating to ad cundem admissions.
The museum of the College consists of the collection made by John
Hunter, which was given in trust by government, who purchased it
for 15,000l., and of numerous additions made to it by donations of
members and others, and by purchase. The parts of it which illustrate
physiology, paleontology, and morbid anatomy are probably the most
valuable collections of the kind in Europe. [HUNTER, JOHN, in BIOG.
Div.]
Lectures on anatomy, for which 5107. were left to the company of
barber surgeons by Edward Arris, and 167. per annum by John Gale,
are delivered annually by one of the members of the council or some
other member selected by them. Twenty-four museum lectures are
also, in compliance with the deed of trust, annually delivered by the
Hunterian professor, the subjects of which must be illustrated by
preparations from the Hunterian collection, and from the other con-
tents of the museum. An oration in commemoration of John Hunter,
or of others who have been distinguished in medical science, is
delivered annually on the 14th of February, the anniversary of
Hunter's birth.
The College gives also three prizes for the best essays on anatomical
and surgical subjects; one," the Collegiate Triennial Anatomical Prize
of fifty guineas;" the other two, "Jacksonian Prizes" of twenty
guineas each, are given every year.
The library is very extensive, and is open to all students, members
and fellows, from 10 till 4 o'clock.
Abstracts of the several acts and charters relating to the College of
Surgeons may be found in Willcock, 'On the Laws relating to the
Medical Profession,' London, 1830, 8vo, and in Paris and Fonblanque's
'Medical Jurisprudence,' vol. iii. The bye-laws, the list of members,
the catalogues of the museum and library, &c., are published by the
College.
SURINAMINE. An alkaloid of unknown composition found in
the bark of a plant of the genus Geoffræa growing in Surinam and
Jamaica.
SURNAME. [NAME.]
SURPLICE, the white dress worn by the clergy in their acts of
ministration, from the Latin superpelliceum. It differs from the albe
in having wider sleeves. It appears to have been introduced in order
to make a distinction between the dresses which the superior and
the inferior orders of the clergy wore at the Liturgy; and from about
the 12th century the name of surplice was introduced. During the
middle ages, bishops very frequently wore the surplice with a cope,
and above the rochette. (Bona, Rerum Liturg., lib. i., cap. 24, s. 20;
Palmer's Orig. Liturgicæ, vol. ii.)
SURRENDER. "Sursum redditio properly is a yielding up of an
estate for life or years to him that hath an immediate estate in rever-
sion or remainder, wherein the estate for life or years may drown by
mutual agreement between them." A surrender and a release both
have the effect of uniting the particular estate with that in reversion
or remainder; but they differ in this, that whereas a release generally
operates by the greater estate descending on the less, a surrender is
the falling of the less estate into the greater.
Coke mentions three kinds of surrenders: 1. A surrender at com-
mon law, which is the surrender properly so called; 2. A surrender
by custom of copyhold lands or customary estates; and, 3. A sur-
render improperly taken, as of a deed, a patent, of a rent newly created
and of a fee-simple to the king.
1. The surrender at common law is of two sorts: 1. A surrender in
deed or by words in writing, expressing the intention of the owner of
the particular estate to yield it up to him in reversion or remainder;
and, 2. A surrender in law, which is wrought by operation of law, and
not actual; as if a lessee for life or years takes a new lease of the same
land during the continuance of his term, this will be a surrender in
law of the prior lease.
The surrender of terms of years will sometimes be presumed from
length of time alone; and many cases have arisen upon the question,
after what periods mortgage terms have been satisfied, and terms
which have been assigned to trustees to attend the inheritance and
have not been subsequently dealt with, will be presumed to have been
surrendered.
2. As to surrender of copyholds, see COPYHOLD.
3. A surrender may be made of letters-patent and offices to the
crown, to the intent that a fresh grant be may made of the same right;
and a grant of the second patent for years to the same person, for the
same thing, causes a surrender in law of the first.
|
SURROGATE, is, according to Cowell's 'Interpreter," "one that is
substituted or appointed in the room of another, most commonly of a
bishop or a bishop's chancellor.
""
The qualifications required in a person appointed as surrogates are
defined and enforced by the canons of 1603. He must be a grave
minister and a graduate or a licensed preacher and beneficed, or a
bachelor of law or a master of arts, well qualified from his religion and
learning.
Surrogates being delegated officers, their jurisdiction of course
depends upon that of the person for whom they act. The principal
duty however of ecclesiastical surrogates may be stated to consist of
taking affidavits in the ecclesiastical courts and granting marriage
licences. The proper performance of these duties is guarded by
particular enactments. By the 26 Geo. II. c. 33, § 7, every surrogate
deputed by any ecclesiastical judge who has power to grant licences of
marriage is required, before granting any such licence, to take an oath
before such judge and to give a bond of 100l. to the bishop of the
diocese for the faithful execution of his office.
Surrogates are also persons appointed to execute the offices of judges
in the courts of Vice-Admiralty in the colonies, in the place of the
regular judges of those courts. The acts of such surrogates have, by
the 56 Geo. III., c. 82, the same effect and character as the acts of the
regular judges.
SURVEYING is the art of determining the form and dimensions
of tracts of ground, the plans of towns and single houses, the courses
of roads and rivers, with the boundaries of estates, fields, &c. A
survey is accompanied by a representation on paper of all the above-
mentioned objects, and frequently by a delineation of the slopes of the
hills, as the whole would appear if projected on a horizontal plane.
When canals or railways are to be executed, a survey of the ground is
combined with the operations of levelling, in order to obtain, besides
a horizontal plan, the forms of vertical sections of the ground along
the proposed lines, and thus to ascertain the quantities of earth to be
removed.
In maritime surveying, the forms of coasts and harbours, the
entrances of rivers, with the positions of islands, rocks, and shoals, are
to be determined; also the soundings or depths of water in as many
different places as possible.
Military surveying consists chiefly in representing on paper the
features of a country, such as the roads, rivers, hills, and marshes, in
order to ascertain the positions which may be occupied as fields of
battle or as quarters; and the facilities which the country may afford
for the march of troops or the passage of artillery stores.
For trigonometrical surveying, see TRIGONOMETRY.
Since the measurement of the distance between two objects by
means of a rod or chain is very laborious and inaccurate when that dis-
tance is considerable, particularly if the ground should have many
inequalities of level, and be much intersected by walls, hedges, and
streams of water, it will seldom be possible to execute even an ordinary
survey by such means alone, and instruments for taking angles
must be employed, together with the chain, in every operation of
importance.
If within the tract to be surveyed there should be a road about
half a mile in extent, and nearly straight and level, so that a line may
be accurately measured upon it by the chain, and that from its extre-
mities several remarkable objects, as churches or mills, may be seen,
it will be convenient to use such measured line as a base, and with a
theodolite to observe the angles contained between the base and the
lines joining the extremities to the different objects. The three angles
of each triangle formed by such lines should if possible be observed,
in order that by the agreement of their sum with 180° the accuracy of
the angular measurements may be tested; and then the lengths of
the sides of the triangles may be determined by the rules of plane
trigonometry.
Let A B represent a base so measured in a road; and let C, D, E, F
be four remarkable objects within or near the boundaries of the tract
to be surveyed; the distances A C, A D, &c., B D, BC, &c., will be those
which should be determined by computation. These lines may then
serve as bases, and if from their extremities be taken the angles con-
tained between them and liues supposed to connect them with any
other objects, as houses or remarkable trees, the positions and distances
of these objects may be determined by computation as before. Thus
B C or BD will serve as a base by which the position of a may be
computed.
It will obviously be advantageous if the lines supposed to connect the
objects lie nearly parallel to the directions of roads, lanes, streams, or
hedges, on account of the facility which will thereby be afforded for
laying down such roads, &c., on the plan. In order that it may be
possible to place the theodolite at the angular points of the triangles,
those points should not be precisely in the churches, mills, or other
objects whose positions are to be determined, but should be indicated
by poles set up near those objects, on spots of ground in such situa-
tions that each may be visible from the two others which with it con-
stitute the intended triangle. The place of the building may be
ascertained by its bearing and distance from the pole in its vicinity.
After as many stations as may be thought fit have been determined in
the manner just described, and the lengths of the lines (that is, the
sides of the triangles) connecting them have been computed, the
939
SURVEYING.
survey may be completed by actual admeasurements with the chain, in
each triangle separately.
Poles having been set up at the angular points of every triangle, the
surveyor and his assistant set out from any one of these points, as
SURVEYING.
940
B, and proceeding across the ground, measure the whole length of any
one line, as B c, leaving pickets in the ground in the direction of the
line at or near every place where it crosses a hedge, as at a, a stream,
as at b, a road, or any other object which is to be introduced in the

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plau. Should it happen that the line B C, or any part of it, coincide
with the direction of a road, offsets, as they are called, are measured
perpendicularly to the line, on one or both sides of it, in order to
express the distance from the line to the sides of the road, or to the
hedges or walls along those sides; these offsets (which are shown at c,
d, and e) should be measured at the end of every chain's length, and
particularly at every point in the station line opposite to which there
is a remarkable object, as a house, a gate, or merely a bend in the
direction of the road. Thus, when the work is laid down on paper, the
precise form and breadth of the road will be expressed.
In like manner the other side, A o, of the triangle, is to be measured
with the chain; pickets are to be left in the ground at or near every
place where a stream, as at h, a road, or a hedge crosses the side of the
triangle; and offsets, as at k, l, m, are to be measured from the station
line to and across such boundaries as may be nearly parallel to any
part of its direction. The like process is to be followed on each side
of every triangle; the measured lengths of the sides of each triangle
should then be compared with the computed lengths; and if the
difference be not considerable, the work may be considered as having
been performed with sufficient accuracy; otherwise the operations
must be repeated, in order that the source of the error may be
detected.
To carry on the work in the interior of any angle, as a BF, the
surveyor, where it is possible, measures with the chain the direct dis-
tance from the pickets in one side of the triangle to the pickets in
another side, as iv, pq; and since these pickets are supposed to have
been placed near the intersections of boundary-lines (roads, streams,
or hedges) with the sides of the triangle, the lines last measured will,
at least in part of their length, coincide with or be parallel to some of
the boundaries in the interior of the triangle; and the precise figures
of such boundaries will be determined as before by offsets from the
measured line to all the principal bends. The length of each of these
secondary station lines may be obtained by trigonometry, since the line
is the base of a secondary triangle of which the two sides are known,
being measured parts of two sides of the principal triangle, and the
angle included between those sides has been found by the theodolite;
therefore the measured length of this line, on being compared with
the computed length, will afford an additional test of the accuracy of
the work.
In measuring these secondary lines within each principal triangle,
pickets must, as before, be left in the ground in the direction of the
line, at or near places, as at r, where hedges, walls, &c., cross the line;
and from one of these pickets, r, to another, as t, lines are afterwards
to another, as t, lines are afterwards
to be measured (these being as much as possible in or near the direc-
tion of other boundaries), till at length the whole interior of each
principal triangle will have been divided into several secondary
triangles, all the sides of which have been measured. These sides,
by means of the offsets which have been measured from them, deter-
mine the figures of all the natural and artificial boundaries within the
tract of ground.
The situations of the buildings are also determined by offsets from
the station lines nearest to them: the ground plans of the more con-
siderable edifices, as churches and mansions, are measured, and the
|
directions of their fronts with respect to the meridian are ascertained
by a compass or otherwise.
When rivers or roads have many abrupt and deep bends, the deter-
mination of their forms by means of offsets from the station-lines may
become impracticable; and then a separate survey of such details must
be made by means of the compass, the circumferentor, or the theodolite.
[THEODOLITE.] The same means must be employed for the survey of
a sea-coast, when the operation is to be performed on land; and it may
often be advantageous to determine in like manner the forms of the
hedges, walls, &c., in the interior of the tract which is to be surveyed.
Ground covered with wood must be surveyed by going quite round it;
poles being set up at remarkable bends on the contour, the distances
between them are measured with the chain, and the bearings of the
several lines from the meridian are observed with the theodolite.
In order to explain the process of surveying with the theodolite by
the method which is commonly called that of the "back-angle," and
which is now almost constantly adopted, let it be required to determine
the outline HK CL B A, which may represent the contour of a wood or
of which part may coincide with the course of a road or river. The
instrument may be set up at H, which may be supposed to be the first
station; and let the line ns at each of the stations H, K, C, &c., repre-
sent the position of the needle or of the magnetic meridian at the
station also let the instrument be adjusted so that the zero point of
the horizontal limb may be under the point n (the north point of
the needle), or the zero of the degrees in the compass-box may be
in coincidence with n; and let K be the second station. Turn the
upper horizontal plate with the telescope till the object-glass of the
latter is directed to K, and make the intersection of the wires appear
to coincide with the object at that station; then the index of the
vernier will be at some graduation on the lower horizontal plate, as
at x, and the angle n HK is that which is observed; suppose it to be
54°, reckoning from the north towards the east, which angle is usually
represented by N. 54° E. [N.B. Previously to directing the object-
glass to K, it might have been directed to any other visible objects,
as r or D, whose positions it might be required to determine by means
of their bearings from the meridian line.]
:
Let the theodolite be now removed to K, a staff being planted in
the ground at : turn the whole instrument round on its vertical
axis (the index of the vernier remaining at the graduation N. 54° E.)
till the object-glass of the telescope is directed to H, and the inter-
section of the wires appears to coincide with the staff there. Then, if
the former angle were correctly taken, and no movement of the hori-
zontal plates on one another have taken place, the south point s of the
needle will lie over the zero of the graduations on the lower plate, or
will coincide with the zero of the degrees in the compass-box;
and this circumstance will be a proof of the accuracy of the work,
all the meridian lines ns, ns, being supposed to be parallel to one
another.
Now turn the upper horizontal plate with the telescope, till the
object-glass of the latter is directed to o, and the intersection of the
wires appears to coincide with the object there: the telescope in
moving from the position KH to the position KC having passed over
and beyond s; and the index of the vernier being supposed to be at y,
941
942
SURVEYING.
SURVEYING.
the number of the graduation, these being read from s in the direction
sny, will be greater than 180: let it be 256 (or 180° + 76°); in that
case the observed angle is N. 76° E., and it expresses the bearing of
the line Kc from the meridian n Ks, or from the meridian n H s. If
the telescope in moving from K H should be directed to an object at E,
then, the index of the vernier being supposed to be at 2, the number
of the graduation will be less than 180°: let it be 110 (or 180°-70°);
in that case the observed angle is N. 70° W., and it expresses the bear
ing of the line K E from the meridian n K s or nнs.
Let the theodolite be removed to c, a staff being left at K, and turn
the whole instrument, the index of the vernier remaining at N. 76° E.,
till the object-glass of the telescope is directed to K, and the inter-
section of the wires appears to coincide with the staff there; then the
point n of the needle should lie over the zero of the graduations. Now
turn the upper horizontal plate till the object-glass of the telescope is
directed to L, and the intersection of the wires appears to coincide with
the object there; then the telescope, in turning from the position C K
to CL, passing over and beyond s, the number of the graduation coin-
cident with the index of the vernier will (reckoning from zero at n) be
less than 180; let it be 133°: in that case the observed angle is
N. 133° E., or S. 47° E., and it expresses the bearing of the line c L
from the meridian ncs or nнs. If the telescope should not pass
beyond s, and should be in the position or, for example, the number
of the graduation, reckoned from 2, will be greater than 180; let it be
206, or 180° + 26° in that case the observed angle is S. 26° W., or
N. 206° E., or N. 154° W., and it expresses the bearing of the line c P
from n cs or nнs. In this manner the process of the survey is con-
tinued to the end of the road, or till, having passed completely round
the wood, the instrument returns to H, from whence it set out.
As, from local attractions or other causes, the polarity of the needle
may not be constant, it is scarcely to be expected that the needle
should, when the telescope is directed back to a preceding station,
be exactly coincident with the north and south line in the compass-
box; yet a near approach to such coincidence will serve to detect the
existence of considerable errors in the observed angles; and a com-
plete verification of the whole series of operations will be obtained,
should the observed bearing of H from the meridian line nas at the
last station a, that is, the angle nAH, be found to agree with the
observed bearing of a from the meridian line nнs at the first station
H. When this agreement takes place the work is said to close
accurately.
The survey of a road or an enclosure, by following the course of the
former, or the contour of the latter, may be performed by simply
observing with a surveying-compass or a circumferentor the bearings
of the several station-lines from the magnetic meridian, and measuring
their lengths; and one of these instruments is generally employed
when great accuracy is not required.
The plane table, which is also occasionally employed for surveying
ground, is a square board fitted upon a tripod-stand and furnished
with compass, and with an alidade, or ruler carrying "sights" at the
extremities. Drawing-paper is made fast to the board or table, and the
instrument being set up at any part of the ground which may be
thought convenient, a point is marked on the paper to represent the
place. The alidade is next turned about that point, so that the line of
the sights may be directed to any remarkable objects whose situations
are to be determined, and lines are drawn by the edge of the ruler
in its several positions; then the distance from the instrument to
some one of those objects being measured, and laid down on its line of
direction by a convenient scale, the place of that object on the paper
is obtained. The table is then removed to that object, and fixed by
the needle in the compass-box, so that its edges may be parallel to
their former positions; that is, till the alidade placed on the line.
joining the places of the two objects of the paper is in a direction
tending to the former place of the instrument. In this position, the
alidade being turned about the point which represents the actual place
of the instrument on the ground, lines are drawn as before along the
edge of the ruler, towards the several objects which had been observed
at the preceding station; the intersections of these lines with the
others will determine the places of the objects on the paper.
The length of every line which is to be measured must be obtained
in a direction parallel to the horizon between its extremities: and
the determination of this length is generally a work of considerable
difficulty on account of the inequalities of the ground.
Where great precision is required, it would be proper that the
direction of the line to be measured should be indicated by pickets
previously planted at intervals along it; a cord may be stretched tight
between the two first pickets, and the measurement may be performed
by means of a graduated deal-rod 15 or 20 feet in length, which should
be applied successively to the cord, the place of each extremity of
the rod being marked by a pin pressed into the cord. But when
the ground is nearly level, a measuring-chain is laid upon the
ground itself in the direction of the line to be measured, the leading
man pressing into the ground, at the end of each chain's length, an
iron-pin, which being taken up by the person who follows, the number
of pins so taken up serves to show the number of chains in the
length of the line measured. In ascending or descending any gentle
elevation of the ground, the chain should be held up at the lower end
till it is in a horizontal position, as nearly as the chain-holder can
estimate it; and a plummet being suspended from that extremity, so
as to touch the ground vertically under it, the measurement thus
obtained is in general sufficiently near the required horizontal length
of the line. When the slope of the ground is too great to admit of
this simple method being put in practice, the chain must be stretched
on the ground, and then the angle at which it is inclined to the
horizon being found by some instrument (a small spirit-level furnished
with a graduated arc), the horizontal value of the chain's length must
be computed. And if, at the same time, the vertical height of one
end of the chain above the other be also computed, there will be
afforded sufficient data for determining on paper the form of a vertical
section of the ground in the direction of the measured line.
Where the rise or fall of the ground is considerable, the operation
will be most conveniently and accurately performed by the use of a
theodolite; for this purpose pickets should be set up in the ground, in
the direction of the line to be measured, at every place where a change
occurs in the inclination of the ground to the horizon, and marks made
on them at heights above the ground equal to that of the telescope
belonging to the theodolite; then, while the chainmen are employed
in measuring the length of the line on the ground, the surveyor takes
the angular elevations or depressions of the marks on the pickets, with
respect to the horizon. From the data thus obtained the horizontal
distances between points of ground, and the positions of the points
above or below any assumed horizontal plane, can be computed. In
order to save the trouble of making trigonometrical computations, the
vertical arch of the theodolite usually carries two series of graduations,
from which, by inspection, when the telescope is directed to an object,
the portion of the measured line which should be subtracted from it
in order to reduce it to the corresponding horizontal length may be
found; and also the portion of that horizontal length to which the
vertical height or depression is equal.
This method may be conveniently put in practice when it is required
to exhibit sections of the ground, for the purpose of guiding the civil
engineer in the choice of a line for a road or canal; the great accuracy
with which the section might be determined by a spirit-level not being
requisite. It is now the practice to represent on a plan of the ground
a vertical section in the direction of a proposed line of road, for the
purpose of showing the depths to which the excavations are to be
carried, and the heights to which the embankments are to be raised;
a strong line, as a', b', d', representing the surface of the proposed
road on one side of this line, as at a", d", are shown the profiles of
the requisite excavation; and on the other side, as at b", are shown the
profiles of the embankments: both the heights and depths being deter-
mined with relation to the surface of the road. This method was first
proposed by Mr. Macneil.
The principal and secondary station-lines constitute a triangulation
on the plan of the ground; and when the lengths of these lines have
beeu ascertained by admeasurement, the superficies of the whole track
may be found by the rules of mensuration. The area of each triangle
should be calculated separately from the measured lengths of the lines,
and the several results added together, if all the triangles lie within
the given bonndaries of the tract; should any of them lie on the
exterior of the boundary, the areas must of course be subtracted.
But as the boundaries of the several fields, &c., seldom coincide exactly
with the station-lines, offsets must have been measured from every
such line to each remarkable bend in the nearest boundary; and
between the station-line, the boundary, and every two offsets from the
former, there exists a small trapezoid, whose area must be computed
separately, and either subtracted from or added to the areas of the
triangles formed by the measured station-lines, according as it lies
within or on the exterior of these triangles.
The accurate method just described is not always put in practice by
surveyors. When the boundaries of a field or tract of ground have
numerous small bends, a straight line is sometimes drawn through
portions of the boundary in such a manner that the small areas on
the exterior of the line shall be equal to those which fall in the interior,
this equality being estimated by the eye: the complex figure of the
contour line is thus reduced to one more simple; and the area of the
field or tract is then computed. For this purpose either the plan is
divided into two or more triangles, or by a geometrical construction
the whole irregular figure is reduced to one triangle of equal maguitude,
and in either case the lengths of the sides are measured by the scale
of the plan.
When a road, river, or any boundary-line is surveyed with the
theodolite and chain, the successive operations are registered in a book
according to a particular form, by which a person without any know-
ledge of the ground may be enabled with facility to lay the work
down on paper. This is called the 'Field-Book,' and the manner of
entering in it the series of operations will be best explained by means
of an example. Let G, Q, R, D, be the principal bends in the direction
of a road, and the stations at which, in succession, the theodolite is
placed for the purpose of observing the bearings of the several lines
GQ, QR, and R D, from the magnetic meridian passing through the
first station G.
At a let the bearing of the object, or mark set up at Q, be observed;
let the line aq be measured with the chain, and let offsets be measured
perpendicularly to that line up to any remarkable points near it. At
Q let the bearing of a staff at R be observed; also let the length of
943
SURVEYING.
Q R, and of several offsets from it at remarkable points towards the
right and left hand along that part of the road, be measured. Again
at R let the bearing of the staff at D be observed; let also the length
of R D, and of various offsets along that line, be measured; and
let it be supposed that the like process is continued as far as may be
required.
Each page of the field-book is then divided, as below, into three
columns by two parallel lines drawn down the page: and beginning at
the bottom of the column, the several bearings of objects, the lengths
of the station-lines, and the several offsets from those lines are inserted,
in order, ascending towards the top of the page, the offsets being placed
on the right or left hand of the middle column, conformably to their
positions with respect to the station-line to which they belong. And
it is on this account that the several entries are made in succession
from the bottom upwards. The distances in the middle column
between the stations G and Q are reckoned from G; those between Q
and R are reckoned from Q, and so on, each number in that column
expressing the distance up to the place in the station-line where the
offset whose length is given immediately on the right or left hand of
the number was taken. When it is required to determine by observed
bearings the position of any object, as x, at a distance from the road,
those bearings are also inserted in the field-book at the stations, as Q
and R, where they were observed, and immediately under the bearing
of the next forward station. The mark
The mark is usually put to signify
the word "station."
FORM OF THE FIELD-Book.
at D, near the bridge.
10
40 to a tree.
45 to a gate.
O 4 (D)
two roads unite.
O4,
600
30
500
45
0
300
40
10
200
45
5
100
40
0
N. 40° E.
House X,
S. 31° W.
at
3 (R)
3,
500
35
400
15
42
300
10
To a house
30
200
15
25
100
15
30
0
25
N. 30° 20′ W.
3 (R)
House X.
N. 82° W.
at
2 (Q)
O2,
350
12
300
40
20
200
32
To hedge by roadside 15
To a cottago
100
30
10
20
0
at
N. 7° E.
1 (G)
near the bridge.
50 to side of road.
60 to the river.
The term "plotting" is applied to the process of laying down on
paper the plan of the ground which has been surveyed. If the survey
has been performed by the chain only, the several station-lines consti-
tute the sides of triangles extending over the whole of the ground; the
lengths of those sides are determined by admeasurement, and in places
where they do not coincide with the roads, hedges, &c., offsets are
measured from the sides to the principal bends in those boundaries.
In order to "plot" the survey in this case, a proper scale of gradua-
tions, usually representing" chains" and "links," is chosen, and the
length of one of the station-lines taken from the scale being laid down
on the paper as a base, from the two extremities of it as centres, with
distances (taken from the scale) equal to the measured lengths of the
two sides, which with the base form the first triangle, arcs are de-
scribed to intersect one another; this intersection being joined to the
extremities of the base by lines, the first triangle is constructed. Each
side of this triangle is then used as a base on which another triangle is
constructed with lines taken from the scale equal to the measured
lengths of the sides, and so on. After the triangulation is thus formed,
the offsets are laid down from them. This part of the process is accom-
plished by setting out with compasses upon each station-line, from one
of its extremities, the several distances (taken from the scale) of the
points at which the offsets were measured, drawing lines perpendicu-
larly to the station-line at these points, and on them placing, from the
scale, the measured lengths of the offsets: lines joining the extremities
of these offset lines, either drawn by hand or with a ruler, will repre-
sent the lines of roads, the boundaries of fields, and the like. In order
to facilitate the operation of laying down the offsets from the station-
lines, the surveyor is usually provided with ivory scales graduated to
represent chains and links on the edges; by laying an edge of such
scale along the station line, with the zero of the graduations at one end,
the several distances of the offset-lines from that extremity can be
marked on the line in succession; the scale may then be applied to
each offset-line, and the measured extent marked by means of the
graduations.
SURVEYING.
944
But plotting scales are frequently made with graduations along the
edges, and with a short scale, also graduated on an edge, which is dis-
posed at right angles to the length of the principal scale, and is capable
of being moved to any part of that scale by having one of its extremi-
ties cut so as to slide in a groove formed in the direction of the length
of the scale. The perpendicular scale is moved along the principal
scale to the graduation which denotes the place of the offset, and the
length of the latter is then marked by the graduations on the perpen-
dicular scale. Since the offsets frequently occur on both sides of the
station-line, the zero of the graduations on the perpendicular scale may
be at some distance from the edge of the principal scale, which is then
placed, not in coincidence with the station-line, but parallel to it at
such a distance that the zero may always be in that line. By this
contrivance, which was first proposed by Major Robe, the offsets from
the line may be marked, whether they be above or below it, without
displacing the principal scale. To find a convenient scale for plotting a
survey, the length and breadth of the whole may be computed approxi-
matively in order to ascertain the number of chains in such length or
breadth, and then the dimensions of the paper in inches being known,
the number of chains in each inch may be formed by proportion.
Plans of estates are usually made from scales of 2, 3, or 4 chains in an
inch, and the linear dimensions, on a plan made from a scale of 3 chains
in an inch, are equal to of the actual dimensions on the ground.
In important surveys, where the process consists in measuring a
base-line, and observing with a theodolite the three angles of every
triangle, the base is laid down on the paper from some scale as before;
and at each of its extremities all the angles contained between the
base-line and visual rays from different objects to that extremity are
set out by means of a protractor. The intersections of the several
lines from the opposite extremities of the base determine the positions
of the objects, and form with the base the first triangles. The sides of
these triangles become then the bases of other triangles, and the angles
observed at the extremities of their sides must be set out by the pro-
tractor. If any of these lines should have been measured by the chain
on the ground, the construction of the triangles by means of the
angles may be verified by measuring the lengths of such lines on the
scale by which the base-line was laid down. Offsets may also be laid
down as already described.
But the practice in ordinary surveys is to observe by the "back
angle," as before described, the bearings which the different station-
lines make with the meridian-line passing through one of the stations,
and to measure with the chain the length of each station-line. These
bearings and lengths, together with the offsets, are registered in the
field-book, and they are generally transferred to the paper in the fol-
lowing manner :-
A line, as N s, is drawn in any convenient part of the paper, gene-
rally in a direction parallel to the right and left sides, to represent the
magnetic meridian; and any point z is chosen in it, at which the
centre of the protractor is placed. Then the bearings, or angles made
with the magnetic meridian by the different station-lines, H K, K C, C L,
&c., are set out by the graduations of the protractor about the point so
chosen, and lines, as z 1, z 2, z 3, &c., are drawn from this point through
the mark made on the paper on setting out each angle. These lines
are so numbered in order to indicate the particular station at which
each angle was observed. Then if the assumed point z on the meridian-
line should be the place of the first station, the first line so drawn is in
the direction of the first station-line; but if the assumed point is not
the first station, the place of this first station must be chosen on the
paper, as at H; and a line drawn through it, parallel to z 1, will be the
direction of the first station-line. Its extremity K, found by setting
out its length from the plotting scale, will be the place of the second
station. Through к a line is to be drawn parallel to z 2, and this will
be the direction of the second station-line, whose length K o must then
be set out as before. This process is to be continued till all the
station-lines have been laid down; when, if the survey should have
been carried round the boundaries of a tract of ground, the second
extremity of the last station-line will, provided the operations have
been accurately performed, coincide with H, the place of the first
station. From these lines the offsets must be set out as before
described.
In order to set out the allotments of land in countries which, like
some parts of North America, are covered with wood, the surveyor
determines on the ground the position of a boundary-line comprehend-
ing an area of a square form, each side of which is six or eight miles in
length. One of these spaces, which constitutes a township, is usually
divided into squares of one mile on each side; and again, these are
divided into squares of half or a quarter of a mile on each side.
The boundary-line of the township is determined by measuring with
a chain a base-line six or eight miles in length, generally along one side
of a square already marked out for some previous township; and at
each extremity of this line carrying out one of equal length perpen-
dicularly to the base. A line joining the farthest extremities of the
last lines completes the square. In order to mark out the two sides
which are perpendicular to the measured base, a circumferentor, or a
large surveying-compass, furnished with plain "sights," and mounted
on a stand, is used. The bearing of the intended line from the mag-
netic meridian being ascertained from the position of the base, and the
instrument being set up at one extremity of that line, the line of the


945
948
SURVIVORSHIP.
SUTTEE.
sights is turned so as to make with the needle of the compass an angle
equal to that bearing; then the surveyor, looking in the direction of
the sights, observes some remarkable tree, and causes the distance from
his station to that tree to be measured, small trees, if such there be
between himself and the object, being cut down. Notches are cut in
the tree in order that it may be distinguished from the others, and the
instrument is removed to the opposite side of the tree. The line of
the sights is then turned so as to make the given angle with the
needle, and the distance of the station to the next remarkable tree in
the line is measured as before. This process is continued to the extre-
mity of the line which is to be set out, and strong stakes are planted
at the end of each mile, half mile, and quarter mile on the line. From
these stakes the lines of division and subdivision are carried out in a
similar manner.
When the allotments are contiguous to a road, or the bank of a river,
a narrow front is measured along the road or river, and the boundary-
lines are carried out, perpendicularly to the front, as far as may be
requisite in order to comprehend between them the intended area.
SURVIVORSHIP. A question of life contingencies is said to be
one of survivorship when a benefit depends upon the order of the
deaths of individuals in such manner that it shall be necessary to
calculate the chance of one individual dying before another in every
year of life. This distinctive name depends therefore entirely upon the
mathematical character of the problem, and of two questions, which
both seem to depend on survivorship in the common sense of the
word, one may really do so, in the technical sense, and not the other.
Thus the question of finding the premium of an assurance on the
death of A, provided в die first, is one of survivorship: but that of
finding the value of an annuity on the life of a, to begin at the death
of B, is not.
The chance of survivorship is that of one individual, now of a given
age, surviving another, also now of a given age. The following table
exhibits the chance of the older life surviving the younger, according
to the Carlisle Table. Thus the chance that 65 shall survive 25 is
110; consequently the chance of 25 surviving 65 is 1-110 or 890;
and it is 890 to 110, or about 8 to 1, that of two persons aged 65 and
25, the elder shall die first.
Elder.
တက
Chance of
Younger. elder surviving
Elder.
Chance of
Younger. elder surviving
younger.
younger.
15
5
•400
85
55
⚫094
20
10
•383
90
60
•113
25
15
•38]
95
65
•147
30
20
⚫375
35
25
⚫372
45
5
40
30
⚫366
50
10
177
•146
45
35
⚫360
55
15
135
50
40
•350
60
20
119
55
45
⚫329
65
25
•110
60
50
•315
70
30
⚫097
65
55
⚫323
75
35
*OSI
70
60
⚫322
80
40
*075
75
65
•303
85
45
⚫059
80
70
⚫320
90
50
•052
85
75
⚫332
95
55
⚫078
90
80
•329
95
85
•462
55
5
•125
60
10
⚫091
25
5
•307
65
15
*085
30
10
•283
70
20
⚫071
35
15
•279
75
25
•061
40
20
•270
80
30
⚫056
45
25
•263
85
35
⚫046
50
30
•251
90
40
55
35
•231
95
45
⚫044
⚫049
60
40
+212
65
45
•194
65
5
•086
70
50
•177
70
10
⚫054
75
55
•177
75
15
⚫048
80
60
•190
80
20
⚫040
85
65
•174
85
25
⚫034
90
70
•191
90
30
⚫033
95
75
⚫300
95
35
*039
35
5
•235
75
5
*057
40
10
•207
80
10
⚫028
45
15
•202
85
15
*024
50
20
•189
90
20
⚫012
55
25
•174
95
25
*029
60
80
•158
65
35
•143
85
5
70
40
•126
90
10
75
45
•104
95
15
⚫040
017
*023
80
50
⚫093
95
5
*C36.
10
LO
SURVIVORSHIP. [JOINT TENANCY.]
SUSPENSION is a term used in law when a seignory, rent or other
profit out of land, by reason of the unity of possession of the seignory,
rent, &c., and of the land out of which they issue, are not in esse for a
ARTS AND SOL, DIV. VOL. VII.
time, but may be revived or awaked. It differs from extinguishment,
which is when the rent, &c.,
which is when the rent, &c., is gone for ever by reason of the estate in
the land being coextensive with that in the rent, &c. (Co. Litt.,
313, a.)
SUSPENSION BRIDGE. [BRIDGE, col. 354, &c.]
SUSPENSION, CENTRE ÖF. [CENTRE, col. 734.]
SUSPENSION, ECCLESIASTICAL, is a mode of censure or
secondary punishment inflicted by the church on persons guilty of
those minor offences which do not deserve the severer penalties of
deprivation or excommunication. "In the laws of the church," says
Bishop Gibson, "we read of two sorts of suspension-one relating
solely to the clergy, the other extending also to the laity.”
"That which relates solely to the clergy is suspension ab officio et
beneficio (that is, the duties and income of his office) jointly, or ab
officio or beneficio singly, and may be called a temporary degradation or
deprivation, or both.' "The other, which relates to the laity also, is
suspension, ab ingressu ecclesiae (that is, from entering the church), or
from the hearing of divine service and receiving, the holy sacrament,
which may therefore be called a temporary excommunication." He also
observes that the two sorts of suspension agree in this, that both are
inflicted for crimes of an inferior nature; that both, in practice at least,
are temporary; and lastly, both, if unduly performed, are attended
with further penalties. (See Gibs., ' Cod.,' tit. xlvi., cap. 3.)
In the Roman Catholic Church various kinds of suspension were
inflicted for a great variety of offences. A few may be mentioned to
illustrate the nature of this punishment. A bishop might be suspen-
ded from wearing the sacred vestments of his order, or from exercising
his power of collating, instituting, or presenting to livings, or from the
exercise of his jurisdiction, or from his office and benefice, or even
from entering the church. These various species of punishment were
inflicted for such offences as delaying to consecrate a church after
proper application, not punishing concubinary priests, or corrupt and
irregular practices in instituting persons to ecclesiastical preferments.
The inferior orders of the clergy and other religious persons might be
suspended from their office or benefice, or from performing service, or
from receiving the sacrament, or from entering the church.
offences so punished were delay or irregularity in the performance of
their duties, not wearing a proper dress, violating the rules of their
order with respect to eating and drinking, neglecting to receive the
sacrament at Easter, or extortion.
The

Suspension was either imposed by sentence after trial, in which case
it must have been preceded by admonition, or was ipso facto upon the
perpetration of certain crimes. (Gibs., ' Cod.,' ubi supra.)
Suspension has been retained as a mode of punishment in the
English church. By the 33rd canon of 1603, a bishop ordaining a
person who has not a proper title, and refusing to maintain him till he
prefer him to some ecclesiastical living, is to be suspended from giving
orders during one year: by the 35th canon, a bishop admitting to
sacred orders any one not properly qualified is to be suspended from
making either deacons or priests during two years; and by the 36th
canon, a bishop ordaining any one who has not subscribed in the
manner required by that canon is to be suspended from giving orders
during twelve months.
It is also declared by the 68th canon that a minister refusing to
christen or to bury shall, except under circumstances particularly
specified by the canon, be suspended by the bishop of his diocese from
his ministry by the space of three months.
The above are the principal cases in which suspension still exists as
a form of punishment in the church of England. With respect to the
laity, this censure is now entirely disused.
SUTTEE (Satt, from the Sanskrit sat, good) properly means a chaste
and virtuous wife, and in ordinary use is applied to one who burns
herself on her husband's funeral pile. The term has been employed
by Europeans to denote the act of self-immolation as practised by
Hindu widows. When this practice was first introduced cannot be
determined with any degree of certainty: it is described by the Greek
writers of the age of Alexander, and by Mohammedan and Christian
travellers of the 16th and 17th centuries. Diodorus (xix. 33) gives an
instance of a suttee which occurred in the army of Eumenes upwards
of 300 years before the Christian era; and he ascribes the zeal for this
kind of self-sacrifice, in most instances, to the infamy which attached
to those widows who refused to conform to the custom. This is also
the view taken by our missionaries; but as Elphinstone ('History of
India,' i.) justly observes, if the motive were one of so general an
influence, the practice would scarcely be so rare. It is not improbable
that the doctrine of transmigration generally held throughout India may
have had some influence in the establishment of the custom of the suttee.
A widow, by burning herself with the corpse of her husband, was to
be immediately released from further migration, and enter at once on
the enjoyments of Heaven, to which by this act she would also entitle
the deceased. Again, perhaps the hope of meeting the departed in the
Swarga (Sahagamana) would be sufficient to induce a faithful wife to
sacrifice herself. But, however ancient, there are in fact no authentic
ancient writings of India, whether legal or religious, which make any
mention of it. It is certain that Manu, in his directions to Hindu
widows (book v.), does not even allude to it. It cannot be denied,
however, that some good Indian authorities recommend the practice,
but by no means command it. According to a summary of the law
3 r
H
847
SUTURE.
and custom of Hindu castes, compiled by Arthur Steele, and printed at
Bombay by order of the governor in 1827, the most virtuous mode of
becoming a suttee is to die of affliction and grief on the husband's
death. The usual practice, indeed, is self-immolation on the husband's
funeral pile; but the many cases under which a widow is excused
becoming a suttee, strongly support the supposition that none of the
Hindu law-books imperatively command it. The success which has
The success which has
attended the attempts of the British government to abolish the suttee,
is a sufficient proof that the natives themselves were not so averse to
its suppression as had been expected. In 1826 the government
declared the burning of a widow without the body of the deceased
(anumarana), and under various other specified circumstances, illegal;
and all persons, whether relations or others, aiding or abetting in such
an act, either before or after the death of the husband, were to be
committed for trial at the circuit courts, and were made liable to the
punishments for murder and homicide. It was, however, not until
1829 that a regulation was passed, on the 14th December, by the
governor-general, Lord W. Bentinck, in council, declaring the practice
of suttee, or of burning or burying alive the widows of Hindus, with
or without the body of the deceased (anumarana or sahamarana), to
be illegal and punishable by the criminal courts. The practice is still
retained in some of the independent governments of India, but is much
less prevalent since its abolition in the English territories.
The mode of burning was the same throughout India, varying only
according to the rank of the deceased or the province where it was per-
formed. The accounts of all Eastern travellers abound with instances
of suttees: it will be sufficient here to give a short sketch of the cere-
mony. The husband is directed by the physician, when there are no
hopes of his recovery, to be carried to the river side, and the wife then
breaks a small branch from the mango-tree, takes it with her, and
proceeds to the body, where she sits down. The barber paints the
sides of her feet red, after which she bathes, and puts on new clothes.
During these preparations the drum beats a certain sound, by which it
is known that a widow is about to be burnt with the corpse of her
husband. On hearing this, all the village assembles. The son, or, if
there be no son, a relation, or the head man of the village, provides
the articles necessary for the ceremony. A hole is dug in the ground,
round which stakes are driven into the earth, and thick green stakes
laid across to form a kind of bed, upon which are laid abundance of
dry faggots, hemp, clarified butter, and other combustibles. The
widow now presents her ornaments to her friends, ties some red cotton
on both wrists, puts two new combs in her hair, paints her forehead,
and puts some parched rice and cowries into the end of the cloth which
she wears. While this is going forward, the dead body is anointed
with clarified butter and bathed, prayers are repeated over it, and it is
dressed in new clothes. Ropes and another piece of cloth are spread
upon the pile. The widow walks seven times round the funeral pile,
strewing parched rice and cowries, and then she ascends the pile, or
rather throws herself upon it.
(Ward's Hindoos, ii. 90; Elphinstone, History of India; Parlia-
mentary Papers on Suttee; Sir John Malcolm's Memoir of Central
India.)
SUTURE, in Surgery, is the method of sewing together the edges
of wounds; and the term is also applied to the threads with which the
operation is effected.
The only wounds in which the application of sutures can be bene-
ficial are those of which the edges, if held together, are likely to unite.
They are therefore improper in all contused wounds, in the majority
of lacerations, and in those wounds which extend so deep that, though
the superficial parts might be brought together, the deep ones would
remain open. But in cleanly-cut wounds, whose edges can be placed
and kept in contact without any painful stretching of the parts adjacent
to them, sutures are, if applied with proper cautions, by far the most
convenient and secure method of obtaining a speedy reunion.
The necessary cautions are, that they should not be allowed to
remain in the wound till they excite acute inflammation, and that if
from any cause the wound become inflamed, they should be at once
removed. In general, thirty-six hours are sufficient for a wound
through the skin and the superficial parts to unite so far that it does
not need sutures to keep its edges in contact. After this time, there-
fore, the sutures should be removed; and in cases of deeper wounds,
and of amputations, it will not be necessary to retain them more than
twenty-four hours longer.
The several kinds of suture employed in surgery are named the
interrupted, the uninterrupted, and the twisted. In the first, the
edges of the wound, having been duly cleaned, are brought together
by several single stitches placed an inch or more part. A threaded
curved needle is passed through the skin from one side of the wound
to the other, so as to include about one-third of an inch of healthy
skin on each side of it, and then, the needle being cut off, the two ends
of the thread are tied pretty firmly in a double knot over the line of
the wound. This is repeated as many times as the length of the
wound requires, and the spaces between the successive sutures, where
the edges of the wound usually gape a little, may be held together by
sticking-plaster. The latter alone will suffice when the sutures are
removed.
*
In the uninterrupted or glover's suture, a single thread is carried
alternately from one side to the other along the whole length of the
|
SWAN.
948
wound, the needle being in each stitch passed from the border of the
wound towards the adjacent healthy skin. There are only two kinds
of cases in which this mode of suture can be usefully employed,
namely-first, in certain wounds of the stomach and intestines, when
those organs are to be returned into the abdomen, and it is of the
highest importance that every part of the opening into them should be
closed, so that their contents may not escape; and secondly, in ordinary
cuts of the palm of the hand or the fingers, where, the cuticle being
thick, the uninterrupted suture may be made without pain.
A
The twisted suture is employed for wounds in those parts of the
skin which are very loose, and in which it is desirable to obtain a very
exact union by the first intention, such as the lips, the eye lids, the
cheeks, &c. Instead of threads, one or more pins are passed across the
wound and through the adjacent skin; and the edges of the former
being brought together, are retained in their places by coils of silk
wound like the figure 8 upon the projecting ends of the pins. This is
the mode of suture commonly employed after the operation for hare-lip.
[HARE-LIP.]
With all kinds of sutures it is of the highest importance that the
dressings over them should be very light and cool. It is probably
owing to the neglect of this caution, and of that already given respect-
ing the time during which they should be retained, that some surgeons
have been led to regard sutures as more mischievous than beneficial,
ascribing to them the injuries produced by the injudicious management
of other parts of the treatment.
SWAN. In England the swan is said to be a bird royal, in which
when at large in a public river or creek, no subject can have property,
except by grant from the crown. In creating this privilege the crown
grants a swan-mark (cygninota), for a game of swans, called in law Latin
deductus (a pastime, un déduit) cygnorum, sometimes volatus cygnorum.
(7 Coke's 'Rep.,' 17.) In the reign of Elizabeth, upwards of 900
corporations and individuals had their distinct swan-marks, some of
which may be seen in Yarrell's 'British Birds,' vol. iii., 121, &c.
Sometimes, though rarely, the crown, instead of granting a swan-
mark, confers the still greater privilege of enjoying the prerogative
right (within a certain district) of seizing white swans not marked.
Thus the abbot of Abbotsbury in Dorsetshire had a game of wild
swans in the estuary formed by the Isle of Portland and the Chesil
Bank. The swannery at Abbotsbury is the largest in the kingdom;
though formerly considerably more extensive, it still numbers many
hundreds of these birds. It is now vested in the earl of Ilchester, to
whose ancestor it was granted on the dissolution of the monasteries.
(7 Co. Rep.,' 17; Hutchins, ‘Dorset,' i. 538.)
The privilege of having a swan-mark, or game of swans, is a free-
hold of inheritance, and may be granted over. But by 22 Edw. IV.,
c. 6, no person, other than the king's sons, shall have a swan-mark, or
game of swans, unless he have freehold lands or tenements of the clear
yearly value of five marks (3l. 6s. 8d.), on pain of forfeiture of the
swans, one moiety to the king, and the other to any qualified person
who makes the seizure. In the first year of Richard III. the inhabi-
tants of Crowland in Lincolnshire were exempted from the operation
of this act upon their petition setting forth that their town stood "all
in marsh and fen," and that they had great games of swans, " by
which the greatest part of their relief and living had been sustained."
(6'Rot. Parl.,' 260.)
Two of the London Companies have games of swans, the Dyers' and
the Vintners' Company, and are, with the crown, the principal owners
of swans in the Thames. The swan-mark of the Dyers' Company is a
notch, called a "nick," on one side of the beak. The swans of the
Vintners' Company, being notched or nicked on each side of the beak,
are called "swans with two nicks," whence by corruption the term
which has been long used as a sign by one of the large inns in London,
swan with two necks."
On the first Monday in August in every year the swan-markers of
the crown and the two Companies of the city of London used to go up
the river for the purpose of inspecting and taking an account of the
swans belonging to their respective employers, and marking the young
birds.
birds. In ancient documents this annual expedition is called swan-
upping, and the persons employed are denominated swan-uppers.
These are still the designations used amongst the initiated, though
popularly corrupted into swan-hopping and swan-hoppers.
The king had formerly a swanherd (magister deductus cygnorum,
'Rot. Parl.,' 16 R. II.; 4'Inst.' 280) not only on the Thames (6 'Rot.
Parl.,' 1 H. VII., fo. 359), but in several other parts of the kingdom
(Abb. Rot. Original.,' 266 b; Cal. Rot. Pat.,' 174 a).
Stealing swans marked and pinioned, or unmarked, if kept in a mote,
pond, or private river, and reduced to tameness, is felony. (Hale,
Pleas of the Crown,' 68.) Stealing swans not so marked or so kept,
or so pursued, is merely a trespass or misdemeanor.
(Dalton's
'Justice,' c. 156.)
Under the 11 Henry VII., c. 17, stealing the eggs of swans out of
their nests was punished by imprisonment for a year, and a fine at the
king's pleasure. But this enactment was superseded by the 1 Jac. I.,
c. 27, § 2, which declares that every person taking eggs of swans out of
their nests, or wilfully breaking or spoiling them, may upon conviction
before two justices be committed to jail for three months, unless he
pay to the churchwardens for the use of the poor 20s. for every egg;
or, after one month of his commitment, become bound, with two
949
950
SWEARING.
SWORD MANUFACTURE.
sureties in 201. a-piece, never to offend again in like manner.
'Calend. Rot. Pat.,' 153 b, 165 b, 166 a, 168 2.
And see
The 2 Henry IV., c. 21, which directs that no lord shall give any
livery or sign to any knight, esquire, or yeoman, contains a proviso,
that the prince may give his honourable livery of the Swan to his lords,
and to gentlemen his menials. (3'Rot. Parl.,' 478 a.)
(See Blomfield's Norfolk; Kemp's Losely MSS.; Archæologia, vol.
xvi.; Colonel Hawker.)
SWEARING, a profane use of the name of the Deity. By the
109th canon, churchwardens are to present those who offend their
brethren by swearing, and notorious offenders are not to be admitted
to communion until they are reformed. Profane cursing and swearing
were first made an offence punishable by law by 20 J. I., c. 21 (con-
tinued by 3 Ch. I., c. 4; 16 Ch. I., c. 4; and 6 & 7 W. III., c. 11).
By the 19 G. II. c. 21, it is recited that these vices were become so
frequent, that "unless speedily and effectually punished, they may
justly provoke the divine vengeance to increase the many calamities
these nations now labour under," and the statute accordingly enacts
that if any person shall profanely curse or swear, and be convicted
thereof on confession, or on the oath of one witness, before any magis-
trate, he shall forfeit, if a day-labourer, common soldier, sailor, or sea-
man, ls. ; if any other person under the degree of gentleman, 2s. ; if of
or above the degree of a gentleman, 5s.; for every second conviction
double, and for every third and subsequent conviction treble. The
penalties are to go to the poor of the parish. If the offence is com-
mitted in the hearing of the magistrate, he may convict without
further proof. Parties who do not pay the penalties and costs may be
imprisoned and kept to hard labour ten days for the penalties, and six
other days for the costs. Magistrates and constables are liable to
penalties if they wilfully omit to do their duty under the act. No
person can be prosecuted except within eight days after he has com-
mitted the offence.
SWEATING-SICKNESS. Ephemera Sudatoria, Ephemera Maligna,
Sudor Anglicus, Hydronosus, are the various names which have been
given to a severe epidemic disease that prevailed in this country and in
some parts of the Continent at different periods during the latter part
of the 15th and the beginning of the 16th centuries. The invasion of
this disease was generally quite sudden, some persons experiencing a
sensation as of a hot vapour extending over the body, while others felt
as if consumed by an internal fire; there was violent fever, pain in the
head and limbs, prostration of strength, hurried breathing, a small
frequent pulse, nausea, great thirst, delirium, and excessive restless-
ness. Shortly after the appearance of these symptoms a profuse
clammy fetid perspiration broke out over the whole body; the thirst
became more intolerable, and the patients either died in a state of
delirium or coma, or recovered as suddenly as they had been first
attacked. Such was the rapidity with which this disease ran its course,
that its victims were sometimes carried off in three or four hours, or
even before the sweating stage had set in; and all danger was con-
sidered to be at an end if the patient survived the first twenty-four
hours. The profuse sweating which characterised the disease was
looked upon as an effort of nature to get rid of some morbific matter
from the system, and the early appearance of this stage was, therefore,
regarded as a favourable circumstance. Accordingly, when persons
were attacked, it was usual to put them immediately to bed, without
even removing their clothes, to enjoin absolute quietude, and to en-
courage the outbreak of the perspiration by heating the room, covering
them well up from the air, and giving them mild cordials. If the
sweating stage were tardy in appearing under the influence of these
means, friction was had recourse to; and if the patient were at the
same time very feeble, drinks of a more stimulating quality were
administered: fumigations with storax, laurel, or juniper berries were
also employed. These remedies were persisted in till the sweating was
fully established. After twelve or fifteen hours the coverings of the
patient were diminished, the apartment was made cooler, and the air
was impregnated with the vapour of vinegar; sleeping was not allowed
at this stage of the complaint unless the pulse was strong, it having
been observed that those who indulged in this propensity seldom woke
again. At the end of twenty-four hours the linen was all changed,
nourishing food was gradually administered; and on the second or
third day, if the weather was propitious, the patients were allowed to
go out. This mode of treatment, which is so different from that pur-
sued in the present day in analogous diseases, does not appear to have
been adopted simply with the view of hastening the accession of the
sweating stage, but from the experience of the injurious influence of
cold in this disease, several fatal cases having been attributed to the
mere exposure of the patient's arms to the air while in bed.
The sweating-sickness is said to have made its first appearance in
this country in the army of the earl of Richmond, on his landing at
Milford Haven in the year 1485. On the 21st of September of the
same year it reached London, where it raged till the latter end of
October. It reappeared in this country during the summers of 1506,
1517, 1528, and 1551. From 1525 to 1530 it visited Holland, Germany,
Denmark, Sweden, Poland, and parts of Russia; and Forestus informs
us (lib. vi., obs. 8) that it broke out in Amsterdam on the 27th of
September, 1529, where it raged but four days, sparing only old people
and children, and attacking above one hundred persons a day. With
respect to the mortality of this disease accounts are somewhat vague.
Bacon informs us that in the first epidemic the patients recovered if
they were attended to in time, but that many died before a remedy
was discovered. The epidemic of 1517 appears to have been particu-
larly fatal, frequently destroying its victims in two or three hours, and
in some places carrying off one-third, and even one-half of the inhabi-
tants: that of 1528 was also very fatal, but was remarkable for its short
duration in each place. The last outbreak of this disease in England
happened at Shrewsbury in the year 1551, and was extremely fatal,
sparing neither age nor sex: it raged from April to September, be-
coming milder in character towards its termination.
The origin and causes of this singular malady are still involved in
considerable mystery. Bacon speaks of it as a terrible and unknown
disease, that had its origin neither in the blood nor in the humours; a
Drs. Caius
surprise of nature, rather than obstinate to remedies.
and Mead believed it to be a modification of the plague; and Dr. Mead
says that it was imported into this country from France, whither it
had been conveyed in 1480, from the island of Rhodes, at that time
besieged by the Turks. Caius affirms that the two epidemics of 1517 and
1528 were brought to England from Florence and Naples, at which
places the plague was then raging, and that it was the same disease,
only modified by climate. Dr. Cullen thought it a variety of typhus;
and Dr. Willan suggested that it might have been produced by some
disease in the wheat at those periods at which it prevailed, just as the
Asiatic or malignant cholera has been attributed to the eating of bad
rice. Opinions are not less at variance respecting the antiquity of this
disease, and its identity with that which still prevails on some parts of
the Continent, to which the term of "La Suette" has been applied.
M. Rayer, without giving a decided opinion on the subject, admits that
although there are notable differences between the two diseases in
point of duration and gravity, yet there is an incontestible analogy
between them. It is perhaps impossible at this distance of time to
decide the question: we shall therefore conclude this article by
referring those who may feel an interest in the subject to M. Rayer's
Histoire de l'Epidémie de la Suette-Miliare qui a régné en 1821, dans
les Départemens de l'Oise et de Seine-et-Oise,' 8vo., Paris, 1822.
SWELL. [ORGAN.]
SWIFTEST PROPAGATION. [UNDULATORY THEORY.]
SWORD MANUFACTURE. Weapons of offence were early fabri-
cated by the cutlers of Sheffield. Holland (Manufactures in Metal')
gives a representation of two men grinding a sword-blade, copied from
a manuscript psalter, written about the time of King Stephen, which
is preserved in the library of Trinity College, Cambridge, and which
probably represents the usual construction of grinding machinery at
that time. The grindstone is mounted upon a horizontal axis, which
one man turns by means of a crank; and the sword, which is straight
and pointed, is pressed down upon its periphery by the other man,
who sits on a beam above the level of the stone, so that his weight
may be conveniently thrown upon the sword, to press it firmly against
the stone.
But while there can be no doubt of the extensive manufacture of
swords in England at an early period, the blades made in Spain and
Italy, and more especially those brought from the East, bore the pre-
eminence. The swords of Toledo were sought after on account of
their admirable temper, in the time of the Moors, and even under the
Romans. It has been supposed that they were indebted for their
valuable qualities to some peculiar property in the water of the Tagus,
which is used in tempering them. In the early period of the French
invasion, the manufactory was removed to Seville, where the national
junta then was; but it was found that the swords manufactured on
the banks of the Guadalquivir were very inferior to those which the
same workmen had made at Toledo. In the time of the crusades, and
down to a much later period, Milan supplied swords of excellent
quality in large numbers. But, celebrated as these and the Spanish
blades deservedly were, those from the East were still more highly
prized, and enormous sums were often given for them, Of all the
sabres, the fame of which has reached this country, those of Damascus
are by far the most noted. Very few persons indeed have seen them ;
and fewer still have been the instances in which the blades themselves
have confirmed those strange stories about their temper which are so
generally circulated, and received among persons who know but little
of the nature of steel. The characteristics ascribed to the real
Damascus blades are, extraordinary keenness of edge, great flexibility
of substance, a singular grain and fleckiness observable upon the
surface, and a peculiar musky odour given out by any friction of the
blade. Their quality, undoubtedly excellent as it must be, has been
greatly exaggerated; the extraordinary powers of execution attributed
to Damascus blades are, in a great measure, dependent upon the
strength and dexterity of the user. A gentleman who purchased one
of these sabres in the East Indies for a thousand piastres, informed
Mr. Holland that, although it was very flexible, and bore a fine keen
edge, it could not be safely bent to more than 45° from a straight line,
and it was not nearly so sharp as a razor; yet, when wielded by a
skilful hand, it would cut through a thick roll of sail-cloth without
apparent difficulty. The swordsman who tried it could, it appears, do
nearly the same thing with a good European blade.
About the year 1689 an attempt was made to improve and extend
the sword manufacture of England by the incorporation of a company
of sword-cutlers for making hollow sword-blades in Cumberland and
951
SWORD MANUFACTURE.
the adjacent counties. The company was empowered to purchase
lands, to erect mills, and to employ a great number of German arti-
ficers; yet the project failed. Owing, apparently, to the parsimony of
the manufacturers, which led them to use inferior materials, and to
employ uuskilful workmen, English sword-blades fell into very ill
repute during the 18th century. In 1783 the sword-sellers of London,
in consequence of the very bad quality of English blades, petitioned
the lords of the treasury for permission to import German swords free
of duty; and this circumstance, by attracting public attention forcibly
to the low state of this branch of British cutlery, led to very impor-
tant improvements. Mr. Gill, of Birmingham, memorialised the lords
of the treasury, stating that he could make sword-blades equal to
those of Germany, and requesting a fair comparison. Circumstances
delayed the public trial which he desired; but in 1786, the East India
Company requiring 10,000 horsemen swords, divided their orders
indiscriminately among English and German manufacturers. Owing
to the exertions of Mr. Gill, by whom some of these swords were
made, a comparative trial was appointed, and every sword sent in was
submitted to a machine recommended by Matthew Boulton, of Soho,
in which the metal was tried by forcing the sword into a curve, so as
to reduce its length from 36 inches to 29 inches. The result was that
2650 of Mr. Gill's swords bore the test, and only 4 were rejected,
while of the German swords 1400 were received and 28 rejected.
The extremely low state of the British sword manufacture at that
time is sufficiently testified by the fact that of the blades sent by other
English cutlers, 2700 were received and 1084 rejected. In addition to
the above-mentioned test, Mr. Gill tried his swords by striking them
flatways upon a slab of cast-iron, and edgeways upon a cylinder of
wrought-iron, which they often cut through. They were so tough,
although formed of cast-steel, that, after cutting a gun-barrel asunder,
Gill would frequently wind the blade round it like a riband, after
which it would recover its original straightness, excepting at the point.
So completely did he establish the fame of his swords, that even Ger-
man officers applied to him for them.
The process of manufacturing swords at Birmingham is as follows:
-The material of which the blade is wrought should be cast-steel
of the very best quality, and wrought with the greatest care. The
bars are heated in the fire, and drawn out upon an anvil by two
workmen with hammers, giving alternate strokes. When the blade
is required to be concave upon the sides, or to have a reeded back,
or some similar ornament, it is hammered between steel bosses or
swages. The blade is then hardened by heating it in the fire until
it becomes worm-red, and dipping it, point downwards, in a tub of
cold water. It is tempered by drawing it through the fire several
times until the surface exhibits a bluish oxidation, which takes place
at a temperature of about 550° Fahr. The sword is then set to the
required shape by placing it on a sort of fork upon the anvil, and
wrenching it by means of tongs in the direction required to cor-
rect any degree of warping which it may have contracted during the
hardening. The grinding is performed upon a stone with either a flat
or fluted surface, according to the kind of blade; and as the uniformity
of the temper is impaired by this process, it is subsequently restored
by a slight heating, after which the blade is glazed with emery, and,
if the instrument be a fine one, with crocus martis, after the manner of
a razor-blade. The sword is then ready for the hilt or handle. Among
the tests to which sword-blades are subjected, is that of bending them
into a curve by pressing the side of the blade against six or eight pegs
driven into a board, in such a manner that, when in contact with all
the pegs, the middle of the blade may be bent six or seven inches from
a straight line drawn between the point and the hilt. A further test
is applied by bending them from a vertical pillar rising from a
board. The temper is also proved by striking the blade smartly upon
a table on both sides, and by severe strokes with the back and edge
upon a block. Mr. Inglis, in his 'Spain in 1830,' describes the trials
to which sword-blades are subjected at the celebrated manufactory of
Toledo. Each sword is thrust against a plate in the wall, and so bent
into an arc forming at least three parts of a circle; and then struck
edgeways upon a leaden table with all the force which can be given by
a powerful man holding it with both hands.
The British cavalry, within a recent period, have been supplied with
swords superior in quality to those before in use, slightly different in
shape, and lighter in weight.
Many plans have been tried for imitating the peculiar waved appear
auce of Damascus blades, which is commonly called damasking. The
Oriental processes have never been satisfatorily described, although
several methods have been devised in Europe for imitating the Eastern
fabrics. MM. Clouet and Hachette have pointed out three methods of
attaining the desired object. The first, which is still pursued by some
French cutlers, consists in scooping out with a graving tool the faces of
a piece of stuff composed of thin plates of steel of different kinds; and
by a subsequent operation filling up the hollows, and bringing them
to a level with the external faces, upon which they form a figured
appearance. The second is called the method of torsion, and is more
generally employed. It consists in forming a bundle of strips of steel,
which are welded together into a bar, and twisted several times about
its axis. It is repeatedly forged and twisted alternately; after which
it is slit longitudinally, and the two halves are welded with their
outer sides together. The surfaces of such a bar have a curious
SWORDS.
952
waved or watered appearance, owing to the inter-twisting of the several
rods of which it is composed. The third, or mosaic method, consists
in preparing a bar in the way last described, then cutting it into short
pieces, and forming them into a faggot; taking care in welding them
together to preserve the sections of each piece at the surface of the
blade. The experiments published some years since at Milan, by Pro-
fessor Crivelli, show that sword-blades of excellent quality may be
produced by a combination of iron and steel. A bar of malleable steel,
about an inch and a half in breadth and one eighth of an inch in thick-
ness, is bound round with iron-wire, at intervals of one-third of an inch.
The iron and steel are then incorporated by welding, and repeated
additions of iron-wire are incorporated in the same way. The com-
pound bar thus formed is then stretched and divided into shorter
lengths, which are subsequently wrought into the required form,
ground, and tempered. By filing semicircular grooves into both sides
of the blade, and again subjecting it to the hammer, a beautiful
damasked appearance is produced; and the figures or waterings are
rendered visible by washing the blades with a menstruum of aquafortis
and vinegar, so as to corrode the surface slightly. The process is said
to have been practised successfully in Austria and Prussia.
Another way of explaining the variegated appearance of Damascus
blades is that of M. Bréant. He supposes that the oriental damask is
not a mixture of steel and iron, but simply cast-steel charged with a
superabundance of carbon; so that, by slow cooling, two distinct com-
binations are formed, the first being simply steel, and the second a
mixture of steel with the excess of carbon, forming a carburetted steel
or cast-iron. These two compounds form a kind of crystallised surface,
which, by washing with acidulated water, assumes a damasked appear-
ance; the parts consisting of pure steel becoming black, while the
carburretted steel remains white.
Besides the numerous contrivances for producing the variegated
appearance of Damascus blades, ingenious processes are resorted to for
ornamenting sword-blades by etching and embossing, and by inlaying
them with gold and silver wire, an art to which the name of damas-
cening is sometimes applied. In the article DAMASCENE WORK, this
process is noticed.
SWORDS. Greek Swords. The earliest and fullest information on
the subject of the Greek swords is in the poems of Homer. With
him the ξίφος, ἄop, and φάσγανον are synonymous terms: the μάχαιρα
is a large knife suspended near the tipos (' Il.,' iii. 271) for the purpose
of cutting anything; the tipos is called μeλávdeтov, a term not very
satisfactorily explained, and άpyupónλov, or studded with silver, an
epithet relating probably to the handle (kúπn), which is said to be of
silver: the scabbard, Koλeds, in later writers called ýên (“Od.,' viii.
404), is covered with ivory.
At a later period coins, vases, and other ancient monuments, exhibit
the form of the Greek sword, which was a short cut-and-thrust blade,
diminishing gradually from hilt to point.
Varieties in the form of the blade and handle are occasionally to be
met with on vases. (Millin., ' Vases Antiques,' pl. 26 and 56.) The Оýên,
or scabbard, sometimes terminates in a knob, the μúns probably of
Herodotus (iii. 64). We have only scanty and incidental notices of the
sword in Greek writers after the time of Homer. C. Nepos ('Iphi-
crates,' c. i.) records that that general introduced a longer sword among
the Athenian infantry. Xenophon ('De Re Eques.,' xii.) prefers the
μáxaipa to the gipos for cavalry, because their position on horseback he
considers more favourable for the cutting than thrusting: in this
passage μáxapa is used synonymously with Konís, which leads us to
suppose it to have been made at that time only for cutting. In later
writers the terms μáxaipa and §ípos are used indiscriminately. (Polyb.,
iii. 114.)
The Greek sword was worn on the left side, suspended by a belt
generally from the shoulder, as in the figure of Meleager on the coins
of Ætolia, but occasionally by a girdle round the waist. On a vase in
Millingen (pl. 23) it is slung more forward, so that the hilt is in the
middle of the breast. The material of the Greek blade was generally
bronze; in later times, iron.
Roman Swords.-The Roman sword was called "ensis," "gladius,"
and "mucro " (though "mucro" originally meant the point of the
sword only; its edge, "acies;" its handle,
❝acies;" its handle, "capulus;" its scabbard,
"vagina"). Polybius gives an accurate description of the Roman
sword used in his day, which had the Iberian short straight cut-and-
thrust blade of finely tempered steel: this had been substituted for
the old Roman sword at the time of the war with Hannibal (lib. vi.;
also 'Fragm.,' xiv., where he speaks of the admirable temper of the
Celtiberian blades). The form of the sword continued from his time
till that of the later emperors, apparently unchanged. Montfaucon
(Antiquités,' vii.) states that the blades of those on the column of
Marcus Aurelius and the arch of Severus are more pointed than on the
column of Trajan, and that they became shorter in the time of Con-
stantine the Great and Theodosius. Stewechius (Comment.' in
Vegetium, p. 64, Vesal., 1670) speaks of a larger kind of sword,
"spatha," under the later emperors. There seems to be no distinction
in size or shape between the swords of the infantry and cavalry on
Trajan's column and other similar monuments. The sword used by
the gladiators was somewhat curved. The Roman sword was worn on
the right side. Montfaucon notices three exceptions to this general
practice on the arch of Septimius Severus; and the spathe already
953
954
SYLLABLE.
SYLLOGISM.
mentioned are said to be worn on the left side. The parazonium
appears to have been the insigne or sword of office of a military
tribune. (Martial, xiv. 29; Raderus, 'Comment.,' in loc.; and Pitisc.,
'Lexicon Antiq. Roman.')
Other Ancient Swords-For the swords of other nations of antiquity,
see Wilkinson's 'Antient Egyptians;' for the Assyrian, the works of
Layard and Botta; for the akiváкns, or Persian sword, and that of
other Eastern people, Leake, 'Athens,' ii.; and for the swords of the
Gauls, Livy, xxii. 46, and Diodorus, v. 30.
In the British Museum are four ancient bronze swords, three of
which have cut-and-thrust blades, varying in length from 10 to 25
inches, and in breadth from 1 to 2 inches. Another, considered to
be Etruscan, is bound with gold wire round the handle, and is about
13 inches long. In Montfaucon ('Antiq.,' vii.) are engravings of three,
two of which, as he states, measured a foot and a half (French), and
the other 30 inches in length. In the Museo Borbonico, vol. v., pl.
xxxix., is an engraving of one having two rings on its scabbard, which
is of wood, covered with plates of metal, and studded with brass;
a handle of another is finished with an eagle's head, and other varieties
are shown in the same work.
SYLLABLE (ovλλaßý). A syllable consists of one or more ele-
mentary sounds of a language uttered in one emission of voice. The
pronoun I is an example of a syllable consisting of but one elementary
sound; and the syllable strange is an example consisting of several
elementary sounds articulated (joined) together. Words which consist
of one syllable are termed monosyllabic; those consisting of two are
termed dissyllabic; those of three, trisyllabic; and those of more than
three are indefinitely termed polysyllabic.
Spoken language is a system of audible signs for the expression of
thought, and written language is a system of signs to express spoken
language, so that written language is two removes from thought.
Syllables, both as words and as parts of words, belong both to spoken
and written language.
In a pronounced syllable two distinct things are observable, namely,
1st, its elementary structure; and, 2nd, the musical properties of the
voice, consisting of those distinctions of sound which are described
under the general terms pitch, loudness, and quality. Thus in the
pronoun I we observe the elementary structure to be the diphthongal
vowel I, as heard in the word isle; and we observe also whether the
syllable be said or sung, that is, whether the condition of voice belongs
to speech or to song: an accurate observer also perceives the precise
degree of pitch and loudness and the character of the quality of voice,
The time which a syllable occupies in pronunciation is termed its
quantity. In solemn and stately discourse the quantities of syllables
are extended beyond their ordinary length; while in rapid colloquy
they are somewhat shortened. The ordinary quantity of a syllable,
when neither extended nor protracted, is the sum total of the quan-
tities of its constituent elementary sounds: thus the quantity of the
syllable nine is the sum total of the quantities of its elementary sounds
n, i, of isle, and n.
In words of more than one syllable, one of them is always made
more conspicuous to the ear than the other, by what is termed stress
or accent. Stress is produced either by an abrupt percussion of voice,
as in the word pepper, or by an extended quantity on a swelling loud-
ness of voice, as in the word amaze. The stressed syllable of a word is
invariably that which receives the modification of voice expressive of
sense and feeling, called emphasis.
The metrical arrangement of language depends on the quantity and
stress of syllables, both of which are inherent; while the pitch, loud-
ness, and quality of voice in which the syllables are uttered are acci-
dental, and belong to the thought and feeling of the speaker.
Dividing words into syllables is a different operation according to
the object in view, thus: 1. When a word is pronounced in widely
separated syllables, to enable a child to appreciate each, as in uttering
the word provided, thus, pro-vi-ded, by which means a child readily
apprehends each successive syllable of the word; 2. When a word is
analysed into its component parts, in order to exhibit its etymology,
and thus lead to a clear apprehension of its signification, as a whole
from knowing that of its parts, as in dividing the word thermometer,
thus, thermo-meter; 3. To divide a word into its syllables, to enable
another to write it with correctness, as the word barometer, thus, ba-
ro-me-ter.
SYLLOGISM (ovλλoyloµos). The object and character of logic are
explained under the word ORGANON; the position of this article in the
present work is explained in LOGIC. Every sentence in which different
assertions are combined to produce another and a final assertion, is
either a syllogism, a collection of syllogisms, or a mass of words with-
out meaning; and when we separate the constituent assertions, and
write the whole under the forms of logic, we are not thereby ceasing
to consider the sentence which contains those assertions, or, as many
fancy, dealing with a new species of ratiocination. All that is called
reasoning, and which cannot be made syllogistic, is not reasoning at
all; and all which cannot easily be made syllogistic, is obscure; for
the syllogism is the simple form in which the act of reasoning is an act
of intuition.
Aristotle defines syllogism thus: "Syllogism is speech or language
in which certain things being assumed, something different from what
is assumed results by virtue of the assumption; and, by virtue of the
assumption, I mean it results through the assumption; and, by
through the assumption' I mean that no external term is required
in order to there being a necessary result." (Analyt. Prior.' i. 1.)
So easy indeed is the deduction, when the premises are properly dis-
posed as preparatory to a syllogism, that many persons doubt the utility
of the syllogism altogether. With these we are not now arguing; we
shall only observe that he must be fortunate in the clearness of his
mind, who, knowing the logical mode, is never obliged to have recourse
to it to destroy ambiguity or heighten evidence; and particularly so
in his opponents, who, in verbal or written controversy, never finds it
necessary to employ it in trying their arguments. The syllogism is the
instrument of self-examination, and the weapon of last resort in dis-
pute; and a bad syllogism, with one of the premises implied only, and
not expressed, is the first resource of fallacy; which last is sometimes
even allowed to remain unrefuted, by neglect of placing it in a logical
form. To bring forward the suppressed premiss is the visible destruc-
tion of every such argument which is logically bad. As an instance,
take the following in a letter from Cardan to Tartalea: "Neither am Í I
moved with envy, for if you are either equal to, or less than myself, I
have no cause for it; and, if you be greater in this art, I ought to
endeavour to equal you, and not to speak evil of you." This is meant
for reasoning, and there are two syllogisms with suppressed premises,
or rather two sorites (a term presently explained), with a suppressed
premiss in each. In one case Cardan assumes that he does not envy
Tartalea because he need not; in the other, that he does not because
he ought to do otherwise: if he meant to assume and assert that he
never did anything which he had no need to do, and always did every-
thing which he ought to do, his reasoning is logical; but if he would
have hesitated to make these assertions, he was then writing fallacy.
In justice to Cardan's logic, however, it is but fair to say, that he was
not the man to hesitate at either assertion. [CARDAN, in BIOG. DIV.]
Every sentence in which the conclusion is a necessary consequence
of previous assertions contained in that same sentence, is a syllogism,
provided that the conclusion be obtained from two distinct assertions,
and two only. Thus, "Some as are BS, for every B is a,' is not a syl-
logism, though logically true. [CONVERSE.] Every assertion may be
reduced to one of four forms, the universal affirmative, the universal
negative, the particular affirmative, and the particular negative. From
these, by combination, all syllogisms are derived; and the laws of
combination, and the manner of expressing them, constituted that
branch of science which is now often turned into ridicule, particularly
as to its notation, and the strange and uncouth words by which the
species of syllogisms were denoted. The following letters always
signify the several species of propositions :-
▲, the universal affirmative; every X is Y.
E, the universal negative; no x is r.
I, the particular affirmative; some Is are Ys.
o, the particular negative; some Is are not Ys.
Since every conclusion must be drawn from the comparison of two
things with a third, a syllogism consists of two propositions, in each of
which the same term occurs compared with another: this term is
called the middle term. Thus, in
Every Y is x,
Every z is Y,
Therefore Every 2 is x,
the middle term. The two first assertions are the premises, the third
Y, the subject of the first assertion, and the predicate of the second, is
is the conclusion. The predicate of the conclusion is called the major
minor premiss is that which contains the major or minor term of the
term; the subject of the conclusion the minor term: and the major or
conclusion. The major premiss is always written first.
either
The order of the terms in the premises and conclusion must be
I.
II.
III.
IV.
TX
XY
TX
XY
ZY
ZY
YZ
YZ
ZX
ZX
ZX
2x ;
and these are called the four figures. The three first are in Aristotle,
the fourth was by tradition ascribed to Galen, and was called Galenic.
In the first figure the middle term is the subject of the major, and the
predicate of the minor; in the second, the predicate of both; in the
third, the subject of both; in the fourth, the predicate of the minor
and the subject of the major. Every particular case of a figure is called
a mood; and since either of the premises may be either of the four
species of propositions, A, E, I, 0, it follows that there are sixteen moods
in each figure, or sixty-four possible moods in all. But of these, many
are inconclusive, and many moods which admit of conclusion in one
figure do not in another. Thus, the mood in the example above is AA,
and if we apply it in the four figures, we have-
Every x is Y Every Y is x
Every z is r Every Y is z
conclusion: every z is x.
Every x is Y
Every Y is z.
The second has none;
Every Y is x
Every z is y
The first has a
that is, for anything to the contrary contained in the premises, we may
either say every z is X, Do is x, some zs are Xs, or some zs are not xs.
955
SYLLOGISM.
It also admits every x is z, but here z is the major term, and not x.
The third admits a conclusion: some Zs are XS. The fourth also
admits a conclusion: some zs are Xs. Consequently, the first figure
has a syllogism AAA, the third and fourth have AAI.
If all the sixty-four cases be examined (a most useful exercise), it
will be found that the following syllogisms are valid. We arrange
them first by figures, then by moods :-
First Figure: AAA, EAE, AII, EIO.
Second Figure: EAE, ALE, EIO, AOO.
Third Figure: AAI, IAI, AII, EAO, OAO, EIO.
Fourth Figure: AAI, AEE, IAI, EAO, EIO.
The following is the statement by moods :-
A,LI
2-4
3
(^^)À¸Ï„ϸ‚ (AE)E‚É‚‚ (AI)I¸I¸‚ (40)0,
(AA)▲¸ÏŽÎ½?
(EA)E,E₂030, (EI)0¸02030±
12
(IA)IŢI,
(01)03.
Here, for instance, we express by (IA)I,I, that the mood LA never
proves anything but I, and that only in the third and fourth figures.
From the preceding we may collect that-
As to figures: any proposition may be proved in the first; none but
negatives in the second; none but particulars in the third; and every-
thing but the universal affirmative in the fourth.
As to moods from premises both negative or both particular, no
conclusion follows: where one premiss is negative, the conclusion is
negative; and where one premiss is particular, the conclusion is par-
ticular.
In order to remember the figures certain words have been long used
by writers on logic, which make a grotesque appearance; but if the
reader will tolerate them till we have gone through an example of each
syllogism, he shall see that those who made them were at least as good
wits as those who laugh at them. The magic words of the fourth
figure are different in different writers; we have taken those used by
Dr. Whately.
First Figure: Barbara, Celarent, Darii, Ferio.
Second Figure: Cesare, Camestres, Festino, Baroko.
Third Figure: Darapti, Disamis, Datisi, Felapton, Bokardo, Feriso.
Fourth Figure: Bramantip, Camenes, Dimaris, Fesapo, Fresison.
Thus the vowels AAA are seen in Barbara, AII in Datisi. The fol-
lowing are instances of each form, with an example which may easily
be reduced to the form.
First Figure.
Barbara.-Every Y is x, every z is Y, therefore every z is x.
Ex-
ample. They must, as men, have faults: or all men have faults, these
persons are men, therefore these persons have faults; strictly, all men
are persons having faults, &c.
Celurent.-No Y is x, every z is y, therefore no z is x. Example.
Those who bribe should not, any more than any other lawbreakers, be
exempt from punishment.
Darii.-Every Y is x, some zs are Ys, therefore some zs are xs.
Example. Exploded doctrines are sometimes true, because capable of
proof.
Ferio.-No Y is X, some Zs are ys, therefore some zs are not xs.
Example. Some of the earlier principles of science are not well
appreciated for want of attention to the usual modes of operation of
the mind.
Second Figure.
Cesare. No x is Y, every z is Y, therefore no z is x. Example. The
presence of horns in this species, and their absence in the other, is a
complete distinction between the two.
Camestres.-Every x is Y, no z is Y, therefore no z is x. The last
example will do: this mood is only a consequence of the convention
by which the major premiss is to be written first, and of the converti-
bility [CONVERSE] of the universal negative proposition.
Festino.--No x is Y, some Zs are Ys, therefore some zs are not xs.
Example. Persons who pretend to form an opinion on philosophical
subjects are oftentimes incapable of doing it properly, from want of
acquaintance with the exact sciences. This example is given purposely,
as falling more naturally into another figure, though capable of ex-
pression in this.
Baroko.-Every x is Y, some zs are not Ys, therefore some zs are not
xs. Example. None but the industrious can succeed, so that there
must be many failures.
Third Figure.
Darapti.-Every Y is x, every Y is z, therefore some zs are xs,
ample. Politics and literature are not necessarily incompatible, for many
persons can be named who have cultivated both.
SYLLOGISM.
956
Bokardo.-Some Ys are not xs, every Y is z, therefore some zs are
not xs. Example. Even industry does not always succeed, for men of
great research have been mistaken.
Feriso.-No Y is X, some Ys are zs, therefore some zs are not xs.
Example. It is not true that all who gave evidence were present, for a,
B, C, &c., were many miles off.
Fourth Figure.
Bramantip.-Every x is Y, every Y is z, therefore some zs are xs.
Example. Among repulsive things are the sciences themselves, for they
are all difficult.
Camenes.-Every x is y, no Y is z, therefore no zis x. Example. No
perfect being can be man, for all men are subject to decay, the un-
failing mark of imperfection. This example would do very well as one
of the most common species of fallacy, that in which the middle term
is used in different senses, so that there is in fact no middle (or
common middle) term. We have seen this argument used somewhere,
perfect being" meaning "morally perfect being," and "imperfection"
including physical as well as moral imperfection.
CC
Dimaris.-Some xs are Ys, every Y is z, therefore some zs are Xs.
Example. Some writers who repeat themselves are amusing, for every
prolix writer does it, and the most attractive books are not always the
I
shortest.
Fesapo.-No x is Y, every Y is 2, therefore some zs are not xs. Example.
Some things which are not much written about are not worth learning;
not that this circumstance is otherwise an index, except in this manner,
that all really useful learning has its opponents, and it is only where
there is opposition that much discussion ever takes place. Here is a
clusion, and explain the sense in which it is to be taken : the preceding
good instance of the case in which the premises both yield the con-
is no syllogism unless the "writing about" the subject in the con-
clusion mean writing about not the subject itself, but whether it be
useful or not.
Fresison.-No x is Y, some Ys are zs, therefore some zs are not xs.
Example. Some things which are cried up can hardly be relics of anti-
quity, for they are valueless. Here is an instance of an argument which,
logically undeniable, may be disputable as to the matter. One of the
premises is "no relic of antiquity is valueless," which many may be
found to deny.
Some other forms have been given, but they are only some of the
preceding with the premises transposed, and which, therefore, do not
obey the conventional rule relative to the precedence of the major
premiss: as, for instance, one named Baralipton (AAI, the last syllable
being only a termination) which we may mention particularly, inas-
much as this word has been very often quoted as a specimen of logical
terms. It runs as follows:-Every Y is x, every z is y, therefore some
Xs are zs. Transpose the premises, and we have the first syllogism of
the fourth figure.
Of all the four figures the first is the most natural, and every mood
of the other three can be reduced to one of the first, in one of the
following ways. It will be seen that every name in the last three
figures begins with one of the initial letters of the first, and thus it is
pointed out to which mood of the first figure each is reducible. Thus
Cesare, Camestres, and Camenes are those which are reducible to
Celarent of the first figure.
The other significant letters of the descriptive words are m, s, p, k,
wherever they occur. By m it is implied that the premises are to be
transposed; by s that the premiss marked by its preceding vowel is to
be converted, whence s follows only E and I [CONVERSE]; by p that the
conversion is to be made in a limited manner, or per accidens [CON-
VERSE]; and by k that the reduction is made by what is called the
reductio ad impossibile, a term which we now explain. It means that
the syllogism can be replaced by one in the first figure, which proves,
not the truth of the conclusion, but the falsehood of its contradictory.
[CONTRARY AND CONTRADICTORY.] For example, take the syllogism
Baroko, or
Every x is Y,
Some zs are not Ys,
Therefore Some zs are not xs.
If the conclusion be denied, it must be by affirming that every z
is X.
Let this be so, then we must have the syllogism Barbara as
follows:-
Every x is Y,
Every z is X,
Therefore Every z is Y.
But, by hypothesis, some zs are not Ys, whence this conclusion con-
Ex-tradicts one of the admitted premises, or must be false. One, then,
of the premises which gives it must be false; but since Every x is y is
supposed true, it must be Every z is x, which is false, or Some zs are
not xs, which is true. This is a specimen of the persevering deter-
mination of the older logicians to make everything reducible to the
first figure.
Disamis.-Some Ys are xs, every y is z, therefore some zs are
Xs. Example. Many things inexpedient, because wrong, are apparently
useful.
Datisi.--Every Y is x, some ys are zs, therefore some zs are xs. The
last example will do for this also.
Felapton.-No Y is x, every y is z, therefore some zs are not xs. Ec-
ample. There are organised bodies to whose existence air is necessary,
and which have no locomotive power, as plants, for instance.
It appears then that few words have ever been invented which have
really so much meaning as the now despised appellations of syllogisms.
Take, for example, Disumis; every letter is a sentence. D means that
the mood of the first figure into which this can be reduced is Darii; I,
that the major premiss is a particular affirmative proposition; S, that
957
958
SYLLOGISM.
SYMBOLS AND NOTATION.
I
the reduction requires the major premiss to be simply converted A,
that the minor is a universal affirmative; M, that the reduction re-
quires the transposition of the premises; I, that the conclusion is a
particular affirmative; S, that the conclusion must be simply con-
verted. We thus change
DISAMIS.
Some Ys are XS,
Every Y is z,
Some zs are XS,
into
DAR
Every Y is z,
Some xs are YS,
Some xs are Z8.
A proper mood was one in which one of the premises spoke of a
single subject, as in "All Frenchmen talk French, Pierre is a French-
man, therefore Pierre talks French." There was much discussion as
to whether such a proposition as "Pierre is a Frenchman" was a uni-
versal affirmative or not, it being obvious on all sides that, whether
or no, it would have in deduction all the properties of a universal
affirmative,
(C
An enthymeme is a syllogism in which one premiss is obviously im-
plied, and is the form in which argument is commonly given. For
example,
He isn't here; I don't see him," implies that the speaker
would affirm himself certain of seeing him if he were there, and is an
enthymeme which, with the suppressed premiss restored, makes the
following syllogism
Fig. 2.
A All that is here is seen by me.
Camestres. E
Therefore E
He
He
is not seen by me.
is not here.
false, some part of any logical proof must be deniable: hence there is
only need to deny the conclusion in order to make the one doubtful
premiss logically deniable.
The conditional syllogism is reducible to an hypothetical one. It is
when, under certain circumstances, the first member affirms a propo-
sition, as in Wherever A is B, C is D.
The dilemma is a double or other compound syllogism, in which two
or more contradictory propositions form each a conclusion with other
propositions, so that from those other propositions necessarily follows
one or other of the conclusions: because of contradictory propositions
one must be true. It is not therefore a syllogism, but a collection of
them. For example, "He must either have been for, against, or
neuter if for, he was unjust; if neuter, he was mean; if against, he
was false; therefore he must have been either unjust, mean, or false.
This presumes the existence of a premiss for each conclusion; as for
example, that the cause is that of oppression, that he is so circum-
stanced that nothing but fear or favour could prevent him from taking
part with the right, and that he has pledged himself to the wrong.
The rules of syllogism may be briefly condensed as follows:-
1. One at least of the premises must be affirmative, and one at least
39
universal; 2, the middle term must enter universally in one of the
premises; and 3, the conclusion must not speak of any term in a wider
sense than it was spoken of in the premiss in which it entered. A
term universally spoken of is either the subject of a universal affirma-
tive, or the predicate of any negative.
The first rule is derived from observation, but might be demon-
strated. The second is seen thus: if the middle term were not uni-
The sorites is a collection of Barbara syllogisms, in which the sup-versally spoken of in one premiss, there might be in reality no middle
pressed conclusion of the first is a premiss of the second, that of the
second a premiss of the third, and so on; as in a is B, B is C, C is D,
D is E, therefore A is E. Here are three syllogisms, namely,
A is B
B is c
A is c
A is C
A is D
c is D
A is D
D is E
A is E
Various attempts were made to classify the manners in which com-
mon argument is to be expressed syllogistically. The only difficulty is
to reduce the expressions to the pure form of simple assertion or nega-
tion. An oblique syllogism was one in which one of the oblique cases
enters the premises in such a manner as to vitiate the purity of the
form. For instance,
The thoughts of man govern his actions,
John is a man,
Therefore John's thoughts govern his actions,
As it stands, this is not strictly a syllogism, and some less idiomatic
expressions must be adopted before it can be turned into one. As,
(Every man) is { a being whose thoughts
{
John is a man,
govern his actions,
Therefore John is a being, &c.
The same thing occurs in a modal syllogism, which is one in which
some modifying expression gives more or less of force to one or both
premises. As
Probably Every Y is X,
Every z is Y,
Therefore Probably Every z is x.
If we consider both matter and form, we have here merely a syllo-
gism in which one premiss is only probable. [PROBABILITY.] But,
considering form only, the perfect deduction may be made as follows:-
Every y is a thing which is more likely than
{
not to be x,
Every z is y, therefore every z is [a thing, &c.]
The inductive syllogism is merely one in which one of the premises
is proved by induction, or by separate proof of every instance: as
when the Ys are known to be A, B, and C, and no more, and Every Y is
x is shown by proving separately that A is X, B is X, 0 is X. There is
nothing peculiar to the syllogism here. [INDUCTION.]
The hypothetical syllogism (so called) is one in which the truth of
one proposition is stated to depend solely on that of another; so that
the first can be affirmed as soon as the second is known to be true,
or the second can be denied as soon as the first is known to be false.
Thus,
If A be B, C is D,
But A is B, therefore a is D.
Or, If a be B, C is D,
But c is not D, therefore a is not B.
Whenever a proof is complete, except in one proposition-when, for
example, we have fully made out that c is D, except only in this that
the proposition " A is B" is not yet proved, the first member of the
hypothetical syllogism lays down the state of the argument. When
all that will prove a proposition is true, the proposition itself is true,
whence there is only need to affirm the one doubtful premiss, to make
the conclusion a logical consequence. Again, when a proposition is
term, or nothing with which to compare the major and minor term.
Thus if we attempt to infer anything from Every x is Y, some Ys are
not zs, we merely see that all the xs are so many of the Ys, or make up
a part of the Ys. Some of the rs (another portion, it may be) are not
zs, so that the common term does not exist, or may not exist. The
third rule is obvious, for no more can be made of any assertion than it
contains, and an argument which asserts something about every x from
premises which only mention some xs, must be illogical.
tion of unproved propositions, or an illogical use of those which are
The various species of fallacies must consist either in the introduc-
proved. We do not feel it necessary to extend this article by entering
into the usual classification of them.
SYLVIC ACID, (CHO) a substance which with pinic acid
[PINIC ACID] constitutes the greater portion of colophony, or common
rosin. When this substance is digested in cold alcohol of specific
gravity 0-833, the pinic acid dissolves, but the sylvic acid remains in-
soluble in alcohol until it is boiled; on cooling, it separates in crystals
of considerable size, the form of which, according to Unverdorben, is
a rhombic prism terminated by four facets, but Laurent represents it
as an acute rhomboid, the edges of which are usually serrated.
Sylvic acid melts below 212°; is insoluble in water, but dissolves
readily in hot alcohol and in ether, and is precipitated by water; it is
soluble also in all proportions in the volatile and fixed oils. Concen-
trated sulphuric acid dissolves and water precipitates it from the acid;
when it has been precipitated from alcohol by water; ammonia dissolves
by the action of nitric acid it is converted into another resinous acid
this acid readily, and the sylvate of ammonia formed, as well as that of
potash and of soda, is soluble in water; most sylvates are however
insoluble in it, but many of them are dissolved by alcohol and
by ether; the sylvate of magnesia especially is taken up by alcohol;
the sylvates of silver and lead are colourless and insoluble in
water.
SYMBOLS, CHEMICAL. [CHEMICAL FORMULE.]
SYMBOLS and NOTATION. The word symbol (from the Greek
sýmbolon, σúµßoλov) means that which is taken with," and a symbol
is a mark which is always attached to some one particular meaning.
Notation (nota, a known mark) is the method of selecting and assigning
meaning to symbols, and the theory of notation (if it yet deserve the
name) includes the consideration and choice of symbols, with the
formation of rules of selection, so as to take the symbols which are
best adapted for the purpose.
This subject might be treated in a very wide manner; for all marks
with understood meanings are symbols, from written words to
direction-posts. A picture is a symbol, the force of which lies in the
resemblance to its object, and many of the earliest symbols must have
been pictorial. It is obvious that a general treatment of the subject
would hardly be within the power of any one person, and that its
extent would be enormous, though it would be desirable to have it
discussed in a more general form than has yet been attained, in order
that its different parts might receive aid from the rest. Symbols are to
the progress of civilisation precisely what mechanism is to that of the
arts,-not a moving force, perfectly dead in themselves, but capable of
being made the medium by which the power is conveyed to its desti-
nation, and adapted to its object. They are the instruments of our
first thoughts and the originators of new ones.
the earliest symbols called out a yet higher intelligence than that
The process by which
which produced them, which last was again employed in perfecting the
symbols themselves, and so on alternately, exactly resembles what has
taken place in the mechanical arts. The earliest and rudest tools were
first employed to make better ones; and every improvement in the use
959
SYMBOLS AND NOTATION.
of force has found one of its best applications in the construction of
machinery itself.
We propose in this article to treat particularly of mathematical
notation, which, like language, has grown up without much looking
to, at the dictates of convenience and with the sanction of the majority.
Resemblance, real or fancied, has been the first guide, and analogy has
succeeded.
Signs are of two kinds: 1st, those which spring up and are found
in existence, but cannot be traced to their origin; 2ndly, those of
which we know either the origin, or the epoch of introduction, or
both. Those of the first kind pass into the second as inquiry advances.
[ALPHABET.] In our present subject we have mostly to deal with the
second class.
Mathematical marks or signs differ from those of written language in
being almost entirely of the purely abbreviative character, since it is
possible that any formula might be expressed in words at length. We
say possible, because it is barely so, not meaning thereby to imply that
the mathematical sciences could ever have flourished under a system of
expressions in words. A well-understood collection of notions, how-
ever extensive, becomes simple as a matter of conception by use and
habit, and thus becomes a convenient resting-point for the mind and a
suitable basis for new combinations of ideas. Now it is the charac-
teristic of the advance of human knowledge that the mind never
grapples at once with all that is contained in the notions under use for
the time being, but only with some abstraction derived from a previous
result, or some particular quality of that result. Hence no symbol
which should contain the representative of every idea which occurred
in the previous operations would ever be necessary; and more than
this, it would even be pernicious from its complexity, as also from its
suggesting details which are not required. The generalisation, or
rather abstraction, which is the distinctive character of the civilised
language as compared with the savage (though the latter is not wholly
without it), must be the ruling process of mathematical notation, as it
is of the advance of spoken language; and in this point of view the
connection of our subject with speech presents more analogies and
gives more instruction than its comparison with the written signs of
speech. The latter is a bounded subject. When once it is agreed
how the different modifications of sound shall be represented, written
language follows immediately; nor do the infinite modes of using
words require any modification of the method of writing them. In
our modern works, for instance, it would be difficult to find many
artifices of notation with which to compare the never-ceasing varieties
of mathematical signs. In mentioning the marks of punctuation and
reference, the italics for emphatic words, and the varieties of print by
which notes are distinguished from text, &c., we have almost exhausted
the list.
The greatest purposes of notation seem to be answered when the
reader or learner can tell what is meant, first, with the utmost cer-
tainty, secondly, with sufficient facility; it being always understood
that the second must be abandoned when it clashes with the first.
Too much abbreviation may create confusion and doubt as to the
meaning; too little may give the meaning with certainty, but not with
more certainty than might have been more easily attained. Thus the
old algebraists, in using a quadratum for a multiplied by A, in their
transition from words at length to simple notation, used ten symbols
where two only are requisite; and those who first adopted the symbol
▲ ▲ lost no certainty, and gained materially in simplicity. The suc-
cessors of these, again, who employed aa, ▲▲▲, ▲▲▲▲, &c., to stand
for the successive powers of A, were surpassed in the same manner by
those who adopted a², 4³, a¹, &c. Beyond this it is obvious the
notation cannot go in simplicity. The symbol which is to represent
n as multiplied together" must suggest all three components of the
preceding phrase-namely, n and A, and multiplied together. In A",
the n and a are obvious, and the position of the letters is the symbol
of multiplication; but, on the other hand, those who teach the
beginner to signify by A2 the square described on the line A, purchase
simplicity at the expense of certainty. The same mathematical phrase
with them stands for two different things, connected indeed, but of
more dangerous consequences from that very connection; for where
similarities exist, the reader should not be made to convert them into
identities. It is of as much importance to impress the distinction of
the things signified as the analogy of their properties.
Certainty, then, and the greatest facility of obtaining it, seem to be
the main points of good notation; and this is true with respect to the
learner of all that has gone before. Grant that the mathematical
sciences are never to advance further, and many alterations might be
made, and many new practices adopted, which would give facility in
acquiring the past, without any introduction of obscurity. But the
future must also be thought of; and no scheme will merit approbation
which enlightens one end of the avenue at the expense of the other.
Notation influences discovery by the suggestions which it makes:
hence it is desirable that its suggestions should be as many, as plain,
and as true, as it is possible. Here we are on quite a different ground:
reason is the builder and settler, but imagination is the discoverer; and
it might turn out that a notation which suggests many and obvious
new ideas, though some of them should be fallacious, would be prefer-
able in its consequences to another of less suggesting power, but more
honest in its indications. And while we speak of positive suggestion,
SYMBOLS AND NOTATION.
960
it must not be forgotten that a notation may be faulty in occupying
the part of the symbol which properly belongs to the extension of
another notation. The latter is thus deprived of its natural direction
of growth, and must find its way elsewhere, to the injury perhaps of
some other part of the symbol. In throwing together a few rules, pre-
viously to a little description of the present state of mathematical
notation, we do not pretend to have exhausted the list of cautions
which the subject requires. It is to be remembered that the language
of the exact sciences, instead of being, as should be the case, a separate
subject, is hardly ever treated at all, and then only in connection with
some isolated parts of the system. With the exception of an article
by Mr. Babbage, in the 'Edinburgh Encyclopædia,' we do not know of
anything written in modern times on notation in general. Much may
be collected, having notation for its specific object, from the writings
of Arbogast, Babbage, Carnot, Cauchy, J. Herschel, and Peacock,
writers who all have considered it necessary, when proposing a new
symbol or modification of a symbol, to assign some reason for the pro-
posal. In general, however, it is the practice to adopt or reject notation
without giving any justification of the course pursued. If it could be
rendered necessary, by the force of opinion, that every author should,
in making a new symbol, explain the grounds, firstly, of his departure
from established usage,-secondly, of his choice from among the
different methods which would most obviously present themselves,-
two distinct advantages would result. In the first place, we should in
most cases retain that which exists, until something was to be gained
by altering it; in the second, research and ingenuity would have a call
into action which does not now exist. We hardly need mention a
thing so well known to the mathematician as that the progress of his
science now depends more than at any previous time upon the pro-
tection of established notation, when good, and the introduction of
nothing which is of an opposite character. We should rather say the
rate of progress; for, however bad may be the immediate consequences
of narrow and ignorant views in this respect, they cannot be permanent.
The language of the exact sciences is in a continual state of wholesome
fermentation, which throws up and rejects all that is incongruous,
obstructive, and even useless. Had it been otherwise, it is impossible
that the joint labours of three centuries and many countries, of men
differing in language, views, studies, and habits, could have produced
so compact and consistent a whole, as, with some defects (though no
two persons agree precisely what they are), the present structure of
mathematical language must be admitted to present.
The following rules and cautions, with respect to notation, are drawn
from observation of the present state just alluded to.
1. Distinctions must be such only as are necessary, and they must be
sufficient. For instance, in so simple a matter as the use of capitals or
small letters, whatever may guide the inquirer to adopt either in one
case should lead him to the same in another, unless some useful dis-
tinction can be made by the change. Thus a writer who in one instance
uses a capital letter to denote a complicated function of small letters
(which is a very desirable mode), will in another part of the same
question employ a small letter for a similar purpose, thus nullifying an
association of ideas which perspicuity would desire to be retained. If
such a course were necessary in the first case, it is still more so in the
second. It is not often that the second part of this rule is infringed;
so small an addition makes a sufficient distinction, that the principal
danger which arises is that of the same notative difference occurring
in too varied senses in different problems.
The tendency to error is rather towards over-distinction than the
contrary. It is surprising how little practice enables the beginner in
mathematics to remember that so slight a difference as that of a and a'
implies two totally different numbers, neither having any necessary
connection with the other. The older mathematicians [ACCENT] over-
did the use of distinctions by their uniform adoption of different and
unconnected letters; and forgot resemblances.
But some
2. The simplicity of notative distinctions must bear some proportion
to that of the real differences they are meant to represent. Distinctions
of the first and easiest order of simplicity are comparatively few; the
complications of ideas of which they are the elements of repre-
sentation are many, and varied to infinity. There is no better
proof of skill than the adaptation of simple forms to simple notions,
with a graduated and ascending application of the more complicated
of the former to the more complicated of the latter.
writers remind us in their mathematical language of that awkward
mixture of long and short words to which the idiom of our language
frequently compels them in their written explanations of the formula.
For example, if there be two words of more frequent occurrence than
any others, they are numerator and denominator; the parts of a
fraction cannot be described under nine syllables. A mathematician
will have occasion to write and speak these words ten thousand times,
for every occasion on which he will have to use the word cusp, of four
letters. A comparatively rare idea, used in an isolated subject, can be
expressed in one syllable, while the never-ending notions of the parts
of a fraction require nine: this he cannot help; but it is in his power
to avoid the same sort of inversion in his notation.
3. Pictorial or descriptive notation is preferable to any other, when
it can be obtained by simple symbols. Many instances occur in astro-
*These words might well be shortened into numer and denomer.
961
962
SYMBOLS AND NOTATION.
SYMBOLS AND NOTATION.
nomy, and the use of the initial letters of words may be cited as a class
of examples: as in ƒ for force, v for velocity, &c.
4. Legitimate associations which have become permanent must not
be destroyed, even to gain an advantage. The reason is, that the loss
of facility in reading established works generally more than compensates
for the advantage of the proposed notation; besides which, it seldom
happens that the desired object absolutely requires an invasion of
established forms. For instance, perhaps the most uniform of all the
notations of the higher mathematics is the use of the letter to signify
an increment which is either infinitely small, or may be made as nearly
so as we please. A few Cambridge writers, some years ago, chose to
make a purely arbitrary change, and to signify by dy, dz, &c., not
increments, but limiting ratios of increments: and students trained in
their works must learn a new language before they can read Euler,
Lagrange, Laplace, and a host of others. Thus day has been made to
stand for dy dx, and the old association connected with dy has (in
the works spoken of) been destroyed. Now if the letter D had been
employed instead, the only harm would have been that the student
would have had to learn a new language before he communicated with
the greatest mathematicians; as it is, many will have to form a new
language out of the materials of the old one, which is a much harder
task. This injudicious innovation is now extinct.
:
3
5. Analogies should not be destroyed, unless false: for true analogy
has been frequently the parent of discovery, and always of clearness.
Thus the real analogy of Σpx▲x and ſpxdx was lost to the eye by the
use of x to signify the latter; an innovation which preceded the
one last-mentioned, and has obtained more approbation in this country,
though now almost extinct. The notation used by Fourier to express
a definite integral, pxdx, will certainly prevent the spread of the one
just alluded to; though this last itself is chargeable with breach of
analogy : forƒ²pxdx², f³pxdx³, &c., ought to represent the successive
integrals of Spxdx. Fortunately, however, the symbols (dx)px
(Sdx)³px, &c., may represent these successive integrals; and thus the
two notations may be combined. For instance, (dx)*px represents
the fourth integral of px, each integration being made from 0 to x.
6. False analogies should never be introduced; and, above all, the
incorrect analogies which custom and idiom produce in language should
not be perpetuated in notation. It is becoming rather common to
make editions of Euclid which are called symbolical, and which supply
signs in the place of many words. To this, if properly done, there
cannot be any objection in point of correctness: nor can we take any
serious exception to the use of AB to stand for the square on AB,
to | for parallel, < for angle, Ir for perpendicular, &c. But when
we come to AB. BC for the rectangle on AB and BC, AB for the square
on AB, we feel the case to be entirely altered.
arithmetical symbols: it is bad enough that the word square should
These are already
have both an arithmetical and a geometrical meaning, and causes plenty
of confusion: a good notation, if it cannot help in avoiding this con-
fusion, should at least not make it worse. At the same time, with
regard to symbolic geometry, we feel some repugnance to introduce it
into the elements, from observing that all the best writers seem to feel
with one accord that pure reasoning is best expressed in words at
length. If it be desirable that a student should be trained to drop
reasoning, except as connecting process with process, and to think of
process alone in the intervening time, it is also most requisite that he
should have a corrective of certain bad habits which the greatest
caution will hardly hinder from springing up while he is thus engaged.
Arithmetic and algebra amply answer the first end; and geometry, in
the manner of Euclid, is the correcting process.
geometry do as well? We will not answer positively, but we must
Will symbolic
say we much doubt it.
7. Notation may be modified for mere work in a manner which
'cannot be admitted in the expression of results which are to be reflected
upon. The mathematical inquirer must learn to substitute, for his
own private and momentary use, abbreviations which could not be
tolerated in the final expression of results. Work may sometimes be
made much shorter, and the tendency to error materially diminished,
by attention to this suggestion.
For example, the complexity of the symbols,
dz dz dz d²z d'z
dx'dy' dx²' dx dy' dy³'
greatly impedes the operations connected with problems in solid
geometry: the letters p, q, r, s, t, which are often substituted for
them, make us lose sight of the connection which exists between the
meanings. But the symbols
Zx, Zy, Zxx, Zay, Zyy,
are not long nor complicated enough to partake much of the disad-
vantage of the complete symbols, while they are entirely free from
that of the isolated letters.
8. In preparing mathematical writings for the press, some attention
ARTS AND SCI. DIY. VOL, VII,
α
should be paid to the saving of room. In formulæ which stand out
from the text, this is not of so much consequence; but in the text
itself a great deal of space is often unnecessarily lost. For example,
in the
it is indispensable in formula to write a fraction, such as ī
line is lost; and, generally speaking, a : b, or a÷b, would do as well
manner in which it here appears; but if this be done in the text, a
in mere explanation.
tolerated in writing, should be avoided, such as √/7, where √/7 would
Also, in printing, redundancies which are
do as well.
A little
9. Strange and unusual symbols should be avoided, unless there be
necessity for a very unusual number of symbols. The use of script
letters, such as A, B, &c., or old English letters, as A, E, a, b,
&c., except in very peculiar circumstances, is barbarous.
attention to the development of the resources of established notation
will prevent the necessity of having recourse to such alphabets. Nor
is it wise to adopt those distinctions in print which are not easily
copied in writing, or which it is then difficult to preserve: such as the
use of A and A, &c., in different senses; even the distinction of
Roman and Italic small letters, a and a, &c., should be sparingly intro-
duced.
10. Among the worst of barbarisms is that of introducing symbols
which are quite new in mathematical but perfectly understood in
common language. Writers have borrowed from the Germans the
abbreviation n to signify 1.2.3... (n-1)n, which gives their
4, &c., should be found in mathematical results.
pages the
the appearance of expressing surprise and admiration that 2, 3,
The subject of mathematical printing has never been methodically
treated, and many details are left to the compositor which should be
turn printer, or some printer mathematician, it is hardly to be hoped
attended to by the mathematician. Until some mathematician shall
that this subject will be properly treated.
The elements of mathematical notation are as follows:-
1. The capitals of the Roman alphabet, and the small letters of the
Italic. The small Roman letters and the Italic capitals are rarely used,
and should be kept in reserve for rare occasions.
2. The small letters of the Greek alphabet and such capitals as are
distinguishable from the corresponding Roman ones, as A, Þ, Y.
3. The Arabic numerals, and occasionally the Roman ones.
Of all these there should be three different sizes in a good mathe-
matical press, and the different sorts should bear a much better
proportion to one another than is usual. The Greek letters seldom set
properly with the Roman ones, and few indeed are the instances in
which such symbols as
€(1+t) 2
amn
written. The handwriting of a bad writer is frequently more intel-
are, as they ought to be, good copies of the manner in which they are
the faults to which the compositor is naturally subject, and which
ligible to the mathematical eye than the product of the press. Among
frequently remain uncorrected by the author, is that of placing bla. ks
or spaces in the manner in which he would do in ordinary matter, by
which he is allowed to separate symbols which are in such close con-
nection that absolute junction would not be undesirable. For instance,
script should be imitated.
cos e for cose, (a b + c d) for (ab+cd). As a general rule, the man:1-
continued, when they become too numerous, by Roman numerals, as
4. Accents, superfixed and suffixed, as in a", These are generally
in a,, a,,,a,,, dix, ɑy
a,,a,,, ɑiv, av, avi, &c.
numerator from the denominator. Of these there are generally not
5. The signs +− x÷: √, and the line which separates the
sizes enough, particularly as to the sign It frequently happens
inconveniently, when the use of a shorter negative sign, as in (x-1)
that such an expression as (x-1) (x-2) (x-3) &c. overruns a line very
the division line of a fraction and the numerator and denominator
(x-2) x-3) would avoid such a circumstance altogether. Between
unsightly spaces very often occur, as in
a+b
c + d
instead of
a+b
c+ d'
with its limits expressed, as in
expressed, as in fo
: the
6. The integral sign.
symbols of nothing and infinity, 0 and ∞.
7. Brackets, parentheses, &c. [ ], ( ), { }, &c. These are often not
properly accommodated to the size of the intervening expressions,
particularly in thickness.
8. The signs of equality, &c., =, <,>.
9. Occasionally, but rarely, a bar or a dot is used over a letter, as
a or a. In some works, accents and letters are placed on the left of a
symbol, as in 'a, a, a. This however should be avoided, as it is
difficult to tell to which letter the symbol belongs; and there are
ample means of expression in what has been already described.
There are no general rules laid down for the use of notation: a few
hints however may be collected from the practice of the best writers
of recent times.
1. When a letter is to be often used, it should be, if possible, a
3 Q
963
SYMMETRY, SYMMETRICAL.
small letter, not a capital. The latter species is generally used for
functions of small letters.
2. The letters d, A, 8, and D, are appropriated for operations of the
differential calculus, and should hardly ever be used in any other sense.
3. When co-ordinates are used, the letters x, y, z, must be reserved
to signify them; x, y, z, and έ, n, S, may be used if different species be
required, and if x', y', z, &c., or x, y, z, &c., should not be judged con-
4. When functional symbols are wanted, the letters p, 4, x, F, f,
4, y, should be first reserved for them; afterwards π, w, T, sometimes
π, È, μ, V.
venient.
22.
• ·
5. The letter π is, by universal consent, appropriated to 3.14159
., and (by the French e) to 2.71828 r to the functional
symbol for 1.2.3.
6. When many operations of differentiation occur, superfixed accents
should be avoided in any other sense than that of differentiation.
7. When exponents are wanted to aid in signifying operations, the
powers should be carefully distinguished. Thus, in a process in which
sin-1 is very much used for the angle whose sine is x, the square
cube, &c., of sinx should not be sin²x, sin³x, &c., but (sinx)2, (sinx)³,
&c. Some writers would have the latter notation employed in all
cases; but this is, we think, asking a little too much.
8. Greek letters are generally used for angles, and Italic letters for
lines, in geometry. To this rule it is desirable to adhere as far as
possible, but it cannot be made universal.
9. Suffixed numerals are generally the particular values of some
function. Thus a, means a function of v, of which the values for
v=0,v=1, &c. are ao, a₁, &c.
|
SYMPTOM.
904
has then no occasion to consider symmetry; that is, figures being
equal and similar, no cases can arise in which it makes any difference
of demonstration whether they be symmetrical or not. When he
comes to solid figures, he assumes a postulate in the garb of a defini-
tion, which dispenses him from the consideration of symmetry;
namely, that solid figures consisting of the same number of equal
planes, similarly placed, are equal. He seems to imagine that such
solids must evidently be capable of being made to occupy the same
space, which, though true as to quantity of space, is not true as to its
disposition. Two solids may be equal in every respect, and yet it may
be impossible (and precisely on account of their symmetry) to make
one occupy the space previously occupied by the other. The two
hands furnish an instance: they give the idea of equality (of size),
similarity (of form), and symmetry (of disposition). Yet they cannot
be made to occupy the same space, so as, for instance, to fit exactly the
same glove; and a sculptor who should cast both hands from the same
mould, would be detected immediately as having given his figure two
right hands or two left hands. Again, suppose two solids, irregular
pyramids for instance, composed of planes similar and equal, each of
one to one of the other. Let coincidence be attempted geometrically:
the two bases must of course be made to coincide. If, then, the two
vertices fall on the same side of the common base, the figures will
coincide altogether; but if the two vertices fall on opposite sides of the
bases, absolute coincidence is impossible. Legendre proposed to call
such solids by the name of symmetrical, in doing which he introduced
the term of common life in an appropriate manner.
In algebra, a function is said to be symmetrical with respect to any
two letters when it would undergo no change if these letters were
interchanged, or if each were made to take the place of the other.
Thus,
x² + a²x+ab+b²x
10. As to the radical sign, va, / a, &c., do not generally mean any
one of the square roots, cube roots, &c., of a, but the simple arith-
The indeterminate root is usually denoted by the
metical root.
exponent. Thus a± √b may be necessary, but a+b has a super-is symmetrical with respect to a and b; interchange would give
fluity.
11. The same letters should be used, so far as possible, in the same
sense throughout any one work; and some preceding good writer
should be followed. As a general rule, those only are entitled to
invent new symbols who cannot express the results of their own
investigations without them.
The writer who is most universally acknowledged to be a good guide
in the matter of notation is Lagrange. This subject is of great
importance; but fortunately it is pretty certain that no really bad
symbol, or system of symbols, can permanently prevail. Mathematical
language, as already observed, is, and always has been, in a state of
gentle fermentation, which throws up and rejects all that cannot
assimilate with the rest. A received system may check, but cannot
ultimately hinder, discovery: the latter, when it comes, points out
from what symbolic error it was so long in arriving, and suggests the
proper remedy.
For the progress of mathematical language, see MATHEMATICS,
RECENT TERMINOLOGY IN; and TRANSCENDENTAL: see also SYMMETRY.
SYMMETRY, SYMMETRICAL (Mathematics). These terms are
now applied to order and regularity of any kind, but this is not their
re summetros'
mathematical meaning. Euclid first used the word
(σúμμeтρos) to signify commensurable, and this well-known Latin word
is in fact merely the literal translation of the Greek: two magnitudes
then were symmetrical which admitted of a common measure. In later
times, and those comparatively recent, the word was adopted both in
geometry and algebra in different senses.
Since symmetrical applies in its etymology to two magnitudes which
can be measured together (by the same magnitude), the term would,
as to space-magnitudes, naturally apply to those which may be made
to coincide. But the term equal had occupied this ground; and when,
in Euclid, the word equal, which was originally defined in the manner
just expressed, had degenerated into signifying equality of area only,
the term SIMILAR entered to express sameness of form, so that figures
having perfect capability of coincidence, or the same both in size and
form, were called equal and similar. The word symmetrical was
therefore not wanted, and was finally introduced to signify that
obvious relation of equal and similar figures which refers to their
position merely, and consists in their corresponding portions being
similarly placed on different sides of the same straight line; so that
coincidence cannot be procured without turning one figure round that
straight line. Suppose, for instance, the front of a building to be
symmetrical draw a vertical line through the middle of the elevation,
and the two lateral portions are equal and similar, as Euclid uses those
words. But they are more than equal and similar; they are sym-
metrical: the right-hand side stands in the right-hand portion of space,
with respect to the dividing line, and in exactly the same manner as
the left-hand side stands in the left-hand portion of space. If the
architect were to preserve equality and similarity, without syinmetry,
he would make two left sides, or two right sides, to his building, but
not one right and one left. In the letter w there is a want of sym-
metry, but not in o: to make w symmetrical, both the inner lines
should be thin, and both the outer ones thick.
Euclid assumes the power of turning a plane round, so as to apply
the faces of two figures to one another, in such manner that, after the
application, the spectator must be supposed to see through the paper
or other imaginary substance of which his plane is the surface. He
x²+b²x+ba+a²x,
the same as before. But this expression is not symmetrical with respect
to a and x, for interchange would here give
a²+x²a +xb+b²α.
An expression is symmetrical with respect to any number of letters
when any two of them whatsoever may be interchanged without altera-
tion of the function. Thus ab+ab² + a²c + ac² + b2c+ bc is symmetri-
cal with respect to a, b, and c. It is not sufficient that certain contem-
poraneous changes should be practicable without producing alteration:
any two must be interchangeable, the rest remaining. Thus a²b+
b2c+ca is unaltered if a become b, b become c, and c become a, at the
same time, but it is not symmetrical; for if a and b only be inter-
changed, it becomes b²a + a²c+c2b, or is altered.
Attention to symmetry is of the utmost consequence in mathematical
notation. Here the word means that quantities which in any manner
have a common relation should have something common in the symbols
of notation; and analogy is perhaps a better word than symmetry.
Suppose, for instance, we had taken, for the equation of a SURFACE OF
THE SECOND DEGREE, ax² + by² + cz² + dxy + exz+fyz + gx+hy+kz+l=0.
Our formule would have been confused masses of letters, no set of
which would have presented any similarity, or have easily remained in
the memory. But in the article cited there is no set of formula of
which more than one need be remembered; the others must be sug-
gested by it.
SYMMETRY, CENTRE OF. [CENTRE, col. 734.]
SYMPATHETIC INK. [COBALT.]
SYMPHONY (ovv, with, and pwvý, sound), a term very differently
understood at different periods of musical history. Some writers,
according to Zarlino (Parte 3za, cap. lxxix.), have considered it as an
instrument of the lyre kind. Others have thought it a sort of drum.
If an instrument, that it was used as an accompaniment-most pro-
bably to the voice-the word in its original signification leads us
naturally to conjecture.
With the moderns, Symphony, or Sinfonia, signifies a musical com-
position for a full band of instruments, and, up to the latter part of
the last century, the word was synonymous with overture; sym-
phonies, and among these several of Haydn's early ones, having been
called overtures. Even at the present day the overture in the com-
poser's score of an Italian opera is usually termed Sinfonia. The
modern symphony generally consists of four movements: a brilliant
allegro, which is commonly preceded by a slow introduction; an ex-
pressive adagio or andante; a minuet with its trio; and a finale.
Instead of the minuet, what is called a Scherzo, a short, animated,
sportive movement, is sometimes substituted. But composers are not
restricted by any rule regarding the number of movements. Mozart's
second symphony in D has but three, besides the slow introduction;
while Beethoven's Pastoral and Choral symphonies may be said to
comprise six or more.
Symphony is a term also applied to the instrumental introductions,
terminations, &c., of vocal compositions; and these are sometimes
called ritornels, from the French ritournelle, or the Italian ritornello.
SYMPIESOMETER. [BAROMETER.]
SYMPTOM (σνμπтwμα, an incident, or coincidence) is any change in
the appearance or functions of the body differen from those which
905
963
SYNAGOGUE.
SYNCOPE.
occur in health, and perceptible to the senses either of the patient or
his physician. Symptoms must not be confounded with signs of
disease. The observation of facts by means of our senses renders us
acquainted with symptoms, but it is by medical reasoning thereupon
that we deduce signs. A patient often knows his own symptoms, but
is nevertheless ignorant of the disease under which he labours.
The signs of disease are inferences drawn by the mind from the
observation of symptoms. The most striking symptoms often furnish
only accessory signs, while the most obscure are the signs characteristic
of the disease. Violent pain in the head not unfrequently attends
inflammation of the lungs, but is a symptom of very small importance,
while slight pain in the side, or a streak of blood in the expectoration,
furnishes a very valuable sign, and helps to disclose the nature of the
affection.
Symptoms are best divided into the essential, which are peculiar to
certain diseases, the accidental, produced by some circumstance of
unusual occurrence, and the common, which are met with alike in
various complaints.
That part of medicine which treats of symptoms is called Symptom-
atology Semeiology is the name applied to the investigation of the
signs of disease, and of their comparative value.
SYNAGOGUE (Zvvaywyń), a word which primarily signifies any
assembly or congregation, but came to be applied, among the Jews, to
places where any assemblies, especially those for the worship of God,
met, or were convened. In the later Hebrew, such places were called
open',
,"house of assembly." There is no trace of synagogues
among the Israelites prior to the Babylonish captivity, nor, in express
terms, until a long time after. It is collected, however, that the
origin of such establishments may be referred to that period. Being
then debarred from their customary religious observances, they were
accustomed to assemble on the Sabbath-day, to hear portions of the
law read and expounded; and those who ultimately returned from
exile kept up this custom in Palestine. (Nehem. viii. 18.) These
assemblies or meetings became in due time fixed to certain places, and
They existed considerably
a regular order was observed in them.
earlier among the Jews settled in foreign parts than in their own
country, where we do not find them until the time of the Asmonæan
princes; but after their introduction they increased rapidly. The
synagogues appear to have been originally erected outside the towns,
in the fields, usually near waters, for the benefit of ablution; but they
were soon introduced into the towns, and were usually on the most
elevated spots. In large towns there were several, and the Jewish
writers affirm that there were 480 in Jerusalem. The assemblages
were at first confined to the Sabbath-days and festivals, but were
latterly extended to the second and fifth days of the week (Mondays
and Thursdays). The services consisted chiefly in prayer, and in the
reading and exposition of the sacred books. At first the readings were
confined to the law, but were at length made to comprehend portions
of the prophets, psalms, and other books. The whole concluded
with a prayer and benediction, to which the congregation responded
"Amen.'
It seems to have been the custom for a synagogue not to be opened
in any place where ten men could not be found of sufficient leisure to
attend to its affairs. Where no separate building existed, a room in
some private house was the place of meeting. There are no ancient
indications that the synagogues had any peculiar form; but each of
them had a kind of altar or table, at which the volume of the law was
read; and at the east end was an ark or chest in which that volume
was kept. The seats were so disposed that the face of the people was
turned towards this sacred repository and towards the elders, who alone
sat with their backs to the ark, and their faces to the people. The
synagogues were used not only for worship, but for holding local courts
of justice, which had cognisance of petty offences requiring no higher
punishment than stripes, which were inflicted on the spot. (Matt. x.
17; Luke, xii. 11; Acts, xxii. 19.) The affairs of the synagogue were
under the direction of several officers: the chief of them was the archi-
synagogus (apxiovvaywyós), or “ruler of the synagogue," who regulated
(αρχισυναγωγός),
its affairs, and without whose leave no one could read or preach.
(Mark, v. 22; Luke, xiii. 14.) Next to him was the officer called
"Sheliach tzibbor," or "angel (messenger) of the church,"
who prayed in behalf of the congregation. The "Chazan," who is
the reader in modern synagogues, appears to have been the "minister"
(Luke, iv. 20) who had charge of the sacred books. As it appears
from Acts, xiii. 15, that there were several archisynagogi, it is probable
that they answered to the committee of elders, by whom the syna-
gogues are at the present time managed.
שְׁלִיהַ צְבּוּר
With some necessary modifications, the ancient usages are still
maintained in the modern synagogues. The highest ground that can
be conveniently appropriated is still chosen for the site of a synagogue.
In this part of the world it extends east and west, with the entrance,
or principal entrance, in the west, that as the people enter, and as they
sit, their faces may be turned towards the land of Canaan. The altar
or desk is on a raised platform surrounded by a wooden rail, and large
enough to contain several persons: the women do not mingle with the
men, but have a separate part or gallery (if there be one), where a
wooden lattice screens them from observation. The men keep their
heads covered in the synagogues.
The first synagogue in England of which we have historical know-
ledge is that which, in the reign of William Rufus, existed at Oxford,
where the Jews were then numerous; but it is likely that they had
one then or before in London also, as the fact that their only burial-
place in England was on the spot now called Jewin Street, indicates
that this was their principal seat. In the reign of Henry III. they
lost a synagogue, which they had erected in the Old Jewry, on the
complaint of the Friars Penitent in the neighbourhood, that they could
not consecrate the elements in quiet on account of their "howlings.
So late as the reign of George II. the only synagogues allowed in
England were the two in London, one for the Portuguese Jews in
Bevis Marks, and the other for the German Jews, in Duke's Place
There is now no restriction; they have several synagogues in London
and at least one in most of the principal towns, and the total number
in England was fifty-three in 1860.
SYNAPTASE. [FERMENT.]
SYNCELLUS (σúуkeλλos), a Greek word, equivalent to concellaneus
in Latin, and meaning a person who inhabits the same chamber (cella)
with another, was used by the Christians of the early and middle ages
as the name of an ecclesiastical dignity. The Syncellus was constantly
´with the patriarch, metropolitan, or bishop, as an inspector of his life
and manners. The successors to the patriarchs and metropolitans were
very often chosen from the Syncelli. Their rank was very high, and
at one time they even claimed precedence over the metropolitans.
Their number was considerable, till by a constitution of Heraclius the
greatest number allowed in one church was two.
The chief of the Syncelli was called Protosyncellus (πρwтоσýукeλλOS),
and the president of their assemblies was called пρwτопрóεdроs TŵV
TрWтоσνуKÉλWV.
The suffragan bishops [BISHOP] were also called Syncelli.
(Du Cange, Glossar. Med. et Inf. Latin., s. v. 'Syncellus.')
SYNCOPATION, in Music, is when the first half of a note begins
on the unaccented or weak part of a bar, and the other half is con-
tinued and terminates on the accented or strong part. [ACCENT, in
Music.] Example :

& &
succession of syncopating minims; but the bar dividing the alternate
In this example the upper part, or melody, consists in fact of a
ones, they can only be written as two crotchets bound together:
though formerly the bar was, in most cases, made to cut the note in
two. Example:-
&c.
Syncopated notes are, by some writers, termed driving notes.
SYNCOPE (σvуkoπý, literally a cutting in pieces, a sudden failure
of power or strength), fainting. A sudden impairment or complete
loss of sensation and voluntary motion, with great diminution or
almost total abolition of the heart's action and of the function of
respiration.
Fainting sometimes occurs quite suddenly, but is usually ushered in
by certain premonitory symptoms. These are a sense of languor and
uneasiness, confusion of the mind, oppression at the chest, dimness of
sight, ringing in the ears, partial cold sweats, paleness of the face, and
coldness of the extremities. These continue for some time, and then
either pass away, or are followed by swooning, a state of complete
faintness, during which the pulse is altogether imperceptible at the
wrist, and respiration nearly ceases. When a fainting fit comes on
suddenly and without any warning, it is usually more profound than
when it has been preceded by the symptoms just enumerated.
Recovery from fainting is frequently attended with palpitation of the
heart, and sensations more distressing than those which ushered in the
attack. The duration of a fainting fit seldom exceeds a few minutes
or even seconds, but instances are on record of persons continuing in a
swoon for
swoon for many hours.
{.
The immediate cause of fainting is, in all instances, some interruption
to the due transmission of blood to the brain. Various circumstances
however, both moral and physical, interfere with the circulation, either
through the medium of the nervous system, or by acting directly on
the heart itself. Persons swoon from any violent and sudden moral
emotion, as terror, grief, disappointment, or even excessive joy. The
sight of blood or of any object which excites disgust occasions some
persons to faint, as do various impressions on the senses, whether
painful or otherwise. Very susceptible individuals have been known
to faint on perceiving the odour of certain flowers, and unpleasant
267
SYNDIC.
smells still more frequently cause faintness. The abstraction of a
large quantity of blood probably has a more immediate action on the
heart; and to the disturbance of the circulation must be attributed
those fainting fits which sometimes occur in the course of diseases of
the heart. The sudden transition from a horizontal to a sitting posture
when persons are very weak, or have lost a large quantity of blood,
probably acts in both ways at once; and fainting sometimes takes place
from other causes, such as heated rooms, &c., of which we cannot well
explain the action.
Fainting may be confounded with apoplexy or asphyxia; and if it
continues for an unusually long time, the person may be supposed to
be dead. A little attention however will prevent our mistaking an
apoplectic person, who breathes loudly and with a snoring noise, for a
person in a swoon, whose respiration is gentle, and almost impercep-
tible, and whose pulse either cannot be felt at all, or is at any rate
extremely weak. Asphyxia is a state of suspended animation, brought
on by some cause interfering directly with respiration; it is marked
by tumor and lividity of the face, while the face of a person in a faint-
ing fit is pale and sunken. The continuance of respiration and of the
heart's action, though very feeble, the temperature of the body, and
the absence of all stiffness of the limbs, would sufficiently distinguish
syncope from death; but it must be very unusual for fainting to con-
tinue for a few minutes without there appearing some evident signs of
life. [ASPHYXIA.]
In the treatment of a person who has fainted, the first point is to
place him in the recumbent posture; and in the case of fainting after
blood-letting, nothing more is in general required. Exposure to the
cool air, sprinkling cold water on the face, and friction of the
limbs may be employed if the fit continues; and a small quantity
of ether or sal-volatile may be given as soon as the person can
swallow. The horizontal posture should be preserved until recovery
is complete.
SYNDIC comes from the Greek "syndicos" (σúvdikos). The Greek
word Syndicos originally signified one who aided another in a matter
before a court of justice, and hence it came to signify generally an
advocate, one who maintained another's cause before a court of justice.
Syndicos also signified at Athens one who was appointed by the state
to attend to its interests in any matter in dispute between Athens and
another state: thus Eschines was elected their Syndicos by the
Athenians in a matter relating to the temple at Delos. (Demosthen.
Пeрl Στepávov, c 42.) There were also functionaries at Athens called
Syndici, who were appointed, after the establishment of the tyranny
of the Thirty, to decide on cases of confiscated property. The word
Syndicus passed into the Latin language. It often occurs in the
Digest' in the sense of an attorney or agent for a university or corpo-
rate body in this sense it is used as synonymous with Actor by Gaius.
('Dig.' 3, tit. 4, s. 1.) In the middle ages also the word Syndicus was
in common use, and was frequently given to the agent or factor
appointed by corporate bodies to manage their common affairs, and
especially to represent them in courts of law. Crevier, in various
places, designates the syndic of the university, or of the faculty of
arts, by the equivalent names of procureur, agent, greffier (iii. 230; iv.
309; v. 459). In the same sense most of the other corporate bodies
in Paris and other French towns used to have their syndics; and the
syndic was also the usual name for the solicitor to the community, or
town-clerk, in the towns of Languedoc and Provence. The clergy, in
like manner, had their Syndics Généraux, Syndics Diocésains, and
Syndics Provinciaux; and Syndics, or agents resident at Paris, were
also appointed by most of the religious orders. The functions of the
different syndics however varied considerably; some were mere agents
or solicitors, others were representatives of their corporations in a
higher sense, sometimes acting as their presidents, and deciding causes,
instead of merely conducting them. The four chief magistrates of the
city of Geneva used to be called Syndics. Among the Burdegalenses
(or people of the district of which Bordeaux is the capital), the office
of Syndic, supposed to have meant originally the defender of a military
post, became in course of time an hereditary title of nobility; of which
several instances occur in Froissart, and other chroniclers of the 14th
century. In more recent times, when Louis XIV., in 1701, directed
the establishment of chambers of commerce in the principal towns of
France, the merchants and other persons composing them were ap-
pointed to be called Syndics du Commerce, or Syndics de la Chambre
de Commerce. For the significations of the various old words derived
from or connected with Syndicus, the reader is referred to Ducange,
Gloss. M. et I. L.,' vi. 928-931; and Supplem.,' iii. 932. We shall
merely mention that the French have the verb "syndiquer," for to
judge or censure, as we formerly said "to syndicate" in the same
sense.
SYNOCHUS and SYNOCHA, forms of fever recognised by most
of the older and many recent writers on the practice of medicine.
Sauvages defined Synochus to be a fever which lasted more than a
fortnight without materially weakening the pulse; whilst Cullen used
this term to express a fever which combined the two forms of inflam-
matory and putrid fever, that is, a fever which at its commencement
was inflammatory and at its close putrid. The inflammatory form of
fever which was characterised by running its course rapidly, and marked
by high excitement of the heart and arteries, was called Synocha by
Cullen. A putrid and low form of fever was called Typhus. The latter
SYNONYME.
969
term is now, however, applied to all continued contagious fevers, and
the former terms are not often used at all. [FEVER, CONTINUED.]
SYNOD, a Greek word, Zúvodos (literally, "a coming together"),
adopted by the Saxons, sometimes used for an assembly of any kind,
but much more commonly for an assembly gathered for ecclesiastical
purposes, and more particularly for an assembly of bishops or presbyters
deputed by various churches or branches of the universal church to
meet at an appointed place, there to deliberate on points of doctrine or
other matters relating to the regulation and welfare of the church.
These synods are also called councils. Of these the highest are called
ecumenical, by which is meant representative of all the different
branches of the church established throughout the habitable world
(oikovμévη). [ECUMENICAL COUNCILS.]
Very few synods or councils have been held in the Protestant
churches. By far the most remarkable is that of Dordrecht or Dort,
which was assembled in the reign of our king James I. Its professed
object was to compose the differences existing between the Calvinian
and Arminian parties in the Protestant church. The former prevailed.
The doctrine of the Church of England respecting councils may be
seen in the Twenty-first Article.
Lists, very full and perhaps complete, of the several councils which
have been held, may be found in many treatises on chronology, particu-
larly the Tablettes Chronologiques,' of M. Dufresnoy; and in 'L'Art
de Vérifier les Dates.'
SYNODIC, SYNODIC REVOLUTION (σúvodos, conjunction of
paths). The synodic revolution of two bodies which move round a
common centre is that portion of one or more actual revolutions in
which they go through all their possible relative positions. The
simplest instance which can be given is that of the two hands of a
watch the absolute revolution of the minute hand is made in one
hour, that of the hour hand in twelve hours; but the synodic revolu-
tion of the two hands is the interval which elapses between any time
at which they are together, and the next time at which the same thing
takes place.
The
Every phenomenon which depends upon the relative position of two
revolving bodies cannot complete all its phases in less than a synodic
revolution. Thus, in the case of the sun and moon, the total dis-
appearance of the latter which takes place when they are nearest in the
heavens, cannot take place again until they are again at their nearest,
that is, until the moon has not only completed the circuit of the
heavens, but has further progressed until she overtakes the sun.
actual revolution of the moon is not an object of interest, except to
those who watch her progress among the fixed stars: the phases which
are visible to all the world depend solely on her motion relatively to
that of the sun. Those who would make a common watch tell time in a
manner resembling the indications of luni-solar phenomena must rub
out the marks of minutes and hours from the dial-plate, and choose for
an interval of measurement that which elapses between successive con-
junctions of the minute and hour hands.
If the two revolutions be made in the same direction, and if T and t
be their respective times, T being the greater, the time of the synodic
revolution is
rt
T-t
For, if x be the time of a synodic revolution, the portion of an actual
revolution which the quicker has gained upon the slower is
2
t
X
-
but by hypothesis this is a whole revolution, since the synodic period
is nothing but the time in which the quicker gains a whole revolution
upon the slower. Equate the last formula to unity, and the resulting
value of x is the first formula. But if the two revolutions be made in
opposite directions, the synodic revolution is made in the time
Tt
T + T
Thus in the case of the hands of a watch, T=12h, t=1b; and of an
hour, or 1h 5m, is the interval of two conjunctions of the two hands.
To find roughly the synodic period of the sun and moon, let us take
the sun's actual revolution at 3654 days, and moon's at 274 days. We
have then
365 × 271
365-271
-29 days nearly.
SYNONYME. The word synonyme is applied to different words,
which mean, or are supposed to mean, the same thing: as valour,
courage; virtue, goodness; vice, wickedness. Though words are often
considered to be synonymous, it is probable that very few words in
the same language really are synonymous. If we compare two lan-
guages, we may find synonymes; thus the words for man, horse, dog,
&c., taken in any number of languages, may be considered synonymous.
Words belonging to the same language may also be synonymous, where
the language has received additions from various other languages,
among which additions there may be terms which are synonymous (in
the modern sense) with native terms of the language into which they
are introduced.. Thus in English there may be Saxon terms which are,
£69
970
SYNTAX.
SYRINGE.
or rather once were, synonymous with other terms which have been
introduced into the English immediately from the Latin, or through
the medium of the Italian and the French. It is said once were,"
because though such words may have been synonymous originally, and
introduced by writers for the sake of variety or harmony, or to avoid
repetition of the same word, it rarely happens that such words con-
tinue to have their original meaning.
SYNTAX. [LANGUAGE; ORGANON.]
SYNTHESIS. [ANALYSIS.]
SYNTHESIS, CHEMICAL. The process of forming a chemical
compound from its constituents; thus the production of phosphoric
acid by the combustion of oxygen in air is a synthetical operation.
The synthesis of inorganic substances is generally easily accomplished,
but that of organic bodies is much more difficult. [ORGANIC COM-
POUNDS, Artificial production of.]
SYNTONIN.
muscles.
A name given by Mulder to the fibrin of the
SYPHON. [SIPHON.]
SYPHON GAUGE. [SIPHON GAUGE.]
SYPHON, REVERSED. [WATER WORKS.]
SYREN, an instrument invented by M. Caguiard de la Tour for
determining the number of vibrations per second of any given note.
T
H
U
O
wwww
h
C
B
h
SYRIAC VERSIONS of the Bible. Of these several exist, two of
which are of considerable importance. 1. "The Peshito (literal)
Version," also called "The Old Syriac Version," is one of the most
ancient and valuable translations of the Bible. The date of its execu-
tion is unknown; but it is certainly of a high antiquity. It is re-
ferred to by Ephrem the Syrian, in the middle of the 4th century, as
generally known and used, and therefore it must have been in existence
a considerable time before. Modern critics have referred its date
variously to the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd centuries, the majority to the 1st.
The opinion now generally adopted is that of Michaelis, who ascribes
the translation of both Testaments to the most flourishing period of
the Syrian Churches, namely, the end of the 1st and the beginning of
the 2nd century.
The version of the Old Testament was certainly made from the
Hebrew, which it closely follows; but there are indications of the
translator having made use of the Septuagint and of the Chaldee para-
phrase. The great antiquity of this version, much higher than that of
any existing Hebrew manuscript of the Old Testament, makes it a
most valuable source of biblical criticism. It is on the whole a very
good translation, but not equal throughout. A different method of
interpretation is followed in different books, for instance in the Penta-
teuch and the Chronicles. From this circumstance Jahn infers that
it was the work of different persons. Several peculiarities tend to
prove that the translators were Christians, and probably converted
Hebrews.

that it
The fanciful name of the instrument was given from the fact that it
is capable of exciting vibrations in water or any other fluid. It con-
sists of a cylindrical chamber of brass c, about 3 inches in diameter,
and 14 inch high, connected with which is a tube B, which fits into
the tube of a double pair of bellows. The upper surface of c contains
a circle of holes, inclined somewhat obliquely, and coinciding with
this circle is another circle of holes, inclined at an angle with the first,
and contained in a disc of metal h, free to move on a vertical axis.
This axis has near its upper extremity a perpetual screw which gives
notion to a wheel U, of 100 teeth, and this acts on a hundreds wheel,
marked H, and this again on a thousands wheel, marked T. Now
suppose each circle of holes to contain 25. On sending a blast of air
through B, it will, in escaping through the holes in c, cause the disc h
to rotate with a speed depending on the force of the blast, and during
each turn of the disc the currents will be cut off and re-opened 25
times, producing in fact, 25 waves of sound. One hole in each disc
would produce, with a given velocity, the same note as 25, but the
larger number produces a louder tone. By regulating the force of the
blast, the disc may be made to vary in speed, so as to produce notes
from the gravest to the most acute. By making the syren give the
note, the velocity of whose vibrations we wish to determine (that of a
tuning fork for example), the total number of rotations of the disc, as
recorded by the dials attached to the wheels U, H, T, divided by the
number of seconds during which the observation is being made, will
give the number of vibrations per second for the note in question. By
a simple adjustment, the endless screw can be put in and out of gear
with the teeth of the wheels in a moment, so that the registration need
not begin until the instrument is sounding the note fully and freely.
A seconds pendulum should also be at hand, beating audibly, so that
the observer may begin to count the moment the screw is put in
gear. Some practice is required to make the instrument sustain the
note for 8 or 10 seconds. Graduated dial-plates and moving hands, as
in a gas-meter, are connected with the wheels U, HI, T, so that the
number of vibrations can be read off by simple inspection.
SYRIAC LANGUAGE. [ARAMEAN LANGUAGE; Language.]
The version of the New Testament contains the four Gospels, the
Acts of the Apostles, the Epistles of Paul (including that to the He-
brews), the First Epistle of John, the First Epistle of Peter, and the
Epistle of James. It is undoubtedly one of the best versions of the
New Testament in any language, and is used as their standard by the
churches of Syria and the East.
The version of the Old Testament was first printed in the Paris
Polyglott, but from an imperfect manuscript; the passages which were
wanting were indifferently translated by Gabriel Sionita from the
Vulgate. This text, revised by the help of four manuscripts, was
reprinted in Walton's Polyglott, but was on the whole carelessly done.
The best version is that of the Rev. C. Buchanan and Professor Lee,
published by the British and Foreign Bible Society in 1816, which has
been translated by the Rev. James Murdock, and was published in New
York in 1851. The version of the New Testament was first brought
into Europe by Moses of Mardin, who was sent by Ignatius, the pa-
triarch of Antioch, on a mission to Pope Julius III. in 1552. It was
first printed at Vienna in 1555, at the expense of the emperor Fer-
dinand I.
There is a later and very inferior translation of the books of the New
Testament which are wanting in the Peshito, namely, the second
Epistle of Peter, the second and third of John, the Epistle of Jude,
and the Apocalypse, made from the original Greek, probably in the
6th century.
2. The Philoxenian, or Syro-Philoxenian Version of the New Testa-
ment, is so called from Philoxenus, bishop of Hierapolis, in the pro-
vince of Aleppo (488-518), under whose auspices it was translated by
Polycarp. It was revised by Thomas of Heraclea in 616. It is trans-
lated from the Greek text, but is very inferior to the Peshito.
In 1842 an imperfect copy of the four Gospels was brought by Arch-
deacon Tattam from the monastery of St. Mary Deipara in Syria, and
is now in the library of the British Museum. It has been carefully
edited, and translated by Dr. William Cureton, who considers its date
to be of the 5th century. It differs from the Peshito, as well as from
the Septuagint and the Greek in many passages, which are pointed out
by Mr. Cureton in the printed edition published in 1858.
There are other Syriac Versions, not of sufficient importance to
require a separate notice.
A list of the editions of the Syriac Versions is given in the 'Biblio
graphical Appendix' to the second volume of Horne's Introduction.'
SYRINGE (from Súpry, a pipe), a portable hydraulic instrument of
the pump kind, commonly employed for the forcible ejection of fluids.
In its simplest form it consists of a cylindrical tube, with a perforated
nozzle at one end, and a piston, to the rod of which a handle is attached.
The tube being held in the left hand, with its nozzle immersed in water,
the piston is drawn to the upper end of the tube by the right hand.
The pressure of the atmosphere upon the surface of the water causes it
to follow the piston, so that the syringe becomes filled with water.
The instrument is then removed from the vessel of water, and, by
pushing the piston back towards the nozzle, its contents may be ejected
with a force proportionate to the power applied to the piston.
The use of syringes for extinguishing fires is alluded to under FIRE-
ENGINE. They were usually made of brass, and held from two to four
quarts each. Those of the former capacity were about two feet and a
half long, and one inch and a half in diameter, that of the nozzle being
half an inch. They were furnished with handles on each side, and
every syringe required three men to work it. The large syringes used
for horticultural purposes might, in many cases, be used with advan-
tage on the first discovery of a fire, when a very small quantity of
water, promptly applied and accurately directed, might prevent serious
mischief. Garden-syringes are made either to throw water in a com-
pact jet, from a simple nozzle with one perforation, or to distribute it
in the form of a shower, from a rose perforated with a number of
971
SYRINGE, CONDENSING AND EXHAUSTING.
small holes. In the latter case it is usual to add a nozzle of compara-
tively large bore, through which water is allowed to enter, although a
self-acting valve prevents it from returning the same way. Several
different caps may be fitted to the same syringe; those for throwing
jets having the injection and ejection nozzles side by side, while those
for producing showers have the injection nozzle in the centre of the
rose. Syringes may also be applied with advantage in washing car-
riages, cleaning windows, and for other useful purposes. Mr. Baddeley
has introduced many improvements in garden-syringes.
In medicine and surgery syringes of various kinds are employed in
administering clysters; in injecting fluids into, or removing them from,
the stomach or bladder; injecting liquids into wounds; and injecting
coloured liquors or melted wax into veins, &c., in anatomical prepara-
tions. The application of the syringe as a stomach-pump is peculiarly
important. In this case a flexible tube is put into the mouth of the
patient, with a guard between the teeth to preserve it from injury, and
a branch pipe is added to supply the syringe with liquid from a vessel,
when it is used for injection, and to afford a channel for the escape of
the abstracted liquid when the syringe is employed to empty the
stomach. By an ingenious arrangement of valves, the same instrument
may be so modified as to act equally well in either way. One method
of using such an instrument is, first to inject a diluent into the
stomach, and then to pump it back again, together with the injurious
matter which it is desired to remove. Another plan is to inject a
fluid into the stomach until an involuntary discharge takes place
through the mouth, and to continue the operation until the stomach is
cleansed, this being indicated by the fluid returning unchanged.
Mr. James Harris, of Plymouth, in 1822, devised a method of pre-
serving oil-colours for painting in syringes formed of tin, or of brass
tinned internally. A similar contrivance, in which the details differ
from Mr. Harris's, although the same principle, that of propelling the
piston by means of a screw, is preserved, has been brought into use;
but tubes of very thin metal, from which the colour is expressed by
collapsing the tube between the finger and thumb, without the use of
a piston, have nearly superseded all other contrivances.
SYRINGE, CONDENSING AND EXHAUSTING. [AIR-PUMP.]
SYRINGIN. [LILACIN.]
SYRUPS are medicinal solutions of sugar, either in water alone, as
in simple syrup, or in liquids charged with some peculiar principle of
an active kind, such as senna or buckthorn, or merely grateful from its
colour or fragrance, or both, such as syrup of violets. These must be
of a proper consistence, either by having a suitable quantity of sugar
added to the water at first, or by subsequent evaporation of the super-
fluous water. The former is the preferable mode, as the syrup keeps
better. The purest and most thoroughly refined sugar should be
employed, and generally in the proportion of two parts of sugar to one
of fluid. Less sugar is needed where acid syrups are to be made, as in
syrup of mulberries, and still less where vinous syrups are made.
When made, the syrup is to be preserved in closely-stopped bottles,
and kept in a cool place, the temperature of which never exceeds 55°
Fahr.; but, with every precaution, fermentation is apt to occur, par-
ticularly if warm or boiling water has been employed to extract the
vegetable principle, when cold water is most appropriate so also with
the syrup of poppies, which, when given in a state of fermentation to
children, too often aggravates the disorder of the bowels it was
intended to alleviate. To counteract the tendency to fermentation,
rectified spirit is enjoined to be added to the sugar-an expensive
proceeding, quite needless when cold water only is used in the pre-
ceding stages. When too little sugar is used, fermentation is still
more apt to occur; when too much, the excess crystallises. Syrups
|
SYZYGIES AND QUADRATURES.
972
are more used for their fragrance or colour than for their medicinal
properties, which few possess to any important extent, except syrup of
poppies, the cause of a larger mortality among children, especially, of
the poor, than any other drug -see Christison on 'Poisons,' and
Reports of the Registrar-General, almost weekly, especially 17th Nov.,
1860. The number of syrups might well be diminished.
SYSTEM (Astronomy). This term is applied to every theory of
the disposition and internal arrangements of the solar system, or of the
material creation generally. Thus we have the system of Ptolemy,
of Copernicus, &c. Perhaps a short description of the distinctive
characters of the different systems may be useful in a work of
reference.
Ptolemaic.—The earth is an absolutely fixed centre, and the planets
revolve in circles about centres which themselves revolve round the earth.
Copernican.-The sun is a centre, round which the planets revolve.
Some of the machinery of the Ptolemaic system is retained.
Tychonic.—The sun is a centre of motion to all the planets, which
revolve round it, while the sun and planetary orbits are carried
together round the earth as a fixed centre.
Semi-Tychonic.—The sun is a centre of motion to Mercury and
Venus, as in the Tychonic, and the motions of the other planets are as
in the Ptolemaic system.
Newtonian.-There is no fixed centre, the sun only approximating
to that character from its greater magnitude. The orbits of the planets
are approximately represented by ellipses, exactly by ellipses of which
the elements vary.
The Newtonian system is frequently called Copernican, from its
rejecting what Copernicus rejected; but it is far from receiving all
that Copernicus received. The introduction of the ellipse is due to
Kepler. We have not included the system of Des Cartes [VORTICES],
because it has reference to physical causes, and contains no peculiarity
of arrangement. [PTOLEMAIO SYSTEM; BRAHE (TYCHO), COPERNICUS,
and NEWTON, in BIOG. DIV.; PRINCIPIA; GRAVITATION; SOLAR SYS-
TEM, &c.]
:
The term system is also applied to the subdivisions of the solar
system thus we have the terrestrial, Jovial, Saturnian, Uranian
systems.
SYSTEM (Mathematics), a word little used: we hear sometimes of
a system of equations, or a system of curves or surfaces; the former
meaning a set of equations which are related to each other in the same
problem, the latter a class of curves or surfaces which are connected by
any law.
SYSTEM, in the musical language of the Greeks, had the same
signification as the word Scale has in modern music. [SCALE.] Each
of the many genera of the ancients was a system in itself, if we may
venture to assert anything positively concerning a subject which is
involved in much obscurity. [GENERA.]
In modern music the term System is applied to any theory of
harmony, that is to say, of the origin of chords, and of the manner of
treating them in composition. Thus we have the systems of Rameau,
Tartini, Kirnberger, &c. The system of Guido d'Arezzo, or that
ascribed to him, included the elements of our present mode of nota-
tion; also the division of the scales into hexachords, and a mode of
solmisation founded on such division. [GUIDO D'AREZZO, in BIOG. DIV;
HEXACHORDS.]
SYZYGIES AND QUADRATURES. The syzygies of a planet or of
the moon are those points of its orbit at which it is in conjunction or
opposition with the sun: the quadratures are the precisely intermediate
positions. Thus at new and full moon the moon is in syzygies; at
half moon, in quadratures.
073
971
T.
TABERNACLES, FEAST OF.
+
is the thin (tenuis) letter of the dental or palato-dental series. For
the various forms of the symbol by which it is represented, see
ALPHABET. The chief changes to which the letter is liable are as
follows:-
Tis interchangeable with c, as Lat. nuc (nux), Eng. nut. [See C
($ 6).] The resemblance of these letters in Latin manuscripts is so
close, that it is often difficult to distinguish them. Hence there is
much uncertainty in the orthography of many words in that language.
Yet there is no doubt that contio, an abbreviation of conventio (coventio,
in the sense of contio, actually occurs in the so-called bacchanalian
inscription), and nuntius or nountios, an abbreviation of novi-ven-tius
(compare nov-i-tius), should be preferred to the forms concio, nuncius,
which are commonly found in English editions of Latin authors.
T interchangeable with d. [See D.]
T interchangeable with th, whether as pronounced in thin or in the.
Thus the Latin t corresponds for the most part to th in English, as tu,
tres, tenuis, tundo, tum, trudo, torqueo, pater, mater, of the former lan-
guage, severally correspond to thou, three, thin, thump, then, thrust,
throw, father, mother, of the latter. As regards the pair of words,
torqueo, throw, it is worth observing that they both have a double
meaning- -hurl and twist. Even the termination of the third person
in the Latin and old English verbs presents the same analogy, as amat,
loveth.
T, or PT, interchangeable with p. [See P (§§ 7, 8).]
T interchangeable with s. [See S.]
T interchangeable with l. Thus the Latin words lingua (also dingua),
lacr-uma (also dacr-uma), lacerare, ligare (also dicare), severally appear
in English as tongue, tear (subst.), tear (verb), tie. Mitis of the Latin
is allied to mild in English. Compare also the Latin ali-quod, &c.,
with the German et-was, &c. [See L.]
T interchanges with nd. This change is perhaps not common.
Examples are-Lat. et, Germ. und, Eng. and; Lat. sed or set, Germ.
sond-ern, Eng. sund-er, sundry, &c.; Lat. fund-us, Eng. bottom.
T interchangeable with n. Thus from the Icelandic perfect parti-
ciple haldin we have a masc. nom. haldinn (for haldins), and a neuter
nom. haldit; for it is an error to treat the t of this last form as a
neuter suffix, seeing that neuters never differ from masculines except by
curtailment. This change of n with t and d, accounts for the varied
forms of our English participles, holden, molten, melted, felt, and the
Scotch forms in it, as abasit.
T disappears from the beginning of words before l, as in latus, the
so-called participle of fero, but in fact connected with the Latin tollo,
and the Greek τλη-μι, ταλας, τολ-μη. An older form of latus was
perhaps tlatus or stlatus.
T in the middle of words, when flanked by vowels, often disappears.
Thus the Latin words pater, satis, vita, amatus, amata, reappear in
French as père, sez (in the compound as-sez, from ad-satis), vie, aimé,
aimée. Similarly, from the map of Gallia, viewed in connection with
the map of France, may be derived the examples, Autura, Eure; Catu-
riges, Chorges; Catalauni, Châlons (sur Marne).
T at the end of words is frequently dropped. Of the omission of a
final t in pronunciation, the French language has numerous examples,
as in et, fait, est, &c. It is very probable that a final t has in this way
disappeared from the third person singular of many tenses in the
French verb, as il aime, il aimera, qu'il finisse, &c. In the interroga-
tive form aime-t-il, the interposed t really belongs to the verb, and
owes its preservation in this form to the fact that a vowel follows.
It is an error to attribute the insertion of the letter to the necessity of
avoiding an hiatus. Even the Greek language drops this t in the suffix
of the third person, as in TʊTTEL, ETUïTE, for tunteti, etunTETE, Com-
pare the middle forms τυπτεται, ετύπτετο.
Ti before a vowel is often changed to a sibilant represented by s, sh,
ch, &c. Thus from the Latin faction (factio) are derived the French
façon and the English fashion. So avaritia, malitia, vitium, became in
French and English, avarice, malice, vice.
TABERNACLE, THE (is, and sometimes, chiefly in
Numbers, ¡yņ bņa, or ; LXX., oknvǹ, or σkvwua
Tоû μаρтUρíov; that is, the tabernacle of the testimony), was a sacred
building, partaking of the nature of a tent, which was set up by the
Israelities in the wilderness for the worship of God, and carried with
them in their journeys. Hence it is called by Jewish writers "a port-
able temple” (ἱερὸν φορητόν, Philo, ' Opp., ii., p. 146, ναὸς μεταφερόμενος
Kal σUμTEρIVOOTŵr; Joseph., ' Antiq.' iii., 6, 1). It was made under the
direction of Moses, in exact conformity to a pattern shown to him by
God when on Mount Sinai. (Exod. xxv. 40; xxvi. 30, &c.; Heb.
viii. 5.)
Without doubt temples existed in Egypt, and possibly in Palestine,
before the period of the exode; but the Israelites were not in a posi-
tion to raise an edifice while on their migration to the promised land.
T
|
They therefore were directed by Moses to construct a tabernacle. The
description of it is sufficiently given in Exodus xxvi; but the transla-
tion of badgers' skins for the covering, xxv. 5, and xxvi. 14, is an
unfortunate one, as the badger does not exist in south-western Asia,
and would have been also an unclean animal, not likely to have been
selected to have formed any part of the structure. The Hebrew word
is tachash, used nowhere else except in Ezekiel xvi. 10, where it is
stated to be used for the shoes of women. It has been conjectured
that it implied the colour, in which sense the Septuagint and the
Chaldee and Syria versions interpret it, though such interpretation has
no support from the etymology, or in any of the kindred languages.
There is little doubt that it means the skin of some animal. The seal
has been suggested, but that is also a stranger to the region. Niebuhr
and Ehrenburg believe it to have been the skin of a species of dolphin
(the Halicora Hemprichii), which is perhaps the most likely, as the
Arabs of the present day use the skin of that animal for their shoes or
sandals.
Each of the sacred vessels and instruments had its appointed place
in the tabernacle. Near the entrance of the outer court was the
brazen altar of burnt offering, on which were presented all the burnt
offerings and sin offerings which were not required to be offered with-
out the camp. Farther on was the brazen laver, where the priests
were required to wash their hands and feet before they entered into
the tabernacle.
Within the Holy Place was the golden table of shewbread on the
north side, the golden candlestick on the south side, and the golden
altar of incense, with their instruments. In the Most Holy Place was
the ark of the covenant, with its cover, the mercy-seat, the symbol of
Jehovah's throne.
None but the priests were allowed to go into the tabernacle. They
entered it twice a day; in the morning to put out the lights, and in
the evening to light them; and also on the Sabbath to place the new
shew-bread. The Holy of Holies was entered by the high-priest alone,
and by him only once a year, on the great day of atonement. Of
course there was a necessary exception to these rules when the taber-
nacle had to be taken down or set up.
The tabernacle was first set up by Moses on the first day of the first
month of the second year from the Exodus, when the presence of God
was manifested by the shekinah, which filled the tabernacle. When-
ever the camp was at rest, the shekinah was over the tabernacle, as a
cloud by day and a fire by night. The lifting up of the shekinah was
the divine signal for the people to march; and when it again rested in
any spot, there the tabernacle was set up, and the camp was formed
around it. After the conquest of Palestine the tabernacle was set up
in Shiloh, where it remained, with the ark of the covenant in it, till
the latter was carried out to battle and taken by the Philistines just
before the death of Eli. (1 Sam. iv. 16-21.) After seven months the
Philistines, moved by the judgments of God, restored the ark, which
however was not brought back to Shiloh, but to Kirjathjearim (1 Sam.
vii. 1-2), where it remained till David brought it to the city of David
in Jerusalem, and pitched a tent for its reception (1 Chron. xiii.—xvi.).
Here it remained, with a short interruption during the rebellion of
Absalom, till it was placed in the Holy of Holies of Solomon's temple.
(2 Chron. v.)
We have no exact information respecting the history of the tabernacle
during this period. By comparing 1 Sam. xxi., with Mark ii. 26,
we learn that it was at Nob in the time of Saul. At the beginning of
Solomon's reign it was at Gibeon (1 Kings iii.), whence it was taken
by Solomon, and laid up in the Temple, at the time when he removed
the ark. (2 Chron. v.)
The institution of the tabernacle was in perfect accordance with the
spirit of the Israelitish constitution. Jehovah was the king of Israel;
he had promised to be with them, and to go with them in their
journeys; and the tabernacle was his abode. Here the glory which
was the symbol of his presence was displayed, and hither the people
(the priests) attended constantly upon him. (Ps. lxxxiv. 4-7.) When
came to worship him and to inquire his will, while his chosen servants
Israel was firmly settled in the promised land, and a special place was
fixed on for the display of God's presence, the moveable tabernacle
was superseded by the permanent temple. The New Testament
refers to the tabernacle as typical of the blessings of the Gospel.
(Heb. ix.)
TABERNACLES, FEAST OF (Don an, kopтù σxnvwv, oknv-
ornyla), was the last of the three great annual festivals of the Israelites
which required the presence of all the people in Jerusalem (Exod.
xxiii., 16; Levit. xxiii. 34; Numb. xxix. 12; Deut. xvi. 13).
object was to commemorate the dwelling of the people in tents during
their journeys in the wilderness; and it was also a feast of thanks-
giving for the harvest and vintage, whence it is called "the feast of
Its
976
TABES.
ingathering." It was celebrated in the autumn, at the conclusion of
the vintage, and lasted eight days, namely, from the 15th to the 23rd
of the seventh month (Tisri, which corresponds to October). The
first and last days were holy convocations, in which no work might be
done, and the last was the greatest day of all the feast (John vii. 27).
In the opinion of many biblical antiquarians, the feast of tabernacles
properly lasted only for seven days, the eighth being peculiarly" the
feast of ingathering." (Nehem. viii. 18.)
This feast lasted longer than either of the other great feasts; it was
kept with greater demonstrations of joy, and more sacrifices were
offered during its continuance. (Levit. xxix. 12-38.)
During the feast the people dwelt in booths, which were made on
the tops of their houses (Nehem. viii. 16). These booths were made
of the leafy branches of certain trees, which are mentioned in Levit.,
xxiii. 40, and include the citron, the palm, the myrtle, and the willow,
though in Nehem., viii. 15, the olive and the pine are also mentioned.
These booths were meant to represent the tents in which the Israelites
dwelt in the wilderness. In the sabbatical year, the law was read in
the presence of all the people at this feast. (Deut. xxxi. 10-13;
Nehem. viii.)
Like many others of the institutions of the Mosaic law, the feast of
tabernacles was neglected during the period from the settlement of
Israel in Palestine to the Captivity. It was revived in the time of
Ezra and Nehemiah. (Nehem. viii.)
Plutarch (Sympos. iv. 6) gives an account of the feast of taber-
nacles, which he supposed to be in honour of Bacchus.
The later Jews have added other ceremonies to those which are
assigned to this feast in the law. 1. They carry a citron in the left
hand, and a bundle of branches, namely, one of the palm-tree and two
of the willow and myrtle, in the right, with which they walk in pro-
cession round the reading-desks in the synagogues, singing Hosannahs.
This ceremony, which is repeated seven times on the seventh day, is
said to be in commemoration of the taking of Jericho by such a
repeated procession round its walls. (Joshua vi.) 2. On each of the
seven days of the feast they pour out a libation of water. They assert
that this was done anciently before the altar at Jerusalem, with water
brought from Siloa. 3. They assert that lights were burnt in the
court of the women on the first evening of the feast. These lights
were in large golden candlesticks, and their brightness was visible
over all the city.
TABES. This word belongs to a period in the history of medicine,
when nosologists were less informed than they now are of the true
nature of many diseases; and, instead of classifying these according to
their essential characters in reference to the single standard of healthy
function, selected and arranged such signs and appearances only as
were sensibly manifest to the observer, or were described by the patient.
The nomenclature founded on this arrangement consisted in naming
by uninterpreted symptoms: it involved many breaches of natural
affinity, and gave great opportunity for empirical practice. Thus a
cough, a dropsy, a palpitation of the heart, would be spoken of as indi-
vidual diseases; whereas they may on the one hand be joint symptoms
of a single malady (as imperfect valvular action of the heart); or, on
the other hand, taken singly, each would be but a sign, common to
many disorders, which might have no other feature of resemblance,
and might require even opposite treatment. Such a name is "tabes,"
and under it are isolated certain symptoms, afforded by the nutritive
functions in various conditions of unhealth: the acceptation of the
word being a cachexia (or state of chronic ill-health) attended by
emaciation;" in which sense it is synonymous with the words
atrophy" and " marasmus,
"
TABES MESENTERICA. This name is applied to a particular
slowly-disorganising affection of the mesenteric glands, and expresses
the marked emaciation which attends the disease. It is through the
mesenteric glands that the nutritive products of digestion are trans-
mitted in their course to the great current of the circulation; and any
disorder which destroys or obstructs these organs must, in proportion
to its intensity, affect their function, and derange the process by which
healthy materials of renovation should constantly be commingled with
the blood. Hence in part arises the loss of flesh in this form of tabes;
but the direct hindrance of nutrition which the disease involves is not
the sole, though an important cause of the symptom; for the general
ill-health, of which tabes mesenterica is but a part, and other co-existing
complaints, usually co-operate in producing it.
The disease is one among many manifestations of scrofula; and is
essentially the same to the glands of the mesentery as those obstinate
glandular enlargements of the neck, with which the eye is more
familiar, are to their region of the body. From difference of position
and of relations it includes other symptoms and graver consequences
than theirs; but it originates in the same constitutional tendencies,
and follows the same general progress. It belongs, like other forms
of scrofula, to early life; the ordinary period of its invasion being
from the second to the twelfth year. In the Hôpital des Enfans,
of Paris, children are received from a year after birth till the com-
pletion of sixteen years of age; and M. Guersent, the physician of
this institution, states that the disease exists among those admitted in
the proportion of 7 or 8 to 100; and that it is more frequent among
female children than among males.
The morbid appearances on dissection of fatal cases are, a more or
TABLE.
976
less complete transformation of the glands into tubercular masses,
with various consequent or coincident diseases of the adjoining organs.
The glands appear at the commencement of the complaint to be the
seat of a feeble inflammatory action, under which they merely swell
and become preternaturally reddened with blood; but this stage of
simple congestion soon induces a further change, in which the charac-
teristic product of scrofulous inflammations becomes deposited in the
tissue of the gland. The dull white granular tubercles, by which the
infiltration commences, are gradually multiplied in number or increased
in volume; and, in like proportion, the glandular substance itself is
absorbed to make room for the encroaching disease, till at length a
rounded tubercular mass results, varying for each tumour from the
size of a marble to that of an egg. In a still more advanced condition
of the disease suppuration frequently occurs in these tumours, and
they are then seen to contain the cheese-like matter of softened
tubercle mixed with pus. The abscess so formed excites irritation in
its neighbourhood; the folds of peritoneum covering it become glued
together, and its progress occasionally extends to discharging itself
into the nearest intestine, or through the external integument of the
abdomen. A certain amount of inflammation of the peritoneum, with
adhesions and effusion of serum (ascites), attends these latter stages;
and some inflammation and ulceration of the mucous membrane of the
intestines are likewise frequently found.
For a particular account of its causes the reader may refer to those
of SCROFULA. Original weakness of constitution, shown in general
susceptibility to the impressions of disease, in slowness and insufficiency
of reactive and reparative power, is the groundwork of these, and con-
stitutes the main peculiarity of the so-called scrofulous diathesis. But
this weakness may, where inborn, be aggravated, or, where naturally
absent, be artificially produced by a variety of depressing causes; by
insufficient or unhealthy food, by neglect of cleanliness and exercise
and clothing, by residence or constant occupation in ill-ventilated
buildings, by exposure to cold and damp: all of them influences to
which the young of the poor in crowded towns are exposed, and with
which too frequently an inherited predisposition powerfully co-operates.
Derangement of the bowels must be considered the most freuqent
special cause of this particular form of scrofula; the irritations, inflam-
mations, and ulcerations of their mucous surface (of which such full
evidence is given in the state of the tongue and excretions, and in the
tympanitic abdomen) excite corresponding conditions in the absorbent
glands connected with them (precisely as a lesion of the hand irritates
the glands of the axilla), and the inflammation so beginning takes a
course determined by the peculiar constitution of its subject.
As regards symptoms, it may be observed that in its earliest stages
the disease has no signs by which it may be certainly distinguished;
that it is not till the glands are so enlarged as to become sensible ex-
ternally that their affection can be positively declared.
The early
symptoms are those of the intestinal disorder or irritation, which is
acting as a cause of the disease: capricious appetite, irregular and
unhealthy stools, flatulence or occasional vomiting, loaded tongue,
foul breath, harsh skin, sallow complexion, and loss of flesh, with an
accelerated pulse, may have existed for some time, before enlargement
of the abdomen attracts notice. It will then usually be found that
steady pressure on this part causes uneasiness or pain. As the growth
of the glanular tumours continues, the signs of intestinal disease
become more marked; diarrhoea with mucous stools, increased
emaciation, frequent pulse, and evening accession of fever, marking this
stage, in which the tumid abdomen contrasts remarkably with the
wasted limbs and shrunken wan face of the patient. Finally, hectic
fever with exhaustive diarrhoea, or acute abdominal inflammation, or
the progress of the constitutional disease in other organs, or absolute
starvation (atrophia), terminates life.
The treatment of tabes mesenterica must be in accordance with the
general rules for management of scrofula, and consists in that modified
tonic system, to which the name of "alterative " is given.
"is [SCROFULA].
TABLATURE, in Music, is the old mode of notation for instruments
of the lute kind. For this purpose six parallel lines were used, each
representing a string, on which were placed letters referring to the
frets on the neck of the instrument.
frets on the neck of the instrument. The time, or duration, of the
notes was marked by characters over the letters, answering to the
minim, crotchet, &c., and often, as by Mace, in his 'Musick's Monu-
ment,' by the notes themselves. There were different systems of
Tablature; but the subject is not now worth the trouble which a
knowledge of it would demand.
TABLE.* By a table is meant a quantity of information arranged
under heads in such manner that by looking under one head the
general disposition of the whole points out where to look for the
matters of information connected with that head: the object being an
immediate power of reference to any one fact or result without the
necessity of looking at others. In any astronomical table, the matter by
which we enter the table to look for other matter is called the argument;
that which is found by means of the argument has no distinct name;
we might call it the tabular result. It would be useful to generalise
these terms. Thus in a table of contents, the number of the page or
Throughout this article all works which we describe from actual inspection
have the dates uninclosed: all works which we take from others have the
dates ( ) in parentheses.
977
978
TABLE.
TABLE.
chapter is the argument, and the abstract of the matter contained is
the tabular result: in an alphabetical index the principal word, found
by means of its first letter, is the argument; and the number of the
page in which the matter is contained is the tabular result. It is,
unfortunately, useless to say much on any tables except mathematical
ones. Works containing collections of facts, in which the tabular
form ought to be frequently used, are in most instances altogether free
from them: and as to indexes, the art of making them seems to be
lost; very few books, except those on law, have anything deserving
the name. The reason is obvious enough: where proper information
is not given, the table shows the spot where it ought to be, vacant;
and a good index points out not only what is in the work, but also
that which is not. For instance, to take a table which we should only
have inserted in this article in mere illustration, the Numerorum
Mysteria,' of Peter Bungus (2nd ed. Bergomi, 1591) is a table of
numbers. The argument is the number sought, the tabular result is a
list of the hyper-arithmetical properties of the number. Thus, turning
to 666, we find all the modes of interpretation which a zealous
adherent of Rome could give, including Martin Luther, who satisfies
the equation, both in Latin and Hebrew, as perfectly as the average
run of solutions. But 667 is not in the table; so that we see it has
no mystery about it.
so is
When the matter sought for is found by one argument only, the
table is said to be of single entry; when by two, of double entry.
Thus the common multiplication table is one of double entry; and
any chronological table which consists of more than one column.
A table is, of course, used after the manner of a dictionary; and the
chief plague attending the use is the constant turning of the leaves.
The trouble which this gives may be lessened by cutting off successive
lengths on the right-hand margius, as is done in the indexes to ledgers,
and in other works of reference. We have tried this on a table of
logarithms (of the Useful Knowledge Society, 1839) taking the common
logarithms, and making the cuttings so as to show a little bit of every
alternate leaf. Enough of the leaf is shown to enter four figures of
the primitive with which it begins in black ink, and four figures of the
logarithm in red ink. The saving of trouble is so decided that no
person who has experienced it will ever again allow a table which he
frequently uses to be without this contrivance.
So soon
as the
advantage is understood, tables will have the proper references printed
on the proper parts of the margin, the binder being left to cut away
the supervening strips. The same object might be gained by pro-
truding slips of vellum pasted down the margin, if the boards of the
book were made to extend beyond the margin sufficiently to protect
the slips; this also we have tried with good effect. We can assure
those who are constantly in the habit of using logarithms that they may
make this hint give a greater facilitation than has ever been proposed
since the time when Briggs brought forward his modification of Napier's
system.
Mathematical tables may be divided into conclusive and subsidiary:
conclusive, such as the table of squares, in which the tabular result is
the object of the reference; subsidiary, such as the table of logarithms,
in which the tabular result only facilitates the object. Conclusive
tables can be easily used by those who want them but seldom sub-
sidiary tables are not much used, except by those who want them more
frequently. The reason is that a subsidiary table which is not often
wanted has its modus operandi forgotten between uses; or at least the
possessor feels a want of practice, and a necessity for referring to the
directions, to be sure of his result. The best thing to be done, when
a person first takes to a new subsidiary table, is for himself to write
in the book his own account of the method of using it, so soon as he
has learnt it, with some examples. This reference he will find, on
future occasions, to be more suggestive to his memory than anything
which the writer of the book has said or could have said.
The method of printing mathematical tables is usually defined so
closely by the nature of the subject, that no remark is necessary except
on the type. The numeral characters, up to about the year 1785, used
to be smaller in the body than those now constructed, with distinguish-
ing heads and tails. Dr. Hutton, we believe, first employed the
character in which all the numerals are of the same depth, the heads or
tails being compressed into the body. This very disadvantageous
change was adopted by the type-founders, but for a long time only in
England: the consequence was that the superior legibility of the ancient
and of the modern continental tables was matter of common remark
among those who had to use them. Another circumstance which con-
tributed to this result was the introduction of numerals with thick and
thin parts, the superior elegance of which was supposed to be a recom-
mendation. The consequence was, that in many English tables it was
difficult to distinguish 3 from 8, and 9 or 6 from 0. Of late years
however, many works have been published which have used the old
type, both as to heads and tails and uniform thickness;* and their
* In the new series of the 'Nautical Almanac,' the heads and tails first
re-appeared, but the swelling of the type was not rejected. The works in which
the old legibility was first completely restored were, so far as we know, the
tables of logarithms (four and five figures), and the reprint of Barlow's Tables
(Taylor and Walton), the six-figure logarithms (Longman), and Lieut. Raper's
Elements of Navigation.' Thus it stood when the Penny Cyclopædia' was
published. The legible figures are now common enough in England: but
Germany is infested with the illegible ones. The swelling type has been
ARTS AND SCI. DIV. VOL. VII.
decided superiority over tables of the Huttonian character, even of
much larger type, is pretty generally admitted. This is a point of
great importance: for any circumstance which produces a wrong result
upon the computer's paper is equally to be deprecated, whether it be
an error in the formula used by the author of the tables, or an incor-
rectness of the printer or reviser; and in like manner a given amount
of tendency to error is of the same bad consequence, whether it be
due to the mathematician or the type-founder. This is not true of
works of theory or reasoning: it may there be the fault of the reader
if he do not correct a mere slip, whether of the author or printer; but
in works of tabular reference all the parties to the result are of equal
importance.*
The restoration of the old numerical type, namely, that in which all
the figures except 0, 1, 2, have a head or a tail, and in which the thick-
ness does not vary sensibly from one part to another, was adopted and
recommended by the Astronomical Society at the end of 1842; but it
had previously been used by Mr. Baily in his detail of the Cavendish
experiment, which forms one volume of the Memoirs of that Society.
The writer of this article, who first suggested the revival of the old
figure (and caused it to be employed in Taylor and Walton's five-figure
logarithms, in their reprint of Barlow's tables, and in his own work on
Arithmetic, before any one else had used it), is decidedly of opinion
that one more change is yet wanting, the substitution of dull and
rather dark paper for the bright and shining material now in general
use, which dazzles the eye too much. Tables should not be hot-pressed,
and not even pressed at all. The mischiefs of pressure are two-fold
first, the smooth surface thereby created makes the page a kind of
mirror, which has a bright image in one place, whereas rough paper
dissipates the light equally in all directions; secondly, the other side
of the leaf shows through much more after pressure than before. It
is also a mistake to suppose that great blackness in the ink, combined
with great whiteness in the paper, is favourable to the reader. Every
increase of the contrast, over and above what is necessary to perfect
legibility, is injurious to it: jet upon snow would in time destroy the
strongest eyes.
strongest eyes. Of all the things which are meant to be read, a
black monumental inscription on white marble in a bright light is
about the most difficult: one would suppose, to look at our specimens
of expensive printing, that such an inscription was the model which
it was intended to imitate, and if possible to surpass. We are satisfied,
after many trials and comparisons, that a dull paper, of a whitish-
brown character, too thick to be seen through, and an ink which is
of a dull-brown black, as it were the very deepest shade of the colour
of the paper itself, are the things which are permanently agreeable to
most eyes. Those who try it should remember that the first page
read is not so good a test as the hundredth.
One of the most legible books we know of is the trade edition of
Gibbon's 'Decline and Fall,' &c., in twelve volumes octavo, London,
1820. It is considered by the booksellers themselves to be very
badly executed.
badly executed. But printers and publishers are too much in the
habit of forgetting that a book is a book and not a line engraving.
They look at the page as a whole, and if the individual lines stand out
and make their separate existences too perceptible, they pronounce it
ugly. Accordingly, the uglier they hold it to be, the more legible the
reader will pronounce it. We have seen more than one priuter and
publisher hold a page at such a distance from his eye as made it impos-
sible for him to read it, as a means of judging of the general effect.
Surely a printed page is meant to be a congeries of particular effects,
each as distinct from the other as possible.
We regret to see that, just as we have nearly abandoned the use of
the thick even-sized figures, the Germans are taking strongly to them.
Most of the modern German tables have these illegible characteristics.
Since the invention of logarithms, the appetite for tables has not
grown with the progress of mathematics. Calculation by logarithms
is so convenient for ordinary purposes, that many persons who are
even well versed in mathematics are not aware how much assistance
they might derive in particular cases from the various tables which
have been published. The list which we mean to give does not profess
to be a bibliography of tables, but will nevertheless give information
on the subject to all who are not particularly given to mathematical
bibliography.
We may divide mathematical tables into general and special; the
first consisting of purely arithmetical and trigonometrical tables, and
also tables of logarithms. The special tables are those which are used
in the higher parts of mathematics, in commerce, navigation, astro-
nomy, meteorology, &c. We may further divide tables into tables of
facts and tables of mathematical results. All sciences have their
tables of facts; thus the raw observations of astronomy, magnetism,
rejected in the 'Nautical Almanac,' which is now as legible a tabular work as
exists, as to both print and paper.
So we said in the Penny Cyclopædia': we now incline to think that the
printer is the most important of all. One of his errors may be equal to many of
the author's. For instance, in Chernac's table a line fell out, probably just
before press; it was put in again at the top of its compartment instead of at
the bottom. The consequences were 26 gross errors, of a far worse kind than
the author could have made, unless he had tried. Burkhardt found but 10,
besides this set, in the whole book; and of these one was only 23 x 19 instead
of 19 x 28, and two others were clearly due to the printer at press. Chernac's
work has 1020 large quarto pages full of figures, or lines of equal importance.
3 B
979
TABLE.
and physics in general are frequently tabulated with these we have
comparatively little to do, since they are rather the materials for
the formation or verification of other tables, than of primary use as
tables.
Of simple arithmetical tables we may notice the following
-
§ 1. Tables of multiplication. The oldest we know of is as follows:-
Tabulæ Arithmetica ПPOZOAPAIPEZENE* Universales.... E Museo
Johannis Georgii Herwart ab Hohenberg V. I. Doctoris. Munich,
1610, folio. This table goes up to 1000 x 1000; each page taking one
multiplier complete. There are then a thousand odd pages; and as
the paper is thick, the folio is almost unique in thickness. There is
a short preface of seven pages, containing examples of application to
spherical triangles. It is truly remarkable that while the difficulties
of trigonometrical calculation were stimulating the invention of
logarithms, they were also giving rise to this, the earliest work of
extensively tabulated multiplication. Herwart passes for the author,
but nothing indicates more than that the manuscript was found in his
collection. The book is excessively rare; a copy sold by auction a few
years ago was the only one we ever saw.
(
There have been several others of great extent, but they are scarce.
Hutton's Tables of Products,' printed by the Board of Longitude,
1781, go up to 100 times 1000, but have not the reputation of correct-
ness. An anonymous table, London, 1775, which goes up to 10,000
× 10, is Tables of Products . . . London, printed for J. Plummer.'
But Riley's table, published in the same year, under exactly the same
form, is 'Riley's Arithmetical Tables.... London, printed for G.
Riley.' It is imperfect in all the copies we have seen, ending abruptly
at the multiplicand 5280. The numerals are of the same form and
size as in Plummer, but the headings and lines are different. We
suspect that some writer of more than usual research on the quarrels
of authors, or some hunter of old injunction + cases, might find some-
thing about the history of these two books. The type is clear, and the
tables are very useful.
Dodson's Calculator,' London, 1747, has the same as the last up to
1000 × 10, not so conveniently arranged. But by far the most power-
ful table of this kind is Crelle's 'Rechentafeln,' Berlin, 1820, in two
thick 8vo volumes. This contains every product up to 1000 times
1000, so arranged that all the multiples of one number are seen at
the same opening of the book. All who have used this table know how
to dispense with logarithms in many cases with great advantage.
There is no table which we so much desire to see reprinted in this
country, with a few alterations, which would render it more com-
modious. Another edition was published by Dr. C. Bremiker, Berlin,
1857, folio; but we are told that other copies hear the date (1859),
and, we believe, no editor's name. Each page here contains the 999
multiples of two numbers; giving 450 pages of tables. This edition
is very convenient, and of very comfortable type and paper. An
anonymous Table, Paris (1794), goes up to 1000 x 103; and another,
Paris (An VII.), the same; a third, Versailles (1825), the same, with
many meteorological tables added. Schubler's Rechnung's Lexicon,'
Nuremberg (1739), goes to 2400 x 100. Oyon's Table, Paris (1824),
goes to 509 x 500; that of Cadet, Paris, 1801 or 1802, An X, to
10,000 × 100. This work of Cadet was intended for a ready reckoner
and percentage table. Each number from 1 to 10,000 has its first
hundred multiples in one folio column. Citizen Cadet was a tax-
gatherer, and saw that, in a decimal system, a raw table of multipli-
cation is a Barême, or ready-reckoner, quite complete. Accordingly,
the title of his book is Tarifs des Centimes au franc, ou Tables de
multiplications et comptes-faits pour la répartition des contributions,
et pouvant remplacer, dans le systême décimal, les anciens comptes-
faits de Barême.'
Bretschneider, Producten-Tafel,' Hamburg and Gotha, 1841, goes
up to 100,000 × 10. There is a compression of this kind in finding,
for example, the multiples of 62873, the reader must look into the page
headed 2800, and there, in one part of the page, opposite to (6) 28, he
finds the first three figures, and in another part, opposite to 73, the last
three figures. The first part, belonging to 628, is repeated twice, once
for the cases in which the following numbers are less than 50, and once
for those in which they are above it; and an asterisk in the last part
of the table occurs when it is necessary to add a unit to the preceding
*Prosthaphærcsis is a word compounded of prosthesis and apheresis, and
means addition or subtraction. Astronomical corrections, sometimes additive
and sometimes subtractive, were called prosthaphæreses. The constant necessity
for multiplication, in forming proportional parts for the corrections, gave rise
to this table, which therefore had the name of its application in the title-page.
†The following gives a strong suspicion. In our copy there is a preface of
fourteen pages, signed "The Editor." The late Mr. Woolgar, who made tables
a special study of great depth, had a copy in which a preface of fourteen pages
was signed "William Webb," whose name was also in the title. Our preface
has only "Our tables.... are carried to nearly twice the extent of any tables
of the kind hitherto published:" Mr. Woolgar's preface has-"There have like-
wise been published this year by Mr. Riley, Arithmetical Tables, containing the
products of all numbers from 1 to 5280, and are a set of very useful and correct
tables; the errors of the press are very few, the form of them we have also
thought convenient, and it is that which we have adopted." We surmise that
W. Webb played Vlacq to Riley's Briggs as soon as Riley's tables were published,
and that legal proceedings were compromised by an arrangement of which it
was a portion that handsome mention should be made of Riley's tables in a new
preface, with the editor's name.
TABLE
..
980
figures. This arrangement brings the table into ninety-nine pages
octavo, and is very ingenious; but there is more risk of error in using
it than we like. Again, multiplying five figures by one is not so diffi-
cult an operation that it need be avoided by using a table which
requires us to look attentively at three distinct things, after turning
pages.
multiples of sin x for every degree, to six figures; and multiples of
Lambert's table, 1770, presently mentioned, contains the nine
primes to those of 313. Pohlman's Table, 1813 (2nd ed.), contains the
first nine multiples of all numbers up to 1000. We have heard of
another work of Crelle, 'Erleichterungs Tafeln,' in oblong folio, giving
all numbers under 10,000,000, with their nine multiples, but with an
arrangement not easily nor safely used.
There is a double process, as
in Bretschneider.
In the Royal Society's Library is a table by J. J. Centnerschwer,
Neu-erfundene Multiplikations-und - quadrat-Tafeln," Berlin, 1825.
The earliest table we have seen mentioned (by Lipenius) is-Thomas
Finck, 'Tabule Multiplicationis ac Divisionis,' Copenhagen (1604),
oblong form. There is also, by the same author, Tabulæ quotidiano
numerandi usui accommodatæ,' Copenhagen (1615), 16mo.
As Finck is an author of some interest in the history of tables (as
will presently appear), we have made some inquiry about these works,*
and we find that they are not in the library at Copenhagen; but that
Mollerus ( Cimbria Litterata,' vol. iii., p. 254), gives them as follows.
It seems they were not intended for scientific purposes:-
'Tabulæ Multiplicationis et Divisionis, seorsim etiam Monetæ
Danicæ accommodatæ,' Hafniæ (1604), oblong folio.
'Tre Tabeller, indrettet til daglig fornöden Regning,' (Three tables
accommodated to necessary daily accounts), Copenhagen (1615), 16mo.
Under this head we ought to mention John Bernoulli (the younger),
'Sexcentenary Table,' London, 1779, and Michael Taylor's' Sexagesimal
Table,' London, 1780, intended to save the use of logistic logarithms;
the former having 10' for the first term, and the latter 1°. Both were
published by the Admiralty. In the day of sexagesimals, tables of
multiplication were common in which the products were converted.
sexagesimally; as in Orontius Finæus, 'Arithmetica Practica,' Paris,
1555, in which is a table up to 60 x 60. But the multiples of 46, for
example, are 0' 46", 1' 32", 2′ 18″, &c. The bibliographer should
remember that when a sexagesimal table is pasted into a copy, it does
not follow that it formed part of the work: owners often pasted in a
table from another source.
Under the head of Multiplication, we must notice tables of QUARTER-
SQUARES. The earliest we have seen (and we believe the earliest
known to exist) is that of A. Voisin, Paris, 1817, 'Tables de Multipli-
cations,' &c., 8vo, containing quarter-squares of numbers up to 20,000.
Leslie reprinted this table up to 2000, in his 'Philosophy of Arith-
metic' (2nd ed.), 1820, as (according to Mr. Laundy) did Galbraith, as
far as 3149, in the second edition (1836) of his Mathematical Tables,'
J. M. Merpaut,' Tables Arithmonomiques,' Vannes, 1832, gave quarter-
squares up to that of 40,000. But the largest and most valuable set of
these tables yet published is that of Mr. S. L. Laundy, a London
actuary, 'Table of Quarter-Squares,' 1856, 8vo, which goes to 100,000,
and is beautifully printed. Colonel Shortrede, one of the most ener-
getic of tabulators, has computed this table to 200,000, but has not
published it, though we understand he intends to do so. We suggest
to him to publish the second half first.
§ 2. Tables of Division and of Prime Numbers.-Fr. Schooten, in
book v. of his Exercitationes,' 1657, gave all the primes under 10,000.
Gruson, 'Pinacothèque,' Berlin, 1798, gives for all numbers under 100,
or primes under 400, the quotient and remainder of every number
under ten times the divisor, by inspection also, primes and lowest
divisors up to 10,500. Lidonne, 'Tables de tous le Diviseurs,' &c.,
Paris, 1808, gives the divisor of all numbers up to 102,000. The
original edition of Barlow's Tables gives the factors of all numbers up
to 10,000 and a register of prime numbers up to 100,103. Chernac,
Cribrum Arithmeticum,' &c., Daventriæ, 1811, gives the prime num-
bers up to 1,020,000, and all divisors of numbers not divisible by
either 2, 3, or 5. Burckhardt, 'Table des Diviseurs,' &c., Paris, 1817,
gives the prime numbers up to 3,036,000, with the lowest divisor of
each number when not either 2, 3, or 5. These useful works are now
rare. Anjema's Tabula Divisorum,' Leyden, 1767, goes up to 10,000,
and Pigri's Table, Pisa (1758), which Chernac had never heard of, the
same. Anjema enters every divisor: thus, 2 is entered as having two
divisors, 1, 2. He also separates those less than the square root from
the others by a hyphen; and where the number is a square, the root
has a hyphen on both sides. Krause, Jena and Leipsic (1804), has
primes and factors up to 100,000. J. Neumann, 'Tabellen,' &c.,
Dessau (1785), has factors and primes up to 100,100.
Guldinus is said to have given tables of prime numbers, but we have
neither found them nor a description of them. Thomas Branker
appended to his translation of Rhonius's Algebra a table of primes and
divisors for all numbers under 100,000. This was reprinted by Baron
Maseres, and was appended to his tract On the Doctrine of Permu-
tations and Combinations,' London, 1795, a book very easy to be
obtained.
This translation of Rhonius is of London, 1668, "much altered and
*From Professor Werlauff, Royal librarian at Copenhagen, through the
kindness of the late Professor Schumacher, the universal referce of those who
wanted information on any point connected with astrónomy, however remotely.
981
992
TABLE.
TABLE.
•
augmented by D. P. :" this D. P. is Dr. Pell. The table of primes,
&c., to 100,000 is computed under Pell's advice and direction; and a
great part, it is believed, by himself. But there is preserved in several
places the title of a work of Pell which we have never seen, and which
we take from Lipenius: Tabula decem millium difficilium Numerorum,
eorum nempe omnium qui ab 0 ad centum Milliones [mille?] habent
difficultates, English, London, folio, (1666). This looks like a table of
prime numbers, and the number of primes under 100,000 is about
10,000. But we must leave it to those who can see the work, if it still
exist. Branker's table was reprinted in the second volume of Harris's
'Lexicon Technicum,' London, 1710.
Vega (Octavo Logarithms, vol. ii.), 1797, gave primes and divisors
up to 102,000, and further primes up to 400,000, in which Chernac
found but 39 errors.
Chernac mentions primes and divisors to 10,000, in the Arithmetic
of T. M. Poelius, Leipsic (1728), 8vo, reprinted in Richter's Lexicon
Mathematicum;' primes to 101,000 in Kruger's Algebra (1746);
primes to 100,000 from Kruger, in a separate work of Lambert, not the
logarithmic and other tables of 1770; primes to 400,000, by A. F.
Marcus, Amsterdam (1772), 8vo.
Murhard mentions the first part of a table (by A. Felkel) of the
factors of all numbers not divisible by 2, 3, or 5, from 1 to a hundred
millions, Vienna (1776). Chernac alludes to this table as mentioned by
Krause, but had never seen it.
>
§ 3. Tables of Squares, Cubes, Square Roots, Cube Roots, and Powers
in general.-Perhaps the oldest printed table of squares is that in p. 30
of Pacioli's 'Summa,' &c. [VIETA, in BIOG. DIV.], printed in 1494, and
again in 1523, which, however, goes only to 1002. Cosmo Bartoli,
'Del Modo di misurare le Distantie,' &c., Venice, 1564, has squares up
to 6612. Maginus's Tabula Tetragonica, Venice, 1592, is not a sepa-
rate work, but a chapter in his work on triangles, presently mentioned:
it gives squares up to 10,1002, but not cubes. It was, however, pub-
lished separately, at the same time with the work on triangles, as well
as in it; the only difference being that the separate publication has its
headings and explanations Italian instead of Latin. The number of
so-called books, which are only chapters of other books, is large enough
to make a big catalogue.
Guldinus,De Centro Gravitatis,' Vienna, 1635, gives the squares
and cubes up to those of 10,000. The founder of the modern Ency-
clopædia, Alsted, 1649, gives squares and cubes up to 1000. Pell,
London (1666), (Murhard), squares to that of 10,000. William Hunt,
Gauger's Magazine,' London, 1687, gives a table of squares up to that
of 10,000. A few pages of this work are Newton's. Ludolf, ' Tetra-
gonometria Tabularia,' Frankfort and Leipsic, 1690, 4to, gives the
squares up to that of a hundred thousand; the largest table of squares
in existence, and very little known. J. P. Buchner, Tabula Radicum,'
&c., Nuremberg, 1701, gives squares and cubes up to those of 12,000.
Hutton (table in § 1) gives squares up to that of 25,400, and cubes up
to that of 10,000. Lipenius mentions Tabulæ numerorum quadra-
torum decies millium,' Londini (1672), which is Pell's table, though it
has not his name. It has also an English title, contains the first ten
thousand squares, and also the number of pairs, triads, and quaternions
(1044 in number) of figures with which a square can end. Henischius,
'Arithmetica perfecta,' Augsburg, 1609, begins with squares and cubes
of all numbers up to 360. Heilbronner (p. 627) mentions a tabula
Calviana which gives squares up to 10002. Detached tables of powers
are given in various works. John Hill's Arithmetic, of which the
seventh edition bears London, 1745, has all the powers of 2, up to the
144th, for the purpose of solving questions about chessboards and
horseshoe nails. We have also the title G. C. Sartorius, ' Cubische
Tabellen,' Eisenach (1827).
Dodson's 'Calculator' (§ 1) gave square and cube roots up to those
of 180: Hutton afterwards gave the same up to those of 1000.
Barlow, 'Tables,' London, 1814, gave squares, cubes, square roots,
cube roots, and reciprocals, up to those of 10,000; the roots to seven
decimal places; the reciprocals to seven significants. These were
reprinted (London, Taylor and Walton, 1840), from the original, after
re-examination by Mr. Farley. Tables of squares and cubes, up to
those of 10,000, were reprinted from Séguin's 'Manuel d'Architec-
ture,' with a descriptive preface, at Paris, about the beginning of the
century. This table has beautifully clear figures, of 24 to the inch,
of thin and even body, with heads and tails. It was this table which
first suggested to the author of this article the superiority of the
numerals with heads and tails, and gave rise to his suggestion to the
Useful Knowledge Society, 1839, to reprint Lalande's Table in such a
figure. The example is now extensively followed. Meinert's Loga-
rithms, Halle (1790) contain squares and cubes up to those of 1000.
Boebert, Tafeln,' &c., Leipsic (1812), goes to the square of 25,200,
the cube of 1200, and the square and cube root of 1000. Beyens,
Ghent (1827), goes to the square of 10,000, and the cube of 1000.
Schierk, Tafeln,' &c., Rohn om Rheim (1827), has squares up to that
of 10,000. Merpaut, in the work above mentioned, gave reciprocals up
to 10,000, to nine significants.
4
Joncourt, 'De la Nature.... de Nombres Trigonaux,' Hague, 1762,
gave triangular numbers up to that of 20,000, cubes up to that of 600,
and showed how to use the former in the construction of squares
and square roots. As to higher powers than the third, Hutton and
Barlow, in works above cited, give every power of every number up
6
to the tenth power of 100. Barlow gives also the fourth and fifth
powers of numbers from those of 100 to those of 1000. Bowditch
(work of 1834, cited under Logarithms,' 1757) gives square roots
to five decimals '000 (001)4·200 (01)10-19 with tables of proportional
parts.
Maseres, at the end of the tracts on Combinations, London, 1795,
has reprinted Hutton's square roots 0(1)1000 to ten decimals, and
reciprocals to seven. We believe that Hutton first gave them in his
Miscellanea Mathematica,' 4 vols. 12mo, 1775. In Jonas Moore's
Arithmetic, 1650, there are the squares and cubes of all numbers up
to 1000, the fourth powers up to 300, and the fifth and sixth up to
200. These were reprinted in the edition of 1560.
Rogg mentions Art gantz neu-entdeckte,' &c., Dessau (1755), 8vo,
containing the cubes of all numbers up to 100,000, or at least pro-.
fessing in the title-page to give the cube root of every number under
a thousand millions of millions: perhaps the cubes went to that of
10,000, with a rule for the fifth figure. And here we may mention
that we have been several times deceived by a title-page stating, not
the extent of the table, as it ought to do, but the extent to which
operations of interpolation or accession will be effective.
§ 4. Pure Decimal Operations.-Besides Barlow's reciprocals (§ 3),
the only remarkable tables of which we know under this head are
Goodwyn, 'Table of the Circles arising from the Division of a Unit,'
London, 1823, and 'Tabular Series of Decimal Quotients,' London,
1823 (both anonymous). The first gives all the circulating decimals
which can arise from any fraction whose denominator is under 1024;
the second arranges all fractions which in their lowest terms have a
numerator not exceeding 99, and a denominator not exceeding 1000,
in order of magnitude, and gives their equivalent decimals to eight
places. Mr. Woolgar is our authority for saying that there was a
previous work by Goodwyn, First Centenary of concise and useful
Tables of Decimal Quotients' (1818), 4to. Mr. Goodwyn (of Black-
heath) was an indefatigable calculator, and the preceding tables are
the only ones of the kind which are published. His manuscripts, an
enormous mass of similar calculations, came into the possession of Dr.
Olinthus Gregory, and were purchased by the Royal Society at the
sale of his books in 1842.
R. Picarte, La Division réduite à une Addition,' Paris, 1861, 4to,
gives, for all numbers up to 10,000, ten significant figures of recipro-
cal, with the nine multiples of each.
An anonymous work, Tafeln zur Verwandlung aller Brüche,' &c.,
Oldenburg, 1842, gives every fraction less than unity whose denomi-
nator does not exceed three figures, nor its numerator two, to seven
places of decimals. It is arranged by numerators: that is, all fractions
of one numerator are in one double page. This is a useful table. We
may also mention (but not as having seen it) W. F. Wucherer,
Beyträge zum allgemeinen Gebrauch der Decimalbrüche,' &c., Karls-
ruhe (1795), 8vo.
The oldest table we have found printed in English is in 'This boke
showeth the maner of measurynge of all maner of lande, as well of
woodlande, as of lande in the felde, and comptynge the true nombre of
acres of the same. Newlye invented and compyled by Syr Rycharde
Benese Chanon of Marton Abbay besyde London. Printed in South-
warke in Saynt Thomas his hospitall by me James Nicolson.' There
is no date, but Nicolson's dated works run from 1536 to 1538.
is another edition (which omits the tables), printed by Thomas Colwell,
who printed from 1558 to 1575. They are double-entry tables of the
rudest character, for finding the number of acres in a given length and
breadth, and for casting up payment at per perch, per acre, &c.
There
§ 5. Pure Trigonometrical Tables.-This section and the next form
almost the whole of the article; and for a sufficient reason. The
history of the trigonometrical canon, and of the logarithmic table, are
constituent parts of the history of the progress of mathematics: the
history of other tables has nothing to do with that progress, except
only in the case of Stevinus's tables of compound interest, which, as
will appear, suggested decimal fractions to their author. The biblio-
graphical history of the early part of the trigonometrical canon is so
incorrectly given, as well as ambiguously, even by the best authorities,
that it will be worth while to collect the several heads, distinguishing
between what we know from the books themselves and what we are
obliged to take from other sources, by putting the name of an authority
(of which we have usually two or three) to the latter. Much confusion
has arisen from the double meaning of the word publication in regard
to works of the century following the invention of printing, when it
was applied equally to the issue of a printed book and of a manuscript.
We are here only concerned with the former; and it is sometimes diffi-
cult to distinguish between the two.
The earliest trigonometrical table existing is the table of chords in
the first book of Ptolemy's Syntaxis or Almagest. It is by half-degrees
up to 90°, and thence by degrees. The chords are given sexagesimally,
to a radius of 60°: thus, the chord of 90° is 84° 51' 10". The thirtieth
parts of the differences are annexed: thus, the earliest table has its
differences, and differences given by the convenient sub-multiple which
would probably be thought very modern.
That Albategnius [ALBATEGNIUS, in BIOG. DIv.] had substituted sines
for Ptolemy's chords,- that he had also used versed sines and tangents,
that Purbach and Regiomontanus had constructed and issued (in
manuscript at least) tables of sines to two separate radii, 6,000,000
$83
TABLE.
and 10,000,000—are historical facts of notoriety. Our question is,
what tables were first printed? On the books which Regiomontanus
actually printed, out of the long lists of those which he published and
intended to publish (as set forth in his own 'Index Operum,' &c.,
printed at Nürnberg by himself), his historians, Doppelmayer, De Murr,
Weidler, &c., are either not very clear, or somewhat at variance. In
the vague manner in which books and their contents are frequently
described by professedly mathematical writers, a good resource* is
often found in the catalogues of general bibliographers.
The ´ Tabulæ Directionem Profectionumque' of Regiomontanus were
published by himself at Nürnberg, without date, probably about (1475),
and were reprinted at Venice in (1485). We cannot ascertain that
either of these contained tables of sines. But Hain ('Repert. Bibliogr.'),
who gives their titles, gives that of the next edition, Augsburg, Ehr.
Ratdolt (1490), 4to, in a fuller manner: from which it appears that
there is appended to it a table of sines to minutes, in words which
would imply that Regiomontanus had not given such a table in the
former edition: they are, Tabella Sinus recti: per gradus et singula
minuta divisa. Ad Tabulas Directionum Mag. Joh. de Regiomonte
necessarias.' But from the description it is clear that this table does
not belong to the work, since it follows even the printer's insignia.
And Hain also met with it as a separate work; being, as appears from
his description of the lineation, pages, &c., absolutely the same as that
which was appended to the Tabula Profectionum. Accordingly,
until something earlier or more definite is produced, we must say that
the first known printed table of sines is an anonymous table, to
minutes, in quarto, without date, but before 1500, stated (with neces-
sarias when it ought to be necessaria) to be necessary to the tables of
Regiomontanus, and implying that sines had not then been printed
with those tables. From the next-mentioned edition of the Tabula
Directionum (this we have seen) we should suppose that these tables
were to a radius of 600,000, as in that edition, which is of Venice,
1504, 4to. In it we find a minute-table of sines, headed' Incipit tabella
sinus recti,' and with a column containing differences for ten seconds.
Delambre and others mention Regiomontanus as having given the first
table of tangents in this work under the name of tabula facunda. It
is in the edition of 1504, and was reprinted by Gemma Frisius in his
book 'De Radio Astronomico,' Antwerp, 1545. It is to degrees only,
and to a radius 100,000; and is a table of cotangents, not of tangents.
The Tübingen edition, 1550, also distinguishes the table of sines as
an addition, in the title-page. The radius is now 60,000; but, by an
oversight, the differences to ten seconds are entered from some table
with a radius of 6,000,000, from which the table of 1550 was probably
cut down. There is no tabula fæcunda. Delambre mentions an edition
of the work, edited by Gauricus, in (1524), as containing a table of
sines to every ten minutes of this we can find nothing.
As yet we have no sines calculated to the now ordinary radius of
10,000 &c. Of these, the earliest we have seen (and we find no earlier
ones mentioned), are those of Peter Apian in the 'Introductio Geo-
graphica,' &c., Ingoldstadt, 1533, folio. They are minute-tables to a
radius of 100,000, and were reprinted the next year in the same author's
'Instrumentum primi Mobilis,' Nürnberg, 1534, folio. Apian states
that they are of his own calculation, and this is to us a strong presump-
tion that no such tables had been previously printed; for Apian was a
great reprinter of the writings of others at his own press, and very
unlikely to have re-calculated any table which he knew to exist already.
The statement that the work of Regiomontanus on triangles, Nürn-
berg, 1533, folio, contains tables of sines, is incorrect: we know it from
examination of two perfect copies. We can point out how the mistake
arose. Lalande (Bibl. Astron.) says that the first edition of the work,
Basle, 1536, has in the title-page "una cum tabulis sinuum." Now the
fact is that Lalande, who had only seen the second edition (Basle, no
date, known to be of 1561), which does contain tables of sines, took the
liberty of presuming that the first edition was the same in contents,
title, and place; in all of which he was wrong, and in the date also.
In 1542 Rheticus, the most laborious of all the table-computers,
made his first appearance as the editor of a work of Copernicus, ' De
Lateribus et Angulis Triangulorum,' &c., Wittemberg, 4to (Weidler
and Kastner). This contains a minute-table of sines to a radius of
10,000,000, being the first-published seven-figure table: the copy in
the Libri sale of April, 1861, is the only one we ever saw.
The table
which appeared in the following year, in the great work of Copernicus
[COPERNICUS, in BIOG. DIV.], is an abridgment of the preceding;
going only to every ten minutes, and to a radius of 100,000.
In 1541 appeared one of the tables which have obtained most cele-
brity being the 'Tractatus Geo. Purbachii super propositiones
Ptolemæi de Sinubus et Chordis, item compositio Tabularum Sinuum
per Joannem de Regiomonte. Adjecta sunt Tabula Sinuum duplices
per eundem Regiomontanum,' Nürnberg (1541), folio (Kastner, &c.).
The two tables of sines are both minute-tables, with radii of 6,000,000
and of 10,000,000. The table of tangents to every degree is repeated
again under the name of tabula fæcunda. In a mixture of tracts by
Regiomontanus, Walther, Schoner, and Purbach, headed 'Scripta.
de Torqueto, Astrolabio Armillari, . . .' Nürnberg, 1544, 4to, is a
It would be better if we knew precisely when it is good. Not to believe
more than half is a very proper caution: but there arises the old difficulty,
Which half?
TABLE.
981
table by Purbach, called Tabula Gnomonica, which is a table of tan-
gents to the radius 1200, giving the angle to each unit of the 1200.
This table is repeated in Gemma Frisius, 'De Radio Astronomico,'
Antwerp, 1545, 4to, already mentioned.
C
Rheticus, in the meanwhile, was pursuing the route of analogy, which
suggested to him the formation of a table giving all the ratios which
exist between the sides of a right-angled triangle; by which he was
led to the invention of what were afterwards called secants, to the
completion of the trigonometrical canon, and to its arrangement in the
form which it has ever since preserved. His rights in this matter
have long been forgotten; and it is only recently that the work
which established them has received any notice in modern times. (See
the Notices of the Astron. Soc., vol. vi., p. 213, and Phil. Mag.,
June, 1845.) In 1551, the year following that in which he was placed
in the Index' as a forbidden author, he published his Canon Doc-
trinæ Triangulorum,' Leipzig, 4to. This is a complete canon to every
ten minutes, and to a radius of 10,000,000 (or, as we should now say,
to seven decimals) with differences, so arranged that the matters con-
nected with each angle also belong to its complement, in the manner so
familiar to those who can use any modern table. This arrangement
may be called semi-quadrantal, as opposed to the older quadrantal
arrangement in which the sines are carried direct from 0 to 90°.
Accordingly, the page of Rheticus has both a head and foot description,
as in modern tables. So completely is he bent on the idea of a register
of the proportions of right-angled triangles, that he rejects the use of
the word sine. In the place of the sine and cosine he has the perpen-
dicular and base to an hypothenuse of 10,000,000; for what were
afterwards called the tangent and secant he has the perpendicular and
hypothenuse to a base of 10,000,000; for the cotangent and cosecant he
has the base and hypothenuse to a perpendicular of 10,000,000. The
same description is adopted in his larger work, of which we shall pre-
sently speak. To the smaller work is appended a dialogue, which
introduced Rheticus to his future editor; for Valentine Otho was so
struck by it, that he went to Hungary to obtain information on the
subject from the author. Otho relates that in the first interview,
when he had hardly stated his purpose, Rheticus interrupted him
with, "You are just as old as I was when I went on the same errand
to Copernicus."
|
In 1554 Erasmus Reinhold (who had been the colleague of Rheticus*
in teaching mathematics at Wittemberg) published the 'Primus Liber
Tabularum Directionum,' Tübingen, 4to. In this work, for the first
time, occurs a canon fæcundus (not yet called a table of tangents) car-
ried to every minute. Both sines and tangents were computed to a
radius of 10,000,000, and have differences. By the complemental
degrees at the bottom of the pages, it appears that cosines and cotan-
gents were intended. This work of Reinhold, though founded upon
Regiomontanus, must not be confounded with his professed edition
of the Tabule Directionum' of Regiomontanus himself, which had
tangents only to every degree, and was printed several times, the last
edition being in (1606). (We have not thought it worth while to cata-
logue all reprints.)
In (1558) (Delambre) Maurolycus published his edition of Theodo-
sius, Menelaus, &c. (Messina, 4to), containing the three tables, that of
sines, the tabula fæcunda, and the tabula benefica (as he called the pre-
sent table of secants). This table goes only to degrees (except that
tangents and secants are given for 15, 30, 45, 55, and 59 minutes of the
last degree of the quadrant), and is to a radius of 100,000. Delambre,
&c., suppose that these are the first tables of secants which were pub-
lished, and they accordingly attribute the invention to Maurolycus.
But we have seen that it is due to Rheticus; and Finck (presently
mentioned), who lived close to these times, states expressly that Mauro-
lycus borrowed this table from Rheticus.
In 1562 a pupil of Rheticus published a table of sines to every
minute, and to a radius of 10,000,000, with differences for one second.
This was Samuel Eisenmenger (or Siderocrates, as he wrote himself),
And there was, as we
in his Libellus Geographicus,' Tübingen, 4to.
find stated in various quarters, a table of sines in the work on dialling
of Hermann Witekind,' Conformatio Horologiorum,' of which the first
edition is said to be of Heidelberg (1576), 4to. Blundeville says they
are to a radius of 100,000.
The first complete canon to every minute (that of Rheticus in 1551
being to every ten minutes) was Vieta's Canon Mathematicus, seu ad
Triangula, cum Adpendicibus,' Lutetiax, apud Johannem Mettayer, &c.,
1579; to which is annexed, with a new title-page, 'Francisci Vietæi
universalium Inspectionum ad Canonem Mathematicum liber singularis,
Lutetiæ,' &c., as before.
It is very
This same book, from the same types, is also found with another
title-page, as follows:- Francisci Vietai opera mathematica, in quibus
* Reinhold taught the higher branches, and Rheticus the lower.
illustrative of the neglect into which the prohibition (with other circumstances
afterwards noted) caused the writings of Rheticus to fall, that Weidler—himself
of the university of Wittemberg, writing and printing his History of Astronomy
there, giving minutely the dates of Rheticus's degrees from the matricula or
register, and stating that from the time when he and Reinhold were colleagues
it had always been customary to have two teachers of mathematics-is as ill-
informed as any one about the writings of Rheticus, and in particular knows
nothing of the publication of 1551, of which we may therefore be pretty sure
there was not a copy in the library.
985
983
TABLE.
TABLE.
tractatur canon mathematicus, seu ad triangula: item Canonion, &c.,
&c., &c., Londini, apud Franciscum Bouvier, 1589.' This publisher is
not mentioned by Ames.
1609.
have referred in INVOLUTION AND EVOLUTION. And as, by Gellibrand's
account, we trace the commencement of Briggs's labours to shortly
after the time when Vieta first published this exegesis, it is by no means
an unlikely conclusion that the power of trisection and quinquisection
given by this mode of solving equations first put it into his head to
construct the table. [INVOLUTION AND EVOLUTION.]
Purbach and Regiomontanus had seen the advantage of adopting
decimal tables, though their use of the radius 600, &c., was a remnant
of sexagesimalism. It was reserved for Maurice Bressius to show
himself a century behind his time, by publishing in his 'Metrices
Astronomica Libri Quatuor,' Paris, 1581, folio, sexagesimal tables to
every minute of sines, tangents, and secants, or as he calls them, sines,
adscripts, and hypothenuses. Thus, the radius being 60°, the sine of
57° 20′ is given as 50° 30′ 34″; and the adscript and hypothenuse as
1 sex. 33° 34′ 46″, and 1 sex. 51° 9' 44"; 1 sex. meaning 60°. Accus-
tomed as we are to look upon sexagesimal division as sacred to angular
and horary measure, we are apt to forget that the time was when other
subdivisions were rarely used in Europe.
As yet we do not find the modern names of tangent and secant.
These were introduced in 1583 by a young man of twenty-two years,
Thomas Finck, of Flensborg in Denmark (who died in 1656, aged 95),
in his 'Geometriæ Rotundi [sic] Liber XIV.,' Basle, 4to. His part in
the matter was quite forgotten, and has been recently revived (see Phil.
Mag., May, 1845). He introduces the words with expressions which
cannot be interpreted otherwise than as a proposal of his own, to
which it must be added that no earlier use of these words has ever
been brought forward. The tables of sines, tangents, and secants, so
called, which Finck has introduced in his work, are to every minnte,
and to a radius of 10,000,000. Finck deserves a much higher name
than he has got, for the contents of this work alone: there are other
writings of his, which we have not seen. He calculated his own
secants by a theorem which answers to the formulas
Sec 0 = tan 0 + tan (45° −2).
The same book, again from the same types, is in the British Museum
with a third title-page, as follows :-'Fran. Vietai Libellorum Suppli-
cum in Regia magistri, insignis que Mathematici, varia opera mathe-
matica: in quibus tractatur Canon Mathematicus, seu ad triangula ;
item Canonion, &c., Parisiis, apud Bartholomæum Macæum, &c.,
That the second and third are really the same book as the first, with
a new title-page, we have ascertained by carefully comparing various
words which are mis-spelt, and letters and lines which are broken, in
all three also by the fact that the second title-page, 'Francisci Vietei,'
&c., exists, date and all, in the second. In the third, the second title-
page is taken out, and Mettayer's address is printed after the first. This
book was, from its extreme scarceness, a bibliographical curiosity; we
have repeatedly examined five copies, three with the first title-page, one
with the second, and one with the third: in two of the first three, some
figures which are not found in the third have been stamped in after the
printing; and the same stamping is apparent both in the fourth and
fifth. The canon mathematicus is the first table in which sines and
cosines, tangents and cotangents, secants and cosecants, are completely
given they are arranged in the modern form, in which each number
entered has a double appellation. But the notation of decimal frac-
tions not being invented, the mode of description is as follows:-to
give the sine and cosine of 24° 2′, Vieta states that the hypothenuse
being 100,000, the perpendicular and base are 40,727 and 91,330 9;
and in a similar way for the others: and here it is remarkable that in
the cosines Vieta does use a species of decimal notation, leaving a blank
space instead of using a decimal point; for, to an hypothenuse 100,000,
the base to an angle of 24° 2′ is what we should now write 91330.9.
There is also a large collection of rational-sided right-angled triangles,
which form a trigonometrical canon, but not ascending by equal angles.
The work concludes with a copious collection of trigonometrical formulæ
and various numerical calculations, for mention of which see Hutton's
'History of Trigonometrical Tables,' prefixed to his logarithms, and
In (1585-6) Clavius published at Rome, in quarto, his edition of
inserted in his tracts. A short preface by Mettayer, prefixed to the Theodosius, to which is appended a treatise on triangles, and a table of
'Universalium Inspectionum,' &c., states that Vieta found great diffi-sines, tangents, and secants, under those names to a radius of 10,000,000.
culties in getting tables printed at all, and also that plagiarists had They were reprinted in the folio collection of his works, Mayence,
printed and sold something of the kind, but what is not stated. Vieta 1611; and the table of sines only in his 'Astrolabium,' Rome, 1593,
himself (Schooten, p. 323) calls this book infeliciter editus, and hopes 4to. It is clear, on inspection, that these tables are, so far as tangents
that a second edition will be of better authority.
and secants are concerned, a reprint of those of Finck, in their pre-
liminary theorems, in their arrangement, in their omissions, and in
their errors, as well as in the new terms with which they are headed.
The name of Finck is suppressed as well as that of Rheticus; both of
them were Protestants, and Clavius was a Jesuit, high in favour at
Rome. Delambre expresses his astonishment that Clavius, in recapitu-
lating the names of celebrated writers on dialling, should have omitted
Sebastian Munster. The fact was that Munster followed Luther.
from this laughable weakness. When Vieta suppresses the names of
are not quite certain that a greater than Clavius was altogether exempt
his authorities, as above noted, calling them merely rhapsodists, we
Reinhold; for he was very intolerant.
may almost suspect that he wanted to avoid speaking of Rheticus and
Besides the three title-pages above mentioned, there must have been
a fourth; for in the title of that which Delambre examined was the
motto Dura et quiesce, which certainly was not in either of the three
seen by us. The work has well obeyed the direction given it has
lasted in silence, having never been described in catalogues or histories.
till modern times. Copies seem to have been rare in Germany; neither
Weidler, Heilbronner, nor Kastner mentions it. Hutton never saw
but his own copy; Montucla (in France!) never saw more than two-
one in the royal library, and one sold at the Soubise sale (but it is not
in the catalogue of that sale), which the historian would fain have
bought, had not a curieux bid too high. And this was only by the
time Montucla's second edition was written, for by the mention of it
made in the first edition it is clear that the author had never seen it. We
have examined in London at least eight copies. We have mentioned |
the complaints which the author had to make against the printers:
Montucla states that Vieta bought in as many copies as he could.
There are several sigus of something odd having taken place in the
printing; and the following is worth mention :-To one of the copies
we have seen (as well as to one of those in the Museum) is appended
one folio sheet, in correction of a mass of errors in one sheet of the
collection of formula: this sheet is a separate publication, with the
date, 1579, and printer's name on it (J. Mettayer).
Vieta imitates Rheticus in his method of heading the tables, but in
addition uses the word sine, and calls the table of tangents fæcunda,
and that of secants fæcundissima. He complains that elegant names
have not been found, and states that he gets his denominations from
certain Rhapsodi (as he calls them; it is not often that mathematical
tabulators are called rhapsodists), whom he does not name. In a later
work, the 'Responsa,' &c. [VIETA, in BIOG. DIV.], published in 1593,
he names and objects to the words tangent and secant, which by that
time he had seen. And he proposes to call the tangents prosines or
amsines, and the secants transsinuous lines.
As to the matter of Vieta's tables, it is worth notice that they must
have been made by independent calculation. They do not exhibit the
errors in the last tangents and secants which appear in all writings
prior to the more correct publication of Rheticus by Pitiscus. On the
additions made by Vieta to the theory of trigonometry we have not
here to speak: but we may simply say that they made the computa-
tion of a trigonometrical canon a much easier thing than it had
theretofore been. Delambre is quite right when he observes that the
'Trigonometria Britannica' of Briggs is altogether French in all that
relates to the non-logarithmic part of it. Had he known a little more
of Vieta, he could have reinforced his assertion. For Briggs's method
of solving equations which Delambre (evidently not understanding it)
describes as an obscure mixture of division and extraction of roots, was
the slightly amended form of Vieta's numerical exegesis, to which we
0
We
Libri Quatuor,' Leyden, 4to, the first work known to Hutton in which
In (1591) Philip Lansberg published Triangulorum Geometria
the words tangent and secant are used; and in 1592 Magini published
De Planis Triangulis Liber Unicus,' Venice, 4to. Both these contain
full tables, taken from Clavius; and Magini is said to have repeated
them in his 'Primum Mobile,' Bologna and Venice (1609). Magini,
who goes beyond Clavius in historical reference, wilfully suppresses
the name of Finck.
travel.
We at first thought ourselves unable to give a date to the tables of
lished his Arithmetic in 1585, and that Snellt collected many of his
Stevinus, except within a few years, and conjecturally. That he pub-
works in Latin in 1605-8, are the facts which are supposed to mark
out the known limits of his career.
lished after 1593, since Vieta's names for the tangent and secant are
The tables must have been pub-
mentioned; probably long after, for Vieta's works were of very slow
contains the tables, was never published until it appeared in what is
We ourselves believe fully that the Cosmographia, which
called Snell's collection (in 1608). These tables are to every minute,
to a radius of 10,000,000, and they are copies of Finck, Clavius, &c.
Recent researches in Belgium have made it appear that Stevinus was
*"Erit AI tangens
Sic vocare placuit [i, e., nobis] quia.... Damus
aliquid.... Regiomontano damus etiam aliquid receptæ consuetudini.
Verum id non facile damus ut verba ea in usu retineamus quibus elegantiora,
breviora, significantiora, veriora habeamus."
And again; Sequitur... .. quæ
vulgo canon fæcundus, nobis canon tangentium dicitur: et canon hypotenusarum
Rhetico, nobis canon secantium vocatur.'
•
• •
·
It can be made very obvious that Stevinus was alive throughout the whole
of the printing of these two volumes (or five volumes bound in two). In the
very last page of the last volume (index excepted), the author excuses himself
for not fulfilling certain announcements, because he had not made up his mind
referring to the places of the several matters in the very volumes which aro
about the subjects of them, and the printer could not wait. And this after
supposed to be the collection of the editor. Besides, Snell, the reputed editor,
was only seventeen years old when the work was published.
987
TABLE.
born in 1548, and died in 1620, which puts our opinion beyond
dispute. The mistake about Snell seems to have originated with
Gerard Vossius.
In (1588) Nic. Raymar, Ursus Dithmarsus, published 'Fundamentum
Astronomicum, id est nova Doctrina Sinuum,' &c., Strasburg. We
cannot make out from the descriptions, whether this work contains
tables or not. If Kastner's and Delambre's descriptions be complete,
it did not.
Who published the first English trigonometrical table is a point
which we have never seen examined: and we must investigate it in
the best way we can from rather scanty materials. We cannot find
the word sine mentioned in the works of Recorde, nor in the English
works of either Digges, father or son, nor in those of John Dee; nor
indeed in any work written in English before Blundeville, except that
of Burroughs presently cited. In the Alæ, seu Scala Mathematica'
of Thomas Digges, London, 1573, 4to, trigonometrical processes are
required for which allusion is made to Copernicus and Regiomontanus,
and the tables of Rheticus are often cited (the ten-minute canon, of
1551). In John Dee's 'Parallactica Commentationis Praxeosque
Nucleus quidam,' London, 1573, 4to, there are also solutions of
triangles, and the tables referred to are those of Regiomontanus with the
radius 60,000, before mentioned. But neither of these writers makes
the smallest allusion to any tables published in England. We have
examined the libraries of more than one diligent collector of English
works of the 16th century, without finding anything which at all con-
troverts our decided impression that Blundeville was the real intro-
ducer of a complete canon of sines, tangents, and secants.
C
Blundeville's Exercises,' London (1594), 4to (it is said sometimes
that 1597 is the date of the first edition, but incorrectly; the fourth
is of 1613), were commenced, as he informs us, about seven years
before. He alludes to Regiomontanus, Copernicus, and Clavius, from
whom he took his tables. And he informs us that Regiomontanus is
in folio, and that Clavius is in quarto, and published in 1586, at Rome.
We rely much on this in our conclusion that his were the first tables:
for to mention the form of a book, or the date of publication, is very
rare with the writers of his time; and it is most likely that so precise
a person would have noticed any previous work of the same kind in
his own country. The tables, being copies of Clavius, have already
been described. These 'Exercises went through seven editions at
least the seventh, now before us, has the tables corrected from
Pitiscus, by Robert Hartwell, the editor; it is London, 1636, 4to.
It must be noticed, however, that though Blundeville gave the first
English canon complete, a table of sines only had been printed four
years before.
It is at the end of the Horologiographia, the art of
Dialling,' by Thomas Fale, London, 1593, 4to (reprinted † in 1652).
The sines are to minutes with a radius of 100,000. This then is the
earliest table, but it is of sines only. We have seen that Digges used
sines, but he is a Latin writer, and refers to a foreign table. Perhaps
the first writer who used them in English (but still with foreign tables)
is the well-known W. Burroughs, in his 'Discourse on the Variations
of the Compasse,' published in (1581). In the preface he apologises
for introducing rules "wrought by the doctrine of signes and triangles,
which may seem strange in our English-Tongue," and all he gives on
tables is in the following passage:- "In these examples I have used
the abridged table of 100,000 the whole sine, which though it give
some case in the working, yet it is not so exact as that of 10,000,000
of Erasmus Reinholdus. Unto the which, with his Canon fæcundus,
answerable to the same, if the third Canon of the Hypthenusas were
annexed, wee should have an entire Table for the Doctrine of Triangles,
that might worthily bee called The Table of Tables. Which thing,
though Georgius Joachimus Rheticus have well begunne, and framed it
orderly, from ten Minutes to ten: yet is it left very rawly, for such as
desire the exact truth of things. I have therefore for mine owne ease
and use, Calculated the complement of this Table, and almoste ended
it, for the whole Quadrant, from minute to minute: which if in the
mean time before I have finished, I shall not finde it extant by any
other, I will publish it for the commoditie of all such as shall have
occasion to use the same for navigation and cosmographie." But this
table was never published, and accordingly the editor of the edition of
1614 refers the reader to Ralph Handson's translation of Pitiscus, and
the very tables of that work are annexed to the end of some copies at
least of the edition of 1614. They are tables to every minute, and
to a radius of 100,000. The table is semi-quadrantal, and the com-
plementals are joined in contiguous columns, without any heading by
which further than 45° could be guessed at. We cannot describe the
first edition of Handson's work, having only seen the second, which is
London, 1630, 4to; at least the tables are so dated, though the work
has no date. (Wilson, in the preface to his Navigation, says the first
* This is the same as the Blundeville who wrote on Horsemanship. In 1846,
a patent for a horseshoe was upset in Chancery, upon proof that Blundeville
had described it before 1600.
That is to say, furnished with a new title-page: beyond a doubt the type
is of the previous century. This, we find, was not an uncommon practice in
the middle of the 17th century, in England. We suppose that the civil troubles,
which operated against the production of all but theology or politics, threw the
booksellers back on their old stocks, which they then replaced with new title-
pages, defacing the 17th century with some of the worst specimens of the
irregular black letter of the 16th.
TABLE.
988
was in 1614.) In 1609, John Speidel, afterwards well known in the
history of logarithms, began his career by publishing, in quarto,
Certaine verie necessarie and profitable Tables; namely, A Table of
Sines, Tangents, and Secants, &c.' This tract of sixteen pages contains
subsidiary to astronomy.
a canon to every ten minutes, and to a radius 1000, with some tables
-
In 1610, Arthur Hopton published Baculum Geodeticum sive
Viaticum, or the Geodeticall Staffe,' London, 4to. The seventh book
of this is called 'Trigonometria, containing Longimetria, and Alti-
metria, performed by Synnicall supputation, with a Canon for the
Dimension of tryangles.' The canon (from Pitiscus) is complete for
every five minutes and to a radius of 100,000. Peculiar to this table
is a heading by which the sine, tangent, secant of the complement, or
defect from 90°, are also made to belong to the excess above 90°;
thus at 10° the sine, tangent, and secant of 80° are made to be those
of 100°.
The history of the rest of the works of Rheticus was, till lately, very
inaccurately told, and there is still some confusion about it. After
Rheticus had published his ten-minute canon, already noticed, in
1551, he was occupied till his death in 1576, in what is, beyond a
doubt, the most laborious work of calculation that any one man ever
undertook a complete trigonometrical canon to every ten seconds,
and to ten places of decimals, sines to every ten seconds, and to fifteen
decimals, with the first and last degree to every second, and tangents
and secants to every minute, and to fifteen decimals. It is to be
remembered that he wanted the abbreviations which might have been
introduced, if he had known what Vieta had done. At his death, he
had finished this work, within a mere trifle: what little remained to
do, was done by his pupil Valentine Otho, and part of it was published
at Neustadt* in the Palatinate, 1596, in folio (sometimes bound in
two volumes, from its thickness). The title of the book, which was
published at the expense of the Emperor Maximilian, is 'Opus Pala-
tinum de Triangulis a Georgio Joachimo Rhetico coeptum: L. Valen-
tinus Otho Principis Palatina Frederici IV. Electoris Mathematicus con-
summavit.' The contents are (after prefaces) three books de Fabrica
Canonis, on the construction of the Canon, by Rheticus; one book on
plane triangles, and four books on right-angled spherical triangles, by
the same; five books on oblique-angled spherical triangles by the editor,
Otho; three subsidiary astronomical tables called meteoroscopia; the
great table, in 540 folio pages, giving, under the titles already described,
the sines, tangents, and secants, for every ten seconds, with a radius
of 10,000,000,000, or, as we should now say, to ten places of decimals;
a list of errata; and lastly, a second table of cotangents and cosecants
for the first half of the quadrant, to every ten seconds as before, and
to a radius of 10,000,000. The appearance of the last table is merely
the editor's want of judgment; it is clearly nothing but a previous
attempt, made before the larger plan was resolved on, and is much less
accurate than the great table to ten places.
Within a short time after the Opus Palatinum' was published, it was
found (by whom or how we are not told) that the tangents and secants
towards the end of the quadrant became more and more erroneous,
and at the extreme end were very erroneous indeed. All persons who
know anything of trigonometry are aware that, to calculate the tangent
or secant of an angle near to 90° true to any number of decimal places
requires that the cosine should be calculated to a greater number of
places. Rheticus seems to have foreseen this, and to have provided
sines true to a larger number of places than those which were pub-
lished. When the defect was discovered, the advisers of the Elector
Palatine, Frederick IV., to whom the work was dedicated by Otho,
caused him to intrust the superintendence of the corrections to Bar-
tholomew Pitiscus of Grünenberg, in Silesia, who had been his own
teacher, and who was still in his service as chaplain we suppose this
means that Pitiscus himself was the adviser. Pitiscus applied to
Otho, then an old man, for the larger tables of sines which Rheticus
was known to have calculated: Otho was never able to find them; but
at his death they were found among his papers. Pitiscus accordingly
made two publications; but so confused are the statements respecting
them, that some of our readers may almost doubt the fact. These two
publications were as follows: 1. He corrected all that part of the great
table of the Opus Palatinum' in which the tangents and secants are
sensibly erroneous, being the first 86 pages. These he reprinted, and
joined his reprint to the 540-86, or 454 remaining pages of the great
table. He then cut away all the Fabrica Canonis, the books on
triangles, the Meteoroscopia, and the small table of cotangents, &c., and
added to his own 86 pages and Otho's 454 a short description, or com-
monefactio, as he calls it. This of course gives a thin folio. But we
collect from Delambre's account of Prony's copy, that besides this,
there were such things as complete copies of the 'Opus Palatinum,' with
the 86 correct pages substituted for the incorrect ones.
And we
presume that to these the separate title of the commonefactio was not
appended, being printed only for the separated table. For Prony,
Delambre, and all the rest of the French savans (to whom the subject
was particularly interesting, on account of its connection with the
Tables du Cadastre,' then preparing) missed the date of the correction,
which nevertheless appears on the separate title-page of the commone-
*Weidler, copied by Montucla, gives Heidelberg, 1594; and Lalande recon-
ciles them with fact by taking Neostadium to be Latin for Heidelberg! The
Neustadt hero mentioned is now part of Bavaria, lat. 49°+, long. 11°—.
989
090
TABLE.
TABLE.
:
•
•
factio. The person who is used to accurate descriptions of books
might possibly, without this warning, throw away the thin folio we
are speaking of, under the idea that it could not be in any sense an
edition of the Opus Palatinum which in fact it is not, though it is an
edition of all that was corrected. The 86 pages of reprint are easily
distinguishable by the inferiority of paper and type.* The title-page
of the thin book is a sort of fly-title, without date, &c., on the first
page, as follows:-' Georgii Joachimi Rhetici magnus canon doctrinæ
triangulorum ad decades secundorum scrupulorum, et ad partes
1 00000 00000. Recens emendatus a Bartholomæo Pitisco Silesio.
Addita est brevis commonefactio de fabrica et usu hujus Canonis..
Canon hic, una cum brevi commonefactione . . . . . etiam separatim ab
opere Palatino venditur. In bibliopoleio Harnischiano.' And the
commonefactio has a title page of its own, as follows: Bartholomæi
Pitisci Grünbergensis Silesii Brevis et Perspicua commonefactio de
fabrica et usu magni canonis doctrinæ triangulorum Georgii Joachimi
Rhetici. Neostadii Typis Nicolai Schrammii MDCVII.' It thus
appears that the date is 1607, which no one has yet noted, except
Kastner, copying an older description, apparently without any distinct
separate knowledge of what he was describing. 2. Pitiscus published,
Frankfort, 1613 (misprinted on two of the titles 1513, by omission
of a C), folio, the tables of Rheticus by which himself was enabled to
make the preceding corrections, under a long descriptive title begin-
ning with Thesaurus Mathematicus.'* The contents, described in
modern language, are:-sines to every ten seconds and to fifteen
decimals, with first, second, third, and sometimes more differences;
those of the first and last degrees, also to fifteen places, and to every
second; the fundamental sines, from which the rest were calculated,
to twenty places: the sines of every 10th, 30th, and 50th second in
the first 35 minutes to 22 places (this last table was done by Pitiscus
himself). Pitiscus died in July, 1613, very shortly after the publica-
tion of the Thesaurus.
When we come to reflect, we find that the tables of Rheticus did
not make such an epoch in the history of these things as might have
been expected. The ten-minute canon, 1551, which we have described,
and of which the memory was almost lost, introduced the secants,
completed the system, and suggested to Vieta both the extension and
its form. Had Rheticus published his own large table before his
death, in 1576, it might have been otherwise but deferred as this
publication was, partly till 1596, seventeen years after Vieta's Canon
had appeared, and partly till 1613, the year before the publication of
logarithms, it turned out that the impulse had already been given from
other quarters. The next great tables of sines which were produced
were the work of Briggs, who was, as we have seen, exclusively the
follower of Vieta in this part of the matter. The labours of Rheticus
became little more than a tradition, though Vlacq used the last half of
his quadrant in the construction of logarithmic sines. Vossius, 1650,
knew nothing definite of the tables except the Thesaurus, and that
only in time to insert it in the additions to his work. Sherburne,
1675, has not a word of tables. Briggs hardly mentions Rheticus; his
Briggs hardly mentions Rheticus; his
biographers not at all. The Jesuit Blancanus omits him as a con-
demned writer; and it is to be noticed that he was, as to this
matter, worse off than Copernicus himself; for he was damnatus
auctor, Copernicus only damnati libri auctor: and the absolute prohibi-
tion against all his writings must have tended to the oblivion into
which his name fell. Weidler, 1741, writing in the University of
Wittemberg, in which Rheticus taught, had not seen the Opus Pala-
tinum, and knew nothing of what Pitiscus had done. In the Berlin
Memoirs for 1786, John Bernoulli (the younger) revived the know-
ledge of the Opus Palatinum' and the 'Thesaurus;' and Lalande had
previously come at some statement to the effect that Pitiscus had
once received instructions to correct the former. But Bernoulli knew
nothing of these corrections, and nothing was known until chance
threw a copy of the corrected Opus Palatinum into the hands of
Prony, who described it in a paper printed in the fifth volume of the
Memoirs of the Institute, 1804. Delambre gave an accurate account
at the beginning of the second volume of the Histoire de l'Astronomie
Moderne.' Montucla had given nothing but mistakes. Hutton knew
as much as Bernoulli. Kastner (1796, who would have got much more
* The corrected copies of the work, thick or thin, may be distinguished from
the uncorrected ones in a moment, as follows: Look at the bottom of page 7,
at the running titles of the columns. The uncorrected copy will have, as it
ought to have,
Basis Differentia Hypothenusa.
C
|
|
credit if he had given a proper name to his valuable work of biblio-
graphy, instead of calling it a history of mathematics) has a detailed
account of all the matter, except the corrections of the Opus Palatinum,
on which he could only quote from a periodical of 1789.
In (1599) Pitiscus published his own work on Trigonometry, with
tables, generally to seven places, and having intervals which may be
described, as presently noted, by 0 (1") 1' (2") 10′ (10") 1° (1′) 45°.
The edition of 1608, now before us, has of course the corrected tangents
and secants. It was reprinted again in (1612), and Dechales mentions
a reprint, by Henrion, in (1623).
Pitiscus will always be remarkable as the priest who wished that all
his brethren were mathematicians,* to make them manageable and
benevolent.
Among the non-logarithmic tables, which were published after the
invention of Napier turned all the calculators another way, was that of
Schooten, ' Tabulæ Sinuum,' &c., Amsterdam, 1627, a complete canon
to seven places, in a pocket volume with pages of two inches by four.
It is often said to contain no error; but we believe the author's own
assertion in the preface is the source of this opinion: Hutton found
many errors in the last figures. There were two principes editions,
one with explanations in Latin, the other in Dutch. Lipenius says
this was reprinted in (1638 ?) and we know there is an edition of
(1672) at Rouen, and of 1683 at Brussels. Editions are mentioned of
(1640) and (1664), and also a Spanish edition, Brussels (1683), and of
16S3 at Amsterdam, from different type. Joh. Meyer's tables,
Strasburg (1619), contain sines, tangents and secants, squares, and
cubes. Those of Adrian Metius (1633) give a complete canon, to
minutes, to seven decimals. In (1627) Snell published his 'Doctrina
triangulorum canonica,' Leyden, containing a complete canon to every
minute, and to seven places. Cruger's Synopsis Trigonometriæ,'
Danzig (1612), gave a five-decimal canon to minutes. Albert Girard's
'Tables des sinus,' &c., Hague 1627, are to five decimals; there was
a Dutch reprint in (1629). Adrian Romanus gave tables (Delambre,
'Astr. Mod., vol. ii. p. 35) in (1609); they were taken from Clavius.
The greater part of the contents of this paragraph are taken from
different sources, and not from the books themselves.
We might
mention some anonymous tables from various catalogues, but anony-
mous works of this kind are so rare that we always suspect them.
One, however, now before us, deserves mention. It is a thin quarto,
Wurtzburg (Herbipolis), 1625, announced as intended for the students
of the University. It contains a semi-quadrantal table of sines (only),
and is entitled Canon sinuum ad decempedam accomodatus.' The
table is to a radius of 10,000, but the four places of each sine are
severally called radii, pedes, digiti, grana; and are so headed in
every column. The degree is divided into 12 parts, each of which is
called a minute.
Alsted's Encyclopædia,' 1649, the earliest work which has bulk
enough to be compared with modern works of the same name, gives
nothing more than a canon to degrees and seven decimals, with another
to ten minutes and five decimals. The name only of logarithms is
mentioned, and an insufficient definition given.
§ 6. Tables of Logarithms.-Before we enter on this subject we
shall give a hint which may be worth the attention of future com-
pilers, though in joining together two articles of older date than
the additions we have not been able to take advantage of it to any
great extent. Systems of tables may be arranged and spoken of either
by their sources or by their forms. Thus in thinking of old books of
logarithms we may have to ask whether they came from Vlacq or direct
from Briggs; we also want to know the number of figures, the arrange-
ment, &c. The tables of logarithms might with some trouble be divided
into sets, those in each set being lineal descendants of their predecessors.
Our mention of different works will be found, as to length and
minuteness, much out of proportion to their celebrity, in many cases :
this cannot be avoided when we have information to give which is not
commonly found.
1614. Napier, Mirifici Logarithmorum Canonis Descriptio, Ejusque
usus, in utraque Trigonometria, ut etiam in omni Logistica Mathematica,
Amplissimi, Facillimi, et expeditissimi explicatio. Authore ac Inven-
tore, Ioanne Nepero, Barone Merchistonii, &c. Scoto. Edinburgi, Ex
officina Andrea Hart, Bibliopôlæ, cio.DC.XIV.' 4to. Sines and Naperian
logarithms of sines and tangents, to every minute and seven decimals.
It must be specially noted that the logarithms which Napier himself
published are not precisely those which are now called Naperian;
that is, they are not the simple logarithms to the base e= =2·7182818.
As the sines increase, his logarithms decrease. As he uses no decimal
of 10 millions. And if N be a sine and L the logarithm of it, as they
stand in Napier, the equation connecting them is
But the corrected copy (quis custodiet ipsos custodes?) will have, as it ought not point, both his sines and logarithms are integers, the former to a radius
to have,
Hypothenusa Differentia Basis.
The copies of the two works, the 'Opus Palatinum,' and the 'Thesaurus,'
which belonged to Deiambre, were bought at the sale of his books by Mr. Babbage.
The copy of the 'Thesaurus' is curious: it once belonged to De Thou, and was
bequeathed to Delambre by Lalande. It sold at the sale for 216 franes; the
Opus Palatinum' for 60 francs. Mr. Babbage has also a copy of the corrected
table (the thin volume). He informed us that, in 1828, Reuss, the librarian at
Göttingen, and the indefatigable editor of the 'Repertorium Commentationum,'
&c., the most complete digest of scientific transactions which exists, was
altogether ignorant of the existence of any corrections of the Opus Palatinum.
This is a truly singular instance of the slowness with which bibliographical
information spreads.
L
N=10,000,000 € 10,000,000
In his preface he says, "Mansuetudo autem, bone Deus, quantum et quam
rarum est Theologorum ornamentum ! Et quam optandum esset hoc seculo,
omnes Theologos case mathematicos, hoc est, homines tractabiles et mansuetos."
Perhaps the union of the characters of divine and mathematician gives a
peculiar right to speak well of the latter; for Barrow says, "Tenerrimæ frontis
et stomachi robustissimi, aut si mavis, pudentissimum tædiique patientissimum
genus hominum sunt mathematici." We accept the si maris, for there is no
saying how the moderns might translate the first epithets.
991
TABLE.
Delambre proposes to call them Naperian logarithms, and to restrict
the term hyperbolic to the modern Naperian or e logarithms: but
custom has refused.
The reader may have some curiosity to see a specimen of the tabula
princeps: we therefore subjoin three lines from the page having Gr. 37
at the top and Gr. 52 at the bottom. The form is semiquadrantal,
and the differentia is the logarithm of the tangent.
+
37
min.
Sinus.
Logarithmi. Differentia. Logarithmi.
Sinus.
0
1
6018150
6020473
2 6022796
5078050
5074191
5070334
2829544
2823492
2817441
2248506
2250699
2252893
7986355 60
7984604 59
7982852 58
This work of Napier was reprinted by Baron Maseres, in vol. vi. of
the Scriptores Logarithmici.'
(1616.) Reprint of the above, by Edward Wright, to one figure less,
with Napier's explanation translated into English, and preface by
Briggs, London.
(1617.) Briggs, 'Logarithmorum Chilias Prima,' London. This is
the first publication of logarithms on Briggs's system.
(1618.) Benjamin Ursinus, Cursus Mathematicus,' Cologne, con-
tains Napier's Logarithms. For his 'Magnus Canon,' see 1624.
(1619.) John Speidell, New Logarithms.' A new arrangement of
Napier's, but giving sines, tangents, and secants, with numbers also to
1000. These New Logarithmes' are the first modern Naperian, or
hyperbolic logarithms. The second edition was in 1620, not 1627, as
we stated (from others) before we had seen it. The reason of the
mistake is that the Briefe Treatise of Sphæricall Triangles,' which is
frequently prefixed, has 1627 on its title-page.
<
Taking decimals it stands thus:-If m n be the sine of an angle,
and if x represent the logarithm to the base e, the figures of the
Naperían logarithm are found in
ληλη.
Thus, the sine of 19° 38′ is ‘336, very nearly. And we have
λ 1000 6.9077552.
=
λ 336-58171111
•
1.0906441 Napier has 10906448.
The figures of Speidell's logarithmic sine are found in
10+ληλη
thus for 19° 38′ he has 890936. But he leaves the 10 out of all the
secants and the last half of the tangents. His logarithms of numbers,
(1) 1000, are modern hyperbolic to six decimals, as we should now
say, but without the decimal point; thus at 770 he has 6646388 not
6.646388. To each logarithm he gives its difference, its arithmetical com-
plement, and the halves of all three. Also an additional column which
shows that he means to use his table in calculation by feet, inches, and
quarters. Thus the number 775 has 16.1.3 opposite to it, there being
775 quarter inches in 16 feet 1 inch 3 quarters. At the bottom of each
page he puts the logarithm of 100 and of 1000, for help in decimal
fractions.
Speidell, as we have seen, first published in (1619); Baron Maseres
reprinted from the "tenth impression," dated (1628); there was an
edition in (1627); Hutton mentions the seventh, dated (1624); we
have the fifth, dated 1623, and the sixth, dated 1624; the Royal
Society has one of 1623; Murhard gives the third impression, of (1621),
and we have the second, dated 1620. In his "briefe treatise" above
mentioned, Speidell mentions, and naturally complains of, those * who
had printed his work without an atom of alteration, and yet dispraised
or undervalued it in their prefaces for want of alterations which them-
selves either could not or would not make. This he attributes to his
not having been at Oxford or Cambridge. Having kept our eye on
this work until we have obtained four copies of it, though the British
Museum‡ does not possess one, without ever finding the smallest trace
* To them he speaks as follows, in the introduction :-
"To the M. C. Z.
If that thou canst amend it,
So shall the Arte increase:
If thou canst not: commend it,
Else, preethee hould thy peace."
"Yet to satisfie in part the learned, that I can giue a reason for what I
doe, I will set downe the making of these 2. last Theorems, whereby they may
(if so they please) suppose I can doe as much for the rest, and whether some of
them doc or no, I passe not greatly, for that they are sorry I can doe so well,
not hauing scene one of the Vniuersities" (p. 27).
The British Museum is well supplied with mathematical works of the
period and the deficiency illustrates what we shall say on the decadence of
J. Speidell and his works. It is very much to be regretted that the Museum
did not purchase Dr. Hutton's library. The matter was in discussion, and
almost in negotiation; but things were prevented from going further by
Sir Joseph Banks. Hutton distinctly declared, both at the time of the sale and
after, that his "old implacable enemy" had prevented the Museum from
TABLE.
992
of any reproduction by another hand, we permit ourselves to doubt
Speidell's assertion about the reprints: and the more readily after
finding out the reasons for suspecting him of unfairness of which we
shall presently speak.
Whether for his own reason or not, Speidell's name was very little
known.* The Continental writers rarely mention him; Wallis knew
nothing of him; and even his own son, Euclid Speidell, when he pub-
lished his 'Logarithmotechnia,' in 1688, had no accurate information
on his father's writings; for he says, "I do find my father printed
several sorts of logarithms, but at last concluded that the decimal or
Briggs's logarithms were the best sort for a standard logarithm, and
did also print the same several ways." This must have been merely a
mistaken tradition, arising from Speidell's not having printed the same
logarithms as Napier: we may safely say he did not print any decimal
logarithms. In addition to this testimony as to the rapid spread of
logarithms in England which Speidell's circulation gives, we may state
that their advantages were immediately seen by the practical mathe-
maticians. Aaron Rathborne, in his 'Surveyor,' London, 1616, recom-
mends the use of the "tables and more than admirable invention of
logarithmes by that divine and noble writer the Lord Marchiston, whoes

name and honour will never out."
It is to be noticed that two different tables of common logarithms
accompanied Speidell's sines, &c. Our second, fifth, and one of two
copies of the sixth, have, through 0 (1) 1000, the logarithm and its comple-
ment with the common difference between them, and, by the side of
them, the semi-logarithm and semi-complement, with their common
difference between them. But our other copy of the sixth impression
has nothing but plain number and logarithm, without even the differ-
ences. And the larger table has, up to 960, an argument in shillings,
pence, and farthings.
>
Thus far we had got in the revision of our former article, when we
took it into our heads to compare the four copies before us, and, ex-
cepting only the new table of common logarithms in one of the sixth
copies, we found them to be all from the same type, even to the very
title-pages.
It is true that one has 'The 2. Inpression. 1620,' and
another 'The 6. Inpression. 1624,' &c.; but as much as 'The In-
pression. 162 is from the same type in all. We cannot be deceived
here, though those who are not used to such comparisons may think it
possible. The inferior printing of that period abounds in badly
formed, ill ranged, and blurred letters: and every instance of mal-
formation is common to all our three cases. Hyphens, in particular,
are very good tests: and one in "Ho-nourable" which happens to
slant upwards in all three, and another in " Play-House" which hap-
pens to slant downwards, are hardly possible coincidences. Either the
type was kept standing, and each year's sale was called an impression,
after a number of copies had been taken off. There is no printer's
or the title-page was several times fraudulently set forward in date
name; and that the type should have been allowed to stand for many
inferior table of common logarithms in the late editions is in favour
years is very unlikely, though we must see that the occurrence of an
of some of the last pages got broken up by accident, and that the
of the supposition. It seems to favour the hypothesis that the forms
inferior table was set up to replace them.
C
burgh, edited by Napier's son.
1619. Napier. Mirifici Logarithmorum Canonis Constructio,' Edin-
1620. Reprint of Napier, both the 'Descriptio' and the 'Constructio,'
at Lyons, by Bartholomew Vincent, bookseller.
(1620). Gunter, Canon of Triangles,' first trigonometrical canon
this canon, which is semi-quadrantal, 0(1') 45° to seven decimals, and
with Briggs's 'Logarithms.' We have not seen the first edition of
0 (1) 1000 to eight. It was certainly first published in 1620, alone;
and Wingate, in 1624, states it to be of Gunter's own calculation, and
acknowledges it as the source of his own reprint. A year or two after-
wards, the work on the cross-staff was published, to which this canon
was attached and in future editions the two always went together.
The second edition of both was in 1636; the fourth (edited by Henry
Bond, who perhaps edited the third, of which we know nothing) in
(1662); the logarithms of numbers being 0 (1) 10,000 to seven decimals.
Gunter is entitled to rank as one of the primary calculators of
logarithms, with Napier, Briggs, John Speidell, and Vlacq.
:
(1620). J. B. [Justus Byrgius], 'Arithmetische und Geometrische
progresse Tabulen,' Prague. This is the title given by Montucla, and
the history of the book is as follows:-Kepler had stated that Byrge
had invented the very same logarithms as Napier many years before
the latter published anything on the subject. And Bramer, author of
a German work on perspective, Cassel (1630), says that his brother-in-
law and teacher, Justus Byrgius, had, twenty years before that time,
made a table of progressions with differences of 10, calculated to nine
figures, which he had published without text at Prague in 1620. This
announcement obtained no notice, until Kästner informed Montucla
making the purchase, and that such was the frequent opinion of those who
thought about such things. (Bruce, Life of Hutton,' Newcastle, 1823). Thus
the finest set of mathematical tables ever collected in England was dispersed.
* There is not now a copy of any edition in the British Museum. Hutton
happens to say that there is in the seventh impression (being the one he had
before him) a table of logarithms of numbers. In the Encycl. Brit.' this is
translated into an assertion that the logarithms of numbers were not added
until the seventh impression.
993
994
TABLE.
TABLE.
(how, Montucla does not state; probably by private communication,
or perhaps Montucla ought to have cited the 'Fortsetzung der Rechen-
kunst,' 1783) that this passage of Bramer had led him to look at some
old tables which he had bought, and which had lain by neglected.
And in these old tables he says he found the above work of Byrgius.
This occurs in the second edition of Montucla's History, vol. ii. p. 10;
see also Kästner's History, vol. ii. p. 375, and vol. iii. p. 14; and
Delambre,' Hist. de l'Ast. Mod.,' vol. i. pp. 560-566. It will be noticed
that Byrgius did not publish till six years after Napier; so that in all
probability Napier is first in point of invention as well as publication.
Byrgius's system begins with 0 as a logarithm and 109 as a number; for
every increase of the logarithm by 10, the number is multiplied by
1.0001; so that 10m has for its number 109 (1·0001)™-1. This is
undoubtedly a rude table of logarithms, or rather of numbers to loga-
rithms; and since Byrgius carried it up to 230270, the number to
which is 999999999, he certainly secured the main advantages of
logarithmic calculation.
Delambro, who has in general treated Napier with fairness, has in
one instance formed a conclusion on premises so strange, that we
hardly remember the like in any historian. ('Astr. Mod.,' i. 287-291.)
Ursus Dithmarsus, the pupil of Byrgius, in his work of 1588 already
mentioned, hints at some method by which he can calculate sines
even in numbers, and arithmetically; and afterwards he talks of
doing this in common numbers, by inscription, and in logistic num-
bers, by section of the angle. What he means Delambre cannot
understand, neither, we should suppose, can any one else but,
seeing that he is a pupil of Byrgius, who afterwards made an
antilogarithmic table, Delambre interprets him as possibly con-
veying the ideas of Byrgius to Napier. That is to say, certain unin-
telligible professions of Ursus, who does not even attribute them to
Byrgius, and in which Delambre himself, with all his knowledge of
logarithms, can neither see logarithms nor anything else, may have
given the first idea of logarithms to Napier, or may furnish presump-
tion that Byrgius gave that idea in some other way. One would
really almost
suppose that Delambre had been misled by the
antithesis of common and logistic numbers, the usual terms of the
day for integers and fractions. Thus, Kepler begins the Rudolphin
tables by a chapter on the logistics he means to use, and warns the
logista that he will express the distances of the planets by dividing
that of the earth and sun into 100,000 parts.
The following is a summary of the ground of presumption that
Napier's system was well advanced, in thought at least, if not in actual
calculation, before 1588. Kepler testifies that Napier gave Tycho
Brahé strong hints of what was coming in 1594. Now in 1593 Napier
published the first edition of his interpretation of the Apocalypse; and
there is no reason to doubt his declaration that he considered this as
the main business of his life, and mathematics as only secondary.
This heavy work shows what was his main employment in the years
preceding 1594, in which year his system was well advanced: which
we take to make probable, all things put together, that it was well
advanced at least four or five years earlier. Napier returned from
travel and settled down to study in 1571, and probably he soon began
his researches. It is to be noticed that his system of logarithms did
not stand alone. He informs us that he tried many plans to facilitate
calculation, some of which might perhaps be published: this he says
in the preface to his canon of logarithms. Accordingly, in 1617, the
Rabdologia' appeared [NAPIER'S BONES]; and this was only one of
three plans, of which the others are but named. Napier was not in
haste to publish. His son informs us that the second tract, the
Constructio,' was written years before the name logarithm was
invented; and this description must have followed the actual calculation
of much, if not all, of the canon.
،
1624. Briggs, Arithmetica Logarithmica,' London. Logarithms
(decimal) to fifteen places, from 0 to 20,000, and from 90,000 to
100,000, with interscript differences. After his death, in 1631, a
reprint was, it is said, made by one George Miller; the Latin title and
explanatory parts were replaced by English ones; Logarithmicall
Arithmetike, &c. We must doubt the reprint of the tables, and think
that they were Briggs's own tables, with an English explanation pre-
fixed in place of the Latin one. Wilson (in his History of Navigation,
prefixed to the third edition of Robertson) says that some copies of
Vlacq, of 1628, were purchased by our booksellers, and published at
London with an English explanation premised, dated 1631. Mr. Babbage
(to whose large and rare collection of tables we were much indebted
in the original article) has one of these copies; and the English explana-
tion and title is the same as that which was in the same year attached to
the asserted reprint of Briggs. We have no doubt that Briggs and
Vlacq were served exactly in the same manner. Some copies of Briggs
have, after the Finis,' another chiliad of logarithms, headed 'Chilias
centesima prima,' and arranged like the preceding ones; also, a page of
square roots, to eleven decimals, from 101 to 200. In some copies
the page of errata follows the additions.
1624. Benjamin Ursinus, 'Magnus Canon Triangulorum Logarith-
micus ex voto et consilio Illustr. Neperi p.m. novissimo,' Cologne (at
the end, Berlin), 4to. This is an extension of the original Naperian
logarithms to eight figures, and to every ten seconds: the last places
are much more correct. The arrangement is entirely that of Napier,
with the addition of the tabular differences, headed differ. or D., the
ARTS AND SOI. DIV. VOL. VII.
heading of the logarithmic tangents being different. (contraction of
differentia). There is no preface; but the Trigonometria cum magno
Logarithmorum canone,' published in the next year at Cologne by
Ursinus, contains the necessary explanations. It is bound up with the
canon in the copy we have seen; and probably the canon was not
issued without it.
(1624.) John Kepler, 'Chilias Logarithmorum,' Marpurg, and (1625)
Supplementum... continens Præcepta de eorum Usu.' These were
reprinted by Maseres, in vol. i. of the 'Scriptores Logarithmici.' See
a very full account of them also in the first volume of Delambre's
History of Modern Astronomy. The logarithms are strictly Naperian,
0(1)1000, but four ciphers are put to the end of each number, to make
the radius ten millions. There are five columns, of which this is a
specimen :-
44° 30′ 26" | 7010000 16 49m 26s| 3552474 | 42° 4′
The number here is 701, and the sine being 7010000, the angle is
44° 30′ 26″.
44° 30′ 26″. The logarithm is 3552474. And if 1000 represent 24h,
then 701 represents 16 49m 26s; while if 1000 represent 60°, 701
represents 42° 4'. There are also interscript differences. And thus
Kepler originated the species of table now called logistic.
1625. Wingate, Arithmetique Logarithmique,' Paris (reprinted at
Gouda, in 1628, according to Murhard). Wingate was an Englishman
who first carried Briggs's logarithms into France. The work was
reprinted in England, in the same year. Dodson, Hutton, Ward, &c.,
say the year of the French publication was 1624; but Lalande and
Delambre knew of none previous to 1626, and a copy of the last date
which we have examined bears no mark of being a second edition, and
refers to nothing as published before, except a tract on the rule of
proportion (Gunter's Scale). The logarithms are from Gunter.
But we have found a copy dated 1625, and we are satisfied, from the
date of the "privilège" and other things, that this was the first edition.
That date is November 4, 1624, and the printing is stated as having
been finished April 4, 1625. This edition and that of 1626 are from
the same types, except in their title-pages and a page or two of the
postfixed explanations. The latter has also a further appendix of
differences and some points of explanation. It has also additional
(perhaps, for the same thing may have been torn out of our copy of
1625) à folding sheet of mean proportionals between 10 and 1.
contents are,-seven-decimal logarithms of numbers 0(1)1000 with
interscript differences; and 0(1')45° logarithms of sines and tangents,
with the complemental parts on opposite pages. These logarithms are
from Gunter. This is the introduction of Briggs's logarithms into
France; that of Napier's was made, as noted, by B. Vincent.
(1626.) Henrion's 'Logarithms,' Paris. (Dodson, followed by
Hutton.) Lalande knew nothing of this work, nor Delambre. All we
can learn is from Dechales, who states that Henrion wrote on the pro-
portional compasses in (1623), reprinted in (1681), and on the rule of
proportion (which we take to be Gunter's scale) in (1626); and that
this last work contains logarithms of numbers up to 2000.
The
1626. Tables des Logarithmes pour les nombres d'un à 10000, com-
posées par Henry Brigge. A. Goude. Par Pierre Rammaseyn.' The negli-
gence of a bookbinder enables us to clear up some confusion, in rather a
singular manner. Sherwin states that he examined his table by one of
Vlacq's, in large* octavo, printed at Gouda in 1626, of which table we
find no other mention. The table before us corresponds in every respect,
except that there is no author's name; but no one except Vlacq can be
mentioned, who was in the least likely to have printed logarithms at
Gouda in or about 1626. At one time we thought that this table was
the original of the long series of small tables called after Vlacq; but
this was a mistake (see 1625, Gellibrand), and the mistake was partly
due to the following circumstances. This table, Gouda, 1626, having
the title, when not cut away, above described, and which we have also
seen with a Dutch title and preface, is the table which is always bound
up at the end of 'Sciographia, or art of Shadowes. ... by T. W[ells],
Esq.,' London, 1635, large octavo. It has a preface by Gellibrand,
who was thus accessory to the introduction of one small table by Vlacq
in the very year in which he (Gellibrand) published another small table,
the reprints of which were destined to be called by Vlacq's name.
That the book was intended to have these logarithms bound at the end
is evident from every page of it. Now the fact stands as follows:-
A sufficient number of copies of the logarithms having been procured
from abroad, the binder was directed to cancel the title-page of the
logarithms, and to append them to the work. Accordingly, most
copies have no title to the logarithms, which look quite like part of
the work. But in some copies the binder has not cancelled as required;
we have obtained two (since our first article was written), and there is
another in the library of the Royal Society. But in all three copies
the title of the logarithms is cut half way up with knife or scissors, as
a direction to the binder to cancel it. One of our copies has this
Dutch title-page to the table, Henrici Briggii Tafel van Logarithmi
voor de Ghetallen van een tot 10000. Ter Goude . . . 1626.' And
the work (though the same impression as before) has a different title-
• The work we shall describe would not now be called large octavo; but
may have been so in Sherwin's eyes. The octavo sizes (and indeed all the sizes)
varied as much as they do in our own day, when between post, demy, royal,
&c., we hardly know what is and what is not octavo.
3 8
995
TABLE.
page and date-namely, 'The Compleat Art of Dyalling ., by
T. Wells of Deptfort, Esq.,' London, 1637.
This table contains logarithms of numbers 0 (1) 10,000, to ten
decimals, and a complete canon (of logarithms only, and of semi-
quadrantal form) to every minute and to seven decimals. But the
terms cosine, cotangent, cosecant, are not yet introduced.
(1626.) John Maire, Canon Mesotetologisticus,' &c., Leyden. Such
a work is mentioned by Murhard from Scheibel. It contained sines of
minutes, to 7 decimals, in Napierian logarithms; with differences to
ten seconds.
....
1627. John Kepler, 'Tabula Rudolphina,' folio. Among the tables
in this celebrated work are the following: First, a variation of the
logistic table. Next, a table of logarithms, opposite to which are the
angles of which they are the Naperian logarithms of sines, and adapted
to the two ascending arithmetical series 5", 10",.... 60', and 2m, 4m,
24", and to the reciprocal, or harmonic series, 720, 360, 240, 1.
This table, from its number of terms, he calls a heptacosias of logistic
logarithms: we shall see that Batsch extended the first term; and
we note that Kepler here introduced the other. Secondly, a reprint of
Napier's own table of sines and (now called) cosines, to two figures less
than in Napier. Kepler calls the logarithms of cosines antilogarithms,
and abandons his right to the word at the same time. For in Napier's
semiquadrantal form, the cosines do stand over against the sines: but
in Kepler's quadrantal form they do not. Napier does not use any
distinctive word. Thirdly, Napier's differentice, called by Kepler
mesologarithms (being in Napier in the middle), are reprinted
separately to every minute of the first ten degrees, for the sake of the
latitudes of the planets. Fourthly, more accurate cosines 0 (10") 1° 40′,
are given.
<
1628. Adrian Vlacq, Arithmetica Logarithmica,' Gouda. The
whole hundred chiliads of numbers, from 0 to 100,000, to ten deci-
mals. Sines, &c., to every minute. This work very much displeased*
Briggs's friends in England. On the one hand the work is called a
second edition of Briggs; and, being all in numerals and in Latin, it
needed no translation. The pretexts were, first, that copies were
scarce in Belgium, which was bad: and that Briggs had omitted the
logarithms from 20,000 to 90,000, which was good. On the other
hand, it may be held that the supplying of this defect made a new
work of the whole; and that the description of it as a second edition
of Briggs was too large a concession. A middle course ought to have
been taken: Briggs ought to have been consulted. Had this been
done, an arrangement would probably have been made which would
have satisfied all parties. The error, if any, was purely commercial:
there is nothing the least resembling literary plagiarism, but rather the
opposite fault, over ascription.
(1630). Bartschius. The tables which Bartschius published inde-
pendently of his father-in-law (Kepler) had fallen into oblivion, when
Eisenschmidt found a copy and republished them with Kepler's last
tables, and with interscript differences, under the title of 'Joh. Kepleri
et Jacobi Bartschii Tabulæ manuales logarithmicæ,' Strasburg, 1700,
12mo. What the titles and dates of the original works were, we can
find only from Lipenius, who gives them as follows:
Jac. Bartschii Tabula Nova Logarithmico-logistica,' Leipzig,
folio, 1635; and Trichil. Hexacosias Logarithmi.' Sagan,
8vo, 1630.
Whether the first was an original edition we do not know if so, it
was posthumous. The reprint by Eisenschmidt contains (from
Ursinus, see 1624) a table of logarithmic sines to six figures, 0°(10")
24° (15") 48° (20") 69° (30″) 82° (1′) 90°; a table of logarithmic tangents
0° (10") 90°, called mesologarithms; a more accurate table of loga-
rithmic cosines 0° (2") 2° 7'; an astronomical table which it is not in
our plan to describe; and a table called Trichil-Hexacosias logarith
morum logisticorum, being a table of what are still called logistic loga-
rithms with 1º and 24h for first terms.
(1630). J. Faulhaber, 'Ingenieurs-schul., Erster Theyl,' Frankfort.
This work contains logarithms, according to Scheibel, who does not
give a description.
|
TABLE.
996
and also in his 'Tabula Trigonometrica,' of which we do not know the
date.
1633. Gellibrand, 'Trigonometria Britannica,' Gouda. Briggs's work,
which he did not live quite to complete. Sines, tangents, and secants,
with logarithms of the sines and tangents: sines to fifteen decimals,
tangents and secants to ten, logarithms of sines to fourteen decimals,
logarithms of tangents to ten decimals. It is to hundredths of
degrees, not to minutes.
1633. Vlacq, Trigonometrica Artificialis,' Gouda. Logarithms of
sines, tangents, and secants, to every ten seconds, and to ten places of
decimals. Twenty thousand of Briggs's logarithms of numbers are
added.
1633. Nathaniel Roe, Tabula Logarithmicæ,' London. Seven-
figure numbers to 100 thousand, ten-figure sines, &c. to hundredths of
degrees. The first table in which attempt at compression was made:
the numbers are in columns of fifties, the first figures of the logarithms
being at the top. A good model for a small and clear type. The
explanations are called Wingate's, whose name is by the announcement
made so conspicuous in the title-page, that the whole book must have
often been attributed to him.
1633. J. B. Morin, Trigonometria Canonica Libri Tres,' Paris.
Seven-decimal Logarithms; of Numbers 0 (1) 1000, with interscript
differences; of Sines and Tangents 0 (1') 45°. The decimal point is not
used.
(1634). Cruger. Kästner gives Dantzig as the place. The loga-
rithms are Naperian, according to him.
1634. Herigone, 'Cursus Mathematicus,' vol. iii., Paris. Said to be
the first digested course of mathematics; contains logarithms, appa-
rently from Wingate's French of 1626.
Briggs's logarithms to seven places.
(1634). Frobenius, ' Clavis Univ. Trigon.' The (by that time) usual
(1634). Cruger, 'Praxis Trig. Logarith. cum Logar. Tab.', &c.,
Amsterdam.
(1635). Cruger, 'Doctrina Astronomiæ,' Dantzig. Contains loga-
rithmic tables.
1635. Anonymous, ' Logarithmeticall Table,' London. [Attributed
to Wingate. Dodson is followed by Hutton in saying that Wingate
published an English edition of his French logarithms. But Hutton
never saw any prior to this of 1635, and we can find no mention of
anything of Wingate's translated from French, except (in an old
catalogue which gives no dates) The Construction and Use of the
Logarithmeticall Tables,' not tables themselves. The logarithms of
the table now before us are of six figures, and for the first time units'
figures are at the head of the columns, and the tens down the margin.
There are tables of 1632, attributed to Wingate.]
We allow the preceding paragraph in [] to stand as in the 'Penny
Cyclopædia,' in illustration of the difference between the utmost that
can be got from second-hand sources, and the results of a look at the
original. We have found a copy of the following work:- Aoyapie-
μoтexvía, or the Construction and Use of the Logarithmeticall Tables,
...
first published in the French Tongue by Edmund Wingate...
and, after translated into English by the same author. The third
Edition, diligently corrected and enlarged by the Author himself,'
London, 1648, 12mo. The work is the letter-press of Wingate of 1625
and 1626, already noticed, translated into English. The tables have
a French title of 1035, Une table logarithmique.. Imprimé à
Londres.' But our separate copy of the tables, being that which heads
this article, has an English title, though both tables are from one
type. No doubt the first edition was of 1635, and the supply of
tables lasted several editions of the supply of text. Wingate was a
wealthy man, and probably found his disposition to alter and amend
his descriptions outrun the sale of the work. But the tables are not
reprints of the French tables of 1625. They are to six figures, not
seven; the numbers are 0(1) 10,000 ranged by double entry, three
digits and one: and the trigonometrical tables are arranged in a
manner more like that now in use.
1635. Henry Gellibrand, An Institution Trigonometricall,' London.
Seven decimals; logarithms of numbers 0 (1) 10,000; sines, tangents,
and secants, with logarithms of sines and tangents, dividing the page
into two parts, one of three columns, the other of two. The form not
semiquadrantal, but quadrantal, with the complemental degree (in-
1631. Norwood, Trigonometrie.' Logarithms to seven places;
numbers to 10,000, sines, &c. to every minute. We do not know the
date of the first edition of Norwood's Epitomie': there is one of
(1645) (Wilson) and we have one of 1659. The tables are of five
decimal places, 0 (1) 45° and 0 (1) 1000; with a separate title Averted) on the opposite page. No differences; some subsidiary tables
Triangular Canon Logarithmical.'
1632. Cavalieri, Directorium Generale Uranometricum,' Bologna.
Eight-figure logarithms, the ten first thousand numbers in columns of
twenty the sines, &c. to various divisions in different parts of the
quadrant. It is very convenient to have a short mode of denoting
change of intervals; the following could hardly be misunderstood:
-Cavalieri's tables are, 0 (1") 5′ (5″) 1.0′ (10″) 20′ (20") 30′ (30")1° 30′
(1) 45°. The table of logarithmic versed sines is said to be the first
given. Cavalieri gave logarithms again in his trigonometry (see 1643);
*Norwood, in his Trigonometry (preface dated November 1, 1631), reminds
his readers that when he quotes the 'Arithmetica Logarithmica' he means
Briggs's book of 1624, not that put forth a month since in English (see ante,
1624, Briggs), "being nothing like his, nor worthy his name." He blames
Vlacq for his "second edition" of Briggs's work, against Briggs's "mind and
liking," which he says frustrated the second edition of the original, besides
omitting some things of special moment.
for astronomy and navigation; the name of Briggs prefixed to the
logarithms of numbers only. This is the form of a series of tables
which ran through many continental editions; but they all bear the
name of Vlacq. It is stated that Vlacq's first edition of them appeared
in (1636): and Dechales (i. 22) describes a work of Vlacq of precisely
the above contents, as of Gouda (1636). Early editions of small works
are often lost to history. Now we have seen that Vlacq was a rapid
appropriator of English ideas: in less than four years he reproduced
Briggs, with the 70,000 missing logarithms, and a table of sines, &c.
We must suppose that he seized upon Gellibrand's form, and imme-
diately reprinted it. We have seen (1626) that Vlacq's previous idea
of a small table had been very different.
The originator, then, of the long succession of small tables is Gelli-
brand. All the tables of this Gellibrand model are known at a glance
by containing, on one page, sines, tangents, secants, with logarithms of
sines and tangents, and some white between the sines, &c., and the
097
999
TABLE.
TABLE.
logarithms. Under the name of Vlacq, his idea prevailed till 1760, when
Lalande first commenced a new series. Lalande himself originated a
third series in 1805; and the next series begins, for England, with the
reprint of Lalande by the Useful Knowledge Society in 1839. Schulze
speaks of some small tables by Wolf, as being as common in Germany
as those of Vlacq of these we do not remember to have met with
a copy.
1643. F. B. Cavalieri, Trigonometria plana et sphærica, Bologna.
Seven-decimal Briggs's logarithms 0 (1) 1000, with interscript differ-
ences; also sines, tangents, secants, and their logarithms, 0 (10″) 30′
(30″) 1° (1′) 45°. But the decimal point is not used. The logarithms
of sine, tangent, secant, are styled logarithm, mesologarithm, tomo-
logarithm.
1651. Vincent Wing, 'Harmonicon Coeleste,' London. The logar-
ithmus have separate title-pages, and might, if torn out, pass for separate
works. They have the decimal point and are to six decimal places.
Sines and tangents 0 (1') 45°; numbers, in decads, 0 (1) 1010, without
characteristics. Wing was a much more learned man than his reputa-
tion (which is that of an almanac-maker) would imply.
1654. John Newton, 'Institutio Mathematica,' London, 2 vols. 12mo.
Contains tables.
1657. Oughtred's 'Trigonometrie,' London, published both in Eng-
lish and Latin in the same year. The logarithms however are from
the same type, with the Latin title in both: they are complete six-
figure logarithms; the numbers, which go to 10,000, having seven
figures. The trigonometrical part contains sines, tangents, and secants,
with the logarithms of sines and tangents. The table is quadrantal,
the supplemental degree being in the opposite page inverted. It
divides the degree into 100 parts, though each part is called a minute.
(1657). John Newton, Help to Calculation,' &c., for converting
sexagenary tables into decimal by logarithms.
for the more correct. Two years afterwards, in 1699, the tables only
were reprinted (Paris), the name of Vlacq was restored to the title-
page, and the Au Lecteur,' written by Ozanam in 1697, was added at
the end.
1699. John Wing (nephew of Vincent), 'A compleat Body of Sur-
veying, formerly publish'd by Vincent Wing,' London. Five-decimal
logarithms of sines and tangents, 0 (10') 45°; of numbers, 0 (1) 1000.
(1704). J. Harris], 'Table of Logarithms,' quarto, mentioned in
Hutton's sale catalogue.
1705. (Second edition.) Anonymous, 'A Table of Logarithms for
Numbers increasing in their natural order, &c.,' London. Six-decimal
logarithms of numbers 0 (1) 10000. The trigonometrical part has a
separate title, 1704, 'A Triangular Canon Logarithmical, London.
Six-decimal logarithms of sines, tangents, and secants (1′) 45°. So
far as appears, this table was got up by J. Seller and C. Price, mathe-
matical-instrument makers, who seem to have desired to sell their own
table of logarithms as well as their own quadrants. This table appears
to be a second edition, so called, of a table precisely resembling it,
except only in having seven decimals, attached to the Practical Navi-
gation' of the same John Seller, who appears as the author.
(1706). Sherwin, Mathematical Tables,' London. The first work,
we believe, in which the proportional parts are in the same page with
the logarithms; and the common differences in the trigonometrical
logarithms made common. Second edition, 1717; third, revised by
Gardiner, and the best, 1742; fifth and last, 1771, very erroneous-the
most inaccurate table Hutton ever met with.
<
1710. John Harris, Lexicon Technicum,' vol. ii. This volume con-
tains seven-decimal tables of logarithms 0(1)10,000, and a complete
canon (including versed sines), 0(1′)45°, both natural and logarithmic.
There is also a table of proportional parts for every integer from 44 to
4320. These tables, except the last, seem to be taken from Sherwin.
A large
1658. John Newton, 'Trigonometria Britannica,' London. The loga- 1717. Abraham Sharp, Geometry Improved,' London.
rithms of sines, &c., are 0 (0°.001) 3° (0°.01)45°, to 8 decimals; also table of areas of the segments of circles: but it contains logarithms of
sines to 15 and logarithms of sines to 14 decimals, 45° (15') 90°. The all numbers to 100, and all primes under 1100, true to sixty decimals;
logarithms of numbers are thrown into the form which they have ever 63 decimals of logarithms 999990(1)1000000 with differences to the
since preserved in seven-figure tables. But, instead of differences to the tenth; and 63 decimals of the logarithms 1000001(1)1000010. Also
logarithms of numbers, five decimal logarithms of differences are given. an immense mass of results on the regular solids.
1668. John Newton, 'The Scale of Interest, or the use of Decimal (1721). Magnus Canon Logarithmorum Typis Sinensibus in
Fractions.' Here is a table of logarithms to six decimals 0 (1) 10000 | Aula Pekinensi jussu Imperatoris excusus.' In this year was printed
arranged in lines of decads, with a separate table of proportional parts. at Pekin, by command of the emperor Kang-Hi, in Chinese type and in
This is the first attempt at a school-book and a workman's book. three folio volumes, Vlacq's logarithmic tables of sines, &c., to ten
There is an appendix of application to carpentry and gauging.
seconds, and of numbers to 100,000. (Vega, who had seen a copy at
1669. Phillippes, 'A Mathematical Manual.' Six-figure logarithms, Vienna.) The Royal Society possesses some Chinese logarithms, and,
common and trigonometrical without secants or cosecants, 0 (1) 10000, as usual, there were in 1827 some who believed that the Chinese had
0 (1') 45°.
possessed logarithms from all eternity. Mr. Babbage (Astron. Soc.
Notices,' vol. i. p. 9), examined these tables, and found that six slight
errors which run through most European tables were committed in
them. Only Vega and the last impressions of Callet were free from
these errors. It appears that the Chinese, according to their usual
practice, had taken from the European work republished at Pekin,
without any allusion to the source.
1679. A table containing ten Miliads....' and 'A triangular Canon
Logarithmical,' London. Seven-decimal tables, numbers 0 (1) 10,000,
and sines, tangents, and secants 0 (1′) 45°. These tables belong to
some work, from which our copy is cut out: signatures from Aaa to
Ttt, quarto.
1681. Vlacq, Tabula' Sinuum, &c., Amsterdam: also 1683. Vlacq,
'Tables de Sinus,' &c., Amsterdam; and 1689, Vlacq, 'Tabellen der
Sinuum, &c.,' Amsterdam. These have the same introduction, one
in Latin, the other in French, the third in German, have sines,
tangents, secants, and logarithms of sines and tangents, to every minute
minute
and to seven decimals. Also, seven-decimal logarithms from 1 to
10,000, headed H. Briggii Tabula Logarithmorum.' The first and
second are different prints; and that of 1683, which passes for the
most correct (see 1697, Ozanam), is in a beautifully legible bold type,
large for so small a book. There are those who would be glad to use
it now.
See above, at the year 1635, Gellibrand.
1681. Jonas Moore, 'New Systeme of the Mathematicks,' London,
2 vols. 4to. In the second volume, as part of an extensive system of
tables for navigation, are found tables of logarithms of numbers to
seven decimals 0(1) 10,000, with tables of proportional parts 44 (1) 4320;
sines, tangents, and secants, and their logarithms 0 (17) 45°. Also, for
the first time in England, a complete minute-table of natural and loga-
rithmic versed sines.
1685. Ozanam, Tables des Sinus,' &c., Paris. This is really Vlacq
in every particular as to the tables, though his name is not mentioned.
The tables are attached to a work on trigonometry. Many a writer
thought that the body of this work consisted in his own trigonometry,
or surveying, &c., and that the table was an accessory of which no
notice need be taken. And so, in our own day, many persons who are
quite above plagarism of text think it no sin to borrow plates or
diagrams without acknowledgment.
1690. Dechales, Cursus seu Mundus Mathematicus.'
The first
volume has seven-decimal tables; logarithms of numbers 0 (1) 10000;
of sines and tangents 0 (1') 45°, and the sines and tangents also.
1690. Wm. Leybourn, 'Cursus Mathematicus.' This book has in-
ternal evidence of having been written before 1660. Seven-decimal
Seven-decimal
logarithms of numbers 0 (1) 10000; six-figure logistic logarithms (1")
0
1° and 1°(1) 1°12′; signs, tangents, and secants, &c., 0 (1) 45°; the
names cosine and secant not used.
1697. Ozanam, Tables des Sinus,' &c., Paris. This is a reprint (see
1685) without trigonometry, and Vlacq is acknowledged. The printing
is from the edition of the Hague, 1665, which ranks amongst the most
correct; the correction from that of Amsterdam, 1683, which passes
*
1741. Deparcieux, Nouveaux Traités de Trigonométrie Rectiligne et
Sphérique,' Paris. Deparcieux is so much better known by his tables
of annuities, that his other writings are neglected. The tables are all
to seven decimals (though the decimal point is not used). There are
logarithms of numbers 0 (1) 20000; sines, tangents, and secants, &c.,
0(10′′) 5˚(1′) 45°, and logarithms of sines and tangents. This is the
earliest table we remember to have seen in which the argument of
degrees, minutes, and seconds accompanies the logarithms of numbers.
The book is also distinguished by its gnomonical tables, and by the
excellence of its solid diagrams.
1742. Dodson, 'Antilogarithmic Canon,' London. This work was
unique of its kind until 1849: it contains the number, to eleven figures,
corresponding to every logarithm from '00001 to 100000: the author +
* When a person is distinguished by one particular work, his other, and
particularly his previous, writings, even on the same subject, go out of notice.
How many persons, for instance, know that Laplace published (separately from
the Memoirs of the Academy) a small work on the elliptic motion and on the
figures of the planets, in 1784? (See Lalande, Bibl. Astron. ann. 1781.) And
how many biographical accounts of Laplace mention it?
In the Phil. Mag. for 1853 are extracts from the diary of Reuben Burrow,
who states that Robertson (the author of the Navigation) told him that William
Jones (better known than his son among the mathematicians) wrote Dodson's
preface, because Dodson wrote such a confused style that it had neither head
nor tail. This was not the case, as any one may sce: unless inde d Dodson
got a friend to write all he published. But there is also something like a
charge of plagiarism on a different matter; and there are imputations against
other persons. We do not object to the production of old diaries; but when
they contain imputations, it is of importance that their authors should be truly
painted. Burrow's biography, extracts from which accompany those from the
diary, does no more than allude to "eccentricities in private life which frequently
attend genius," and "habits formed by casualty and the necessities of the moment,
Burrow, a very able mathematician, was envious and foul-mouthed to an extent
rather than by design and the prudent hand of a master." The truth is that
which it would be an insult to thousands of self-elevated men to palliate by the
plea of want of early education. Of this we shall give an instance. Green and
Wales, two very worthy as well as able men, were successively the astronomers
who accompanied Captain Cook in his voyages: probably Burrow had been a
competitor for the post. In his copy of any book published by either of them,
Burrow usually wrote some scurrilous aspersion, of which we have seen several
999
TABLE.
TABLE,
1000
corrected the faults in most copies with his own hand. Harriot began which divide by 2 or 3 only), up to 10,000; sines of 3° and its multi-
such a table, according to Wallis, and Dr. Pell told Wallis that Warner ples expressed quadratically; cyclometrical ratio; 27-decimal arcs
had finished the table, and that it was in the hands of Dr. Busby, 0(1°) 100° (20°) 120° (30°) 360°, and for minutes and seconds; five-
master of Westminster School. It was never published, and is pro- decimal sines and nine multiples 0 (1°) 90°; seven-decimal sines, tan-
bably lost. All our efforts to trace it, by help of published letters, &c., gents, and secants, and logarithms of sines and tangents 0 (1°) 90° :
lead to the conclusion that, if existing, it must be among Lord Maccles- tables for facilitating cubic equations; sines and cosines of hyperbolic
field's unexamined manuscripts at Shireburn Castle: this is by no means trigonometry, the only table of the kind we have met with; squares
improbable.
and cubes 0 (1) 1000; figurate numbers to the 12th order, 30 of each;
1742. Gardiner, 'Tables of Logarithms,' London. Numbers 1-eight-decimal powers of fractions 0 (01) 1 to the 11th power; seven-
100100, sines, &c., 0 (1") 72′ (10) 45°, all to seven places, with logistic decimal square roots 0 (1) 100; with smaller matters and many alge-
logarithms, and logarithms 0 (1) 1143 and 101000 (1) 101139, and braical formulæ of development. There is said to be another edition
numbers to logarithms 00001 (00001)00139, to twenty decimal
to twenty decimal of this useful miscellany, Lisbon (1798).
places. Rare, and much esteemed for accuracy: the author* corrected
the faults with his own hand. Few copies were printed.
·
1742. Anonymous, printed by J. F. Gleditschen, 'Des vollständigen
Mathematischen Lexici zweyter Theil,' Leipzig. Here we have squares
and cubes 0(1) 10,000; seven-decimal logarithms of sines, tangents,
and secants 0 (1′) 45°; logarithms of numbers 0 (1) 20000; sines,
tangents, and secants (1) 45° to seven decimals; factors of odd
numbers not ending with 5, to 10,000.
1743. Rivard,' Tables des Sinus, &c.,' Paris, with the official "appro-
bation" of Clairaut. Seven-decimal logarithms of sines, tangents, and
secants 0 (1) 45°; sines and tangents to five decimals; secants in a
separate table; logarithms of numbers 0 (1)20000: all with character
istics and no decimal points.
1747. James Dodson, The Calculator. ... adapted to Science,
Business, and Pleasure,' London. A large collection of small tables,
with sufficient, though not the most convenient, seven-figure loga-
rithms. If a person of varied mathematical pursuits wanted a book,
say for travelling, he would not easily find one which would answer
more purposes at a pinch than the one we now speak of. The contents
are too varied for enumeration.
•
C
•
1757. In the original articles there was a gap from 1742 to 1770,
which shows that there was a lull in the publication of pure mathe-
matical tables. The period was one in which the mathematicians were
very much absorbed in physical investigation. When this is the case,
tables of pure mathematics find their way into works of physics and
astronomy under headings of application. Should any one ever enlarge
upon our plan, he must search astronomical and other works for such
tables as the following: Thomas Barker, 'Account of comets with
new tables,' London, 4to., 1757. The tables give, for focal distance
unity, and for angles of anomaly 0 (5′) 180°, the distance of a point
from the focus of a parabola, and the area of the sector on the supposi-
tion that at 90° the sector is 100°. Halley had given a table of the
same kind on a much smaller scale: and Euler, in the Theoria
Motuum Planetarum,' in 1744, had given the area of the parabola for
each degree of anomaly. Professor Schumacher (September 3, 1846),
wrote to us as follows: "Professor Knorre has sent me this (Barker's)
table, calculated from 0° to 180° of anomaly, from 10" to 10" (like
Callet's sines), to see if I can get it printed. It is a work of immense
labour, executed by Mr. Rupertus in Russia. The booksellers, of
course, will not undertake it." We have heard nothing more of this
table. More tables than we think it desirable to describe here, on the
ellipse, parabola, and hyperbola, as orbits of a comet, are given in
'Methods of computing the Orbit of a Comet or Planet,' being the
appendix to the third volume of Bowditch's translation of the Mé-
canique Céleste,' Boston (U.S.), 1834, 4to.
(1760). Lacaille and Lalande first published a small table: Marie
reprinted it in 1768: there were editions in (1781, 1791, 1799). So
far Lalande, in his preface of 1805 (see that year): none of these works
have come to our hands.
1770. J. H. Lambert, 'Zusätze zu den Logarithmischen und Trigo-
nometrischen Tabellen. This is a miscellaneous collection of tables
and formula, containing Primes, at least divisors of all odd numbers
which do not divide by 3 or 5, up to 102,000; three-digit terminations
of odd squares: first ten multiples of all prime numbers up to 313;
primes alone up to 102,000; powers of 2 as far as the 70th, and of
3 and 5 as far as the 50th; hyperbolic logarithms, seven decimals,
0 (1) 100, and 1 (01) 10, and 1 (1) 10 to 25 places; numbers which
divide by 2, 3, 5, or 7 only, or their powers or products (except those
instances. But in the 'Misc. Scient. Cur.,' of which Green and Wales were
1770. Reprint of Gardiner at Avignon, by Pezenas, Dumas, and
Blanchard, with the first four degrees to single seconds, from a manu-
script which Mouton had bequeathed to the Academy of Sciences.
The three industrious editors, all of them priests, who found time
to complete this useful undertaking, modestly withheld their names;
but Lalande, who was in communication with them, and who was an
old pupil of Dumas, has recorded them. There was a reprint of some
sort at Florence, in (1782), and we have been informed of a third
Italian edition, so-called, Florence (1810), badly printed, and contain-
ing also logarithms of prime numbers up to 6607, to twenty figures.
(1772). Gherli's 'Logarithms,' Modena. Very much the same as
Hutton's in their contents.
1775. Douwes 'Tafellen behelzende de Sinussen . . . . als mede de
Logarithmen,' &c., Amsterdam. A complete minute-canon to seven
decimal places; followed by logarithms to seven places; versed sines
and logarithms on the same scale to 90 degrees; logarithms of numbers
from 1 to 101000; and traverse tables.
1778. J. C. Schulze, 'Neue und erweiterte Sammlung logarithmis-
cher . . . Tafeln,' Berlin. Also, 'Recueil de tables logarithmiques . . . .'
The titles and preliminary explanations are both in French and German.
Two volumes. This is a valuable and original collection. It contains
the usual seven-figure tables 0 (1) 101000; a page of multiples of 434
and its reciprocal to 48 places, and powers of 2.718... to 28
figures; Wolfram's * hyperbolic logarithms of all numbers from 1
to 2200, and from thence to 10,000 for all numbers not divisible by
any single digit, all to forty-eight decimal places; common logarithms
to seven decimals of sines and tangents 0 (1") 2°; logistic logarithms to
four decimals 0 (1") 1°; a complete canon 0 (10") 4° (1′) 45° containing
sines, tangents, and secants to seven decimals, common logarithms of
sines and tangents to seven decimals, Naperian (not hyperbolic) loga-
rithms of sines and tangents to eight decimals; first nine multiples of
sines of every degree to five decimals; lengths of arcs 0 (1º) 360° to
twenty-seven decimals; ditto 0 (1′) 1° and 0 (1") 1'; powers of fractions
0 (01) 1 as far as the eleventh, to eight decimals; squares and cubes
0 (1) 1000; square and cube roots 0 (1) 1000 to seven decimals; bino-
mial coefficients 0 (01) 1 to six factors; a table for the fall of bodies,
of rational right-angled triangles with the angles, and small tables of
specific gravities and of weights and measures. Half-a-dozen of
Wolfram's logarithms which were accidentally missing in consequence
of an illness, are supplied in the Berlin Ephemeris for 1783, p. 191.
The Naperian logarithms of sines and tangents are an abbreviation of
Ursinus, (see 1624).
(1783). Vega Logarithmische Trigonometrische und andere .
Tafeln und Formeln,' Vienna. This was Vega's first work, and we
have never met with it. (Octavo.)
+
1783. Callet, 'Tables Portatives de Logarithmes, publiées à
Londres par Gardiner,' &c., Paris. The first edition of Callet, as it is
called, was really made from Gardiner's tables "augmentées et perfec-
tionnées dans leur disposition par M. Callet." Callet added as much
of each kind of table as would leave no white in his last page, and,
from Mouton, completed the single-second table of sines and tangents
up to 2°. Here also first occurs the broken line at the change of the
third figure. On this edition Hutton, commonly said to have much
prejudice against French men and things, says "it is but justice to
remark the extraordinary spirit and elegance with which the learned
men and the artisans of the French nation undertake and execute
works of merit :" and the compliment is well deserved by the beauty
of the type and the general accuracy of the work. The contents are
seven figure logarithms of members 0 (1) 102960, of sines 0 (1") 2°,
of sines and tangents 0 (10") 45°; logistic logarithms; logarithms to
(1) 101179 with three orders of differences; 20 figures of numbers
to logarithms 00001 (00001) 00179 with the same differences;
hyperbolic logarithms to seven decimals 1 (01) 10·59.
co-editors, he felt that the conjunction of his luminaries demanded a spring-twenty decimals 0 (1) 1000 and for primes up to 1161; also for 101000
tide, and he accordingly wrote the following eccentricity of genius in private
life on the fly-leaf of his copy, now before us, and left it to posterity:-
"Miscellanea Scientifica Curiosia, or a Balderdash Miscellany of damn'd Stupid,
Raggamuffin, Methodistical Nonsense and Spuability. By two of the most
stupid and most dirty of all possible Fools, Rogues, and Scoundrels; vizt.,
John Green, A.M., late Tub-thumper, now Soul-driver in Hell; and William
Wales, -brusher at Christ's Hospital, not only the dirtiest Scoundrel that God
ever made, but the dirtiest rascal that he possibly could make. Amen."
There are other notes in the book about these persons and others as well; but
this is enough. The reader will excuse the production of such coarseness, in
consideration of the expediency of fixing the value of extracts made, or to be
made, from Burrow's diary.
* The work had a small list of very influential subscribers. Of about 120
names of persons and institutions in the list, one in three is the name of a
person now known by name to any smatterer in scientific and literary history.
Few subscription lists would give such a result after a century of existence.
The work thus recommended makes an epoch in the history of tables.
1795 (new tirage, 1821, with many errors corrected). Callet,
*This table was the work of Lieut. Wolfram, of the Dutch artillery, and
took six years of hard labour. It is one of the most striking additions to the
fundamenta of the subject which has been made in modern times. Delambre
('Hist. Astr. Mod.,' v. i., p. 501, &c.) introduces his comparisons of Napier
and Wolfram so abruptly, and so many pages elapse before the reader can find
out who the latter was, that most probably many have inferred that the two
were contemporarics. But this is Delambre's way, and is often liable to confuse
a reader who has no warning on the subject. With a work before him from
which he is drawing his materials, he perhaps never mentions it till the end
of his remarks, or perhaps casually in the middle, though until such mention ir
made, all he says is very liable to be misunderstood.
1001
1002
TABLE.
TABLE.
'Tables Portatives,' &c., Paris. Two volumes. This second edition,
stereotyped by Firmin Didot, is one of the most correct and convenient
as well as extensive works in existence: many persons prefer it to any
other. It contains the usual seven-figure logarithms from 1 to 108000
-common and hyperbolic logarithms, each to 20 decimals, up to
1200—logarithms, common and hyperbolic, to 18 decimals, with first,
second, and third differences, from 101000 to 101179-numbers to
logarithms, common and hyperbolic (to 20 figures), from 00001 to
00179, with the same differences; common logarithms* to 61
decimals, and hyperbolic to 48, to all numbers from 1 to 100 and all
primes to 1097; the same for numbers from 999980 to 1000021-mul-
tiples of 2.30258... and 43429.... to 100 times-arcs to 25
decimals, for both sexagesimal and centesimal division-seven-figure
logarithmic sines, &c. for each minute of the centesimal division-sines
(15 decimals) and their logarithms (the remaining places up to 14, the
first seven being in the last table) for centesimal degrees and tenths
-proportional parts-sexagesimal seven-figure logarithms of sines and
tangents 0 (1") 5° (10″) 45°-logistic logarithms. Those tables are
tolerably, but, we believe, not extremely, correct in all parts, except in
the latest tirage. The tirage of 1827, on yellow paper, was taken to
accompany Mr. Babbage's logarithms.
.
1784. M Robert, curate of St. Geneviève à Toul, sent Lalande
('Ency. Meth.' Tables,) a manuscript volume containing sines to every
second, to how many places he does not say; shortly afterwards he sent
the tangents. Lalande gives a hint that the approaching publication of
Taylor's logarithms prevented any steps being taken to print these. He
also states that there was in the library of the Academy of Sciences a
manuscript of Mouton, giving the logarithmic sines and tangents of
0 (1") 4° to eleven figures; we suppose he means to ten places of deci-
mals (see 1770). M. Robert's manuscript came into Delambre's posses-
sion, and was bought at the sale of his books by Mr. Babbage, in whose
possession it now is. It is in two large folio volumes, the figures (to
seven decimals) being written in printed skeleton columns. Some cor-
rections of Callet, discovered by means of this manuscript, were printed
in one of the nautical almanacs.
1785. Hutton, 'Mathematical Tables,' London. Many editions,
the second in 1794; one in 1849. A very correct set, with sines,
tangents, &c., and versed sines, complete, both natural and logarithmic.
For those who want seven places, and can have but one book, there is
none better. The additional matters, especially the historical introduc-
tion, are well-known.
C
1789. William Garrard 'Copious Trigonometrical Tables.' This is
one of the largest of what are called in navigation traverse tables. For
every integer hypothenuse from 1 to 300 are given, to two decimals,
the value of the base and altitude, for every angle 0 (10') 90º.
1792. Michael Taylor, Tables of Logarithms,' London. In the
trigonometrical part the sines and tangents are to every second. The
errata of this work have been published in various nautical almanacs.
This widely used work, the first to which 0′ (1") 90° applies, was
by a most industrious computer, attached to the staff of the Nautical
Almanac.' He died just before the last half sheet was printed; and
Dr. Maskelyne supplied the introductory matter. This book, like
others published by the Admiralty, was not sufficiently advertised. It
sold as a second-hand book, neither sellers nor buyers knowing that
Mr. Murray had plenty on hand. For ought we know, the same thing
may still go on.
1791-1807. Maseres, Scriptores Logarithmici,' London. The first
volume contains a reprint of Kepler's Logarithms, the sixth and last
of Napier's work of 1614, and John Sperdell's logarithms of
numbers.
1794 or 1795. (an III., a Port-Malo, chez L. H. Hovius, fils) Tables
des logarithmes des nombres, depuis 1 jus qu'à 10700 .... dresseés
dresseés
á l'usage de la navigation. ... Six figure logarithms of the common
type, in all respects but one, and that one curious and perhaps unique.
A rectangle which corners with the upper right of the page, has an
extent of 30' with the usual semi-quadrantal arrangement of trigono-
metrical logarithms. In the remaining gnomon comes a part of the
table of logarithms of numbers. At ninety of these to a page, the
logarithmns of numbers come so near in the book to the corresponding
figures in the sines and tangents, up to 45°, that a person who wants
the natural sine or tangent has very little turning of pages to do. But
this is no help to the second half of the sines, or the first half of the
cosines. When the half-quadrant is finished, the remaining logarithms
of numbers ran on in the usual way. Had the author made a full
quadrantal arrangement, and checked the speed of his logarithms of
numbers a little, by additional lead or otherwise, as he went on, he
might have made something which would possibly have been judged
worthy of imitation, in tables specially intended for astronomers and
other trigonometers.
1795. The Abbé Borne, a Frenchman, gave a table of logarithms of
numbers of a peculiar kind at the end of his 'Principie ragionati de
Aritmetica, Pesaro, 8vo. All numbers which end with 1, 3, 7, 9, are
found by double entry; thus 6973 is in column headed 69, and row
fronted 73. If this were a prime number, seven decimals of logarithm
would have been entered: as it is, the lowest divisor, 19, is entered.
Thus, in 20 pages there is a potential table 0 (1) 10,000. But the
* The last 51 places are given, the first ten being accessible in a former table.
|
Abbé did not see that the same space would have contained the loga-
rithms of all odd numbers not ending with 5: and these, with the
logarithms of 2 and 5 printed at the head of every page, would have
done better service than the factors. Authors often forget that they
do not save either space or cost of printing by what appear abbrevia-
tions or omissions in the manuscript: the saving is but so much of
what the printer calls white, which is done by types; and white is
black, both in the room it takes and in the printer's bill.
1794. George Vega, 'Thesaurus Logarithmorum completus,'
Leipzig, folio. Vega's edition of Vlacq. See Vlacq of 1628 and 1633.
A very correct work: a ducat was offered for every error detected.
There is also a German title-page, and the explanations are both in
German and Latin. This is, no doubt, up to this time, the table
of logarithms; the one of all others to which ultimate reference
should be made in questions of accuracy. Its contents are,—a ten-
decimal table of common logarithms 1 (1) 101000 distributed in the
common manner, a decad in each line of the double page, with the
differences arranged in the same way, and tables of proportional parts
for the first three figures of the differences. Logarithmic sines and
tangents to 10 decimals, 0 (1″) 2° (10″) 45°. Sines 0 (1") 12′ to ten
decimals. Lengths of arcs to 11 decimals. Wolfram's hyperbolic loga-
rithms (see 1778) above described, reprinted from Schulze.
1794. J. J. Girtanner, Logarithmische Tafeln zur Abkurzung
kaufmannischer Rechnungen,' commercial logarithms. The plan is to
have logarithmic tables for integers and different sorts of fractions,
among which eighths, tenths, sixteenths, and sixtieths are conspicuous.
But it will not do: Mohammed must go to the mountain. When
coinage, weights, and measures, are decimalised, the use of logarithms
will follow as a matter of course. It is useless trying to bring loga-
rithms to ordinary fractions.
1797 (2 vols. 2nd ed., or rather second work) and 1812. Vega,
Tabule Logarithmico-Trigonometricæ,' Leipsic. Titles and introduc-
tion both in German and Latin. The usual logarithms of numbers,
0 (1) 101000; logarithms of sines 0 (0″·1) 1′, and 0 (1″) 1° 30′, and the
full canon 0 (10″) 6° 3′ (1′) 45°-divisors and primes already noticed
eight-figure hyperbolic logarithms from 1 to 1000, and for all primes
up to 10,000-powers of 2.71828, and their common logarithms (from
exponent 01 to 10.00). First ten powers of numbers up to 50;
squares and cubes of numbers up to those of 1000, &c.,-logistic
logarithms, binomial co-efficients, and astronomical tables various.
There are various smaller editions from Vega, as at Leipsic (1820), and
(1826).
1799. J. P. Hobert and L. Ideler, 'Nouvelles Tables Trigonomé-
triques calculées pour la Division décimale du Quart de Cercle, Berlin.
Delambre speaks highly of this table; but he is wrong in saying it
subdivides the quadrant as minutely as those which himself and Borda
published. Meaning by 1° the hundredth of the right angle, and l'
being 0°01, and so on, Hobert and Ideler's division of the quadrant is
0 (10) 3° (1) 50°; but Delambre and Borda's are as below. The
Berlin table gives sines and tangents and their logarithms, through the
quadrant; the Paris table gives logarithms only. The former has no
logarithms of numbers except 0 (1) 1100 and 999980 (1) 1000021, all
to 36 decimals.
1800 or 1801. (An. IX.) Delambre and Borda, Tables Trigonomé-
triques Décimales,' Paris. These tables were corrected from the grand
'Tables du Cadastre,' still unpublished.* [PRONY, in BIOG. DIV.]
They contain, the common logarithms of numbers to seven decimals,
11-decimal logarithms of numbers from 1 to 1000, and from 100,000
to 102,000°; 11-decimal logarithmic sines, cosines, tangents, and co-
tangents 0 (10" centesimal) 10' and 0 (10′) 100; 11-figure hyperbolic
logarithms from 1 to 1000; 7-decimal logarithms of sines and tangents
0 (1) 3° (10″) 40° (1′) 50° centesimal.
1802. J. R. Teschemacher. Tables calculated for the Arbitration of
Exchanges, both Simple and Compound,' London. This is a book of
commercial logarithms, though the author wisely avoided frightening
the merchant by mentioning the word in any part of his book. There
is one table of logarithms for the exchange between London and each
other place: the tables average about a page each. With this limited
range, the logarithms are really effectively applied to commercial
purposes, and operations are very much simplified. There is no need of
a separate book of logarithms: all that the reader knows or needs to
know is that certain nameless figures are to be used in a certain easy
way. We are fully of opinion that such a work might be very useful.
1804. De la Caille, De la Lande and Marie, Tables de Logarithmes,'
Paris. Six decimal places, which probably the preceding ones had,
(see 1760). The trigonometrical tables 0(1') 45° as usual, with
differences for 1": the numbers 0 (1) 21600. La Lande has forgotten
to mention this edition; or perhaps it was not published when he was
preparing the work next mentioned.
1805. De la Lande, Tables de Logarithmes,' Paris. Stereotyped.
See 1760, 1831.
1806. Thomas Whiting. 'Portable Mathematical Tables,' London.
Six-figure logarithms. This book is a striking proof that in the old
figure, the reduction of the thickness of the type very much increases
the legibility. This is a very easy book to read, and would exactly
suit those who want a large type in a small book.
There was once a commencement of the printing, and we have seen some
of the proofs.
1003
TABLE.
1808. Ebert. 'Adriani Vlacq Tabula Sinuum,' &c. Leipzig. The
contents are as before described (1635). This is a new (and appa-
rently the last) edition of Ebert's, whose preface is dated 1790.
Besides the contents above described there are logarithmic sines and
tangents for each second of the first degree, and squares and cubes of
all integers up to 1000.
1809. George Douglas. Mathematical Tables,' Edinburgh. A
long preface; followed by seven-decimal logarithms from 1 to 10,000,
ten in a line, in the usual way. Two supplemental tables, with the
same from 10,000 to 11,000, and from 100,000 to 101,000. A com-
plete logarithmic canon for minutes, to seven decimals. A corre-
sponding canon of natural sines, &c. Natural and logarithmic versed
sines, the former to 90°, the latter continued to 180°. A table to
convert sexagesimals into decimals; and logarithms from 1 to 180, to
15 decimals. A different arrangement from the usual one in several
respects. No differences in any part of the tables.
(1812). In Zach's' Monathliche Correspondenz,' vol. xxvi., page 498,
Gauss proposed his logarithms for the finding of log (a+b) from log a
and log b [LOGARITHMS, GAUSS's], with a specimen. He stated that
he had been in the habit of using five-figure tables of his own con-
struction. Gauss has given a short review of Pasquich's tables
(mentioned below, 1817) in the 'Göttingen gelehrte Anzeigen,' 1817,
No. 158.
(1814). [Printed by] Firmin Didot, Paris. Six-decimal logarithms
beautifully printed : numbers 0 (1) 21750; sines and tangents 0 (1') 45°;
x÷sin x and tan xx to 3°; sines, cosines, tangents, cotangents,
0 (0°.00001) 0°03000 (0°·0001) 0°.5000.
1814. Barlow's Tables, London. Here are found eight-figure hyper-
bolic logarithms up to that of 10,000, calculated from the primes in
Vega. They had been previously printed in Rees's Cyclopædia.
The factors, primes, &c. in this work have been already mentioned,
and it also contains a table for the irreducible case of cubic equations,
binomial coefficients, algebraic formulæ, specific gravities, &c. The
reprint of 1840 contains only the squares, cubes, square and cube roots.
and reciprocals; but for these things it is the most accurate which
exists.
1817. Thomas Preston, 'A new system of Commercial Arithmetic.'
Sets of five-figure logarithms. In the first, the number is also repre-
sented as a number of pence, and turned into pounds, &c. Thus, 9701
has 401. 8s. 5d. on the other side of its logarithm: this is carried as
far as 1307. A similar table for avoirdupois pounds, as far as 5 tons.
A table from 1 to 330, proceeding by twelfths: from 1 to 312, by
sixteenths: and other tables of the same kind. This is one of the
largest attempts of the kind.
1817. J. Pasquich, 'Tabulæ Logarithmico-Trigonometricæ con-
tractæ,' Leipzig. Title and explanations in both Latin and German.
Five decimal logarithms of numbers 0 (1) 10,000; logarithms of sines
and tangents 0(10") 56 (20") 1°; five-decimal logarithms of sines and
tangents, with a table of the squares of sines and tangents 0 (1) 45°;
Gauss's Logarithms. [LOGARITHMS, GAUSS'S.] The range of A is as
follows, 0 (001) 2 (01) 3·40 (1) 5. This trigonometrical canon of
squares is, we suppose, almost unique.
C
1817. [E. A. Matthiessen], Tabula ad expeditiorem Calculum
Logarithmi Summæ vel Differentiæ duarum Quantitatum,' Altona. It is
to seven decimals, and a proceeds as follows: 0(0001) 2 (001) 3 (01) 4
(1) 5 (1) 7. But having only four figures of argument, the seven
figures of tabular result are very troublesome to deal with, and the
arrangement is not commodious. Gauss, in a letter to Schumacher,
(September, 1846) writes as follows: (translated) The English
edition (referring to Mr. Peter Gray's work of 1849, then in progress)
will no doubt correct the deficiencies which make Matthiessen's edition
nearly useless. My tables are intended to make computation which
can be made without their help, more commodious by their help. You
must not have trouble to find what is to come out of the table, but
you must find it in the most easy manner possible. This is not the
case with Matthiessen's table, as I have shown in No. 474 of the
'Astron. Nachr.' There is another excess to be avoided: Matthiessen
had not done enough. There is a parsimony of number."
(1818). Gruson's Logarithms,' Berlin. Contains also squares, cubes,
square roots, and cube roots up to 1000.
1821. Nordmann, Adriani Vlacq Tabulæ,' &c. The explanations
are given in Latin and German. To the contents of Ebert's edition (see
1808) are added square and cube roots to seven decimals for all integers
up to 1000, the sines and tangents of the first degree being omitted.
The form of the canon is modernised, and made completely semi-
quadrantal. This is called the twentieth edition, which very likely it
is but it was the editor's duty to have stated what the other nine-
teen editions were.
(1821). Westphal's tables, Leipzig, contain Gauss's tables, to five
decimals, with proportional parts. (Schumacher)
C
1823. E. A. Matthiessen, Gemeine Logarithmen,' &c., Altona.
Stereotyped. This table has five-figure logarithms from 1 to 10,000,
with a supplemental table of proportional parts, arranged on the two
sides of a folding sheet, on canvass.
1827. Babbage, Tables of Logarithms,' London. Stereotyped.
Seven-figure logarithms of numbers only, now exceedingly correct.
Printed on various coloured papers; Callet's stereotyped sines were at
first printed on yellow paper in France to accompany them; but
TABLE.
1004
the French paper was of so bad a colour, that we believe the experi-
ment was not continued. The tirage of 1831 is called a second edition,
and copies on tinted paper are met with. In the preface are some
conclusions as to the conditions of legibility, the results of trial, which
are well worthy the attention of those who have tables to print. Mr.
Babbage was, so far as we remember, the first who distinguished an
augmented last figure from an unaugmented one: writing the con-
traction of 12346 for instance, as ∙1235. This example is now
frequently followed. It secures an extreme nicety in certain rarely
occurring cases: but we never found any practical balance to the
inconvenience of a new symbol, except when the augmented figure is 5.
We should recommend that an augmented 5 (Babbage's 5) should be
printed v or V: all the advantage of an excellent but over-adopted
suggestion would thus be received.
(1827). Salomon, Tables de Logarithmes,' Vienna. A large col-
lection: contains also squares, cubes, square roots, cube roots, up to
those of 1000; and divisors up to 102,011.
1827. Hantschl's Tables, Vienna. Ten-figure logarithms of primes
up to 15,391; squares, cubes, square and cube roots, up to those of
1200; factors up to 18,277; and others.
1827. G. F. Ursinus, Logarithmi,' &c., Copenhagen. A complete
six-figure table: rather common in England.
1828. Encke's four-figure Tables of Logarithms, &c., Berlin, contain
Gauss's tables. See '1845, Warnstorff,' &c. below.
logarithms, 0 (1) 1000,0 (10′) 45°, without any name, letter-press, or
Logarithmen von vier Decimal-Stellen Berlin, 12mo. Four-figure
date.
1829. Bagay,' Nouvelles Tables Astronomiques,' Paris. An imita-
tion of Michael Taylor's, logarithms of sines and tangents to every
second. The logarithms of numbers are 0 (1) 21600. All to seven
decimals.
York. Seven-figure logarithms throughout: to half-minute intervals
1830. Hassler, 'Logarithmic, &c. Tables,' in a pocket form, New
through the greater part of the tables of sines, &c. The logarithms of
numbers broken as in Callet. We dislike this mode extremely; but
many find it convenient.
1805; 1831 is the date of the first tirage with all corrections made.
1831. Lalande, 'Tables de Logarithmes,' Paris. Stereotyped in
Five-figure tables throughout, and no mistake has ever been found in
them, though it is said a reward was offered for any detection. There
are, we believe, Brussels and other editions which have not the same
Marie, had six places; last edition 1804; there was another, bearing
character. The original work of Lalande, or Lacaille, Lalande, and
the name of Lalande only, stereotyped in 1804. A similar table, with
seven decimals, has been published for the use of students preparing
for the Polytechnic School, and is sometimes furnished for the genuine
Lalande: it is useless for ordinary purposes. If the English reprint of
yet been found, it is much the better by type and paper.
the tirage of 1831 (presently noted) be as correct, and no error has
• •
1832. J. P. Gruson, Bequeme Logarithmische Tafeln,' Berlin.
A school-book. Seven-decimal logarithms 0 (1) 10,000; squares and
cubes, square and cube roots 0 (1) 1000; arcs of the circle; sines and
tangents and their logarithms 0 (1) 5° (10′) 45°.
Lalande which gives Gauss's logarithms.
1832. H. G. Köhler, 'Tables de Logarithmes,' &c. An edition of
No date, (stereotyped,) Moritz von Prasse, 'Logarithmische Tafeln,'
logarithms of numbers 0 (1) 10,000; of sines and tangents 0 (1′) 45° put
edited by Mollweide, and then by Jahn, Leipzig. Five-decimal
together in a new way, so as to separate the common figures, as in the
logarithms of numbers, and to get five degrees into a double page,
sacrificing the differences; Gauss's Tables, A having 0(001) 2 (01)
340 (1) 5; and a modification of Gauss's table, in which log x is the
argument, and log (1) the tabular result, z going through 382
(001) 5 (01) 3·6 (1) 5.5. An edition of Von Prasse was published by
Halma, at Paris, in 1814; and the last-mentioned table was published
separately by Wiedenbach, Copenhagen, (1829).
1834. Robert Wallace, Mathematical Calculator,' Glasgow. Six-
figure logarithms, with other tables. The trigonometrical tables
arranged by double entry for tens and units of minutes.
1836. Anonymous (Simpkin, Marshall, and Co.), 'Logarithmic
Tables. A very neat reprint of Hassler without the (to us) objec-
tionable breaking of the lines in the logarithms of numbers.
1838. G. B. Airy, Appendix to the Greenwich Observations, 1837,'
London. A table of sines and cosines, with the arguments given in
time, 0 (10º) 24h and the signs marked. There is a separate table both
of sines and of cosines, each of which is therefore a transformation of
the other. And each again is the table from 0 to 64 repeated, with
transformation, four times; so that the pair of tables is an eight-fold
repetition of one table. It is to five decimals, without differences.
1839. Anonymous (Taylor and Walton, under Useful Knowledge
Society; suggested by Mr. De Morgan; examined by Mr. Farley).
Stereotyped. A reprint of Lalande (tirage of 1831) with a few addi-
tions, closely compared with other tables. No error was found in
Lalande, and none has hitherto (1861) been found in this reprint.
The old numeral type was first completely restored in this work.
After the first tirage, the following addition was made :-One page,
1005
1006
TABLE.
TABLE.
·
for example, begins and ends with the numbers 5220 and 5310, and
with the logarithms 71767 and 72509. According, at the corner of
the page, so as to catch the eye on opening the book, is
article.
5220
5310
•71767
⚫72509
in full. This plan ought to be adopted in all tables, instead of the
abbreviations which are frequently employed as headings, unless the
plan be adopted which is recommended at the beginning of this
1840. Anonymous (Taylor and Walton), Four-figure logarithms on a
card. Stereotyped. Reprint of a table originally privately circulated
among practical astronomers. (See 'Companion to the Almanac' for
1841.)
1842. Sines and tangents to match. Stereotyped.
1840. Farley, Six-figure Logarithms,' London. Stereotyped. An
excellent table for those who want six figures. The type as in the
reprint of Lalande (1839). The whole was suggested by the late Mr.
Galloway.
1840. (Second edition.) Moritz Rühlmann, Logarithmisch-Trigono-
metrische... Tafeln,' Dresden and Leipzig. Six-decimal logarithms
of numbers 0 (1) 10080; logarithmic sines and tangents 0 (1′) 45°; sines
and tangents 0 (10′) 45°; arcs and circles.
A more
(1840.) Hülse's edition of Vega, Leipzig, stereotyped. This contains
Gauss's tables to five decimals with proportional parts, in six columns,
the additional three (which contain a peculiar mode of treating the
proportional parts) having been also suggested by Gauss.
recent tirage of this excellent work, 1846, contains seven-decimal loga
rithms of numbers 0 (1) 108000; logarithmic sines and tangents 0 (0-1)
1′ (1″) 1° 32′ and 0 (10″) 6° (1′) 45°; angles to eleven decimals
; five-
decimal Gauss's tables, A being 0 (001) 2 (⋅01) 3·4 (∙1) 5, with the pro-
portional parts above alluded to.
1841. Gregory, Woolhouse, and Hann, 'Tables for Nautical Men.'
Contains five-figure logarithms, neatly printed; the only instance we
know in which five-figure logarithms have proportional parts. There
are many astronomical tables.
1841. Riddle, Tables,' &c. The six-figure logarithms from Mr.
Riddle's well-known work on navigation. Stereotyped.
Of the misuse of tables, no instance is more common than that which
consists in taking tables of too many places of figures. Four are very
often enough, more than five are rarely wanted; but when this hap-
pens, tables of seven figures are more conveniently used than those of
six, owing to the saving of calculation which is made by the presence
of proportional parts. In purely trigonometrical calculations, the
advantage of six figures over five sometimes makes itself apparent. It
is our own practice, when five figures are suspected to be insufficient,
to have recourse to seven at once, which we are satisfied is a saving
both of time and thought. For navigation, however, practical opinion
seems to set in favour of six figures.
at the back is 'Coloniæ, 1649.' We suppose it to be the table which
we have seen ascribed to Lubert Middendorff, Cologne, 1648. It is
of seven decimals, 0 (1) 10000 and 0(1) 45° and to the logarithms
of sines, cosines, and tangents are added the tangents themselves, to
three decimals.
1849. Lieut.-Col. Robert Shortrede's 'Logarithmic Tables,' Edin-
burgh, large 8vo. The whole of these tables were constructed and
stereotyped by the labour and at the expense of Colonel (then Captain)
Shortrede, of the Bombay army, attached to the trigonometrical survey
of India. They first appeared in 1844; but, some defects and errors
having been found, the edition of 1844 was cancelled, and a new
edition, from corrected plates, issued in 1849. The whole is to seven
decimals, and contains: logarithms of numbers 0 (1) 120,000, with
differences and their nine multiples; numbers to logarithms '00000
(00001) 99999, with the same; trigonometrical tables to every second,
with arguments and signs for the four quadrants, both in space and
time, and proportional parts. There are also some minor tables. The
type is a small even figure, without head or tail, good of its kind, and
the same throughout the common and the trigonometrical logarithms.
This is, so far as we know, the only set of tables to every second
undertaken at the expense of an individual, and it shows extraordinary
energy and public spirit.
1849. P. Gray, 'Tables and Formulæ for Life Contingencies,' London.
The tables are Gauss's tables, giving log (1 + x) where log x is 0 (0001)2,
and log (1-x) where log ≈ is 3 (001) I. The proportional parts are
to hundredths.
figures of logarithms to seven of number; proportional parts carried to
1849. H. E. Filipowski, 'A Table of Antilogarithms,' London. Five
hundredths. Also, Gauss's tables, on a new mode of arrangement.
0 (1) 10000, all on one side of a sheet.
1850. Hershell E. Filipowski. A table of five-figure logarithms
The object is effected by help
the table rapidly, there must be horizontal ruling, and vertical painting
of common figures at the tops of columns; but before we could use
rithms of different second figures. This being done, a person of sharp
of the columns, with regions of different tint to distinguish the loga-
sight might really have the whole within his grasp without turning a
leaf. A common table, with indented margin, as described at the
beginning, would find the logarithms far more rapidly. The necessity
of dispensing with printed differences is alone almost fatal to the
attempt at giving five-figure logarithms on one sheet.
Hyperbolic logarithms to seven decimals 0 (1) 105000, arranged, with
1850. Zacharias Dase, Tafel der natürlichen logarithmen,' Vienna.
proportional parts, in the common way. Mr. Dase is a mental calcu-
lator, and, having seen his performances, we think he has more natural
power than any of those who have distinguished themselves in this
way.
1853. William Shanks, Contributions to Mathematics, comprising
chiefly the rectification of the Circle to 607 places of tables,' London,
1853. [QUADrature of the CIRCLE.] Here is a table, because it
tabulates the results of the subordinate steps of this enormous calcula-
during the printing. For instance, one step is the calculation of the
tion as far as 527 decimals; the remainder being added as results only
reciprocal of 601. 5601; and the result is given. The number of pages
required to describe these results is 87. Mr. Shanks has also thrown
off, as chips or splinters, the values of the base of Napier's logarithms,
of the modulus 4342 .... to 136 decimals; with the 13th, 25th,
and of its logarithms of 2, 3, 5, 10, to 137 decimals; and the value
calculation at least we so call them in our day-are useful in several
37th,.... up to the 721st powers of 2. These tremendous stretches of
respects: they prove more than the capacity of this or that computer
for labour and accuracy; they show that there is in the community an
increase of skill and courage. We say in the community: we fully
believe that the unequalled turnip which every now and then appears
in the newspapers, is a sufficient presumption that the average turnip
is growing bigger, and the whole crop heavier. All who know the
bers of decimals to which π has been carried, have been indications of
a general increase in the power to calculate, and in courage to face the
labour.
1845. Warnstorff's edition of Schumacher's Sammlung von Hülfs-
tafeln' (first published in 1822), Altona. This is a well-known and
valuable astronomical collection. What we have here to do with is
What we have here to do with is
the republication of Encke's four-figure logarithms, 0 (1) 1000, and
0 (4) 10° (10) 45°, and Gauss's logarithms 0 (01) 1·80 (1) 4.
1846. R. Sheepshanks, 'Tables for facilitating Astronomical Reduc-
tions,' London (also issued two years before, without title, preface, or
author's name). This is the most complete four-figure table we know
of, and will do for the purpose oftener than our orthodox septenarians
are aware of. Logarithms 0 (1) 1000, with proportional parts, in de-
cads; logarithms of sines and cosines, the angle being in time, 0 (1) 24h,
with proportional parts for 10s, and 0 (10s) 1h; table for converting
sidereal into mean solar time; logarithmic sines, tangents, and secants
0 (1′) 6° (10') 45°; constants for precession; tangents and secants
0 (10′) 80° (1′) 86° (1°) 90°, with a rule for the rest; Bessel's refrac-history of the quadrature are aware that the several increases of num-
tions; Gauss's tables, thus arranged, log x as an agument gives log
+
1
as a tabular result, and log (1 as another, log a being
X
0 (001)-909 (01) 2 (1) 4 in the first table, and 0 (001) 1 (01) 3 (1) 4
in the second; log. sin hour angle, in time 1h (1) 9b; numbers to
logarithms 0 (001) 1.
1846. G. F. Vega, 'Logarithmisch-Trigonometrisches Handbuch.'
Leipsic edited by J. A. Hülsse; 0(1) 108000, logarithmic sines and
tangents 0 (0".1) 1' and 0 (1") 132, the whole canon 0(10") 6° (1′) 45°,
all to seven decimals. Gauss's table to five decimals: for A, 0 (001)
2 ('01) 3·4 (1) 5, with proportional parts.
Among the titles of tables which we might have said something on
if we had seen them, collected from different sources, are those of
-John Lauremberg, Leyden, 1628, 8vo. ; Institutio Mathematica,
London, 166, 12mo.; Strauchius, Witteberg, 1662, 12mo., and
Amsterdam, 1700, 8vo.; D. R. Van Merop, Harlingen, 1671; Chr.
Grüneberg, Tabulæ Mathem., Berlin and Frankfort, 1690 (oblong
form); Chr. Grüneberg, Pandora Mathem., Berlin and Frankfort,
1700, 8vo.; Chr. Wolff, Magdeburg, 1711, 8vo.; J. G. Leibknecht,
Giesa, 1726, 8vo.; Raph. Levi, Hanover, 1747, 4to., and supplement
in 1748; J. C. Nelkenbrechers, Leipzig, 1752, 4to.; J. Melitao da Mata,
Lisbon, 1790, 8vo. We have a table of which the title is torn out, but
|
Here is a comparison of two different times. In the day of Cocker,
the pupil was directed to perform a common subtraction with a voice-
accompaniment of this kind: "7 from 4 I cannot, but add 10, 7 from
14 remains 7, set down 7 and carry 1; 8 and 1 which I carry is 9, 9
from 2 I cannot, &c." We have before us the announcement of the
following table, undated, as open to inspection at the Crystal Palace,
Sydenham, in two diagrams of 7 ft. 2 in. by 6 ft. 6 in. "The figure 9
involved into the 912th power, and antecedent powers or involutions,
containing upwards of 73,000 figures. Also, the proofs of the above,
containing upwards of 146,000 figures. By Samuel Fancourt, of Min-
cing Lane, London, and completed by him in the year 1837, at the
age of sixteen. N.B. The whole operation performed by simple arith-
metic." The young operator calculated by successive squaring the
2nd, 4th, 8th, &c., powers up to the 512th, with proof by division.
But 511 multiplications by 9, in the short (or 10-1) way, would have
been much easier. The 2nd, 32nd, 64th, 128th, 256th, and 512th
powers are given at the back of the announcement.
The powers of 2 have been calculated for many purposes. In vol. ii.
of his Magia Universalis Naturæ et Artis,' Herbipoli, 1658, 4to, the
1007
TABLE.
Jesuit Gaspar Schott having discovered, on some grounds of theological
magic, that the degrees of grace of the Virgin Mary were in number
the 256th power of 2, calculated that number. Whether or no his
number correctly represented the result he announced, he certainly
calculated it rightly, as we find by comparison with Mr. Shanks.
1853. A. Wylie, Compendium of Arithmetic,' Shang-hae.
treatise in Chinese, having at the end a table of six-decimal logarithms
of numbers 0 (1) 10,000.
• •
A
1856. J. R. Hind. Natural versed sines used in computing
lunar distances for the 'Nautical Almanac.' This table gives natural
and logarithmic versed sines to seven decimals: natural, 0 (10") 125°,
with the proportional parts for each second; logarithmic, 0h (18) 9h,
with the values of the angles in space annexed. This table, though
This table, though
bearing in its title only a limited notion of application, will be ex-
ceedingly valuable, especially to those who want sines, cosines, and
their squares.
<
1857. George and Edward Scheutz,' Specimens of tables calculated,
stereomoulded, and printed by machinery,' London.
The first pro-
duction of the machine which two Swedes, father and son, constructed
on Mr. Babbage's principles, as suggested by Dr. Lardner's article in
the Edinburgh Review' (1834), with their own details; five-figure
logarithms 0 (1) 10000; with some specimens of other tables. This
work was reproduced at Paris, with a French preface, in 1858. In
1859, was published 'Mountain Barometer Tables,' calculated by the
same machine.
1859. Edward Sang,' Five-place logarithms,' 0 (1) 10000.
1860. Ludwig Schrön, 'Schrön's Logarithms,' Tafel I., II., III. We
had just, as we thought, put the finishing hand to this article, when
the table above-named reached us. Should it turn out to possess the
requisite accuracy of printing, it will have decided success. It is a
large octavo volume of 550 pages of tables. The type, though without
heads and tails, is all as nearly as possible of one thickness, and that
thickness not too great, so that it might be called thin Egyptian; and
it is very legible. The contents are all to seven decimals. Logarithms
of numbers 0 (1) 108000, with subsidiary tables at the bottom of the
page, which by addition of two logarithms in the page give the loga-
rithms of sines and tangents, 0 (0″·001) 1″ (0″·01) 10" (0″-1) 1′ 40″ and
1′ 40″ (0″-01) 16′ 40″ (0″·1) 3°. Logarithms of sines and tangents,
0 (10") 45°. The differences begin to be inserted from 3°; and the
first nine multiples complete, that is, one figure more than in the
common table of proportional parts, are given in the same page; first
for every fifth number, then for every three, &c., as the page will bear
it. Under 3° multiples of subsidiary numbers are given, as explained.
Then follows a table of proportional parts to complete hundredths, for
numbers from 40 to 409.
1860. Galbraith and Haughton, 'Manual of Mathematical Tables.'
The usual five-figure table, with Gauss's table, a 0 (001) 2 (01) 3:39 (1)
5. The first British five-figure table, we believe, which gives Gauss's
table.
1861. A. De Morgan. Three-figure logarithms: three figures of
number to three of logarithm, complete, on a sheet of 7 by 6 inches.
The third figure of the number in every case by the side of the loga-
rithm all numbers in red, logarithms in black. The quarter of a
unit in which the logarithm lies, shown by use of the four common
punctuating stops. Intended for the earliest instruction in logarithms,
and as a substitute for the sliding rule in certain cases.
(
§ 7. The next tables which we shall mention are those which are
wanted in the higher mathematics.
Extensive tables of elliptic functions are in Legendre's 'Traité des
Fonctions Elliptiques,' 2 vols. 4to., 1825 and 1826. The factorial
function, T., is tabulated in the same work; and also in the 'Exer-
cices du Calcul Integral' of the same author, Paris, 1817, in which
several other definite integrals are also tabulated. An abridgment of
this table (with ready means of restoring it fully) is in the treatise on
the Differential Calculus (Lib. Use. Know.'), p. 587. Tables of the
integer form of Tx, or 1.2.3 (x-1), or rather of the logarithms of
the values, are given by C. F. Degen, Tabularum Enneas,' Copen-
hagen, 1824, up to x = 1201, to 18 decimal places: this table is re-
printed to six decimal places at the end of the article Theory of
Probabilities' in the Encyclopædia Metropolitana. Tables of the
integral e-dt were first given by Kramp, with logarithms of the
values, in Analyse des Refractions Astronomiques,' Strasburg,
1799. This table is reprinted in the Encyc. Metrop., art. Theory
of Probabilities.' The form in which this integral more usually
occurs in the theory of probabilities (with the factor 2: √√)
was given (by Professor Encke, we believe) in the Berlin Astrono-
misches Jahrbuch' for 1834, from whence it was copied into the
article in the Encyc. Metrop., above noticed; and (with extensions)
into the Essay on Probabilities and Life Contingencies' in the Cabi-
net Cyclopædia, and into the article on Probability in the new edition
of the Encyclopædia Britannica.' A few other definite integrals have
been tabulated : one very useful one, fax: log x, by Soldner, 'Nouvelle
Fonction Transcendente,' Münich, 1809, copied into the 'Differential
Calculus' ('Lib. Use. Know.'), p. 662. The integrals known by the
name of Spence's Logarithmic Transcendants, are in the work with
that title (Edinburgh, 1809; Sir J. Herschel's edition, London, 1820).
There are a few of the integrals in optics scattered through the Me-
|
TABLE.
1008
moirs of the Institute and of the Cambridge and Philosophical Society
(in memoirs by Fresnel and Mr. Airy). Perhaps we should also
mention the tables for the solution of indeterminate equations of the
second degree. Of these there is one in Legendre's Théorie des
Nombres; another has been given by Jacobi; and a third, by Degen,
called Canon Pellianus,' Copenhagen, 1817.
There is much need of tables of mathematical results which are not
numerical; such as the following, the only ones of which we are able
to speak. The first, the well-known collection of indefinite integrals
by Meier Hirsch, Integral tafeln,' Berlin, 1810, of which an English
edition was published in 1823, 8vo. The second, a table of definite
integrals, with reference to their sources, by Bierens de Haan,' Tables
d'Intégrales définies,' being the fourth volume of the Amsterdam
Transactions,' Amsterdam, 1858.
As to astronomical tables, it would be impossible to give any account
of the enormous mass which exists or has existed; nor would such an
account be of any use, except for astronomical history. They may be
divided into two classes: first, the tables of observations published by
public or private observatories; secondly, the fundamental tables
deduced from observations, to aid in the deduction of future predic-
tions. As to the former, every well-conducted observatory in full
work publishes periodically (at intervals of one or two years) its volume
of observations, latterly with their reductions. As to the second class,
they are not the daily materials of the astronomer, but of the com-
puter of his ephemeris, who supplies the necessary predictions for the
current year.
In England the Nautical Almanac gives in the preface
full references to the tables employed in predicting places, whether of
sun, moon, planets, or stars. For general purposes connected with
the elements of the solar system, see Baily, Astronomical Tables and
Formulæ,' London, 1827. The most complete list of the elements of
the solar system recently published is at the end of Dr. Mitchel's
'Popular Astronomy' (U.S.), and also of Mr. Tomlinson's English
edition of the same work.
|
The tables in the other physical sciences are mostly collections of
facts, and, we believe, generally speaking, by no means so complete as
they might be. The value of tabular information seems to be not
sufficiently felt. A large portion of every book of chemistry, for
instance, is a detailed statement in words at length of facts which
might with great advantage be made the components of a table.
§ 8. It remains to speak of commercial tables, a subject of great
interest in this country, which has produced a great many. The
mathematical tables connected with this subject may be divided into
those intended to facilitate calculations of money with regard to other
countries, and with regard to transactions in this country; to which
we must add, as distinct heads, tables of annuities and other life con-
tingencies, and metrological tables, or tables of weights and measures.
Of all these we shall only mention a very few.
The most complete work on foreign exchanges, and on the weights
and measures of England, as compared with those of other countries, is
'The Universal Cambist,' &c., London, 1821 (2nd edition), 2 vols. 4to.
(with supplements), by the late Dr. Patrick Kelly. We may also
mention Tiarks's 'Arbitration of Exchanges,' London, 1817.
Tables of interest of money begin with Stevinus, who in the 'Practique
d'Arithmetique,' appended to his Arithmetic, Leyden, 1585, reprinted
by Albert Girard in Stevinus's collected works, 1626, gave the first
tables of compound interest and annuities. They precede the famous
tract La Disme,' in which decimal fractions were first proposed. And
as this Practique should rather have been at the beginning than at the
end, if rational arrangement had been studied; and as the 'Disme'
again should have preceded it, on the same supposition; we must infer
it to be most likely that the tracts were placed in the order in which
they were written. If this be the case, then it is pretty certain that
these tables of compound interest suggested decimal fractions, the
account of which speedily follows them. They are constructed as
follows:-Ten millions being taken as the base (or root, as Stevinus
calls it), and a rate, say five per cent., being chosen, the present value
of ten millions due at the end of 1, 2, &c., up to 30 years, are put in a
column, to the nearest integer. By their sides are the sums of their
values, which give the present values of the several annuities of ten
million, as follows:-
Table d'Interest de 5 pour 100.
1
9523810
2
9070295
3
8638376
4
8227025
30
2313774
9523810
18594105
27232481
35459506
153924494
The rates are from 1 to 16 per cent., and also for 1 in 15, 1 in 16, &c.,
to 1 in 22; or, as the French say, denier quinze, denier seize, &c. At
the end is a direction to dispense, when convenient, with some of the
last figures.
There is thus a virtual use of decimal fractions preceding the formal
one. The same thing happens in the tables of Richard Witt, presently
mentioned, which we believe to be the first English tables of compound
interest, and the first English work (except a translation of the 'Disme'
of Stevinus) in which decimals were used: the use of them being
1609
1010
TABLE.
TABLE.
something more than the virtual use by Stevinus in the 'Practique.'
The next English writer who gave tables of compound interest, Robert
Butler, in his 'Scale of Interest,' London, 1633, makes a rather more
decided use of these fractions than Witt, and uses the phrase decimal
fractions, which had then hardly found its way into books. It should
be noted that both Witt and Butler give real half-yearly and quarterly
tables, as well as yearly ones.
Tables of interest began to be published at the beginning of the 17th
century. The earliest we have met with is Richard Witt, Arithme-
ticall Questions,' London, 1613, which, before the introduction of the
notation of decimal fractions, gives tables, or breviats, containing the
significant figures, with rules equivalent to the management of the
decimal point; and Clay's' Briefe, &c., Tables,' London, 1624. In the
first half of that century we find in catalogues the works of Fisher,
Butler, Webster, and others, with anonymous writers, all containing
tables of interest, annuities, or leases. For the tables known by the
name of Acroid, see MORTALITY. The tables of leases, Cambridge,
1686, had the approbation of Newton, as Lucasian professor, and have
since been often reprinted and styled Newton's.
Mr. Pocock, in his Bibliography of Annuities, &c. ('Familiar Expla-
nation.... of Assurances upon Lives,' London, 1842), gives the follow-
ing works, which we do not remember to have seen :-Tables of
Leases and Interest . 'London (1628), 12mo.; and William Purser,
'Compound Interest and Annuities, containing the Art of Decimal
Arithmetic,' London (1634), 8vo.
•
In Newton's 'Scale of Interest,' mentioned in the list of logarithms,
is a set of tables for six per cent., then the maximum legal rate.
There is here what we never met with elsewhere-a common almanac,
with months, dominical letters, and fixed saints' days; having, in lieu
of astronomical information, simple and compound interest and dis-
count tables, telling for each day the amount of one pound from the
beginning of the year, or the present value for the end.
The first edition of Smart's tables, the original of all our large tables
of compound interest, is 'Tables of Simple Interest and Discount, at 3,
4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 107. per cent. per Ann.; also Tables of Compound
Interest at the same rates, whereby,' &c. By John Smart, at the Town
Clerk's Office, London: London, 1707, 4to (duodecimo size). The
second edition, of 1726, is as large, compared with the first, as it is
possible its author, "John Smart of Guildhall, Gent.," may have
become, compared with the subordinate at the town clerk's office.
It adds 2, 3, and 4 per cent. The results are interpolated for half
years, which give the tables the appearance of being calculated for
interest payable half-yearly; but the fact is that yearly payments are
supposed. A second edition of this work, enlarged, by C. Brand,
London, 1780, has the reputation of containing many errors. The
first edition (which we did not know of when we first wrote, and we
find all modern writers knew as little), besides a smaller range of
rates, has not the half-years, and has only six decimal places. The
tables of simple interest are also of very little extent. This set of
tables was incorporated (with acknowledgment) in the article 'Interest'
in the second volume of Harris's 'Lexicon Technicum,' London, 1710.
There was an abridged edition, with some of the rates and of the
half-years left out, but still to eight figures, 'Tables of Interest, &c.,
abridged for the use of Schools, in order to instruct young gentle-
men in the use of Decimal Fractions,' by John Smart, &c., London,
1736, quarto (octavo size).
*
Mr. Baily's Doctrine of Interest and Annuities,' London, 1808, is as
extensive as Smart's for whole years, and as correct; and the 'Tables of
Leases,' London, 1807, by the same author, contain the simple cases
which the name implies, tabulated by themselves. The Doctrine of
Interest,' by Francis Corbaux, London, 1825, contains the real dis-
tinction of yearly, half-yearly, and quarterly interest: these tables are
repeated in the same author's work on 'Population,' London, 1833.
Mr. Hardy's 'Doctrine of Simple and Compound Interest,' London,
1839, contains rates of interest increasing by 4 per cent. from up to
5 per cent., with succeeding integer rates. All the standard works on
life annuities contain tables of compound interest.
There seems to have been a tendency at the beginning of the last
century to publish commercial tables in copper-plate, probably with a
view to secure the advantage which stereotype has since secured in a
better form. Thus we have the "arithmeticall tables" of C. Bardon
'
(Roy. Soc. library) without date; Lostau's Manual Mercantile,'
second book (first never published), London, 1733; Rev. G. Brown's
‹ Arithmetica Infinita, London, 1717; the two last being multiplication
tables, with multiples of numbers and fractions useful in money trans-
actions, arranged under heads. The following may be mentioned as
containing hints which might even now be useful :-Benjamin Webb,
Tables for Buying and Selling Stocks,' London, 1759; also 'The
Complete Annuitant, or Tables of Interest,' London, 1762; Hayes's
'Moneyed Man's Guide,' a table for computing dividends, London,
1726. The French have a large number of tables answering to our
ready-reckoners, under the names of Barême (a word of the same use
with them as Cocker with us), comptes-faits, &c. We have seen one of
them of the decimal character, in which a metal plate with rectangles
pierced in it serves, on one rectangle being placed over the integers of
* Dr. Farr (Reg.-Gen. Rep.,' 1844, p. 559) mentions the edition of 1726 as
the second edition.
ARTS AND SCI. DIV. VOL, VIL
the number given, to make another separate those of the number to be
found.
Commercial tables of any real power are rendered impossible in
practice by the use of shillings, pence, and farthings, except by an
extent of matter which makes them very expensive. If, indeed, the
rule for decimalising the parts of a pound [COMPUTATION] were well
learned and properly used, some of the older tables, which have fallen
entirely into oblivion, would certainly be revived with effect. Two of
those presently mentioned will certainly be reprinted when the time
comes; Brown's 'Arithmetica Infinita,' and Webb's 'Tables for Buying
and Selling Stocks.' The main part of the former is the first nine
multiples of the decimal, which expresses any number of farthings in
a pound. Thus, under 78. 84d. are 3854166... and its multiples up
to nine times. The latter has the multiples necessary to find the
quantity of stock which answers to any sum of money, and vice versa,
at different prices. These are both pocket tables, and their places are
supplied at present by works of much greater bulk and less extensive
use.
We now give a very condensed account of a few mercantile tables.
We take them merely because we happen to have examined them,
without any selection. Such a list, meagre as it is, both in amount of
works and in description, may be of much use to one who is contem-
plating the construction of a table. He may be warned that tables
exist which he should consult before he settles his plan; for those we
have quoted may suggest the expediency of looking out either for
themselves or for others resembling them; or he may receive a hint
even from so brief a description as ours. There will appear, in so
short a list as this, sufficient evidence of the never-ceasing attempt to
bring decimal* fractions into tabular connection with our mixed
money. There has never been any lasting success with the world at
large; and we must continue, in our commercial arithmetic, at per-
petual war with our own first principles, until we are wise enough to
decimalise our coinage, and ultimately our weights and measures.
In the following list, the letters Q., O., or D., for quarto, octavo, and
duodecimo or under (referring to size, and not to mode of printing),
precede the date and begin the description of each work :-
0.1613, London: Richard Witt,Arithmeticall Questions ;' com-
pound interest. Q. 1619, Leipsic: Ein newes metzbar gerechnetes
Rechenbuch;' ready-reckoner, tables of multiplication of prices. D.
1629, London (2nd edition, many editions): William Webster,
Webster's Tables;' small tables of simple interest. D. 1632, London:
John Bill, 'Accompts cast up;' ready-reckoner, simple multiplication
of integer numbers up to 100 times; the earliest English ready-
reckoner we know of. 0.1633, London: Robert Butler, The Scale of
Interest;' tables of discount and present value. O. 1668, London :
John Newton, The Scale of Interest' (see Logarithms, 1668). O.
1677, London: Michael Dary, 'Interest Epitomized;' small tables of
compound interest; a rare and remarkable book in other respects.
D. 1682, Amsterdam: J. Sarfatti Pina, De Lichtende Koopman's
Fackel;' multiples of money in facilitation of exchanges. D. 1686, Cam-
bridge [Mabbot]: Tables for Renewing and Purchasing of the Leases
of Cathedral Churches + and Colleges; reprinted almost down to our
own time (to 1808 at least) under the name of Newton, because it has
Newton's certificate of approbation of the method. Mr. Edleston, who
has found the name of the writer in his researches into Newton's
biography, says that he was manciple, a caterer, of King's College. In
the treasury of Trinity College, he adds, is a table and explanation, in
Newton's handwriting (1674-5), of the fines for renewing years lapsed
in a lease for 20 years. It is entitled, 'Tabula redemptionalis ad
reditus Collegii SS. Trinitatis accomodata,' and gives seven years'
purchase for the whole lease, and one year for seven years lapsed.
This allows the lessee upwards of 13 per cent. This table was
>
*The day after we had written this we came in contact with an extract from
the Publishers' Circular,' as follows:-"An old copy of Langham's 'Nett
Duties and Drawbacks,' digested into an easy method, once the standard
authority on the subject, gives us the exact state of the case a hundred years
ago, and leaves us in some astonishment that any head, native or foreign, could
have mastered the complicated details then necessary for their own safety to
be known to importers. . . . Decimals, indeed, appear to have been the delight
of the tariff-maker of old, for the charge on every one of the fifty-eight items
delicate nicety of 92 hundredths of a penny." This merely means that com-
[of paper] concludes with some such a fraction-occasionally reaching the
mercial arithmetic is more of a mere routine than it was, and that a hundred
years ago decimal fractions were more cultivated than they are now.
+ Later editions of this work are accompanied by a letter on the value of
church leases, which was one commencement of a long dispute, giving many
pamphlets. (See Notes and Queries,' 2nd series, vol. iv., p. 361.) The practice
of raising the fines, which had been very much too low, had been growing for
some thirty years previously to 1686; and the publication of these tables seems
to have been in justification of the rise. Hence the importance attached to obtain-
ing from Newton a certificate of the method, which those interested might have
denied. The dispute, which never died, was very warm in 1729-81, when the
clergy were threatened with legislative interference, and did actually receive
sense, however, seems to have found out at last that the clergy, in spite of the
some implied recommendations to desist from the House of Commons. Common
augmentations, were making much less of their lands than the laity; and the
next phase of this history is that of 1837, in which year the poor divines were
threatened by parliament with the loss of the management of their estates, for
letting them too low. It is not easy to please everybody.
3 T
1011
Interest
•
•
TABLE.
(
employed till 1700, when Bentley introduced 10 per cent. tables; but
the "
greediness for present sealing money" compelled a return to
the old system. Dr. Smith, in 1742, reintroduced the 10 per cent.
tables, which became 9 per cent. in 1750. Newton's table is published
in the Journal of the Institute of Actuaries' for January, 1861,
vol. ix., No. 42, O. 1693, London: W. Leybourn, 'Panarithmologia
all performed by tables ready cast up;' ready-reckoner, multiples
of prices, &c. D. 1707, London: John Smart, Tables of Simple
also Tables of Compound Interest;' the first edition
of these celebrated tables. D. 1710, London: John Castaing, 'An
Interest Book. ;' interest per year reduced to days by tables.
O. 1711, London: E. Hatton, 'An Index to Interest;' units, tens, and
hundreds of pounds principal, reduced to interest for each number of
days in the year. D. 1718, : Geo. Brown, 'Arithmetica Infinita;'
all farthings under one pound reduced to decimals, with the first nine
multiples of each (the whole in copper-plate; the figures very rough,
as if put in by the author's own hand). Q. 1726, London: John Smart,
'Tables of Interest, Discount, Annuities;' the second edition, and the
best. D. 1726, London: Richard Hayes, 'The Money'd Man's Guide;'
tables of dividends on sums proceeding by eighths of a pound, at
per cent.
•
•
•
D. 1735, London: Gael Morris, 'Tables for Renewing and Pur-
chasing Leases. . .;' and, with another title-page, tables of simple
interest for years, months, and days. O. 1735, London: James Lostau,
The Manual Mercantile-Second Book;' the first never published.
This book is 450 pages of copper-plate; the descriptions, &c., in a pro-
fessional handwriting; all the table-work in the roughest figure, as if
put in by the author for security against error. First nine multiples
of numbers up to 1609; reciprocals to seven significants, and first
nine multiples, up to 1535; numbers advancing by eighths of a unit,
and their nine multiples in decimals from 100 to 140, and then
by fourths to 156; reciprocals of the same, with nine multiples;
pence and farthings in decimals of a pound, with eight and after-
wards seven significants, with nine multiples, up to 140d.; the
number of times pence and eighths are contained in a pound, in
decimals, with first nine multiples, up to 140d.; a mass of tables for
exchange, commission, reduction of weights and measures, &c. &c., all,
or most, having results expressed in decimals, with nine multiples of
each. 0.1736, London: John Smart, 'Tables of Interest;' the large
tables abridged into a school-book. O. 1756, London (19th edition):
John Playford, Vade mecum;' ready-reckoner of the modern type.
O. 1756, London: New Sett of Interest Tables;' small tables,
followed by tables of excise on beer and ale, printed on one side only,
apparently to allow pasting on a wall, and 'designed for a check on the
custom-house and excise officers.'
D. 1759, London: Benj. Webb, Tables for buying and selling
Stocks;' the chief table is one of numbers increasing by eighths, given
in decimals, with nine multiples to each, from 60 to 130; and their
reciprocals in the same way. D. 1762, London: Benj. Webb, Com-
plete Annuitant;' collection of tables subsidiary to interest, not easy
to describe briefly. D. 1766, London (14th ed.; 16th in 1775)
Richard Hayes, 'Interest at one view;' interest in the form of the
ready-reckoner for months and days. O. 1773, Amsterdam: Nicolas
Barreme,' Comptes-Faits;' an edition of the celebrated French ready-
reckoner, which, like ours, consists of multiples of sums of money.
The name of Barreme (so spelt in the licence, though now Barême) is
ingrafted on the French language as a word for mercantile calculation.
Our Cocker is a jesting allusion; but Barême is quite a serious word.
O. 1773, Brussels, René Neron, Comptes-faits + pour les changes;'
exchanges between different countries, in the ready-reckoner form.
O. 1798, Paris: Blavier, 'Nouveau Barême;' adapted to the change of
coinage. Q. 1799, London: John Wilson, Tables to facilitate the
computation of Interest;' containing the proportion of 05 for each
number of days in the year, with multiples of each fraction up to 100,
to nine decimals. All calculations are made for five per cent., and
afterwards reduced to the rate given a very common principle of
tables. O. 1804, London: S. Newman, Collection of Mercantile
Tables;' the ready-reckoner (or multiple) principle adapted to prices,
*
"
C
<
* We have endeavoured to find the reason why Cocker, or rather the book
which Hawkins put out in Cocker's name, should be selected as the type of
commercial arithmetic. We trace the allusion to 1756, and no farther back.
In that year Arthur Murphy's farce of The Apprentice' appeared, in which
the old merchant Wingate is perpetually eulogising Cocker's arithmetic.
Wingate and Cocker were two of the best-known books on arithmetic. If the
allusion cannot be carried farther back, then the probability will be that
Murphy took the names of the arithmeticians with whom he most often came in
contact, and used them as described. In that case Wingate would have been
our Cocker, if Murphy had chosen to make Cocker his Wingate; and Wingate
much better deserved the distinction.
+ Dedicated to the Duke of Lorraine, in verse, which ends as follows :—
Grand Prince, sois propice à ma justo demande,
De mon petit travail daigne accepter l'offrande,
Et, quittant d'Apollon le stile familier,
Permêt-moi de me dire en stile régulier
Monseigneur,
De vôtre Altesse Royale,
Le très-humble, très-obeissant,
et très-respectueux Serviteur,
Neron.
•
•
TABLE.
•
1012
lengths, interest, &c. O. 1807, London: Francis Baily, 'Tables for
Leases' (second edition; first in 1802): the first separate *
tables of leases of the modern form.
The Doctrine of Interest and Annuities;' a well-known work, the
Q. 1808, London: F. Baily,
tables from Smart. D. 1811, London: Wm. Inwood, 'Tables for
Estates and Leases;' the idea, and some of the tables, from Baily.
O. 1816, Calcutta: G. M. Anderson, The Universal Calculator;' a
large ready-reckoner for prices, exchanges, interest, weights and mea-
sures, &c. O. 1825, London: Fr. Corbaux, The Doctrine of Compound
Interest;' tables, with a large introduction of half and quarter rates of
interest; the tables are added to the author's work on population,
1833, 8vo. O. 1839, London: Peter Hardy, 'Doctrine of Simple and
Compound Interest;' tables, with half and quarter rates of interest.
O. 1841, London: Geo. Reid, Tables of Exchange;' in the ready-
reckoner form, relating entirely to sterling and dollars. D. 1847,
London: David Allester, 'Table of Simple Interest, comprised in one
page;' this page has an arrangement by which each day is shown at
five per cent., with its nine multiples. O. 1847, London: D. Allester,
'Decimal Dividend Tables;' the basis consisting of shillings and pence
in decimals of a pound, with the hundred multiples of each. O. 1849,
London: James Laurie, The Golden Ready-Reckoner;' ready-reckoner
by multiples of one share at pounds and sixteenths per share. 0.1857,
London C. M. Willich, Interest and Time Commutation Tables;
conversion of five per cent. into any other practical rate by inspection;
and conversion of days to run into days which give the same at five
per cent. D. 1859, Edinburgh: W. Waterston, Manual of Commerce'
(2nd edition); a ready-reckoner, combined with interest, dividend, &c.,
tables, and information of many kinds. O. 1859, London: Feodor
Thoman, Theory of Compound Interest;' a new disposition of the
subject, the tables being the logarithms of amounts, and the logarithms
of annuities which one pound will purchase. D. 1859, Halifax :
Nicholson's Ready-Reckoner;' a good specimen of a class of sixpenny
books which are now common.
:
We cannot pretend to give a technical list of life assurance and
annuity tables: anything we could do in this way, in any space we
could give, would be professionally useless, and otherwise worse than
uninstructive. We may, however, attempt to point out and to illus-
trate an epoch of activity which commenced about the year 1840, and
which still continues. In the year 1838, the chief of the professional
tables were in the well-known works of Price, Morgan, Baily, Milne,
Griffith Davies, and Finlaison. The extent of tables, as judged prac-
ticable, went as far as annuities on two lives, for all ages differing by
multiples of five years, at 3, 4, 5, and 6 per cent. Barrett's method,
the greatest augmentation of resources which was ever created on this
subject by any one person, was not in use for want of sufficient appli-
cation to acknowledged rates of mortality. Milne's book best repre-
sents the laborious character of many computations which are now
either reduced to insignificance, or themselves actually tabulated for
reference. This valuable work (1815) was published by the author at
his own expense, and with a certainty of heavy loss; and no public
acknowledgment of his merit was made, even when it had become
apparent that he had changed the basis of life-tables, and introduced
an important reformation by the only efficient means-the construction
of a body of tables competing in extent with those already in use, and
beyond challenge as to accuracy of computation. Barrett's method is
not noticed by Milne in this work; but it only appeared in Baily's
Appendix of 1813, and Milne could hardly have had time, occupied as
he must have been with his own work, to have thoroughly examined
it, much less seriously contemplated the use of it.
The impulse was given by the Useful Knowledge Society (who how-
ever had a colleague, as we shall see), when they brought forward Mr.
David Jones, and recommended, almost insisted on, a very‡ considerable
prevail in the courts when a single judge decides questions of fact. Baily
* A case arose out of this work which illustrates the varying decisions which
applied for an injunction against a work in which he held his own work to
have been pirated. He produced his own original calculations; and proved
that all the misprints and errors of the last figure, by the score, which occurred
in the parts of his work in question, occurred also in the alleged piracy. But
he could not satisfy the court that a piracy had been committed: he happened
to light upon a judge who would have thought it might have been a coincidence,
if he had seen his own name growing in mustard and cress. Persons who have
reason to fear that their tables will be pirated should lay some special traps for
detection: many might easily be suggested.
+ Milne has made it apparent, in his work, that he had had some difference
with Baily, who is not alluded to by name, but only by such phrases as "the
last author who has treated on this subject." There certainly had been some dis-
agreement. The Sun Fire Office became also a life office in 1810, and Baily was
then consulted by the directors: we suspect that the disagreement, whatever it
was, then took place. But by the time Milne published his article on annuities
in the Encyclopædia Metropolitana (of which the private copies are dated
1887) much of this feeling had worn off. Baily's name is mentioned, and his
merits are judiciously, though coldly, acknowledged: but Milne was not
given to strong praise; he neither blew his own trumpet, nor that of anybody
else. Of Barrett's method Milne thought highly. Having more than once
heard it suspected that he was averse to its use, we give an extract from a
letter of his to the writer of this article, dated Nov. 17, 1841, while Jones's
work was in progress of publication in numbers. "Many thanks.... for the
Companion to the Almanac of the Useful Knowledge Society, to which truly
useful society we are also indebted for Mr. Jones's tables, which will greatly
facilitate calculations.”
We speak from positive knowledge. Mr. Jones, though no way disinclined
;
1013
1014
TABLE.
TABLE.
extension of his original plan. The only tables in existence for every
combination of two lives had been published by Mr. McKean, in 1837,
giving on one large sheet the rates 3, 4, 5, 6 per cent., by interpolation
from the Carlisle tables. Mr. Jones (whose work was completed in 1843)
gave every combination for 3, 3, 4, 4, 5, 6 per cent., both in the annui-
ties, and in Barrett's subsidiary tables; that is, twelve tables for all
combinations, instead of four tables * for combinations differing by
multiples of five years of age and this far from all. A short account
of some of the tables since published will show that the example has
been vigorously followed; both as to the completion of things which
had been but partially done, and as to the origination of new under-
takings.
In saying that the Useful Knowledge Society first showed the way, in
actual print, to the construction of more extensive tables, we should
commit great injustice to a most daring and persevering calculator, if
we omitted to notice that Mr. Edward Sang could have received no
hint from their proceedings. His
His Assurance and Annuity Tables,'
Edinburgh, 1841, large folio, give, for one life and 3 per cent., almost
every deduction from the Carlisle tables which an actuary could have
supposed possible to be wanted. And Mr. Sang worked with his
handst as well as with his head. Over and above a table of five-
decimal logarithms and antilogarithms, every result in the book has its
logarithm attached to it. And with this we have the present values
of every annuity and assurance, temporary or deferred, which can be
made on one life, at any age, and for any duration or deferment:
together with a mass of values and premiums for other cases which we
shall not attempt to specify. In 1859, Mr. Sang published a second
volume, containing, also for 3 per cent., a body of results on two
lives which meet all the actuaries' cases; also with logarithms attached.
The offices, and many of the actuaries, were at first inclined to look
very coldly upon these magnificent efforts; but, so far as we have
observed, we think there is now a disposition to acknowledge their
utility their merit was never denied.
:
Mr. Jones and Mr. Sang, independently of each other, showed that
there was no occasion to be frightened at the notion of calculating and
printing all the cases of a problem of two lives, or of one life for terms
of years at the time when they began their labours, a routine had
been established by the consent of several distinguished writers, which
consent caused ordinary calculators to look upon anything beyond the
routine as next to impracticable. In 1848, Mr. T. Wigglesworth, in
'Carlisle Probability-Tables of the Logarithms. . . .' London, 8vo., gave
the logarithm of the chance of surviving every number of years, at
every age, from the Carlisle tables. In 1850, Mr. W. Orchard, in
'Single and Annual Assurance Premiums,' London, 8vo., gave tables
for converting the value of an annuity into the single or the annual
premium for a corresponding assurance; the necessity for which often
arrives in masses of instances together. The rates are 2, 3, 31, 4, 41,
5, 6, and 7 per cent.
In 1850, Mr. H. E. Filipowski, in an appendix to his work on anti-
logarithms, London, 8vo., gave Carlisle annuities at 3 per cent., for
three joint lives, for all combinations of quinquennial ages. This is the
first table of three lives: nothing more than specimens had been pre-
viously published.
In 1851, Messrs. P. Gray, H. A. Smith, and W. Orchard, in 'Assu-
rance and Annuity Tables,' London, 8vo., gave, for the Carlisle
tables, at 3 per cent., the premium and the annual premium for
every case of survivorship assurance on two lives. In 1850, Mr. W. T.
Thomson, of the (Scotch) Standard Life Assurance Company, pub-
lished, in fifteen ‡ sheets, meant to be joined in one, what we may
describe as, for the Carlisle tables at 3 per cent., a collection of
Barrett's tables, one for each age in the tables or the number
living at every age of life discounted to every lower age. This table
might have had its use, if Mr. Thomson himself had not superseded
it, in 1853, by his book, entitled 'Actuarial Tables, Carlisle Three per
to the undertaking, would not have ventured to propose such an unheard-of
extent of tables; and this extent was proposed to him, and not by him, during
the actual progress of the work. It was Mr. Jones who first proposed a large
extension of existing means, and the Society asked for more.
* In our first article appears the following: "The work of Mr. Jones on
Life Annuities, in the Library of Useful Knowledge,' which is now brought
nearly to a close, contains more tables than the old standard works all put
together, and is the first in which extensive tables for what is called Barrett's
Method are furnished, both for one and two lives."
† Mr. Sang arranged the types in the boxes, before using them, with all the
care of composition, and set them up in the boxes all in one way. He then set
the types for printing from with his own hands. The second volume was
treated in the same way by his computers. A computer can set up the types
from the original calculations; and thus the labour and risk of re-writing are
avoided. The time of setting up was ultimately reduced to not much more
than what would have been required for re-writing the manuscript; the com-
puters, after very little practice, were able to outstrip the speed of ordinary
compositors. The only predecessor of Mr. Sang in this matter that we know
of is Mæstlinus, who, in 1596, while superintending some printing for Kepler,
writes that the tables have been very badly described (as to structure), and adds,
Hinc nullus typothetarum operi manus admovere potest: Ipse cogor typothetam
ajere.
‡ This form is impracticable. The fifteen sheets joined together make a table
of 9 feet by 4 feet. This is too much, even for the wall of an office. We
examined the table by nailing the sheets against the front of a bookcase, and
using a step-ladder, as Gulliver did when pursuing his studies at Brobdingnag,
|
cent.,' Edinburgh, 8vo., giving the ultimate elements of the old form
of calculation: that is, the present value and logarithm of every year
of annuity, and the logarithm of the risk of death in each year, from
and after every age. These values are put together in successive sums
so that the present value of every deferred annuity, and of every
deferred and temporary assurance, is gained directly from the table.
A complete table of probabilities of living, logarithms and primitives
both, is also given; with some other tables. In 1858, Mr. David
Chisholm, in 'Commutation* Tables for Joint Annuities and Survivor-
ship Assurances, based on the Carlisle tables at 3, 34, 4, 5, and 6 per cent.,'
London, 2 vols., 8vo., introduced, in addition to Barrett's tables for
two joint lives, the form for survivorship assurances, by which such as-
surances for terms of years, or when deferred, are immediately
calculated. There are other efforts with which we are not acquainted:
from those which we have cited, the reader may see the very great
progress which the actuary's tables have made in the last twenty
years.
We shall mention a literary curiosity of the subject, the spurious
edition of Francis Baily's celebrated work+ on Life Assurance: the
only instance in modern times, we believe, in which a heavy work of
algebra and tables has been counterfeited. The genuine work, though
never out of reputation, was soon out of print: and such copies as were
sold by auction fetched enormous prices. About the year 1850, copies
of the work, in appearance, were offered at the assurance offices at less
than a quarter of the old auction prices: which were discovered on
examination to be spurious. The type, paper, &c., of the genuine
work had been imitated almost to the smallest points; but the careful
supervision which Baily always gave to details, and the excellent per-
formance of his printer, could not be imitated. Those who do not
know the original edition will immediately detect the spurious edition
by an inverted & being always used for the letter p. Shabby as the
undertaking was, it invaded no copyright: and as no one now much
wants Baily's work for the tables, so that it matters less whether these
be accurately reprinted or not, it must be granted that the still valuable
part of Baily's work has been made more accessible, and therefore
more useful. We are of opinion that an edition of the work, with no
more than specimens of the tables, aud notes, critical, historical, and
prospective, would command circulation.
The railroads have created a demand for tables of the cubic yards in
cuttings, embankments, &c. Of these we select three, of extreme and
mean sizes. First, A general sheet-table, &c.,' on one side of one
sheet, by F. Bashforth, M.A., very efficient for its size. Secondly,
Tables for .... earthwork of Railways,' 1847, by C. K. Sibley and
W. Rutherford; a collection of sheets, with flexible cover, small folio.
Thirdly, the second edition, 'Tables for facilitating the calculation of
earthwork,' by Sir John Macneill, Dublin, 1846, an Svo. volume of
368 pages. We describe what we have by us, not knowing what edi-
tions may now be current, or what other works there may be.
The practice of stereotyping tables is one which should be strongly
enforced, if it were not that publishers seem now to be aware of its
importance. A second edition derives no authority from the goodness
of the first, because the printer, who is, as already observed, as im-
portant a person as the author in the matter of tables, has again
stepped between the latter and the public. In reading the proofs of
important tables, it is desirable that three persons should be employed,
one to read from the manuscript, the others to watch two separate
proofs, without communication with each other, as done in the Nautical
Almanac office. The strictest investigation should take place in the
proof which is taken from the stereotype, ordinary pains being taken
with the previous proofs. Persons who have to correct the proofs of
tables alone should bring the manuscript as near as possible to the
proof by folding it conveniently: even if the folds were altered after
every two or three lines, so as always to have both manuscript and
proof under the eye in one position, it would not give more trouble
than would be well repaid. Double figures should be particularly
attended to; no mistake is so likely to be made, either by the com-
positor or the reader, as 744 for 774, and the like. This, and mis-
placing the order of the figures, as 012 for 102, are the things which it
is most difficult to avoid. Again, of the two things under examination,
manuscript and proof, the more difficult one should be looked at first,
for the mind is apt to allow knowledge derived from the more easy
to give help in interpreting the more difficult. Thus, if the type
thick even-sized numerals), make out the proof first, and then look at
be harder to read than the manuscript (a very common thing with
the manuscript; and vice versa. If two readings be given, vary the
mode; the following may for instance be the plan adopted: if the
manuscript column contain a, b, c, &c., and the printed column A, B,
C, &c., look at a, compare it with A, then at B, compare it with 6,
* The tables formed on Barrett's method are variously described as Barrett's
tables, Davies's tables (G. Davies was an improver), D and N tables, and Com-
mutation tables.
In 1848-9, something more than a dozen copies of Baily's work came into
the hands of Mr. Maynard, mathematical bookseller, slightly imperfect. The
missing parts were reprinted (pp. 305-320 and 545-552). These copies were
in Baily's hands till his death: and when the book was selling by auction at
and over five guineas, his friends applied to him again and again to have the
deficiencies made good and the books put into circulation; but they never could
prevail.
1015
TABLE.
then at c, compare it with C, and so on; the order of inspection being
ɑA, Bb, cC, Dd, &c. Some persons examine best by the eye alone,
others by the ear also, repeating aloud. Each one must ascertain for
himself which practice is best for him; but whatever it may be, it
should be varied. Alteration of position, motion of the hand or foot
occasionally to mark the transitions, change of the tone of repeating,
&c., are useful: it is hardly credible, to those who have not tried, how
much the perceptions are dulled by the monotonous comparison of one
column of figures with another, or how many and how gross errors both
eye and ear, when tired, will suffer to pass. Persons who are not
much used to this labour might very well proceed as follows. Let
them request the printer to make, at his own discretion, a certain
number, say three, of mistakes (author-traps) in every page, carefully
registering them, but not on the manuscript. The author may then
be certain that he ought to detect three mistakes in every page, and
will know that he has been careless if he have not that number at
least. But at the same time, an author who has not reason for confi- |
dence in himself, may very safely leave good manuscript tables entirely
to the printer, if he make the latter understand that he does not intend
to correct till all is printed off, and will require every page containing
an error to be cancelled. No good printer would now refuse to engage
to furnish a fac-simile of a manuscript, on the simple condition of
being allowed to refer to the author for decision as to any doubtful
word or figure in the writing; and the accuracy with which the first-
rate London * printers turn out their proofs, even where the manu-
script is criminally bad, is surprising. We have frequently looked at
page after page of table-matter more times than we should otherwise
have thought necessary, merely because the total absence of detected
error left it an unsettled point whether it was the excellence of the
proof, or a temporary suspension of our own quickness of perception,
which caused the absence in question.
Catalogues of tables (separate) may be seen in the catalogue of the
Royal Society's Library; in Murhard's 'Bibl. Math.;' in Lalande's
Bibl. Astron.' (in virtue of the index); but there is nothing approach-
ing to even a moderately perfect catalogue.
In the preceding article we have described, we believe, all the tables
of note, whether in history or practice, so far as general tables of pure
mathematics are concerned. We have omitted those which relate only
to astronomy, life contingencies, or any other special application of
mathematics. As the article stood in the Penny Cyclopædia,' we had
brought forward about 318 tables, of which 221 had been taken from
actual inspection, and the remainder from various authorities, very few
indeed from one only. In Lalande's Bibliographie Astronomique'
there are 208 tables mentioned, including astronomical ones. In the
printed catalogue of the Royal Society's Library the entries under
tables, of every sort, mathematics, astronomy, navigation, geography,
meteorology, &c., are 536 in number, including from the merest tide
meteorology, &c., are 536 in number, including from the merest tide-
table for one year up to the largest body of logarithms. And upon
looking at the appearances which the different catalogues present, we do
not find one in which 200, or even 100, tables of pure mathematics are
mentioned as having undergone the actual inspection of the compiler.
In the present article we have given about 457 tables, of which 332 are from
actual inspection. It would not, then, we suspect, be a very extensive
undertaking to make as complete a list of tables of all kinds as can
now be recovered; and the undertaker of it might expect to be able
to verify about two out of three from inspection.
In the present article some additions have been made, both of tables
and of facts alluding to tables already inserted, and several corrections.
We have not made any effort to include all the tables of the last few
years, preferring to direct our chief attention to the improvement of
the antiquarian part of our task. To this end we have examined anew
all the old tables which we could conveniently see. In reviewing our
work, we find that we have sometimes spoken of the decimal places in
a table, and sometimes of the radius to which it is constructed; but
we do not mean that the old tables had decimal places, properly so
called. We must also remind the reader that this article is not biblio-
graphical; our affair is not with books as books, but with tables as
tables. Accordingly, the descriptions of books are not fully given
:
*This was first published in 1812. In the spring of 1845, the Nautical
Almanac of the year was nearly exhausted, and it was necessary to reprint
it with the utmost speed. The Nautical Almanac contains more than 500
large octavo pages of numerical tables. Clowes and Son, all revision being left
to their own readers, performed the task in seventeen working days, from the
commencement of the composition to the delivery in sheets. The accuracy of
this reprint was never impeached. A printer who was engaged upon an article
in which the above statement was made, assured the author that he must be
wrong, that the reprint was made from standing type, as was proved by the
revision being intrusted to the printer: on which proper attestations were
procured from Clowes and Son and their overseers, and these we have seen.
Even printers, when their work is all of the ordinary kind, are not, it should
seem, aware of the confidence due to those who are habitually concerned with
such things as tables. This reprint, when it came to be examined, had only
thirty-three errata. The necessity occurred again in 1846, and, as appears in
the advertisement to the second edition of that work, the reprint was fully done
in sixteen working days. Subsequent revision detected only twenty-two errata,
seven of which were in some copies only, that is, due to hurried press-work.
There was then perceptible progress, both in speed and accuracy.
TACKING.
1016
and their contents, except so far as they are the tables spoken of, are
wholly unnoticed.
TABLE, ROUND. The most famous Round Table is that of King
Arthur, which is said in the old romances to have been constructed by
the wizard Merlin for Uther Pendragon, Arthur's father, from whom
it passed into the possession of Leodigan, or Leodegrance, king of
Camelard, or Carmalide, whose capital was Carshaise, and then came to
Arthur as the portion of his wife Guenevre, daughter of that monarch.
The romance of the Mort d'Arthur' says that Merlin made it "in
token of the roundness of the world," according to the metrical
romance of Merlin, it was made in imitation of one which had been set
up by Joseph of Arimathea in commemoration of that at which the
twelve apostles ate the last supper with their divine Master. The Round
Table is not mentioned at all by Geoffrey of Monmouth, either in his
Chronicle,' or in his 'Life of Merlin' in Latin verse; but it is noticed
by his contemporary Wace, in his metrical' Roman de Rois d'Angle-
terre.' The Round Table was intended, to quote the analysis of the
romance of Merlin given by Ellis (Specimens of Early English Ro-
mances,' i.), "to assemble the best knights in the world." There are
different accounts of the number of the Knights of the Round Table,
which indeed appears not to have been always the same. The romance
of Merlin, which states that Uther had no power to fill all the seats,
makes that king nevertheless to have nominated 250 knights, and these
are also spoken of as forming the number of the order under Leo-
degrance. The 'Mort d'Arthur' makes Leodegrance say, in surrender-
ing it to Arthur, "I shall give him the Table Round, the which Uther
Pendragon gave me, and when it is full complete, there is a hundred
knights and fifty; and, as for an hundred good knights, I have myself,
but I lack fifty, for so many have been slain in my days." Of the fifty
knights that were wanted, Merlin was at the moment only able to find
twenty-eight for Arthur; but some were added afterwards. Other
accounts again make the complete number under Arthur to have been
only a hundred.
It is asserted by some of the chroniclers that some time before
Edward III. instituted the order of the Garter, he established in the
castle of Windsor a fraternity of twenty-four knights, and erected for
them a round table, in imitation of that of Arthur, with a chamber in
Bishop Percy, in his' Reliques of Antient English Poetry,' remarks
which it was placed, in what is yet known as the Round Tower.
"that the round table was not peculiar to the reign of King Arthur,
but was common in all the ages of chivalry. The proclaiming a great
tournament (probably with some peculiar solemnities) was called hold-
ing a Round Table." And he quotes a passage from Dugdale, in which
Roger de Mortimer, in the reign of Edward I., says, "Then began the
that learned antiquary, describing a tournament held at Kenilworth by
Round Table, so called by reason that the place wherein they practised
Percy adds that Matthew Paris frequently calls jousts and tournaments
those feats was environed with a strong wall made in a round form."
Hastiludia Mensa Rotunda. These round tables were probably a eon-
trivance on the principle of the modern Round Robin, to prevent any
dispute about precedency. There are several circular elevations in
different parts of England which are still called Arthur's Round
Tables.
TABLES, TWELVE. [TWELVE TABLES.]
per-
TACK is the technical term in Scotland for a lease, whether of
lands or edifices; the rent is called the tack-duty, and the tenant the
tacksman. The Scotch lease, however long its duration, is purely a
contract, and does not partake-at least in questions between landlord
and tenant of the peculiarities of the feudal system. In early times
it is possible to trace something like an inferior system of vassalage in
the nature of the agriculturist's tenure; but as all descriptions of
manent estates could be constituted in the land by the adaptation of
the feudal usages, there was no temptation to convert the contract for
the limited occupation and use of the land into a means of constitut-
ing a semi-proprietary right in it. The system of leases accordingly,
as one of mere letting and hiring, took its principles from the Roman
contract of locatio conductio, the right of the lessee or tacksman being
so purely personal that it was ineffectual against a party acquiring the
lands by purchase from the lessor. Leasehold rights, however, in
questions of succession, and in the form of attachment, employable
by creditors, have by usage come into the position of real or heritable
property, and may now be registered and transferred by the appropri-
ate forms of transfer like estates in fee simple.
Writing is necessary to constitute a lease, although possession dur-
ing the part that may remain over a year begun, may be held as a right
from sufferance and acquiescence in its commencement.
writing the term is for a year only.
Without
TACKING. The evolutions of a ship when contending with an
adverse wind are called tacking; and the course upon which a ship
lies is called its "tack," and whether the wind blow on the star-
board- or port-side, these are called starboard or port tacks. In endea-
vouring to move a ship under sail towards the point from which the
wind blows, she must necessarily be close hauled, that is, her sails
must be so braced as to enable her to proceed as near the wind as
possible.
We illustrate the operation of tacking by reference to a similar
movement in ourselves, whether on foot or horseback, when we mount
a steep incline on shore; for, instead of facing the inclination of
may
1017
1018
TACKING.
TACKING.
Vessels
the hill in its abruptness, we sidle along upwards in a zig-zag direc-with a rising floor like yachts, cutters, &c., as they offer more vertical
tion until the summit is reached, and thus it is with tacking at sea; resistance to the water in arresting the lateral drift A B.
where, however, we use horizontal angles instead of the vertical ones having no keel or deadwood are generally furnished with what is called
on land.
a "lee-board," which working on a strong pin, as at c in the figure, is
The motion of a ship in thus beating to windward (as the whole let down below the bottom on the lee side to prevent too much leeway
evolution is called) is considerably affected by the form of the ship when tacking to windward.
herself; for barges, and flat or round-bottomed vessels make great lee-
way, or are driven bodily from the wind, and the actual course sailed
is upon a line which is the resultant of two forces. For supposing
the wind to be acting in the direction indicated by the arrow in the
diagram, its power upon the mass of broadside and sails will have a
In order to very briefly explain the operation of tacking (or as it is
also called "heaving about "), suppose the figure below to represent a
ship at a, beating towards the direction of the wind x, and close hauled

C

a
tendency to drive it from A towards B (this is called leeway), while the
action of the sails in their obliquity to the keel drives the body also
forward in the line of keel Ac. Now compounding these two forces,
A B and C D, we have a D in the parallelogram as the resultant, while the
A
C
amount of leeway would be measured by AB, and its angle would be
Hence tacking is more advantageous to sharp-bottomed vessels
EAF.
on the port tack accordingly, the tiller is put over towards y ("hard
a-lee"), which causes the rudder to bring the ship's head to wind, as
at b, or throws her into "stays;" just before she reaches this position,
the afteryards (on the main and mizen masts) are hauled aback and
then braced as at c, and as soon as the ship's head is found to be about
five points from the wind the head yards are braced round likewise,
and the ship fills with the wind upon the starboard side, as seen at d,
and she is now on the starboard tack. It is at times a perilous evolu-
tion, and if there be much sea on is found impracticable. To insure
success however under ordinary circumstances, the helmsman just
previously keeps the sails "clean full" (as the expression is), lest the
ship's velocity be insufficient to bring her head to wind; if it be so,
her head "falls off" again, and she is said to have missed stays; this is
frequently caused by the helmsman neglecting to shift the helm when
the ship acquires stern-way. When, from having lost all velocity, she
will neither stay nor fall off, she is said to be "jammed up in the
wind," or tr
in irons," the remedy being to brace the head-yards aback
and "
pay off."
If such happen when too near shore the danger is
imminent. (VEERING.)

END OF VOL. VII.
BRADBURY AND EVANS, PRINTERS, WHITEFRIARS.


UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
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